Junior School

PREP

Hello families,

I am beyond happy to be back in the Prep classroom after my time off. I have had the greatest time catching up with you all since I've gotten back and am extremely proud of the preps for all their progress they made while I was overseas. 

Literacy: 

This term we have officially moved to stage 7.1, in this stage students will begin to show an increased awareness of vowel graphemes (letters), this is the beginning of very complex alphabetic code and following Little Learners is important because we still introduce these graphemes using speed sounds and chants that are part of the students literacy routine. We focus on spelling words with these vowel graphemes to help them remember when the many varieties of vowel teams are used. 

During this term we will.... 

-Master the alphabetic code (43 phonemes represented in speed sound and chant cards) 

-decode unfamiliar words, including words with multi syllables

-segment words for spelling and apply phoneme (sounds) and grapheme (written letters) knowledge. 

-Read books from stages 7.1-7.5 with fluency and understanding. 

During our swimming weeks we will move to reading groups to ensure all children are practicing their reading, writing and spelling skills across the week where we are losing some of our learning blocks. 

In Writing we are consolidating knowledge of sentence writing and structure, extending to writing sentences that answer who, what and where. 

Until the end of term, we will also be focusing on consolidating proper letter formation (Top to bottom, in one fluid line) to help students write faster and reduce their cognitive load when writing big sentences, this is a helpful tool to get them ready for Year One. 

Students have loved using colorful semantics to give us nouns, verbs and locations to write silly sentences and share them with classmates. 

Numeracy: 

In Numeracy this term, we are continuing to focus on strong number skills before they move into Year One, specifically equal sharing between two and three groups. Students have loved creating number stories and using hands on materials to demonstrate their understanding of sharing (Building blocks for division) and are enjoying extending themselves into much higher numbers. 

Chesterfield Farm: 

On Friday the 7th of November, we had the absolute BEST time at Chesterfield Farm, 

First of all, a massive thank you to our wonderful staff who came and kept the energy high and our wonderful parent helpers who made the day run smoothly. We could not have had a more calm and enjoyable day out at the farm and it is all thanks to you guys! 

At Chesterfield Farm, we enjoyed looking at our community on the drive down to Scoresby. We had a feed and walk looking at Camels, Cows, Sheep, Goats,  Kangaroo and deer. We then enjoyed milking a cow and learning how the farm does this each day and finished with a tractor ride. With our free time the groups decided if they would like to go to discovery barns or into the nursery to pat some smaller animals (Rabbits, Guinea Pigs and an alpaca). 

Students were displaying the GROWTH school values the entire time we were out in the community and we are so proud of them all! 

Swimming Week One: 

In our first week of swimming, so far I have seen so many children build confidence around the water and a new routine. They have loved getting out on the bus and seeing more of our surroundings and getting exercise during the middle block! 

I am sure you can already notice students are becoming extremely tired but they have been working so well and Cardinia Life have commented on how well behaved and kind our students are. 

IMPORTANT DATES (WEEK 6-8) 

14th November: Assembly

10th-21st November: Swimming Program 

This is a reminder please make sure all of your children's belongings have their names on them! 

That is all from me for now, as always keep checking Compass and call if you have any questions at all. 

-Miss A and Jacqui.

1/2 BD and MK. 

What a term is has been! We have had so much excitement already from Chesterfield Farm to the Adam Wallace Incursion. We look forward to keep rolling with a fun end to term 4! 

Reading 

In reading we have begun to explore the story of The Twits. The students were very intrigued with Mr Twits hygiene and his long beard, they even got some tips from Braden on how to take care of one! We have been comparing the characters Mr and Mrs Twit and have been investigating their actions and what impact it has on people around them. We are very proud of the students' engagement and enjoy hearing that reading The Twits was the highlight of their day. 

In phonics we have been focusing on the /j/ phoneme (dge, j, ge). We are extremely proud of the way students are differentiating between the spelling rules of dge (followed by a short vowel) and ge (followed by a long vowel or constant). 

During this term we will continue to focus on:

• Retelling and summarising books that we read 
• Re-reading and editing for spelling, sentence structure and punctuation 
• Visualising whilst reading and/or listening to a text 
• Making connections whilst reading 

Writing 

To begin our information report unit we have explored The Great Barrier Reef. Both students and teachers have enjoyed investigating this amazing landmark within Australia. We were very surprised that The Great Barrier Reef can be found from space and is bigger than the UK. 

During the next couple of weeks we will be exploring Officer Primary School and the history. It is a privilege to be at a school that was created in the 19th century with such a rich history. We are very excited and intrigued to find out how O.P.S has evolved over time! Students will engage in multimedia to present their work. This offers diversity in their learning and a space for students to show off their creativity! 

Our next topic will be poetry where we will put our rhyming skills to the test! 

Maths 

This week in Maths, we’ve been learning all about length. We talked about what it means for something to be longer, shorter, or the same length, and had lots of fun comparing different objects around the classroom.

We even made our own paper strip rulers and used them to measure the length of two objects to see which one was longer and which was shorter. Everyone did a great job using careful measuring skills and working together.

To finish off, we lined up from shortest to tallest. There were lots of laughs as we figured out who should stand where. It’s been a hands-on, fun fortnight of exploring measurement and using maths in real-life ways.

Humanities 

This week we’ve started building our very own Tiny Town! Students have been exploring our local Officer neighbourhood and learning about the important places that make up a community such as parks, schools, shops, and emergency services. We’ve been discussing why these places are important and how they help people in our community. Students have also been bringing in scrap materials from home to use for their Tiny Town creations. It’s been wonderful to see their creativity and teamwork come to life as they design and build their own mini versions of our community!

A huge thank you to the families who have already brought in their materials from home. If you have more scrap materials at home, please keep bringing them in over the next few weeks as we still need plenty more to help complete our Tiny Town.

Chesterfield Farm Excursion 

What a day out! We all had such an amazing time at Chesterfield Farm. We started the day off with a lot of buzz and excitement heading to the farm. The bus ride was full of entertainment with Kpop Demon Hunters playing the whole ride there (the students sang beautifully). When we got to the farm we went straight into our activities. These included feeding the farm animals, visiting the animal nursery, a tractor ride, visiting the pigsty (the most hygienic animals on the farm), milking cows, watching the dog show and visiting the discovery centre. 

Well done to ALL the students who really showed off Officer Primary School and our values. Huge shout out to the parents Lillie, Courtney, Jacqui and Ash. Thank you for supporting our junior school students and us teachers! 

Swimming

We have had a great start to our first week of swimming. It is great to see the students build their confidence and comfortability in the water. It is wonderful to see our Grade 1/ 2 students role modelling awesome behaviour and responsibility when transitioning in and out of the pool. We look forward to continuing swimming in week 7! 

OUR TERM AHEAD (week 7-9)

• 17th-20th November: Swimming 
• 28th November: Assembly and BBQ lunch

CLASSROOM TIMETABLES:

1/ 2 BD: 

Monday: PE and STEAM 

Tuesday: Junior Sport 

Wednesday: Auslan 

Friday: STEAM and Music (fortnightly) 

1/2 MK:

Monday: PE and STEAM

Tuesday: Junior Sport 

Thursday: Auslan 

Friday: STEAM and Music (fortnightly)