Classroom News
Foundation
Decoding
In Decoding, we have begun introducing students to our consonant digraphs. A digraph is where 2 letters come together to make 1 sound. We have looked at /th/ as in thumb, /th/ as in that and /ch/ as in chips. Students read stories about Zin and Thog and a cheeky seagull who likes to steal chips and left a “plop” as a thank you! It has been great to see students engage with these sounds and many noticed how many heart words have had these sounds, in particular /th/.
Text Construction
In Text Construction, we have begun writing retells about the stories we are reading. Students have learnt that an author can write for many purposes; to persuade, inform or to entertain. Our re-tells have focused on entertaining the reader, therefore we want to include a variety of sentence types when telling our story.
Last week students re-told the story of the “Little Red Hen” and learnt that if you don’t share in the work, then you should not expect to share in the reward. This week we have read the fable called “The Dog and His Reflection”. Students learnt that a fable is trying to teach them a lesson. We explored vocabulary words such as reflection, greedy, stream, fierce and feast and encouraged students to use these words in their retell. They have been introduced to our story grammar images, with a particular focus on the characters and setting.
Maths
In Maths, students have been exploring the concept of sharing, through hands-on activities that link to their everyday life. We have practiced sharing between groups of 2, 3, 4 and more and have discussed what it means for groups to be equal and whether their sharing is “fair”.Students used the school fruit bowls as a real life example of how they would need to share fruit equally between FDA and FDB. This week we are focusing on making equal groups, with students needing to create groups containing a certain quantity e.g. Make groups of 2 using 14 counters. How many groups do you have? This topic has allowed us to briefly introduce skip counting to students and the concept of odd and even numbers.
Discoveries
In Design and Technology and Performing Arts students have been introduced to the design process and have been given a problem they need to solve; We have a special visitor coming to watch our pupper shows, but we don’t have any puppets or a puppet theatre! Students have been placed into groups and will be required to make the puppets and the theatre for their fairytale. We have begun by designing our puppets and theatres and soon we will begin to make them! We can’t wait to watch students get creative.
Junior School
Content Knowledge
Students have been exploring the fascinating world of Ancient Egypt! We have been learning about Egyptian gods and beliefs, hieroglyphs and pyramids. Students have been particularly interested in discovering how the Ancient Egyptians designed and built such impressive structures using the tools and resources available to them at the time.
Handwriting
Students have been continuing to develop their handwriting skills, focusing on correct letter formation, consistent sizing and spacing between letters and words. They have also begun learning about prefixes and suffixes and how they can change the meaning of words. Have a look below at some examples of how we learned about the prefix ‘un’!
Text Construction
Students have been using their knowledge about Ancient Egyptian gods, landscapes, and specific vocabulary to plan and write their own Egyptian narratives. They used a planning document to develop their characters, setting, problem and resolution, as well as sentence starters for each section of their story. Students then revised and edited their writing, focusing on adding adjectives and adverbs to make their narratives more detailed, engaging and interesting for their audience.
Maths
In Maths, students have been developing their understanding of multiplication and division and learning a range of strategies to solve problems. For multiplication, students have explored skip counting, repeated addition, arrays and doubling. For division, they have used arrays, making equal groups, sharing between groups and skip counting. To understand the link between multiplication and division, students completed fact families for collections of money. We are now learning about time and calendars, including the months of the year, days of the week, reading and interpreting calendars, and telling the time using an analogue clock.
Middle School
With the works starting on the Middle School building, our students have demonstrated fantastic resilience in settling into their new learning spaces. We have been so impressed with the way students have adapted to new routines and continued their learning in these different environments. It has been exciting to watch on and see the changes already being made to our classrooms.
It was fantastic to see so many Middle School students dressed up for Book Week last Friday. Miss Musselwhite loved sitting amongst some fairy tale princesses while weaving in Visual Arts on Friday morning.
In Week 9, we will be heading on our excursion to Kryal Castle. Please make sure you have viewed the information on Sentral and provided payment and permission. Please reach out to the lovely ladies in the office or your child’s classroom teacher if you have any difficulties in doing so.
Word Study
Over the last few weeks we have been learning about morphemes. These are the smallest parts of words that create meaning. We have been exploring different prefixes and suffixes, and the ways they can change the meaning of a base word. Students have utilised morpheme matrixes to build words and explore meanings. Can you create the nine words from the matrix below?
Content Knowledge
Our Medieval Europe topic has come to an end, so we are now engaging in read-alouds of the classic legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. As we are reading, students are developing their note taking skills. They are practicing identifying important details within the text and recording these in note form. This skill is supporting students when answering comprehension questions about the text, for they can utilise their notes to recall key details.
Text Construction
Students have been developing their sentence level skills, focussing on including key details from the King Arthur text, and interesting vocabulary in single sentence summaries. They have utilised their knowledge of subordinating conjunctions, appositives and FANBOYS to write complex sentences.
Numeracy
The focus in Numeracy has been on decimal numbers. Students have used concrete materials (MAB), drawing models, and number lines to represent tenths, hundredths and thousandths. Students connected decimals to their fraction knowledge and extended their understanding of place value. Students used decimats to help solidify the idea that more decimal places does not mean a larger number. For example, the decimal 0.243 (two hundred and forty-three thousandths) is smaller than the decimal 0.5 (five tenths). Students explored ordering decimals and placing them on number lines.
Senior School
Literacy
After completing our learning about the Renaissance and Reformation, students have begun exploring our new topic, The Golden Age. They will investigate this fascinating period in history, exploring the people, ideas, discoveries and events that shaped this important time. Students will build their historical knowledge while developing their skills in reading, research and discussing the past.
Numeracy
In Maths, students have finished our unit on measurement, where they developed their skills in converting between different metric units of length, mass and capacity. We have now begun exploring time, with students learning to read and convert between 12-hour and 24-hour time, interpret timetables and calculate elapsed time. Students are applying these skills to a range of practical, real-life problems.
Visual Art
It has been a creative and busy time in Visual Arts!
Our Junior students have been exploring texture and colour through crayon rubbings and colourful sand pictures. They have enjoyed experimenting with different surfaces and creating vibrant, textured artworks.
Middle school students have been using charcoal to create dramatic drawings of castles. They have developed their skills in shading, line and tone to complete their individual designs.
Our Grade 5/6 students have been making their own small fabric creatures. They have chosen fabrics, sketched a design and applied their stitching skills to bring their design to life.
During term 3 it has been wonderful to see students across the school experimenting with different materials, developing new skills and, most importantly, enjoying the creative process! Well done everyone!
Karen Biscan