Ulysses Community Report

 Term 2, Week 9, 2023

We are so incredibly proud of our students in the Ulysses Community. They have worked incredibly hard and have developed their knowledge extensively over the weeks. 

Our students are looking forward to school holidays and a well deserved rest to recuperate coming back prepared for term 3’s learning journey. 

From the Ulysses Teachers we hope you have a lovely break with your child/children and spend some quality family time.

Our Learning

Reading

In Term 2, we began our reading sessions with revising sounds everyday and then focused on 1 digraph each week. They actively participated in identifying words with that digraph in it. The students explored Explanation Texts, in which they gained a deeper understanding of its purpose, structure and identified the difference between explanation texts and other texts .They worked on comprehension strategies like asking questions, putting events in chronological order to have a better  understanding of the text.They also identified the difference between illustrations and diagrams.They gained new knowledge by identifying glossary words in the text and matching them with their meanings. Students successfully demonstrated the use of subheadings in the text and their  purpose.

Writing

This term in writing we have been working hard to create explanation texts. We have looked at the structure of these texts and made sure to include an opening statement, interesting facts, an explanation and conclusion. We have again followed the writing process to plan,draft, edit and publish our explanation texts. We have written explanations on ‘How a wheel and axle works’, ‘How bees make honey’, and ‘The life-cycle of a butterfly’.  We have been so impressed with the explanation texts that we’ve read and hope that they can share these with you soon.

Maths:

In Term 2, the Ulysses community worked on Addition and Subtraction. Students learnt a range of different strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems, E.g. counting on and backwards, number lines, unifix blocks, counters etc. Students had the opportunity to select a strategy that worked for them and share their thinking with their class members. They worked on solving subtraction stories and showing their working out on number lines. They learnt about chance and probability. What’s the chance of an event happening? Using terminology like impossible, certain, likely and unlikely. Students consolidated their knowledge on the days of the week and what we may potentially do on those days. They also looked at seasons and the months that are in a year. Our community has learnt about the function of clocks and what the features are. They discussed times to the hour, half past, quarter to and quarter past times.

Student Quotes:

“I had a collection of 24 unifix and I put them into 4 groups”. - Harmehar

“Each group had 6 unifix.”

“So in a collection of 24 there are 6 unifix in a ¼.” 

SEL-  In Term 2, students have been focusing on the following skills: accepting everyone's fears, how we cope with those fears, the strategies that we use to get out of a learning pit, the difference between being friends and being kind to one another, skills of teamwork, qualities of a good friend, cyber safety and the difference between ant and elephant problems. Students were able to demonstrate these qualities and successfully shared their ideas as a class. They were able to have in-depth discussions about friendship and that we don’t have to be friends with everyone, but we still need to be kind. Students were able to share the qualities of what makes a good friend and what attributes we look for in people when picking our friendship circle. They were able to address some problems they have out in the yard and in the classroom and establish if it was an ant or elephant problem. Students were able to share some skills they could use when approached with these problems and how we can successfully handle these to the best of our ability and in the safest way. They had a fantastic time during our SEL lessons, we explored these skills via role play, drawing, writing, groups and individual work. The students have grown as individuals and have developed an extensive set of skills to use when faced with a life problem.

Inquiry-   In Term 2, students continued to learn about forces and motion. They were successful in identifying objects around the school that could sink and float. Students made predictions about these different objects in their books and were then able to test these hypotheses in a hands-on classroom experiment. They explored the purpose of wind resistance and the reason why some items could sink and float. Based on this new found knowledge, students designed their own parachutes using a range of materials. Students had to consider closely the material they would use and the impact of wind resistance. After drawing and labelling these designs students were provided with the materials where they were then able to create and test. Students and teachers took part in a ‘Parachute off”. Students found an equal platform to stand on to drop their parachutes at the same heights. They were watching for the impact on air resistance to the materials they used. They loved this activity and learnt so much through design, creation and testing their theories via classroom experiments.

Important Notes to Remember

• Please label all belongings.
• Students bring blue reading folders, diaries and homework books daily.
• Please ensure students come dressed appropriately for the weather, making sure they have thick jackets, gloves and beanies to wear outside.
• Please ensure your children are attending school as  ‘It is not ok to be away’. If your child is away please notify the office or upload the absence into Compass.
• Pack brain break (healthy snack) in their lunch box for our early morning break between sessions.
• Please check compass daily for any announcements or updates from the teachers or the school, this is a main  source of communication.
• Early finish this Friday June 23rd, students to be picked up at 2:30pm.