Learning & Teaching

Historical Sacred Spaces in Inquiry

In our junior school history lessons this week, we explored historical sacred places in our local area. One sacred place the children discussed was Hanging Rock, a place that holds great significance for Indigenous Australians. The children discovered that it is a sacred site where meetings and traditional celebrations took place. This discussion deepened their appreciation for the rich cultural heritage of the land around them. Following this experience the children reflected and made connections to their own lives, considering the sacred places that hold personal significance and meaning to them. 

"There is a river in Riddells Creek that I go to with my dad to read book. It is very peaceful watching the cloud's reflections pass underneath me in the water." - Bella

Multiplication in Year Two

In a week filled with numbers and problem-solving our Year Two children have been looking into multiplication using concrete materials. Using a wide range of resources, whether it be counters, lego or even playdough, the children have been actively engaged in hands-on activities that encourage them to explore this concept. Through these experiences the Year Twos have been able to make connections between multiplcation and repeated addition, along with recognising arrays as another way to visually represent multiplication. To further stretch their learning the children have begun recording addition and multiplication equations to represent their visual depictions. Next week our Year Twos will take a deep dive into division.

Prep Literacy: Diving into the Wonderful World of Language.

Recently our prep team studied the beloved fairy tale "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" to help expand their vocabulary. The children's enthusiasm was evident as they explored the letters in the title and successfully identified and recorded over 30 smaller words. This list will continue to grow next week. How many words can you make from the title?

Year Four Writing: Factual Narratives.

Bee’s

Bee flew fast hurtling through the sky over the meadows. Flowers over the farside, so tempting. Bee did not notice the other bees acting strangely looking down wearily at the wasps below. Bee sensed danger, his strength of smell overcame him. 

The wasps had not yet noticed the bees. Bee noticed the other bees looking at him like he was in charge. Then he remembered he was the only drone bee and the queen bee had put him in charge. The other bees were relying on him.

Wasp was staring Bee down. Wasp had never lost a fight against a swarm of bees. Wasp knew that he could take down the drone bee.

Bee summoned up his courage by thinking

You are brave.

You are strong.

You can do anything.

You can be anything.

Bee flew out of the hexagonal hive with drive and determination. 

Bee knew the best way forward would be teamwork so Bee led the swarm hive up and had a meeting about the wasps. 

Wasp had been to battle before he knew flying up meant meeting. He gathered his supplies and prepared himself for battle. The bees only had honey and honeycomb as their weapons but they had each other and their teamwork. 

The bees gathered up their honey and honeycomb. They dived, circling the wasp with all their strength and courage. Wasps fought back spraying water at the bees. The bees' wings became heavy and they struggled to fly. The bees circled back and kept circling the wasp. 

The wasps became dizzy, falling backwards and were defeated. The bees cheered with delight. The bees celebrated with royal jelly from the beehive. 

The bees had won the battle and cheered with delight.  

- By Elizabeth Middlemast

Year Five Fun with Fractions

Our Year Five children recently found a creative and engaging approach to partitioning a whole into equal parts using the letters of their own names. Following this, the children were presented with a blank number line and were invited to represent the letters of their name as fractions on the number line. Next week the Year Five team will move into a focus on decimals. We look forward to seeing more creative maths ideas in the coming weeks.