Week 6, Term 1

SRC News

Hello from the Prep Rooms,

What a wonderful and busy week it has been in Prep! We completed our first full week of school, began take-home reading, created rain in a science experiment, had our first PMP (Perceptual Motor Program) session and, much to the students’ excitement, enjoyed our very first sushi lunch order! 

In Maths, we explored ordering, recognising and writing numbers from one to ten. We had fun playing 5 in a Row and Get Out of My House, and we used the story Ten Apples on Top to show our understanding of sequencing numbers.

We have begun our new Big Question, “What is the Power of a Story?”. Through Nursery Rhymes, we are discovering rhyming words, building new vocabulary, and learning about the world around us. After reading the nursery rhymes “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” and “Rain, Rain, Go Away”, we explored the water cycle and conducted a science experiment to demonstrate how rain forms. We also enjoyed collaborating to act out the nursery rhyme “Ring a Ring o’ Rosie” using a parachute and created our own posies using herbs from our garden.

In Wellbeing, we discussed the Play is the Way concept “It takes great strength to be sensible”.  We explored how being strong is not about muscles on the outside, but about having a strong brain on the inside. Strong brains help us make strong choices at school.

Next week, we will meet two new friends of Milo and continue building our independent reading and writing skills. In Maths, we will keep working with numbers from one to ten, strengthening our ordering, modelling and writing skills.

Thank you to families who have already emailed us to let us know if you will be attending the Prep Literacy Information Session next week. If you would still like to come, please let us know.

Enjoy your long weekend!

Nicole and Laura

Zdravo Grade 1 and 2 Families! 

Welcome to week 6 of the school term. This means we are nearly at Easter...and yes, you can already buy hot cross buns! In school news, we have been creating different things in STEAM to go into upside-down land in The Enchanted Wood. This week we also read The Little Red Hen and practiced acting out the story in Wellbeing.

In Literacy this week, we have continued reading The Enchanted Wood. Students have been working on planning out their narratives. It has been great to see the creativity which students have in their abilities to plan out and create characters and plan out a beginning, middle and end to a story. They have also been learning about the difference between statements and questions. Students enjoyed sorting different types of phrases into statements and questions.

Numeracy has seen us doing addition and subtraction equations this week. Students have been using cards to make addition and subtraction equations. They have also learned a new strategy called the ‘bridging to 10’ strategy. This strategy is where you take a number (say 9+5) and make 10, then add the remaining numbers together (i.e. 9+1 is equal to 10, and then 10+4 equals 14). Part-Part-Grab has been the favourite card game this week. It has been really good to see students using hands on materials to represent sums in class.  

This week, we have started playing Categories as part of the Wilson Games. This is where students have to pass a ball across a circle to other players who are across from them in the circle. In Wellbeing, students acted out the little hen and identified why it is really important to work together to do things. During this, students also reenacted parts of “The Little Hen” and presented these to the class.  

In STEAM, students have created their own upside-down characters and things and tried to balance this on a stick to see if their upside-down items would last in “Upside Down Land” without falling over! 

Next week, we will be starting to write and publish our stories. In Maths, we will be completing a Rich Assessment Task for students to put in their learning journals. Grade 2 parents, please make sure the medical form is brought back to classroom teachers for camp, no later than the 10th of March.

Enjoy the long weekend! 

Lauren, Claire, Sarah and Peter

Well, another busy week has passed and leads us into the long weekend.

In Literacy, students have been learning about persuasive texts. In particular they have been exploring techniques such as using rhetorical questions and high modality words to convince their readers of their argument. Using Kensuke’s Kingdom as inspiration, students have created a persuasive text to persuade others why they should sail around the world. In spelling, students have been learning to spell and read words that have a suffix on the end of a base word ending in y. e.g. carry --> carrier. In Mathematics, we have moved on to subtraction and students have been learning vertical subtraction as a strategy to solve subtraction two- and three-digit equations. 

In Wellbeing, we explored the Wilson concept, “Have reasons for the things you say and do”. Students have participated in small group discussions, pondering how thinking before we say and do things keep us and those around us safe, and how having reasons for actions makes it easier to: 

1. Work with others 

2. Be understood 

3. Be trusted.

Next week will be a different week with the start of NAPLAN for the Grade 3s on Wednesday. In Maths we will continue developing subtraction skills, using vertical algorithms with and without regrouping. In Literacy, we will continue to read Kensuke’s Kingdom and base our work around the text. In Wellbeing, we will explore the concept, “It takes great sense to be sensible”.

Enjoy your long weekend,  

The 3/4 Team

The 5/6s have been working hard this week with their second Big Write for the term, Grade 5s preparing for NAPLAN, and Grade 6s completing literacy and numeracy challenges during these sessions. Our Grade 6s have shown wonderful leadership supporting the Preps in the yard and around the school.

In Maths, we’ve been focusing on factor pairs, prime numbers, and are beginning our next unit on additive thinking with some difference word problems using bar models. Students used counters and multicubes to represent different lengths of liquorice in our liquorice factory lesson on factors and prime numbers.

In Literacy, after studying the SPO (single paragraph outline) and MPO (multiple paragraph outline) planning format, students practised using different persuasive devices. They wrote persuasive pieces on the positive and negative impacts of the Age of Exploration. Students learned about loss of land, spread of disease, and loss of culture and language in Indigenous communities. Our continuous work on spelling and word study has seen students spelling more complex words with multiple morphemes (polymorphemic).

In Wellbeing, we began our Resilience, Rights, and Respectful Relationships unit with our first lesson on Emotional Literacy, which focused on reading body language. Students discussed how emotions can be shown in body language and facial expressions, and how struggling to express ourselves properly can make us feel. We talked about empathy being when you feel with someone, and that it requires vulnerability. Students had fun taking turns to act out different emotions and guess from the body language.

Have a relaxing long weekend!

Indonesian News

Region Swimming 

After success at Division last week, all the best to our team of 12 swimmers heading to Swan Hill next Tuesday 10th March for Region Swimming. 

District Basketball, Footy, Hockey and Netball 

On Friday 27th March, all students in Grades 3-6 head to Wesley Hill Recreation Reserve for the Castlemaine District Sport Day. Students in Grade 3/4 engage in skill-based activity rotations in basketball, footy and netball. Students in Grade 5/6 select a preferred sport from footy, hockey and netball to participate in match play against other schools in their chosen sport. Will we require the support of parents/carers to supervise teams or groups. Please let your class teacher know if you’re available to help. 

AFL Clinics 

AFL Central Victoria provided footy clinics to some of our classes today. Please see the community noticeboard for options for your child to continue footy in the community.

This week in Performing Arts...

Prep was all about friendship this week! Students learned the song "Hello My Friend, Hello". They even tried it out in French and Spanish! They also practiced working together through movement and music, playing a lively game of musical statues and dancing along to the Toy Story classic "You’ve Got a Friend in Me".

Meanwhile, the Grade 1/2 classes kept exploring the exciting world of percussion instruments. Students experimented with different sounds and used them to help tell a story through music, creating fun sound effects with a variety of instruments. Be sure to check out a couple of Grade 1/2CS’s stories!

Our Grade 3/4 students transformed into a cast of brave heroes this week as they performed their own Superhero Plays! It was fantastic to see the confidence they brought to the stage as they worked hard to clearly communicate their stories to the audience.

Grade 5/6 students brought a lively marketplace to life through drama and music. Using voice and movement, they created a range of believable characters. To build excitement and atmosphere, students practised call and response, which helped create the busy, bustling feeling of a real marketplace and added tension and energy to their scenes.

Prep L

Sally F - for the way you collaborate and work in a team during our BQT and STEAM challenges.
Sylvan M - for your enthusiastic participation in everything we do.

Prep N

Huey T - for the kind and thoughtful way you help and care for your classmates.
Alaska C - for the confidence you show when sounding out words and blending them together when reading.

1/2 CS

Jovi C - for your enthusiastic approach to maths.
Arlo M - for the brave way you dealt with an injury.

1/2 E

Catherine F - for your impressive focus and effort during maths activities this week.
Alice D - for being a role model in the class, in the way you always listen respectfully and pursue your personal best.

1/2 S

Jade B - for being a thoughtful and helpful member of our class.
Amalia L - for creating a very imaginative plan for your story about a butterfly.

3/4 J

Flynn L - for your mindset adjustment during maths and finding a challenge that was right for you.
Delilah B - for the positive way you completed your maths task on the floor and took control of your learning.

3/4 L

Albertine C - for using explicitly taught vocabulary in your Cold Write.
Ewan W - for writing a well-structured narrative.

3/4 S

Ollie A - for your effort and creativity that you put into your Cold Write.
Emellia M - for your positive approach to spelling and your excellent knowledge of the codes.

5/6 BN

Arlo S - for the way you challenged yourself to keep your writing focused in your persuasive writing.
Chet C - for the thoughtful and effective way you used persuasive devices in your writing.

5/6 HT

Alba M - for exploring different perspectives in drafting your persuasive writing.
Elke H - for being inquisitive in our licquorice factory lesson and asking curious questions to help grow your understanding of factors and prime numbers.

5/6 PS

Eliza M - for demonstrating excellent manners and respect towards classmates and teachers.
Art T - for using wonderful manners and showing initiative during classroom activities.

5/6 R

Ava M - for your thoughtful actions and commitment to doing what is right.
Tessa H - for your hard work on your persuasive Big Write.

Indonesian

Archie W - for recognising new word patterns and always being such a great listener.

P.E.

Mary C - for acting with maturity and cooperation when a teacher and young student needed support.

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