Lower Primary

Term 1 in Lower Primary

As term 1 comes to an end, the Lower Primary staff would like to congratulate our students on a great start to the year. What a difference it has made to everyone’s learning and wellbeing to be back at school continuously for a whole term. Students have readjusted to learning in the classroom, reconnected with each other and their teachers and worked hard to show respect, responsibility, learning and safety. They have revisited how to be a team member: a member of their class team and the wider Lower Primary team. This meant students practiced class and school routines, followed the rules, and showed care and concern for each other. The good news is that our students have worked hard to show that they can be cooperative and supportive team members.  When there is a “slip up” which happens from time to time, students can identify what happened, how they feel about the situation and find ways to fix the problem individually or within a group, in an honest and respectful manner. They have certainly made a confident transition back to learning on site.

 

Lower Primary has had many new enrolments across all year levels this term. I would like to acknowledge our newest little people, our Preps: Lily-Jane, Mahnoor, Miran, Mohammad Ridha, Oliver, Tristan, Zayn, Rian, Aayan, Ahmed, Archer, Cynthia, Issac, Kai, Roxie and Sridhiyaan who started their learning journey this term.  We have all enjoyed getting to know these very active and enthusiastic little people, seeing their smiles each day and watching as they begin to master routines and learn about learning. They have already made such progress since their first days of school, and we know that this progress will continue as they develop further essential learning skills.

 

We also welcomed Ayhem, Aaliyah, Pietro, Alexander, Gabriel, Hamza, Luke, Bella, Ethan, Levi, Hussain, Yana, Jacob and Jack who joined us from other schools. It has been pleasing to see these students make friends and settle confidently into the routines and expectations of a new school.

 

As part of this semester’s integrated unit “What is Family” students have been investigating themselves and their own history.  Classes have worked in different ways and at different levels to identify who the people in their family are, how they are related to each other, their cultural background, and how families and friends celebrate events that are important to them. All classes are made up of students from diverse cultural backgrounds so family celebrations and the stories that come from these events are also diverse and unique. Over the last week, students having been discussing how their family celebrates Easter. Some students talked about going to church with their family, some talked about the “Easter bunny” and finding chocolate eggs, some students talked about extended family get togethers and some students said that their families did not celebrate Easter.  

 

In recognition of the end of term, Lower Primary will have their own celebration with some fun activities which will include making cards, baskets and joining in egg hunts. 

 

To recognise the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence,Lower Primary along with the Bundoora Campus, had a Kindness Day. Whilst we encourage kindness and respect for each other every day, it was good to see students trying especially hard to be kind on this day. Students participated in activities, talked about what being kind really means and what it feels like for both the person receiving the kind gesture and for the person giving/ making the kind gesture. Our students were encouraged to come out of uniform and to wear something orange, the colour that represents harmony and kindness. This is how students described acts of kindness at Lower Primary

  • I can help tidy toys for someone- Andreas
  • I can let someone new sit next to me on the bus- Ayhem
  • I can let everyone play with me- Vihaan
  • I can help get someone’s lunch box- Zoe
  • I can push someone’s chair in for them- Simba
  • I can write a nice note for someone-Layla
  • I can tell someone a joke and make them laugh- Jamie
  • I can help someone if they trip over- Aaliyah

NEWS FROM THE CLASSROOMS

LPA, LPB and LPC celebrated Harmony Day within our classrooms on Monday the 21st of March 2022. We reflected on the history of Harmony Day and learned that everyone is different but we are still kind and respectful to each other. The students were immersed in music from different cultures and they made a harmony mobile heart on which they wrote about what Harmony Day means to them. The students wore orange ribbons in recognition of the day. We followed this theme in our Integrated Unit where we continued to learn about different cultures within Australia. 

 

Students in LPD, LPE and LPF have had a wonderful time engaging with language experiences in the classroom. We have made our own playdough and built a marble run. We also had fun making our own trash puppets, peg crocodiles and scary monsters. This has supported students’ ability to work in teams and communicate with each other and staff. The development of students’ oral language within these experiences has also supported their emerging writing skills and their ability to describe and recount information. These experiences will continue throughout the year. 

Students in LPG, LPH and LPI have also been participating in some special experiences to develop their language skills. Students have engaged in activities such as making playdough, popcorn, slime, bubble wands and paper plate minions. After completing these activities, the students recall vocabulary to describe and recount their experiences. In class we create an Aided Language Display with key words and then encourage the students to use these words in their writing.

Students in LPJ and LPK have had a great first term in Prep! We have had lots of fun getting to know all the school routines through songs, pictorial schedules and role plays. The students have enjoyed getting to know all their new teachers and friends at Lower Primary. In class we have learnt lots of Nursery Rhymes. Some of our favourites have been Hey Diddle Diddle and Old Macdonald. Friday is one of our favourite days at school when we get to do Cooking and Friday Afternoon activities. We have loved our first term in Prep! 

Social Competencies

Good social skills are critical to success at school and in everyday life. These skills enable students to know what to say, how to make good choices, and how to behave in a range of situations. Social skills are embedded in all learning within Lower Primary but are also taught explicitly by our Social Competencies teacher and class teachers. Sessions focus on everyday social interaction skills through educational activities, games and role plays. Our Prep students have continued to work on school routines which included whole body listening, lining up, toileting, gathering resources, packing up equipment and making appropriate play choices.  The focus for the other classes has been Personal Learning. LPA, LPB, LPC looked at the things they are good at and the things they find challenging. Students discussed ways that they can help themselves and came up with lots of strategies they could use when things are hard to do. Some of these strategies included:

  • I can ask people to help me
  • I can go over instructions
  • I can stay calm 
  • I can use chit chat in my head 
  • I can look at what others are doing.

 LPD, LPE, LPF, LPG, LPH and LPI identified and collected the things they needed to complete a specific task such as paper, pencils, paste, scissors or whatever is required for a specific task. LPD, LPE, LPF also came up with a choice board of activities they could go on with once they had completed their set work.

 

SPECIALIST PROGRAMS

Term 1 has been an exciting and fun time for the specialist programs at Lower Primary. The students have been learning the routines and procedures in the Art, Music and Library programs through a variety of activities that included how to look after books, what fiction and nonfiction books are, self-portraits, painting with water colours, learning about beat and rhythm. 

As part of our nonfiction component of the Library Program the students have begun learning about the topic “Space”. As an introduction into this unit, Lower Primary had a memorable experience attending The Star Lab incursion.  Nick our presenter, dressed up an astronaut and led us into an igloo shaped dome. As we sat on the floor, we were shown a spectacular light show of the solar system. We took a virtual ride on a rocket ship, saw the planets close up, viewed asteroids floating in space, visited the moon and learnt about day and night. The students loved the presentation and were mesmerized looking up at the show and learning about space. 

OCCUPATIONAL and SPEECH THERAPY

In our OT sessions, the Year 1s have been developing their fine motor and drawing skills through creating our character “Mat Man”. Check out some of their amazing drawings!

In Speech sessions this term our prep students have been working with Nicole during our “Sporty and Jerry Stories” sessions. Students have enjoyed making different crafts, acting out the stories and using the Aided Language Displays (ALDs) to support their communication. 

 

As always, a big pat on the back to the wonderful Lower Primary students and staff for your hard work and achievements this term.             

Happy and safe holidays

Kath