Round the Classes
Reception: Jaya
The receptions have been loving learning new sounds during phonics and are beginning to put them together to sound out words. We are so excited to be taking these next steps in our reading journey and seeing our skills grow!
We have also really enjoyed taking part in a range of STEM challenges! We have been busy designing and building a nest for a bird, creating a paper bridge strong enough to hold an animal and seeing who can build the tallest tower. These challenges have encouraged us to think creatively, share our ideas, work as a team and problem-solve when things don’t go to plan. We have loved testing our creations and finding ways to make them even better!
We are busy preparing for the Uraidla Show, creating our artwork to display and practising our songs ready to perform. We have also loved working alongside Katie’s and Alex’s classes to create chickens for the show, even getting creative by decorating eggs for our feathered friends!
Reception: Katie
Katie's Reception class are very excited about term 4 and are looking forward to all our end of year projects. In maths, we have been learning about teen numbers and estimating. In phonics, we have been learning about vowel digraphs and have been working on getting more fluent with our reading. We have also been busy preparing some songs for the Uraidla Show with the Kindy and are working on some artwork which will be on display at the show. We have also started a new Learner Agency project on Celebrations and have also started another project on how to help those less fortunate this Christmas.
Year 1: Alex
Welcome back to Term 4! We hope everyone had a lovely break. The Year 1 students have been busy settling back into the classroom, reconnecting with friends and getting back into our daily routines. It has been wonderful to see everyone returning ready to learn.
In phonics, we have been learning about long vowel sounds and practising reading and writing words that contain these sounds. The students are working hard to recognise different vowel patterns and apply their learning to their reading and writing.
We have also started our sharing for the term! Each child chooses three special items from home: one that is old, one that they love and one that they are proud of. This is a wonderful opportunity for students to share their stories, build confidence when speaking in front of others and learn more about their classmates. Well done to everyone who has shared so far. We have enjoyed seeing LEGO creations, sentimental teddy bears, special awards and other meaningful treasures. We look forward to hearing more stories over the coming weeks!
We have also enjoyed having Ruth visit our classroom to teach us about Kimochis. We have been exploring our feelings and emotions and reflecting on how we may have felt during our first week back at school. We discussed different emotions and ways to recognise and understand how we are feeling and look forward to building on our skills in this area.
Year 2: Suzie and Izzy
Students are beginning to explore the features of persuasive texts in literacy to express a viewpoint or argument and will continue to develop their technique over the next few weeks. Poetry is another current focus, with students exploring alliteration.
In numeracy, students have been developing their knowledge of fractions through part and whole, recognising this through using shapes and collections. Calendar time has been a focus with Izzie.
Students have been busy preparing items to display at the Uraidla Show with Izzie, exploring artwork creations using clay and paints. They have been practising two choir songs with Alex’s Year 1 class to perform at the Uraidla Show also.
We have started breaking down the choreography for our end-of-year concert dance, with students getting excited and inquisitive about what type of costume would suit our performance.
Students watched a video this week on the Adelaide Botanic Gardens in preparation for our excursion next week. This produced great excitement and discussion amongst the students for this upcoming event.
Year 2/3: Emma
Welcome back to Term 4, everyone! It has been so wonderful to see all the students again and hear about their adventures over the break.
We have been enjoying all aspects of our learning, particularly exploring 2D and 3D shapes in our Maths lessons. The students always enjoy modelling and representing their thinking using concrete materials. This week, we took on the challenge of building the tallest possible structure using plasticine and toothpicks, while incorporating the shapes we have learnt about so far. Moving on from this, we have been looking into arrays and discussing the use of this early form of grouping objects together and how this can help with multiplication problems to come.
During Literacy, we have been exploring imagery through poetry. The students have been choosing a special place to explore through their senses and selecting descriptive words to bring these places to life.
In Design and Technology, we have been enjoying creating our dioramas. The students have chosen a bug to research, investigating its habitat before bringing their learning to life through their projects.
This learning will complement our upcoming excursion to the Botanic Gardens next Wednesday. We are very excited to share this experience together and look forward to extending our learning through this special visit!
Year 3/4: Stephen and Kelly
This fortnight, on Thursdays and Fridays, we have been focusing on persuasive writing.... We have been looking at how debating works and coming up with one or two reasons for why they are for or against the topic. The challenge was that they had to come up with a reason for a topic they didn't agree with or be on the against side with the topic they did agree with.
In maths, we have been looking at time - focusing on the analogue clock. Understanding how the hands work and the past and to times. We have also been working on subtraction tasks where they are learning how to use the borrowing system to work out the answers.
We are still continuing our drama play and are now learning how to follow a script in our two groups. The biggest challenge has been listening to other peers speak and keeping track of where we are up to in the play. It is slowly coming along, and we hope to perform in front of the Year 3/4 parents later this term.
Year 4/5: Rachael and Troy
This term, our Year 4/5 students have been exploring a range of inquiry projects. Our wonderful excursion to Monarto Safari Park provided a great hook for our animal and conservation inquiry. Inspired by what we saw and learned, students have been developing their own questions to investigate, guided by our big inquiry question: How can curiosity about animals, habitats and conservation help us understand and care for our world?
We have also been exploring the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, beginning with Goal #1 – No Poverty. Students have researched what poverty is, who it affects and how we can make a difference. They are using their findings to choose meaningful actions they can take to contribute to this important goal. We were also fortunate to welcome a guest speaker from the St Vincent de Paul Society, who helped deepen our understanding of Vinnie's role in supporting people in the community and the services they provide.
Our inquiry mindset has also extended into spelling. Students became word detectives, independently investigating the meaning of the prefix fore- and discovering how it connects to the meanings of different words.
In maths, we concluded our multiplication and division unit with a remainder investigation. Students explored how remainders can be expressed using whole numbers and decimal fractions, comparing their answers, identifying patterns and making connections between different mathematical representations.
Our day at Monarto Safari Park was a fabulous day of learning and discovery! Here’s a snapshot of what we loved most:
I enjoyed being in the bison habitat, shoveling poo. We learnt that in 15 minutes, 48 students could do the work of what would normally take one zoo keeper 8 hours. Zoe
I loved seeing so many animals and how they might behave in the wild. Zadie
I liked seeing the meerkats because they were really cute and they looked very relaxed lying in the sun while the scout stood at the top of the mound and looked out for danger. Kaspar
I enjoyed seeing the animals behave naturally in the environment of the park. Vincent
I liked how we got to see a lot of animals all around the park. I hadn’t seen a cheetah up close before. Our guide Jo, told us so many facts about all of the animals. I learnt that at a time there were only 12 Przewalski horses left in the wild. Now that Monarto has got them into the conservation program there are a lot more of them. Evie
I loved watching the carnivores move. Seeing the painted dog was awesome because I’ve never seen one and they are one of my favourite animals. Leonard
Year 5/6: Sallie
Welcome back to the last term of 2026. Last primary school term for our Year 6s....wow can you believe it?
This term we are squeezing in formal learning around a very long list of things to complete. In the last fortnight, we have finished our artwork for the show (and poem to go with the art work), we are putting the finishing touches on our Building a Community - Makers Empire (design and technology) prototypes and starting our 3D designing (which hopefully we will start 3D printing this week). Everyone is looking forward to our parent showcase on October 29th; please make sure you put this date in your diary. Also, at the showcase students will be sharing their personal projects (lots of creative and informative things to see). We have also been busy working on finalising these projects.
The Year 6s of 2027 have voted on their Year 6 jumper design and I am in the process of getting a sizing kit so we can get our order underway. In maths, we are looking at angles and using a protractor. As always, we are busy and engaged. We are looking forward to the special Adelaide Oval/cricket excursion on Wednesday.
