Ulysses Community Report

June Update

A big thank you to everyone who attended parent teacher interviews this week and helped to make them a success! If you were unable to attend please contact me and we can make a time, feel free to pop in and say hello on Thursday afternoons or to email me with any questions through Sentral. We are officially halfway through the year and very excited to announce Ulysses Community will be welcoming two new staff members into the space. We are looking forward to getting to know both Trent and Chloe in the coming weeks.  

Our Learning

Reading

During reading Ulysses have been working towards inferring meaning when reading a text. We have been trying to make connections to our own experiences as well as to other texts we may have seen or read to help us better understand how a character might be feeling throughout a text.  

Writing

We have been writing narratives this month while practising expanding our sentences to make them more interesting. We used picture clues and story starters to help spark our imaginations and get some ideas, then we were able to make changes to make our work more interesting after peer and teacher conferencing.

Maths

In Maths we have been investigating Shape and Geometric Reasoning. Students were looking at identifying 'obtuse', 'acute' and 'right' angles and well as connecting 3D objects with nets. Next term we will be working with protractors to measure and construct angles before moving to multiplication and division. 

Inquiry  

We have been having a blast finishing up our inquiry unit 'Can we ever run out of energy?'. We worked in small groups to create our own solar robots which really move! Most groups were able to work together successfully to overcome obstacles and create their robot. We later created a Keynote presentation on our iPads to document our learning. Below are a couple of presentations made by the groups.

Art

This month we began experimenting with chalk pastels during art sessions. It has been excellent seeing students engage in the process and trial different techniques to improve their work. We used the blending, hatching, pointillism and twist techniques along with some others to create some great artwork. Some of our work is displayed in STEAM 2 and parents are welcome to drop in after school to say hello and have a look.

Athletic's Day!

Students had a fantastic day at the inaugural Aitken Hill Primary School Athletic's Day! A huge thank you to Alannah who did an amazing job of organising everything. I was with the year 5 boys group and was very impressed with their sportsmanship throughout the day, everyone tried their best and supported their teammates so they could finish even the harder races. I also had some fantastic feedback about the grade 6 groups and grade 5 girls group. Well done to everyone who participated and a big well done to those who were able to set new school records hopefully qualifying for district competition later in the year!

Home Learning 

In years 5 and 6 the aim of homework is to build on the concepts of self-discipline, responsibility and initiative to prepare students for secondary school. 

Homework tasks will consist of daily independent reading and spelling or unfinished classwork. Next term assignments, essays and research may be sent home. 

Students are generally not expected to spend more than 45 minutes per day on homework and no homework tasks will be assigned over the weekends or during the holidays. 

Important Notes to Remember

*All reports are available on Sentral, if you are having difficulties finding your child's please contact the office on 83771000.

* Doors open at 8:40am and class begins at 8:50am, students who arrive after this time are required to get a late pass from the office.

* Students should be reading nightly with the title and pages read to be recorded in their diaries.

* New spelling words go home each Friday in student diaries. Students are expected to practise spelling for 10 minutes each night, if you need a list of ideas to practise spelling words feel free to see Bec Thursday afternoons or email through Sentral.  

* Next term we will be working on multiplication and division, practising times tables nightly will be a great support. 

*  If you haven't yet purchased an iPad please look into doing so, it is an important learning tool. A list of iPad apps will be sent home early next term, in the meantime please remember to bring iPads charged and ready to go.

I look forward to seeing you all after the break with our new team members. 

Kind regards,

Bec 

Hi I'm TRENT

I have been teaching for 10 years.

I love teaching, because I really enjoy seeing students try their best and learn new things.

I love music and can play a bit of everything, but my main instrument is the guitar.

I am really looking forward to meeting everyone at Aitken Hill Primary and excited to get started with lots of learning and fun in Term 3.

Hi I'm CHLOE

Hi my name is Chloe Gooderham and I am very excited to be starting at Aitken Hill Primary School as a Learning Support Assistant.

I have worked in various different roles in my career and I feel so lucky to have such a rewarding and meaningful job.

I look forward to meeting you all.