Term 4

In Phonics, students continued practising the Level 4 sounds, which were /wh/, /ph/, and soft g /j/. They also practised reading and recognising the sight words ‘my’ and ‘put’. The students practised writing these sounds and reading texts that included them.

During weeks 4 & 5 in reading, students explored a range of animal-themed texts and celebrations from around the world. They made connections to animals they had seen, liked or would like to learn more about, sharing their preferences and explaining their ideas using ‘because’ and ‘but’. Students also explored different celebrations, including birthdays and Diwali. They made connections to special occasions they take part in and discussed what makes them meaningful. Throughout the two weeks, students used their five senses to describe animals, pets and celebrations, thinking about what they might see, hear, smell, taste and touch while building their descriptive vocabulary.

During weeks 4 & 5 in writing, students continued developing their persuasive writing skills by expressing their likes and dislikes about different animals. They wrote sentences about zoo, ocean, jungle and desert animals, using the conjunctions ‘because’ and 'but' to explain and justify their opinions. Students also used their five senses mind maps to help them write about a chosen animal. They completed a persuasive writing moderation task based on the question ‘If you could have any pet, what would it be?’, explaining their choice and giving reasons to support their opinion. To finish the week, students explored different celebrations, shared their preferences using the sentence stem ‘I like ___ because ___.’ and brainstormed special events they celebrate in preparation for their upcoming writing.

This fortnight in Personal and Social Learning, students explored how everyone has different interests and preferences, regardless of gender. We shared examples of things we enjoy, such as eating ice cream, playing in the snow and participating in different activities. Students discussed how everyone is free to enjoy the things they love and that our interests are not limited by whether we are a boy or a girl.

We also explored how our thoughts can influence our feelings. Students learnt that green thoughts can help us feel happy and positive, while red thoughts can make us feel sad or upset. Through our mentor text Giraffes Can't Dance, students identified and summarised examples of green and red thoughts experienced by the characters and discussed how these thoughts influenced their feelings.

It was wonderful to see students so engaged in our discussions, eagerly sharing their ideas and making connections to their own experiences.

In week 4, students learned to plan their projects. They explained what they want to make and drew their project idea. Students were able to draw a rough plan of their project on the Design Plan template.

The following day, students learned to add details to their project plan. They added colour to their drawing and labelled parts of their project. Students were able to look a their plans from Day 1 and add more details.

In Week 5, students learned to work as a team to create their project. They looked at their design plan and identified what they need to make. Students could share ideas and work cooperatively in their groups.

In Phonics, students continued practising the Level 4 sounds, focusing on the digraphs /th/ (voiced and unvoiced), /qu/ and /ng/. They also practised reading and recognising the sight words ‘wants’ and ‘be’. The students practised writing these sounds and reading texts that included them.

During weeks 2 & 3 in Reading, students explored their likes and dislikes about food and the four seasons through a range of mentor texts. They used their five senses to describe different fruits and seasonal experiences, while building their descriptive vocabulary. Students also made connections to their own lives by sharing favourite foods, cultural traditions and personal experiences. They practised expressing their opinions and explaining their preferences using sentence stems such as “I like ___, but I don’t like ___.”

During weeks 2 & 3 in Writing, students explored their likes and dislikes about food and the four seasons while learning to justify their opinions. They practised using the conjunctions ‘because’ and ‘but’ to explain their preferences, wrote about favourite homemade or cultural foods and personal experiences, and used descriptive words to create sentences such as “I like the beach, but I don’t like wearing sunscreen.”

During Week 2, students continued learning to collect and represent data in different ways. They sorted counters by colour, size and shape, counted the objects in each group and recorded the totals using tally marks on a template.

Students also explored the question, “How do people travel in our community?” They walked to the cubby houses with their data collection sheets and observed how people travelled along the road, identifying different modes of transport, such as buses, cars and walking. Students recorded their observations using tally marks. They then practised counting their tally marks accurately to determine the total for each mode of transport. 

In week 3, students explored position and location by practising different positions on the playground in response to teacher instructions. They then practised positional language vocabulary in the classroom by carefully observing photographs from the previous lesson to identify the positions shown and recreated each position with a teddy.

It was amazing seeing students develop their ability to follow instructions, recreate positions using objects, and describe spatial relationships using positional vocabulary such as under, behind, next to, in front of and between. 

In Personal and Social, students have been learning to identify trusted people they can go to when they need help and recognise ways they can help others. Through class discussions, they explored how helping one another makes our classroom a safe, caring and supportive place.

Students drew two pictures: one showing someone helping them and another showing themselves helping someone else. They shared their drawings with the class and discussed different ways to show kindness, care and respect in their daily lives.

The other focus was on the four school values: Respect, Responsibility, Teamwork and Achievement. Students demonstrate these values through everyday routines, such as listening to others, sharing resources, including classmates, following instructions and taking responsibility for their actions.

Through these activities, students developed their understanding of how to ask for help, also help is a positive choice and that everyone can make a difference by helping others.

In Directed Discovery, students have been exploring topics that interest them including dinosaurs, butterflies, sharks, turtles and kangaroos. 

They brainstormed questions they wanted answered and completed a KWL chart to record what they already know, what they want to learn and what they discovered through their research.

It has been wonderful to see students' curiosity as they ask questions, investigate their topics and share their learning!

This week in Personal and Social Learning, we learnt about the Circle of Control. Students explored the difference between things that are within our control and things that are outside of our control.

For example, students learnt that we can control what we watch on TV because we can choose the show we want to watch, but we cannot control if it rains outside because we cannot change the weather. 🌧️📺

Students shared their own examples and discussed different scenarios. We gave them different situations and they were able to explain whether each one was within their control or outside of their control.

It was wonderful to see the students so engaged in their learning, confidently sharing their ideas and listening to the perspectives of others.

In Directed Discovery, we have been learning about different places in our community and what happes in each place.

We explored photos of different places around Craigieburn and shared what we already know about them. The students also drew places that are important to them and explained why these places are special.

We then explored the different people who work in our community. We named community workers, matched them to the places where they work and discussed why they work there and how they help us.

To build on our learning, the students coloured in pictures of different community buildings and wrote the purpose of each place.