Prep News

It is so lovely to see the Preps bouncing through the doors ready to learn, see their friends and give everything a go. We had a fantastic day wearing our pyjamas when we were learning our word of the week ‘bed’. There were lots of requests that we have a pyjama day every Monday! We have also had lots of fun making our dogs for our shared experience in Smart Spelling.

We are well underway in our Investigations with many new learning areas including; what plants need to grow, using our senses, a travel agent, weather and seasons, a dinosaur dig, vet center, indigenous symbols, and lots more! We even have a sensor based light dance floor - perfect for disco moves. The students are immersed in these play based learning areas applying their classroom based knowledge whilst building their social and interpersonal skills.

In Reading, students have been learning how to make a Prediction before and during reading. It is fantastic to see the students using the language ‘I predict...’. They have also been learning about making Text to Self-Connections, thinking about how the book relates to experiences they have had. Students have illustrated their own book ‘Nat the Cat’ as part of our Smart Spelling program. Students have loved applying their phonics knowledge to read this book – and there is plenty more to come!

In Writing, students have continued to explore recounts and have begun to look at the editing process using the RHPS editing chart (this is used from P-6). Students are looking at using a capital letter and full stop in their sentences.

Maths has been heaps of fun playing games to apply their subitizing skills (instantly looking at a group and knowing the total amount). Students have been using the iPads to take pictures in our environment to recognise 2D shapes. We have been learning how to order the days of the week and diving into the teen numbers!

We have continued to build students' knowledge and understanding of friendship through Friendology where students learnt the four Friendship Facts:

No friendship (relationship) is perfect.
Every friendship is different.
Trust and Respect are the two most important qualities of a friendship.
Friendships change.... and that’s okay!

It has been a very busy term and we look forward to our next two weeks of fun and learning!

The Prep Team

Allie Harrison, Elyce Munneke, Alarna Creed

Level 1/2 News

Literacy:

Level 1/2 have been exploring non-fiction texts. We have learned the difference between non-fiction and fiction texts and understand that non-fiction texts are texts that give us information and include: diagrams, photographs, headings, sub-headings, contents, index and glossary pages. We also understand that fiction texts should be read in order and include: a beginning, middle and end structure, a problem and solution, settings, characters, tell a story and can include imaginative elements like talking animals. We have explored informative texts such as procedures, recipes, directions, instructions and information reports and understand the purpose of different pages like contents, glossary and index pages.

We explored how to write procedural texts and the structure we must follow: title, materials, method, steps and visual supports. We learned to include verbs and adverbs in our writing when explaining 'how to' successfully complete something like washing our hands, crossing the road safely or brushing our teeth. We listened to the story 'How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth' by Michelle Robinson and got creative with writing some steps to wash an unusual animal of our choice. We tried our best to include nouns, command verbs and adverbs. We also got to develop a procedural text of how to create a sandwich of our choice. Some of our sandwich ideas were delicious!

Numeracy:

Level 1/2 have been exploring 2D shapes' properties and lines of symmetry. We have had a lot of fun creating '2D Shapes Monsters' and problem-solved, using clues, to guess 2D (Grade 1) and 3D shapes (Grade 2). We have been exploring shape transformations, including: flip (reflection), slide (translation) and turn (rotation). We explored regular and irregular 2D shapes, sorting regular and irregular polygons and drawing our own examples. Level 1/2 students completed their Term 2 Maths Learning Task to celebrate the knowledge they have developed across the last fortnight about shape properties and transformations.

Science:

Grade 1 students have been learning about man-made and natural sources of light. They explored man-made sources of light inside our Boorai Building and the impact of natural light sources both inside and outside of buildings. Grade 1 students explored how man-made sources of light travel using torches and solid or translucent objects. They paired up to develop a shadow-puppet show plan - beginning, middle and end - before using iPads, torches and their own creative characters using their hands to develop and record their own shadow-puppet shows. It was so much fun!

Grade 2 students have been venturing through the world of Machine Makers and have had a lot of fun during their Science lessons this fortnight. They have been working in teams to make and investigate ramps and learning to predict, observe and make claims about their scientific investigations. They are showing brilliant collaboration skills!

Edendale Farm Excursion - Grade 2

Our Grade 2 students got to attend their Edendale Farm Excursion experience on Thursday 19th May. They had the best time at the Community Environment Farm in Eltham and got to connect with nature and learn lifelong environmental skills. Our Grade 1 students are very excited for their turn on Tuesday 31st May! Check out some of the fun below!

We are super proud of the continued bravery from our Level 1/2 students upon return from school holidays. Some students are finding it challenging to continue to display resilience towards school attendance due to tiredness and post-illness symptoms. This has been a current issue following two challenging years of lockdown impacts and this being our first normal year in terms of regular school attendance. Rest assured that once at school, your children are smiling, having fun and enjoying time with their peers and teachers. Their stamina and resilience will make a turnaround.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

The Level 1/2 Team:

Daena Hailey, Kayla Hartrick, Llinos Poole, Mykaela Oakley and Tim Wilson.

Level 3/4 News

WOW! What a busy few weeks we have had in Level 3/4. All the 3/4 teachers were impressed with how all the students approached NAPLAN with a positive attitude and demonstrated their personal best.

In Writing, students have been learning how to effectively and safely use online resources to conduct research. Students have been researching an endangered animal of their choice and creating an informational sign about their animal to accompany their zoo exhibits that they are making in Inquiry in the next few weeks. Students have also started to explore how to write information reports to inform readers about a range of different topics.

In Reading, students have been reading a range of texts related to our sustainability topic this term and answering comprehension questions based on fact and opinion.

In Maths, students have begun their study of time and have been learning about units of time, converting units of time, and calculating elapsed time.

In Inquiry, students have been learning about life cycles, ecosystems, deforestation, and the vegetation and animals of Africa as they further learn about the complexity of the world’s environmental systems and why they should be protected from environmental harm.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

The Level 3/4 Team

Carolyn Allan, Damien Smith, Hayley Peirce, Rachel Boyle, and Katie Smith

Level 5/6 News

Last week on Tuesday the 10th of May we had our first NAPLAN. We had 5 minutes to plan our work, then we had 40 minutes to write our narrative, we even had a topic, our topic was brave/ bravery. The next day we had reading NAPLAN, there were 39 questions on the reading one. After that day we had the spelling one there were so many questions. We had Friday off and then we had one on Monday the 16th of May that was the last one and it was numeracy. We had so much fun.

On Wednesday and Tuesday, the grade 5/6s had Life Education. The year 5s topic was welcome to puberty, the year fives had theirs on Tuesday the 17th of May right after recess. The year 6s topic was surviving puberty they had theirs on Wednesday the 18th of May right after recess. We had someone called Sarah come in to teach us all about it. She even threw in a few activities so we could have a brain break! One of them was the opposite game, when Sarah said open your hands, we would close our hands and when she said sit down, we would stand up. The year 5/6s couldn’t stop giggling they thought it was hilarious.

In Science this term the year 5/6s are making games with LED lights. They were told to bring in a shoe box to store all their games and creations to go in, a lot of them forgot though. They have been experimenting with other games including, Operation, Grub Master and Don’t Touch It.

By Ava, Kerlise and Chloe.

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