Class News
Foundation
PMP with Star of the Sea
Each week the Foundation to Year 2 students participate in PMP. On a Friday we learn new skills and complete different activities that are designed by Ashley, our school OT. Over the last few weeks we have also been fortunate enough to have students from Star of the Sea come and help us with each activity.
Maths in Foundation
In Maths, Foundation have been investigating and comparing the length of objects and using blocks to measure objects around the room. We even created a snake out of blocks going from the front of the classroom all the way to the end of the playroom!
We have also been working on our number skills and have learnt about bonds to five. We loved singing the song ‘Five Little Speckled Frogs’ and creating our own frogs on a log to show different bonds to 5.
The Star of the Sea students have spent time with us during Maths, helping us with our counting and number skills.
Phonics
Last week our SMART Spelling focus was the word ‘dog’. We read stories, sang songs and learnt how to read, spell and write the word ‘dog’. We also created watercolour paintings to match the story ‘We Love You, Magoo’ by Briony Stewart.
This week we learnt the word ‘jam’ and made our own jam sandwiches, focusing on ordering each step correctly.
This is what we thought of our jam sandwiches:
It was yummy and sticky. - Raffaella
It was delicious and very gooey. - Grace
They were scrumptious and delicious. - Alessandra
The strawberry was yummy and it was super sweet and delicious. - Maxim
It was sweet and delicious. It was so good! - Antonio
It was really good. - Nicholas
It was tasty and a little bit sticky. - Mareen
It was fun making the jam sandwiches and also very yummy. - Will
The best sandwiches in the world! - Mila
I had fun making the sandwiches and they were super delicious. - Arya
It was the best sandwich ever! It was better than ice-cream or chocolate. - Daniel
It was amazing. - Tessa
It was very good. - Bailey
Fun in the Tilley Yard
The Tilley Yard provides students with many opportunities to explore and use their imagination in creative ways. This week the Foundation students found limes that had fallen off the tree and decided they would make great weights for their gym. They attached the limes to the end of sticks and were doing bench presses and bicep curls, working on their strength!
Foundation Teacher
Bridie Slater
Junior School News
Library
THE PICTURE BOOK PLAYOFFS
In the Junior school this term the Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 children have been participating in the ‘Picture book playoffs’. Each Monday the children are read a new picture book and discover a new author and illustrator. The play-offs is a ‘tournament’ that matches books in a one-on-one ‘game’. The children then vote on their favourite books. It's very interesting to see the various favourite books across the 3 classes. One thing we all agree on in the Junior school is that Ellie’s Dragon by Bob Graham is definitely loved by all children.
LITERACY
In Year 1 and 2 we have been exploring the literary techniques of poetry. We have looked at rhyming words, couplets, cinquains and acrostic poems. Last week we provided the children with rich opportunities for learning, by integrating our sound of the week - the digraph 'oy’ as in toy with our poetry writing.
Initially we read the story The Little Scarecrow Boy by Margaret Wise Brown. We identified ‘oy’ words and discussed characteristics of a scarecrow.
The children then began the writing process by ‘building the field’ with craft experiences. (This stage of the writing process focuses on establishing students’ shared understandings of the genre, topic or character) .
Once the children had created their own scarecrows, they identified their favourite things about them. Next, like any good author (or poet) they recorded adjectives and rich vocabulary to describe scarecrows. Once the children felt like they were ‘experts’ on scarecrows they used their new knowledge to write their own acrostic poems.
They were very proud of their finished pieces.
Year 1’s acrostic poems and scarecrows
Year 1’s acrostic poems and scarecrows
Year 2’s acrostic poems and scarecrows
Year 2’s acrostic poems and scarecrows
Junior School partnership with Star of the Sea VCAL students.
The Junior school has been lucky enough to have a group of 15 VCAL students join us each Friday for a session in the afternoon!
The VCAL students have been working across the Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 classrooms. They are assisting with a number of activities including PMP with all Junior years and our Occupational Therapist Ashley, Free play with Foundation students and Maths games with 1J and 2F.
The students in the Junior school are loving these sessions on a Friday afternoon. A special thank you to Matt Lyons- Star of the Sea, VCAL Teacher for collaborating with the Junior school.
Year 1 and 2 Teachers
Mandi Joplin and Lisa Featherstone
Mathematics in Year 3/4
In 3 /4, as part of our Mathematics unit Time, the 3 /4 students have been working collaboratively to engage in a range of time activities that align with the curriculum. The students have participated in mixed rotation activities including time bingo, ordering 24 hour time, reading timetables, using a stopwatch and working with a small teacher focus group.
Year 3/4