Inquiry Centre

Curriculum

Wow! What another wonderful week in the Inquiry Centre. It started off with a bang with our newly appointed SRC representatives for 2023 being presented with their badges at assembly. It was fantastic to see some families being able to join in celebrating. Congratulations to Malia and Meg in 1/2H, Jane and Max D in 1/2J, Jordan and Amatullah in 1/2KD, Elsie and Yvon in 1/2M and Braxton and Phoebe in 1/2SM.

In Maths, students spent the week exploring place value through hands-on materials and engaging games. Students used concrete materials such as counters, icy pole sticks and bundles as well as MAB to make numbers, record numbers and rename numbers. Students explored the different smaller parts that make up a whole number through playing games. These games additionally gave students the opportunity to practise their fluency with number facts. At the end of the week students chose a ‘good fit number’ and demonstrated their understanding of it’s place value through a ‘think board’. This will be available to view on Seesaw shortly.

This week in Writing, students looked at what makes up a sentence, exploring the different mechanics and parts that we need to include, as well as the parts that make our sentences more interesting for an audience. To begin the week students focused on the mechanics of a sentence. Students used editing checklists to ensure they included capital letters, full stops, spaces between words and reread to make sure what was written made sense. Throughout the week Vinny Vocabulary (a member of our VCOP gang) came to help us out. With Vinny’s help students explored incorporating nouns, verbs and adjectives into sentences. We wanted to see if we could include as many interesting verbs and adjectives as possible so that our audience was entertained.

Students were very excited to begin our reading groups this week! Our focus was around investigating the differences between fiction and non fiction texts and if there were any features the two text styles had in common. Students explored different texts and recorded their findings in a venn diagram. We continued our focus decoding words using our phonograms and went on a codes hunt in our ‘good fit books’. Students loved getting to work in their small groups and read with their teacher, focusing on differentiated reading strategies.

In Guided Inquiry we have continued learning all about the Community in which we live and the services and businesses that help support and provide necessary products and services to us. We are so incredibly excited to be heading on our walking excursion next week! 1/2H, 1/2KD and 1/2SM will be walking to Brentford Square on Wednesday the 1st of March in the morning to explore the different services that are in our community. 1/2J and 1/2M will be following suit on Thursday the 2nd of March. Students will be able to explore the service and have the opportunity to speak to staff who work at these establishments, allowing them to gain an insight into how the important services in our community run. They will be able to draw on this experience when creating their very own town in the coming weeks, where they will demonstrate how a community keeps them safe and healthy. If you have any boxes, or items that would support this, please send these into your child’s class. 

We are looking forward to another amazing week in the Inquiry Centre!

Mrs Hirvonen, Mr Jenkins, Mrs Martin, Miss Molloy, Mrs Danes, Mrs Moroney, Mrs Seadon

Student Voice

Students were asked to impress Vinny Vocab with their adjectives this week;

• Max - “Exciting and terrifying”
• Chloe - “My interesting adjectives are sublime and  exquisite”
• Izzy - “Cheeky and colourful"
• Kiaan - “Outstanding and wild"
• Meg - “Spectacular and beautiful”

Reminders

• WALKING EXCURSION: 1/2H, 1/2KD & 1/2SM - Wednesday 1st March.
• WALKING EXCURSION: 1/2J & 1/2M - Thursday 2nd March.
• Please ensure your child has comfortable walking shoes on the day of their excursion.
• Please send any boxes, recycled items for our Guided Inquiry project to your child’s classroom. 
• Student consent forms and information about school fees has been sent out via Sentral. Please ensure that these are completed and returned at your earliest convenience.
• As part of our SunSmart policy, students need to wear hats during Lunch and Recess. Please ensure hats are clearly named. 
• Students should bring and keep labelled headphones to use while at school.
• Donation of tissue boxes to use in the classroom would be greatly appreciated.

Pupil of the Week

1/2H: Shiloh M -

For demonstrating leadership and teamwork when collaborating with your community team to design your own town. 

1/2J: Ishaan T -

For demonstrating a love of learning and creativity when creating sentences and ‘not sentences’ in writing. 

1/2KD: Georgie I -

For your leadership when helping to run Pleasant Snacks this week! You were confident when asking people what they wanted and giving them the correct change. 

1/2M: Sunny G -

For demonstrating perseverance in Writing this week. You worked hard and wrote fantastic sentences with fantastic punctuation and excellent word choices. 

1/2SM: Kaia D -

For having an amazing start to grade 1. Your positive energy and willingness to answer questions makes you an amazing learner!