Teaching and Learning
100 Days of Prep
Yesterday we celebrated a milestone in our two wonderful Prep Student's education. We reached 100 Days of Prep. All of our students and staff were encouraged to come along dressed as they thought they might look when they are 100. Everyone had a fabulous day and in addition to the fun of dressing up, the students took part in a range of mathematical and writing activities based on the number 100 (and beyond).
News from the Year Prep-Two Room
Well another busy 2 weeks have passed us by. We have been working hard in our Maths sessions on collecting data by asking questions and putting this information onto a bar or pictograph. The children are able to analyse this data by answering questions about the information. Counting by fives has been practiced a lot when they are totalling up tally-marks.
We have had some fun looking at Australia in the past and have discovered that they would much prefer to go to school and have family life now rather than 100 years ago. Too much hard work was a common comment.
In Writing we are starting to plan an Information report about an animal they are familiar with and we hope to have the published work in a future newsletter.
One of my highlights last week was attending the Grade3-6 speech competition at East Loddon. The kids all did amazingly well and should be very proud of their efforts.
News from the Year 3-6 Room
One of our teaching models at Raywood Primary School is the I Do, We Do, You Do Model. This model is where the teacher introduces new concepts to the students and actively teaches the students, then the students and the teacher work through related tasks together (so that the students are supported in their new learning). Finally, when the teacher feels the students are ready, the students work on their own to put their new learning into practice and demonstrate their understanding to the teacher. Last week the class were learning about reasons why people emigrated to Australia. The students were introduced to terms such as "refugee", " asylum seeker", "immigrant" and "push factor" (just to name a few) and had these terms explained using real world examples from the past and present. The students then got to work as a class to find definitions for these terms and finally work without the teacher's input to demonstrate their learning. The photo below shows the We Do part of the lesson model.
MARC News
Some forward notice for families.... our Book Week Celebration Day will be held on Thursday August 31st (so that it coincides with a MARC Day). Students (and staff) are encouraged to dress up as a book character (and if they have a copy, even bring along the book). This day is always a lot of fun.
All of our students are continuing their role as Shadow Judges for the CBCA Awards. Each MARC session, our students take a deep dive into a shortlisted picture story book and discuss particular elements. There is always a super fun activity to go with each book to help consolidate the learning. Below is an example from the book Market Day.
Outdoor Education
The Raywood Students are so very lucky to be able to participate in regular Outdoor Education Sessions. Our first lesson for the term saw us make damper and toast some marshmallows - we talked about safety around campfires and how to light a campfire.
By the end of the session we were dusty, smoky and sticky.... but well fed. A brilliant time was had by all!
Art News
Over the past two weeks we have made something AMAZING (pun intended). Students created their own mazes - giving them a chance to use their spatial, measuring and problem solving skills to create the perfect pathway (along with some detours and dead-ends).
