CLASSROOM NEWS!

Prep/1 Classroom Learning Highlights

The Prep and Grade 1 students have continued to grow in confidence and independence across our classroom routines. It has been wonderful to see students supporting one another, taking pride in their learning, and showing enthusiasm as they build new skills each day.

In Mathematics, students have been working hard to strengthen their number knowledge through hands-on activities and explicit teaching. Prep students have been learning to subitise (recognise small collections without counting), match collections to numerals, and practise counting skills through songs and games. They have also been exploring numbers by making collections and adding one more to find the new total. Grade 1 students have been developing their place value understanding by representing numbers using tens and ones. They have practised bundling to make groups of ten, building two-digit numbers with materials, and identifying multiples of ten using ten-frames.

In Digital Technologies, students have been learning to recognise and create patterns using digital tools. They watched a short video to help identify repeating patterns, then used a QR code to explore online pattern activities. A highlight was using Bee-Bots and the Bee-Bot app, where students practised giving step-by-step directions, repeating sequences, and working cooperatively with a partner to complete challenges.

In SWPBS, we have been focusing on following classroom expectations and using safe, respectful behaviour at school. Students practised what it looks like to listen and stop when asked, follow adult instructions, and make positive choices that help everyone feel safe and ready to learn. We have been reinforcing our school values and using behaviour visuals and ready-to-learn strategies to support success in the classroom and playground.

In Science, students began an exciting hands-on investigation exploring how seeds grow into plants. We set up a germination experiment using cotton wool and wheat seeds, and students recorded the starting stage in their science books. Over the coming weeks, they will continue observing and drawing changes as the seeds begin to sprout and grow.

Hockey Incursion: Students also took part in a fun hockey incursion, where they had the chance to try a new sport and practise skills such as dribbling, passing, and aiming for goals. They loved rotating through mini games and working as a team, and it was fantastic to see everyone having a go and giving something new a try.

It has been a positive fortnight of learning, and we are proud of the way students have been showing resilience, curiosity, and kindness as they work through new challenges.

Literacy: It has been a very exciting fortnight for our Preps as they have been introduced to their first two official letters and their accompanying friends - 'm' for Maggie Mouse and 's' for Sammy Seal. We have been learning about words that start with these letters and how to write these letters using many different materials. Our Grade 1's have continued to write their amazing narratives, which will be published and displayed in their learning journals for families to read at the end of Term 1. I am very proud of the incredible effort the Grade 1's have put into their stories!

Below are some photos of what our very clever P/1's have been up to in their Literacy sessions with Mrs Lawson.

Mrs. Clarke's Team

The past fortnight has been a busy one. The kids have been working hard on our school values. In particular, we have been working on being nice to others- even when we don't feel like it! We have seen some changes in the room and this has allowed kids to be focused on their work. It has been wonderful to see them working hard.

During Literacy we have been developing our understanding of text by focusing on what we can discover from reading, what it makes us wonder and asking what might come next in piece of text based on what we know about that type of text or the topic. The kids are making great progress as can been seen by their contribution to class discussions and an increase in their comprehension.

In Maths, we have been introducing new topics and reviewing old ones. Our main focuses has been increasing our fluency in addition recall, understanding the different types of turns eg quarter, half, three-quarters and full turns. We have even touched on direction of turn- clockwise and anti-clockwise. A continuing area of study has been probability and recognising the chance of pulling a particular colour from a cup or the spinner landing on a specific colour. It has been exciting to hear and see the kids working on these experiments with their classmates.

Just a gentle reminder- I know lots of families lead very busy lives but many kids are checking in each morning as 'tired'. Being in bed at a reasonable time and getting enough sleep helps your child to maintain focus throughout the day and that gives them a better chance of learning as much as they can.

We have completed Matilda by Roald Dahl. Mrs. Clarke's literacy group has thoroughly enjoyed this book and are looking forward to watching the movie later in the week.

4/5/6 classroom with Miss Hillgrove

I am so delighted to be joining the amazing community at IPS! Monday was my first day with this great group of students, so this week our class have been focusing on getting to know each other and setting classroom expectations. In English we have started reading our new focus novel 'Blueback' by Tim Winton, and in maths we have just started learning about measuring objects in metres and centimetres, which carries on from Mr Wepner's focus on decimal numbers and place value.

We are off to a really strong start this week, and I can't wait to see how our classroom's learning continues to grow throughout the rest of the year!