Term 4

WEEK 1 NUMERACY 

Number 

Week 1 has seen students re engage with exploring the operation of subtraction. They have been solving problems using hands materials to show their understanding of taking away an amount from the whole to find out what remains. Materials have included number bonds, unifix blocks, drawing pictures, and number lines. Students have also been expanding their vocabulary to understand all the different words they can use to explain subtraction. These have included:

• subtract

• take away

• minus

• less

• difference

Applied 

In Week 1, foundation students began exploring the concept of mass. They were introduced to key vocabulary such as heavy, light, heavier, and lighter and learned how to heft objects by holding and comparing them to feel which one weighed more. Students practised using this new vocabulary to describe what they noticed and discussed their ideas with classmates. They also took photos of their hefting activities and uploaded them to Showbie, explaining their thinking about which items were heavier or lighter. It was a fun, hands on introduction that helped students build a strong foundation for measuring mass in the weeks to come. 

WEEK 1 LITERACY

Phonics:

To kick start the final term of 2025, our learners have begun exploring digraphs. Digraphs are two letters that come together to make one sound. This weeks sounds have been /sh/ for sheep and /ch/ for cherries. Students practise saying the sounds, writing them with correct letter formation, applying the sounds to their reading and writing words that include these digraphs.

Reading:

New Term = New Literacy Unit. The first unit of Term 4 is our Persuasive unit. This is where our learners discover and explain their likes and dislikes or preferences. So far, they have explored likes and dislikes of local attractions (eg. Splash and cinemas), school locations (playground and sandpit), hobbies and their favourite colours.  

Writing:

Students did a fantastic job on elaborating their likes and dislikes, using the conjunction 'because' to explain their thinking. This will assist students later in the term as we write our preferences about topics on food, animals, celebrations and more!

WEEK 1 DIRECTED DISCOVERY

Directed Discovery has begun with great enthusiasm this term!
Our Foundation students have been busy exploring, playing, and creating with new resources and materials as part of the first stage of our inquiry learning. To help spark ideas for what they want to learn and investigate this term, students took part in a range of exciting role-play experiences — including a train station, cinema, camping area, and supermarket. These spaces encouraged students to use their imagination, work together, and share their ideas through creative play.

Their excitement and creativity during these experiences were wonderful to see, and students have already led to lots of rich discussions about what they are curious about and want to explore further. We also shared stories about what everyone did during the holidays, which inspired even more ideas for future investigations.

Students have shown our school value of Achievement by trying their best in each activity, setting goals for their play projects, working together to solve problems, and proudly sharing their ideas with their classmates.