Classroom News & Events 

Science

Our first ever virtual science fair will be held on September the 9th. Please read the attached 2 page flyer for all of the exciting information.

STEM

A big hello to the DCC school community,

I just wanted to say a massive thank you for all of your amazing efforts during remote learning. I am blown away from the students creative abilities, design knowledge, problem solving skills and their positive attitudes towards STEM during remote learning. 

This term we will be focusing more on coding, the design process and exploring some online sites to extend our understanding in these areas. Keep up the great work and thinking outside the box. 

Sarah Upton. 

Prep news

We all hope you are doing well and enjoying remote learning with your child. The Prep team were very excited this week with beginning our Morning Meetings and Guided Reading WebEx sessions with your child. It was great to see all students engaged in their learning throughout these sessions. 

Term 3 Learning 

In reading, students will be focusing on multiple comprehension strategies to support their reading. Across the term, we will be learning how to visualise what we have read in our mind, how to identify and retell important events from a book, and also to make personal connections to a story that we have read. Students will also be working on their Reading goals in their Guided Reading sessions which will support your child to read texts and understand texts. Throughout the term, students will also be focusing on the sounds of letters through the SMART spelling program and will continue to have a word of the week and sentence of the week. This will support their understanding of sounds that letters make and how to write the word and sentence of the week. 

In writing, students are learning how to describe objects using descriptive words and sentences. Throughout this unit of work, students will be learning how to write down the sounds that they hear in unfamiliar words and record these in their books. Students will also be using various types of descriptive words such as number words, doing words, texture words, colour words, shape words and size words in their writing. Later this term, students will also be focusing on procedure writing and how we can give instructions to someone through a piece of procedure writing. 

In math, students will be focusing on the numbers 1-20 and decades. Students will learn how to identify and model these numbers, count forwards and backwards from any given point, count a group of objects and subitise numbers 1-10. Students will also be learning about measurement in our Mass unit, where students will be comparing objects and identifying which item is heavier and which item is lighter. Students will also focus on data and interpretation, where students will answer simple questions and display their answers on a simple pictograph. Sharing will also be a numeracy focus in Term 3, where students will be learning how to share objects into groups equally. 

Thank you once again for all your support with your child’s learning. If you have any questions or queries about the Grade Prep term 3 learning, please contact your child’s classroom teacher. 

Kind regards, 

Prep Teachers

Year 1 News

Welcome Back!

We know we are not beginning the term how we would have liked to but we are excited to see what our students can achieve in our revised remote learning program for the beginning of term 3. 

We are so excited to engage in virtual teaching sessions with our students and see them face to face through the online platform Webex. 

Term 3 Learning 

In Reading, we will be focusing on developing our ability to read the words correctly through the use of the Fix It Strategies such as ‘Stretch the sounds’, ‘Does it sound right?’, ‘Does it look right?’, and ‘Does it make sense?’. As we are reading a text, we will be looking at making connections with the text where students identify how the text reminds them of something that has happened in their own life or another text they have read. As we read, we will be practicing the skill of inferring, this will help us explore how the characters are feeling in a text, what the author uses in their books to show a characters feelings and identifying why a character might be feeling that way. 

During Reading we will also explore the hidden message the author is sharing and explore the Author's Purpose for writing the book whether that be to inform, persuade, entertain or instruct a reader. 

In Writing, we will be focusing on developing our students ‘writing skills’ such as writing a complete thought, using punctuation correctly, developing a strong understanding of phonological (sound) awareness and re-reading our writing to ensure it makes sense. We will explore this through different text types such as Information Reports and Explanation Texts. We will begin our Information Unit by developing a strong understanding of the difference between fact and opinion and begin to write basic information reports on topics familiar to them. We will then begin to explore various explanation texts to help students understand the text structure and features. By the end of the unit students will have the opportunity to write about something they know a lot about such as ‘how plants grow’.

In Numeracy, we will continue our learning on Addition and Subtraction. We will be building on the strategies we have learnt in term 2, to develop a deeper sense of numbers and how they work. Students will be given ample opportunities to practise these skills in their weekly ‘Number Talks’ with their teachers and through set tasks on Seesaw. Our next major focus in Number this term will be Division. During this unit students will learn to make equal groups of objects using 1:1 correspondence. They will develop an understanding of how to share sets of objects fairly, as well as investigate situations where there may be a remainder (left over). Towards the end of the term, we will move into Fractions, where we will use our knowledge of Division to split whole objects into halves, divide small collections into halves and distinguish between what is half and not half with collections and whole objects. 

Year 2 News

Welcome to Term 3! We know that this is a strange and daunting time for families, and we hope that by maintaining routines and class activities, your child will have a productive and meaningful remote learning experience. Here are some important things to note:

Every grade, every week

What: Class meetings on Webex 

How: your child’s teacher has sent out the meeting link on a Seesaw post 

Days: Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Time: 8.40 - 9.10am

Focus: Check-in and staying connected, Acknowledgement to Country, PATHS kid, celebrate birthdays,  story time, expectations of the learning tasks on Seesaw for the day/s, etc

Every grade, every week

What: Small teaching groups on Webex

How: your child’s teacher has sent out the meeting link on a Seesaw post 

Day: Mondays

Time: 30 minutes, different set times 

Focus: Number talks, guided reading 

Seesaw Learning Tasks

Students will be assigned Seesaw learning tasks on most Friday afternoons, ready for the following week. There will be:

• 5 writing tasks, including a Fun Free-Genre task on Fridays
• 1 SMART Spelling task, including a matrix for students to complete activities from each day of the week
• 5 maths sessions: two 20 minute tasks on Monday to Thursday, plus a 40 minute problem solving task on Fridays
• 4 reading tasks - some based on the small group session from Mondays
• Specialist tasks

Curriculum

We value the importance of continuing to implement the curriculum this term. Your child has learning goals that they will be working towards over the next weeks. These can be found on Compass. We look forward to discussing these with you at our parent meetings next Tuesday and Wednesday. Please make your bookings on Compass.

Maths  - our focus is on 2D and 3D shapes, measuring length, area, mass, capacity and volume, transforming (flipping, sliding and turning), and our number unit is multiplication and division where we will be exploring a range of strategies to solve maths problems.

Writing - we will be exploring how to write persuasive pieces, transactional pieces (eg letters) and narratives. We will continue with our SMART spelling too.

Reading  - we continue to work through comprehension strategies to help students become balanced readers. Our key areas are decoding, reading fluently and understanding what has been read. The comprehension strategies that we will explore are predicting, questioning, visualising, summarising, making connections and inferring.

Ways to Support your Child with Remote Learning

Set up a space in the house for your child to do their remote learning

1. Together with your child, establish a daily routine so your child knows when it is remote learning time and then when the school day has finished and it’s time to relax and play
2. Encourage your child to work through the Seesaw learning tasks independently. They have been designed to need no (or very little) support from parents. We teachers have listened to the feedback we got from students and families last term, and have made many changes to how the tasks look and how we have presented them. We are learning all the time about how to improve the remote learning experience. Videos are shorter and Seesaw tasks are less cluttered. There are less slides for most tasks. We are hoping that students will experience success in all tasks. If your child is asking for help, you can ask  them first to rewatch the videos for that lesson, read the simplified instructions again and try the task again. If they still need you, feel free to support them then with the instructions.
3. Read a book for pleasure to or with your child every day and talk about it together. Make it a quiet, cosy, happy time so that your child sees that reading is more than just having to ‘do a task’ - it’s FUN!

During remote learning, Year 2 students were asked to write about the picture prompt of a Rainbow.  Nithin chose to write a poem and Kai Lin wrote a story (see below)

Thank you for all your support last term, and we look forward to working together again to best support your child’s development. Please do not hesitate to email your child’s teacher with any questions, comments, concerns about your child’s learning or the remote learning experience. 

Skye, Sharnie and Anne

Year 3 News

Welcome back to Term 3!

Firstly, thank you to all of our Year 3 students and families for being so resilient and flexible during these strange times that we are living in at the moment.

Webex and SeeSaw are the two 2 platforms we are using this term to provide for remote learning. Compass continues to be where you will find the latest communications from Ian and Brianna.

We all meet as a grade via Webex on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at 9:10. The children have really enjoyed seeing each other and of course as teachers, we have loved seeing them.

Each student will also meet with their teacher and group at a scheduled time each Wednesday for Maths and Guided Reading.

All SeeSaw Learning Tasks are carefully and thoughtfully planned to meet the needs of every student and are goals based. It is vital that all tasks are being completed daily, including Specialist tasks.

If you are having difficulties accessing remote learning, please contact your child’s teacher and the school. We are here to help.

In Reading, we are looking at fiction texts and covering author’s purpose and  persuasive devices, predicting and making connections.

In Writing we are learning about persuasive text types featuring modality and opinion.

In Maths we are looking at addition and subtraction number patterns and multiplication.

We all know that our situation is ever changing and we look forward to talking with you about your child’s learning goals this Tuesday and Wednesday. Please take the time to book an appointment time. All information is on Compass. We will update you with further information as the term progresses.

Take care and kind regards,

Gaye, Natasha and Shannon

Year 4

Welcome to Year 4 Term 3! What a year it has been! The grade four team would firstly like to thank every parent and carer for your ongoing support of your child and our school as we work together to continue to provide exceptional learning experiences. We hope you are just as excited as we are to be conducting weekly whole class and small group Webex meetings. We will use this time to engage, teach and assess your child against the curriculum to ensure their learning is not interrupted while remote learning. These sessions will include many read aloud’s which are vital for student learning. Students learn so much from adults modelling great reading practices. We encourage you to read to your child wherever you can to assist their learning.

Below you will find the curriculum outline for the Term for the subject areas of Reading/ Writing and Maths.

Reading

In reading this term your child will be making many connections between texts they read and themselves, other texts and the broader world. Being able to connect prior knowledge with new information in a text helps your child think more analytically and relate new learning with their own life. We will also be looking into vocabulary within a text and discuss word meanings, synonyms, antonyms and what affect this vocabulary has on the reader. We encourage students to independently read every day and continue to complete their reading logs. Texts can be found on Wushka/ Reading Eggs if you have limited resources at home.

Writing

Writing for Term 3 will focus on the text type ‘Personal Narrative’. Students will work through the writing process (plan, draft, revise, edit, publish) and analyse the effects of different literary features on the reader and try to incorporate these in their own writing.

We will continue with our Smart Spelling program fortnightly, looking at complex spelling patterns such as the /ch/ digraph making the ‘sh’ sound as in chef. Students will be encouraged to practice these words like they would for homework during face to face teaching.

Maths

This term we will really be focusing on developing your child’s ability to use efficient strategies for multiplication/division. There will be many games and problem solving activities assigned to help support us with this. We understand that sometimes it is hard to find time while you are working at home also but we are suggesting that these Maths 1 TASKS could be completed after dinner and on weekends when you have time to engage with your child. Encouraging siblings to play, even younger siblings is also a great idea as it puts your child in the teaching position which really helps to cement their learning. You can play these games as many times as you wish! Not just on the day the task is assigned.

Multiplicative thinking underpins so many future areas of Maths students will engage in and encouraging them to use efficient strategies will help them into the later years of Primary school and into High school. Efficient strategies are not remembering times tables by rote but rather having a reasonably quick way of working something out and being able to explain the understating behind it. Your child’s reasoning is such an important aspect of Maths which is often overlooked. We look forward to working with you and your child in this areas this term!

If you have any questions about the above, please see your child's teacher to discuss further.

Kind Regards,

Millie, Manprit and Bernadette

Year 5 & 6

The grade 5/6 students have commenced our second round of remote learning. Feedback was taken on from term 2, to which we have commenced WebEx meetings with students three times weekly, and a weekly 45 minute session where we work in small teams discussing math problems and engaging in guided reading.

Our students have made a promising start to their learning for this term. We are building on our reading skills by introducing information reports and historical fiction as our genres, and continuing our guided reading groups to work on individual goals. We will be writing an information report on a topic of our own choosing, then leading on to researching and writing about a historical Australian figure.

For numeracy, we have commenced a unit on chance and data. Students will be learning how to conduct their own experiment and how to present the resulting data in an appropriate graph or chart.

Many thanks to our families for engaging in the conferences this week, along with the smooth transition into remote learning.

The 5/6 team!

Reading from home webinar

Nelson Primary are offering free webinars during Term 3.  One of the first webinars is aimed at parents, Helping with Reading at Home.  The webinar will run for one hour and cover the following points:

• The things I need to know about helping my child to read
• Helpful ‘tips’ for reading at home
• What to do before, during and after listening to reading.

To view session times and register your interest please copy or click on the following link:

https://info.cengage.com/pd_series_registration

Links to support thinking and maths skills

Below are some links to support thinking and maths skills in our students.

Click here or copy the link below to hear advice on how to make your children maths experts.

 https://calculate.org.au/2017/12/10/want-child-succeed-mathematics-play/

Click here or copy the link below to hear advice on supporting children to become thinkers.

https://calculate.org.au/mathstalk-podcast/