Stage 1

Some of our Stage 1 classes visited Thalgarrah Environmental Education Centre last week and visits continue this week. We have had many smiles and happy stories coming back with students and we cannot wait to hear more from the classes that are yet to go. A reminder again to please label all jumpers, scarves and beanies as well as make sure lunch boxes are full as we head into the cooler months.

English

Our informative writing unit is continuing and students are gathering facts about their class animal. 

We are learning to:

• write an informative text that includes information about the animal's appearance, diet, habitat and some interesting facts 
• use new vocabulary to enhance our sentences 
• use a variety of conjunctions to write compound sentences

Hopefully by the end of the term, your child will be an expert and will be able to discuss their class animal with you in detail.  

Mathematics

We are learning to:

• use non-count-by-one strategies such as using doubles or near doubles and combining numbers that add to ten
• fluently count on and back using two- and three-digit numbers
• understand that the equals sign means ‘the same as’ and to use it to show equivalent number sentences in addition

We will know we are successful when we:

• can double numbers efficiently as an addition strategy
• can recognise when numbers are close to doubles facts
• can automatically count-on from the larger number
• can automatically count-back from the larger number 
• can count-on in multiples
• know that the equals sign means the ‘same as’
• can use the equals sign to record 2 number sentences that are equal to each other

Integrated Studies

Students were eager to make their predictions about what happens when various ingredients are combined. We investigated and discussed the changes that occurred when ingredients were combined to make playdough. We made a volcano with the playdough then added bicarb soda, dishwashing liquid and vinegar. The chemical reaction caused the volcano to erupt, which was very messy and exciting for all students. Students recorded the results and used adjectives to describe their observations. 

Over the next few weeks, we are learning to identify the changes in the weather and the seasons. We will be learning about the properties of different objects to see if they are flexible, transparent or able to bend or twist. We are looking forward to making more predictions and observations about the changes that occur during our future experiments.