Inquiry Centre

Curriculum

We’re already well into March, which means there’s not long to go until the end of Term One and Easter holidays! We hope that all of you enjoyed the lovely weather over the long weekend to refresh for another exciting week of school.

In Maths we swung our attention from place value to measurement for the week, giving the students the opportunity to get even more hands-on with their learning. We started out using informal materials such as unifix blocks and icy-pole sticks to measure classroom objects and our own heights, and moved onto learning how to use a ruler appropriately. It has been great to see a lot of rich discussion about the importance of lining up measuring tools carefully and ordering based on size. Next week we return to place value and will practise embedding the concept of how numbers can be represented in different ways.

We have been especially impressed with how students are developing their ability to devise creative descriptions of events in their narrative stories this week. The week of Writing started with collaborative work on describing tension-filled problems from picture prompts and then connecting ideas in sentences. Then students returned to their Big Write narrative, where they planned and wrote the middle section of their stories with your Talk Homework support. Next week we will focus on how to resolve problems in stories and sharpen the students’ use of exclamation marks.

In Reading, students have applied their recent learning on making predictions to being able to ask and answer questions to help understand a text. Students have learned to differentiate between closed questions that may have a yes/no or single response, and open-ended questions that may require some more thinking and explaining. Question stems such as “what is…?” and “why did…?” are helping support students think and wonder while reading to get more out of each text. Next week we will apply this further by focusing on stopping and questioning to clarify understanding.

In Guided Inquiry, we looked at signs of danger to help students better understand how they can learn to keep themselves and others safe and aware.

Our second cycle of Junior Rotations was a big success. It has been great to see the enthusiasm on the children’s faces when they relate stories about what they had been up to with different teachers.

Have a great week!

Kind Regards, 

Emily Kiefte, Emma Honan, Emma Marsh, Aidan O’Connor, Erin Bennetts, Simone Rock, Andy Parthenopoulos, Kathy Wang

Student Voice

Ryan 1/2P - I loved measuring myself with icy-pole sticks.

James 1/2P - It was amazing to write our narrative for the Big Write.

Jude 1/2P - I enjoyed asking open and closed questions with Mr P at the guided reading table.

Sean 1/2P - I had fun writing the codes for the Ozobots to go around the racetrack.

Fadel 1/2P - I liked using grapes and chocolate chips to make a caterpillar with Miss Marsh.

Reminders

3-Way Conference bookings open this week. Please book in a time for your and your child to meet with their teacher.

Twilight Sports is this Thursday (12th March) beginning at 4:30pm

1/2W will be running Junior School Assembly this week

National Ride To School Day and Crazy Sock Day is on Friday 13th March

Pupil of the Week

1/2BR: Zachary C -

For asking interesting questions before, during and after reading to better understand the book. Great work Zachary!

1/2E: Wendy W -

For using creativity when writing the middle of your narrative, you include ollie openers to build the tension! Great work!

1/2H: Olivia Y -

For demonstrating perseverance when measuring the length of different classroom objects. You were able to use a variety of measuring tools. Amazing work Olivia!

1/2K: Nicha C -

For demonstrating leadership and teamwork in Guided Inquiry.You were a great role model to your peers by leading your group to create a lovely poster about safety signs! Keep it up Nicha!

1/2O: Joshua N -

For showing bravery and creativity when writing. You started your writing independently and drafted a creative narrative story. Excellent work Joshua!

1/2P: Jude P -

For showing leadership and responsibility during independent work time. You completed tasks in reading and maths to the best of your ability and helped guide others to do their best. Huge improvement Jude!

1/2W: Raayn S -

For demonstrating perseverance when writing your narrative draft. Your creativity and passion in writing really shows. Awesome effort Raayn!