What's happening?
Foundation
Welcome back! Foundation students have enjoyed sharing about their holidays with their teachers and peers. It is lovely to have them back refreshed and ready for a big Term 3! This week, we will be sending home this terms ‘Show and Tell’ topics and roster.
On Wednesday 30th July, we will celebrate our ‘100 days of School’. A detailed notice was sent home this week.
Again, in Term 3, we would love assistance with Corridor Reading 8:50-9:10am (or once structured learning has begun). Sign-up sheets will be located outside of each classroom by the end of this week.
Inquiry:
We have begun our new Inquiry topic; ‘Community Helpers’. We are looking forward to the Fire Brigade visiting on Wednesday 27th August and Thursday 4th September (this is subject to change). We are also very excited about our first excursion to Parkdale Library on Monday 18th August, where we will join a storytime session. Please stay tuned for more information regarding this excursion.
Maths:
Over the next few weeks, we will be revisiting Place Value in our maths groups. Students will be reviewing -ty numbers, teen numbers and 2-digit numbers, to consolidate their understanding of this topic.
Literacy:
Within Phormes, we have begun learning how to read and write CCVCC words, which are five code words. Students are learning to apply comprehension skills within their reading of these words. In writing, students are building on their knowledge of recount writing and beginning to challenge themselves by including extra information.
Now the weather is wet and cold we encourage you to pack spare pants and socks, and a warm (named) navy jacket. It is also a good idea to keep a spare change of underwear, pants, and socks in your child's bag at all times as accidents can occur at school.
We know this will be a great term and cannot wait to see what the kids achieve!
Grade 1
Welcome back and it is wonderful to see the students back at school with enthusiasm and energy and we are so excited to start our new theme about Australia.
In Literacy we are beginning to write descriptive pieces in preparation for writing Information reports. We will be using our knowledge and understanding of Australian themes to write our descriptive and information text. In word study our focus is the sound of “oo” as in room, which have the spelling patterns of “ew and ui” as well. We will be studying these spelling patterns for week 1 and 2. Handwriting focus will be the letter “Pp and the letter Nn.” It is quite common for students to confuse the placement of the lower-case letter p. Practise at home on dotted thirds is always appreciated.
In Maths the students will be concentrating on Measurement of Length using informal units. Students touched on this in Term 2 and will be perfecting the skills of measuring using accuracy of starting points, using a straight length and same size units and then comparing lengths.
Homework has been sent out for students to complete. This involves writing and adding dots to indicate locations on the map of Australia of the places they have been to. They will need some help remembering where they have been and how to find this on the map. We appreciate your help and support with this but also hope that the students can fill in the information onto the map themselves for them to familiarise themselves with Australia. Homework sheets will also go home this week with spelling practise as well. This is a good opportunity for students to revise what they’ve learnt.
Wellbeing this week was a refresher on our new school rules that have been rolled out this year. Next week the students will be learning about fixed and growth mindsets.
Students have been practising their song for the concert. We have the audio recording in Week 3 so if your child would like to practise this at home they can go onto Seesaw to see the words and listen to the song.
Thank you for sending back the readers and continuing to support your child at home with their reading every night. It makes an incredible difference to their progress. Reader helper sheets will be placed outside the classrooms for parents who have any spare time to hear reading. Thank you for your support with this.
Grade 2
Literacy: In Writing, students are learning about the structure and features of Explanation texts.
For reading, students are building their fluency and expression by reading with a partner (fluency pairs).
During our PhOrMes/Word Study lessons, students have been learning to read and spell words containing opening syllables, as well as reviewing previously learnt spelling rules.
Students have also been learning to apply their knowledge from our ‘Grammar Project’ lessons by unscrambling sentences so they make sense with a subject and conjunction in the correct place.
Inquiry: We have introduced our new Inquiry topic for this term, ‘Earth’s Precious Resources’, with some guiding questions including: What are some of the precious things we get from our planet Earth? Where does water come from? Why is it important?
Maths: Students have been building on their understanding of multiplication as repeated addition, groups and arrays, and developing effective strategies for solving multiplication stories and number sentences. Further experiences with these concepts at home will continue to consolidate students’ understanding of multiplication in ‘everyday life’.
Wellbeing: As part of our ‘U R Strong’ program students have been learning about the four strategies for making new friends, including how to show kind and friendly body language. The four strategies for making new friends include: Super Introducer, Ask and Pass, Quick Questions and Be a Friendship Magnet.
Homework: Thank you for your support with homework: Regular reading aloud and a weekly Word Study/PhOrMeS worksheet. Optional online extras: ‘Nessy Reading and Spelling’ and ‘Sunset/Jetpack Maths’ (Essential Assessment).
Grade 3
Core Knowledge: Our inquiry unit this term is all about ‘Forces and Motion’. This week, students investigated forces as a push or a pull, forces in relation to motion, direction, and strength, balanced and unbalanced forces, and gravity.
Writing: We begin the term with a focus on the structure and features of procedural texts. This week, students made a ‘Pom-pom Launcher’ and then had a go at writing a procedure instructing someone on how to make one. This first piece will help guide the direction for their learning over the coming weeks.
In our grammar and syntax lessons, we are revising and building on students’ understanding of complex sentences, dependent and independent clauses, subordinating conjunctions, and punctuation, in order for them to improve their sentence writing skills.
In our word study lessons, we reviewed the morphemes ‘rupt’, ‘port’ and ‘zo’ and combined them with a variety of prefixes and suffixes. We have also been learning more about using the ‘y to i rule when adding a suffix’, as well as reading and spelling a range of homophones and ‘weird words’.
Maths: We are working on multiplication and division again this fortnight, with a focus on using the CUBES strategy and bar modelling to solve worded problems. We’d strongly encourage students to practise times tables and related division facts at home to continue to build their skills and fluency.
Wellbeing/Social skills: This week, students explored the concept of personal and cultural character strengths. They provided examples of how a personal or cultural strength can be used in different situations, and named some strengths people can use to help them to learn and thrive in everyday life.
Homework: Will be assigned this Friday and we will remind students to ask a grown-up to check their homework with them and fix errors or make changes as needed, before submitting. Also, to continue regular home reading, record in diary, get it signed by a grown up, and bring it to school every Friday.
Thanks for your ongoing support with this :)
Grade 4
Welcome back! We hope all Grade 4 families had an enjoyable holiday break and are refreshed and ready to go for an exciting Term 3.
This week in literacy, we began our unit on persuasive writing. Students learnt about the structure of a persuasive text and how to clearly express their opinions. In Reading, we started our new class novel, War Horse. We have begun to unpack its themes, language, and vocabulary by responding to text questions.
In Numeracy, we continued to build our multiplication skills. We practised our number facts to improve our speed and accuracy. We learnt about factors and multiples and explored how they help us understand numbers better. We also practised using the grid method to multiply larger numbers with confidence.
We have begun our new Inquiry topic ‘May The Best Party Win’. Throughout this unit we will explore how the Australian government operates. This week we learnt about the different government styles including an absolute monarchy system, direct democracy, and representative democracy.
Grade 5
Grade 5 students have made a wonderful start to Term 3 and have thoroughly enjoyed delving into new topics and concepts in all areas of the curriculum.
Reading Comprehension
Classes have begun reading and responding to our new mentor text, A Single Shard. Set in 12th century Korea, the story focuses on the adventures of Tree Ear, an orphan who longs to become a master potter. Students will be working to build a deeper level of comprehension by learning about symbolism, different writing styles and literary devices.
Writing
Our focus for writing this term will be explanation and procedural texts. Students kicked off the unit by completing their pre-test explanation text focusing on the digestive system and we're very excited to see what they can produce in the coming weeks.
Maths - Topics for the term are as follows:
Decimals and Percentages
Operations (Problem solving using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division)
Angles
Length, Mass and Capacity
Inquiry - Venture into Vitality (Health)
Grade 5 students have begun our new inquiry topic which focuses on health and learning about the different systems of the body. This week, students recorded and compared their resting and running heart rate and breathing rate.
Reminders
A reminder to all families to please ensure your child is completing their 20 minutes of reading per night and recording the pages read in their diaries, which are submitted every Friday morning to their classroom teacher. Also, please continue to support your child in consistently completing their vocabulary homework via Seesaw and maths homework, both to be completed and submitted every Monday.
Grade 6
Grade 6 students have launched into Term 3 with great energy, beginning their memory books, a special project that reflects on their primary school journey and will be shared with families at graduation. We’ve also started our Literacy focus by reading and analysing The Magician's Nephew, which will also form the basis of most Literacy homework this term.
This term is packed with exciting events, including transition sessions with Kingston Youth Services, our school concert and camp, all of which we hope will add wonderful memories to their books! Please ensure all required camp forms are completed, including those on Compass and the medical forms sent home this week.
In Maths, we’re building on Semester 1 topics, deepening understanding and tackling new challenges. With so much happening, it’s set to be a busy but rewarding term. As always, we’re encouraging students to give their best and our Term 3 motto is 'you only get out what you put in'.