What's happening in our learning spaces? 

Students of the Week

Foundation

It has been another busy week of Remote Learning in Foundation. We are continuing to share our thinking and discoveries with one another and find out about different things through our online Google Meets, and everyone is displaying all their skills as amazing communicators, collaborators, researchers, thinkers and self-managers. 

As inquirers and researchers, we read ‘Welcome to Country’ by Aunty Joy Murphy and ‘Baby Business’ by Jasmine Seymour, to find out about Aboriginal people’s connection to the land. We found out about why and how they welcome people from other Indigenous language groups onto their land and into their culture, and how they welcome newborn babies with a special smoking ceremony. We made connections to other faiths and cultures and how they welcome newborn babies, such as how as a Catholic community, we baptise children. We are very curious and love learning about the Aboriginal culture and how they lived as the traditional owners of the land thousands of years ago. 

As readers we have been exploring adjectives and how we use them to add detail. As researchers, we listened carefully to sentences and stories and identified the different adjectives that were used to describe things. As thinkers, we used our five senses to describe animals, people, objects or places around us. We used words to describe what someone or something looks, feels, sounds, tastes or smells like. As we engage in learning at home, we are continuing to read, write, make and spell our sight words, practise our letter sounds, cvc words, blends and digraphs, and read different books for enjoyment. 

As mathematicians, we are engaging in lots of different games as we continue to learn about Addition. As thinkers, we are using the counting all or counting on strategy to find the total of two numbers. We love using different materials around our homes to help us with our adding. Some of us have been engaging with our Mathematical Thinking expert, Mrs Monaghan, to explore doubles and friends of ten.

As we inch closer to our 100th day of school, we have been skip counting by 10s and counting multiple collections of 10 to make 100! As researchers, we have been counting out 100 items and placing them into snap lock bags to see what 100 looks like. Some of us have used rocks and stones, and others have used pom poms, lego and blocks.  We can’t wait for more 100th day learning experiences this week!

We have been having so much fun in our online sessions as we dressed up in different colours and costumes each day. FLW and FAM even had a crazy hair day! 

We continue our week in lockdown, but hopefully we will be back at school on Wednesday to celebrate our 100th day of school.  It has been wonderful to see the excitement on the students faces when connecting with their teachers and peers online, and how enthusiastic they are to learn.

Keep up the amazing effort everyone! 

Foundation Team, Leanne Wenckowski and Alycia Marsico.

Year 1/2

This week, we have been responsible e-learners! We have plunged back into remote learning 5.0 and we have been resilient, respectful and ready to go! 

This week, we investigated NAIDOC week and found out why it is so significant to our lives. We showed that we were able to list ways in which NAIDOC week is celebrated and learnt about its history. We identified who NAIDOC week is important to, and learnt how we too can celebrate in honour of the original owners of the land.

As writers, we have been creating a variety of text types. We have written letters to friends who we have not been able to see during the lockdown, and some of us shared these letters in our Google Meets. We wrote some interesting stories about ‘The Day my Teacher Disappeared’! Luckily, most of these had great resolutions and the teachers ended up being found safe and sound! 

As mathematicians, we have continued to delve deeper into the strategies we can learn to help us when adding numbers. This week, we have focussed on parts of numbers, adding to the next ten and creating number bonds. We look forward to learning more strategies to help us become even better mathematicians!

While at times, it can be quite tricky engaging in our learning remotely, we have really impressed our teachers with our commitment and persistence. We ensure to attend our Google Meets and always communicate respectfully with our peers.

We are looking forward to returning back to our learning spaces soon!

Maria Delaney, Belinda Filippone and Stefanie Carriera

Year 3/4

Students in Year 3/4 have been reading stories of the Aboriginal Dreaming as part of our response to NAIDOC week.  They have been reading to begin developing their understanding of the importance of storytelling in  Aboriginal and Islander culture.  They have also begun to further inquire into the use of symbols and art as part of this storytelling culture.  This links with the Big Question for Inquiry this term which is,  “How have people of diverse backgrounds and cultures contributed to our community? What is their story?”. 

In Mathematics we continue building understanding of the strategies and concepts involved in multiplication. The focus has been on using the splitting strategy to multiply leading into the use of the vertical algorithm with larger numbers.  We have been making clearer the connections between multiplication and addition.  

Students have been making boomerangs through origami and drawing indigenous animals (Koalas) in Art.  

Our Students of the Week were:

GT - Hunter Fitzgerald; Josephine Ausilio

MM - Jack Gallagher; Alana Kraljevski

KD - Sierra Carnes; Katarina Theodore

Mathematics awards from Mrs.Monaghan this week were received by:

Xavier Carr and Maya Woodhouse.

Grandparents 

Dear God, thank you for my Grandparents who always give me love and support.

I pray for my grandparents to stay happy and healthy. I pray to my Nonno Rick and my nonno Paolo Who are in heaven. May they look down on us and keep us safe. I thank my Nonna Carmel for taking me to the movies, making me waffles and letting me sleep over at her house. I thank my nonno guido and nonna Connie for always giving me good advice. I pray for my great nonna Flipper May she stay happy and healthy.

Amen (Sebastian)

Lord,

I thank you for this gift. Without them I will not be here. Without them I will not have a mother or father. Without them I will not have a home. Without them the world would be different. Lord, I thank you for my grandparents.

Amen  (Isabella)

GRANDPARENT PRAYER.

They always care for us a lot, help us, they love us, are always very kind and very  generous. I love it when they bake food with me and play different fun board games with me. They are the best. I love my Grandparents so much.  

Amen From Selena.

Dear God,

Please help my Grandparents cope with living by themselves. Let them know that they are not alone. Keep them safe from the Covid virus. Give them hope that everything in life will become a better normal soon.

Amen(Maya)

Dear God

Thank you for my  wonderful grandparents. I am so lucky and grateful that I have them in my life. They help my family by picking us up from school, they take my sister and I to soccer, they make lots of amazing food for the family and my Nana made my sister and I our communion dresses. I ask that you bless them with your love and care. Keep them safe and in your loving arms.

Amen (Clea)          

Year 5/6

Well, we were back again for another round of Remote Learning last week and the Year 5/6 students are to be congratulated on their positive attitudes towards their learning in these challenging times. We understand the difficulties that remote learning may cause for families, however we are very proud of the students for their efforts throughout this current lockdown. We are very much looking forward to seeing the students return to school on Wednesday. 

In Mathematics, the students have been creating bar, column and line graphs using Google Sheets. They have also been interpreting these graphs and writing statements about what the information is telling us. All students have done an amazing job in collecting data, inputting it into Google Sheets and creating colourful and informative graphs. We certainly have an impressive group of technologically savvy students in 5/6!

In Inquiry, we are focussing on how Indigenous Australians connect to Country and how we can learn from their history to protect the land we live on today. The students have watched a range of videos to learn about the connections Indigenous Australians have with the land, both physically and spiritually. We are impressed with the maturity of the students' responses and their thoughtful contributions to class discussions on Google Meets. 

In Reading, students have been making connections to self, other texts and the world in response to a range of  Indigenous texts. They have also been making inferences from short films as well as learning about the contribution sports stars like Ash Barty and Dylan Alcott have had on the community. We also read an article about how buildings are being designed to combat COVID-19. It was fascinating to read about how technology is being created to help stop the spread of the virus.  

In Writing, the students wrote letters to their grandparents to celebrate World Grandparents Day on Sunday the 25th. The students wrote some beautiful tributes to their grandparents, including special memories and thanks for everything they do for them.  

All Year 5/6 classes continue to have whole class Google Meets each morning and afternoon. It has been great to see all the students engaging enthusiastically during the Google Meets and sharing their learning and stories with the class. We have also had opportunities for some fun activities like dressing up in green and gold for our Aussie Olympians, showcasing our pets, playing Kahoots or coming to the meet with a wacky hair style! This has been great fun! 

We encourage all 5/6 students to continue to attend these afternoon meets. This gives us all an opportunity to see one another's faces and continue to connect while still at home.

We look forward to a great week of learning and seeing the students back on Wednesday!

Stay safe and well.

Olivia Sargent, Viv Clarke, Michelle Casameto, Cherrie Arnold.