What's Happening in our Classrooms
What a wonderful term of learning it has been. We hope our 'What's Happenings' are helpful in sharing with you what our learning is focussing on each fortnight for all year levels.
The 'What's Happenings' included below are looking ahead to the teaching and learning program for Week 1 of Term 3. As you and your family approach the first day of Term 3, your child may find it helpful to look through this with you and talk about some of the things that will be taking place when they return to school after the term break.
Prep
What’s Happening in Prep: Week 1 of Term 3
What’s been happening in Prep
Over the last couple of weeks, we have put the finishing touches on our communities for our Inquiry project. We presented our projects using the Seesaw app on our iPad’s by taking a picture and talking about what we included. It has been a big and productive term of learning and we can’t wait for another amazing Term 3. The Prep teachers hope you have a lovely holiday!
What will be happening in Week 1 of Term 3
Wellbeing
- Revising learnt strategies to regulate our emotions
Phonics
- Identifying vowel teams ee and oo
- Revising all learnt phonemes
Reading
- Decoding words and blending to read smoothly
- Identifying the difference between a fiction and non-fiction text
- Communicating key facts from non-fiction texts
Writing
- Using dotted thirds to write upper and lowercase letters correctly
- Writing a sentence with true information, correctly
- Expanding simple sentences with an adjective
Maths
- Estimating, comparing and ordering numbers
- Identifying part-part-whole of numbers (to 100)
- Solving simple addition problems
- Revising 2D and 3D shapes
- Identifying the features of a 3D shape (edges, faces and vertices)
- Sorting and describing familiar objects and explain the basis for these classifications
Inquiry
Big Question: How do living things grow and change?
Over the next fortnight, students will be exploring the following lines of inquiry:
- What is a living thing?
- What do living things need to survive?
- What are some features of animals and plants?
Homework
Continue looking through Decoding Detective and Word Wizard book as well as take home readers. Students are encouraged to participate in daily reading. If students record 100 nights of reading in their journal, they will enjoy a pizza party hosted by Mr. Tapp. Please encourage students to read the same book multiple times per week as this is valuable to their learning and assists with their fluency. Please note that reading pages from the Decoding Detective/ Word Wizard exercise book counts as a reading entry in the student journal.
Optional: Mathletics and exploring the Prep-2 homework rubric located inside the students reading pouch.
Reminders
- Monday 19th February and Wednesday 21st February 2024 - Parent Teacher Interviews (please refer to Compass for further information)
- Wednesday 31st of July - 100 Days of School Celebration
Year 1
What’s Happening in Year 1: Week 1 of Term 3
What’s been happening
Year 1 has had a fabulous end to Term 2! We worked very hard to finish off our history projects where we compared our Grandparent’s lives to our own. We loved having our grandparents come in, see our puppets and listen to our stories; it was a special time that we’ll remember forever.
What will be happening in Week 1 of Term 3
Wellbeing
Students will continue their emotional check-ins and reflection on emotions throughout the day, so students are more in tune with their feelings.
Students will review their Term 2 learning goals and begin thinking about their Term 3 learning goals.
Literacy
Literacy encompasses spelling, reading and writing. Students will be focusing on:
Spelling: We will explore the FLOSS rule. This rule focuses on knowing when to double a letter after a short vowel sound.
Writing: Students will be focusing on understanding what the parts of a simple sentence are. We will investigate mentor texts to examine their sentences and then have a go at writing our own simple sentences.
Reading: We will be looking at mentor texts to identify the parts of a simple subject; a subject, verb and object. We will continue building our reading stamina and working on our reading fluency.
Maths
Students will recap Term 2's work on addition and subtraction including the relationship between the two. We will focus on using different strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems.
Inquiry
We will be launching our brand new inquiry subject for the term, Science. Students will unpack the big question: “What happens when we change everyday materials?”
Homework
Keep practicing spelling and reading the memory words that were sent home.
Read every day to add to your 100 days of reading challenge and the Premier’s Reading Challenge.
Mathletics passwords are in the front of reading journals. Students can practice what we have been learning in class.
Additionally, students can choose a homework activity from the Prep - Year 2 homework rubric.
Year 2
What’s Happening in Year 2: Week 1 of Term 3
What will be happening in Week 1 of Term 3
We look forward to welcoming the students back into the classrooms after the term break. In the first week of term the students will be sharing about their adventures from their holidays, settling back into classroom routines and beginning units of work that we will work on throughout the coming weeks.
Wellbeing
During the first two weeks of the term the students will be focusing on boosting their self-confidence and working on setting goals for the term ahead.
Reading
The Year 2 students will be looking forward to welcoming in parent reading helpers in the second week of term. In the classroom the students will be focusing on using prior knowledge to connect with the texts read in class and identifying the author’s point of view. Students will also continue practising choral reading with their classmates and teachers.
Writing
Over the first two weeks the Year 2 cohort will be writing about their holiday adventures, replying to their Beaumaris North Primary School pen pals and will begin delving into persuasive texts.
Maths
Students will begin exploring the concepts of multiplication and division. Students will explore the vocabulary of the two concepts. Students will build on their learning from Term 2, as they further explore multiplication.
Inquiry
Throughout Term 3 the Year 2 cohort will be focusing on Design and Technologies as their unit of Inquiry. The Big Question for the unit of Inquiry is: How do forces create movement in our daily lives?
Reminders
Excursion to TwistED Science- Friday 26th July
To support our Inquiry unit of Design and Technologies, the Year 2 students will be going on an excursion to TwistED Science in Moorabbin. The students will be transported to TwistED Science via bus. We would LOVE to take two parent helpers from each class on this excursion. If you would like to attend the excursion please ensure you have a valid Working with Children's Check. If you have already attended an excursion with us, we would appreciate if you allowed another parent to attend the excursion. Please find links to the class volunteer signup sheet below:
2R signup sheet: https://volunteersignup.org/YYFE8
2H signup sheet: https://volunteersignup.org/B7R34
2AW signup sheet: https://volunteersignup.org/DPRM7
2W signup sheet: https://volunteersignup.org/X84AB
Reading Rockets/ Take Home Readers
The Reading Rockets program will continue in Term 3. The Year 2 teachers will continue to check reading diaries on a Monday morning and will be adding to the Reading Rockets tally in the classrooms. Additional optional homework tasks are on the rubric below.
Year 3
What’s Happening in Year 3: Week 1 of Term 3
The students have all completed a great first semester in Year 3. They are all ready for the upcoming break and looking forward to spending time relaxing with their families.
There is a lot to look forward to next semester including an excursion to CERES in Term 3, and of course, the Year 3 camp in Term 4.
What will be happening in Week 1 of Term 3
Wellbeing
- The students will be revisiting their class norms to remind them all about behaviour expectations in and around the classroom.
- Students will be asked to recall strategies they can use when dealing with issues in the yard.
Reading
- The students will be focusing on non-fiction texts and identifying the features of these books including the contents page, the index, headings and sub-headings.
Writing
- Students will be building on their skills and working towards writing information texts this term.
Maths
- Revising and revisiting multiplication strategies.
- Applying multiplication strategies to everyday problems.
Inquiry – Design and Technology
The Big Question:
How might we design a community park that is sustainable, inclusive and reflects indigenous perspectives?
The Year 3 students will be focusing on developing a sustainable park in a collaborative group.
Homework
At this stage, students are asked to continue to read every night and to complete Mathletics tasks set by classroom teachers. The optional rubric activities are below.
Reminders
Diaries are expected to come to school every day with their reading recorded and ready to be checked by the teacher.
Year 4
What’s Happening in Year 4: Week 1 of Term 3
What will be happening for Week 1 of Term 3
Wellbeing
- Reconnecting with classmates after the break, through team challenges
Reading
- Whole class reading and building vocabulary
- Focus on fluency through a range of whole, paired and independent activities
- Analysis of characters and themes in stories using the class novel “Nim's Island”
- Silent reading personal choice book
Writing
- Learning about noun groups
- Using dialogue correctly in writing (including quoting stated information)
- Correcting run-on sentences in writing
Maths
- Exploring multiples and factors of numbers
- Learning about the properties of numbers (including prime, composite, square and triangular numbers)
- Using multiplication facts to solve problems
Inquiry
Big Question: How does our Earth change?
We will be exploring:
- How are the Earth, Sun and Moon connected?
- What causes day and night, and the four seasons?
- What is the Earth’s surface and how does it change?
- How do cause and effect relationships affect the way the Earth works?
- How do human actions impact the Earth’s surface?
Homework
Homework consists of 20 minutes reading a night, 3-4 Mathletics tasks to reinforce the concepts being taught at school, and an optional choice board of activities to be completed at your family’s discretion. Diaries will be collected every Friday. Students also have personalised spelling lists on Literacy Planet (created in class) which they can use to practice spelling words at home if desired. Optional rubric activities are below.
Reminders
- 09/08 - School Olympics Day
- 13/08 - House Athletics Carnival
Library Days:
- Monday – 4R
- Thursday – 4B, 4L
Year 5
What will be Happening in Year 5: Week 1 of Term 3
Next term, the Year 5 students will be studying the podcast Macaroy Uncovered for Literacy. The students will learn the art of script writing and create and record a podcast episode. They will learn how precise language choices impact writing and investigate how authors use different language features to create a strong ‘voice’ in their written work. Students will continue to develop their reading fluency of various genres. In Mathematics, students will be focusing on multiplication and division. This term’s inquiry focus is Science. Students will begin the unit with an excursion to Science Works in Week 2. The Inquiry Unit will focus on Chemical, and Earth and Space sciences. The students will participate in athletics this term. The House Athletics Carnival is in Week 5. Students will train for this event on Wednesday and Friday mornings. Bike Education will run in Week 9. Further details about the program will be sent to families’ next term. Please ensure your child’s bike is the correct size and is in good working order prior to the program commencing.
We wish you all a wonderful holiday break and are looking forward to a jam-packed term ahead.
Wellbeing
- Students work on resilience, respect, relationships and responsibility
Literacy
- Students will practise reading fluency (accuracy, rate, prosody) through repeated oral strategies and information texts related to Earth and Space Science curriculum
- Students will study the features of an imaginative podcast through the study of our mentor podcast ‘Macaroy Uncovered’ by ABC.
- Students will develop and explain a point of view about a text.
- Students will describe how characters in texts are depicted and explain responses to them.
- Students will describe how settings in texts are depicted and explain responses to them.
- Students will will use descriptive language to describe a setting
- Students will spell words with common letter patterns but different pronunciations.
- Students will revise spelling patterns learnt this term
Maths
- Students will use mathematical mental and written strategies to solve multiplication and division problems
- Students will use problem solving strategies to solve worded problems
- Students will estimate, construct and measure angles in degrees.
- Students will perform transformations, describe the result of translations and identify symmetries
Science
Chemistry
- What is matter?
- What is the difference between solids, liquids and gases?
- Why do materials behave the way they do?
- What causes changes to matter?
Earth and Space
- What makes up the solar system?
- Why is the sun so important?
Homework
Please refer to the Year 5&6 Homework Rubric
Students are expected to be reading every night and completing assigned Mathletics activities over the fortnight.
Reminders
15 July Term 3 begins
22 July Science Works excursion
26 July Tree Planting Day
29 July Division Hockey
12-16 August Scholastic Book Fair
13 August House Athletics Day
20 September last day Term 3
Year 6
What’s Happening in Year 6: Week 1 of Term 3
We have nearly made it to the end of Term 2! The students have worked incredibly hard in class and on their auditions for the musical. Congratulations to all students who auditioned, not just those who have secured a main part. Good luck to the girls football teams this Thursday. Fingers crossed for decent weather. Students will also be presenting their Geography projects this week. They have been creating a natural disaster-resistant home on their laptops and writing about its features. We look forward to seeing everyone back for the start of Term 3 on Monday the 15th of July.
What will be happening in Week 1 of Term 3
We will be introducing our new inquiry topic, ‘Electricity’, and launching our Novel Study for the term, ‘Us Mob Walawurru’. Rehearsals for the performance will be begin as we prepare for this fantastic display of Beaumaris talent.
Wellbeing
We are exploring the impacts of gender stereotypes on individuals and the way we interact with others based on their gender.
Literacy
Spelling – silent letters: kn, wr, mb, gn, mn
In Term 3, classes will start reading our class novel, Us Mob Walawurru. We will be looking at different aspects of Indigenous culture while working on sentence structure, character analysis, vocabulary development, reading fluency and comprehension through the text.
Maths
Students will be revisiting some Algebraic thinking before launching a new unit.
We will be focusing on using all four operations with fractions.
Inquiry
Big Question: How is energy generated and transferred and how can we generate electricity in sustainable ways?
What are the different forms of energy?
How is energy transferred and transformed?
Homework
Students are expected to be reading every night and completing assigned Mathletics activities over the fortnight. Diaries with reading recorded will be checked weekly and Mathletics tasks should be completed by Friday July 26th. Optional rubric tasks can be found below.
Reminders
27th June - Seaside District Girls Footy Day Yrs 5 and 6
28th June – Last day of school. Assembly at 2:00 then students are dismissed at 2:30.