Reception class: Katie

Since returning to school we have been working very hard learning how to write four letter words as well as starting to form basic sentences. We have also been doing some oral story telling and on Monday we worked with a partner to create a story about a farm animal. We told the story to the class and then we had to draw our story.

In maths we have finished our work on patterning and have started working on 'part, part, whole'. For example working out how many different ways we can make 5.

As part of our work with the Kimochis we have been learning about huggtopus and how excited he can get from time to time.

Finally as part of HASS we have been working on timelines and on Friday we will learn how to create a basic family tree. We have also made some special gifts for our mothers for Mothers Day.

Year 1 class: Kelly and Troy

This term's focus with writing is persuasive text - where you have to convince people about your opinion. The students started their writing with ice-cream or chocolate. It was great to see students give their opinions and try to convince others of which they thought was the best.

We have continued with sounds - we have learnt ai (rain), ay (play), ee (feet), -y (ee - long e sound), oi (coin). We have begun writing sentences using the sound, along with an irregular word (eg. saw, with) and a WOW word to describe something. They have been doing a great job with this.

In maths we have been learning about estimating, the children enjoyed guessing how many objects were in the jars and then counting them to see how close they were to their guess. It was great hearing them say they were close to or far way from their estimation. We have started algebra this week and we have been looking at how to order objects by size, colour and length. We have been discussing, using images, about why an image might look different from the others - the children had to describe the differences.

In HASS we are continuing to look at the family - we completed an activity about who lives with them and discussed how they help each other at home eg jobs. For Health we have discussed what it means to be trustworthy and how teachers trust students at school. We completed an activity where the children had to trace around their hand and think of five people they can trust - we had some great discussion around how it can be family, friends, doctors or police.

Year 2 class: Sam and Suzie

This term we have commenced our addition topic in Maths. Students have been provided with the opportunity to show what they already know about addition and subtraction by reflecting on prior learning. As part of our addition topic, the aim is for students to accurately and fluently be able to answer addition number sentences, show confidence and explain the strategies they have used to get an answer.

In Literacy we have been connecting and responding to a new mentor text 'The Fox' by Margaret Wild.

Students have been working together in pairs and small groups to experiment with using adjectives to build noun groups that describe characters and how they might be feeling.

Each day after lunch, our class practise mindfulness to support their wellbeing and provide a time in the day that is especially for them to focus on themselves and to think about taking care of their 'Zone'. This week the class were introduced to yoga as a form of practising mindfulness. Although some of the poses are a little tricky, as the students continue to persevere, they are gradually becoming 'Yoga Masters'.

Link to Mr Yoga Australia - https://youtu.be/eZSYB6WOoHM

Feel free to have a try at home!

Year 2/3 class: Stephen and Henry

We spent some time developing our awareness of which zone we’re in throughout the span of a school day. We were given a proforma to record how we change between zones, and these are shown in the pictures below. We have also been learning about the word Trustworthy – what this means and what are consequences for when trust is compromised.

For maths we have started learning about Chance and Probability, focusing specifically on correctly using the terminology for this topic. This involves using terms such as likely, unlikely, certain, equal chance and less likely. To help our learning, we made coloured spinners (shown in the picture below) which gave us an opportunity to use the above terms.

We have also enjoyed the soundproofing treatment given to our class. It’s made an enormous difference to the acoustics.

Year 4/5 class: Alex

In Week 1 students in our class practised and ran our Week 1 assembly. We have also had fun on our bikes this fortnight with Wheels Day and Bike Education. We have had our first two sessions of Bike Ed, one within the school grounds practising manoeuvres and revising and learning road rules and one this week where we have braved the local roads around Uraidla. Please enjoy the photos below.

In literacy students have been co-creating this term’s spelling contract together. They have been brainstorming and selecting engaging ways to explore the meaning of their list words and practise their spelling. Students have been analysing their Term 1 narrative writing pieces to reflect on their achievement of or progress toward their writing goals. They have used the punctuation pyramid to self-assess their level of accurate punctuation use in their writing. This term students are focusing on persuasive writing and have completed their pre-assessment Brightpath piece.

In Mathematics students have completed a pre-assessment in the area of addition and will be setting individual goals for this area of learning using evidence from their test of what they are ready to learn next.

In Health students have been exploring the theme of ‘trustworthiness’, thinking about and discussing how to build trust and why it is so important for themselves and others to be trustworthy. In their learning around emotional regulation, students have been using a line graph to track their zones throughout the day. Students will be building a class toolbox of well-being strategies to use at school to support themselves within each zone.

Year 5/6 class: Sallie

Welcome back to Term 2. We have had a great start to the term with lots of bike riding! Bike Education last week and this week (and we will be doing it next week too). Wheels Day last Friday, ran by our class, was a great whole-school activity and a fun way to finish the week. We just snuck our riding in before the rain came in the afternoon.

Our focus for reading comprehension has been locating the "main idea" of paragraphs and whole texts. We discovered it is not as straightforward as some of us thought. We are back into our guided reading and one group has finished and is ready to start another novel. Guided reading is a good way to focus on vocabulary choices, word meanings, looking at punctuation and my favourite, having a discussion about what is going on.

In maths we are looking at fractions and unpacking some of the more tricky concepts.

In geography we are looking at maps and looking closely at legends, the compass, borders and titles. We even looked at a map of South Australia and discovered what symbols were used for roads, highways and national highways.

We have a BIG choir assessment coming up in Week 5 and it would be fantastic if you could encourage your child to do some practice. Monica our choir teacher is a little disappointed that we don't know all of the words of the songs she has been teaching us. Students can take their songbooks home or get onto the Festival of Music app.

SAPSASA News

SAPSASA Swimming State Championships

On Thursday the 4th of May, me (Gisele) and Lara went to SAPSASA swimming state championships. Lara arrived at Marion Pool early in the morning ready for her warm-up and then jump into her races. Lara’s first event was the 12-year-old girls' 100m freestyle and came 6th place out of nine people. Her next event was 50m freestyle and she came 4th in her heat! Next, Lara did 50m breaststroke and came 3rd in her heat and 5th in the state for her age! Lara’s final event was the 4x100m 12-year-old girls' freestyle relay. There were 4 girls in her team and she came 6th overall!

I arrived later on in the day to compete in the 4x100m 11-year-old girls relay and we came 4th place, so we just missed out on a bronze medal. Overall, we did pretty well because there were lots of people that were really good. But we had a great day!

By Gisele

PE: Henry

Congratulations to the students for their hard work last term in PE! We all enjoyed the four weeks of the SACA Cricket Clinic, as well as our school's fantastic Sports Day. We will be focusing on lacrosse this term, with the goal being the development of fundamental skills through fun games and activities. This week we also had a visit from the SANFL who ran a football clinic with each class. How exciting!

Indonesian : Ibu Susan

This term in Indonesian we are studying the topic Di Laut (In the Sea). This includes many sea creatures, prepositions of place, colours and numbers.

We will also look at endangered sea turtles. Two new cute teddies have also joined the class- gurita and ikan paus.

Science : Troy

Students are currently finishing their units of work from Term 1. The year 4/5 and 5/6 classes are learning about transparent, translucent and opaque materials and their impact on creating shadows.

The year 2/3 class has just finished their learning on heat with students investigating conductors and insulators of heat around their homes and have begun looking at the properties of solids and liquids.

Our year two class has been learning about sound and has used digital devices to record different volumes in decibels and are looking into devices that assist hearing.

The year ones are looking at the differences in needs of animals and plants.

Finally, our receptions are learning about the external features of animals and plants and sorting living organisms by different characteristics.

Gardening : Jo

The gardening students from Sam’s class have been observing the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly. The caterpillars have grown and we are waiting for the chrysalis to change too.

They have moved mulch and harvested the potatoes ready for cooking next week - this was the highlight!

Mon 15 May	Gov. Council 7pm
Tues 16 May	Whole school photos *
Wed 17 May	Bike Ed Yrs 4-6
Fri 19 May	Walk to school day
Wed 31 May	2/3 class excursion
Fri 26 May	Katie's class tuck shop*

Pupil Free/ School Closure Days
Tues 13 June	Term 2 Week 7
Mon 24 July	Term 3 Week 1
Mon 16 Oct	Term 4 Week 1
Mon 6 Nov	Term 4 Week 4

Important dates