Primary

                                                                   Mrs Leanne Schulz

2022 Primary School Theme

What has been happening in the Primary School? 

This week the Year 2 to Year 6 classes have been fortunate to have an incursion with Life Education, including an appearance from Healthy Harold. The Preps and Year 1 students will have their sessions next Monday and Tuesday. The topics explored during these Life Skills classes are: 

Cumberland Class Captains Semester 2

Well done to the Semester 1 Cumberland Class Captains for representing their class and for demonstrating the College Values.

Semester 2 Captains will be presented with their badge and certificate at Monday’s Assembly. Congratulations to the following students who have been nominated as Class Captain for Semester 2:

Semester 2 Class Captains and Sustainability Leaders

Prep News

Mrs Natasha Radley (Prep AHOS)

This week the Prep students are learning about the word “vet” for Word Study. The sentence of the week is: “The vet will see your pet”. To make this interesting and exciting, the Prep teachers were able to bring in their own pet dogs. The students discussed why dogs might see a vet and they got to pretend to be vets themselves. Here is what some of the students thought about Mrs Coker’s dog 'Jax', and Mrs Radley’s dog, 'Miffy':

Ariana G - Prep C

Mrs Coker brought her dog in and he looked like chocolate and he felt fluffy. Vets help animals and check their hearts with a stethoscope. 

Sahbaj B - Prep C

Miffy and Jax both felt soft. They are dogs and when they get sick, they go to the vets. A vet is a type of animal doctor who helps all kinds of animals. 

Charlie S - Prep H

Jax was so cute and cuddly.

Baneet K - Prep H

Miffy was furry and friendly. She fell asleep in Prep H. 

Ethan S - Prep H

Miffy was as tall as my dog.

Inuka M - Prep F

Miffy was so soft.

Lyla G - Prep F

Jax was tall and calm.

Year 1 and 2 News

Mr Jevon Scandrett (Year 1/2 AHOS)

It is hard to believe we are already in week 4!

Year 1 and Year 2 students have already had many exciting learning opportunities this term. 

In Year 1, students are working on addition and subtraction. Students have been using part-part-whole reasoning. Part-part-whole reasoning or the part-whole model is the idea that numbers can be split into parts, which can be used in Maths learning.  For example, if the number is 8, the parts could be 4 and 4, 6 and 2, 7 and 1 etc. By using this model, children will see the relationship between the whole number and its component parts, helping learners to make the connections between addition and subtraction. 

In Year 2, students are working on narrative writing. Students have been writing sizzling starts to begin their narratives in an exciting way. Here are some examples of sizzling starts, written by Year 2 students: 

Hudson C - 2A 

“Help! I’ve been robbed!” we hear Grandad shouting. “It’s a disaster! Come quickly!”

Rian S - 2A

Oh no! The t-shirt escaped from the wardrobe again! 

Amelia O - 2A

I was shocked to see a dinosaur in my backyard last night!

Year 2 students have also been designing their own vehicles as part of the ‘Materials, Push and Pull’ unit in Integrated Studies. Students needed to create a vehicle that can move on its own using materials such as bottle caps and straws. 

As always, your first point of contact should be your child’s homeroom teacher followed by me as the Assistant Head of School (Years 1 and 2). 

Year 3 and 4 News

Mrs Anne Adams (Year 3/4 AHOS)

In Year 3 and Year 4 we have been busy learning through discussion, exploration and practical experiences. A very warm welcome to Gunreet K, Inayat S, Mahrukh M and Fateh R who have joined us in Year 4 this week. We know that you will love learning and playing at Aitken College. 

The Year 3 students have been inquiring about Australia and its neighbours. They have been exploring maps and using a variety of resources to gather facts for questions they would like to find the answers for. 

Melody M - 3A

In Maths, the Year 3 students have been exploring probability while experimenting with dice and the flipping coins. We are using words such as ‘certain, impossible, equal chance, likely and unlikely’ to predict the chance of a range of events occurring. 

Adeesha G - 3A  

In Maths we are learning about multiplication. We have been learning about factors. A factor is when we multiply two numbers to get an answer for example: the factors of 12 1,2,3,4,6,12 because I can say 1 x 12, 2 x 6, 3 x 4.

Novak G - 4S

We have also been learning about multiples which is like skip counting in any number for example 2,4,6,8. This week we have been learning box method for multiplication and vertical method so that we can multiply bigger numbers. 

Araina C - 4S

In Life Skills we have been learning about how to seek help. We have looked at different situations and answered 3 questions: How can I solve this problem myself? How can my friends help me solve a problem and who can I ask to help me? We also spoke about how we can decide how serious a problem is. We used the numbers 1 to 10 to decide. If a number is lower down and is a 1-3 we may be able to solve it ourselves. If it moves up and gets to higher numbers like 8 or 9 we should ask for help. We also have been learning that if we leave a problem too long without solving it, it can become big, it is better to sort it out before it gets too big.

Healthy Harold Reflections: Mind Your Medicine

Asmin B  - 4M

On Monday 1 August, Harold came and he said he wanted to be a pharmacist because he loves animals and medicine but he did not know that medicine is a drug, so we learnt about good drugs and bad drugs. Good drugs make us feel better and are prescribed by doctors but bad drugs are illegal and make people unwell and drowsy. 

Eshveen S - 4S

At the Healthy Harold incursion, we learnt mostly about healthy medicine which would be medicine that helps us. We also found out about some unhealthy drugs like alcohol and caffeine. We learnt what kind of drugs a pharmacy sells and how to read medicine boxes. We looked at the safety of medicine, for example: on the box it says keep out of reach of children. We also looked at how to take the medicine. At the end of the session we learnt about communication and how we can communicate if we are not feeling well to make sure we get the help we need.

We loved seeing Harold again!

Year 5 and 6 News

Mr Nigel Keegan (Year 5/6 AHOS)

The Kitchen Garden Program is proving to be a real highlight in Year 5, providing the opportunity for students to use a range of cooking equipment and ingredients and learn about hygiene and safety in the kitchen. The vegetable fritters the students cooked recently were an absolute winner! In addition, planting a range of fruits and vegetables in the school garden including strawberries, beans, snow peas, cauliflower and lettuce was a much-enjoyed learning experience for students.  

It has been fantastic to witness the engagement and enjoyment of Year 6 students during Earthcraft, the international political simulation game created by Mr Ben Lawless. The game promotes teamwork and creative, practical thinking. Students are given a whole host of real world political, environmental, social and military problems to navigate, and are encouraged to think big picture. For the whole class to “win” the game (which happens only if all teams solve all of their “Earth Challenges”), everyone needs to work together. Ultimately the game is designed to foster cooperation, problem-solving and creative thinking. It challenges students with realistic world problems in a simplified game environment. 

Year 5 Healthy Harold Reflections: Connect Respect Relate

Himaya C - 5A

On Tuesday 5A had a visit from Harold and Vanessa. Vanessa taught us about relationships by watching videos of Bethany who talked about her relationships with her friends. We played a game called 'Family Feud' and had to guess the top 8 qualities a friend should have. Overall, we all had a lot of fun.

Reuben T - 5A

I really really enjoyed Life Education! It was really fun because we were talking about not our physical health only but our mental health as well. We learnt about respect and how we can respect people around us. Mrs Vanessa asked us questions about respect and how to be respectful. The fun part was when we got assigned into teams. There were 5 teams: team gold, silver, blue, green, and one more other colour which I can’t remember. For every respectful thing we do we get a point for our team, we also played games like family feud: write down a list of words linked to a good friend then Vanessa reveals the top 8 words and if we have any of them we got 2 points. Even though our team didn’t win, we all still learned the valuable lesson of a good friendship, how to respect people and what to do in tricky situations. I rate it 15/10 stars! 

Term 3 Assembly Roster 

Year 1R and 1D presented their learning about the community at the Fairview Assembly on Monday. They also did a great job performing a song with actions about the community and led the Wiggle Dance Song. Raissa L entertained us with a beautiful rendition on her violin. An extraordinary performance!

Year 6P and 6B shared information at the Cumberland Assembly about an Earthcraft Game that they play during Integrated Studies. Each student has a specific role to play as they explore geography, economics, and politics in a fun and meaningful way. Mia S and Zara B performed at both Fairview and Cumberland Assemblies. Their voices are incredible and their performance was outstanding!

Next week the Cumberland Class Captains will be presented with their badge during Assembly. We also have Healthy Harold making an appearance at both Fairview and Cumberland Assemblies. 

If you are interested in joining us for Chapels and Assemblies, the roster is as follows: 

Uniform Reminders 

Just a reminder that it is a College expectation for blazers to be worn to and from school. Hair must be tied up fully in the Primary school for health and safety reasons and it also prevents the spread of head lice. There should be no jewellery, with the exception of one stud or sleeper in each ear and a watch. Nail polish is not to be worn. Proper leather school shoes must be worn with the uniform (not black runners). 

Thank you for supporting the College uniform expectations. 

Cumberland Dance Party 

A huge thank you to the Parents & Friends Association for organising an exciting Dance Party for Cumberland students and staff tonight, Friday 5 August. We are all sure to have lots of fun!

Ms Megan Williams (Deputy Head of Primary)

Year 6-Prep Peer Support

Our Year 6 Peer Support Leaders held their last session with the Prep students last week. Throughout the eight lessons, the Peer Support Leaders have led the Prep students through various discussions, games and activities around the theme of ‘Keeping Friends’. The students learnt about what good friends say and do, taking turns, and being ‘good winners’. They also role-played asking to play with groups of students, especially ones you don’t usually play with. After eight weeks, much to all the students delight, they finished their last session with a giant final game of Duck, Duck, Goose. The Year 6 students said it was the Preps that wanted to play, but looking at the fun the Year 6 students were having, it’s hard to tell who enjoyed it more!

Beebots find their way into the Year 1 Classrooms

The Year 1 students are very proud of themselves, having learnt about algorithms. We have been practising our algorithm writing, creating block pictures and Mr Potato Head characters. We learnt that if we weren’t precise, our classmates couldn’t follow our instructions to recreate our characters. This week, we have started working with Beebots. They are small programable robots. Our precise algorithm writing skills is certainly being tested as we program our Beebots to follow our instructions and move around. We’ll keep working on Beebot algorithm writing so that by the end of the term, we’ll be able to program our Beebots to move from one place to another in our communities. We can’t wait to share this with you later in the term.