Learning across Torrens

Gaining Your Wings

This semester, our Torrens students will be exploring a new and exciting initiative called Gaining Your Wings. This program gives year 3/4 students the opportunity to showcase knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions that will prepare them for success in the 21st century. Each area is based around the Australian Curriculum General Capabilities.

Through Gaining Your Wings, students will be:

Learning about... 

knowledge, skills, behaviours and approaches to learning that prepare you for success in the 21st century

Learning to...

document evidence of your learning and approaches to learning

manage your time

show organisation

take risks and challenge yourself

Learning to be...

independent, organised, reflective, thriving learners

General capabilities within the Australian Curriculum make up a set of knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions that can be developed through all the learning areas.

The general capabilities play a significant role in the Australian Curriculum in equipping young Australians to live and work successfully in the twenty-first century.

In the Australian Curriculum, capability encompasses knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions. Students develop capability when they apply knowledge and skills confidently, effectively and appropriately in complex and changing circumstances, in their learning at school and in their lives outside school. They also offer opportunities to add depth and richness to student learning.

For further information, visit the General Capabilities pages on the Australian Curriculum website.

Torrens students will be introduced to each aspect of Gaining Your Wings, giving time to discuss the vocabulary and support students with their preparation and documentation.

Class time will be dedicated each week for students to work on tasks and gather and document evidence. There will be some tasks and documentation that will form part of our Home Learning special project. Over the next few weeks, students will be sharing different areas of Gaining Their Wings with parents.

Discovery Time Has Taken Off!!!

Discovery Time is a valuable part of our school day, giving children the opportunity to explore, wonder and challenge themselves through their learning environment.

Children are given opportunities to become authors, mathematicians, builders, engineers, cooks and artists facilitated by planned purposeful play experiences with the intention to stimulate and provoke learning opportunities. 

Mathematics  

The focus for our learning in Mathematics this term will be centred on MASS and WEIGHT.

There will be many hands-on learning experiences for all students as well as workshops focusing on specific skills and strategies. Students will be encouraged to take risks, make many learning attempts and demonstrate their understanding at all times.

In Term 4, the focus will be more general based and developing their understanding of graphing, money, time and data and statistics.

Number Facts

Students will continue to practise number facts at every opportunity as knowing these facts with fluency and automaticity is required in all areas of mathematics. In addition, they will be building up and using their fluency with multiplication facts to learn division facts.

It is essential students have a good working knowledge of  addition and subtraction facts to 20 and develop strategies to work with larger numbers.  Rainbow Facts, Counting On, and Bridge Through Ten are three of these Secret Code Strategies that students in Year 3 and 4 need to understand and use proficiently. 

English

This semester, the essential skills of writing (punctuation, sentence structure, vocabulary use) will continue to be a focus during English. Students will explore different types of texts, including observational recounts where they will recount a practical science experiment. They will also be exploring information reports where students will construct an information report, providing factual information about a particular topic. Through these different texts, students will develop knowledge and understanding of the structure, grammar and specific vocabulary required of that particular text type. 

Through 15 min writing tasks, students will be able to focus on the conventions of writing such as punctuation, paragraphing and sentence structure. They will be provided with opportunities to refine proofreading and editing skills which complete the writing process.

Reading

Comprehension skills will continue to be developed through participation in reading workshops which are held over 3 days during the week. The workshops allow students to target their specific needs.

All classes will also continue guided reading groups as part of our Literacy block. Comprehension skills will continue to be developed through hear, hidden and head questions.

Students will bring home a book every night to practice their reading. The aim of this is for students to enjoy reading and to practice some of the skills and strategies they have learnt at school.

Word Study

Spelling workshops are targeted to student needs and focus on understanding spelling generalisations. Through workshop learning activities, students will discover new spelling rules with the expectation that students will transfer these skills into their everyday writing. The activities will focus on long and short vowel sounds, suffixes and prefixes, and plurals.

Semester 1 HASS

Why do people explore?

In our Tuning In exercise, students were asked to tell us where they would like to explore and why. They needed to select appropriate pictures, add in captions and animations and present it to their peers.

We saw many wonderful examples of their imagination, creativity and justifications along the way.

Here are some examples of the student's work.

Semester 2 HASS

Year 3 - WHO LIVED HERE FIRST, AND HOW DO WE KNOW?

Students will explore Australia's past and travel back through time and discover the First Australian's. 

The focus will be exploring the key concepts of empathy, significance and perspectives. Students will explore culture, stories and language. 

Through their inquiry into how culture is shared and remembered, students will explore dance, visual art and multimedia with a focus on how these art forms are used to tell a story.

Year 4 - WHAT DO THE STORIES FROM THE FIRST FLEET TELL US ABOUT AUSTRALIA'S EARLY HISTORY?

We will be investigating reasons for the First Fleet journey, including an examination of the wide range of crimes punishable by transportation, and looking at the groups who were transported. Looking into attitudes to the poor, the treatment of prisoners at that time, and the social standing of those who travelled to Australia on the First Fleet, including families, children and convict guards. Finding out about daily life in the Botany Bay penal settlement and challenges experienced by the people there and how they were managed.