Platypus Classroom

NSWEduChat

Student_access_to_NSWEduChat_Information_for_parents_and_carers.pdf

Literacy

Students are loving the story of Wandi by Favel Parrett a story about a dingo cub being rescued. As they read, students have been building onto their prior knowledge about dingoes . We have recorded facts and explored previous held misconceptions.

As a class, we have been discussing the author’s expertise and background, and how her perspective influences the way dingoes are portrayed in the text. Students are considering how an author’s experiences and purpose shape the message of a story.

Next, students will focus on argument — understanding that an argument is an opinion supported by evidence. They will use examples from the text and factual information to justify their viewpoints, strengthening their critical thinking and persuasive writing skills.

Also this fortnight, we have introduced 'free writing'. In free writing, students are encouraged to write for 15 minutes about anything they want-stories, poems, information reports, even movie scripts! They are invited to share their work at the end of the session and ask for feedback if they wish. Students are also invited to take their writing books home and return with them in the morning. This writing will not be marked or edited by teachers, but rather is to encourage students to write freely, be creative, build confidence and develop a genuine love of writing.

Maths

This fortnight, students have been exploring place value. Stage 3 students have been working with numbers from the billions down to the thousandths, renaming numbers in different ways and exploring the multiplicative relationships of our base 10 system. Stage 2 students have been partitioning and renaming numbers within the thousands, and identifying the role of zero when building numbers.

All students have been enjoying our new mental maths books, which they started last week. Daily mental maths activities give students the chance to practice skills across all areas of mathematics, with a focus on independent and small-group work rather than teacher-led instruction.