What's Happening
Foundation
Oh my goodness! Our lovely Foundation students have been very busy enjoying all of our school activities and special event days. We had our first school photo (the students looked fabulous!), and we absolutely loved welcoming all our mums and special people into the classrooms on Friday. It was such a warm and joyful celebration!
A big thank you to our amazing helpers with corridor reading. Your support makes a real difference in building our young learners’ confidence with reading and writing. There are still some gaps in the roster, so if you are available, please feel free to add your name. We truly appreciate the extra help.
Literacy
In Literacy this week, students have been continuing to learn about digraphs, including ‘ch’, ‘th’, ‘ng’, and ‘wh’. They have been applying this knowledge while working with CVC (consonant–vowel–consonant) words and simple sentences. Next week, we will review CVC words and continue practising how to decode words and apply our understanding of digraphs in writing.
It is common for young learners to reverse ‘b’ and ‘d’ in both reading and writing. We teach a range of strategies to support them, and we encourage you to gently remind your child if they mix them up. It takes time, exposure, and practice, but we are already seeing wonderful progress. We continue to be so impressed with their developing writing skills. It is lovely to see their confidence growing!
Maths
This week we finished our Place Value unit in Maths groups. As this is a very important concept, it will be revisited in Terms 3 and 4, as well as during our Maths warm-ups. Next week, we will begin learning about 2-dimensional (2D) shapes.
Inquiry – Healthy Habits
As part of our ‘Healthy Habits’ topic, students participated in a healthy eating experience this week. They explored the benefits of fruits and vegetables and learned about the essential nutrients our bodies need to stay strong and healthy. Students will continue making connections between the nutrients in different foods and how they support various parts of the body.
Show and Tell
This week’s Show and Tell is linked to our inquiry unit, ‘Healthy Habits’. Students will complete a ‘Dinner on a Plate’ activity at home to support their presentation. They are encouraged to draw and label the different parts of their dinner. Please take a moment to talk with your child about the foods they are eating and how these foods help their bodies grow and stay healthy.
Reminders
As the weather becomes wetter and colder, we encourage you to pack spare pants and socks, along with 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 happen at school. Please ensure all clothing items are clearly named.
The Foundation Team
Grade 1
Literacy
This week in Literacy, students were introduced to poetry writing through cinquain poems. They thoroughly enjoyed creating poems about the different seasons, using a variety of adjectives they brainstormed together.
Next week, we will continue our poetry unit by writing poems using our five senses, helping students to build vivid and descriptive language.
In Word Study, we have finished learning the ‘ough’ code and are now working on the ‘oe’ and ‘oa’ codes.
Reading
In Reading, we have been focusing on developing fluency. This means reading smoothly, with expression, and sounding like they are talking rather than like a robot.We encourage all students to continue reading at home each day, as this is an important way to practise and consolidate the skills we are working on in class. Thank you for your ongoing support with this.
Numeracy
In Numeracy, students have begun learning about Measurement, with a focus on comparing length, capacity, and mass. They have been exploring and using measurement language such as hefting, heavy, heavier, lighter, the same, full, empty, half full, and quarter full.
Students have especially enjoyed the hands-on activities involved in this unit. You might even notice them wanting to help in the kitchen at home as they practise their measuring skills!
Reminder:
Please check that your child’s school jackets/jumpers, drink bottles and lunchboxes have their name clearly written on them.
Grade 2
Literacy: Over the past two weeks, we’ve enjoyed connecting our Inquiry topic, ‘All Mixed Up’, with our English learning. Students have been exploring procedural texts, identifying their key features, and beginning to write their own. As part of this, students made bubbles in class followed by writing her own procedural text on ‘How to Make Bubble Mixture’.
In PhOrMes/Word Study, students have been focusing on reading and spelling words that use a and ar to produce the “ar” sound. They have also been learning how to form plurals and use them in the third person.
Through our Grammar Project lessons, students are practising how to recognise adjectives and use more descriptive language when writing their own sentences.
Inquiry / Core Knowledge: We are continuing with our shared class text, which supports our ‘All Mixed Up’ Science/Inquiry unit. Students are developing their skills in locating information, participating in discussions, and answering questions before, during, and after reading.
Our learning has focused on the states of matter—solids, liquids, and gases—and understanding that matter is anything that occupies space.
Maths: In maths groups, students have recently completed their learning on place value, where they practised identifying, representing, and renaming numbers. They have now moved on to exploring length as part of our measurement unit. This includes comparing, sequencing, and measuring objects using suitable informal units, as well as some common metric units.
Wellbeing: Our wellbeing and social learning lessons focused on reflection. Students engaged in an interactive game designed to test and develop their listening skills, helping students recognise the value of listening carefully rather than making assumptions. In addition, students took part in a self-reflection activity where they identified positive adjectives to describe their behaviours and actions, encouraging greater self-awareness and confidence in recognising their strengths.
Rotations: We have continued our rotations program, where students collaborate with peers and teachers across the four classes. These sessions promote teamwork, mindfulness, and creative expression through art-based activities.
Homework: Thank you for your ongoing support with homework. This includes regular reading practice and a weekly Word Study/PhOrMes worksheet. Optional online programs include Nessy Reading and Spelling and Sunset/Jetpack Maths (Essential Assessment).
Reminder:
Please check that your child’s school jackets/jumpers, drink bottles and lunchboxes have their name clearly written on them.
Notes: Please ensure your child brings a full water bottle to school each day and uses the bathroom before coming to class. Thanks, from the Grade 2 team! 🙂
Grade 3
Core Knowledge: As part of our unit, ‘We Are One’, we have explored the concepts of identity and culture, and the meaning of a ‘Welcome to Country’ and ‘Acknowledgment of Country’ (along with the similarities and differences between the two). We have also looked into ‘The Dreaming’ and how creation stories help to explain the history and some of the traditional beliefs held by First Nations Australians. Our Grade 3 students will participate in an incursion on Monday 25th May, involving a variety of activities about First Nations Australians (please see Compass for details and consent).
Writing: Our focus this fortnight with information reports has been on writing ‘body paragraphs’ that include a topic sentence, supporting details, and a concluding sentence, as well as using appropriate technical language and precise vocabulary. During our grammar and syntax lessons, students have been learning how to expand simple sentences by adding more detail and using adverbs of time, place and manner.
Word Study: Students are enjoying finding about the history of the English language this week, learning that English is not the same language it was when it started hundreds of years ago. English has borrowed lots of words from other languages, and when it borrowed words from other languages, it also borrowed the spellings from those languages too. So, English spelling now has the spelling patterns from lots of languages
Maths: We have been working through our ‘Time’ topic this fortnight. Students have been investigating the relationship between formal units of time, including days, hours, minutes and seconds, and estimating and comparing the duration of events. They have continued to build their understanding and skills with reading the time on analogue and digital clocks to the minute. As always, we encourage opportunities to continue exploring these concepts further at home.
Wellbeing: Our wellbeing sessions this fortnight continued teaching students important strategies for building and maintaining positive relationships using the UR Strong Friendology program. We explored four strategies for making new friends, as well as the ‘truths’ of friendship, which aim to help students have realistic expectations in their friendships.
Homework: Thank you for your support with homework. We have reminded all students to ask a grown-up to check their homework with them and fix errors or make changes as needed, before submitting. We encourage you to support your child with completing tasks as needed.
We will continue to collect diaries every Friday to monitor and reward home reading and remind parents to please check and sign your child's diary each week.
Reminder:
Please check that your child’s school jackets/jumpers, drink bottles and lunchboxes have their name clearly written on them.
Grade 4
Wonderful learning continues to happen in Grade 4 & the arrival of our chicks this week has been a highlight. Many of our students are showing wonderful curiosity as we delve further into our science unit, ‘Friends or Foes?’. They have been asking terrific, thought-provoking questions as they continue to participate in hands-on activities as well as reading and writing tasks that centre around building their background knowledge and making meaningful connections with their world.
Reading & Science: The students have been immersed in reading about plants and different animal life cycles. Many in depth discussions have been taking place across all classes which have centred around our big questions such as: How do the parts of a flower contribute to pollination? How do different types of animals change throughout their lives? What is the lifecycle of a bee? As our learning is science based, the students have been developing their observation skills. They have planted grass seeds in glass jars and will be monitoring the growth of these in the next couple of weeks. Students have begun writing & drawing what they see & are describing the stages of growth using the vocabulary that they have been learning through their reading. They have also looked more closely at flowers using magnifying glasses and learning about the different parts that are responsible for pollination.
Explanation writing: After the completion of a pre-assessment writing task by the students, we identified specific areas of explanation texts to direct our explicit teaching towards. Our focus has been on learning particular language features such as sequencing words (eg. first of all, next, following on, eventually, finally) which are used to indicate the stages or process within an explanation. We have also looked at what adverbs are & how they can be classified eg. adverbs of manner, time, frequency and place. The students will be conducting research in class on a chosen animal or plant life cycle in preparation to write their own explanation text.
Numeracy: We have started our learning of ‘Time’ concepts this week. Students have been practising telling the time to and past in 1-minute intervals, calculating periods of elapsed time, converting units of time as well as learning to read 24-hour clock times. ‘Daily Review’ tasks at the beginning of every Maths lesson have given our students the opportunity to review their learning and work with multiplication, fractions and time.
Homework:
Reading 5 x week. Students should be recording their reading in their diary and we ask if you could please sign these at the end of the week.
Word study + morphology task (Seesaw or hard copy)
Maths - division practice
Reminders:
Healesville Excursion is on Thursday 21st May. Permission & payment is due by Friday 15th May. Please see excursion details on COMPASS.
Please check that your child’s school jackets/jumpers, drink bottles and lunchboxes have their name clearly written on them.
Grade 4 Team
Grade 5
We have had another engaging and productive week of learning across all curriculum areas, with students demonstrating thoughtful participation.
In Reading and Inquiry, students have continued exploring non-fiction texts about Arthur Phillip and the arrival of the First Fleet arrival at Botany Bay. They have been developing their understanding of different perspectives, particularly those of British settlers and First Nations peoples, with a strong focus on the impact and consequences of colonisation. Students have engaged in rich discussions and reflections, showing increasing empathy and critical thinking.
In Writing, students responded thoughtfully to Ruth Hegarty’s story, using emotive and evaluative language to express their ideas. We have also continued to strengthen our grammar skills, with a focus on sentence structure and vocabulary choices to enhance writing.
Our Word Study this week explored the morphemes tend, tent, and tense. Students investigated their meanings (relating to “stretch” or “strain”) and identified how these word parts appear in everyday language, helping to build their spelling and word understanding.
In Maths, we have been working on comparing, ordering, adding, and subtracting fractions with like and related denominators. Students are developing greater fluency and confidence as they apply these skills to a range of problems.
In Grade 5 Sport, students have been learning and refining key hockey skills, with a focus on control, passing, and teamwork.
A highlight of the week was our excursion to Parkdale Secondary College, where students thoroughly enjoyed watching a live performance of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was a fantastic experience that sparked excitement and engagement.
We are looking forward to another wonderful week of learning ahead.
Reminders:
Reading, Literacy, and Mathematics homework will recommence in Week 2.
Please check that your child’s school jackets/jumpers, drink bottles and lunchboxes have their name clearly written on them.
Grade 6
Literacy
Students have continued their work on information reports this week, researching, planning, and writing a text about a famous person of their choice. Next week, students will begin working on our media study for this term based on the film ‘Hidden Figures’.
In Reading, we have continued working on our ‘Astronomy: Space Systems’ unit. This week, students have considered the question ‘How can I model the relationship between the sun, earth and moon?’.
Mathematics
In Mathematics, we have begun our unit on Fractions, Decimals & Percentages. Students will be working on a BAR Modelling task during their Friday session this week. In week 4, students will commence the second week of our unit on fractions.
RRRR
Students participated in their first lesson from topic seven of the Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships program last week, with our topic being ‘Talking about gender – from inclusive language to inclusive actions’.
Interschool Sport
Students will begin their Term 2 Interschool Sport this Friday 8th May (weather permitting). This week, we will be at home against Mordialloc Beach. Good luck to all our teams.
Term 2 Dates
Please check Compass and Focus for details on Term 2 dates for Grade 6 students.
Happy Mother's Day this Sunday, to all mothers in the Parkdale Primary School community.
Reminder:
Please check that your child’s school jackets/jumpers, drink bottles and lunchboxes have their name clearly written on them.