Introduction

The phrase “We’re all in this together” has become familiar to all of us recently. But what does it mean to be “together”? Togetherness is about connection. It is about us recognising the connection we have with other people and the importance of this connection. It is about remaining connected to our community. It is about connecting with family and friends, despite the physical distance we currently need to keep.

Connections are also a key part of learning. Our brains make connections all the time (even when we’re sleeping). How many times have you had a dream that relates to something significant that is going on in your life? Here are some ways that the BBPS students have been discovering, building, and strengthening connections this week.

Connecting units of measurement
Connecting with their teachers and with each other via zoom
Connecting with their families at dinner time chats
Connecting letters to make words, and connecting words to make sentences
Making connections between what they have been reading and their own experiences
Connecting words that start with the same letter or end with the same sound to compose poems
Finding connections between texts and other texts
Connecting lines of pencil or dabs of paint to create pieces of art
Connecting words and music to sing a song
Finding connections with the rest of Australia as they learn about our vast, beautiful country
Using their bodies to connect with bats, balls, hills, the footpath and the weather as they complete their daily exercise
Connecting with their community as they crafted their spoony people for our BBPS Spoonville
Connecting concepts in maths, and building on these connections to improve their understanding of numbers, measurement, geometry, and logic
Connecting their memories to their hopes for the future

Through this newsletter we hope that you continue to find new ways to connect. After all, we are one big interconnected community, in more ways that you might imagine.

Prep

Highlights this week for Prep have been:

Buddy Zoom with Grade 5 buddies
Word of the week : King (check out the crown Amelia is wearing in Wellbeing)
Teen numbers – “where the one comes first”
Adding to their poetry portfolio

Grades 1 and 2

Grades 1 and 2 this week have been making all kinds of connections:

The connection between litres and millilitres
Connection to the “special places” in their lives
Connecting with their own writing as they revise their poetry anthologies
Connecting with their Dads (they’ve made Fathers’ Day cards – shhhhh!)
And on Friday last week the joined the fun by connecting with the music and with each other in their disco party!

Grades 3 and 4

Grades 3 and 4 have taken every day objects and given them personalities! By doing this, they are learning about how authors (and advertisers) use the literary technique of personification to give inanimate objects human qualities. I’m sure all of their computers and pencils will breathe a sigh of relief when they’re done!

In Maths, they continue to examine area – using different methods and units of measurement. If you’ve recently seen someone in your family pressing a large 1 metre square sheet of paper against various surfaces, they’re probably in grade 3 or 4.

Grades 5 and 6

We visited 5T today and spoke to them about connection. We asked them: how are you staying connected with your friends from school and also with your community? Here are some of their answers.

Mr T: As teachers, we meet regularly – we see each other 3 times a week on zoom. At the start of each meeting we always spend some time talking about our lives and checking in on each other. We also have a group text. Sometimes we even text each other on the weekend.

Ozzie – I text my friends and we arrange to meet each other and go on bike rides.

Ollie – sometimes during the week me and my friends face time and help each other with school work. I ask them how they’re doing and what they’ve been up to. I sometimes do zoom movies so we can talk about the movie after.

Alice: I facetime my friends – we do school work together and when we are finished we also play some games. We have a movie night. We choose a movie on netflix and we zoom each other while we are watching it and talk about it.

Madi: Every Friday, Matilda and I meet up at Dendy Park and we walk around the oval.

Danielle: I went to the dog beach and I saw Mrs Chisholm there.

Chloe: Every Tuesday and Thursday, Matilda and I either go on a walk or a bike ride at Dendy park.

Lily: I’m really good friends with my neighbours and we talk over the back fence.

Grade 5 and 6 have been reading the poems of Robert Frost, including “Fire and Ice” and “The Road Not Taken”. They are learning how to infer meaning by examining and discussing each stanza of a poem, and they are learning about symbolic language and sharing their figurative and literal interpretations. Activities for these poems include written and artistic components.

In Maths, they have been completing a number of problem solving tasks, and then using the SURF acronym to reflect on their thinking. SURF stands for Strategies, Understanding, Reasoning and Fluency!

Getting to Know

Name: Maureen (6B)

Role: Media Captain

Which season is your favorite, and why?

Spring because some days are warm and some days are not.

If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would you choose?

Emma Chamberlain because I would want to see how her life is as on YouTube.

Please share a favourite memory of BBPS

Grade 5 camp because the surfing was very fun.

Who is your favourite sports team?

I don’t really have one but if I had to choose it would be Collingwood.

If you could choose a superpower, what would it be?

Invisibility because you can do anything you want whenever you want without getting caught but I would like the ability to change back too.

What is the kindest thing that someone has done for you?

I can’t think of the kindest thing but one of the most kindest things was when my parents brought me a new iPad.

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