What's happening in our learning spaces? 

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

FOUNDATION 

Last week was very exciting as we reached the halfway mark of our 100 Days of School. On Thursday we celebrated 50 Days of School, we counted our stars, not by 1s but by 10s! We have learnt so much being at school and can not wait to experience more fun and engaging learning. 

Last Wednesday, as Inquirers, we participated in a very interesting and hands-on incursion run by “The History Box”. This incursion gave us time and opportunity to explore toys from the past. Did you know that “History” relates to the past or from long ago. Cynda and Barry showed us many different toys from long ago that didn’t need batteries, all that was required was a little imagination! Many of the toys we explored are still available today but are now made from plastic. Some interesting facts that we found out from the presenters were:

• The very first marbles were made from wood and were found in Egypt near the pyramids.
• Marbles can be made from glass.
• The very first Mr Potato Head used a real potato. That is where you could place the arms, eyes, ears and mouth. 
• Knucklebones or Jacks were made from real sheep bones.
• The very first frisbee was made from a tin used to bake apple or apricot pies and the bakery workers just started throwing the plates to each other to catch and have fun.
• Now frisbees are made from colourful plastic and are very light, so they can fly a long distance.

In the coming weeks, we will share with each other what we discovered about the types of toys our parents and grandparents played with when they were children.

In numeracy, we are learning all about length measurement, how to measure objects using informal objects like unifix blocks, paper clips, counters and even our hands! As readers,  we read ‘The Best Bug Parade’, to find out words we can use to describe the things we are measuring. We learnt new words like small, smaller, smallest, big, bigger, biggest, short, shorter, shortest, long, longer, longest and so many more!

As mathematicians, we have been using different lengths of paper strips to compare the sizes, describe them and find other objects that are bigger, smaller or the same size. We even used lots of fun materials to measure the length of a dinosaur! We now know that we have to start and stop at the very tip of an object to measure accurately. Take a look at some of our measuring skills!

Please remember to bring back any library bags by Tuesday so that we can borrow a new book on Wednesday.

Have a fantastic week. 

Leanne Wenckowski and Alex Phillips

Foundation Team

YEAR 1/2

We have certainly had a busy yet exciting week in 1/2! We have been researchers, communicators, thinkers, collaborators and self-managers as we engaged in various learning opportunities. 

The week began with The Resilience Project where we continued to explore Gratitude. We learnt that gratitude is about pausing to appreciate all of the things we have that others may not have, and how happy they can make us. As self-managers, we made our own gratitude jars, focusing on the good in our lives and sharing some of the things that we are grateful for, including our warm beds, our family and friends, school, food and water, money, technology, shelter, toys and pets. We will continue to add to our class gratitude jar, and if we are feeling down, we can read some of the things in our jar. 

On Tuesday, we had time and opportunity to visit CERES Environmental Park to explore Indigenous Perspectives, culture and traditions. As researchers, we listened respectfully to experts Mia and Kat as they shared some of the Indigenous Dreamtime stories, such as Tiddalik the Frog, and looked closely at different artefacts and how they are used to tell stories in the Indigenous Culture. These included a coolamon, which is used to carry paint, seeds, berries and even babies, a yidaki, which is known as a didgeridoo, and other musical instruments they use during traditional dance, such as clap sticks and boomerangs.  We went for a walk and explored some of the different native bush foods that are used by the Aboriginals for cooking and for medical purposes. We got to try Saltbush, Lemon Myrtle, Warrigal Greens and Pigface. After this, we walked along the Merri Creek and learnt about the traditional Aboriginal game, Mangrook, which is played with a possum ball. We can’t wait to find out more about the Indigenous Culture. 

As curious thinkers and communicators, we unpacked the excursion by sharing and documenting all of our discoveries and wonderings. As readers, we are also exploring elements of the Aboriginal Culture, such as a Welcome to Country, how they made tools, their seasons and Corroborees, through non-fiction texts to extend our thinking. We will begin to sort these into different categories. 

Here are some of our discoveries from CERES Environmental Park…

• A yidaki is used for playing music and it can be used for dancing- Riley
• A boomerang can also be used for making music- Isabel
• Aboriginal Elders told Dreamtime Stories- Orlando
• Some of the plants and bushes were used as medicine to help people who were sick- Giorgio
• When Aboriginal people have babies they wrap them in possum skin and as they get older they add to the possum skin and paint inside of it- Ruby

This week, as mathematicians we tuned into the concept of Length. We will be learning to measure, compare and order objects using different informal units such as blocks, counters and paper clips. As writers, we are beginning to explore information texts, their purpose and what we might include when writing one. 

A friendly reminder that 1/2VK will be participating in Mass with 5/6GT at St Fidelis' Church this Tuesday morning at 9:15am. All parents, carers and families are welcome to attend. 

We are looking forward to another big week next week, with Footsteps, our Mother’s Day Morning and a guest speaker for Catholic Care Week! 

1/2 Team, 

Alycia Marsico, Vania Sparano and Vicky Karalis 

YEAR3/4

Thank you for assisting us in gathering artefacts that tell our Story!

Over the past week we engaged in viewing, reading and sharing our story in the Year 3/4 learning spaces. It was wonderful to see each other’s artefacts and we have begun to write about these. We can’t wait to share these with you soon!

Students have had the time and opportunity to document details about these artefacts including considering the following questions, What is the artefact? Why did you select the artefacts? Who is involved? How does it relate to your family? 

As mathematical thinkers, we have been working hard to develop strategies related to our Addition facts. Strategies we have been working on this week include the jump strategy, split strategy and algorithm. We are developing more than one strategy so that we are able to determine which strategy is the most efficient one for our equations.

Please remember our Home Learning has been given out this week and it is available on your child’s Google Classroom.

Year 3/4 Teachers

Belinda Panzarino & Bianka Zorzut

YEAR 5/6

Another fantastic and busy week in 5/6 last week for our students. 

Last week 5/6OS and 5/6GT were fortunate enough to travel to North Melbourne Football Club to participate in the Huddle STEM experience. The students were put into groups and were tasked by an AI system to complete a series of challenges related to sport and teamwork. The students were required to use their problem solving skills to engage with the challenges posed by the interactive computer system. 

Each group was given a North Melbourne football player who they had to level up their skills. Some of the challenges included: 

• Creating a catapult to launch a football into a marking station
• Creating a pendulum that ‘kicked’ the football through the goalposts
• Using a Sphero to manoeuvre through an obstacle course. 

All of the students had a wonderful time and were fantastic representatives of our school. 

5/6AO are eagerly looking forward to their excursion this coming Thursday. 

In Literacy, the students have begun working on some persuasive techniques including creating effective arguments. We started the unit by exploring a range of different topics that people can have differing opinions on and creating some arguments for or against some topics. The students then had healthy debates with one another to convince their peers that their point of view on the topic was the right one. We were so impressed with some of the thoughtful and considered arguments the students put forward. We look forward to seeing them develop their persuasive skills in the coming weeks. 

In Numeracy, the students have been exploring subtraction. The students have been tasked with using a range of strategies to solve a variety of subtraction problems, including a vertical algorithm, jump and split strategies. On Friday the students were challenged to use their financial mathematics skills to work through a challenge set to them. The task was to restock the library using the “Book Club” brochure within a certain budget. The students used a range of operations and critical thinking to complete the challenge. 

We would like to extend a big thank you to the parents who have volunteered to attend the excursions with us, we appreciate it so much! 

A reminder to please send a photo of your child with their mother/grandmother/special female to your child's teacher, for our Mother’s Day assembly on Friday. 5/6OS will be leading us in prayer on Friday morning so we would love to see you all there!

Have a wonderful week, 

Olivia Sargent, Graham Troy and Aoife O’Flynn.