REMINDERS & UPDATES

Hats

With spring here it’s time for hats to come back to school! Grade 1 and 2 students are reminded to bring their school hat back to school if they took it home over the holidays and to make sure they are wearing it during outdoor activities and break times.

iPad Reminders

Our iPad program works best when all students who have their own iPad bring it to school each day. Please remind your child to make sure their iPad is charged and packed their school bag every morning.

Family Holidays

If you are intending on taking a holiday during the school term, please make sure you inform your classroom teacher and discuss an absence plan.

Term 4 Dates

3rd November - Melbourne Cup Day

11th November - Beauty and the Beast Junior Production

12th November - Beauty and the Beast Junior Production

16th - 20th November - 1/2 Swimming

16th December - Final Assembly

CURRICULUM THIS WEEK

Literacy

Thank you for your continued support with home reading. Reading together each night, even for just 10–15 minutes, is one of the most valuable ways you can support your child's learning. Regular reading helps build confidence, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension, while also fostering a lifelong love of books. We encourage students to continue recording their reading in their log books each evening, as this helps us celebrate their efforts and monitor their progress. Thank you for partnering with us to make reading a positive and enjoyable part of your child's daily routine.

Grade 1 – This week, students will continue their phonics learning by exploring ea for the short /e/ sound in words such as bread and head, and a for the short /o/ sound in words such as wash and want. We will also explore oi and oy, which represent the /oi/ sound in words such as coin, soil, boy and toy. Students will practise reading and spelling words containing these patterns and applying their learning when reading and writing.

What can you do at home?

Optional UFLI Home Practice pages

Grade 2 – This week, students will continue developing their phonics and spelling knowledge by exploring ch making the /sh/ and /k/ sounds, as in chef and school. We will also explore gn representing /n/, as in sign, gh representing /g/, as in ghost, and silent t, as in listen. Students will then learn about -sion and -tion in words such as mission and station. Students will practise reading and spelling words containing these patterns to become more confident and accurate readers and spellers.

What can you do at home?

Optional UFLI Home Practice pages

Mentor Text

This week, students will use the text Here We Are by Oliver Jeffers to explore our planet and the people who share it. Students will build their vocabulary and consider what information would be important for someone arriving on Earth. We will also share our wonderings about different people and write a book review, expressing our opinions about the text. To finish, students will create an Earth craft and reflect on how we can care for our planet.

Maths

Grade One Students

Grade 1 students will explore time, focusing on the days of the week, months of the year and using calendars. Students will practise naming and ordering the days and months and using calendars to find dates and identify important events.

What can you do at home?

Continue working through allocated Math Seeds tasks that have been assigned to your child.
Practise skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s.
Talk about the days of the week and months of the year. Use a calendar together to find birthdays or upcoming events and discuss yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Continue practising left and right by describing where objects are or giving directions around your home.

Grade Two Students

Grade 2 students will explore telling time on analogue clocks, making connections between fraction language and time, such as half past, quarter past and quarter to. Students will practise reading clocks and matching them to the times they show, with opportunities to extend their learning to telling time to the minute. We will also continue developing our understanding of fractions by solving measurement word problems and explaining our thinking.

What can you do at home?

Continue working through allocated Mathletics tasks that have been assigned to your child.
Practise skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s from a non-zero starting point.
Look at an analogue clock together and discuss half past, quarter past and quarter to, connecting these terms to halves and quarters of an hour.
Continue exploring halves, quarters and eighths at home by sharing collections into equal groups or using measuring cups during cooking.

WELLBEING

SWPBS

This week, students will focus on Be safe in all settings by learning to stop when asked to. We will explore what this looks like in the classroom, in the playground and during social interactions. Students will practise listening and responding promptly when someone asks them to stop, respecting others’ boundaries and choosing words and actions that help everyone feel safe and comfortable.

Respectful Relationships

This week, students will explore positive gender relationships, learning to recognise how words and actions can hurt others and how this may make people feel. Through age-appropriate scenarios, we will discuss gender-based violence, including hurting or excluding someone because of their gender. Students will explore the importance of treating everyone with respect and fairness, supporting others and seeking help from a trusted adult when needed.

What can you do at home?

Continue the Conversation at Home...

Here are some questions you might like to ask your child to reinforce our wellbeing learning:

What was something that made you feel happy today?
Did anything feel tricky today? What helped you get through it?
What helps your brain and body feel calm when you're upset or worried?
Can you show me one of the calming strategies you've been learning at school?
Who is someone you can talk to when you need help?
What is one thing you're proud of yourself for today?
When you notice a friend having a hard day, how could you help them?
What is one strategy you could use next time you feel frustrated or overwhelmed?
What are three things that made you smile today?

Taking just a few minutes each day to talk about emotions, challenges and successes helps children build confidence, resilience and a strong understanding of the strategies they can use to support their wellbeing both at school and at home.

CBL

This week, students will continue exploring our Big Idea of Survival/Systems by taking a closer look at the Sun and Moon. We will read books about the Moon and Sun, share our wonderings and create Moon and Sun–Earth crafts to support our learning.

Students will also be introduced to a Moon observation calendar, which will be sent home as an optional activity for families. We invite you to look up together, notice how the Moon’s appearance changes over time and record your observations, sparking curiosity and conversation about space.

You can also access the Moon Observation task here:

Guiding Questions that will support our learning over the term:

What systems help us survive?
Why is Earth different from other places in space?
What are scientific observations and how can I make them?

CHALLENGE

Inspire the Wonga Park community to ‘Look Up’ and wonder about space.

Wellbeing Hub