Junior Report (1/2)

Fast Approaching the Finish!

How crazy to think that we are already in the last Term of our very first year! It is so lovely to reflect on just how far these students have come and what they have achieved, we are so proud of each and every one of them.  Even with all the wet weather around, it certainly hasn't dampened our spirits in the Junior Community. Read below to find out what we have all been up to.

Literacy

Students have continued to consolidate their morning routines and are consistently reading, not only for learning but also for pleasure as they develop their personal preferences for Literature. Students have been appreciating and engaging with all the rich, wonderful fiction and non-fiction texts they get to explore, whether digitally or hard copy, and are certainly becoming more knowledgable about the things they're focusing on. We have been making connections to everything we read, mainly on a personal level but we have also been trying to link texts to other things we read. We call these text-to-self and text-to-text connections, respectively. The reason we have been investigating this is because we comprehend (or understand) things more deeply when we have connections to them. After connections, we have began looking at the characters in texts and what makes them good or bad and comparing characters between texts to see what characters have in common.

We have also been making plenty of links between all the rules we have been learning in Multi-sensory Structured Learning (MSL) and using that to help us recognise more and more words in our reading. The Junior superstars have now explored long/short vowel sounds, silent -e syllables, common digraphs and blends (sh, ch, th and wh words) and most recently, FLOSS words. Students look forward to these lessons as an opportunity to practise reading, spelling and handwriting.

Numeracy

The Junior Community have been off to a flying start in Numeracy this Term. Students are immersing themselves in Place Value and discovering how the placement of a digit within a number represents how large or small the actual number is. This has meant that students are experimenting with things like finding the larger or smaller number, ordering numbers, make-name-record-draw (think boards), building with materials, renaming and comparing numbers and plotting them on number lines (open and closed). It is truly impressive to see these mathematicians at work and it inspires pride in their teachers to reflect on how far their understandings of Maths have come since the start of the year.

Students began the Term with an exploration of the concept of time. Earlier in the year we had looked at days of the week, months of the year and the seasons. Now we are starting to investigate time within the day and how to tell the time. Students have had experience in creating sundials and talking about how people used to tell time before the invention of clocks and watches. We have investigated day and night cycles and how this impacts human behaviour eg. resting during the night because we cannot see as well, being active during the day etc. Students have sequenced events in a day by looking at our daily timetable, are using language like "first, next, then, after" or "this event takes longer than this one" and are beginning to experiment with elapsed time and seeing what things can be achieved in a minute, an hour and a day. The Junior Community also had a lot of fun getting 'hands on' and drawing their own clocks using chalk and hula hoops.

5 Senses - Inquiry

There has been a shift away from 'Play' as our inquiry, especially because we think our students are now becoming experts in finding fun and joy in all that they do. This Term we are exploring '5 Senses' and aiming to include it in all subjects as a way of 'tuning in' to ourselves and the world around us. The Junior Community have been going on plenty of sensory walks and taking in all the sights, sounds, feels, smells and tastes as we go in an attempt to discover the 'amazing' in every single day and activity. All student experiences will eventually build up to creating our very own sensory books, filled with incredible vocabulary which will make readers feel as though they're experiencing whatever our students have created, right as the audience is reading it! The other reason we are exploring our senses is to make our our students more mindful, emotionally literate and self-aware, equipping them with the vocabulary and strategies to regulate emotions and behaviour. We can't wait to see where this journey will take us as the Term progresses.

Keep up the phenomenal learning Junior Community!

Kids' Voice

Students were asked "what have you been enjoying at school?"

"I love Maths, Reading, Writing, Soccer and the teachers." - Mehdi

"I like PE because the gym is really big, I love active Friday's and it is just really fun getting outside and being active." - Amar

"I love the teachers at our school and I enjoy playing outside and am looking forward to the Diversity Dash (Colour Run) next Friday!" - Amreen

"I love the teachers, Reading, Writing and going outside to play. I really like PE too! I am looking forward to the Colour Run!" - Amber

"I love my friends, the teachers, PE and all the specialists. I love the friends in my class and I enjoy even playing by myself sometimes." - Monther

"I like that I have been learning Place Value (hundreds, tens, ones and even thousands!) - Samarvir

"I like playing the game 'Among us' with my friend Najeeb." - Fadi

"I love my teacher and all of the teachers. I also love the principal." - Elma

"I love Jayden and Tien as teachers. I like the garden and the specialists. I love mindfulness because it is a chance for me to relax. I like when we have a lovely, quiet classroom and I love being funny with my friends." - Zahra

"I love all of the teachers in the school and I also love all of my classmates." - Iva

"I love all the teachers and all of the students, all of the specialists and I also hope that everyone is showing the Wollert Way." - Mahlia

"I really like being able to work with partners and as part of a group, not just by myself. I also really enjoy going over to the gym and playing games there. I like making new friendships with students who are a bit lonely by asking them what games they would like to play." - Najeeb

"I love all the teachers and I love my classmates. I like to teach my classmates how to climb and do parkour." - Kristijan

"I like my classmates, the teacher and all the teachers. I love to learn new things and to have fun while doing so." - Matilda

6th October Sushant E  (12C)

13th October Kristijan M (12A)