Teaching and Learning Areas

Foundation

Recently in Foundation, students have been continuing their exploration of families by locating the countries and places around the world their parents and grandparents come from, thinking of what they like to celebrate with their families and interviewing an older family member. 

Preps have also begun to write about their chosen museum piece in preparation for the Prep History Museum in the last week of term.

In preparation for their move to Grade 1, students have made the move to “dotted thirds” to write on rather than single lines. This will help students learn the proportions of tall letters, short letters, capitals and those with a “tail”. Students have enjoyed responding to literature by innovating on popular books such as “Pig the Pug” and “Don’t Let the Pigeon…” stories. We are so proud of the brave Preps who read their own Pig the Pug stories out to the whole school at assembly.

In maths we are reviewing the fundamental Prep skills of numbers less than 20, such as reading, making and ordering teen numbers and part-part-whole numbers.

Grade 1/2

This term, the Grade 1 and 2 students have been exploring the Inquiry theme Farm to Table, which focuses on where our food comes from and the journey it takes before it reaches our plates. Our excursion to Chesterfield Farm on Thursday the 30th of October was a fun part of this learning experience, helping students investigate the plants and animals that provide us with food, understand healthy choices from the five food groups, and learn about the processes involved in transforming raw materials into familiar foods.

At the farm, students engaged in a variety of activities that brought the farm life to life. They participated in feed trail walks, where they fed various animals and learned about their dietary needs and behavior. The hands-on experience of cow milking enhanced their understanding of dairy farming, followed by an enjoyable tractor ride that provided an overview of the farm. In the animal nursery, children met adorable baby animals, learning about their care. We concluded our day with a sheep dog demonstration, showcasing the incredible teamwork between the dogs and their farmers.

We are excited about using the experiences from Chesterfield Farm to enrich our discussions and projects in our Farm to Table unit, providing students with a deeper understanding of the connection between farms and our daily meals.

Grade 3/4

Telling the Time in 3/4

This week, the 3/4s have been learning to tell the time to the hour, half hour, and quarter hour on both analogue and digital clocks. We have also been investigating time duration problems. Next week, we will be focusing on time in different contexts, such as time displayed on a multimedia play/pause bar and on stopwatches. To strengthen students’ ability to tell the time and solve duration problems, we ask that you please send your child to school wearing an analogue wristwatch (not a digital one!). The 3/4s have enjoyed using concrete materials to support their learning.

Grade 5/6

These last weeks we have been making non-traditional maps of our neighbourhoods - from what we saw and heard, to the seen and usually un-noticed patterns we observed. 

Students made maps of the cloud shapes, house colours, Halloween decorations, traffic patterns, the distribution of living things, dog-related things, flowers, electricity poles, and so much more. 

Here is just a selection of the wonderful maps Year 5/6 students’ made about their neighbourhoods.