Apollo Community Report 

Welcome back parents and students to Term 1 at AHPS. We have enjoyed welcoming new and old students into Apollo Community. We appreciate the support that parents have given us to start the year and we look forward to working with Apollo students this year. 

Reading

During reading, students have focused on developing their decoding strategies and becoming fluent readers. They have practised these skills during buddy and independent reading and during reading groups, using levelled texts and books from the classroom library. Students have also enjoyed exploring the range of fiction and non-fiction texts on Epic!, where they have either read the books or have had the books read to them. For homework, students are required to read for 20 minutes a night using the books from the collection of take home readers that are in each classroom.

Writing

Throughout this term in Writing we hav been preparing for the NAPLAN assessment for Grade 3's and consolidating the Grade 4's knowledge from last year. We have been working on the planning and drafting of Narrative Writing pieces, incorporating strategies to excite the reader such as Sizzling Starts and Banning the Boring. Students have have Story Maps, Templates and Mind Maps to organise their ideas and use these ideas to draft a narrative.

NAPLAN could be either narrative (fake stories) or persuasive writing pieces so we are preparing students for both of these over the next few weeks before NAPLAN commences on the 15th-17th of March. 

Maths

We have started the year off with Place Value. This includes being able to read, write and understand the value of numbers. We have played place value games to practice our skills and worked individually, in pars and in groups. 

Inquiry

During Term 1 , students in both 3/4 Communities will be exploring the topic ‘Am I the only person responsible for my choices?’ We will be looking at different practices including recognising and regulating emotions, developing empathy for others and understanding relationships, establishing and building positive relationships, making responsible choices in our lives and developing leadership skills. 

The guiding questions that we are following include:

• Are all consequences bad?
• How do my choices impact on the people around me?
• How do different people make choices?

We again thank you for your support this year and we hope everyone will conitnue to show the growth mindest in the classroom they have displayed to start the Term.

Best wishes,

Apollo Community Teachers.