What's happening in the classrooms: Junior School

Year 1/2 

Welcome to Week 4 from the Junior School. Wow! It’s hard to believe that we are nearly halfway through the term. Our end of the school has been a hive of activity with lots of hands-on learning, dialogue between students and explorations into our learning topics.

The Year 1/2 students have settled back well after their holiday break. We decorated our class Prayer Mats, which we use during prayer time to begin our day calmly. The students worked alongside teachers to write our Codes of Cooperation, including our behaviour expectations. Our learning areas are structured to be positive, calm spaces where all students feel a sense of safety and belonging.

In Maths, the Year 1/2 students have been learning all about Place Value. We have been representing numbers in multiple ways using straws and bundles, MAB blocks, number lines and expanded form. The students applied their knowledge by creating Place Value Robot artworks and solving puzzles.

In English, we have been learning all about Recounts. Using the book Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge (Mem Fox) as a starting point, the students have brought in their own ‘memory items’ and written about a memorable time they had with them.

The Junior School has also been learning all about positive relationships during our Inquiry and SEL lessons. We have been learning about the brain and 3 of its parts: the prefrontal cortex (problem-solving sector), the hippocampus (memory) and the amygdala (emotional sector). The Year 1/2 students have been practising using a ‘growth mindset’, so mistakes are seen as an opportunity to learn. Did you know that Albert Einstein, considered one of the most intelligent people who ever lived, made lots of mistakes in his work? But he kept on practising!

We cannot wait to see where our learning journey leads us next!

Miss Serena Jordan-Munro(Year 1/2 Classroom Teacher)