Teaching and Learning Areas
Foundation
As Term 2 draws to a close we hope our Foundation families can take time to reflect on the wonderful learning the students have been doing.
In Reading, we’ve been practising our decoding skills of segmenting and blending. Alongside this we have explored lots of non-fiction texts to build our knowledge and vocabulary relating to lots of different animals including platypuses, seahorses, iguanas, stick insects and frogs.
In Writing, we’ve taken the information we learnt in Reading to create information texts. Hopefully you have seen some of these books published and on display in the Foundation classrooms.
Maths has been full of new games, including ‘The Cat, The Cheese and The Mouse’ and an addition version of ‘Get Out Of My House.’ We’ve also explored three-dimensional shapes.
The Melbourne Zoo excursion was lots of fun and we would like to extend our thanks to all the volunteers that joined us. We couldn’t do the excursion without you.
As we move into Term 3, we encourage you to help build your child’s independence, particularly during soft-start. Please encourage your child to organise themselves for the start of the day and ensure you are leaving them lots of time to enter the classroom by themselves to begin the activity that has been set up by the teacher. If you need to speak to the classroom teacher about any issues, please organise a time to do so after school. You can contact the classroom teachers via email or Compass.
Grade 1/2
The 1/2s have continued to love learning about minibeasts. Recently, they have explored different insect lifecycles and have presented this process on a poster. The students have also worked on creating information texts about an insect of their choice. It has been great to see their creativity shown in the interesting inclusions such as 3D insects and ‘information flaps’ on their posters. We have shared some of their excellent work with you and hope you enjoy!
In Maths, the students have been learning about data representation and 2D shapes. This has included creating questions of interest to investigate and collect data about. Students have also been naming, describing and sorting 2D shapes through a variety of activities.
Reading lessons have been focussed on phonics and comprehension. Students have been learning to answer comprehension questions by scanning a text for information. We have included an overview of the sounds the students have learnt this term for your information.
In Writing, students have been enjoying creating procedural texts of their choice. We are currently working through the writing process to draft, revise, edit and publish these for students to share with their peers towards the end of the term.
Grade 3/4
Hello families of 3/4 students,
Not long left until school holidays now and what a term it has been. We went on camp! Hopefully, you enjoy all the amazing photos. Portsea was such an amazing backdrop for some fun activities: Giant Swing, Flying Fox, Beach Activities, Survival Skills, Scooters and High Ropes. We also had a Camp Fire Night where we sang some singalongs and roasted marshmallows, as well as a Movie Night with the absolute classic film voted on by the students, Daddy Day Care. It was such a pleasure to see the students outside of the classroom and watch them develop new friendships and strengthen existing ones. We are very proud of the students who put themselves out of their comfort zones either just by being away from their usual home routines, or by facing their fears by going on the Flying Fox or Giant Swing. Aside from camp, this term we’ve also done lots of learning.
In Mathematics, we finished our addition and subtraction units. It was great seeing students get confident with a lot of written and mental strategies such as doubles and near doubles, bridging to ten, friends of 10, split strategy (chunking) and the vertical algorithm to name a few. Ask your child about these strategies and quiz them on their mental maths skills! This week students have begun our money and financial management unit. They will think about money and budgets as well as solve transaction problems, perhaps with some shopping role play. Later this term, we will start a unit on number patterns such as finding the missing element in a pattern (for example: 1, 3, _, 7, 9).
In Writing lessons, students have been studying the text features nonfiction texts including biographies, and more recently, information reports. They have researched and created an information report about a famous invention or object - with many students choosing things such as the Rubik’s cube, telephone, camera, typewriter or microwave. We have since moved on to ‘open cycle writing’, where students have some free choice to move through the writing process on a text of their own choosing for the rest of the term. Teachers will be working closely to develop writing goals during this time.
In Reading, students have looked at expanding their vocabulary - you will notice sometimes students bring home a sticky note with words on it in their lunchbox - this is because we have started ‘lunchbox words’. The aim is that students stick it somewhere visible (such as the fridge) and practise saying a sentence with these words each day. Repeated exposure to new words is the best way to build your vocabulary. We have also been learning about finding the main idea of a paragraph, identifying the topic sentence and also summarising nonfiction texts using the main idea. More recently, we will be looking at the comprehension strategy ‘Making Connections’ to discuss how a text can remind you of personal experiences, other texts or things that happen in the world.
In Integrated Curriculum, students have researched their explorer and now it is time for them to get creative. We encourage students to dress up, make maps, compasses or telescopes as props, and give these presentations their all! In Week 11, we will see some fantastic slideshows, posters, videos, podcasts or dioramas that show off student-learning about their chosen explorer. We can’t wait!
We hope the remainder of the term is a good one and you have a safe holiday break.
From Elena, Daisy, Keerththana, Jennah, Lina, Stefanie and Thomas.
Grade 5/6
Hello 5/6 families! We hope you are staying safe and warm.
In literacy, we have been looking at non-fiction writing including information reports. In which students examined the features and purpose of information reports. Students chose a plant or animal to write about and researched information about their diet, habitat, life cycles, appearance and adaptations. This supported them in creating a fictional profile of a plant or animal of their making for PBL. Additionally, we have explored news articles and exclaimed them for bias and balanced reporting. This has been designed to increase the students’ media literacy and ability to identify whether a source is trustworthy or not. Students have also had the opportunity to write their own news articles with the appropriate language features and structure. In numeracy, we have looked at data collection and representation. Additionally, we have conducted chance experiments and explored how to represent these as fractions, decimals and percentages.
As of last week, the students have entered the ‘making’ phase of our PBL project, The Island. To consolidate their learning they have completed this term, the students have been able to choose to present their knowledge in a multitude of ways culminating in a final product. Students chose between: being a politician and creating Vie Elet’s constitution, making the official flag to raise at the opening ceremony, writing and performing the Vie Elet National Anthem, creating 3D models of the native flora and fauna as the Natural Historians, the media outlets creating newspapers and podcasts, the Town Planners who will create a digital model of the entire country, a Cultural Historian who will create and preserve Vie Elet’s native dress and cuisine, and finally the island builders who will create a scaled model of the island. The learning that the students have been completing over the course of Term 2 have prepared them with the theory and foundation for them to complete this next stage of the project. At the end of the term, we will have a presentation night where we will invite all of the community to come and explore our wonderful island and all we have created!
In non-learning news, the interschool sports teams have been training hard and playing very well. We have seen a lot of excellent sports spirit from the students and despite some pretty big losses, they always have a smile on their faces. In Week 10, we will have our PBL presentation night where the whole school community will be invited to come along and view the work and huge efforts the students have put in this term. We hope to see you all there!
5/6 Team
Tori, Jacinta, Sandra, Harriet and Simon
PE
Cross Country
On Wednesday 15th May, 37 students attended the District Cross Country Championship. It was a lovely day, the sun was shining and students were full of energy, excitement and nerves!
Merri-bek PS had 20 students finish in the top 50 - with close to 100 students running in each race, this is an amazing effort. Everyone should be proud of their efforts.
It was a successful day with 3 students qualifying for the Division Cross Country Championships to be held on Wednesday 29th May. Well done to Mae (10th), Veronica (3rd) and Bethany (4th) and good luck at the next stage of competition.
Division Cross Country Championship:
Congratulations to Mae, Veronica and Bethany on their efforts at the Division Cross Country Championships. Mae finished 32nd, Veronica finished 13th and Bethany finished 14th. Awesome effort!
