Teaching and Learning News 

Welcome to Term 4!  

It’s hard to believe that we have had another term with the challenges of remote learning, but it’s also reassuring that we now have a roadmap out. 

 

Teachers spent the last Thursday of term planning for the possibility of continued remote learning, as well as in the hope that we would be back on site. As well as working on literacy and numeracy, we established our inquiry units for the term. We often focus on a whole-school theme for our inquiry learning, but given the extraordinary year we’ve had, each level team reviewed the learning and social emotional needs of their classes to identify inquiry learning topics best suited to engage and support their specific groups of students. Below is a brief summary of what is happening at each year level:

 

Years 5 & 6 Schools for the Future: exploring some innovative programs in schools around the world and considering how technology might change the way students learn. 

 

Years 3 & 4 Life Be In It: learning about what it means to be healthy, including physical, mental, social-emotional and spiritual health. They will learn the importance of respect of self and others, and of being safe.

 

Years 1 & 2 Getting Along: developing social skills and learning how to get along with others to support students to re-adjust to onsite schooling.

 

Prep Fairness and Friendship: investigating fairness and friendship at home and at school as a foundation for developing an awareness of social justice in a broader context.

 

Inquiry learning draws from a range of curriculum disciplines, including science, history, geography, civics and citizenship, economics and business, English and mathematics, depending on the topic being explored. It can also give an opportunity to develop the capabilities from the Victorian Curriculum: personal and social; intercultural; ethical, and critical and creative thinking. Our inquiry units incorporate habits of the mind, such as thinking flexibly, listening with understanding and empathy and finding humour. Teachers work together to develop essential questions relating to their chosen focus that students will investigate through the term. 

 

There is generally an expectation that learning will culminate in some sort of action. In the past, this has included big actions, such as the creation of the wonderful bottle lid mural outside the community centre and the production of items to sell at a student-led bazaar with the profits donated to charity, but has also focused on making small differences, such as showing acts of kindness to others or recycling at home and school. Inquiry learning helps students to make sense of, find their place and be active participants in their worlds.

 

As always, if you would like any further information about our learning and teaching programs, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Wishing you all a safe and happy term.

 

Warm regards

 

Annie Facchinetti

Teaching & Learning Leader

annie.facchinetti@olhceltham.catholic.edu.au