Professional Learning Community Foundation (Preps)

By now we are well into the term and are heading towards our upcoming assessment weeks. We are so excited to see what our wonderful preps have learnt so far and have been able to achieve in such a short time. We would like to remind our families of the importance of having breakfast and bringing along a nice healthy fruit/vegetable snack to help our little minds start the day in the best way.

This week, in Reading, we will be learning our last few letters of the alphabet and practising finding words with the sounds we know. In Writing, we will be learning how to write ‘I see’ sentences using power of 3 and in Numeracy, we will be learning all about patterns and the places we can find them.

We hope you have a wonderful week!

Professional Learning Community 1 (Grade 1 )

As teachers we are eagerly looking forward to the next couple of weeks where we will be assessing students and how much they have learnt so far this year. The grade ones have been working hard and it will be wonderful to celebrate what they can do now that they couldn’t before. It is especially important during this time that students are AT SCHOOL and ON TIME so that we can gain as much information as we can.

Within the classroom we have been continuing our dinosaur writing, this week we are writing an exposition on why dinosaurs are or are not a good pet. We are also increasing our summarising skills- when you read at home it’s great to be able to look back on the book and remember Who? Where? What? In Numeracy we are following directions such as left, right, half turn, forwards and backwards; as well as describing how something has moved- has it flipped? Slid? Or turned?

Reminders

Slippers are welcome in classrooms this term and next
Jumpers need names as often it is warm inside but cold outside so jumpers are on and off
Fruit snack is only for fruit
School starts at 8:50 which is when students may enter the building with their teacher.

Professional Learning Community 2 (Grade 2 )

It is everything BUGS in PLC 2! Students have written a number of writing pieces about bugs including a narrative, a description and this week working on an exposition. Students use figurative language to make their writing interesting and have included some of the following;

Bugs clean the air like a vacuum.
Slithery, slimy squirmy worms
Flowers bloom as large as the kitchen sink.

In Reading, students are continuing to focus on summarising using fiction texts. Students can identify the most important events and key words that describe the setting, characters or even the problem! Uh oh! When reading with your child at home, try to track how characters feel throughout the beginning, middle and end. Then discuss if there were any changes and why the feelings may have changed. Another great reading strategy is to link this back to your personal life. Ask how did you feel this morning and how do you feel now? Why do you feel that way?

In Numeracy, students have enjoyed playing the card game, “Numero”, where students can use their addition and subtraction skills. We have been playing some fun games that you could play at home.

Race to 100. Play with a partner or as a family. All players will need a pencil, paper and 1 dice (share the dice with whoever you are playing with). All players start at zero and take in turns to roll the dice and add on that many to your total. First person to reach 100 wins. This can be reversed to play Race to Zero
Card Addition. Play with a partner or as a family. Players take in turns to turn over 1 card and that is the starting number. Keep taking in turns to turn over cards and add the number on to your total. Once the deck is completely gone, the person with the highest number wins.

Enjoy learning and playing games together at home. Have a great week.

PLC 2 Teachers J

Professional Learning Community 3 (Grades 3)

This has been a BIG week for grade 3 students! Well done and congratulations to all students who have been undertaking the NAPLAN testing - they should be very proud of their efforts! They have been doing a fabulous job using all the skills and strategies we have been practising in preparation for this week. The students have also been developing their resiliency skills so that they don’t feel stressed or worried and can ‘perform’ at their personal best at the time.

Students have also recently been sent home with a couple of notes in preparation for a few exciting events that are coming up in Term 4. Please read through them and return as soon as possible the information and permission notes regarding payment for Camp and the Bike Education lessons for P.E. for Mr Storey.

Once again, we are so proud of all the grade 3 students, well done! PLC3 Teachers.

Professional Learning Community 4 (Grades 4)

Camp is on the horizon, and we could not be more excited! It’s all we can talk about. Ensure you read over the camp information booklets to make sure you bring all that you need.

In Writing we have been focusing on camping situations which has given us ample opportunity to discuss all the fun things and feelings we will experience on our trip.

In Reading we are concentrating on analysing non-fiction and fiction text types. We are looking at genre and text structures.

In Numeracy we have been concentrating on fractions, decimals and percentages. Grade 4s are knocking this out the park.

Have a great week everyone!

Professional Learning Community 5 (Grades 5)

Welcome to Week 4 in PLC 5.

We have had several exciting weeks working with the kids to prepare themselves for their NAPLAN assessments this week. We feel like the kids are in a good position to complete this assessment and we are continuing to push the most important message of all- trying your best!

In Numeracy, we have been working on interpreting worded questions. To achieve this skill we have been concentrating on identifying the relevant information that is involved. We have also spent time on investigating the vocabulary that is used in Numeracy and how it can help us understand what the question is asking.

In Literacy this week, we are working on the skill of synthesising. This skill involves the students mentally forming categories of related information and revising them as new information comes to hand. To practise this skill we have looked at the topic of ‘Stranger Danger’ which is closely linked to Cyber Safety. Students were asked to research the topic and then present their newly acquired information in the form of an argument.

Reminders:

Winter Sport Carnival is approaching next week, Wednesday 19th May. Parents will be informed on Compass if their child has made a team
Camp notes

Professional Learning Community 6 (Grades 6)

In the last couple of weeks PLC 6 have been looking at texts related to ANZAC Day specifically those written by Jackie French. We have been critiquing and analysing these books by examining the illustrations, her use of language and characterisation. Students have also focused on this topic in writing, describing the events that occurred in Gallipoli and creating Narratives around the difficult circumstances soldiers would have faced. This week students are moving onto writing a persuasive piece around the minimum age of soldiers going to war. In Numeracy students have been looking at various terms of measurement including length, area, perimeter, volume, capacity and time. We have had a large focus on converting between units; why not ask your child how many mm are in 6 metres. We look forward to the beginning of assessment next week and are excited to see what students have achieved this semester.

We apologise for the cancellation of our Mother’s Day Movie Night, but are looking forward to another fundraiser this term. These are to raise money to put towards the grade 6 graduation, so we hope to get as many people involved as possible.

Don’t forget that we have Winter Sports next Wednesday for the grade 5/6 students who have been chosen to participate. We wish them luck and look forward to sharing the outcome of this event in our next edition.

Young Authors' Program