Classroom News
Prep
Hi Prep families,
The Prep’s have done a wonderful job completing their first full week of school.
In Literacy, the students have been looking at the letters ‘L’ and ‘M’ and the sounds in which they make. We have been focusing on reading strategies such as tracking along the words in a text and looking at the pictures to provide clues.
In Mathematics, we are continuing to count and order numbers. The students are also starting to look at patterns and exploring how to identify and make them.
In Religion, we are beginning to learn about ‘The Journey to the Cross’ with a focus on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday.
In Inquiry we have been exploring emotions and strategies we can implement to control these emotions using the characters from the movie ‘Inside Out’ to help us.
We hope the students enjoy the extra long weekend and a well deserved rest.
Just a reminder that there will be two Parent Helper sessions on Tuesday the 3rd of March at 9:15 or 2:45. You will need to attend a session if you would like to help in the classroom this year. If you are interested in coming along, please place your name on the sign up sheet on your child’s door.
We are really happy to welcome Miss Viviane working as the Prep LSO for this year.
Have a lovely week,
Hayley and Jessica
Juniors
1/2 Homeroom News
We have been busy bees during the past couple of weeks in 1/2!
We would like to thank all the parents who came to the parent/teacher chats last week. It was lovely to meet some new faces as well as see some familiar ones! We look forward to getting to know you and your children more as the year progresses.
In English we have been looking at the difference between fiction and nonfiction texts. We have been reading and looking at information texts and identifying features such as contents page and diagrams. The students have also learnt how to label a diagram and have had the opportunity to do so in relation to our Inquiry unit. It has also been great to see students continuing to actively participate and enjoy their take home readers! We are very impressed!
During this week, students had the opportunity to participate in rich discussions about Lent. As we enter into this period of Lent, students were able to discuss the importance of Shrove Tuesday and the meaning of Ash Wednesday. Our theme this year is “Journeying to the Cross”. Students have started to think about one thing they can take up this Lent to be more like Jesus. Some great suggestions have been “Help others more”, “Be more patient”, “Be kind to friends”.
In Maths, we are continuing to solidify the foundations of numbers, such as breaking up totals using the part-part-whole method. Furthermore, we are developing our understanding of the value of each digit in our unit on Place Value.
We are so grateful for the many kind offers from parents to help in our homerooms. We are hoping to get you in our classrooms within the coming weeks. The parent helper training sessions will run next Tuesday 3rd March and after these, homeroom teachers will be in contact to let you know when the timetable will start.
As a part of our Inquiry Unit on Health and Wellbeing, we have been learning about different ways to be healthy. Last week the students were lucky enough to have a cooking session with the chef, Angelo, from the Melbourne Phoenix basketball team. The students made healthy protein balls and engaged in a basketball clinic. They also identified examples of foods we should eat most of the time and others which are sometimes foods. Wonderings on this unit have been developed by the students and they will be engaged in a series of workshops which will address these wonderings.
Please remember that this week the students are not required at school on Thursday or Friday due to staff professional development.
Have a great week,
Jenna, Bethany, Tania, Renee and Jason
Middles
Hi families,
It has been a very busy and productive past few weeks in 3/4. Let us give you an update on what has been happening!
Literacy
In Literacy we have almost completed our Reading assessments. This data ensures that we are able to target each student’s individual needs and begin planning our Literacy workshops. We have focussed on comprehension including answering questions in full sentences and using correct grammar and sentence structure. In writing, we have been using persuasive techniques and writing letters to try to convince Ms Nobelius to agree with our opinion on a school issue.
Maths
In Maths, we have begun our Place Value workshops. We have used concrete materials to assist us in representing a range of numbers and used our knowledge of skip counting to help us continue number patterns.
Religion
We thank all families who attended the Life and Faith: Reconciliation information session last Thursday evening. We were blown away with the student’s deep and well thought out responses to the given questions during this session. As a whole group, we have been exploring the story of Zaccheus the Tax Collector. We have unpacked this story and discussed why forgiveness is important and reflected upon times when we have needed to be forgiven.
This week, we also spoke about why we celebrate Shrove Tuesday (and we were even able to eat pancakes). We attended an Ash Wednesday Mass and discussed how this signals the beginning of Lent.
Inquiry
We wish to thank all parents who attended the 3/ 4 excursion to The National Gallery of Victoria. This was a fabulous day and a fantastic learning experience looking closely at multicultural art.
We reflected upon this excursion by comparing with other groups what stood out to them on the excursion and unpacking ‘new ideas’ as a result of this collaboration.
Design Technology
In Design and Technology with Ms Sally, we have explored the Scratch program on our devices. This program aims to develop our skills in coding and creative design.
Enjoy your long weekend (don’t forget there is no school on Thursday and Friday!)
The Middles Team,
Carla, Chloe and Stephen Luckman
Senior
Hi Senior families,
We are well and truly in shock of how fast this term is going! Thank you to all the parents that joined us at the ‘meet the teacher’ afternoon last week.
We enjoyed a lovely day out in the city last Friday on our Excursion to the National Gallery of Victoria. It was an enriching experience which helped us to gather some wonderings that we will take into our Inquiry unit. It was wonderful to have parents join us on the excursion and we thank them very much for coming.
In writing we are beginning our unit on Information reports. The students have started to brainstorm possible ideas to write their own information report, ranging from The Collingwood football club to World War Two.
Congratulations to all the students who took part in the swimming carnival. Mr Luckman said it was a great success and all the students tried their best.
Just a reminder to please sign your child's diary once a week to ensure they are completing at home learning tasks.
Enjoy the longer weekend (Thursday- Sunday),
The Senior Team