Primary News

From the Assistant Principal

We have certainly hit the ground running this term. There has been a lot of learning happening in all the classrooms. Integrated Studies and Science have been a focus and will culminate in the Science Fair this week. The grade 5 and 6 students certainly enjoyed their time at camp whilst the non campers had a fun program at school. As you will read below, there have been many different activities and learning foci in the different grades. 

Uniform

It has been great to see so many students in the new uniform. I know that the sports uniform in particular has been a hit!  A reminder to all parents that black school shoes should be worn with the new uniform. Sneakers can only be worn with the sport uniform on PE and Sport days.  New uniform is available from the college uniform shop open every Thursday morning in the staff room.  Parents can also go the PSW uniform shop in Hampton Park. 

 

Pupil Free Day

The pupil free day for this term is on Tuesday August 28th. If you require care, please contact  the Before and After School Program coordinator. A program will run if there are sufficient numbers.

Primary International Students

Our new Primary International students have settled into life at Carwatha College P-12 and are quickly learning all about school in Australia. We have been learning how to say hello, introduce ourselves and respond to someone when they ask us how we are. We have also been learning about the different objects that we use in the classroom and we have been busy exploring the different places in our school. We have had lessons in the library, computer lab, small gym and we made Gingerbread Men in the MPC. We have started doing science experiments in preparation for the Primary Science Fair and we are looking forward to the Multicultural Assembly in September.

Primary Book Character Dress Up Day

Prep Hatching Chicks

Our prep students witnessed chicks hatching and how they grow in the week after hatching. We asked them what they liked the most about the chicks and to tell us some information on the chicks that have learnt.

Amazing story writing by Charles of Grade 5.

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Primary Fun Run

Last Term, Primary students participated in a Fun Run and Sausage Sizzle to raise money for a playground upgrade.

 

Sponsorships plus  the Sausage Sizzle sales brought the total raised to just under $6000! 

 

Well done to all students and families for this amazing effort.

 

A big thank you to our parent helpers and volunteers who assisted with the Sausage Sizzle and Fun Run activities - your time and effort is greatly appreciated.

 

Ms Levy organised the event and did a fantastic job!

 

Prizes for the fun run were handed out to students this week!

Primary Book Fair

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Preps Celebrate 100 Days of school.

Primary Art

Grade 6E Stitching

The students in 6E wanted to learn how to stitch a soft pillow.  They had to put all of their patience and persistence skills into action to complete this task!  They had to learn how to thread a needle, tie knots, attach two pieces of felt together with a running stitch or blanket stitch and stuff their pillow.  There were many opportunities to help each other and add their own personal touches to their work. They were very proud of their achievements, and so was I.

Mrs McAleer

S.T.E.M Report

This term students have been learning about coding.

 

Key vocabulary students have been learning include:

Algorithm: a series of steps to complete a task

Program: an algorithm that has been coded into something that can be run by a machine

Bug: an error in a program

Debugging: finding and fixing an error

To introduce the topic students completed some “unplugged” coding lessons; completing coding without the use of digital technology. This allowed the students to write and follow algorithms individually and collaboratively.

 

Students in Prep L and Prep/1A learnt how to sequence the steps required to plant a seed and make a short algorithm. Students then followed their algorithm and planted some seeds to take home.

 

Grade 1/2L used algorithms to make paper planes. Students had to eliminate unnecessary steps and order the steps correctly, to ensure that someone else could follow their algorithm.

 

Grade 3M & 4S have created algorithms using symbols to give an Automated Writing Machine (ARM) instructions to replicate an image. 

 

Grades 4/5N-6E were challenged to write  their own code and then follow someone else’s code to stack cups to create a particular image. Students could only use a defined set of instructions and recorded those as arrows. It was humorous and frustrating when their “Robots” kept moving the same cup instead of collecting a new one when there was a bug in the algorithm.

 

Students have continued to further their coding skills using computers and can now write algorithms to navigate through mazes, draw shapes and various pictures. Stay tuned for next month as students demonstrate their coding skills to control various robots!

Mrs Braybon.

Prep L & Prep/1A Report

There was a lot of excitement in the Prep/1A and Prep L rooms, over the past few weeks. Our Preps celebrated 100 Days of School. It was a day filled with activities related to the number 100. We ended the day with a party – lots of yummy snacks, cool music and dancing. Thanks to our parents who joined in the party and brought the yummy party food.

 

Our Science topic this term is about Living Things, and to engage our students and enhance their learning we had our Henny Penny Hatching Investigation in our classrooms for 2 weeks. Twelve eggs and three chicks arrived to great excitement from all of us. There was much learning about what chicks look like, what they eat and the life cycle of chickens. We were very lucky to see a rare black chick hatch. We eventually had fourteen chicks. It was a sad day for all of us when the chicks had to leave.

In September, we are looking forward to two excursions, to continue  with the awesome learning in our classrooms.

Elaine Abraham and Danii Levy

1/2L Report

This term 1/2L have welcomed 2 international students who are currently part-time members of our class. They have been well looked after by some 1/2L students who have been playing with them at playtimes.

 

In science, 1/2L have been investigating how mealworms develop. So far they have observed that they are caterpillar like creatures that have shed their skins a few times before merging as an alien like creature with a big head and tail. We have made predictions as to what might happen next and when it might happen.

Later this month, we are looking forward to our excursion to The Gould League Centre where we will investigate the growth patterns of other small creatures.

 

In Integrated Studies, we have learnt that Australia is one of 7 continents and that it has states and territories. We are now zooming in on exploring our own neighbourhood.

 

In Maths students have been extending their understanding of multiplication as repeated addition, groups and arrays as well as investigating the features and symmetry of 2Dshapes.

 

Our reading groups’ focus has been on predicting what we expect to read about as well as what might happen next. Students have also been excited listening to the adventures of the 3 children in The Enchanted  In Writing lessons, we are learning about making our sentences more interesting by using descriptive language.

 

Mrs Lilburne

It has been a busy start to the term, everybody has been working very hard to achieve their goals!

We have been learning about making predictions in our reading. Using pictures, clues from the text and using the knowledge we already have about a topic to predict what will happen next.

 

Bhargav has enjoyed reading groups, “I love making predictions about what we read.”

Cooper enjoys writing interesting sentences about the stories we read.

Riley Kate loves the speaking and listening games.

Kareem loves making predictions using non-fiction books.

 

In writing we have been focusing on developing learning goals to improve specific areas of our writing. Students have had many successes in creating a range of imaginative stories and have enjoyed sharing their stories with their peers. Ruben enjoyed sharing his amazing story called “Limy and the Phantom,” we were all impressed with his great use of descriptive language.

 

Eleni has enjoyed adding interesting words to her writing and publishing her work.

Marta has enjoyed writing “Sizzling Openers” and using great ideas.

Brandon loves learning new words and using them in his writing.

 

Maths groups have been a busy hive of activity, learning to subtract vertically and horizontally and using a range of strategies to problem solve. We have also been learning about the value of money, adding and subtracting amounts and recognising Australian notes and coins.

 

Zeena enjoys making certain amounts using coins and notes.

Din likes using the plastic money to make a variety of amounts.

Nazanin enjoys playing the money game, making amounts in many different ways.

 

In Science we planted a seed and will investigate how it grows, what it needs to grow, and record data on the growth of the plant every week. Students will be able to take the plant home at the end of the term or plant it in the Children’s Garden at school. Students have enjoyed working on their Science project at home and we look forward to student’s sharing projects with us next Thursday 16th August for Science Fair Day.

 

Sierra is excited to watch her plant grow and feeding her plant with water every morning.

Eliza is enjoying the ‘Plants in Action’ topic, learning all about seeds and how they grow.

Mercedez loves learning about plants, she can’t wait to watch her bean plant grow.

Sethmi is excited to share her Science Fair project with everyone next Thursday.

 

In Integrated Studies we have been focusing on Geography and learning more about the country we live in. We discovered where Australia is located compared to the rest of the world, identified the different states and territories of Australia and investigated the different climate zones we have around the country. We will now be having a closer look at the different natural environments – deserts, mountains, rivers, rainforests and oceans. The students will then choose a topic to focus on for their individual project due at the end of the term.

 

Layla enjoys learning about the natural environments in Australia and locating them on a map.

Son- Toan enjoys learning about Geography, finding out where all the different countries and continents are in the world.

 

We are looking forward to the Book Fair, Dress up day for Book Week on Friday 24th August, our Science Incursion on ‘Living Things’ and the ‘Kids Teaching Kids’ conference coming up in September.

Thank you from the 3/4 teachers,

Mrs Sonia McPhie and Ms Jess Di Petta

4/5N Report

It has been a very busy few weeks in 4/5N. In Integrated Studies we have been learning about Geography. We know that different Climate Zones exist because of Earth’s orbit and how the planet revolves around the sun. We have learnt all about the equator and lines of latitude such as the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn.

 

In Science, we have started looking at how substances change form. Today we did a science experiment in class. We had a variety of substances such as frozen milk, melted chocolate, ice, salty water and bicarb and vinegar. We looked at the state of each and made observations about how each was changing. We talked about how we could reverse these changes! Such as, how could we extract the salt out of the salty water?

Kian particularly enjoyed seeing the bicarb soda react with the vinegar, “It was foaming and bubbling, like an eruption!”

5B Report

 

It been an exciting term in grade 5B. Many of the students in our class went to Malmsbury DOXA camp. Students shared some of their favourite experiences:

“I liked the archery, because when you practice its phenomenal” Simon.

“I like trivia night because it was fun working together to try to earn points,” William.

“I liked rock climbing because when you got to go down it was nice and relaxing bouncing on the wall to go down,” Layla.

“I enjoyed the big swing because I was able to face my fear of heights!” Sofia.

“I like the cabin because it was heaps of fun hanging out with my friends and I loved the view out the window, we could see kookaburras,” Luke.

 

Mrs Bishop

5/6Z & 6E Report

The first four weeks of Term 3 have been very busy for the students in 5/6Z and 6E. Students have been developing a better understanding of the concepts of Shape and Addition and Subtraction in Maths and they have been learning about making predictions in Reading and writing poems in Writing. In Integrated Studies we have been learning about Geography.

 

Our focus in the first few weeks was on developing an understanding of the continents of the world and the different climate zones. We then moved on to learning in more detail about Australia and Canada and making comparisons between the two countries. In the next few weeks students will be moving on to completing their own investigations about a country in Europe. It may give some students some insight into the places Ms Zelazo has been visiting whilst she has been on her honeymoon. While she was away, the students of 5/6Z were working with Ms Freer.

 

A highlight of the first few weeks was camp week. Many of the students from 5/6Z and 6E went off to Malmsbury for 2 nights and had the opportunity to participate in bush walking, archery, a rock climbing wall, trampolining, a giant swing and competitive games in the Gaga pit. Meanwhile at school, those not attending the camp had a great activity week in which they participated in team building games, cooking activities and even did some coding. Students are now busily preparing for Science Week, which will include a Forensic Science Incursion and our annual Science Fair. Parents are invited to visit the school on Thursday afternoon between 2:15pm and 3pm to view the wonderful projects completed by our students.

 

Mrs Elias

Grade 5 & 6 Camp