Classroom News
Foundation
Decoding
This week, students have been strengthening their knowledge of Set 1 sounds by revisiting them regularly and building automatic recall. Our daily warm‑ups now include quick fluency drills for both sounds and our Heart Words, helping students recognise these important words instantly and read them with confidence.
We have also been exploring nonsense words - made‑up words that don’t carry meaning. Because these words can’t be guessed, students must rely on their decoding skills, looking closely at each sound and blending them together. This helps develop accurate reading habits and reduces the temptation to guess based on pictures or context.
To support their spelling, students have been using their phoneme fist - a strategy where they tap each sound on their fingers before writing the word. This helps them hear every sound clearly and record each one in the correct order.
Students will be bringing home a list of Heart Words and the sounds we have learned this term. It would be wonderful for them to practise these over the holidays to keep their skills sharp.
Content Knowledge
Our learning has been around family traditions and the special routines that make each family unique. Students have shared celebrations, weekly rituals, cultural customs, and the small moments that families enjoy together - from Sunday roasts to holiday gatherings.
Text Construction
In writing, students have been practising the correct formation of uppercase and lowercase letters from our Set 1 sounds on a dotted line, paying close attention to where each letter begins and making sure it sits neatly on the solid line. This focus on clear starting positions and correct placement is helping students develop steady, consistent handwriting habits.
Mathematics
In Maths, students have been exploring the numerals 0–10. They have represented numbers using ten frames, compared collections to identify more and less, and practised subitising - instantly recognising a quantity without counting (like the dots on a dice).
We are also focusing on correct number formation, ensuring students learn to write numerals using the correct starting points and strokes.
Junior School
Literacy
In our phonics block, students have been exploring split digraphs. A split digraph is a two-letter vowel team that makes one long sound but is separated by a consonant. Our focus digraphs have included i_e, e_e and a_e. We have been identifying words that contain these digraphs and practising reading and writing them through dictation sentences.
In Content Knowledge, we explored the book The Little Refugee by Anh Do, which shares the true story of his family fleeing from Vietnam to seek refuge in Australia, and the challenges he faced along the way. Following this, we have begun exploring the history of Teesdale and how the Victorian Gold Rush contributed to the formation of this town.
In Text Construction, students have been learning how to create more detailed sentences. They have been using conjunctions such as because, but and so to expand their ideas based on images or information from our Content Knowledge lessons. Students have also expanded kernel sentences using who and why to add more detail. Another focus of writing has been continuing to develop narrative writing by using a planning template that clearly identifies the character, setting, problem and resolution or ending of their story.
Maths
In Maths, students have been learning a range of new addition and subtraction strategies to support their number fluency. These include bridging to ten in both addition and subtraction, understanding friends of 10 and friends of 20, as well as using doubles and double plus one strategies. Students have been practising these strategies using unifix blocks and number lines to build confidence and efficiency when working with numbers.
Performing Arts
In Performing Arts, students have been continuing to explore the story Where the Wild Things Are. They created their own ‘wild thing’ masks to use as props, helping them bring the characters to life.
Sovereign Hill Excursion
Our excursion to Sovereign Hill was a fantastic day, and students thoroughly enjoyed experiencing the history of the site first hand. Throughout the day, students had the opportunity to pan for gold, try out the old-fashioned bowling alley, and participate in a ‘Then & Now’ education session, where they compared childhood activities from the 1850s to those of today. They also explored Main Street and immersed themselves in what life was like during the Gold Rush era.
We hope your child shared some stories from the day with you, as it was a wonderful way to conclude our Gold Rush unit. It was lovely to see so many smiling faces from start to finish!
Middle School
Literacy
This term in Literacy, Middle School students have been learning all about mountains. We’ve been reading interesting texts about famous mountains around the world and exploring how mountains are used, including how they can help generate electricity through hydroelectric power.
A big focus for us has been reading fluently. Students are practising reading with smooth phrasing and expression so it sounds like natural talking. We’ve been reminding everyone that fluent reading isn’t about going as fast as you can — speed reading is not fluent reading! Instead, we aim to read at a comfortable, conversational pace, using punctuation to help guide how our voice sounds. Thankyou to all the parents who read the Fluency Passage sent home last week!
We’ve also been working on understanding texts by identifying topic sentences and supporting details in paragraphs. This helps students clearly see what the main idea is and how the author adds more information to explain it.
It’s been great to see students building confidence and becoming more thoughtful, expressive readers.
Numeracy
In Numeracy, students have been exploring multiplication by using arrays. Arrays help students see how numbers can be grouped into equal rows and columns, building a strong visual understanding of multiplication.
Next week, we will begin building multiplication facts using helpful strategies. For example, students are learning that the 4 times tables can be worked out by doubling a number and then doubling it again. These strategies support students to develop confidence and flexibility when working with numbers, rather than relying on memorisation alone.
Senior School
Content Knowledge
For Content Knowledge, we have been learning about everything money! Debt, investments, credit, you name it. Money is an important topic, so it’s best that we get a head start on it. We have covered currency, debt, investment, credit, loans, consumerism and consumption. Here is an example!
- Gannon SSA
Text Construction
In Text Construction this week we are writing narratives. We were focussing on writing a piece of work to entertain. We have been focusing more on including figurative language, descriptive words, correct spelling, correct punctuation and a broader vocabulary. Despite having to work hard, a lot of us enjoy writing narratives.
- SSA
Numeracy
In Maths, we are learning about halving fractions and multiplying lengths to find the perimeter. We are also adding uneven sides of shapes. Soon we are going to learn about area.
- Jack SSA
Reminders
Students are expected to be reading every night. Please remind your child to do this and to bring their diary in each day with their reading recorded. We have a range of books in our classroom libraries that students can borrow. You could also set up Borrow Box to borrow e-books from the Geelong Library.
Physical Education
Over the past three weeks in Physical Education at Teesdale Primary School, students have been busy developing their athletics skills in preparation for our School Athletics Day. All students worked hard to improve their technique and understanding across a range of events, supported by an Athletics Australia Accredited Coach. A big thank you to Coach Darren for sharing his expertise and helping our students build confidence and skill in athletics.
School Athletics Day was a fantastic success. Senior School students competed in events including sprints, hurdles, shot put, discus, long jump, triple jump, and high jump, showcasing the skills they have been developing. Our Junior School students also had a wonderful time competing in activities such as bean bag toss, standing long jump, and bean bag bucket, before finishing the day with some fun games and dancing.
It was a terrific day all around, and it was especially pleasing to see our school values of Friendship, Resilience, Excellence, Honesty, and Respect on full display throughout the event.
We Are a SunSmart School
Our Sun Protection Policy has recently been updated to ensure it connects with our accreditation as a Sun Smart School. As part of this update, we will be monitoring the UV levels to determine when hats need to be worn. Hats will continue to be required from mid-August to the end of April, and whenever UV levels reach 3 and above. We have begun to share this improvement with students through our Morning Message and recommend students have access to their hat each day at school.