Argus Community Report

Dear Families,

We are at the end of term 3!

We have seen the students learning from home since our last update in July. We continue to see everyone’s resilience during this difficult time. Rest assured please reach out to us if you have any concerns or feedback on how things are going at home with your child.

The students are well adjusted to remote learning and continue to produce amazing pieces of work.

Our focus over the last 4 weeks include:

Teaching students comprehension strategies for both fiction and non fiction texts.
Exploring information text types and understanding how to identify and use information to write their own information reports
In maths, our focus on Chance and Data included exploring pictographs and bar graphs and also being able to collect, organise and interpret data.
We have started multiplication last week where we are looking at math vocabulary associated with Multiplication such as groups of, equal groups, repeated addition etc. The students continue to work on using hands-on materials and drawing representations to show multiplication strategies and solving worded multiplication problems.

We continue to commend all families for all their efforts and time helping their child to make home learning enjoyable and busy learning.

We all look forward to going back onsite and seeing you all face to face soon.

READING

In Reading, we have been focusing on Literal and Inferential questions. We have been looking at some of the different skills that will help students answer questions such as visualising and making connections. When answering inferential questions we have discussed the importance of finding evidence in the text (text clues) and using our prior knowledge (what we already know) to help us. Students have been developing this skill over the course of the year and will continue practising this. We are encouraging students to read as much as they can by reading the texts on Epic and the Little Learners Love Literacy App. Take a look at some of the wonderful work children have been completing in reading, we are so proud of them all.

WRITING

In Writing, we have been focusing on information reports. The students have been looking at the structure and features of an information report. We have predominantly explored writing information reports about animals and looked at the various subheadings, including: classification, appearance, diet, habitat and interesting facts. During remote learning, students have been viewing videos and reading articles to learn more information about certain animals. Students explored the skills of taking notes and identifying key words when recording their information. Through using their key words and written notes they were then asked to write their information using complete sentences. Students also chose to publish their information reports about elephants in a variety of ways - by creating a poster, making a Powerpoint, recording a video or using Book Creator.

MATHS

In maths students have been exploring the building block concepts of multiplication. Before students move onto memorising times tables, they need to understand what multiplication means. They have been practising skip counting by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s and have been exploring what equal groups look like; making sure that each group has the same amount. They have also been drawing groups, and using dice or spinners to put the allocated amounts in each group. Students have also solved worded problems and begun to use the multiplication symbol “x” to write an equation to match their work.

SEL

In Social Emotional Learning, students have been focussing on the magic of 'Yet'. This is where they have been able to acknowledge that they may be unable to do something and that some things are worth waiting for, and those things take work. This allows students to think with a growth mindset and be patient and persist when tasks are challenging.

INQUIRY

For Inquiry we have been learning about living things. We have focused on their diet, habitat, appearance, classification and also finding interesting facts.

Students have been viewing videos about many different animals, as well as reading books to gather their information.

They have been very engaged in collecting this information and have presented some great tasks. We also made playdough and they made their animals.

We will be presenting all this information with a project at the end of the unit.

Have a look at some of the amazing work the students have done.

Victorian Curriculum

Here is the link to the Victorian Curriculum if you would like to take a look at what we cover throughout the year.

https://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/level1

Reminders for remote learning

Morning meets will record attendance at 9:15am each morning.
Maths /SEL /Inquiry tasks will be discussed at our 11:30 meets and the afternoon attendance will be recorded.
Please keep updated with your mentor teacher on the stream for any updates regularly.
Teachers are required to attend onsite student supervision for essential families where on these days they will be unable to provide regular meets and feedback. Teachers will advise this on the day.

What you can do with your child at home

Continue to read to and with your child each night.
Encourage your child to develop more independence. (Help pack/unpack their school bag/lunch, or get their uniform ready)
Encourage your child to take increased responsibility for their own belongings.
Establishing a regular routine helps students to develop a positive approach to learning and will benefit them as they progress through their schooling.
Encourage your child to practise tying their own shoelaces.
We continue to promote healthy eating at school. We allow students to have a piece of fruit and vegetable break at 10:15am. We try to discourage highly salty, sugary and processed foods. We talk about these foods as ‘occasional’ or ‘sometimes’ food that can be enjoyed on ‘special occasions’ rather than as part of a child’s daily diet.
If you need to speak to your child’s mentor teacher, please contact the office to pass on the message or organise this before or after school.

Kind Regards,

1/2 teaching team

Carla, Fanny, Addy, Alex, Elin and Laura