Foundation

The Foundation students have had a wonderful start to 2024!

They have explored the school environment, spent some time with their Grade 5 buddies and have already written two class books!

The main focus this week has been establishing the routines that we will follow for the remainder of the year. These include learning how to set up their table for reading and writing lessons, packing equipment away responsibly, coming back to class at the end of outside breaks and taking turns when sharing and listening to ideas during class discussions. They have had Developmental Play time inside, whereby the goals have been to initiate and sustain conversations with their peers and demonstrate sharing skills.

Over the coming weeks, please ensure your child has the following each day:

Reader bag
Hat
Water bottle

Each day we have a ‘brain food’ snack at 10am. This is a ten-minute break to eat some fruit or vegetables. Please ensure your child has an appropriate snack for this time in a container that is manageable for them to open.

We hope your child has shared some of the experiences they’ve enjoyed so far. Please contact your child’s teacher if you have any concerns.

Happy weekend!

The Foundation Team

Grade 1/2

We've had a wonderful start to the school year in Grade 1/2! A big welcome to our new Grade 1 students - they've fitted into the area really well and are already finding their feet with new friends, new spaces and new routines!

In this first couple of weeks, we've been busy getting set-up for the year ahead. Our ‘Start Up Program’ has included learning names, establishing routines and getting our classrooms organised. We've also had lots of discussions about diversity, kindness, making friends, our school values of respect, responsibility and resilience.

In the coming weeks, we will be beginning a unit on recounts in writing. In reading, we will work on decoding strategies, and in maths, we are going to work on efficient counting strategies such as skip counting.

Home readers will also begin being sent home in the next week. If your home reader bag is at home, please send it in over the next few days, ready for the home reading program to begin.

Thanks for all your support – we are all looking forward to a wonderful year ahead, from the Grade 1/2 team.

Grade 3/4

Hello 3/4 Community!

In the 3/4 learning area, we’ve been thrilled to kick off a new year filled with learning and growth. Students settled in seamlessly, embracing new routines such as focussed/five star listening, and showing eagerness to explore their learning area and their laptops! Students contributed to their classroom layout and decorations, and the spaces are becoming more beautiful as a result. We also developed statements celebrating our diversity, and acknowledging Wurundjeri Country. Kindness and responsibility have been spotted every day as students help out and show respect for each other and their belongings.

What else have we been doing?

Literacy

3/4C students explain that “In Reading, we do 20 minutes of silent reading and sometimes share the books we read. Each week we choose and change our levelled readers and choose classroom library books at our level. A few days ago we made DIY bookmarks. Some of us printed some and coloured them in. We read from our book boxes, and we also used EPIC reading to read books on our laptops.” We have also begun writing about the things we read in our Reader’s Notebooks. In Writing, students learned about the writing process, starting with writing ‘seeds’ or ideas, and then practised planning, drafting, and editing a piece of writing. “Making ideas is fun and exciting. And writing is fun because we love writing stories.” (3/4D students)

Maths so far in grade 3/4

“Up to week two we have been doing Essential Assessments such as, Number And Algebra, Measurement and Geometry and Statistics and Probability.. In those tests we are learning about the times tables facts, fractions and much more. We are also learning about problem solving strategies and how to keep trying and persevering even when we find ourselves in the learning pit. This is what being a good and resilient maths student is all about..

Also in other news the Grade 3’s are going to start NAPLAN soon.”

By Rosa T. and Yasmin S.

Positive behaviours

“These weeks the 3/4s learnt about the school values including respect, responsibility and resilience. On Monday we learnt about what we are grateful to have, and then on Thursday we wrote down what each of the school values were. We talked about how we can use these behaviours in our learning areas, outside, when we’re moving around, at assembly, and online. Our class said that responsibility is when you can take care of yourself and your own things, respect is when you can respect others, and let them speak for themselves. Last but not least, resilience is when you can speak up for yourself and don’t care when people are making fun of you. We also learned what to do if we see bullying and how we can help. These things will help us have a happier and safer school and classroom.” (3/4B and 3/4E)

We’re excited to start our learning programs next week!

From the 3/4 Team - Lina and Hana, Keerththana, Marisa (for weeks 1-3), Elena, Jennah and Thomas

Grade 5/6

Welcome or welcome back wonderful 5/6 families! We hope you all had a restful and enjoyable summer holiday.

We began the Start-up Program last week which has allowed all the Grade 5/6 students to settle into the year establishing positive relationships, routine and classroom community. Included in this start up program was the students’ opportunity to go for a leadership role in the school. Some of the roles students were able to apply for were School Captain, House Captains, Library Leaders, Wellbeing Leaders and more. Students wrote and prepared their presentations to all of their 5/6 peers, the teaching team and leadership. Despite the nerve wracking audience, the 5/6s smashed their speeches out of the park! We congratulate everyone who stood up and had a go.

In writing, students have been establishing the Writer’s Workshop model where they follow the seed, plan, draft, edit, publish cycle. Additionally, students have been creating their own writing ‘seeds’ which they will use as their writing stimulus throughout the year. In reading, the Good Fit book system has been introduced into the classrooms as a way for students to identify books that will challenge them enough whilst still being within their realm of interest and ability level. The Start Up program for maths has asked students to explore what makes a good maths learner including adopting a growth mindset and being able to take mistakes as learning opportunities. We have also been playing some engaging maths games and exploring the different equipment in the area. This year we are very excited to begin The Resilience Project as a regular part of our learning program. We have begun to explore The Resilience Project’s main principles of gratitude, empathy and mindfulness and discovering the different ways these can be practised. We have also jumped into Project Based Learning for the year that has allowed students to begin exploring the key pillars of PBL, creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and collaboration. This week, the students have planned, created and pitched a trap suitable to trap a dragon.

This term will include lots of exciting topics and activities. Once our School Leaders have been chosen, a group of 22 students will be heading into the city with Maria and Tori to attend the Young Leaders Conference. Additionally, the 5/6s will begin Interschool sport in Week 3. They will have chosen between basketball, softball and bat tennis and will be playing these for the remainder of the term. In Week 7, the Grade 5s will have NAPLAN starting in Week 7.

In non-learning news, we welcome Daisy Day and Jacinta Marquis to the 5/6 area in 5/6C and welcome back Harriet Dunn to 5/6A and 5/6D. We are very lucky to have these teachers on board with us this year and are excited for the year ahead!

Tori, Sandra, Jacinta, Harriet, Simon and Daisy.

Merri-bek Mail

Issue 1 · 09 Feb 2024

In this issue