BBPS Life

Prep

Investigations is definitely the most popular form of learning in prep. This developmental play program includes a choice of activities which are designed to foster creativity, develop motor skills and encourage sharing and turn-taking.

Preps are also loving  'Possum Magic', by Mem Fox. This story has inspired learning how to retell stories, talking about our favourite characters and learning about cities and towns around Australia. 

We have commenced our breaking news for the year - students are sharing their family celebrations, including: Swedish Midsummer, Greek Easter, Halloween and Christmas.

We continue to develop our mathematics skills by focusing on 1 to 1 counting using lady birds (who knew maths could be so cute?).

AFL clinics have been a major highlight in PE, with students finding it both challenging and fun!

Grade 1 and 2

Grade 1

Grade 1 have been measuring pretty much everything as they explore length, and have been learning about why we use identical objects to get a baseline for accurate measuring.

Literacy: experience-based language work using exploration of the playground has prompted writing, including the use of adjectives and verbs to describe and retell. 

Social and Emotional Learning: students have been learning about the Zones of Regulation, which is a tool to help them understand their emotional states and the strategies they can use to regulate their emotions - a key skill to building resilience.

Grade 2

This week grade 2 students have been revisiting place value and 3 digit numbers in. Maths. They have discussed and shared family traditions, and have written procedural texts for their favourite recipes. Today they are starting a basketball clinic, which is sure to get them bouncing!

Grade 3 and 4

SRC representatives from grades 3 and 4 went to the Gallipoli Memorial Garden at Hampton RSL - which is the beginning of preparation for the Anzac day commemorations.

We are steaming through Junior Elementary Maths Mastery, which is an explicit direct instruction program designed to build confidence and develop strategies for solving problems. 

Narratives are the focus in English, with students at the planning stage as they get ready to write their own stories. Some of our emerging writers have been inspired to write sequels and even a four part series. Jack and Nic in 3CP are embroiled in and ongoing adventure that has many twists and turns. We are all waiting for the finale!

In SEL, again as in other year levels, resilience is being explored. Students have been building self-management skills including 'using their words' trialing 'empowering' language.  The focus is on positive interactions with other students and problem solving, respecting the perspective of others by listening. 

Grade 5 and 6

Book club has taken off: students are half way through books and loving sharing ideas and thoughts. We have also started to set up our readers workshops with a focus on leaving tracks of our thinking as we read.

Maths workshops have included further investigations of place value, decimal numbers and open ended Maths problems (looking for patterns and hypothesising).

Narrative - students have been exploring characters and settings and are using mentor texts to develop a toolkit for the creation of their own narratives.

Resilience Project journals are being used regularly, with recent entries looking at emotions, gratitude and empathy.  

Grade 6 students are also working on their leadership action plans with Mrs Ancrum to develop ways they can implement positive changes at school or in the community in 2022. They are also working with Mrs Braun to reflect on their skills as a leader, and setting personal goals to help make this change happen!

Grade 5 Narrative Study

Christian "We are working on narrative. We have been reading a story and then summarising it and providing character information. The WALT (We Are Learning To) is: "...using prior knowledge to revise and interpret narrative structure."

Anton "We are reading a narrative by Paul Jennings called 'One Shot of Toothpaste'. It is hilarious because the dentist is making toothpaste you only need to use once."

Sophia "Some people didn't want to read the story because they are scared of the dentist. The story is creepy and funny"

Grade 6 Radio!

As part of our BBPS leadership program our media captains are presenting a radio show on 88.3 Southern FM. The first show took place this morning at 7am. "The BBPS Hour of Power - with Mel, Vishy, Cas and Annie B" included songs, trivia, discussion, games and lots of fun. Tune in again on 31 March for our second show!

We spoke to the presenters about the experience:

Kaevish (Vishy) " It was so much fun, a great experience. It was a bit nerve-racking at first, but then we relaxed into it and I had a lot of fun talking."

Melis (Mel) "It was nerve-racking at the start because there were a lot of buttons and when we had to change songs I was worried I might knock the microphone but by the end I was a lot more confident. I also interviewed Mrs Ancrum with Kaevish about our leadership program."

Cassie (Cas) "We went to Southern FM studio. It was still dark outside. It had just openened and we got to walk into the red studio. We got to test out our microphones, which we had to keep 3 fingers away from our face."

Annabelle (Annie B) "We started off by introducing everyone with fun facts. I introduced our quote of the day. We did BBPS news reporting on our swimming carnival, district swimming, yard renovations and returning to school after lockdown. In the middle we spoke about the leadership program and Melis (Mel) did 'weird and wonderful facts' and then we 'exposed Ms Craig by interviewing her about her personal life. We played the 'Um game' and Vishy did sport and then we finished off with what's coming up in grade 5 and 6."

Young Archie Competition

Students of all ages at BBPS have produced outstanding portraits as part of their visual art classes. The school selected a number of them for submission to the Art Gallery of New South Wales for the Young Archie competition. Good luck to all of the students who entered. Please take a moment to enjoy some of the the brilliant entries from Leila and Zoe below. 

St Peter's Kinder Smoking Ceremony

Ava: I attended the Welcome to Country smoking ceremony at St Peter’s Kindergarten. A Welcome to Country Smoking Ceremony is performed by Aboriginal Traditional Owners for people visiting their country. At the start of the smoking ceremony, a teacher from St. Peter’s kindergarten welcomed us all to the smoking ceremony and thanked us for coming. Then a traditional member of the Bunarung People spoke about the importance of aboriginal culture and explained that they were one of the oldest civilisations. He lit a fire in a pot, and then took some native leaves and put them in to make smoke before telling us to walk through the smoke in a circle. He said it was to cleanse our spirits and open our hearts to new beginnings.

Ivy: I attended the Welcome to Country Smoking ceremony at St peters Kindergarten. When I arrived I was welcomed by the kindergarten director and she thanked us for coming. The person that was performing the smoking ceremony was a First Nations person. He lit a fire in a pot and put bay leaves over it and waited for the smoke to appear.

After the smoke appeared we were asked to walk in a circle through the smoke to cleanse our spirit. He talked to us about his life and thanked us for coming.

Aarav: I was welcomed to the smoking ceremony at St Peter’s Kindergarten. The welcome to country smoking ceremony was conducted by a current member of our first nations people. At the start of the ceremony, he talked about the different types of native plants and what they meant to his culture. He combined the plants into the pot to create the fire and smoke. Then he invited us to move around in the smoke and open our hearts to new beginnings. Afterwards he told us about his life story and thanked us for coming. I loved this experience because it was my first time as a BBPS leader representing our school at a ceremony.

Congratulations to Elliot who was one of six winners of the Bayside Big Summer Read Competition.