School News
Prep
On Monday, the long awaited day arrived - the Preps met their Grade 5 buddies! There were smiles and laughs all around, as the Grade 5s introduced themselves to the Preps and presented them with their red bears. The students then enjoyed getting to know each other during an extended picnic lunch outside. This will become a regular occurrence, with more activities planned throughout the year. The Grade 5s now become another support system for the Preps around the school, where they are a friendly face to assist where needed. The students all had a lot of fun and are now eagerly anticipating the next buddy session later in the term!
The Prep Team
Hayley Peirce, Claire Cripps, Alarna Creed,
Ellie Stait
Level 1/2
The Level 1/2 students have been continuing to work hard to complete some amazing work this term! They have quickly settled into routines and have built some great relationships with their teachers and peers.
In Reading, the students have been continuing to learn about retelling a narrative. They have also been bringing their take home readers home and filling in their reading calendars. Remember students are expected to read for at least four days a week for 15 minutes, as this helps to further develop their reading strategies and comprehension.
In Writing, the students have been learning more about recounts and how WOW words and time connectives can enhance their writing. We have also been looking at super sentences and how we can use these in our writing to paint a clearer picture for the reader.
In Maths, the students have been further developing their place value skills by doing lots of hands on activities using counters, MAB and cards so they can better understand the value of a digit in a number.
The students are enjoying the Inquiry unit ‘Growing Older and Wiser’, and have been learning about the Zones of Regulation and the Catastrophe scale so they can learn skills to recognise and manage their emotions. Their beans have also been growing, with some sprouting small roots and stems!
The Grade 1s had their first buddy meet up of 2021 on Monday, where they played lots of games and got to know their Grade 6 buddies better. We also have Taekwondo starting this Thursday, and this will run every Thursday for four weeks which is very exciting!
The Level 1/2 Team
Daena Hailey, Kayla Hartrick, Ben Pendley, Llinos Poole & Tim Wilson
Level 3/4
This fortnight in 3/4
After starting the fortnight in a brief lockdown, we returned to school enthusiastic to get back to our learning, both students and teachers alike! While children only had the one day on school grounds last week, teachers spent Friday’s curriculum day learning lots of new skills to enhance our Writing lessons. These were quickly put in to action on Monday when students began their new Writing unit looking at persuasive pieces.
We proudly had a number of 3/4 students competing in the division swimming carnival on Friday. A big effort considering their peers were sleeping in and enjoying a day off! Congratulations to our swimming superstars who all did their Personal Best on the day, many overcoming nerves to swim their best. Well done to those students who will now go on to Divisionals.
On Tuesday night the 3/4 team held an Information Night for level families where we highlighted some of the activities we will be doing in 2021. It was strange being back on Zoom for the event but the evening was a success and hopefully provided some clarity about the fun that is ahead for our students!
In the classroom, students have continued their Inquiry journey exploring ‘The Game of Life’. We’ve learnt about healthy, balanced diets and created lots of yummy healthy meal plates as well as started our first game card as an initial step toward creating our very own ‘Game of Life’.
We have continued consolidating our knowledge of Place Value in mathematics with a wide range of activities to practice expanding and contracting four and five digit numbers. In Reading, we are enjoying exploring non-fictions text features as well as our weekly visits to the Library to discover new books!
Students in PE learnt new skills in shot-put and our weekly 3/4 sport sessions on Wednesday afternoons are continuing to be a much looked forward to part of our week.
The Level 3/4 Team
Carolyn Allan, Teagan Cairns, Clare McCandlish, Damien Smith and Katie Smith
Level 5/6
Reading
Level 5/6 students have been continuing to develop their reading stamina, reading with a buddy and practicing the skill of reading aloud. They have been focusing on the skills required to work collaboratively and be effective listeners. We have been loving our visits to our beloved RHPS Library. There are so many cool new additions like chess and checker boards, an arcade game (thanks to Mr Taylor), a Nintendo and some brilliant new games. We would like to say thank you to Mrs Donnelly for helping to look after our Library and maintaining a creative space for us to enjoy!
Writing
Level 5/6 students have been working hard to develop their own narratives, following the writing process. They have been focusing on developing detailed plans which include settings, characters, mood, plot, complication, events, climax and resolution. Their stories are very creative and are sure to capture their readers through use of super sentences and descriptive language.
Maths
Level 5/6 students have been continuing to strengthen their Place Value knowledge and implementing this in their addition and subtraction problem solving. They have been working through worded problems, horizontal and vertical addition and subtraction algorithms and should be super proud of the brilliant mathematicians they are!
BUDDIES!
Yay! The time finally came for our Grade 5 students to meet their Prep buddies and for our Grade 6 students to reconnect with their Grade 1 buddies after last year's interruptions.
Our Grade 5 students were involved in a buddy ceremony where they got to introduce themselves to their buddies and hand over their special transition bears for keepsake. Our Grade 6 students were involved in outdoor games with their buddies involving: Octopus and Chain Tiggy. Our Grade 5 and Grade 6 students got to then enjoy mingling with their buddies over lunch together. We are so happy to be spending time with our buddies and the Level 5/6 teachers are so proud of the brilliant role models that our Level 5/6 students are already being.
Here is a snapshot of some captured moments of all the fun! We have captured photos of all of our Grade 5 students with their new Prep buddies and all of our Grade 6 students with their Grade 1 buddies and will be creating a Buddy Wall for you to view when we can have parents on site again.
The Level 5/6 Team:
Brendan Van Haaster, Emily Murcott, Elyce Munnecke, Mel Layton, Rachel Boyle and Mykaela Hodgett.