Spotlight on Learning

Early Stage 1

KW has had a fun-filled term developing their skills across writing and mathematics as we hit the midpoint of the term. They have also loved presenting in front of the class and sharing about themselves through our news program.

Writing 

Creating texts is a key aspect to writing development in Kindergarten and a crucial step for students to effectively create texts comes from applying their phonics skills to spell words. We have been practicing our spelling through decodable sentences where students can practise their sounding out and then write what sounds they hear in order to independently spell words. KW has been doing a fantastic job with their sentence writing, making sure to include capital letters, spaces between the words and a full stop at the end of each sentence. 

Students have also been learning about sentence structure in response to quality literature as part of our English syllabus. We have recently read Feathers for Phoebe and Floof , discussing how sentences have a subject, a verb and sometimes an object. Students have enjoyed writing sentences in response to these texts that highlight that every sentence conveys an idea to the reader with those elements. 

Mathematics

With the term flying by, there hasn’t been a more opportune time for KW to be learning about how we understand and measure time.  We have discussed different events that might happen during different parts of the day and practiced sequencing these events as they would unfold throughout a school day. We have also learned about the duration of events and identified different events that might have a long or short duration. KW have had a lot of fun learning about analog clocks, their different parts and how to read ‘o’clock’ time.

KW has also been introduced to collecting data and displaying it in various forms. The students initially began their data exploration by sorting objects and then displaying it in rows and columns. We discussed why it was helpful to show data using rows and columns and it is a useful way to sort objects or data. We then looked at different ways to collect data such as tally tables and picture graphs. It was so interesting seeing what our favourite kinds of fruits and desserts were.  

We have had such a great first half of the term, KW is looking forward to what the rest of the terms brings next! 

Mr Widjaja - KW Classroom Teacher

Stage 2

D'harawal Stories

Stage 2 has been exploring D’harawal stories by Frances Bodkin (Aunty Fran), illustrated by Lorraine Robertson. This week, they delved into the tale of Mugga’go and Bin’nit (the ironbark and the tawny frogmouth owl). This learning was integrated into lessons for Reconciliation Week.

Aunty Frances has compiled and shared her stories to inspire people to think, learn, and live. By sharing these narratives, it is hoped that we can cultivate an appreciation for this land and foster mutual understanding and respect, enabling us to share it peacefully and harmoniously.

These stories taught the students about the ancient culture of the D’harawal people. They learnt about their natural rhythms and lessons, language, and the integration of land, animals, nature, and people that underpins Aboriginal life in Sydney. 

4J Reflections from Muru Mittigar Incursion

4J students thoroughly enjoyed attending the Mura Mittigar incursion and reflected on their day. Some students wrote a recount, other students wrote poems. A few have been shared below. 

Muru Muttigar Incursion by Henry

The Assembly

At the assembly the Aboriginal people welcomed us to Darug land. Then the teacher Mrs Clements came and told us a few words about Aboriginal culture. After that 4 different Aboriginal people came and said something in different Aboriginal languages and told us all about it.

Boomerang Throwing

At boomerang throwing it was loads of fun. We all got to learn how to throw a boomerang and we even had a turn of throwing. Then after we all had a turn, we sat down, and we learned all about boomerangs and got to ask questions.

Cultural Talk

At the cultural talk we learned so much. We learned about a lot of Aboriginal callers like the Aboriginal telephone and the didgeridoo. We also learned about a lot of things to kill the animals for food such as a spear, a 7 boomerang and many more.

Art

At art we learned a lot of symbols. There was a boomerang and a lot of other symbols. Then after we saw all the symbols we went to do art. We had to draw all the symbols of Aboriginal culture and colour them in and when we were done, we told the story of our artwork, and it looked really good.

Bush Tucker

Lastly, we had bush tucker. At bush tucker we learned all about plants. We got to smell the leaves of the plants, and some smelt good but some really stunk. At the end of bush tucker, we got to put a white paste on us called ochre and we looked so silly.

At the end of the day I thought it was really fun and I loved it a lot.

Muru Mittigar by Elaine

This week is reconciliation week

a week where we respect the aboriginal people

For they should be treated equal

the children who play at the creek

adults who hunt with respect.

While we hunt with disrespect

And so this week

Is the week we respect

the aboriginal, the owners of the land

and now we lend a hand.

Muru Mittigar Incursion by Oliver

Today I was at the Muru Mittigar incursion.  We did all sorts of fun, exciting and unbelievably cool activities.  My favourite activity was the cultural talk where Dennis showed us all kinds of Aboriginal tools like animal spear hunting and eel traps and this cool axe that he made!!!  The other activities were boomerang throwing, bush tucker and we all had a great day.

Reconciliation 'Now More Than Ever' by Chloe

Reconciliation is a way of recognising the First Nations people, who have been misunderstood since the beginning of the first fleet. Today, people all over Australia celebrate the reconciliation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Out of all the activities I did today (assembly, boomerang throwing, cultural talk, art, bush tucker), my favourite was bush tucker. Why? I love plants and botany, the same thing I inherited from my stepmother. Our house is full of plants, and that is the reason why l loved bush tucker the most.

The cultural talk was all about all the weapons and tools the Aboriginal people had made. It was exceptionally clever when I first found out about the emu caller. It was ingenious, really, faking the females call, luring the male away from the eggs, and another person stealing the eggs.

Doing art was most interesting to me. Each artwork told a unique story. Mine was a lonely campsite in the midst of the forest, it was raining and the moon was out. The students and I had a wonderful time as we shook, pressed and drew our way through the session.

Last was the bush tucker session where we all smelt some interesting plants. There was honey myrtle, lemon myrtle and some kind of wattle. There was some kind of spice and a bucket of gooey ochre.

Mrs Jones - Stage 2 Assistant Principal

Stage 3

K-6P Art & Craft

Each fortnight K-6P students experiment with a variety of digital art.  They share ideas and enjoy complete independence creating their masterpieces. This is a great form of art, as changes are easily made and it’s an easily accessible means of artistic expression. 

Students recently made amazing Mother’s Day cards. After cutting around a spiral and flowers, students glued sequins onto the flowers, then assembled them onto the spiral, before decorating the front of their card to their own design.

Earlier this term students used tree templates and autumn colours to explore blending and experiment mixing warm and cool colours.

Last week, after creating a blue oil pastel background, students used the wet on wet technique with water colour paints, which allowed the colours to create a soft, blended effect on their leaves. They observed similarities and differences in the leaves and found it fascinating to see changes as the colours merged. 

Ms Pendergast - K-6P Classroom Teacher