From the Classroom

News from The Seniors

We’ve heard that our senior students are having an incredible time at Somers Camp! We can’t wait to hear about their adventures and the new friendships they’ve made when they return.

Back at school, the students who remained have been beautifully behaved and inclusive of one another. With students from two different classes working together this week, it’s been lovely to see how supportive and respectful they’ve been as a group. We’re looking forward to settling back into a more familiar rhythm once everyone returns on Thursday.

Nowthat students have developed a strong understanding of equivalent fractions and how to convert between fractions, decimals, and percentages, we’re moving into new areas. Over the next fortnight, students will learn to add and subtract fractions, and begin exploring number patterns. They’ll create sequences involving whole numbers, fractions, and decimals, and work on identifying and describing the rules used to create these patterns.

In English, students will continue reading our class novel, Boy Overboard, as we explore what life was like for the characters and how their experiences connect to the real world. Students will also engage with a range of rich picture storybooks and deepen their understanding of how authors and illustrators use words and images to make the story more powerful and meaningful.

Middle School News

In English, Middle A is studying 'Wandi,' which is a book about a dingo. As we are reading the book, we are also investigating how to write a persuasive text, by using the correct structure, word choice and emotive language.

Middle B have been reading 'Tashi' as a shared class novel. They have also been investigating the use of noun groups and how different cultures are represented in texts. 

In Maths, Middle A continue to review the four operations over the next fortnight and study perimeter and area of regular and irregular shapes. Students should be practicing their times tables four times a week.  

Middle B have begun regular maths fluency challenges and have been learning to record, partition and rename 3 and 4 digit numbers using Base 10 blocks and money.  

In Science, we are looking at volcanoes and will investigate why volcanoes erupt and where we can find them. In Inquiry, we continue to look at Australia's landmarks and what makes them so special and unique.

Juniors Tell All

The Junior Unit have been loving immersing themselves in our "Under the Sea" animal-study unit. We have been looking at animal features and grouping them based on these features. 

In English, our students have been learning how texts can be used to inform and entertain. Specifically we have been investigating how texts are organised in different ways to share information. Students in Junior A have learnt about whales through the mentor-text Fluke, and Junior B have learnt about Turtles through Timmy the Turtle's Big Adventure.

Students are continuing to flourish in their literacy lessons, with students in Junior A beginning to read words using the entire basic code (all of the alphabet) and building in the size of the words they are reading, moving to 4 and 5 letter words. In Junior B, students are building their expertise in the extended code, where they are practicing their individual reading goals everyday.

In Maths, the junior unit have continued to reinforce their whole number knowledge, with Junior A beginning to round numbers and experiment with counting backwards, and Junior B linking their number knowledge to addition and subtraction.

Junior A have loved welcoming in our local Kinders this term, as part of our Step into Prep program, we have invited the kindy kids in to share in some of our learning. This has been a great opportunity for our future preppies to get a feel for the routines and fun of 'big school', while letting our current preps take their buddies under their wing and show them the Marlborough way.

Here are a few happy snaps from the students on their Fun Day on the last day of their swimming week!

Performing Arts

It's been a great 2 weeks in Performing Arts! The Juniors continued their Music Unit, where they have been learning the difference between beat and rhythm. 

The Middle and Senior school has been performing their plays written last term and are beginning their Music Unit, where they will be learning how to play the ukulele. I have been very proud of all the groups for their creativity and collaboration in creating their plays!