Classroom News

Year Prep/1

 The Prep/Ones have been working hard during Maths looking at graphs. We have been answering questions, gathering data and making whole class graphs. The highlight for the children was making their own colour graph using a box of smarties, answering questions about their data and then eating their work – It’s not often you get to eat your maths work! We have also learned the language of position to describe where an object is - above, below, over, underneath, in between etc.

In Literacy, we have been working through our “Let’s Decode” reading program. The children are learning sounds and how to sound out (decode) words. In writing, we are working on persuasive texts covering topics such as ‘What is better a big or a small family?’ and ‘What is better a pet cat or a per dog?’ We have been doing lots of oral discussions, brainstorming and debates before we start writing to help the children think of reasons for their preference. We have been focusing on the use of the word ‘because’ in our writing. The whole class are now taking home readers. We change them every morning when we walk in the door and diaries are checked Friday. The children are moving up the leader board for the most nights read.

In Science, we have been studying the materials that make up different objects. We have been on a walk around the school and identified places that are important to our school and what they are made of, and used our senses to describe them. For example – ‘The Hut’ is made of bumpy wooden logs with a smooth metal roof and the floor is hard concrete.

Our Inquiry unit has been looking at families, how they are the same and different. We have looked at places people live around the world as well as our homes. We have investigated who is in our immediate family and who is in our extended family.

Year 1/2

The students in 1/2 have been learning about persuasive writing. The students have had the opportunity to develop arguments in groups, pairs and individually on a range of topics including ‘lunch time should go for longer’, ‘what would be the best superpower’, and ‘what animal would make the best pet’.

Students have also been comparing and contrasting the lives of past and present Indigenous Australians and Anglo Saxons. Students looked at the different home structure, ie who lives in the house, as well as what sort of food was eaten both in the past and presently.

In Maths students worked on partitioning numbers to 100, in the first two weeks of the term. In the last two weeks they have been learning about Australian coins and notes and the different ways to make an amount. We have also been learning different ways to do addition and subtraction. Students have thoroughly enjoyed learning addition and subtraction, and many have made fantastic growth in their learning.

Last Friday we had the Mothers Day Spa, the students enjoyed bringing in their Mums, Grandmas or special friend and treating them to some special activities such as nail painting, portrait drawing, massages and many more.

Year 2/3

Grade 2/3 have been adding suffixes to base words: s (for plural), ing, ed (to show tense, now, past and future) and est to show more eg: most sick, sickest.  They have been working on identifying verbs and nouns within a sentence.  In writing they have been doing persuasive writing and will be continuing with this.  To help with writing piece next week we have been finding out the benefits of ants to humans and the environment. In mathematics children have been identifying faces on 3D shapes and corners/vertices.  Exploring vertical, addition including trading and calculating money and will be moving into giving change.  Grade 3’s were lucky to have good weather at camp and enjoyed it.

Year 4/5

The grade 4s had a great time on camp. We enjoyed time on the beach and lots of adventure activities. It was a great chance for students to develop new friendships and challenge themselves by trying new activities.

Literacy:

Students have been working hard on persuasive writing. They have explored a number of topics including if homework should be banned, if books are better than movies and if children should have to do chores. There were lots of great discussions and persuasive pieces.

Students have also been reading Dreamtime stories and texts about the First Fleet. We have practiced reading texts together as a chorus to help students develop their reading fluency and learn new vocabulary words.

Numeracy:

We have focused on multiplication and division as well as worded problems. Students were proud of their progress in these areas. This week we are moving onto money and financial plans.

Inquiry:

Students have continued to learning about the arrival of the First Fleet and the impact this had on the Indigenous population. The homework diorama task requiring students to make a 3D model has been explained to students and further instructions and the marking criteria can be found on Compass.