From the Classroom

News from 5/6

Last week, our 5/6 students had an unforgettable adventure at Waratah Bay! They had an absolute blast, tackling exciting activities like surfing, rock climbing and the giant swing. We couldn’t be prouder of the way our students behaved. They supported and encouraged each other every step of the way and truly represented MPS with pride!

A HUGE thank you to all the Grade 5/6 families for getting your children ready for camp, and a special shout-out to our amazing parent helpers: Erin Vistarini, Kelly Hamilton, and Sharon Harvey. We appreciate you giving your time to support the students and help make the camp such a success.

In Literacy we are continuing to read our class novel, The Last Bear. We are holding discussions and completing work around the themes of the book, global warming, loss of habitat and natural resources and the relationships between animals and people. Students are also creating persuasive texts based on what we are learning from The Last Bear, while focusing on structure, emotive language and strong arguments.

In Maths, students are learning to recognise and continue a visual pattern, identify and explain rules for the pattern, find unknown values in numerical equations and calculate the pattern with efficient strategies using all four operations.

In Inquiry, students are delving deeper into why people from all over the world came to Australia between the 1940’s and 1960s. Students have been watching short documentaries, adverts and articles from the time about why people should migrate to Australia. Students have been making connections between their (great) grandparents' reasons for migrating, their My Background project and the Inquiry lessons, which has been lovely to listen to and see resonate with them.  

What's happening in 3/4

This week as we continue learning about the different types of puppets and the students are designing the puppet they are making to use for their group scripted puppet play. We are really enjoying the originality the students are exhibiting in their choice of puppet names and stories.

In English lessons we are also reading and writing poems. We have shared a classic poem 'The Ant Explorer' by C. J. Dennis and written some poetry using our senses and colour as our theme.

During numeracy sessions everyone is totally involved in learning and applying addition and subtraction strategies and engaging in rich maths tasks to show our strategic thinking skills. We continue to engage in daily maths reviews to practise previous mathematical concepts and to improve our number fluency.

News in 1/2s

We have had a fantastic two weeks in the 1/2 ! 

In Maths, we have been learning about sharing in division. The students have enjoyed using playdough and hands-on materials to share them from a whole number. It has been great to see the students engage in role play scenarios to work out division worded problems. 

In English, the students have been having quality conversations about comparing the similarities and differences between narrative, persuasive and informative texts. We have been looking at the same topic but how it is presented differently. In phonics, the students have been enjoying learning about syllables by clapping their hands and putting their hand under their chin to notice a syllable in a word.

In Wellbeing, we have been practicing our problem solving skills through exploring different role play situations and investigating different solutions for the problem. We are doing this as class discussions and discussing why which solution would be the best.

Fantastic Foundations

What a exciting two weeks we have had in foundation. We are well and truly into our show and tell and reading groups, which we all seem to be really enjoying. Ollie bought in his his pet dog Coco to share with us. Coco seemed to love all the pats :)

Tracey is off on her holiday to Japan, and we were lucky enough to receive photo updates from her as we are all missing her in foundation.

Maths:

Last week in math's we explored different stratgies to use during subtractions. We explored many hands on, fun activities including a rocket count and 'playdough smash' down to utilize these strategies.

This week we are exploring days of the week. During these lessons we have explored many sequencing activities and linking the days of the week to activities we do on those certain days. 

English:

We have continued to explore different types of texts which has lead foundation to create there own signs to be used around the school. With the interest in the gaga pit, we created a class sign which included the rules of the popular game.

Wellbeing:

We have been exploring fair and friendly play, and how this can be used in and outside of school. We have been enjoying these lessons, and have been able to play popular games such as 'what's the time Mr. Wolf?' to explore the concepts of being fair and friendly.

Mrs Mills.

Physical Education news 

During our PE Classes students have been learning the new sport of Ultimate Frisbee. Ultimate is a team sport playing with a flying disc and governed by sportsmanship ( spirit of the Game) . 

Ultimate is a team sport that combines soccer, basketball and football skills. It is a non contact sport.

Spirit of the game - ultimate stresses sportsmanship and fair play. 

The students have been  learning the  skills of throwing, catching and moving the disc around the field. 

Self Refereeing  is a huge part of the game in 5/6 classes.