Foundation

The past two week we have been learning about closed syllables. A closed syllable has a short/weak vowel and is followed by a consonant/s (cat, fish, stamp). Throughout week 3 we are learning about strong/long vowels (cake, bike, cute). This will help us with learning about open syllables next week. An open syllable (me, no, hi) is when the vowel is ‘open’ at the end and makes a long/strong sound, its name. Learning to read and write open and closed syllables is a foundational skill for multisyllabic decoding.

We have enjoyed listening to, ordering, answering questions and retelling different stories in relation to The Three Little Pigs. This links with our Narrative Writing later in the term as well. We have also begun a persuasive writing topic this term, where students have been writing persuasive responses to questions about The Three Little Pigs. We have been blown away with all the students' convincing reasons, especially as to why the Big Bad Wolf isn't so bad!

Our new Mathematics topic is ‘Sharing’, which is early division. Students practise sharing objects into equal groups to see how many each group gets. We also use vocabulary words such as ‘fair share’, ‘equal and not equal’, and later in the topic what a ‘remainder’ is.

We are still after Monday Writing helpers, as well as assistance with corridor reading. If you can volunteer some time please add your name to the lists.

Grade 1

For the past two weeks we have been working on retelling stories, with a particular focus on the Australian classics, Possum Magic and Koala Lou. The children have enjoyed talking about the key elements and events in the stories, and retelling it in their own words. As an extra challenge we even had a go at re-writing the ending to Koala Lou!

Inquiry: So far this term we have been focusing on matching our holidays to which state in Australia it belongs. Looking at the Indigenous names for capitals in Australia and exploring where we live. We also explored the acknowledgement of country and designed a Parkdale Primary acknowledgment to country, for Year1’s.

In Word Study, we have been learning about when the letter 'y' works as a vowel and have enjoyed reading, spelling and searching for y at the end of words in our readers and Good Fit books!

In Maths, we have been reviewing our addition facts and strategies, before we move on to subtraction next week. You can help support your child at home, by reviewing basic addition facts (friends of ten, doubles) and asking challenging questions such as my answer is 12, what’s my sum – You’ll be amazed by the answers they can come up with!

The children are getting very excited for our school concert! We have been busily practising our singing and dancing at school. Hopefully you will have seen the emails from class teachers regarding what students will need for the night. A reminder to also ensure that you have paid and given consent, via Compass. If you have any issues or questions please don’t hesitate to contact your classroom teacher.

Grade 2

This fortnight, students continue to build their understanding of what a good written ‘response’ looks like, with a focus on responding to animations and some famous art works. Students are also learning to apply their knowledge from our ‘Syntax Project’ lessons by identifying and using possessive pronouns within a sentence. As part of our ‘Word Study’, we are focusing on the vowel teams (digraphs) ‘oa’ and ‘ow’.

In Maths, we began our ‘Location’ topic with an initial focus on giving and following directions using precise language to describe location and position. Students are also learning to interpret simple maps of familiar locations and identify the relative positions of key features. As always, opportunities to practise the above at home, will be a great way to consolidate and build on your child’s knowledge.

We continue our inquiry into ‘Earth’s Precious Resources’, with a focus on the natural and urban water cycles.

Students are halfway through a new round of ‘Rotations’, providing opportunities to mix with other students and teachers to learn more about ways to keep themselves healthy (mind and body), geography (maps, continents, countries, oceans), and a design and construction challenge (building teamwork skills).

This fortnight our wellbeing and social skills focus is on kindness and emotions.

Thank you for your ongoing support with homework: Regular reading aloud and ‘Red Flag Word’ spelling.

Optional extras: ‘Nessy Reading and Spelling’ and ‘Sunset/Jetpack Maths’ (Essential Assessment).

Grade 3

The students are working hard in the classroom to practise their concert song and dance routine. A reminder that the students can access the concert song and dance moves on Seesaw to continue practising at home.

Reading: We learnt how to compare and contrast by finding out how things are alike and different in a reading passage last week. This week, we explored we are learning how to infer when we read and to use our inferences to draw conclusions. Our mentor text this week is Magnet Max. It introduces the concept magnetism and our vocabulary words ease, galore, possibilities and suggested.

Writing: Last week, the students explored and created limerick poems. This week, we begin to look at procedure writing. The students have been able to recognise and understand when we use procedural texts, the text structure and how to write them. In our spelling lessons, we looked at the prefix over- and under- as well as the -oe grapheme. In our grammar lessons, we continued combining sentences using a subordinating conjunction and writing complex sentences using a vocab word and subordinating conjunction. We also began to explore identifying appositives in sentences and matching an appositive to a noun or noun phrase.

Maths: We are finishing up our multiplication concept this week with a post test. Next week, we begin division. Please continue to encourage your children to regularly practise their times tables facts and related division facts at home.

Inquiry: The students explored the characteristics of the force called friction. They investigated the effects of friction on an object’s motion. This week, we are learning to predict the motion of an object that moves in regular patterns.

Wellbeing: In our wellbeing lessons, we have explored the circle of control by identifying what is in our control, what isn’t in our control and what we can influence. The students also worked cooperatively and positively in a team, and identified communication skills that enhance relationships for particular groups and purposes.

Grade 4

The Grade 4 students have well and truly settled into Term 3 and are busy expanding their minds across all areas of the curriculum. Grade 4’s will start feeling the excitement of camp this week as notes are beginning to go home and cabin group nominations are starting to get asked for. Parents will receive an event notification with consent and payment. We will be asking for Parent volunteers to support our Grade 4 camp.

Literacy

Students have been developing their knowledge and application of reading comprehension strategies such as finding word meaning using context clues within the text. Some classes have looked at Fox to help develop their skills while other classes are using STARS lessons to further deepen their skills and understanding. All students are busy publishing their information report on their chosen Prime Minister. Students are using the PowerPoint platform to publish their work further deepening their digital technology skills.

Numeracy

Students are midway through our division unit and are beginning or consolidating their ability to divide 1 or 2 digit by 2 or 3 digit numbers. Some groups are working with remainders and decimals. There has been a large emphasis on knowing multiples and factors of numbers to help solve their division problems.

Inquiry

The students have continued to learn about the government system in Australia. This week's focus has been around the process governments go through to make a new law in Australia. Student’s were shocked by how complex it is to change a rule. With the upcoming referendum students are gaining an incredible insight into how difficult it is to change not only a rule but the constitution.

Grade 5

Our Grade 5 students are on camp for three days this week. They left school on Wednesday for a quick bus ride to PGL Campaspe Downs. Here are a few photos from their activities on the first and second day.

Grade 6

Writing

Over the past fortnight, we have continued to work on narratives. The students completed a pre-assessment in order to create an individual learning goal for our narrative unit and we have highlighted the orientation of a story to increase our understanding of how to develop a complex plot and interesting characters.

Reading Comprehension

Throughout term 3 we are going to completing a literacy unit on the book, ‘The Magician’s Nephew’, by C. S. Lewis. By delving into this book, we will analyse how the author has produced such a captivating story and focus our grammar, vocabulary and comprehension lessons on understanding the literary devices that C. S. Lewis. uses.

Mathematics

In Mathematics, we have now completed our angle’s topic. The students have increased their knowledge of how to use protractors to measure and construct angles and discovered a range of new angle types.

Inquiry

So far in our ‘Moments that Made Australia’ inquiry topic we have investigated some key events and key people that impacted the Australian way of life in the early 1800s. We have discovered how Matthew Flinders circumnavigated the coast of Australia, the rebellion that took place as Castle Hill and how ‘The Black Line’ impacted the lives of the Indigenous community within Tasmania.

Term Dates and Events

Grade 6 Log Cabin Camp 16th – 18th August.

Please ensure the medical and dietary requirements form is sent back to school ASAP.

Transition

Reminder that the school placement form for Government Secondary Schools is due back by Wednesday 9 August.

Please check Compass for further information regarding events relating to Grade 6 students.

Focus Newsletter

Together We Achieve

Issue 12 · 27 Jul 2023

In this issue