Week 6, Term 4

BOOK CLUB

Issue #8 of book club has been handed out.  This is the last book club of the year.

Student orders are due WEDNESDAY 26TH NOVEMBER.

This week in Literacy, we explored our new sounds y and ie and practised reading words containing these codes. During reading, we have been focusing on reading automatically, without sounding out every word, to help improve our fluency. We also completed our final Cold Write narrative on the topic “Lost”. It was wonderful to see students show how much their independent writing has grown. After writing, students have begun to edit their work, checking for capital letters, punctuation, finger spaces, and that their sentences made sense.

In Maths, we have been building our addition skills and using strategies to work towards solving problems more fluently. We also explored missing number equations such as 4 + ? = 9 and practised finding the unknown part.

In Wellbeing, we discussed what ‘being mean’ and ‘being friendly’ can look and sound like when playing with others. We talked about how everyone can play in a fair, friendly and inclusive way, and that all games and activities are for everyone, regardless of gender.

On Tuesday, students learned about Remembrance Day and discussed the importance of remembering the brave men and women who have served our country. We made poppies and reflected respectfully during our minute of silence.

Next week, we will be learning a new code ‘oa’. We will continue working on writing in our dotted thirds books and growing in confidence with editing.  In Maths our focus will be on extending our subtraction knowledge and skills to solve equations including those with missing numbers. A highlight next week will be our Prep Pizza Dinner/Grade 1 Sleepover on Thursday. We are all excited to come back after school and play games and have pizza for tea.

We wish you all a wonderful weekend.

Nicole and Miss Else

Hello from the Golden Wattle building! 

This week, we started tuning in to our new Big Question, "How and why do people celebrate?". We started off by brainstorming all the different ways we celebrate in our community and then students discussed at home the different occasions their family celebrate. Students shared these with the class and we got to hear about all the different traditions our families have.

Our Literacy focus this week has been on joining simple sentences together using conjunctions and pronouns. For example, instead of writing "Wren likes apples. Wren likes oranges. Wren does not like bananas", we can combine them by writing "Wren likes apples and oranges but she does not like bananas".

We also revised interesting openers and practiced editing our work to include capital letters and punctuation. This was handy ahead of our Cold Write, where we imagined we found a big pile of boxes, cans, bottle tops, string and cardboard and made an amazing new invention! Students are given time before the Cold Write to plan their ideas, and time afterwards to edit their work.

In Maths, we compared the mass of different items using hefting and pan scales. We determined if items were heavier, lighter or the same mass, and ordered items according to their weight. 

Our Wellbeing focus this week followed on from our previous lessons on asking and giving consent. We learned that it is ok to say no if someone wants to touch you in ways that are not okay for you. We talked about which parts of our body are kept more private than others and that everyone’s body is their own. We discussed that other people are not allowed to hurt your body, that you don’t have to let other people touch your body and you can always ask for personal space. We also discussed that there are some early warning signs we can feel in our bodies when someone is scaring us or wanting to touch us in a way that does not seem okay. We named these feelings and where we might feel them in our bodies. We agreed that if this happens, we can tell someone we trust and we can always ask for help.  

Next week, as part of our inquiry into "How and why do people celebrate?", we will be finding out more about Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. We will continue with our focus on measuring mass and capacity in Maths, start using commas to list items in Literacy, and our Wellbeing focus will be about how some secrets should not be kept.  

Also, the Grade 1 students are super excited for their sleepover at school on Thursday, and all the Grade 1/2s are looking forward to the picnic at the Botanic Gardens on Friday. Lots of fun things ahead! 

We hope you have a lovely weekend, 

Wendy, Laura, Claire, Sarah and Andrew

On Tuesday, 11th November, we took some time to observe Remembrance Day. Our classes honoured those who have served which led to some heartfelt discussions about students' own family connections to Australia’s recent history. Many shared stories of family members who served in past conflicts, adding a personal dimension to our reflections and helping students connect with Australia’s legacy of service and sacrifice. 

This week in Maths, we’ve reviewed multiplication and division with a focus on identifying multiplication and division in worded problems​. Students used bar models to represent a multiplication and division problem. Bar models are an effective way for students to turn word problems into visual diagrams, making it easier for students to see the relationship between quantities and understand what the problem is asking.

We have begun our new knowledge unit exploring human senses and movement. Throughout our literacy lessons students have read about vision, hearing, and the nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems. Students were interested to find out about the amazing work carried out by the Fred Hollows Foundation as they work towards eliminating avoidable blindness and improving Indigenous Australian health. Students used their knowledge of Fred Hollows to write a paragraph that included high modality words. These are strong and confident words that make statements more forceful or assertive, expressing certainty or conviction, for example, positively, absolutely, definitely​, essential ​and without a doubt.

We have continued Topic 8, Positive Gender Relations, from the Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships program in our Wellbeing lessons. Over the last two weeks, students have been identifying personal space, body boundaries and exploring consent. Through class discussion and scenarios, students have practiced how to ask for consent, refuse consent and give consent, and how to show respect when someone refuses consent. This week, students in 3/4S were excited to share their help seeking stories with Prep N that they wrote last term.

Students have also enjoyed Bike Ed as part of the PE program. A reminder that this will continue for the next few weeks, so please make sure students come to school with their bikes and helmets on their usual P.E. day.

Enjoy your weekend 

Sally, Pete, Louise, Hannah and Carly

Hello from Grade 5/6 land, 

Over the last week and two days, we have managed to fit a lot in! We’ve continued our learning about fables and have looked at various morals that we could include in our own fable writing. Can you tell which fables these morals are from? A kindness is never wasted? Slow and steady wins the race? A liar will not be believed, even when they tell the truth? Answers at the end!

In BQT, we’ve learnt about the differences between cultural burns and hazard reduction burns, as well as considering effective ways to manage and reduce the risks of natural disasters, especially fires and floods. 

In Maths, we’ve been learning about multiplying and dividing decimals and using rounding to estimate an approximate answer. How would you estimate the answer to 0.8 x 418? We’ve also looked at the connection between fractions, decimals and percentages and begun to calculate fractions of quantities such as 25% of 20. 

On Monday, students took part in a hands-on Digital Technologies incursion designed to build critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The session included learning about the binary number system and a fun robotics component, where students programmed and navigated Sphero robots through interactive challenges. Thanks to Hannah Ryan for organising this. 

We had Bike Ed on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and will again next week, so students will still need to bring their bikes and helmets to school.

Grade 6 graduation is Wednesday 17th of December at Campbells Creek Community Centre. Grade 6 students arrive at 6:00pm and parents and families at 7:30pm.

Thanks for another amazing week, everyone!

Answers: The Lion and the Mouse. The Tortoise and the Hare. The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

Region Cricket 

Our cricket team played in Swan Hill today for the Region Cricket Final. Full report and photos next week. 

Bike Education Grade 3-6 

Students will need to bring a roadworthy bike and a helmet to school on their scheduled PE day. Please refer to the information and permission note for your class dates and times. At CNPS we value active travel to school due to the environmental, health and social benefits.  

We require the assistance or parent/carers to act as safety checkpoint marshalls on our last week when we venture outside the school on to the footpath or road. Parents and carers do not need a bike to assist us. 

Thank you to the parents/carers who helped with our safety checks and minor tune-ups this week; Simon, Tess, Michael, Natalya, Jesse, Huw, Dax and Ben. 

Swimming Grade Prep-2 

*Update* Many swimming programs for Term 4 are fully booked, but it is looking promising that our junior classes can attend swimming lessons at Gurri Wanyarra in Kangaroo Flat on Monday 15th, Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 17th December. This is during the last week of term which will be a special way to end the year. Buses will transport our students to the venue and the cost of this program is covered by the DET Swimming and Water Safety initiative and funding. Stay tuned for more information and permission notes. 

Swimming for Grades 3-6 will go ahead as usual at the Castlemaine Outdoor Pool during Term 1.

CNPS Titans Soccer Top Missing! 

We’ve discovered we’re missing one of our white team soccer jerseys, No. 6. I suspect it was already missing before this year, but if anyone comes across it (ex students?), we’d love to have it back. Thanks!

Prep E

Monte M - for the kind and respectfully way you talk to your classmates and teachers.
Tato G - for the brave way you keep on trying your best, even when you make a mistake when writing.

Prep N

Cassia W - for showing great focus and persistence in improving your reading fluency.
Oliver G - for the brave and confident way you are working hard to improve everything you do at school. 

1/2 CS

Alice O - for the confident way you shared your recent trip to Canada with the class.
Minka D - for the dedication you have put into developing your expression when reading.

1/2 L

Finny L - for your joyful participation in all things reading.
Nina P - for uplevelling brilliantly with the adjective 'irresistible'.

1/2 WA

Bon J - for the care you took measuring, using the balance scales in our maths work.
Hazel S - for your wonderfully creative Cold Write about a giant bunny car on wheels.

3/4 PS

Chet C - for the wonderful way you shared your mathematical thinking with our guests.
Eliza S - for your passion and dedication during fluency building sessions in mathematics.

3/4 S

Audrey D - for the kind and respectful leadership you show during guinea pig club.
Bexley B - for the thoughtful way you shared your knowledge of coding with your peers in STEAM Friday.

5/6 BH

Tom D - for the enthusiasm you showed when celebrating your teammates' success at the Region Cricket competition.

5/6 BN

Mick C - for always asking clarifying questions during maths sessions.

5/6 H

Freida B - for generously sharing your creative talents as gifts.
Edan L - for making insightful contributions during our whole class RRRR discussions.

5/6 J

Sid W - for the care and effort you have put into creating a map for your country in BQT.
Mary C - for showing wonder by choosing to stay behind at recess to explore the number patterns task more deeply and make sure you truly understand it.

Performing Arts

Hugo A - for showing great thinking and careful listening when you reflected on our graduation song.

Stilt Licenses

Level 1 - Piper D
Level 2 - Aster B, Nellie D, Lula T, Pippa W

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