From the Classroom

News from 5/6

It has been another wonderful start to the term! Students have come back rested and invigorated and excited about learning, which has been lovely to see. 

For the first four weeks of the term,  the 5/6 level will focus our learning towards the Olympics. The 5/6 level are having our own Mini Olympics. Each student has been assigned to one of eight countries. Students are able to collect points for excellent work, exemplary behaviour, demonstrating the MPS values and for many other reasons. Students will also participate in many sporting games during Weeks 3 and 4 during 5/6 Sports and teams that win or show awesome teamwork and sportsmanship will collect points for their country.  At the end of week 4, we will announce which team has won.

In English, we have started a new class novel, Us Mob Wallawurru. It was written by an Aboriginal author and is set in the Northern Territory during the 1960's. It is about a 12 year old girl, who lives on a station in the outback with her 'mob.' We will focus on analysing plot and characters as well as completing comprehension tasks. 

In, Maths, we have been investigating PEMDAS sums. Please ask your child what it stands for and the steps they need to follow to answer questions. We have also been revising how to tell time on analogue clocks, converting between 12-hour and 24-hour formats, and calculating elapsed time through word problems. Next week, we will be moving on to our measurement unit (mass, length, and angles), where students will apply this knowledge when competing in our 5/6 Marlborough Mini Olympics.

What's happening in 3/4

What an adventurous start to the term we have had in 3/4! Thank you to all of the families in supporting your child in their camp  readiness, all of the students had an incredible time. We particularly loved getting to know all of the students in a camp setting and seeing them all step outside of their comfort zone to participate in a variety of thrilling activities. Here are a few reflections from our students on their time at Camp Oasis:

Along with out exciting start to the term, we have also immersed ourselves in a variety of NAIDOC and Olympic-themed readings, developing our background knowledge and ability to respond to questions on these topics. Moving forward we will be continuing to dive into readings with a focus on persuasion, where students will be able to identify key persuasive features they can begin to experiment with in their own writing. 

We have also jumped straight into our fractions, decimals and percentages unit in math. Our students have been showing off their knowledge of fractions by creating fraction walls, identifying fractions in a variety of shapes and are beginning to develop their understanding of equivalent fractions. We are also complimenting the Olympic season through our unit on probability. We are so excited to keep up to date with the Olympic events through our math unit. 

In Inquiry, we are beginning to look at Climate and Weather. We are kicking off this unit by comparing and contrasting the various climates of the world and building our understanding of how these climates effect the weather. 

Adventures of 1/2

1/2 students have had a fantastic start to Term 3! All students have come back settled, well rested and ready to learn!

We have started to voice our opinions on different topics during English sessions. Students are agreeing or disagreeing and providing interesting and unique reasons for their choices. They are engaging in friendly debates and listening to each other while showing respect. 

In Maths, 1/2 students have revised addition and subtraction problems using a variety of strategies including fact families, counting on, number lines and 100s charts. They have also enjoyed learning about Australian money. They have ordered coins and notes according to their value. They will be using their knowledge of addition and subtraction in the classroom 'shop' to buy items. 

We have started our Inquiry unit 'Sustainability Superstars'. Students will be investigating our environment and how we can be more sustainable. We can't wait to hear the students' ideas as we further explore the unit. Keep an eye out for information about our upcoming excursion!

Fantastic Foundation

In our English lessons, we have started learning about opinions and personal responses to texts. Students have been reading narratives and focussing on how the books made them feel and their favourite parts. This unit will run until mid-term and our focus is on recognising features of texts, identifying preferences about books and how feelings and emotions are shown in books, short films and animations. In Literacy, we have been we have started learning the next group of phonemes so far students have learnt, /b/, /h/, /f/, /l/. As we move through the term the Foundation students will continue to learn the phonemes and how to identify these and blend and segment them in words. 

In Maths, we have learnt how to compare numbers and see which number or group of items is larger. Students enjoyed learning about mass by 'hefting' or lifting items comparing the weight in their hands. They got to read Who Sank the Boat and experiment with toys to see which floated and which sank exploring the object's mass.  In the coming weeks they will revisit addition and subtraction where they will learn new strategies to support their existing skills.

This term's Inquiry Unit is 'Farm to Home', Foundation students are exploring how plants and animals are grown for food, clothing and shelter. They will learn about the journey of food from farm to our home and healthy eating and finish the term looking at creative design and how we can use farm produce to meet our needs of clothing and shelter. I know the students are super excited already about the excursion that is being planned to Edendale Farm later in the term.

Students have also got a very exciting event coming up in Week 4, on the 8th August they will reach 100 days of school. The day will be filled with celebrations and activities around the number 100 and counting. Foundation students have had a t-shirt sent home that they can decorate and a notice explaining about the day.