What's happening?
Foundation
Thank you for helping your child bring along their satchel with readers, word lists and sound packs each day. The students have enjoyed reading with adults during our morning sessions and using our soundpack in phonics sessions! Last week we explored the sounds of ‘g’ and ‘o’ (short sound only). This week we are looking at /k/ which can have the grapheme (spelling choice) of ‘c’ (e.g. cat), ‘k’ (e.g. kitten) and ‘ck’(e.g. duck). We learnt that we use the ‘k’ spelling choice at the start of words only if the next letter is ‘e’ ‘i’ or ‘y’. Aboriginal words are an exception to the rule (e.g. kangaroo, koala, kookaburra). For now we would like the students to recognise the digraph ‘ck’ makes a /k/ sound. Later in the year we will look at the rule behind it (never at the start of a word, usually at the end of a base word straight after a short vowel sound).
This week in Maths we have been learning about patterns. You and your child might like to explore your home and see how many repeating patterns you can find, on clothing, furnishings, wall hangings or in artwork. Take time to talk about the elements that are repeated in the patterns that you find. Enjoy finding, making and talking about patterns with your child! We are finalising our end of Term 1 Maths results for Place Value and some students may move groups. A letter will be sent home on the first day back of Term 2 notifying you of your child’s Maths teacher.
As part of our Social Skills program we are looking at strategies to assist us with managing when we are in a particular zone. More information about the Zones of Regulation can be found at https://www.zonesofregulation.com/index.html
With this being our last newsletter of the Term we thank you for your support in a successful first term of schooling. Please enjoy a restful, fun and safe holiday break!
Grade 1
And just like that, we have found ourselves almost at the end of Term 1! This term our Well-being focuses have been showing a ‘Growth mindset’ and being ‘Peaceful problem solvers’. We are extremely proud of how hard the students have worked, to develop these life-long skills, whilst adjusting to the new routines and challenges of Grade 1.
Over the last couple of weeks we have been reviewing the digraphs /sh/, /th/, /ch/ and /wh/, please make sure these are in your child’s sound pack so they can practise reading and building words using these sounds.
In Maths, we have finished our Addition topic and have begun looking at 2D and 3D shapes in the environment. To further support your child’s growth in this area, we encourage all families to play addition and counting games over the break and support your children in committing basic addition number facts (eg. +1, friends of 10) to memory.
This week all Grade 1 teachers placed a Reading Helper sign-up sheet outside of their classrooms. If you are able to help with reading next term, please be sure to pop your name on the sheet at your earliest convenience. Thank you again for your ongoing support, we hope you have a lovely break and we will see you next Term!
Grade 2
This fortnight, students have been investigating ‘dreaming’ stories and their features, comparing and contrasting them to other texts we’ve studied this term, and using them for inspiration to write their own ‘animal-themed’ stories. Students have also been learning to apply their knowledge from our ‘Syntax Project’ lessons to expand their sentences using appropriate adjectives. As part of our ‘Word Study’, we are focusing on the three sounds of the suffix -ed.
In Maths, we began our ‘addition’ topic. Students are further developing strategies for solving addition problems and building fluency with the ‘hundred basic facts’. Practise at home is always beneficial, from ‘quick facts’ games using dice and playing cards, to explaining which strategy was used to solve a problem.
Our ‘olden days’ dress up day is always a fun and interesting day, aimed at giving students a picture of what school might have been like in the past, and how it has changed over time. Thank you for the super effort with costumes.
As part of our Wellbeing program this term, we continue to focus on social skills, help-seeking, emotional literacy and regulation, and gratitude.
Thank you for your support with homework: Regular reading aloud and ‘Red Flag Word’ spelling.
Optional extras: ‘Nessy Reading and Spelling’ and ‘Sunset/Jetpack Maths’ (Essential Assessment).
Grade 3
As the term is quickly coming to an end, the Grade 3 teachers have been extremely proud of our cohort of students and everything they have achieved so far this year. We hope our students and their families have a safe and relaxing upcoming holiday.
Reading: Until the end of term, we will be focusing on the reading strategy ‘Making Connections’. The students will be learning to make text to self, text to text and text to world connections as they read to help them better understand the text. The students are also working on their oral reading fluency and independent reading stamina.
Writing: Continuing with our focus on developing our persuasive writing, the students constructed a letter to Ms. Bradney convincing her that Parkdale Primary School students should all plant a tree on National Tree Day. For the rest of the Term, we will focus on constructing paragraphs with topic sentences and supporting details.
Maths: Within our measurement Math concept, the students have been investigating formal measurements as well as estimating, measuring and comparing length using different units of measurement (e.g., mm, cm, m and km). For the remainder of the term, we will be calculating the perimeter and area of various shapes.
Inquiry: Linking in with our sustainability inquiry unit, we read a story called ‘One Well, The Story of Water’. We then explored the effects and potential consequences of water overuse. This week the students started to create their Solar Ovens. The students worked in small groups to follow their procedure on how to build their Solar Ovens. We are extremely excited to test them out next week using S’mores!
Here's an example of what the solar ovens will look like:
Grade 4
We are getting very close to the end of term! This term has been jam packed full of fun and exciting new learning opportunities for our Grade 4's.
This week we had our ‘Grade 4 Cultural Day’ where we had an African Drumming incursion, learnt some Latin dance moves, celebrated soccer, decoded ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and created our very own Brazilian Romero Britto artworks. The students had an amazing day!
Literacy: We are completing our persuasive writing unit by looking at the different ways and strategies we can be convincing in our arguments and learning how to structure a persuasive piece. Soon we will be looking at reviewing all of the comprehension strategies we have learnt over the term. Students will continue to either borrow a book from school or read a book from home for their daily reading.
Numeracy: Our Number topic of ‘Subtraction’ has been our focus. Using the mathematical language of minus, difference, take away students are able to subtract numbers and show their understand through vertical algorithms and renaming numbers. This topic will take us to the end of the term.
Project: To wrap up our inquiry topic of ‘Our island home and beyond’ we are creating our very own countries. In small groups students are able to discuss, create and invent their own country using all of the information we have learnt over the last term. We cannot wait to see the results!
Reminders: Please ensure your child is bringing their diary with them each day, and recording their reading each night. Students should be dressing according to the weather, keeping in mind that classrooms must have windows or doors open for air circulation.
Grade 5
The Grade 5's thoroughly enjoyed participating in the Crazy Chemicals incursion last week, exploring the many science experiments on offer and applying what they have learnt during Inquiry sessions this Term.
In Writing this week students have been planning, constructing and editing an engaging narrative using the correct features and structure.
In Reading students have focused on comparing and contrasting settings, characters and events in a variety of texts, including articles, novels and movie clips.
After concluding our topic on addition and subtraction students have been learning about classifying, estimating and measuring angles and applying them to real life context.
In Inquiry, students have been working through the scientific method to conduct and observe their own experiments. We look forward to seeing the results next week.
Finally, we would like to congratulate all Grade 5’s for pursuing their personal best during the House Cross Country event this week.
We hope you all have a lovely break over the Holidays and we’re looking forward to another fun packed Term 2!
Grade 6
English: Students have continued their unit on persuasive writing this week. The children have been asked to plan and write a persuasive text based on the question “Should children wear school uniform?”
In Reading we are looking at making inferences after our work on author’s purpose last week. In grammar we have learnt about expanding sentences using adverbs.
Mathematics: In Mathematics, we will be close to completing our work on fractions this week. Next week groups will be either completing their work on fractions or completing review/project based tasks.
Inquiry: The Grade 6 classes have been working on their ‘May the Best Party Win’ theme covering our nation’s system of government, democracy and the constitution. Students have been busily preparing in their groups for our upcoming elections which will take place later this week or early next week.
Interschool Sport
Good luck to students and teams that have qualified for the upcoming District Finals which will take place before the end of the term.
Term Dates and Events
Please check Compass for further information regarding end of term dates and events relating to Grade 6 students.