Classroom News
Foundation
Welcome back to our students and families — we hope you had a relaxing and enjoyable break. It’s hard to believe we’ve reached the final term of the year! Term 4 is always an exciting and busy one, filled with learning, celebration, and reflection on how much our students have grown.
Over the coming weeks, students will be engaging in a range of meaningful learning experiences as we consolidate key skills and explore new topics. We’re looking forward to a fantastic Term 4 together — let’s make it a memorable finish to a wonderful year of learning!
Literacy
This Term we have started to introduce students to long vowel sounds. Last week we looked at the phoneme /ai/ and this week has focused on the phoneme /ee/. Students have read books with these sounds and have attempted dictation sentences that include words using these sounds.
We have shared with students our new Content Knowledge unit My Body, My Senses and discussed how our senses help us understand our surroundings. Students enjoyed a sensory walk around the school, identifying what they could see, feel, smell, taste and hear. This week we have focused on our sense of sight and learnt how our pupils and iris help us detect light and that some people need tools such as glasses to help with their vision.
Maths
In Mathematics, students have been asking questions to collect and display data. This has involved sorting objects to discover what has more and less and answering a daily question of the day. Students have been excited to explore what they can find out about their class with a simple question.
Junior School
To start Term 4, Junior students have started learning about early American Civilisations during Content Knowledge. They have learnt about the Mayan and Aztec people, and have applied this knowledge in their writing. They are beginning to write short paragraphs, and have identified interesting facts to include in this writing.
Currently, our phonics focus is all the jobs of the letter Y! Not only does it make a consonant sound, like in yo-yo, but can make three different vowel sounds. They have explored y making a long i sound (fly), a long e sound (baby) and short i (gym). When reading decodable texts, try to spot all the different sounds the letter y can make!
In Numeracy, students have been learning to use directional language. They have used forwards, backwards, left and right to describe pathways and positions on maps. They had a lot of fun creating simple maps based on the text “Rosie’s Walk”
Middle School
Literacy: Middle School have begun an exciting new topic exploring the many processes that shape our Earth. Geology has been a particular focus this week, with students enjoying learning about igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks, and discovering what lies beneath the Earth’s crust. In Text Construction we have been creating expanded sentences using a kernel and asking various questions such as Who? What? When? Where? Why or How? to include more information in our sentences.
Numeracy: In Numeracy, students have been using data sets to create a variety of graphs, including bar, line, and pie charts. They have particularly enjoyed interpreting the data — especially when comparing the impressive lengths of different animals’ horns, tongues, and teeth!
Reminders: Please return the Expression of Interest sheet for the upcoming Middle School Camp or complete the Google Form that was sent via Sentral.
Visual Art
Term 3 was full of colour and creativity in the Art room!
Year 3/4 students explored mosaics, creating vibrant tiled artworks while learning about this ancient art form and developing fine motor skills.
Senior students designed quirky “Name Monsters”, turning letters from their names into imaginative characters. This fun project combined drawing, lettering, and creativity. Junior students got into the festive spirit early, designing entries for a Christmas card competition. Their joyful artworks showed great use of colour, theme, and layout.
A special highlight was an incursion from the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA). All students created artworks around the theme of love, contributing to a beautiful collaborative piece. We’re proud of their efforts and look forward to more creativity in Term 4!
Science
Last term, students created their own mini shelters in Science. Over several weeks, they planned, built, and tested shelters with the goal of making them both waterproof and windproof.
Using natural materials collected from outdoors — along with playdough, mud, and string — students brought their creative designs to life. The final test? Seeing which shelters could withstand the wind and rain! It was a fun and hands-on way to learn about materials, structure, and the science of weather protection.
