Infants and Primary
INFANTS
What a hot fortnight we have had to round off Summer and welcome Autumn. Students were treated to a zooper dooper last Thursday and Friday afternoons to cool them down after some serious brain strain and sports action. It was lovely seeing them all enjoying this surprise treat together – thank you to the secret organisers of this!
With the hot weather still continuing, it is essential that hats are worn during all breaks. Please send a labelled school bucket hat with your child each day so that they do not miss out on making the most of break times and outdoor learning during the day.
A note has gone home this week providing details and dates for many school events throughout the year. Please keep this handy on the fridge or noticeboard at home to refer to as needed when making your own family arrangements. We have done our very best to include as many dates as possible, however please understand that these dates are subject to change and any updated information about specific events and dates will be provided as it becomes available.
As always, please contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns.
Kindy
We’ve been very busy with the business of learning in Kindergarten and are making great strides in all areas. It is amazing to see how many learning goals are being achieved in roughly half a term.
A highlight this fortnight was taking part in a ‘Bus Safety Incursion’, organised by Young NRMA. We were lucky to have 2 local Police Officers (Ando and Elliot) and our local Ambulance Officer (Tess) as well as 2 Police Officers from Young come and speak to us about how to be safe when waiting for buses, hopping on and off buses, and while travelling on the bus. We enjoyed a short ride around town so we could practice these skills, and for some of our students this was particularly exciting as it was “the first bus ride of my entire life”! Thank you to Susie from NRMA Young for coordinating this for us and to our great Police and Ambulance Officers for teaching us about being safe when out and about.
In Mathematics we have been exploring patterns and discovered that numbers are patterns too. We have been making ‘growing’ and ‘shrinking’ patterns using lots of different materials and have enjoyed the hands on nature of these activities. Over the coming fortnight we are learning about measuring, including length, mass and volume. Lots of opportunities to see how maths fits into our everyday lives.
Year 1
Well, we are well and truly into the swing of the school year. Students have been extremely busy in all aspects of school life over the last two weeks. We have completed our two weeks of Swimming for Sport, and all the students have learned something about safety around water. Sport for the rest of the term will involve Year 1 learning about gross motor skills and locomotor movements and preparing for the upcoming Athletics Carnival. Many students in Year 1 made it to the Boorowa Show on the weekend and were able to see our wonderful school display. The parrots we made for the display will be added to our classroom walls for us to continue admiring. Positive Behaviour for Learning lessons this fortnight have been about the expectation of ‘hands, feet and objects to self’. Students have been doing a wonderful job of discussing appropriate uses for hands and feet and have been reminding themselves of this expectation throughout the school day.
In English lessons, students have been looking at the elements of narratives, following a range of stories through story maps. Students have been tasked this fortnight to write full sentences, adding complex ideas such as prepositions, verbs, and time connectives to their writing. Students are already showing significant growth in their writing skills, and many are receiving merits for their academic achievements in this area.
In Mathematic lessons, students have been considering the patterns that are all around us. We have discovered that patterns are something that repeat over and over, and that we can make predictions about what might come next. Students have also learned of the term ‘subitising’ and are realising how clever their brains are at seeing groups of things to help with counting collections.
Please contact me with any concerns or questions through the school office.
Emily Friend
Year 1 Classroom Teacher
Year 3/4
3 / 4 are having a great Term 1 so far. We have been working hard to establish routines and get to know one another, and we are all looking forward to a great rest of the year!
Our show art turned out superb, and some of our students were very chuffed to see their art on display last Saturday at the Boorowa Show! We worked hard as a class to create a mural displaying the Boorowa River, with plenty of yabbies and fish.
We have just finished our English unit of work focussed on Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl. Students have really enjoyed diving into this text, analysing different elements of narrative text types such as character traits and descriptive language. Using their knowledge of character traits, 3 / 4 created "Wanted" posters from the perspective of Boggis, Bunce and Bean, to try and catch Mr Fox. These are now proudly on display in our classroom.
In their PDHPE lessons, students have been engaging in cyber safety theory lessons, delving into essential topics such as online privacy and digital citizenship. Through interactive discussions and educational games, they've explored strategies to stay safe and responsible in the digital world. Additionally, the sport lessons have emphasized the importance of teamwork in sports, with activities designed to enhance collaboration, communication, and leadership skills on the field.
We're very excited for the rest of Term 1! If you would like to clarify anything or have any questions, please reach out to me by email: Charlotte.Groves2@det.nsw.edu.au
Primary
Well it has been another very busy few weeks in the Primary classrooms. Our behaviour focus has been: ‘Keep hands, feet and objects to self’. We have been finding that students are ‘lashing out’ with their hands, feet or objects when they are frustrated, endangering the safety of others. All students should feel safe at school and this is why we are focusing on this. We are also aware of an increase in the use of inappropriate language in the classrooms and playground. We ask that parents assist us with this issue and reinforce expectations of language when talking with others. As teachers, we love teaching – managing behaviour is the unfortunate aspect of our job. Help with this from parents at home is very much appreciated.
As parents now have access to our COMPASS portal, we are experiencing some teething issues that we are going to reflect on as they come up. One of these issues is in relation to roll marking. As we are K-6, we are teaching our own classes all day in the same classroom, so we will not be marking rolls each lesson. We will do the morning roll at 8:55am and Period 1 roll only, no others are necessary.
We have sent out an A4 sized ‘Dates to Remember K-6’ poster this week. One piece of feedback we received at our Meet The Teacher session was that parents would like a poster like this to put on the fridge and plan their year. While this is as accurate as it can be currently, lots of things can change throughout the year and create clashes. Some dates may have to be changed, but we will communicate these changes as they come. We hope this assists parents to plan their year.
Congratulations to our team of 16 students that swam at Cowra District PSSA Swimming Carnival in Grenfell last Friday. Almost all swimmers beat their qualifying time, and we had some ‘Personal Best’ times swum as well. Additional congratulations to Digby (50m backstroke), Peter (50m butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle and 100m freestyle) and William (50m breaststroke) for qualifying for Western PSSA in Dubbo next week.
Well done to all of our students for contributing to the Boorowa Central Show Display last week. Our school won best school display, and their effort was outstanding. It’s always nice to walk through the pavilion and see all the fantastic entries from our kids as well. Another proud moment to be associated with Boorowa Central.
If you require any additional information or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me via email: jason.stuart3@det.nsw.edu.au
Jason Stuart
Assistant Principal Primary (Relieving)
5/6 Classroom
The year 5/6 class have begun working on new curriculum pieces of learning in English and Maths. For the first time, we are studying a text by Peter Brown called ‘The Wild Robot’ in English. We have done a character description, a short narrative, a comic strip and made predictions about the text. We are thoroughly enjoying this as the main part of our reading, writing, talking and listening in class.
In Mathematics, we have finished our study on number, place value, addition and subtraction, and we have begun a unit on 2D Space, including area and perimeter. These concepts are a bit challenging, but always easier when we know our times tables off by heart.
In Creative Arts we have created pencil drawings of the school building for the show display, and created some cartoon pictures from ‘The Wild Robot’.
In Science we are exploring the Solar System, how it works, where planets are located, their size and everything in between. Lots of fun and some mind-bending thinking is going on.
As always, please get in touch if you require any further information: Jason.stuart3@det.nsw.edu.au
Jason Stuart
5/6 Class Teacher
Assistant Principal Primary (Relieving)