Ulysses Community Report

Term 2 2023

We would like to say a big welcome back to all of our families of the Ulysses community. We all hope you had an enjoyable break with your children full of fun and exciting activities spent together. The teachers and students are well rested and ready for another fun filled term.

Our students have started off the term extremely well and we are very excited for our learning journey together.

We look forward to celebrating all of our successes, achievements and learnings with you throughout the term. 

Our Learning

Reading

To start off the term in Reading, we have been exploring the structure of Narrative texts. Students explored a range of Narrative texts such as: My two blankets, Rose meets Mr Wintergarden, The Great rabbit chase and Nothing but oranges to name a few. Students added to their already extensive knowledge of reading strategies. When reading we asked the students to demonstrate their understanding of the text via some of the following comprehension strategies, questioning, summarising, synthesising, inferring, visualising, predicting and many more. These were fun and engaging for all students and gave us a more extensive understanding of Narratives texts and their fabulous structures. This week was our last week of Narratives and we are looking forward to exploring explanation texts and their structure for the remainder of the term.

Writing

To start off the term in Writing, we have been exploring how to write Narrative texts. Students have developed their knowledge on the structure of a Narrative text and how to use language to keep the reader engaged and entertained. We explored how we can effectively use adjectives in our writing to create pictures in the reader's head. 

Students began by creating a detailed plan using the template, ‘somebody, wanted, but, so’. We were then able to use these plans to successfully write a Narrative story that included all important structures which include: main character, setting, problem and solution. Students had so much fun creating imaginative stories and becoming authors of their own short stories. Whilst creating fantastic stories students continued to develop their knowledge of the following writing skills: punctuation, handwriting, spelling patterns, letter sounds, sentence fluency, editing and much more. We can’t wait to share our amazing work.

Maths:

In Term 2, the Ulysses community worked on Addition and Subtraction. Students learnt a range of different strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems, E.g. counting on and backwards, number lines, unifix blocks, counters etc. Students had the opportunity to select a strategy that worked for them and share their thinking with their class members. Students worked on solving subtraction stories and showing their working out on number lines. They learnt about chance and probability. What’s the chance of an event happening? Using terminology like impossible, certain, likely and unlikely.

Student quotes about chance:

“It is impossible that a planet named ‘pong’ exists in outer space”. - Tegh

“It is certain my name is Arzoo”. - Arzoo

“It is likely it will rain”. - Marilan

“It is impossible that a dinosaur will come to town”. - Talal

“It is certain I will play on the playground”. - Naunihal

“It is unlikely that my Mum will go on holiday”. - Krishma 

“It is unlikely that tonight I will eat ice-cream”. - Tegh 

SEL-  In Term 2, students have been focusing on positive coping strategies when they experience negative emotions like stress, anger and fear. They identified the strategies like asking for help, going for a walk etc to help them cope with the negative emotions. Students learnt about the times when they need cheering up and when they are required to calm down. They also identified that everyone has different fears, responses and coping strategies. Students recognised the need to respect this diversity.

Inquiry   In Term 2, students have been learning about forces and motion. They were successful in identifying objects that can be pushed,pulled or both.Students took a keen interest in this  science topic.They were able to understand that when we push the object we are moving it away from the body and when we pull the object it moves towards us. Students got the opportunity to bring some objects from their home and apply the  knowledge of different forces acting on the object into practice.

Important Notes to Remember

• Please label all belongings.
• Students bring blue reading folders, diaries and homework books daily.
• Please ensure students come dressed appropriately for the weather, making sure they have thick jackets, gloves and beanies to wear outside.
• Please ensure your children are attending school as  ‘It is not ok to be away’. If your child is away please notify the office or upload the absence into Compass.
• Pack brain break (healthy snack) in their lunch box for our early morning break between sessions.
• Please check compass daily for any announcements or updates from the teachers or the school, this is a main  source of communication.