What's Happening at OLA!
Pre-Kindy
Last week, the Pre-Kindergarten teachers decided to do an experiment using water. We placed a ‘magic’ egg into a bowl of water. The children had many ideas to share regarding what was inside this egg! Could it be a crocodile, a dinosaur, a duck, or another egg inside the shell? All will be revealed next week, when the egg cracks in the bowl of water, and something pops out. Science develops patience and perseverance in kids. It can also teach children to form their own opinions, rather than taking those of others for granted.
Mrs Dempster comes to visit the children every week to play fun games and read to them while Mrs Petkovic has lunch. Mrs Dempster showed the children how to use their whole bodies in movement this week. She used a large parachute, with the children holding onto the edges and moving it up and down. They wriggled it and wobbled it, holding onto to it in the strong wind, so it wouldn’t blow away!
The children will be amazed when they come back to school on Thursday and see that the silkworms have been very busy and have all spun cocoons. There is one continuous thread of silk which is made by the silkworm, to construct the cocoon. In China, the end of the thread is found and the silk is unwound to make materials and garments. We certainly won’t be doing that! In three weeks’ time the moths will hatch out by breaking the thread of the cocoon and appearing.
Mrs Petkovic
Kindy
This week, in Kindy, we hosted a very special morning to celebrate Father's Day. Dads, uncles and grandfathers came to Kindy to help their children build a wooden truck, with the help of Sheree from Bunnings Warehouse. There was much hammering, gluing and painting, as well as a lot of chatter and laughter. After the truck was built and painted, the children served their helper a donut and iced coffee to show their appreciation. The rest of the morning was spent playing together. It was such a lovely morning!
Mrs Fruvall and Mrs Taylor
Year 1
Last Wednesday, we had our Faith Day Afternoon. We invited our dads to join us for some board games, Liturgy and afternoon tea. We enjoyed playing a variety of games with our dads and friends. Thank you to Father Ken for celebrating our Liturgy with us. We had lots of fun sharing so many yummy treats with our dads.
Last Tuesday, we had a Tiny Tots Tennis incursion. We had fun learning about playing tennis, holding a tennis racquet and hitting tennis balls to our partners.
In Maths, we have been learning about telling the time to the hour and half hour. We have had fun playing games about time, and matching digital and analogue clocks to the written time. We have started learning about days of the week, months and seasons. In Spelling, we have enjoyed using some of our new resources to help us learn our weekly focus words.
Miss Saraceni and Mrs Ravi
Year 3
In Science, we have been looking at liquids and solids and how they change when they are melted and frozen. It was delicious and mouth watering watching chocolate melt.
As part of Speaking and Listening, we spoke 'off the cuff' about our dads. After researching, drafting and publishing a biography about our dad, we spoke about them to the class without using any prompts. We sure love an opportunity to talk!
We have also been studying measurement in Mathematics and had lots of fun using marshmallows and pasta to build the tallest possible tower. We have finished off our Religion unit by looking at the special prayer of the Rosary and we made our very own set of Rosary beads to pray this special prayer.
Mrs Vella, Mrs Pilatti and Mrs Tollis
Year 5
In Year 5, we have been making great use of the flexible learning spaces and new furniture. We have been working hard on the new rugs and coffee tables and have also been making great use of our funky new stools. We can't wait for the sofa to arrive, hopefully before the holidays.
Also we've been doing some great work with coding and algorithms using the Lego Mindstorm Robots. Not only do we have to program our robots to perform set tasks, but we also need to problem solve and debug our algorithms when they don't do what we want. Probably the most frustrating thing is when we haven't programmed the robot correctly so it doesn't do what we hoped and thought it should do. But it is all about problem solving and modifying our instructions. We feel so proud when it does exactly what we wanted it to!
Ms Knight and Mr McIntyre
STRETCH and REACH at OLA
Wonderful things have been happening in STRETCH and REACH this term.
In Year 2/3 STRETCH, we have been working hard this term programming Bee Bots to follow commands. These commands develop our understanding of sequencing, computational thinking and the mathematical concepts of coordinates, distance and location. It has given us the opportunity to create and problem solve to achieve success. We also designed a map and wrote a set of commands for our Bee Bots to follow. The highlight was having our classmates and parents visit to have a play using our Bee Bot instructions.
In Year 4/5 REACH we had to design and make either a scaled model or picture of something we thought was great to showcase our school. We either took photos of our chosen area or used aerial view photos of the school taken by a drone. We are super proud of our work. The design works and explanations are currently on display in the Admin Office until the end of term. Come in and have a look!
