The Net

School of Foundations

Behaviour Expectations at School

Each week the students engage in a Monday morning assembly. During these assemblies we share with the students upcoming events as well as speak about class and playground expectations.

We expect our students to follow the following school rules:

  • Respect Myself, Respect Others and Respect our environment.

If students don’t follow these rules they may be asked to complete a time out in class or at playtime.

For a major incident for example using inappropriate language or being involved in a physical incident students will receive a time out at lunchtime with a member of the School of Foundation Leadership Team. During the ‘Time Out’ your child will go through a restorative justice process where they reflect on their behaviour and discuss how they can make better choices in the future. 

Students are encouraged to report incidents to a teacher. The teachers on duty at recess and lunch will be wearing a vest, so they are visible for students to locate. Often students report incidents at the end of recess and lunch. Teacher’s need time to follow up on an incident and if there are several students involved, the teacher may require the following day to continue their inquiries. Most of the time teachers will notify you on the day if there has been a major incident. However, teachers may contact you once the incident has been fully investigated which may be the following day.

If your child arrives home at the end of the day and reports an incident please ask if they have reported it to the teacher on duty or to their class teacher. The wellbeing of your child is important and your child’s teacher welcome’s your communication via email or phone if you have any concerns. I ask that when speaking with our teachers you remain calm and respectful. We want to work in partnership with our parents. 

Playground Equipment - Balls

Just a reminder that the school is providing the soccer balls and basket balls for K-4. We ask students not to bring in their own equipment.

Lost Property

Last week some of our students helped to sort and return the lost property items which were labelled to the students in K-4. Just a reminder to label your child’s belongings. It is each child’s responsibility to take care of their belongings each day. Our lost property boxes are located in our Marketplace if you are looking for items after school during parent pick up.tart typing your article in here.

 

ES1

Excursion to Sydney Zoo

In Week 4, Kindergarten visited Sydney Zoo. It was a perfect day to visit the animals and consolidate some of our learning from the Science inquiry. Students engaged with one another and workers to learn about the needs of living things. The students represented the college with pride and thoroughly enjoyed the day. The Kindergarten team would also like to thank the parent helpers who were able to help out on the day.

You can support your child at home in their Science inquiry by asking your child to choose an animal from the zoo to build a habitat for. Some questions to ask your child while they build their habitat, may be:

  • “How does this habitat help your animal staf safe?”
  • “What have you included in your habitat?
  • “What did you decide to leave out or not include?”

Mathematics

This week, students in Kindergarten have been learning about mass. Students have bee identifying objects that can be heavy or light. They have been comparing two masses directly by hefting. Students also have been predicting which object would be heavier than, lighter than, or have about the same weight as another object and explain reasons for this prediction.

Hefting is where you can test the weight of an object by lifting/or balancing it. After they have hefted their items, students have been recording their hard thinking in their Mathematics book.

You can support your child at home in this area by helping your child to choose some objects to heft and encouraging them to record their observations using the words heavy, light, equal or about the same. 

 

 

 

Health

In Health this week, we have been continuing our appreciation of the qualities that make us special. After looking at what makes some well known superheroes special, students were given the opportunity to look into a box that had a mirror placed inside. Children were able to see that even though they do not have superpowers, there is something special about them that is to be celebrated. 

You can support your child at home with this by sharing the ways that you believe they are special. It might sound like this, “ ______ I think you’re special because you have a kind-heart” or “  ______ I think you’re special because you play with your siblings and make them feel loved”. 

Stage 1

Excursion

This week the rest of Stage 1 got to go on our postponed excursion to Featherdale! Students had fun exploring the Wildlife Park and learning about all different animals. 

Mathematics

This week in mathematics, students are exploring forming and breaking apart groups. This forms part of our multiplication & division unit. Students have worked on challenging tasks which ask them to group objects and will start to look at groups which have leftovers. You can support this learning at home by asking your child to:

  • Take a collection and place it into smaller groups; 
  • Notice how numbers may not be placed evenly into groups; and 
  • Begin to use the term groups of to explain how many groups they can see and how many are in each group. 

English

This term students have been writing about Australian Animals linked to our excursion. Students have written factual information and are working towards using compound sentences using conjunctions. 

You can support this learning at home through:

  • Asking students to include because, but, so or and to add more information to their sentence;
  • Discussing what they have learnt about Australian Animals; and 
  • Sharing what you know about different animals. 

As we begin to conclude our writing to inform based on Australian Animals we are moving into procedural writing for the remainder of the term. This will focus on students writing steps to a simple method. 

Stage 2

Writing

Stage 2 have developed their ability to engage readers through creative and interesting narratives. Some of the strategies that students have been able to apply to their own texts include the use of interesting vocabulary, similes and metaphors, dialogue and the development of their plot. Students have also spent time learning about the importance of editing their work before presenting their work to others. These narratives will be presented as part of Student Led Conferences. It has been wonderful to see the growth in writing achievement over the last few weeks!

Mathematics

This week in Numeracy, Stage two have begun to extend their thinking in multiplication and division. Students are learning to use written and mental strategies to solve these problems. Arrays are helpful in seeing patterns in the way numbers are organised. Students will be working to develop their understanding the connection between multiplication and division (inverse operations). 

Science

In Science, the students have been learning about forces.  We have explored a range of forces and have identified how forces are part of our everyday lives. Over the next few weeks, you will hear the Stage 2 students talking about their planning for a product meets incorporating a force. We look forward to sharing some of these towards the end of the term. 

Music

(Mr K)

Early Stage 1

During Term 2, Kindergarten students are learning about pitch (high/low notes) through learning the song ‘Hot Cross Buns’ on the keyboard. To learn ‘Hot Cross Buns’ we have been following three steps:

  1. We sing the song together
  2. We sing through the rhythms from the notation displayed on the screen. Video 
  3. We then practise the song on keyboards individually and then play together as a class band, building listening and ensemble skills.  Video

Stage 1

Music

During Term 2, Stage 1 students are extending their knowledge of pitch and keyboard by learning the song ‘Ode To Joy’. In stage 1 we are focussing on the correct use of fingers 1 through 5 of the right hand and following the notation. We practise ‘Ode To Joy’ on the keyboards individually and then play together as a class band, building listening and ensemble skills. Video

Stage 2

Music

Year 3 students are learning how to play the song ‘Clocks’ by Coldplay on three different instruments: keyboard, bass guitar and drum kit. The aim of this unit of work is for students to extend their knowledge of keyboard, while transferring Stage 1 ukulele and bucket drums skills onto the bass guitar and drum kit. The aim is for every student to experience the thrill of playing in a band within the class. Video

Sport 

This week in PE, Stage 1 has been enhancing their basketball skills. In this particular lesson, students were in various groups practising their dribbling skills before passing the ball to their peers. Then, they had mini relay races where students were tasked with combining basketball skills like dribbling and passing.