What's happening?
Foundation
What a busy couple of weeks we have had in Foundation! We are so impressed with how quickly all students have settled into life at school. They are doing a wonderful job at following their morning routine and are coming into the classroom ready to start their day with a smile.
We were so excited to celebrate 10 days of school today and have been having fun learning about the letters ‘s,a,t.’ We have also been discussing the School Values and how to make strong choices during learning and playtime.
On Tuesday we sent home a pack of information including a Foundation Newsletter, Seesaw login information and a ‘Show and Tell’ roster, please let your classroom teacher know if you did not receive this pack.
We are extremely proud of how far the students have come in such a short time, we know this is going to be a great year.
Grade 1
Year 1’s have got off to a flying start and have settled into the routine of school so far, and are doing a fabulous job of remembering their hats and daily routines.
We are focusing on 'Family' this term for our Inquiry and the students have been really enjoying sharing their stories with the class and showing their photos. They have also been writing about themselves and are now focused on writing about each of their amazing family members using descriptive words.
Last week students learnt about durations of time in the context of days months and years. This week, students have begun working in their Maths groups. Beginning number and how to identify, represent and model a number.
Look out for readers that are coming home soon and please check the homework folder for notices.
Grade 2
The Grade 2 students have made a wonderful start to the 2024 year. They are settled and focussed and have learnt about our school values through our “Learning How to Learn” program. They have also got to know one another through the “What’s in My Bag” activity which has been a lot of fun.
Last week students brought home their take home readers. Students are given a colour band based on their final assessments last year and can make choices from our take home library. In Grade 2, we’d like to continue to encourage the habit of daily reading at home, signing the reading log, and bringing the reader bag back to school every day.
When listening to your child read our first focus is on fluency and paying attention to how your reading sounds when you read aloud to an audience. This requires students to: try to make their reading sound ‘smooth - like talking’, loud and clear - easy to hear, pay attention to punctuation, use expression to add meaning where appropriate.
Students have been exploring information report writing and are doing a terrific job of demonstrating their understanding of the features of this text type.
Our Maths groups began last week. Students are revising and building their Number and Place Value knowledge and skills as well as understanding of counting sequences by 2, 5, 10 and 3.
We have introduced our Inquiry topic for this term, ‘Animals and their Habitats’, and began with classifying animals according to their features, e.g. invertebrates or vertebrates, and then classifying vertebrates further as either fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, or mammals.
During Week 5 (Monday 26th February- Friday 1st March), the Grade 2’s will be heading to Mentone Grammar for our five day swimming program. Please ensure you check Compass and make sure you have consented and paid for your child to attend.
It was lovely to meet so many parents at our ‘Meet and Greets' on Monday. We are looking forward to a fabulous year ahead.
Grade 3
Our Grade 3 students have made a terrific start to the year! Our ‘Learning How to Learn’ focus for the first 2 weeks of school went well. Students built on their understanding of our Super Six values, learned about the expectations of being a Grade 3 student, and participated in activities aimed to better get to know one another and to create a positive classroom environment.
Reading: Students have chosen their own ‘take home’ book according to their given range and are striving to achieve their personal points goal by the end of the term. Please encourage your child to read daily for a minimum of 15-20 minutes and help them to record this in their diary (parent to sign at the end of the week). Diaries are checked by their classroom teacher every Friday. We have also started our Dibels reading assessment for fluency and comprehension.
Writing: We are beginning to focus on the narrative writing genre. Students are learning about text structure and practising their ability to plot and plan a story line on a narrative planning template. We have also been revising nouns and verbs as well as the difference between a fragment and sentence in our grammar lessons. In our spelling lessons, we have revised the grapheme 'oi/oy' as well as open and closed syllables.
Maths: Last week we commenced with our math groups. Our topic is Place Value. This involves understanding that digits have a different value depending on their place in a number.
Inquiry: Our Sustainability inquiry topic has commenced! The students have started off the unit by watching the movie ‘The Lorax’. This week the students have discovered which of Earth’s resources can replenish themselves naturally and which cannot.
Grade 4
Welcome back to our new Grade 4s! We hope all families had a lovely break and are excited for a big and busy year in Grade 4.
Students have made a brilliant start to year, settling in nicely and the teachers have been very impressed with their efforts in ‘Learning How to Learn’. We have explored the Super 6 Values, the ways in which we learn and how we learn best, how to take on feedback and how to have a growth mindset.
We are very excited to see what the students choose and research for their ‘Passion Projects’. Students will have spoken to their classroom teacher about their question. We cannot wait to see how they come together! If you have any further questions regarding this, please get in contact with your classroom teacher. We will begin presenting our projects in week 4!
Literacy: Students have enjoyed writing about themselves during our ‘Read All About Me’ getting to know you activity. We have now begun some description writing, and commenced our spelling program with MSL and Morphology practice. Our students should be bringing home a book to read each night from our Grade 4 library or a book from home and recording it in their student diaries. These should be signed by parents at then end of each week.
Numeracy: We have now commenced our Maths groups and students have been learning about ‘Whole Numbers’. In our next topic we will be exploring ‘Location and Transformation’. Please feel free to ask your child who their Maths teacher is.
Reminders: Please ensure your child is bringing their diary with them each day, and recording their reading each night. Students should be dressing accordingly to the weather. We are looking forward to the Swimming Program coming up in week 5.
Grade 5
Welcome back! We hope all our families had a fantastic break and are ready for an exciting and no doubt busy year in Grade 5.
We kick started the year with a focus on Learning How to Learn. We discussed the importance of our Super Six values, the expectations of being a Grade 5 student as well as activities aimed to better get to know one another and create a positive classroom environment.
Maths
In our maths groups we have begun with number and place value. We have been focusing on rounding numbers and identifying prime and composite numbers. We have also explored factors and multiples of larger numbers. The students will begin their addition and subtraction unit next week.
Writing
For writing, we have been reviewing our writing skills and exploring the importance of figurative language and other techniques to engage readers and allow for deeper understanding when reading. We have been working on our narrative writing and will move onto persuasive writing next week, ensuring we are ready for NAPLAN.
Reading
The students have been reading our mentor text ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’ as an introduction into our science unit, as well as to strengthen their understanding of various comprehension strategies. They have been focusing on strategies such as predicting, inferring, questioning, clarifying and summarising.
Inquiry
The students are very excited about our Inquiry unit ‘Why is it so?’. Over the course of the unit, students will be exploring science, what it is and how it is used in everyday life. They will be learning all about the scientific method and processes involved within it.
*Please note our science incursion has changed from the 6th March to the 8th March. See the Compass news feed for more details.
Reminders:
- Beach program consent & payment due
- Science incursion consent & payment due
- Camp consent and medical forms have been sent and are to be returned back as soon as possible (more info to come shortly)
- If your child brings a mobile phone to school, please ensure they have handed it into the office at the start of the day, and collect it at the end of the day
- Please ensure you have read the Grade 5 handbook on Compass and download a copy for key information and important dates
Grade 6
Literacy
The Grade 6 students kick started the year with a novel study unit. This unit examines the fiction genre through a classic novel, Treasure Island by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. This week they focused on the character and plot, as well as literary elements such as characterisation.
Writing
The Grade 6 students have been focusing on the description genre. This involves the students planning their writing using a description bubble. The students wrote fantastic descriptions on Peter Pan’s Neverland and are now working on descriptions of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. All students are challenging themselves to write descriptions inclusive of adjectives, adverbs, figurative language and technical language.
Grammar
To compliment their writing goals, the Grade 6 students completed adverb grammar lessons. Stay tuned for descriptive writing jam packed full of wonderful adverbs!
Mathematics
In Mathematics, students have been building their knowledge of Place Value. Next week, we will start work on four operations with a focus on building number sense and how this applies to problem solving tasks.
Inquiry
The Grade 6 classes have been working on their ‘Political Party’ theme covering our nation’s system of government, democracy and the constitution.
Interschool Sport
Last week, the Grade 6 students began their interschool sport journey with Round 1 against Parktone. Students took part in a variety of sports including cricket, hotshots tennis, volleyball, volleystars, softball and lawn bowls.
Term Dates and Events
Please check Compass for further information regarding Term 1 dates and events relating to Grade 6 students.