Learning and Teaching News
Literacy
What a wonderful and busy term we've had! It's been fantastic to see so much growth and enthusiasm from our students. This term, our main focus was on building reading fluency, which is the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. This skill is crucial as it allows children to focus on comprehending what they've read, rather than just decoding individual words.
A key part of our work on fluency was partner reading. We've seen great collaboration as students took turns reading aloud to each other, providing gentle support and encouragement. This not only improved their reading skills but also helped them develop crucial social skills like listening patiently and giving constructive feedback.
We also put a strong emphasis on speaking and listening. In class, we've had many discussions about the books we've read, with students sharing their thoughts, predictions, and favorite parts. This has been a great way to deepen their understanding of stories and to build their confidence in expressing their ideas clearly and respectfully.
One of the highlights of the term was, of course, Book Week! It was so much fun seeing all the incredible costumes and hearing about your children's favorite characters. This special week celebrated the joy of reading and really brought our classroom's stories to life. Your support truly made it a memorable event for everyone.
As we head into the break, please encourage your children to continue reading for pleasure. A quiet 15-20 minutes of reading a day can make a huge difference. Whether it's a chapter book, a comic, or a magazine, every bit helps to build on the wonderful progress they've made this term.
Thank you again for your continued support.
Numeracy
This term, our students have been busy building their math skills through explicit, engaging and hands-on activities. Our focus has been on strengthening foundational knowledge, with lessons designed to help every student build a deeper understanding of key concepts.
Our youngest learners, in Foundation to Year 2, have become real-world measurers! They've been exploring length, mass, and capacity using a variety of hands-on materials. Through fun, practical lessons, they've built a strong understanding of how we measure things in the world around us. They've also been getting to know different shapes and their properties and purpose.
Students in Years 3 to 6 have taken a deep dive into two main topics: decimals and angles. They've explored the school environment to find and identify different types of angles such as acute, obtuse, reflex, straight, and revolution and learned how to measure them accurately with a protractor.
To make the abstract world of decimals more concrete, we've used a visual and concrete tool called "Decimats" to break down decimal numbers and play engaging games. This has helped students improve their place value knowledge and build fluency with decimal numbers. They'll revisit decimals again in Term 4 to reinforce what they've learned and continue building their skills.
To help your child maintain the fantastic progress they've made, we encourage all students from Prep to Year 6 to continue using NumBots and Times Tables Rock Stars over the school holidays. These platforms are a fun and interactive way to practice essential skills like place value and operations and build their fluency.
We're incredibly proud of the hard work and progress our students have shown this term, and we look forward to another great term of math ahead!
Lauren Middlebrook
Mathematics Leader
Marlene Van der Merwe
Literacy Leader