Ulysses Community Report
A message from the Ulysses Team
Well done Ulysses students on a fantastic first term! It has been awesome working with all of you in our mentor groups and literacy and numeracy groups. Can't wait for all of the fun we will have together in Term 2.
Inquiry/ SEL
In the Ulysses community, students have been learning about how to be responsible for their actions and what could be the consequences of their choices. Students have worked together in groups to explore the topics of responsibility, consequences, good choices and bad choices within the school.
Students have been developing their growth mindset by learning about the power of yet. Having a can do attitude can change the way that students approach their learning tasks. They have been identifying things that they feel they can’t do and are working on using their growth mindset to change the sentence from ‘I can’t’ to ‘I can’t yet’.
Each student in the Ulysses community has a school diary where they have been reflecting on their day by answering a question or completing an activity that takes around 2-5 minutes to complete. Students are practicing gratitude, empathy and mindfulness in their diary created by The Resilience Project.
In week 8 students learnt about Harmony Day and completed activities related to the Harmony Day message of ‘everyone belongs’. Students celebrated, acknowledged and shared information that is important to them and their culture with their peers. They learnt new information about diversity and why Australia is multicultural.
Numeracy
In Maths the last few weeks in Ulysses, we have been finishing off our Place Value unit. We have explored Number Patterns, 3 and 4 digit-numbers, comparing and ordering numbers, rounding and many more interesting things.
Last week we learned about Rounding. The reason we round is to practice estimating numbers when we can’t or don’t need to find the exact answer. We have learned that the rule for rounding to the nearest 10 is that we round numbers 1-4 down, for example 14 is rounded down to 10. Numbers from 5-9 though are rounded up instead, this is shown in 28, where it is rounded up to 30.
We have also been looking at worded problems and how students can use steps in order to work them out. These steps include: Underlining key words then asking, What do I know? What do I need to find out? What strategies can I use? Check my answer? Word problems are an important part of maths because they show a complete understanding of the math being taught. And they also show how well students are connecting to the work that they are completing.
Literacy
Ulysses, Term 1 Independent Reading
During term 1, the Ulysses community have been developing Independent Reading in their reading session. Independent Reading allows students to sit in a spot, so they are not distracted and are completely focused on their reading. They have opportunities to select a book that they are interested in and is a ‘Just Right Book’. Their minds are on reading, their eyes are on their books and they are prepared for their reading session. They are working towards having a reading log, reading conferences and further developing their reading journals so they have evidence of what they are learning during the week. This has allowed all students in our community to remain calm and peaceful while developing their reading stamina.
Important Notes to Remember
- Doors open at 8:40am (please ensure your child is in the community by 8:50am)
- Dismissal at 3:10pm
- Bring hats and water bottles to school clearly labelled.
- Please ensure your students are attending school ‘It’s not ok to be away, every day counts'.