Prep

Dear Prep Families,

We cannot believe it is so close to the end of the year! What a fantastic year it has been. It has been wonderful watching the students flourish in their first year of school and make lots of new friendships that will continue to grow in years to come.

The preps were lucky enough to have Yarra Valley Water visit for an incursion on Monday, where students learnt all about water conservation. They investigated different places in their homes that use water and some tips on how to ensure they aren't using too much throughout the day. They each got a water watcher to bring home to remind them and their families about remembering to turn the tap off, and only using the water they need.

Well done to our Shining Star Award recipients for Week 6 & 7:

PKH: Sadie & Lenny
PAH: Stevie & Maverick
PBM: Indy & Fletcher

Don't forget the preps are presenting at assembly on Monday. Please join us at 2.40pm on the quadrangle (weather permitting) to hear them present. They have been practising really hard!

We also have Christmas Carols on Wednesday! Please come along and watch the preps perform their Christmas song. There will also be food trucks, the art show and a book fair on the night!

The Prep Team

Elyce Munnecke, Laina Brebner, Allie Harrison and Kayla Hartrick

Grade 1 & 2

It is hard to believe we are at the end of Week 8! We have had a wonderful two weeks of learning in Grade 1 and 2. Our students have shown incredible enthusiasm and creativity as they tackled new challenges and demonstrated their growing skills. We are so proud of their hard work, growth, and the joy they bring to everything!

Week 7 saw us continue our focus on reading fluently and expressively. Our students have improved their ability to pause at commas and use appropriate expression, making their reading more engaging and helping them understand texts at a deeper level. We also worked on reading dialogue, encouraging our students to match their tone of voice to a character’s emotions. This week we have been honing our inferring skills – reading between the lines to identify and understand what the author has not explicitly stated. Our avid readers have been using clues from the text and their background knowledge to make thoughtful inferences.

Our young writers thoroughly enjoyed our focus on personal recounts. They chose meaningful ‘Wow’ and ‘Ouch’ moments as inspiration for their writing. This week we have immersed ourselves in the world of comics and autobiographies! We have been thrilled to see our young authors' unique voices shine through as they share their ideas in engaging and thoughtful ways!

What an exciting and successful fortnight we have had in maths! In Week 7, our students learned all about the connection between multiplication, repeated addition, and arrays. Our young mathematicians demonstrated their understanding by completing a multiplication think board. We wrapped up Week 7 by solving multiplication worded problems and applying our learning to real-life situations.

This week, our young mathematicians have embraced learning all about division. We all started with a focus on key vocabulary and the concept of sharing objects equally into groups. Our Grade 1 students have used hands-on materials to model and describe division stories. They recorded their understanding using pictures and number sentences. In Grade 2, our students discovered how arrays can help organise and simplify division, making it easier to solve problems. Our students also investigated the relationship between division and multiplication, as well as how fact families connect these two operations.

Our creative thinkers in Grade 1 took on an exciting Inquiry challenge: designing and building the tallest tower they could using only apples and toothpicks! Our clever innovators created impressive, self-standing structures and had a blast showcasing their results.

In Grade 2, students have been exploring how creativity helps us understand the world and solve problems in unique ways. They put their skills to the test by designing advertising briefs to introduce their Robot Buddy, highlighting its purpose and the values they programmed it to have. It was wonderful to see their shared discussion and enthusiasm!

Tuesday is our annual Christmas Carol’s Night, and we are all so excited! The children have been practising their carols with so much joy and enthusiasm, and we can’t wait to share this magical night with you all. It is events like these that highlight the strong connections and sense of togetherness that make our school such a wonderful community.

The 1/2 Team

Sally Newton, Llinos Poole, Tim Huntington, Veronica Paps and Emma Wright

Grade 3 & 4

Hi Level 3&4 families,

Wow, Week 8 already! What an amazing term we have had so far. It is hard to believe that Term 4 is almost finished, and even harder to believe that the school year is nearly over. Where did the time go? We still have a lot happening in the remainder of the term, and lots of fantastic learning still to occur!

Across the curriculum, we have been learning:

In Reading, we continued learning about different text genres as part of our Multi-Genre Project, this week focussing on the genre of information reports. Students read and viewed a variety of information reports, identifying the key features. They identified the language choices, the structure and how authors made these texts engaging to the audience. Next week the students will be revising persuasive techniques such as hyperboles, rhetorical questions, colour and slogans to support creating their billboards.

In Writing, the students continued working on their Multi-Genre Writing Project, by creating Information Reports for their chosen topic. Students researched facts and used these to write using the appropriate structure. Next week, students will be continuing their writing project by creating billboards as part of recapping persuasive writing. They will use online programs such as Word, PowerPoint and Canva to design their billboard.

In Maths, we have focussed on solving worded problems using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division strategies. We also recapped how to estimate and round our answers, apply the CUBES strategy and check our answers using calculators.

In our Inquiry unit, the students began the process of taking the photos using iPads to start the filming of their stop-motion animations. Next week, they will edit their photos into a storyline adding in sound effects. We are looking forward to completing these and presenting them to each other in the coming weeks.

In Science, students conducted a Stick Shadow investigation looking at how shadows change throughout the day. Students worked in small teams to make predictions, conduct the experiment and record their results before making conclusions about what time of day shadows are their longest.

As we draw closer to the end of Term 4, some important dates to remember are:

Tuesday 3rd - Christmas Carols/Art Show/Book Fair
Monday 9th - Staff Professional Learning Day (no students)
Tuesday 10th - Statewide Transition Day
Friday 20th - 12.45pm Grade 6 Farewell Assembly - 1.30pm finish

As always, please keep a close eye on Compass for all your news and events happening in the Level 3/4 area.

The 3/4 Team

Damien Smith, Sarah Jones, Hayley Peirce, Renee Barnden and Brent Smith

Grade 5 & 6

Well, here we are, so close to the end of the year. You can feel the excitement in the air.

We have had a wonderful time finishing off our novel study of Tim Winton’s Blueback. Students have enjoyed learning about concepts such as peaceful protests and the history of whaling, as they relate to the text. To finish off the unit, students painted a word picture to describe a storm that Dora experienced. Below are a couple of responses:

Lightening shot through the sky like shattered glass. The thunder was like a giant stomping the clouds as it swirled and swallowed all the light. – Cameron 5/6O

It was like an atomic bomb shattering the sea as it crushed the fences and sand. – Connor 5/6O

A secret surprise is coming for our Buddies at the end of the year, so please don’t share this if you have a child in Prep or Grade 1! The 5/6s have been working really hard to plan and publish stories that include their Buddies. They used a range of digital technology techniques to include images of their Buddies in the text and, as you can see from the photos, the results are outstanding!

Maths time has been very hands on. Our students have been working hard to solve maths puzzles related to multiplication and division. They have also used counters and arrays to conduct hands on experimentation with numbers to fully understand the concept of prime and composite numbers.

Talk Money came in and shared some interesting information with students about how to save money. As part of this learning, students learned about the Super Saving Strategy where they set a clear goal from the beginning; deposit savings, irrespective of the amount; and keep their savings and spending accounts separate.

Last week, students participated in the Interschool Sports Fun Day. They participated in a round robin tournament in one of the following sports: Dodgeball, Downball, Handball and Ultimate Frisbee. The Rolling Hills students demonstrated a fantastic amount of positivity and perseverance, regardless of the results of the game. They supported each other throughout the challenges that the day had brought and demonstrated fantastic school values. They should be very proud of themselves.

Keep an eye out for Compass for the latest information about what is happening throughout the last few weeks of the year.

The 5/6 Team

Megan Pepprell, Alarna Creed, Ashleigh Wilson, Sam Younes, Rachel Boyle and Brendan Van Haaster