Junior School News

Preps Celebrate 100 Days of Learning

Recently, the Preps celebrated being at school for 100 days! What a wonderful milestone to achieve. A special Assembly was held in honour of the day and the Preps sang a song and shared interesting facts about 100. They enjoyed special activities throughout the day that related to 100. These included threading 100 Fruitloops to create a necklace, counting different collections of 100 objects and making 100 day crowns to name a few. All the preps had a fun and exciting day that they will hopefully remember forever. 

Literacy

This term, we are delighted to introduce the Little Learners Love Literacy program across our junior classrooms. This structured and sequential phonics-based program supports students in building strong foundational reading and spelling skills. It focuses on explicitly teaching the sounds (phonemes) and letters (graphemes) of the English language, blending and segmenting skills, and high-frequency words using decodable texts. The students are absolutely loving the engaging activities, catchy characters, and stories that accompany this program.

In Reading and Writing, our genre focus is on Informative Texts. Students are learning how to locate and identify key facts, use headings and diagrams, and understand the structure and purpose of informative writing. In writing, the students are planning, drafting and publishing short informative pieces, gradually building confidence in using topic sentences, supporting details, and labelled diagrams. This learning links directly to the Victorian Curriculum, where students begin to understand how texts can inform and how to compose short informative pieces using simple sentences and accurate punctuation.

We are also making meaningful connections between Literacy, Religious Education and our Inquiry unit by exploring texts and discussions around sustainability, recycling and caring for God’s creation — a wonderful way to tie together learning across curriculum areas with real-world purpose.

Mathematics

In Mathematics, students are developing their understanding across three key areas this term:

• Shape: Students are exploring 2D shapes and 3D objects, learning to identify, describe and compare them based on features such as sides, corners, and faces. They are sorting shapes using these features and beginning to understand symmetry and the language of location.
• Multiplication and Division: Students are building on their understanding of grouping and sharing. They are solving problems using equal groups, arrays and repeated addition, laying the groundwork for formal multiplication and division. They are also representing their thinking using drawings, objects, and number sentences.
• Measurement and Time: Students are exploring how to measure length, capacity and mass using informal and formal units. They are also learning to read and interpret time to the hour and half-hour, as well as understanding the days of the week and the months of the year.

These learning experiences are grounded in the Victorian Curriculum goals of developing number sense, applying mathematical strategies, and building familiarity with everyday mathematical concepts.

Religious Education & Inquiry

In our Inquiry and Religious Education units this term students are exploring what it means to care for God’s creation by looking at recycling, conserving resources, and understanding their role as stewards of the Earth.

In Inquiry, our Science focus is on Causation and Change- Forces and Motion, where students will:

• Investigate how pushes and pulls cause movement and change in shape.
• Identify and experiment with different types of forces and simple machines.
• Explore floating and sinking through hands-on experimentation.
• Develop labelled plans to design and build floating devices.
• Work collaboratively to test and refine their creations.

Throughout the unit, students engage in scientific thinking by asking questions, recording observations, using arrows to show forces, and presenting their learning in multiple formats.

In Religious Education, these scientific concepts are deepened through spiritual reflection. Using Bible stories, student wonderings and class discussions, students explore the Catholic understanding of stewardship. Students reflect on how God calls us to care for the world, and how we might respond through actions both big and small.

We are exploring key curriculum strands such as:

• P&CE (Personal and Communal Engagement): Reflecting on how the Word of God is encountered in daily life and within the community.
• K&U (Knowledge and Understanding): Learning about stewardship in the Catholic tradition.
• R&R (Reasoning and Responding): Evaluating how human actions affect the environment and how we can make better choices.

Wellbeing

Our wellbeing focus continues to be guided by the Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) curriculum. This term, we are working through Units 3 and 4, which are:

• Unit 3: Positive Coping - Students explore a variety of strategies for managing their emotions and stress. They learn how to identify positive self-talk, problem-solving steps and relaxation strategies. The goal is to help them build a toolbox of ways to respond to challenging situations in calm and constructive ways.
• Unit 4: Problem-Solving - Students engage in role plays, discussions and stories to explore ways to solve everyday social problems. They learn how to consider different perspectives, suggest fair solutions, and evaluate the outcomes of their choices. This supports them in becoming confident and empathetic members of our classroom and wider community.

As always, we value your support and partnership. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or to share your child’s experiences at home!

Mrs Erica Cremer and Mrs Fiona Clifford. 

Year 1/2 Classroom Teachers