Welcome

We would like to welcome all the new families who have recently joined and welcome back all our familiar faces. Term Two was full of rich learning opportunities that demonstrated the students’ fabulous growth mindsets and resilience. Term Three has already had its challenges due to camp being rescheduled and of course lockdown, however it has been phenomenal to see the students adapting, collaborating, encouraging and supporting their peers online so seamlessly throughout these experiences. We are so incredibly proud of all the children in the Level Four cohort and so appreciative of the support our amazing families have provided.

Important Dates for Term 3:

2nd August – Australian Maths Competition: Level 3-6
4th August – School Production Dress Rehearsal
5th August – School Production Recording Day
10th August – Smart 8 begins
11th August – Mass Choir Excursion
12th August – Maths Olympiad
13th August – ICAS: Digital Technology
18th August – ICAS: English
24th August – ICAS: Science
27th August – VSSS MASS: Dance Rehearsal
1st September – ICAS: Maths
2nd September – Father's Day Stall
8th September – Maths Olympiad
9th/10th September – VSSS Rehearsal
17th September – Last Day: Early finish (2:30pm)

Literacy

This Term, Level Four students will be enhancing their understanding of Literacy concepts through the unpacking of the structural and language features of non –fiction texts. This will be done by utilising their personalised Café and Voices learning goals through both independent and collaborative learning tasks and reflections.

The genres for Term Three are:

Explanations
Biographies

Taking on a global lens, we will continue to build on furthering learner understanding of reading from a wide range of non-fiction and fiction texts with a focus on literal, inferential and evaluative comprehension. The writing focus will be transferring the skills that we analyse in reading and implementing these into our own authorship. The students will build their understanding in these areas through their targeted Café and Voices personalised leaning goals.

Ways that you may be able to support your child at home include:

Share examples of a wide range of information-based text types such as biographies of inspirational people
Discuss what people you/your child finds inspirational and why
Interview family members to share personal life stories (biographies of their life)
Hunt for biography books you may have at home. Share why you purchased the book with your child
Present and share stories of inspirational people from your own life experiences or own culture
Encourage your child to read explanations and biographies at home or to select these genres for their ‘good fit books’ on Epic or from the library
Ask your child to explain the features of the non –fiction texts they read such as the glossary, contents, index, captions under photographs or labelled diagrams.

Explanation samples by Dilu, Ranveer and Ileesha .

Mathematics

Throughout Term Three, students will continue to deepen their understanding of Mathematical concepts by applying their personalised SURF goals through independent tasks and reflections. The topics we are covering this term are:

Time
Decimals
Money
Mapping
Location and Graphing

A focus this term will be ensuring that students are using a wide range of concrete, pictorial and abstract strategies to represent their mathematical thinking. They will be given the opportunity to make connections and transfer mathematical learning to real-world situations.

You can support this learning at home in the following ways:

Create a family timetable/schedule for everyone to follow.
Encourage your child to tell the time on both a digital and analogue clock.
Ask your child to estimate the amount of time it will take to complete a task and then they can time themselves.
Your child could assist in creating a budget for the weekly shopping.
Go on a ‘treasure hunt’ to find decimals around the home.
Discuss how financial planning is a part of everyday life.
Encourage your child to provide you with directions next time you are leaving the house to go somewhere using the assistance of a GPS.
Present your child with a compass or find an online compass in order to familiarise your child with bearing and directions.

Inquiry

In Inquiry this term, students will be exploring the question “How do cultures communicate through The Arts?” Through the lens of Media Arts and Interculturalism, and connecting to our Whole School Production, our students will be discovering media and stories from diverse cultures to see how messages are conveyed. A key element of our inquiry will involve investigating and transferring Global Goal #10 – ‘Reduced Inequalities’. Utilising media arts to highlight existing inequalities and the importance of reducing them. Our Inquiry learning will be connected to current world-wide events and students will develop an idea of actions that they can take to create change. We look forward to encouraging your children to think broadly about communicating important messages using the Arts, as well as developing deep questions to be investigated as individuals and as a class.

You can support this learning at home by:

Discussing current events that may affect equalities of groups of people in Australia or around the world (e.g. The Olympics), as well as possible actions that would reduce inequality, such as donating clothes for people in need.
Discuss stories from your culture and how they are portrayed through the Arts.
Exploring different art mediums (e.g. TV shows, Books, Movies, Artworks, Advertisements, etc) and how they communicate a message.

Social-Emotional Learning

We will be supporting our students in transferring the YCDI Keys to Success (Confidence, Persistence, Organisation, Getting Along and Resilience) and our school values (Integrity, Respect, Initiative and Global Empathy) into all aspects of their learning. We will be working closely with Dr. Gihan to provide opportunities for our learners to regularly discuss their overall health and well-being, as well as a chance to reflect on and demonstrate their gratitude and appreciation for the opportunities they are surrounded by.

Glen Waverley Primary School Level 4 Newsletter

DREAM. BELIEVE. ACHIEVE. SUCCEED

Issue 3 · 28 Jul 2021

In this issue