Primary News
Prep L has been very busy over the last few weeks.
National Simultaneous story time was great fun, we all went to the theatre and listened to the story ‘Alpacas with Maracas’ by Matt Cosgrove. After we came back to the classroom we made our own maracas. We played games and made music, it was a lot of fun!
We have been learning about the history of our community in Integrated Studies this Term so we went on an excursion to Heritage Hill Museum. We went through two houses Laurel Lodge and Benga house, we got to see the clothes and technology people used to have between 50-100 years ago. We got to play some old time games, learn about their gardens and food they used to grow too! It was a fantastic experience for our first excursion.
Pyjama day came at a perfect time with the winter chill! We were all nice and cosy in our pyjamas.
We have been learning how to write a Procedural text in writing and to help us understand each step we got to make our own fruit salad.
Wishing everyone a safe and relaxing holidays and looking forward to seeing you all refreshed and recharged for Term 3.
Ms Levy - Class Teacher
We’ve been very busy in Prep/1A. There were many exciting things to see and do.
During National Simultaneous Story Time, we all went to the theatre and listened to the story ‘Alpacas with Maracas’ by Matt Cosgrove. It was a funny story and we laughed a lot. We had a go making maracas, and that was fun making music.
We visited Heritage Hill Museum and Historic Gardens to help us with our learning about the history of our community. Visiting Laurel Lodge and Benga House, gave us a good idea of how technology has changed over the years. It was fun playing olden days games! Walking through the gardens was an amazing experience. We saw plants and flowers from different countries around the world, and learnt about compost and of course, we saw worms!
Casual Dress Day was one of our highlights. We got to wear our pyjamas to school! We felt very comfy and warm with our winter pyjamas and slippers.
During our Reading and Writing lessons we’ve been learning to read and write Procedural texts. We looked at videos and recipes and followed the procedure to make healthy fruit salad. It was a lot of fun slicing and chopping fruit. Our fruit salad had a wide variety of fruit and it was delicious!
Our travelling bear, Blinky went home with some of us and had many adventures. We loved looking at the photos and listening to our friends talk about Blinky’s adventures with them.
Our students have worked hard and made remarkable progress in their learning this Semester. Parents will be able to see student reports soon. Please read them with your child during the winter holidays.
Thank you parents and carers for your support with your child’s learning this semester.
Mrs Abraham - Class Teacher
Heritage Hill Excursion:
As part of our history lessons, the prep to grade 1s recently visited Heritage Hill. The students enjoyed going on a plant hunt to find the plant that matched a photo, hugging a massive tree and playing hide and seek in one of the huge Morton Bay fig trees at the front of the house.
Inside Laurel lodge House, that was built 1869 – (150 years old) a few of the students were able to dress up in some 100 year old adult and children’s clothing. We also were told that the house was built from handmade bricks and tools and has a beautiful stained glass window. This was the home of Dorothy and Ian Hart and their children Peter and Anne.
It also had many other owners who were important to the community.There was also an exhibition on the Bunjil Aboriginal dance group and Aboriginal artefacts.
Benga House (built 1936) was the second one that we visited where students saw the olden days laundry, kitchen and pantry. They also played with some olden day toys.
Although we only stayed for half a day, the students were very tired from all the great activities and took away a greater understanding of the way people lived in the past.
On The Move! :
For Science, students were given a mini project to make a model that had a moving part.
Some models were very creative in the way they solved difficult problems of how to make at least one moving part. Each student was given a photo to paste into their science books.
Mrs Lilburne - Class Teacher
It has been a busy month in our classroom.
We have been working extremely hard to complete writing pieces. We have been focusing on Information Reports about an animal of choice and Procedural Writing to explain a recipe with a twist! Students have been writing recipes about potions that make you fly, become invisible or make you explode. Some students have written a recipe about cakes that make you shrink or catapult you up into space.
In reading groups we have been inferring, using the clues in the text to infer what the author has not stated. We have read some amazing books and used some fabulous illustrations to make inferences. The conversations and the thinking about these texts has been amazing!
Last week, we had an Incursion to support and enhance our learning about life in early Australian History. We were able to dress up as a convict and pretend to do some of the tasks convicts were expected to complete. We made bricks out of clay and wore chains to understand the hardships they faced.
Then we dressed up as Captains and chose an adventure on the high seas to see if we could arrive in Australia, it was not an easy task. We also learned about the secret language convicts made up to fool the soldiers. We played games and completed puzzles to learn more about life back then. Everyone enjoyed the Incursion!
In Maths we are focussing on money and a very friendly man (Luke) from the Commonwealth Bank came to speak to the students about the importance of banking, saving money and the value of money in general. The students are now ready to do some banking.
Have a fabulous holiday, see you all next term.
Mrs McPhie - Class Teacher
This term has been fantastic fun! In Integrated Studies we have been learning all about Australian colonisation and the first fleet. We have learnt about the impacts of introduced species on the land and worked in groups to create posters about certain pest animals.
We participated in a Convicts and Captains incursion on the 19th of June which was a fun two hours of dressing up, playing old-fashioned games and making bricks out of clay, just as the convicts would have done.
This term in maths we have been learning about fractions and many of us have worked in our maths groups to create fractions walls demonstrating our understanding of equivalent fractions. In science we have been learning all about the transmission of heat and have conducted some experiments observing different heat sources such as a hot water bottle, cup of tea, candle and heater.
I hope everybody has a lovely relaxing holidays and stays very warm! I am looking forward to seeing the students of 3/4N back in July refreshed and ready to go!
Miss Naylor - Class Teacher
During this term, 4/5B has been focused and has greatly increased their knowledge in all their topics.
During the past few weeks in Mathematics we focused on fractions, decimals, angles and money. There has been a significant increase in knowledge in all students, with all students becoming more confident when completing work.
Within Writing, the students have been focusing on their report writing and procedural texts. The students have done amazing work with these, with some exceeding my expectations, creating funny and informative pieces of work.
The students from 4/5 B have been involved in two incursions this term. When learning about convicts and Australian history they took part in interactive activities such as games and some of the jobs the convicts coming to Australia participated in. They even learned some of the language the convicts made up to hide secrets from the guards. The students extremely enjoyed the experience and learnt so much about history in Australia.
Mr Jogaratnum - Class Teacher
Grade 5W have had a fantastic term 2.
In Maths, our focus for the second half of the term has been Fractions and Decimals, Location and Transformation and Data Representation and Interpretation.
In Literacy, we have moved away from persuasives and have worked on writing information reports and procedures.
In Science, we have been focusing on Earthquakes. We have explored causes of earthquakes and how they change the Earth’s surface.
In Integrated we have been learning about the history of Australia, with a focus on migration. We have interviewed people who have migrated to Australia and listened to fascinating stories.
Hope you all have an enjoyable and safe holiday and I look forward to seeing you all again next term.
Ms Warburton - Class Teacher
With Mrs Zelazo now on maternity leave, we welcome Mr Surendra to 6Z.
My Name is Christopher Surendra, I’m looking forward to joining Carwatha and proud to be a part of the school. I first studied Accounting then Teaching. In my free time, I enjoy playing pool and badminton. I also like going to the movies and playing instruments, particularly the drums, piano and guitar.
Mr Surendra - Class Teacher
In the final weeks of term 2 students in 6E have been very busy. They have been learning about making inferences in Reading and in doing so have been reading some very interesting books. Some have been about the treatment of animals like Thylacines and Moon Bears whilst others have been imaginative. In writing the focus has moved to procedural writing and students have been busy writing recipes and instructions on how to do something.
They have finished up with writing an imaginative recipe which has involved writing about making magic potions and swamp drinks.
In Maths students have been learning about representing and interpreting Data. They have been developing different types of graphs including: column graphs, dot plots and stem and leaf plots, while also learning about the mode, mean, median and range of a set of data.
Science has been a lot of fun. Students have been learning about earthquakes and how they are measured. They have learned about the Richter Scale and the Modified Mercalli scale, along with how seismographs record earthquakes. Further to this, they have learned about tectonic plate movement and how the continents have moved over millions of years.
In Integrated Studies, the focus has been on Australian History. We have been learning about major events in Australian history and how those events have led to the migration of different groups, beginning with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples more than 60,000 years ago and including events such as the arrival of the First Fleet, the Gold Rush, and the First and Second World Wars. The students were particularly interested in the events that occurred around the Second World War.
It has been an extremely busy term but the students in 6E have continued to work well together as a group. I wish all families a safe and restful break, and look forward to seeing students fresh and ready for more learning in term 3.
Mrs Elias - Class Teachers
It has been a fun filled term of experimentation, exploration, imagination and creative clay experiences. We have rolled, poked, twisted, shaped, printed, pinched, scraped and moulded our clay. Our pinch pots, coil pots, coil snails, wall pockets, vases, mugs and wizards are now ready for the kiln. So much fun!
Mrs McAleer - Art Teacher
In STEM students have been learning about robotics.
Prep/1A, Prep L and Grade 1L have been using the robot Bee Bot. They have practiced writing algorithms (series of steps) to get Bee to through a path. Grade 2/3M have been learning about the robot Pro Bot. They have given Pro Bot commands to draw a square and rectangles. Grades 3/4N, 4/5B, 5W, 6Z and 6E have been exploring and learning about the robot Edison.
Their final challenge was to create a modification for Edison that would allow the robot to push a polystyrene ball around. Students then challenged each other to a “Robot Round-Up” where teams tried to control their robot to collect a ball and drive it back to their corner.
This was a lot of fun and challenged the students programming skills and creativity. Watch some of their Robot Round-Ups above.
Mrs Braybon - STEM Teacher