What's Happening at OLA!
Pre-Kindy
In Term 4, the teachers and Pre-Kindergarten children changed the look of the classroom. The block corner has been moved to accommodate a new dramatic play corner. We now have a tent and a ‘fire’ to cook food ‘outdoors’. The children are role playing camping out. We are learning about Indigenous Australians and listening to stories dealing with Aboriginal dreaming, customs and culture. We also have a table of Australian and Aboriginal artefacts to handle and learn about.
During the last two weeks, the children have been busy outdoors too. We have dug up potatoes from our vegetable garden. We scrubbed the potatoes clean and cut them into chips. We cooked them in the oven and ate them all up! They were delicious.
Finally, we are at the end of the silkworm period for 2018. During last term the silkworms spun cocoons and these have hatched. The moths which came out, have now laid eggs. The only thing left to do is to store the eggs for next year. That completes the cycle of the silkworm for another year.
Mrs Petkovic
Kindy
At the end of last term, we presented our Kindy children with a huge box and, together, we brainstormed ideas about what we could do or build with the box. There were a lot of great ideas, but finally the children decided that it would be great to build a rocket to play in. After the holidays, we used a big sheet of paper to draw the rocket plan. The children gave ideas about what features the rocket needed and how they would make these. We then took a vote on the colour to paint it. It was fantastic to see the children take ownership of their learning and show so much interest in the whole process. We think they did an AMAZING job and now they get to play and pretend they are astronauts in space and the mission control crew. We love Kindy!
Mrs Fruvall and Mrs Taylor
Year 1
This term we have been talking about different perspectives as we start to write persuasive texts. We read the story, The Three Little Pigs, and discussed the little pigs’ perspective and the wolf’s perspective. The children came up with some funny and interesting responses!
In Maths, we have been learning about money. We have worked hard to identify the coins and their features, put them in order according to value and represent amounts in different ways. We have also been learning about statistics and have used Smarties to tally, total and graph the Smarties in a box. We have used our graphs to answer questions about the data.
In Visual Arts, we have been learning about shapes, colours and symmetry. We created our own Kandinsky Christmas Trees using circles of different sizes and colours. We folded and cut kinder squares to create our own symmetry patterns.
Miss Saraceni and Mrs Ravi
Year 3
We have been extremely busy in Year 3 so far this term. We had our Reconciliation Retreat on Thursday 18 October, which was full of fun games and experiences for all. We were lucky to be led by Karl and Brigid throughout the day, giving the children a broader perspective into the sacrament and I think it is safe to say, that everyone learnt something new that day. Our Retreat was then followed up with a Parent and Child Workshop after school, where the children had the chance to reflect on their daily choices in a more hands on way.
Fractions have been very well explored in class as well. We all made a fraction wall poster, which outlined every possible observation we could make about the topic. It was interesting for the children to to be introduced to equivalent fractions by one another first. They were all encouraged to share what they had noticed and learnt throughout the lesson.
Mrs Tollis and Mrs Pilatti
Year 5
What a fantastic start to Term 4, our last term before becoming school leaders.
Last week we were fortunate to go on two excursions, one to the Catholic Education Office for a STEM workshop and then to Chisholm College to check out the Art and Design Technology Exhibition. It was great to have a look at all of the different artwork that we may get to do if we go to Chisholm. But it wasn't all just looking, we did have to fill out a reflection sheet and discuss our thoughts and opinions on the artwork and what the artist was trying to say. It was truly amazing!
The STEM workshop gave us a chance to look at lots of different activities, including robotic applications, Minecraft applications and Virtual Reality. After the STEM workshop, we started our own little STEM project where we looked at materials and design. This week, we are designing and creating shoes out of just newspaper and sticky tape but, after we evaluate our designs and materials, we will make modifications and create even better designs. Sorry, despite how fabulous they are, they will not be available for sale!
Ms Knight and Mr McIntyre