Junior Report (1/2)

Joy Through Play

What a wonderful, exciting start to the Term we have all had! There has been so much happening that it is hard even to think where to begin! Our whole school inquiry focus for this Term is 'Play'. In the Junior Community, we have been investigating toys and games from other cultures and regions. We started out with free play, simply enjoying all the toys/games and seeing if they could be used in different ways. Some of our exploration included, but certainly was not limited to, things like dolls, cars, slinkies, yo-yo's, teddies, and imaginary play (doctor's kits, tablets, phones) before being more refined into our cultural/regional toys and games. Students loved the opportunity to investigate these cultural icons and developed a sense of teamwork and collaboration through their 'playtime'. Even the teachers appreciated the opportunity to play!

Reading

Students were off to a flying start in Reading this Term, harnessing some momentum from the last Term and diving straight back into deep learning by locating the main idea in texts. From finding the main idea, we shifted our focus to answering literal questions about texts, meaning that the answer is right there in front of you! Students have been incredibly successful in learning and practising this skill, knowing they should be able to locate the answer by physically placing their finger on the information they need. 

The Junior Community have begun exploring the author's purpose and asking ourselves, "why do authors create texts?" We have sorted literature into three categories; persuade, inform or entertain. 

Book Week 2022 was an exciting week for our community, with students participating in activities about the award-winning books, sharing their favourite books from home and dressing up as their favourite book characters.

Writing

In writing sessions, we have focused on generating ideas for creative writing in the junior community. Students have been learning how to use a brainstorming template to get their thoughts down on paper to help them write later. Teachers then challenged students to use their new-found skills to rewrite the endings to famous fairytales such as "The Three Little Pigs", "Little Red Riding Hood", and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears". You would not believe how many alternate endings our students thought of! Their creativity was impressive.

We have also looked at the elements of a narrative; setting, character, orientation, problem, solution and resolution. In the coming weeks, students will begin writing their very own narratives. 

Mathematics

This Term, we began by looking at the concept of multiplication, the important learning being "groups of fair shares". Ask any Junior School student, and they will happily tell you this. Students have been connecting multiplication and ideas like skip counting and repeated addition. They have had a lot of fun investigating "groups of" scenarios with the help of concrete materials and relating their learning to things they are familiar with, e.g. lollies and other food.

To show off their impressive learning, students have started to investigate 'open-ended' problems. These have been highly successful and are a student favourite as they showcase their new multiplication and division skills, check out some of their phenomenal skills below.

Students began the term by being curious about clocks and learning to tell the time to O'clock and half past. The measurement fun did not stop there, though! Next, we began looking at the concept of mass and started comparing the weights of objects, describing them as 'heavier' or 'lighter'. This investigation culminated in students creating their own 'scales' using nothing more than a coat-hanger, some yarn and a couple of cups. They had a lot of fun with this, as seen below. We are currently practising how to measure the length of something using informal units.

A Day of Play; The Wollert Way

We had yet another successful communal day here at Wollert. As mentioned previously, the whole school inquiry is 'play'. The Junior Students were part of mixed-age groups and made their way through various rotations with the teachers here at Wollert. Students could utilise problem-solving, sharing and creative-thinking skills while experiencing joy and play. Here are some of the photos from the day of the play.

Kids' Voice

What have you learnt about play this term?

• "I have learnt how to share when playing." (Fadhl 1/2B)
• "I have learnt about a lot of different toys." (Saif 1/2B)
• "I have learnt that Uno cards come from America." (Zahra O 1/2B)
• "I have learnt that the slinky was invented by accident." (Ali 1"/2B)
• "I've been learning about how to share toys with my friends." (Najeeb 1/2A)
• "I've learnt that different countries have different toys, and I have learnt about where some other countries are." (Amar 1/2A)
• "We have a learnt about Segura." (Amreen 1/2A)
• "We have learnt about different cultures and their toys and games." (Monther 1/2A)
• "We have been able to play some fun games." (Mehdi 1/2A)
• "I have learnt how to ask questions about play." (Yalda 1/2C)
• "That there are a lot of different toys all around the world." (Laila 1/2C)

11 August  Fadi N turned 8 (12A)

17 August Amreen S is turned 8 (12A)

27 August  Sarina A is turned 8 (12A)

31 August Carlos L is turning 8 (12C)