Secondary 7/8
SKH
SKH has had a wonderful year. We did heaps of fun and interesting learning, such as; sheeps’ brain dissection, apple and water tasting, (Jake W-G hated the water one!) blood and gore experiments in the Discovery Centre, going to the Melbourne Zoo and the Wild Action Zoo that come to us and lots of hands on learning in maths. We especially liked fractions because we got to divide chocolate, mentos and a huge brownie and banana cake into equal parts. The Spectacular was spectacular! Most of SKH starred in acting roles, while the whole class danced their hearts out. Year 7 students are looking forward to performing ‘Hairspray’ next year. We also enjoyed; Footy Day, section disco and the sports day organised by 11/12 students. We are really looking forward to our final celebrations – Luna Park, Christmas Lunch and KFC and present party day. Karen would like to thank all students for ‘being the best they can be’ and our Educational Support, Danielle for all her hard work. Merry Christmas and we look forward to seeing you at the Christmas Concert.
SSO, SRM & SEO
SSO, SRM and SEO have had a very busy term 4. Christmas concert practice has started and the students are very excited and have been trying their best to learn all the dance moves in time for the performance in 2 weeks. Students have also been preparing for their end of term excursion to Funfields; they are very excited and we are wishing for the nice weather to continue so we can take full advantage of all the water rides. We have been focusing on their Integrated Unit of Feathers Fur and Leaves and have been looking at Bushfires and Droughts and the measures to prevent either of these occurring. As the year is coming to an end students are looking forward to starting festive activities to get ready for Santa in the coming weeks. We are all nervously awaiting the arrival of Rachael’s baby; many of the students think she will be having a boy. We wish her all the best from Secondary 7/8.
SLB
SLB started this term full steam ahead! We immerged straight into our fractions and volume and capacity unit for maths, learning through fun, hands on experiences. We thoroughly enjoyed exploring narratives in literacy and have created the most funny, imaginative stories, which we are very proud of. Investigating our Integrated Unit Feathers, Fur and Leaves has been really interesting. Recently we learnt about endangered animals and campaigns that help to protect these species. In response, we created our own posters and shared it with our section in hope to make a change. Along with SSD and SKH, we have been busy rehearsing our dance for the Christmas Concert. We are all very excited for Christmas and love this warmer weather. 2017 has flown; we cannot believe it’s almost the end of the year! We are really cherishing the last 5 weeks together as a class.
SFC & SMC
SFC and SMC have continued to work closely together experiencing many things. We have read many books about different farms and went to Bundoora Farm to compare the similarities and differences with Collingwood Children’s Farm. We noticed that Bundoora Farm is much bigger and that they have Australian animals there. We went on an electric bus tour around the farm and saw emus and kangaroos. We also saw Ben, the big Clydesdale horse, and alpacas. We got to milk a goat and feed the baby goats. We have had a great year learning together.
SSD
SSD have begun to count-down to the end of 2017. Year 7/8 students are excited about what 2018 may bring in terms of new friends, learning opportunities and challenges. This term students have been working hard to show all their understanding of fractions in Maths. They have been demonstrating how fractions are used in everyday life. Students especially enjoyed showing their understanding of half and quarters by sharing fruit and food with each other. Their focus in English has been finding the main idea and supporting details in a text. Students have worked together, following the steps to help them discover the main idea of a read text. Narrative writing has been a hit in SSD, with students really engaged in developing characters and the plot lines of their stories. We have written two narrative stories with problems and solutions that entertain the reader. Students have been working on making complete sentences that include a subject and a verb. Great work SSD, can’t wait to go to Funfields and celebrate all our hard work this year.
Team Leader News Report
In our ‘Feathers, Fur and Leaves ‘Integrated Unit year 7/8 students have been absorbed in exploring animal life cycles, extreme weather conditions and endangered animals. It has been exciting to observe students research these topics and produce informative and persuasive posters, presentations and think charts. Students have proudly shared their learning and concern for the plight of endangered animals at section assemblies. One class has been motivated to raise money to save the Great Barrier Reef and contribute to ‘Wipe for Wildlife’ campaign.
PreCAL students have taken their farm experiences to a new level this term. They have broadened their animal care and farm design projects to include not only Collingwood Children’s Farm but Bundoora Farm and Healesville Sanctuary. Each week they have built on these experiences and applied their learning in rich language, literacy and numeracy contexts. The students delved deeply into reporting genre, culminating in making entertaining newspapers and a video report of farm highlights.
In Mathematics, all students have applied their understanding of place value, fractions and pattern and order in a range of practical problem-solving challenges. They have also improved their understanding of volume and capacity through hands on activities and focused investigation.
It has been a pleasure to see the high level of student engagement in reading narrative and poetry text this term. Students have explored a range of poetry forms: haiku, limerick, couplets diamante and free verse. They have read and written poetry and shared this enthusiastically in literacy sessions and section assemblies Top of the list has been humorous schoolyard rhymes and narrative poems.
Through oral presentation, many students have demonstrated improved fluency and expression. They have also become more aware of the meaning, sound and rhythm of poetry by exploring song and verse. All students have examined the features of a narrative text including orientation, compilation, sequence of events and resolution. Students have proudly published their stories and invited me to their book launches.
In reading sessions students have developed their literal and inferential comprehension strategies through explicit teaching of fiction texts. Most classes have successfully explored an array of comprehension strategies particularly making predictions, visualising, using context clues and questioning. Students are currently busy constructing digital portfolios demonstrating their year’s learning. They will, hopefully, surprise and amuse audiences with their Christmas song and dance items and they are looking forward to their end of year celebrations at Funfields or Luna Park.
Helen Edmonds,
Secondary 7/8 Team Leader