What's happening in our learning spaces? 

Students of the Week   

Foundation

This week in Foundation, we have been researchers, thinkers, collaborators and self-managers as we engaged in a busy week of learning.

As part of our Discovery Time workshops, we developed our problem solving skills as we followed directions and listened to instructions to make Origami, the Japanese art of folding paper into decorative shapes and figures. As collaborators, we all helped one another. We discovered that we had to be persistent, not give up and keep trying, and that we could always stop and go back to a step. We engaged in the design process at box construction, where we thought about what we wanted to make, shared our ideas, came up with a plan, shared materials and took turns as we collaborated to make shops, towers, apartments and other exciting creations. 

As part of our inquiry about designing and making for a purpose, we began exploring how the newly renovated Foundation to Year 4 learning area at St Fidelis came to be.

As researchers, we looked at photos of the building before, during and after, and then engaged in the thinking routine Think-Puzzle-Explore. As communicators, we shared our first thinking in small groups about the steps that might have been taken to get the building to what it is today, and then we shared some of our wonderings and curiosities and what we could do to find out about them. 

Here is some of our amazing and very accurate first thinking…

• Mrs Watson would have needed money. (Ruby)
• There would have been a need first. Maybe Mrs Watson thought that all the kids needed somewhere new to learn. (Rafael)
• I think the builders drew what they had to do and they did it together and if it didn't work they took those pieces away and they put the right pieces back - Eva M
• The builders follow the plan and do what the plan says. (Tess)
• I think the builders had to knock some pieces down. (Hunter)
• They needed a plumber. (Emma)

As mathematicians, we continued to explore the concept of Multiplication. As thinkers, we represented different real life multiplication stories by making and drawing equal groups, such as 4 lolly bags with 2 lollies in each. We used our counting skills to identify how many groups, how many in each group and how many we had altogether. Some of us recorded a number sentence to match. We also had time and opportunity to explore groups within a drawing of our family with Mrs Monaghan. Some families had four people, so 4 people with 10 toes each is 40 toes. Others had six people in their family, so we worked out that 6 people with 10 toes each is 60 toes. 

As people of faith, we have been exploring the story of Creation, from Genesis.  As researchers, we listened to the story from the Bible and identified who the Catholic people believe created the world we live in and what they created.  We made connections to our own roles as human beings created in the image of God to look after creation, and identified the ways in which we can respectfully and responsibly care for the Earth, everything in it and all who live in it. As thinkers, we had time and opportunity to write our own prayers and psalms of praise and thanks for creation. 

We look forward to the week ahead. 

Foundation Team, 

Leanne Wenckowski and Alycia Marsico.

Year 1/2

What a busy week it has been in the 1/2 learning spaces! 

As inquirers, we continued to engage in dialogue with others to consider how our thinking has changed about our BIG question  ‘What makes a good garden design?’. As thinkers, we had time and opportunity to reflect on all we have found out about gardens and how we can create sustainable gardens in our own school grounds. As designers, we have begun unpacking the design process. We have shared our thinking and ideas and are now up to the ‘planning’ stage of our new garden spaces! 

As part of Discovery Time, we continued to develop our skills as designers, communicators and collaborators. We understood the importance of making a plan for our learning and worked together to document our Discovery Time ideas. We continued to ensure that we shared and listened to the ideas of others and were supportive of each other throughout the building process. Some of us engaged in bookmaking, ensuring our stories had a beginning, middle and end and were engaging to the reader. As collaborators, some of us worked together to design a building that was tall yet well balanced. We had an origami station that involved lots of focus and patience, as well as a nature station where we engaged with pictures of the Botanical Gardens to see what may suit our school grounds. 

As people of a Catholic Faith Community, we tuned into the time of Advent. We activated our prior knowledge to find out what we already know, and we began exploring our questions and wonderings about this special time.

1/2SC held their first Whole School Prayer this week! They practiced many times during the week and did a magnificent job in presenting the prayer. 

We were all very proud of each other. We are looking forward to watching 1/2BF’s Whole School Prayer on Friday! 

As readers, we continued to learn more about the design process. We engaged in texts based around the concept of Design, such as ‘Rosie Revere, Engineer’, ‘Iggy Beck, Architect’, and ‘Ada Twist, Scientist’!

All of these books focused on the different elements of design, and the importance of remaining positive and persistent when we are trying to make something new. As reflective thinkers, some of us decided to make up some of our own mottos about design. 

• If you have negativity, you won’t have any activity - Sam.L
• If you have negativity, you won’t have possibility - Julius. R

We used a Venn Diagram to find the similarities and differences between each text. We found the moral of each story was the same: Never give up!

As mathematicians, we started a new unit on fractions. As learners, we found out that fractions are numbers that represent a part of a whole. We focussed on identifying halves, quarters and eighths of an object. We identified some links between fractions and division and took our own thinking further by coming up with our own fraction worded problems for our friends to solve. 

We are so excited for another week of learning ahead.

Year 1/2 Team,

Maria Delaney, Belinda Filippone & Stefanie Carriera 

Year 3/4

The Year 3/4 students have continued to work hard in class this past week. We had the opportunity on Wednesday to attend ACMI at Federation Square to participate in a workshop called: Stop Motion Animation. The students enthusiastically participated in a series of learning tasks where they practiced and learnt new techniques to develop and construct a short animation movie. It was wonderful to see the collaboration, problem solving and listening skills of all students in this activity.

At school we have continued to work on a variety of learning tasks. In Literacy we have participated in a number of activities focussing on the concept of explanation. We have read explanation texts, finding key words and answering a series of questions about the text. We have written explanation texts focussing on the structure of the text and the particular language features used in this particular text style.

In Mathematics, we have continued to develop our skills using the concept of division. We have attempted to calculate using division worded problems where there is sometimes a remainder. Some students have also been using decimals as a remainder.

In Inquiry, the students have been using the Thinking Hats to assist them with their planning and design of an existing play space here at school. We have been reflecting on the positives and negatives of the existing play spaces and sharing ideas of how we can improve them for all members of our school.

In Religion, we have been looking at our Parish and the role it plays in our local area. We have looked at the many roles our local Parish priests have and the activities that are available to the members of our local parish to participate in.

We look forward to another week of learning.

Year 3/4 Team,

Mark MacGregor, Katarina Davidson and Graham Troy.

Year 5/6

It has been another busy and productive week in the Year 5/6 level!

In Literacy, we have continued our author study about Jeannie Baker. This past week we have been studying the book ‘Home in the Sky’ and looking at the story and its visual elements. The students are becoming very apt at commenting on the colour, layout, subject matter and light and shade. We then compared different aspects of ‘Home in the Sky’ with another of Jeannie Baker’s books ‘Circle’. This week we are reading ‘Mirror’ - a beautiful and unique book comparing the lives of two boys living in different countries. In writing, the students are now editing and publishing their creative narratives.

In Numeracy, we are continuing to develop our understanding of fractions. The focus has been on adding and subtracting fractions with related and different denominators. The students also revised and consolidated their understanding of angles. 

This week in Inquiry, students will be working on making their prototypes for the products they are designing. Tuesday has been allocated for this stage of the process. Students are encouraged to bring to school materials that they may need to make their prototype on this day. We await with anticipation to see what the different groups produce and it will be exciting to see the designs come to life! Students will then be drafting and publishing their pitches to sell their products to our very own ‘Shark Tank’.

This week the Year 5 students applying for student leadership positions for 2022 have the opportunity to present their speeches to their peers and teachers. It is an important part of the application process that offers students the chance to explain why they would be a good leader and what they hope to achieve in their leadership role. We wish these students all the best in their leadership applications.  

Just a reminder that 5/6CA will be attending the ‘ACMI’ Excursion on Thursday, 25th November. They are looking forward to a great day.

Have a great week.

Year 5/6 team,

Michelle Casamento, Cherrie Arnold, Viviana Clarke, Olivia Sargent