Secondary 7/8 Learning

Mathematics

Secondary 7/8 students have all completed assessment tasks to finalise the unit of work on time. This task, along with previous work samples will show student progress and assist teachers to evaluate and comment on student learning goals in SLP’s. Lessons around location commenced last week.

In the beginning stages students will describe position and movement and use location language, such as; under, on, behind, next to, beside. They will then begin to give and follow directions to familiar locations. Students will have to use their listening skills to move around classrooms and the school.

Some students will be taught how to interpret simple maps of familiar locations and identify the relative positions of key features. Students who master this skill will then create and interpret simple grid maps to show position and pathways.

English

Students have begun to investigate non-fiction texts and concepts about print during reading lessons.

Students have watched youtube clips, looked at posters and held class discussions to understand the structure of informative writing. They have started collecting examples of informative texts e.g. newspaper articles, brochures, posters.

Students have played the game ‘Is this statement Fact or Opinion?’ and have had to decide whether the sentence is a statement of fact or simply somebody's opinion. Each class had the students divided into groups of 3. Each student within the group was given a role: Researcher, Writer or Reporter and used an informative text graphic organiser to find facts and describe one of the following: Convicts in Australia, Aboriginals and Settlers or The Gold Rush. Each groups ‘Reporter’ then reported back to the class.

Teachers worked with students to compose and construct a shared information report about a gorilla, with the teacher acting as scribe. Facts were gathered from an informative video clip and recorded on scaffold planners. The teachers modelled how to write an appropriate title, classification, supporting facts and concluding sentence.

Social Competencies

Camps

Year 8 students relished their time at camp Manyung located at Mornington, Victoria. Campers arrived full of enthusiasm and quickly got themselves settled into their rooms before taking part in the camp activities. Students were split into 3 groups, the Eagles, the Sharks and the Tigers. Each group took part in six different activities. Concord teachers ran three of the activities challenging students to work together and draw on each other’s strengths. Students worked as a team. They completed physical challenges showing initiatives, worked together to find different locations around the camp by orienteering and played together and explored the beach.

The three other activities were run by the camp Manyung staff with the help of teachers. The activity, log rolling, saw students harnessed and tackle an obstacle course three meters above the ground. As a bonus some lucky Concord students had the extra challenge of completing the obstacle course on scooters and skateboards. Archery tested student’s ability to follow the instructions and slow their breathing to hit the target. The giant swing was a big hit again, which saw students sail 18 meters into the air after being hosted up by their fellow students. The camp was a great success with students benefiting from all the challenges and developing new friendships along the way.

Year 7 campers eagerly meet at school ready to go to Campaspe Downs. The first day started with a mix of activities, groups were able to enjoy the giant swing, obstacle course and abseiling. After dinner there were still games to be played. Ambush a night time version of hide and seek with torches was played and students embraced it, quietly hiding waiting to ambush those seeking.

Day 2 more activities were completed, rock climbing, ropes course, leap of faith, aero ball, giant swing and abseiling.The students rose to the different challenges and teachers were proud how well and enthusiastically students completed the different activities. The day concluded with the highly popular camp fire complete with a hunt for sticks to toast marshmallows.

Day 3 the flying fox was in action and all students embraced the chance to have repeated turns on the flying fox. It became a continuous loop of students zooming down the lines with their friends by their sides. The camp was enjoyed by all and will be remembered by all for being a great year 7 camp at Campaspe Downs.

While the campers were off on their adventures the non-campers were having fun of their own. In the camp meeting the week before they brainstormed, in small groups what activities they would like to do during the time.They spent some time playing a range of board games either in pairs or in small groups; practicing and developing social skills when working in with different groups.        

They developed life skills by cooking and making recipes. Some of the things made were; banana and berry smoothies, hot milo and handmade hamburgers. They practiced; washing the salads before using them, cutting the ingredients, how to use a blender or frying pan and most importantly how to wash and dry the dishes when they had finished their meals. 

On Wednesday morning, they walked to Ten Pin Bowling and spent the morning working on bowling techniques. Everyone had a great time whether they won or lost. Some students got more than one strike which was pretty impressive! A relaxing afternoon eating fish and chips while watching Toy Story 2 followed. It was a jam packed 3 days with heaps of fun.

Integrated Studies

Students are investigating the impact of the gold rushes on the economic, social and political development of Australia. They have watched informative youtube clips and read an Australian gold rush information sheet as class shared reading.

Students then chose 6 questions from the gold rush questions sheet to answer using this information sheet or further research; answers were presented using a graphic organiser. The fun and most engaging activity for students to understand some of the experiences faced by hundreds of thousands of people during the Australian gold rush period is the interactive game ‘Can you Strike It Rich during the Gold Rush?’ Here is the link if you think you would like to have a go at finding gold!

https://www.australianhistorymysteries.info/resource-zone/interactives/goldrush/ 

Secondary Spectacular

Here is a list of songs that will be featured in this years’ Secondary 7/8 ‘Hairspray’ Spectacular:

Good Morning Baltimore                          Nicest Kids in Town

Miss (Mr) Baltimore Crabs                       Shout

I Can Hear the Bells                                      Space Jam 

Life of the Party                                               Ladies Choice

Nicest Kids in Town Reprise                     Cooties

Welcome to the 60s                                     Jailhouse Rock

It’s Hairspray                                                    You Can’t Stop the Beat

You may like to listen to the music (youtube) with your child and discuss which songs they will be performing!

PreCAL Secondary 7/8 

SFC have had a great couple of weeks. They have moved from addition to subtraction and constructed a class anchor chart with words and strategies that help them ‘take away’.  In English SFC are looking at concepts of print and reading with one-to-one correspondence of printed text and spoken word.They are also identifying what makes a word and what makes a sentence.

The PreCAL experience days are where the students can practice and consolidate skills are always something to look forward to. Last week, SFC travelled by train to Diamond Creek where they went to the local Police Station. The students met police officers and had a tour of the Diamond Creek Police Station; they saw lots of cool and interesting things and got to ask loads of questions. You’ll have to wait to see their documentary!

Karen Hickling

Acting Secondary 7/8 Team Leader