Spotlight on Learning

Stage 1

1L have been exploring narratives in English. Students listened to the book 'Rosie's Walk' and learnt that the words told one story about Rosie the hen while the pictures told a different story about the fox. In their writing books, students wrote the fox's story using prepositions and aimed to achieve their individual writing goals. 

In computer lab time this term, students have been using Microsoft Word to practice their hand placement on the keyboard and increase their typing accuracy and rate. They have also learnt how to use the keys to show different punctuation marks. 

Miss Park -  1L Classroom Teacher

Stage 2

In Mathematics this term, students in 4B have thoroughly enjoyed an interactive activity where they were creating and conducting surveys on their classmates. Students explored whether a closed- or open-ended question were better for collecting data and developed their own questions to ask. These questions included favourite sports, ice-cream flavours, colours, and foods. Once students created their questions, they surveyed the class and tallied their results in a table. Using the data they gathered, students created column graphs using Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. 

The below photos show some of the graphs that students in 4B created in Google Sheets:

In reading this term, students in 4B have been doing reader’s theatre. Reader’s theatre allows students to develop their reading fluency and expression, whilst also boosting their confidence. Students really enjoyed reading ‘Pineapple and Tomato Paste’, choosing which character they wanted to be, practicing and then performing the play in front of the rest of the class. 

Miss Betty – 4B Classroom Teacher

Stage 3

2-6P Support Class Music

Our class has a specialist music therapist, called Nick, who visits each Friday.

He provides opportunities for us to play instruments which are different from those we would normally experience. This makes our lessons very interesting and fun and provides exposure to a wider range of musical participation. 

Sometimes we watch videos or simply listen to professional musicians playing these instruments, such as the Theremin or Hapi drum, then Nick records us playing as well.  

We also compose pieces, including songs. Building accompaniment music to our compositions helps us understand how layers are gradually built into music. We also learn how to read rhythms and music notation. 

During Term 2 we have been producing music on a computer, using loops. We have combined the loops with MIDI parts, using a MIDI keyboard and recording phrases.         

Each week we have combined the previous music with audio recordings. This involves recording instruments and voices, then adding audio effects. 

We are currently combining recordings to produce a full-length tune. 

We’ve learned a lot about making our own music, as well as how music can be recorded and edited.  

Ms Pendergast - 2-6P Classroom Teacher