Classroom News

Year Prep/1

We have been busy in the Prep/One classroom! We had our Class Information Night at the Family Fun Night…if you missed it, your child will have taken home an information pack and some home activities.

The children have begun the LIPs literacy program and will be coming home showing you “Lip Poppers” and “Tongue Tappers”. These are the labels that we give the different sounds (e.g. Lip Poppers are /p/ and /b/ because your lips pop open when you say them).

Spelling Mastery lessons have started for the whole school. These classes start at 9:45 and are ability based. Most of the Prep/One’s are doing phonemic awareness of sounds in words – a few are in spelling groups that have more of a written spelling focus.

In Maths, we have been learning the days of the week, our numerals, 2D shapes and patterns. We have been singing lots of songs, playing games and working with concrete materials.

In Inquiry, we have been looking at how we learn and the brain. We dissected sheep brains in class and discussed how brains are made up of many different parts. We are going to be discussing having a “Growth Mindset” and how our brains can grow and change throughout life.

In Science, we have looked at what makes a good scientist and how we use all of our senses to learn new things. Our focus for the rest of the term will be looking at the science of weather and how weather changes our behaviours from the clothes we wear to the activities we participate in and the foods we eat.

In Health, during our Rights, Resilience and Respectful Relationships sessions, we are looking at different emotions and being able to name each emotion. We are looking deeper as to why we might be feeling a certain emotion. E.g. You might feel angry but why – are you frustrated, annoyed, exhausted? When you are feeling happy is it because you are content, excited, surprised?

We hope you have a great long weekend!

Natalie and Wendi

Year 1/2

Wow week 6 already, the last few weeks have been very busy in the 1/2 class! During Inquiry we have been learning all about the different parts of the brains as well as what a neuron is. We will soon be learning about how to look after our brains to make them as healthy as they can be.

In Math we have been practicing counting to and from 100, the days of the week and months of the year. Students have also learnt how many seconds are in one minute, how many minutes are in one hour and how many hours are in one day.

Spelling Mastery also started in the last two weeks for the whole school. 

We have also been learning about verbs and nouns during literacy lessons as well as some poetry aspects such as rhyme, rhythm and alliteration. We have been creating our own colour poems.

During Science, we have been learning about the scientific process and practiced using the scientific process by observing an experiment. The experiment was whether we could blow up a balloon without using the mouth. We tried using vinegar and bi-carb soda to see if it would work. After it did the students were curious about whether it would get bigger if we added more bi-carb soda, so we did. We were able to observe that the more bi-carb soda that was used the bigger the balloon got.

Year 2/3

Grade 2/3 have been working very hard over the last two weeks.  This term we are focusing on Poetry in our writing sessions, which requires  students to take particular note of their surroundings. We have been looking at the specific structure of different types of poems and the punctuation needs for each. We are also discovering how to find the main idea of a picture or story.    In Math we are concentrating in the area of number, particularly place value: each digit has a place that determines its worth/value, finding patterns and sequences when counting by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, 10’s and how to roll up to the next place value column.  We have been consolidating doubles up to 20, 3 digit numbers, how to read, pronounce correctly (especially _teen and _ty) numbers and the worth of the digits in each place value column.  In science children have been introduced to the rules and safety requirements when performing experiments.  We have made play dough models of the brain and have been learning about  how our brain learns.

We enjoyed meeting and chatting with lots of parents at Family Fun Night. We discussed: reading every night and recording this in diaries, what happens in Daily Reviews, what is happening in Numeracy and Literacy in our class and how we do Spelling Mastery.  If you were not present and would like to know more about our classroom please pop in and see us.

Year  3/4

The kids in the Eagle’s nest are thinking about renaming our learning space the hive – because we are always busy little bees.

In Maths we have been focusing on accurately using directional language and mapping conventions to construct and share classroom treasure maps. Everyone has enjoyed following these directions and hunting for hidden booty.

Our Literacy time has been spent looking at similes and metaphors. We have used these writing techniques to create some amazingly descriptive Colour and Octo  poems.

As we continue to learn about what it takes to be a good scientist  -students have begun to realise the difference between looking and observing, as well as the importance of using their senses to make detailed observations. This week the kids engaged in the Adopt a Pebble challenge where they had to investigate, and record important data about their chosen stone. Students then had to find their specific pebble in and amongst others of similar size and colour using their recorded data.

Year 4/5

We have had a busy couple of weeks with the Melbourne Urban camp and Family Fun Night. Students did a wonderful job representing Loch Primary School on camp and we had lots of adventures. Thank you to all the parents and families who came along to Family Fun Night and helped it to be such a success.

Literacy News:  This term we are learning about poetry and students have been working on writing Japanese poems called Haikus. We will be working on free verse poems next week and students will be picking their favourite poem to publish. Students have also had the chance to borrow books from the school library. Our borrowing day is Monday.  During reading sessions, we have be concentrating on finding the main idea in a piece of text. Students are reminded that they need to bring their diaries to school each day and record their home reading. Regular reading contributes towards student bank books and the money saved will be used during the end of semester auction.

Numeracy News:  Students have been practicing telling the time, doubles, near doubles, facts to 100, addition facts and subtraction facts in our daily reviews. Next week we will explore odd and even numbers and multiplication.

Year 5/6

Students in Year 5-6 have enjoyed the excitement of the last few busy weeks.. Last week we were in Melbourne on Urban Camp and had a wonderful time. We had many new experiences such as catching and getting off very crowded trams, meeting all sorts of interesting people, climbing very high structures, walking up to 14 kilometers a day, viewing graffiti art, visiting the Old Melbourne Gaol, viewing Melbourne from the Eureka Sky deck and touring Marvel Stadium.

The day after Urban Camp we had school photos. (Hopefully we are all looking a little more refreshed!)

On Friday night our class prepared for the Family Fun Night. Our students had worked hard in class to prepare for this fantastic night. The activities were fun, engaging and ran smoothly.

This week students have been participating  in Daily Reviews of literacy and maths  as well as Science, Library, Cars & Stars, spelling mastery and writing. Students wrote some fabulous Haikus and have been writing numbers beyond penillions.