Classroom News

Science - Year 2 to Year 6

Wow! What a brilliant start to the year we have had in Science. This term, our focus has been Biological Sciences.

The Year Twos have been busy pretending to be botanists by planting their own seeds and watching them grow and change!

Our marvellous Year Three students have LOVED learning about how we can classify living things. In small groups, students completed posters where they needed to group animals according to their features.

Did someone say seed germination?! The Year Fours worked hard on growing their own seeds and comparing whether seeds grow better with or without sunlight. We also worked on completing an investigation plan for our seed experiment.

Animals and plants have adaptations to help them survive. Did you know that adaptations can be behavioural or physical? Our fantastic Year Five students worked in groups to create bird beaks with a range of materials. We did this to test which beak adaptation works the best!

In Year Six, our learning has been focussed on the many biomes of the world and how living things adapt to their environment. In small groups, we looked at the growth of a microorganism, mould, in two different environments to compare where it grows best!

Science - Pre-Primary and Year 1

We have been very busy in Science with the focus for the term on Biological Science.

In Pre-Primary we have learnt about out five senses, see, hear, smell, taste and touch. We explore these senses with our body and learnt a cool song.

We then learnt about pets and how to care for our pet to keep them safe and happy. Finally we have moved on to plants and how a plant needs sunlight, oxygen, water and nutrients from the soil to grow.

In Year One our focus began on plants and learning about sunflowers, how they grow and their important parts; seeds, roots, stem, leaves, flower and petals. We drew sunflowers and labelled them. We then moved on to habitats and where animals live.

Our focus moved to birds in our local area and we have made the most amazing bird feeders which we put outside in week 9 to see what birds we could attract.

Art

It has been a busy start to the Year in Art. The classes have been focusing on a variety of different techniques and styles to create some masterpieces inspired by different Australian artists and literature.

The Pre primary classes have been looking at primary colours and how we can mix these colours to create new colours. We have been experimenting with different brush strokes and exploring how we can all be artists through the story ‘Dot, Scribble, Go’.

Year One students have been learning about the elements of art, colour and line. They have explored primary colours, secondary colours and a variety of lines to create some beautiful drawings.

In Year two and three students have been using the mediums of collage and implied texture to create Australian birds, inspired by Pete Cromer’s artwork and the story ‘Black Cockatoo with one Feather Blue,’ they look fantastic and the students have enjoyed creating using a variety of water colour and acrylic paints.

Year Four has been experimenting with warm and cool colours through water colour paints they have created some beautiful sea turtles that are drifting through the ocean. This has been a great way for the students to learn about blending and complimentary colours.

Year Five students have been working on the elements of texture and space. They have used their understanding of space to show perspective in their landscape drawings.

The Year sixes have studied the Australian artist Ken Done and his creative outlook on landscape painting. They have learnt how sometimes art is about creating a feeling not just painting what you see.

We also created a whole school collaborative art project in our Harmony Day Tree, it was wonderful to see everyone’s creativity come together to celebrate the diversity and community of our school.

Elevating Student Success

Students who read for 15 minutes a day read at an accelerated rate.
6 extra minutes of reading time per day can help a struggling reader reach – and even surpass – the year level’s benchmark.
Reading reduces feelings of stress.

All of the following assist with developing reading skills:

Nursery rhymes
Singing
conversations – turn taking, eye contact, acknowledging what is said.
oral storytelling – use of expression and correctly sequencing events.
environmental print – reading signs at the shop/along the road, food labels.
Select and read high interest books.

All of the following assist with developing reading skills:

Nursery rhymes
Singing
conversations – turn taking, eye contact, acknowledging what is said.
oral storytelling – use of expression and correctly sequencing events.
environmental print – reading signs at the shop/along the road, food labels.
Select and read high interest books.
Read / tell stories in first language.
Share the reading load – adult reads a page/paragraph/sentence, child reads a page/paragraph/sentence/word.
Going to bed 15 minutes earlier to read a book together.

As a family, pick time throughout the week where everyone stops to sit and read for 15 minutes.

Happy Reading!