What's happening in our learning spaces? 

Students of the Week

Year F - Year 1/2

This week in Foundation, we welcome Sarah Hogan from ACU, who will be completing a teaching placement with us until the end of Term 2. Sarah has had an opportunity to meet us in FLW and she is very much looking forward to the next five weeks in our Learning space.

As members of a Catholic community, we are tuning in to the whole school scripture of the Parable of the Prodigal Son which focuses on Forgiveness. Last week, as  thinkers, we looked at what the word forgiveness means using questions such as “What is forgiveness?”,  “When might we forgive someone?”,”How do we show forgiveness?” to deepen our thinking. We also shared with each other through illustrations and recording of our thoughts, examples of Good or Poor choices we have made and the impact these choices can have on others. Over the coming weeks we will continue to unpack the parable and link the story to the Sacrament of Reconciliation which the Year 3 students will celebrate in June.

As Inquirers, we are sorting out our thinking about the different habitats animals have. We are looking closely at the basic needs animals, plants and humans require to continue to grow and change. Our Wonder Wall, which is situated outside the learning space of 1/2 AP has many questions and wonderings that we are endeavouring to find answers to. This term as researchers, we are finding out by using books, charts, pictures, diagrams and the Merge Cubes to assist in developing our research skills. Those of us in 1/2 have become very familiar with the features of nonfiction texts, and this week in Foundation, we will begin to unpack fiction and nonfiction texts and the features these texts have.

This week, as readers, we will participate in the National Simultaneous Story Time on Wednesday 25th May. The book is titled “Family Tree” and is written by Josh Pyke. Schools across Australia will listen to the same story on the same day. The book “Family Tree” is a celebration of family, community and the seasons of life.

We can’t wait to engage in more amazing learning throughout the week.

Leanne Wenckowski, Alycia Marsico, Stefanie Carriera and Alexandra Phillips, 

Foundation to Year Two Team.

Year  3/4

As members of a Faith community, we have been engaging in the Bible story ‘The Prodigal Son’. The Year 3/4 students have been reading and discussing the story and its meaning in the modern world. We showed our thinking through a storyboard and responded to questions. We read the picture story ‘The Prodigal ’by Lynton Allen, a modern version of the Scripture, and compared this version to Luke Gospel 15:11-32. 

The Resilience Project is a program where students engage in practical wellbeing strategies to build resilience. Each week, the Year 3/4 students practice one of the following lessons on Gratitude, Empathy, Mindfulness and Emotional Literacy. The students have been learning valuable lessons that they can use in their daily lives. Currently, we have been exploring lessons on identifying how others feel. As collaborators, we worked in small groups to role-play different emotions and feelings. In each role-play, students used body language, facial expressions and tone of voice to convey their emotions and feelings. The audience had to try and infer the emotion of the actors. We had so much fun!

On Fridays, the Year 3/4 students participate in IntraSchool Sports. This term we are playing Endball (Netball), Rooball (Soccer) and Oz Footy (AFL). We enjoy playing with our peers and learning new skills each week. 

Year 3/4 Teachers 

Belinda Panzarino, Katarina Davidson and Graham Troy

Year 5/6

In Literacy, the students have begun reading and analysing a class text from the Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.  They studied the author and the background and setting of the novel.  In the coming weeks, the students will focus on a variety of comprehension strategies including the reading strategies of predicting, inferring and summarising. They are currently focussing on the genre of information reports and identifying the structure and language features of this text. The students have chosen a topic they are passionate about and are writing their own information reports.

As part of our Inquiry, the students are exploring our Big Question “How do Living Things Adapt to Changing Environments?”.  They undertook a “Making Meaning” thinking routine where they explored the concept of ‘Adaptation’ through connection making, wondering, building explanations and synthesising in order to achieve deeper learning.  This routine also highlights the notion of building understanding in a collaborative way.  As researchers, the students worked together to collaboratively devise questions to investigate for the upcoming excursion to the zoo.  

In Mathematics, the students are learning to solve problems involving addition using a range of strategies including the Jump strategy, partitioning and vertical algorithms. They are learning how to use rounding numbers as a strategy to check the reasonableness of their alculations when adding whole and decimal numbers. The students are focussing on reading worded problems carefully by highlighting the important information.

This week, in the Resilience Project, the students identified and described their own character strengths.  Some strengths included; kindness, resilience, forgiveness, humour, optimistic, courageous and patience. The students enjoyed finding other students in the class with a common strength. They were asked to share one of the ways they have demonstrated this strength that linked them.  The students designed a logo that represented their strength.  As part of the Project, they have been learning to focus on positive thoughts and appreciate everyday things by answering the question “What went well for me this week?”.

What went well for me this week was …

I was placed at Cross Country. Tom V 5/6CG

The information report, because I was able to write about something I love. Kiara 5/6OS

I got to play soccer. Anthony 5/6CG

I got to understand the work better and play with my friends. Sierra 5/6VC

I completed cross country and got 26th place. Sebastian 5/6VC

One of my friends finally hugged me. Amelia 5/6CG

I achieved my goal of finishing my book in a certain amount of time. Ava P 5/6VC

That me and my friends got along and laughed a lot. Giselle C 5/6CG

I finished cross country. Maya 5/6VC

I got Student of the Week for helping the juniors in Maths. Alana 5/6CG

In basketball, I scored 5 goals in a row. Alessio 5/6VC

I placed in the cross country run. Simon 5/6VC

I was proud of my art of the red panda. Christian C 5/6OS

I surprised myself in maths by solving more problems than I thought I could. Penelope 5/6OS

I enjoyed drawing animals in art. Juliette 5/6OS

We were talking about the zoo, it got me very excited for the excursion. Maddie L 5/6CG

As people of faith our whole school scripture focuses on the “Prodigal Son”. This scripture focuses on the  importance of forgiveness and the impact that forgiveness has on each of us throughout our daily lives. Our learners focused and unpacked the big questions: 

How did Jesus show forgiveness to his people? 

Why is it important to forgive? 

Our learners were given the time and opportunity to unpack these questions by  dialoguing and documenting their first thinking about these questions.

Have a wonderful week.

Viviana Clarke , Olivia Sargent, Michelle Casamento and Annette Gasbarro. 

5/6 Teaching Team.