Junior School News
Important Reminders
LPS Production
A note from Brunella Higgins
As you may have heard, this year’s production will be ‘Aladdin Jnr,’ and organisation is well underway!!
We are looking for parents or family members to be involved in different roles, from costumes to prop making. All volunteers are welcome. Organisation will commence in term two for our production in early October.
If you are interested in supporting the production, please fill in the google form below.
https://forms.gle/wHYhSExuQVa9nrwV9
Learning in Action
Literacy:
Grade 1: This fortnight, Grade 1 students have focused on learning about long vowel sounds. We have learned that the digraphs <ee>, < --y> and <ea> represent the long e sound. We have also learned that the <-y>, <igh> and <ie> show the long i sound. We also have been exploring letter writing by reading texts such as Dear Greenpeace and The Day The Crayons Quit, identifying the key structural features and purpose of a letter. Students participated in the shared writing of letters. Also, we have focused on learning how to use adjectives within our writing by participating in language experiences to describe how things smell, taste, feel, sound, and look. Students have included adjectives in their sentences.
Grade 2: This fortnight in Grade 2 students have continued using their science sentence structure cards to identify key details in a sentence such as where the subject, verb, adjective, adverbial when, adverbial where, object, and adverbial how’ are located. Students have been using their development of knowledge around this to create different kinds of letters. During reading, students have been reading different types of letters and working very hard independently on their reading goals. Students also looked at how we can add different conjunctions in our writing and the different purpose of each e.g. ‘because’ provides reasoning, ‘and’ combines two ideas together.
Library:
Grade 1: The Year 1 students are continuing to work in small groups to practice their speaking and active listening, by listening to a story and then retelling to their group members. We have a focus on asking questions to clarify understanding and to gain more information and knowledge. We love listening to the interactions between students as they browse for books to borrow. Some are excited to have found a book that links in with their learning, others love finding books by a popular author, while some conversations we overhear are students recommending a book to another student, based on their interests. Collaboration at its finest! The students in 1KA and 1I have Library on Wednesday and 1PA and 1T on Friday.
Grade 2: Last week we revisited the text ‘Found in Melbourne’ by Joanne O’Callaghan. This was a great follow-up to the excursion. The students enjoyed revisiting the different landmarks found around Melbourne and highlighting the ones that they had seen on the excursion. They continued to make text-to-self connections.
Year 2 classes have Library on Mondays.
Maths:
Grade 1: Grade 1 students have been working hard on learning subtraction strategies to support their learning. Strategies included counting back, flipping a friend of 5, and counting back on a numberline. Students have also been looking at worded stories and looking at using knowledge of doubles to help them subtract. Students have continued looking at capacity to deepen their knowledge.
Grade 2: Over the past fortnight, we have continued our unit on Subtraction. We explored a range of strategies including taking away the ones and tens, connecting addition with subtraction, and using a numberline. The students were able to apply their Maths Masters fluency knowledge to assist with this process. Our exploration of Area concluded with students measuring the area of a range of enclosures and creating their own at their ‘Zoo’. Once the students found the area of their enclosures they compared and ordered them based on the area size. Students had the opportunity of extension by using MAB blocks and rulers to assist them in comparing the area of the different paddocks. We also started our unit focusing on Volume and Capacity, this will continue into the coming weeks and next term.
Maths Masters - if you would like to practice at home, here is the link to all the belts and activities.
Inquiry- Last week, the Grade 2s finally got to go on their Geography excursion to the city. We visited the MCG, Birrarung Marr and Fitzroy Gardens. At each stop we learnt some interesting facts, and discussed whether the landmark was human-made, naturally made, or managed. We also shared how people might connect to these places.
Some of the comments throughout the day-
Mitch: I connect to the MCG as I have been here many times with my Grandpa who played for Richmond
Casey: I connect to the MCG because i came here with my family to watch Ed Sheran
Christian: Some people may connect with this Dennis Lillie statue because they remember watching him play or maybe they are his family.
Sully: The Tudor Village (within Fitzroy Gardens) is a human made landmark because someone built it and gave it to Victoria as a gift.
Wellbeing
Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRRs)
The Year 1 and 2 classes looked at beliefs about gender norms and roles. We revised some of our Friendology discussions with what likes and dislikes we have. The students were very passionate about the fact that we are to not be limited by our gender or any other characteristics. They were eager to chant ‘Girls CAN play football’ and ‘Boys CAN be gentle’ etc… when presented and challenged with statements such as ‘Girls can’t play football’ and ‘Boys can’t play netball’. Jordan in 2MD noted that he has 2 girls in his cricket team and sport is for anyone. Will from 2MD also noted that he saw a boy playing netball against his sister’s netball team. The students enjoyed role playing what they can do when confronted with the ‘you can’t…’ because of their gender. For example, being brave to speak up and say ‘Yes I can’.
Preview for Learning
Literacy:
Grade 1: Next term, students will be learning about poetry and narrative texts. Students will be learning to visualise and make connections to poems and will retell narrative texts. Students will participate in the shared construction of poems and will independently create narrative texts. We will continue to build our understanding of phonics, by learning about the r controlled vowels and diphthongs.
Grade 2: Next term, students will be learning about poetry and narrative texts. Students will be looking at different types of poetry. Students will also be involved in developing narrative knowledge around beginning, middle, and end.
Library:
Grade 1: Students will continue working in their small groups to promote speaking and listening experiences, with a focus on asking questions.
Grade 2: Students will use their science sentence structure cards to identify key areas in sentences in writing and reading. They will continue on from their classroom learning, looking at letters and writing letters for different purposes.
Maths:
Grade 1: Next term, students will start looking at multiplication and skip counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s to count collections. The students will use counters and 100’s charts to support their learning. Students will also start their learning of clocks and reading digital and analogue clocks to the o'clock and half past.
The Grade 2 students will continue to explore a range of subtraction strategies and apply these learnt strategies to a range of subtraction problems. We will continue our unit on Volume and Capacity with students investigating the capacity of a number of different containers.
Inquiry: As the students wrap up our term on Geography, they are excited to showcase their work and landmarks at the Celebration Open Morning. Next term, the Inquiry focus is History.
Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRRs)Over the next week, the Year 1 and 2 classes will be identifying personal strengths that could be useful when dealing with situations in which people seek to limit their interests based on gender stereotypes. Students will be encouraged to note strengths they may have used recently or intend to use in the upcoming weeks.
Student of the Week
Congratulations to our Grade 1 and Grade 2 award winners.
