What's happening?

Foundation

We are learning about ‘y as a vowel’. The letter ‘y’ can make 4 sounds - /y/ as in yum; long /i/ as in sky; long /e/ as in mummy and short /i/ as in gym (words borrowed from Greek language). In Foundation we cover the first 3. When at the start of a word or syllable ‘y’ will act as a consonant as say the sound /y/. When in the middle or end it will be a vowel. When the letter ‘i’ is required at the end of a word we don't use the grapheme ‘i’ as it is not permitted at the end of English words. The letter ‘y’ resolves this. This week we learnt that ‘y’ says long /i/ when it is the only vowel in the base of the word, and is the very last letter - e.g. my, by, sky, fly, reply. Next week we will look at words with more than one syllable - and then the ‘y’ says long /e/ sound e.g. yummy, baby -  when it is in a suffix and is the very last letter in a word.

This week students did an amazing job writing a recount of the Gingerbread Man. We were all so proud of their efforts, and will be adding their recounts to their Portfolios which go home at the end of the year.

In Maths Groups, we are finishing up our ‘Sharing’ topic, and move onto ‘Measurement (Length, Mass and Capacity)’ next week. Our Friday sessions (in classes) are for assessment, My Numeracy tasks or Problem Solving.

We are very excited to be celebrating Book Week beginning on Monday 21st August. Students are asked to come dressed as their favourite book character on Friday 25th August. Stay tuned for more information via compass.

A reminder that if you need to collect your child early from school e.g. a medical appointment please go directly to the office and they will assist you. It is best to avoid collecting your child during the recess (11:30-12:00) and lunchtime (1:50-2:40) breaks as it can be difficult to find them in the yard, and announcements are not always heard outside. An email to your class teacher in the morning is always welcome too, and we can ensure they are ready for you when you arrive.

Grade 1

In word study, we have begun learning about the very tricky ‘r’ controlled vowels! Starting with ‘er, ir, ur’ and moving onto ‘or and ar’ in the coming weeks. New sound pack cards will be added in the coming days, so please ensure your child brings their sound pack with them to school each day. You can support your child with these sounds by pointing them out in their readers and discussing the sounds they are making in particular words.

In Maths, the children have impressed us all with their subtraction skills, and in particular their ability to make connections between basic addition and subtraction facts and strategies. Next week we will be beginning our new topic of Money. You can support your child with their learning of this topic by showing them different types of coins that you have at home (both Australian and international), discussing their features, and encouraging them to count out and use money at the shops when making transactions.

Over the next fortnight the students will be going on an imaginary road trip around Australia. During our Inquiry lessons, the Grades will rotate between the Grade 1 classrooms, to learn about the Australian states and territories and take part in some fun activities! You might have already seen some ‘opals’ from Coober Pedy coming home, or learnt some ‘Warlpiri’ language, which was taught by Ms Pyke when the students visited the ‘Northern Territory’! 

Grade 2

This fortnight, students are exploring the structure and features of information reports, along with the difference between fact and opinion. Students are also learning to apply their knowledge from our ‘Syntax Project’ lessons by using adverbs and adverbial phrases to describe ‘when’, ‘where’ or ‘how’ within a sentence. As part of our ‘Word Study’, we are focusing on the vowel team (digraph) ‘ou’ and will then move on to review hard and soft c and g.

In Maths this week, we finish up our ‘Location and Transformation’ topic. Further experiences at home identifying and describing turns using language such as: half-turn, quarter turn, left, right, clockwise, anti-clockwise, etc. will continue to consolidate students’ understanding. Next week we move onto multiplication.

Students have completed their final round of our current ‘Rotation’, which provided opportunities to mix with other students and teachers to learn more about ways to keep themselves healthy (mind and body), geography (maps, continents, countries, oceans), and a design and construction challenge (building teamwork skills).

This fortnight our wellbeing and social skills focus is on kindness, cooperation and gratitude.

We continue our inquiry into ‘Earth’s Precious Resources’, with a focus this week on water and sustainability, before moving on next week to investigate soil. Grade 2 students will bring home a ‘Daily Water Log’ sheet as part of their homework task, requiring them to record their water usage for one day of this weekend. They will likely need some support/conversation to complete the columns for dishwasher and washing machine (thank you in advance).

Thank you also for your ongoing support with regular reading aloud and ‘Red Flag Word’ spelling. Optional extras: ‘Nessy Reading and Spelling’ and ‘Sunset/Jetpack Maths’ (Essential Assessment).

Grade 3

There are lots of exiting events coming up! The Grade 3 students are looking forward to their first school Athletics day on Friday and their upcoming Forces incursion on Monday. 

Reading: Last week, the students explored strategies to find word meaning in context. They identified the meaning of a word by using other words or phrases in a reading passage as clues. This week, we are learning to identify and understand a range of figurative language devices in a text. The students are exploring the meaning of similes, metaphors, and idioms. Our mentor text this week is The Most Magnificent Thing, and our vocabulary words are examines, attracts, pummels and alerts. 

Writing: The students completed an experiment based procedural writing task on making a pom pom shooter. They had fun testing out the pom pom shooter from the deck after writing their accompanying procedure. During our grammar lessons, we are learning to combine two sentences using an appositive. In our spelling lessons, we have looked at the ‘y to i’ suffix convention and the prefix anti/ant-.  

Maths: Last week, we started to explore division. The students will be learning how to divide using a variety of strategies including using diagrams, models and arrays, knowledge from fact families, and mental and written calculation. Please continue to encourage your children to regularly practise their times tables facts and related division facts at home. 

Inquiry: The students learnt about the characteristics of the force called magnetism. 

They explored how problems can be solved using magnets and examined improvements to trains as examples of engineering solutions. 

Wellbeing: We are learning about help-seeking strategies and how to ask for help or assist others. The students practised using clear communication in help-seeking, recognised that themselves and others may not always get the help they want when they ask for it and identified the importance of persistence in help-seeking. 

Grade 4

We can’t believe we’re already halfway through Term 3! It’s been a term filled with lots of learning and hard work, and still we have so many exciting events to come!

Literacy 

In writing we have begun our Narrative unit where students have been able to display their creative writing skills. We have looked at a variety of short films and analysed what elements are needed to create an interesting and engaging narrative. In reading we have continued our fluency reading where students are focusing on expression, speed and volume when reading aloud. 

Numeracy

This week we have started our unit on Fractions. The students have explored the variety of ways fractions can be represented such as number lines and set models. We have also looked at equivalent fractions and the different strategies we can use to identify them.

Inquiry The students have continued to learn about the government system in Australia. This week we looked at the voting system in Australia and how preferential voting operates. During our lessons students have been given the opportunity to conduct their own mock election. They were given various roles such as counting the votes, redistributing votes, checking the count and entering the results.

Reminders: Please make sure you have filled out your camp forms and submitted them to your classroom teacher. If you have not yet received your forms please ask your classroom teacher.

Grade 5

Reading Comprehension and Fluency

The Grade 5 students continue to thoroughly enjoy our mentor text, ‘A Long Walk to Water’ and have responded to each chapter with a range of differentiated and engaging comprehension questions and tasks. They also continue to further develop their fluency by practising reading meaningful texts aloud smoothly and at a good rate of speed with their classmates. 

Writing - Explanation Text and Limerick Writing

Students have worked tirelessly on planning, drafting and proofreading and editing their own explanation text on a range of topics. At the conclusion of this writing unit, students will begin learning about and creating humorous limerick poems that will allow them to experiment with interesting and figurative language. 

Inquiry – Genius Hour 

Critical and creative thinking has been our focus as students have brainstormed and created their own inquiry question which will guide their projects for the remainder of this term. The research phase has begun and we’re all looking forward to learning about a range of different topics when projects are presented towards the end of term. 

Maths – Decimals and Percentages

Our students have been investigating a range of concepts relating to decimals and percentages. They have been identifying decimal place value, adding and subtracting decimals and some have worked on calculating percentages with and without calculators. Our next topic will be Area and Volume, beginning in Week 7.  

Grade 6

Writing

Over the past fortnight, the Grade 6 students have been drafting a variety of writing pieces for their Year 6 Memory Books. The students are linking their prior knowledge related to the structure and organisation of a variety of writing genres to their favourite memories from primary school to create engaging writing pieces. 

Reading Comprehension

We have continued with our literacy unit on the book, ‘The Magician’s Nephew’, by C. S. Lewis. By delving into the book this fortnight, we have analysed Lewis’s use of irony, juxtaposition, and intrusive narration.

Mathematics 

In Mathematics, we have begun our unit on length, perimeter, and area. The students have needed to apply a range of mathematical formulas to solve the area or a rectangle, triangle, parallelogram, and circle. 

Inquiry 

So far in our ‘Moments that Made Australia’ inquiry topic we have investigated some key events and key people that impacted the Australian way of life in the early 1800s. We have begun to investigate the gold rush in preparation for our Grade 6 camp and explored the life of a miner living on an Australian gold field. 

Term Dates and Events

Grade 6 Log Cabin Camp 16th – 18th August

Please ensure the medical and dietary requirements form is sent back to school ASAP.

Please check Compass for further information regarding events relating to Grade 6 students.