Middle School News
What an eventful couple of weeks in the Middle school! We had a beautiful celebration for the Year 4's First Holy Communion, Book Week, the Book Fair, Dendy Athletic's Carnival and lots of learning!
First Eucharist
Last Thursday, the Year 4 students, along with their friends, families and teachers, received and celebrated their First Eucharist. The students were incredibly reverant and well prepared thanks to their incredible teachers, Ms Porter, Ms Collins, Mrs McGrath (Heather) and Ms Maloney. We thank all of the parents for their beautiful contributions and support through this incredibly special sacrament.
Topic
Due to our curriculum being a 2 year cycle, the Year 3 and 4 students explore the same Topic units. This is a wonderful opportunitty for collaborative learning for our students. Over the last couple of weeks, we have transitioned from exploring Rocks, Minerals and Soils, to exploring The Sun, Moon and Earth in Space Sciences.
Book Fair
A special thank you to Mrs Stroud for organising the incredible Book Fair, which we all absolutely loved!
Book Week
During English in Week 6, the students participated in 4 Book Week activities based on the shortlisted books for 2025. It was one activity a day and the students moved between each teacher from Year 2 - Year 4. They participated in a colouring competition, they made postcards, designed their dream garden and created bus artwork.
Dendy Atheltics
A big shoutout to all of the students who represented our school at Dendy Athletics!
Year Three
English
Last week duirng English, the Year 3 students were looking at reflexive pronouns, a pronouns that ends in 'self' or 'selves' (yourself, themselves etc.). They are used to emphasize the noun without restating the noun again specifically.
The Year 3's continuing to practice daily fluency with timed reads in paired fluency, as well as the explicit teaching of vocabulary.
The Year 3 students have been diligently working on their cursive handrwriting this term.
Maths
Over the past couple of weeks, the Year 3 students have been looking at Time. This unit has been a great review of prior learning, as well as learning new concepts and extending their learning. We have been looking at converting digital time to analogue time, as well as looking at elapsed time and even going beyond to look at 24 hour time!
The Year 3 students did their 1 minute maths fluency tests this week and last week. They have 1 minute to complete 33 questions on each operation. The results were absolutely outstanding!
At Sacred Heart, we love embracing opportunities to do cross-curricular learning. This week, the Year 3 students made sun dials to tell the time using the sun.
Online Time Resources
https://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/viewing/L9643/index.html
https://www.sheppardsoftware.com/math/time/clock-splat-game/#google_vignette
https://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/viewing/L9646/index.html
Year Four
English
Over the past couple of weeks, the Year 4 students have been learning how to expand sentences and combine ideas using appositives. An appositive is a word or group of words that gives extra detail about a noun, making writing clearer and more interesting. For example, instead of “We saw a dog,” students might write “We saw a dog, a fluffy golden retriever, playing in the park.” By practising this skill, students are adding detail and variety to their sentences, improving both creative and informative writing. This work is helping them become more confident and expressive writers.
Maths
Over the past couple of weeks, the Year 4 students have been exploring fractions of a whole and finding the whole from a fraction. They explored equivalent fractions, learning how different fractions could represent the same value. Students also practised renaming fractions as division equations to make stronger connections between fractions and division. Another focus was ordering fractions on a number line, where students compared denominators to see which fractions were larger or smaller. To reinforce their learning, they took part in fraction match games, providing fun and hands-on opportunities to apply their knowledge. This unit strengthened their confidence and fluency with fractions.
Fractions Resources
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/interactive.aspx?cat=24
https://www.legendsoflearning.com/learning-objectives/interpret-fractions-as-division-math-games/
Sarah McGrath
Middle Years Leader
smcgrath@shsandringham.catholic.edu.au