Inquiry Centre

Curriculum

Selamat siang!

What a fantastic first week it has been in the Inquiry Centre. The staff were so excited to see the smiling faces of students on Monday morning and have been so impressed with how everyone has settled into our new routines, including plenty of hand sanitising and our brand new air purifiers.

In Wellbeing, we focused on reviewing the class expectations that we created together during Step-up Week in 2021. Our school values form the foundation for these expectations and students brainstormed different ways that they will show respect, responsibility, life-long learning, integrity and inclusion while at school. We also spent some time reading ‘The Rainbow Fish’ and discussing what it means to be a good friend and how we can use our character strengths to help us with this. During a session learning about First Nations, students used their fine motor skills to tear paper and make a collage of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags to display in our classrooms as a reminder to us to acknowledge that we are on Wurrundjeri Country.

Throughout Literacy, our focus has been on building strong routines around what it means to be a reader in 1/2. Students learnt about how to choose a “good fit” book, the expectations for independent reading and most of all, that a big part of reading is for enjoyment! We have begun our home reading program and students will have books in their orange folder alongside their yellow journal to record their daily reading. Below is some further information about our home reading:

The purpose of home reading is to enjoy books which are easy to read. Reading these books allows children to practise skills and build confidence and fluency. We recommend that each child reads for approximately 15 minutes per night.

Try to achieve a balance between:

you reading to your child
your child reading with / to you
your child reading by themselves

It is important to discuss the text with your child to support their comprehension. Ask your child questions about the book, connect events to their own life, retell the story and discuss the meaning of unknown words.

The Orange Folders will be used to store take home books and correspondence until the end of Year Two. Please do not allow your child to place stickers or write on these folders.

In order to establish a sense of responsibility the Orange Folder, reading log, take home book and spelling book should be brought to school every day. Please assist your child in filling out their reading log daily.

In Writing, students shared some of their holiday highlights when creating a recount and challenged themselves to include ‘wow words’ which we added to our Vocabulary walls. Wow words add detail, specific information or greater interest for the reader. Students are beginning to develop specific goals to help them in improving their writing.

We have used lots of creativity in Maths this week when making patterns using different colours, shapes, numbers, letters and sizes. A major focus has been building a bank of keywords to help us describe how patterns repeat, grow or shrink. We will continue exploring patterns in the week ahead by looking at skip counting and multiples.

It has been a busy but brilliant first week and we look forward to all that Term One holds!

Have a great week,

Miss Glen, Mrs Martin, Miss Molloy, Mrs Seadon, Mr Shaw, Mrs Sutherland and Mrs Tang

Student Voice

Emil A - "I loved making making patterns with the counters"
Zoe M - "I liked writing about my holidays"
Alex J - "I love being at school!"

Reminders

Student consent forms and information about school fees has been sent out via Sentral. Please ensure that these are completed and returned at your earliest convenience
As part of our SunSmart policy, students need to wear hats during Lunch and Recess. Please ensure hats are clearly named. We are also trialling new break times with Lunch 11am-12pm and Recess at 2pm.
Students should bring and keep labelled headphones to use while at school
Donation of tissue boxes to use in the classroom would be greatly appreciated
Due to our Foundation students being picked up from the main office, please arrange to pick up your child from an alternative gate unless otherwise discussed with your classroom teacher

Pupil of the Week

1/2ET: Durga H -

For showing teamwork and taking turns during our skip counting Maths activity. Well done, Durga!

1/2G: Ben C -

For demonstrating perseverance and creativity when writing your recount. It was fantastic to see you using your codes and boundary punctuation to share about your holidays. Fabulous work Ben!

1/2K: Ella F -

For demonstrating bravery and a love of learning settling into your new school this week. It was wonderful to see you engaged in lessons and making friends in the playground. Well done Ella!

1/2M: Jessica A -

For demonstrating bravery and confidence in starting a new school this week. You have come to school with a smile and have been a kind and caring addition to our class. Well done Jessie!

1/2SS: Victor L -

For demonstrating a love of learning and kindness. You consistently show the school value of respect to teachers and students and try your best at all activities. Well done Victor!