What's happening in our learning spaces? 

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK 

FOUNDATION 

Welcome back to Term 3 in Foundation. It was great to hear about what everyone got up to over the holidays! This term has certainly started off very busy with an excursion, hatching of chicks program and Grandparents Day this coming Friday, July 26th. We look forward to celebrating with a whole school Mass, and inviting our Grandparents into our learning spaces. 

It was certainly a very exciting first day back, with the arrival of 10 eggs and 3 baby chicks on Monday morning. We have been observing these eggs and chicks to help us find out more about how different living things change and grow over time. As researchers, we discovered that there are four stages of a Chicken’s life cycle…egg,  hatchling, chick and chicken. We also learnt that female chickens, hens, lay an egg every single day. The eggs have been placed in an incubator and there is a light over the chicks. We discovered that this is to keep them warm and help them grow. Each day, we have been observing them to monitor any changes and were eagerly awaiting a hatching. Finally, on Wednesday 17th July, we were able to observe a chick hatching. Very conveniently the hatching occurred at Brain Food time! This week, we have also noticed that the baby chicks are starting to grow small feathers. 

As writers, we have been documenting our observations each day in our own Chicken Observation Journals. We have been writing what we see and any changes, and have been drawing diagrams! Check out the Chickens and our learning below!

This week, we also went on our long awaited excursion to Melbourne Zoo, our very first one in Foundation. As researchers, we looked closely and listened carefully as we explored the different living things and gathered information about animals and their habitats, life cycles and features. We had time and opportunity to listen to a keeper talk, where we found out about the different animals that begin their life cycle from an egg. We also engaged in the ‘Habitats, Features and Life Cycles’ workshop with zoo staff, to find out what makes different animals special, how they survive and how to best care for them and their homes. We demonstrated curiosity, respect and responsibility and our teachers are super proud of us!

Key Dates for Term 3 in Foundation:

Friday 26th July: Grandparents' Mass

Wednesday 31st July: 100th Day of School celebrations

Thursday 1st August: Dress up Day to celebrate Day 101 (Dress up as a 101 year old!)

We can’t wait for a very exciting Term 3! 

Kind regards, 

Leanne Wenckowski, Alex Phillips and Alycia Marsico 

Foundation Team 

YEAR 1/2

The Antarctic winds may have been icy and cold, but there were plenty of warm smiles in the 1/2 learning spaces last week as we jumped straight into Term 3! 

From trips interstate and overseas to watching movies in the living room, the 1/2 space was buzzing with excitement as we shared our stories with one another. As writers, we recorded our experiences in engaging recounts. Enjoy some of the highlights from our holidays. 

NAIDOC Week is a significant event that celebrates the history, culture, and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. To mark the occasion, we engaged with ‘Our Home, Our Heartbeat,’ a children’s story by Indigenous musician Adam Briggs that highlights important Indigenous figures in Australian history. As researchers and collaborators, we worked in small groups to learn more about these inspiring individuals.

Introducing our new maths topic that we will be exploring in the next few weeks… multiplication! As mathematicians, we started this unit by making equal groups of counters and representing it as repeated addition and multiplication number sentences. We also went for an ‘Array Hunt’ around the school to find as many examples of real life arrays as we could. What arrays can you spot in your home? 

This week, we are very excited to welcome back Mrs Sparano and Ms Karalis from their Euro holiday. Let’s hope they have brought some of the European sun back with them!

Stay cosy,

Vivian Boggis

1/2 Team

YEAR 3/4

Welcome back to Term 3! We hope everyone had a lovely holiday break together and we are looking forward to another wonderful term of learning. 

As a school community, we would like to welcome a new grade 4 student, Roderick, who has started in 3/4SH this term. 

As a faith community, our grade 4 students and their families engaged in the online Eucharist workshop on Thursday evening with Maria Forde. Thank you to all those who attended despite some technical difficulties. 

Additional reminders: A reminder of our specialist timetable for Term 3: 

        *** Sport uniforms must be worn on Thursdays and Fridays

Important Term 3 dates:

Please keep an eye for further announcements as dates may change

Home learning: Home learning is designed to consolidate the learning we are doing in class, as well as to build students independent study skills and abilities to build a routine, break tasks into manageable chunks and work independently. Home learning is to be completed in their home learning workbooks with headings and dates relevant to the task. Home learning for Term 3 will be distributed on Monday 22 July, giving students two weeks to complete this at home. 

Students are encouraged to read each night and record their reading in their school diary as well as complete the TRP GEM Habit Builder. School diaries are to be handed into the classroom teacher every Friday for sign off. 

Have a lovely week!

Year 3/4 Teachers

Belinda Panzarino & Sarah Hogan

YEAR 5/6

What a great start it has been to Term 3 in the S.L.A. It has been a joy to see our students return after a refreshing break, brimming with energy and enthusiasm for learning. We look forward to another exciting term ahead with lots more engaging learning to take place.

In Mathematics, our students have been actively engaged in a range of activities to practise their times tables and explore various strategies for solving multiplication problems. We strongly encourage continued practice of times tables at home as it will greatly benefit their progress for the rest of our multiplication unit. 

In Literacy last week, the students focussed on exploring the concepts of this year's NAIDOC week theme “Keep the Fire Burning, Blak, Loud and Proud”. The students were given the opportunity to learn more about important First Nations peoples including Patty Mills, and the contributions they have made to promote Indigenous Culture and Traditions in our society and how we can be advocates for the voices of our fellow Australians. 

In Writing, the 5/6 students have been developing their skills of descriptive writing through building on their knowledge of synonyms and creating word banks of interesting and engaging adjectives. As writers our students explored how authors use descriptive language to paint a picture in the mind of their reader - especially when describing characters. We look forward to continuing to explore creative writing and developing the amazing ideas of our students in the coming weeks. 

In Inquiry, we began a new unit that will investigate our Big Question “How do different systems impact our lives today?”. In order to begin this unit we began by asking students questions such as: 

• What is a system?
• How do they rely on each other?
• What do you know about systems?
• How does a system work?

It was wonderful to see the students be so engaged in this topic and use their prior knowledge to thoughtfully explore these questions. 

We look forward to our excursion to ScienceWorks this Monday the 22nd of July, to learn more about the different scientific systems in our universe and can't wait to share our findings with you!

Reminders:

• This Friday (26/07/24) is Grandparents Day and we look forward to welcoming our wonderful families to Mass and our Learning Space. 
• Chess Club begins after school on Thursday (25/7/24) this week in the STEM room 

Over the weekend, our fearless Year 5/6 teaching team bravely traded our red pens for running shoes and took on the 5.5km RUN Melbourne race, proving we can handle more than just a marathon of marking—though we did discover that running a race is a lot like teaching: it's all about pacing yourself and not tripping over your own feet!

We hope you have a wonderful week, 

The 5/6 Running Team

Olivia Sargent, Bianka Zorzut and Maddie Comrie