Independence Centre

Curriculum

Selamat siang!

It’s hard to believe that Term 3 is almost over! With the weather warming, we hope everyone is getting lots of opportunities to get outside and go for walks or bike rides together. Our Wellbeing is so important during this time, so making time to get out and have regular screen breaks is really helpful.

Last week, the 3/4 students continued to practise their speaking and listening skills through another shared Seesaw post. The discussion prompt was ‘You are on a desert island and you can only bring 3 things, what would you bring?’ Students left voice comments sharing their opinions about what items would be the most important and why, as well as spending time responding to the opinions of their classmates. The teachers have been really encouraged to see such thoughtful responses and to hear the respectful way that students are agreeing and disagreeing with each other. Look out for another speaking and listening activity posted this week.

In Literacy sessions across the week, students practised their writing skills through responses to a variety of different story prompt ideas. The students were given 5 minutes each to respond to each of the ‘quick write’ prompts. It was excellent to see some students challenging themselves to use the ‘show, don’t tell’ strategy to add further description to their writing. They then chose one quick write to spend time editing and upleveling, being asked to add something, remove something and change something in their work. We also spent time exploring onomatopoeia and alliteration. These two strategies are often used in text to create engagement and humour. Students created their own comic strips using a variety of onomatopoeia and read the text ‘Animalia’ by Graeme Base to practise their alliteration skills. The teachers loved seeing the creativity of word choice bloom through their activities.

In Maths sessions across the week, we focused on calculating the volume of a variety of objects. Some students used centicubes to count the volume of a range of different shapes, while others used their multiplication skills to calculate volume using the length x width x height formula. During our last maths session of the week, students created their own rain gauge. We hope these have all found a way into your gardens and have started collecting some rain droplets from over the weekend. Our focus for mathematics this week will be capacity.

Enjoy the last week of term. Don’t forget to tune into the Whole School Assembly Zoom, the HIIT Zoom and to dress up for Footy Day on the last day of school!

We hope you have a wonderful last week of term,

Mr Dix, Miss Gasowski, Mrs McCoy, Miss Molloy, Mr O’Connor and Miss Richardson :)

Student Voice

“I challenged myself today by completing the challenge part of the alliteration activity.” - Zsofia C
“I found writing an alliteration for the letter ‘y’ challenging so I used the dictionary to find some helpful words that I can use.” - Tanaka M
“I challenged myself today by using the letter ‘x’ because there are actually only six words that begin with the letter ‘x’ and I had a limit of the words that I could use for my alliteration." - Alya J

Reminders

See updated timetable above to weekly Zoom schedule
Students to check small group timetables
Literacy Live Zoom - daily at 9:15am
Mini Maths Zoom - daily at 10:00am
Footy Dress up day Friday

Pupil of the Week

3/4D: Tyrone K -

Well done on using your strength of bravery to work through challenges when working remotely on Zoom. Keep up the tough work Tyrone and I look forward to seeing you in our future Zooms!

3/4G: Riley G -

For the outstanding effort you displayed when completing online challenges in your learning last week. You showed responsibility and a love of learning when responding to feedback online. Keep it up, Radical Riley!

3/4K: Lola P -

For demonstrating a love of learning and reading to complete your Premier's Reading Challenge. You have regularly updated your list of novels and I was blown away by the dedication you have shown to make sure you are reading each day. Lovely work, Lola!

3/4M: Jenny C -

For demonstrating creativity and a love of learning during Literacy sessions this week. You used alliteration to add interest to your writing and engage your audience. Jolly good, Jenny! :)

3/4O: Haoran Q -

For demonstrating a love of learning as you engaged with your classmates in our Literacy Live session. You clearly explained different types of figurative language and identified examples in texts. Hooray Haoran!

3/4R: Jackson M -

Well done on using creativity and a love of learning to produce some fantastic responses to the quick write prompts. The descriptive language and metaphors you used help to grip and engage your audience. Jaw-dropping effort, Jackson.