Week 7, Term 2

Hello from the Preps! 

This week in Literacy, we met not one, but four new sounds of the ‘FSZL Gang’. We learnt that we only use ‘ff’, ‘ss’, ‘zz’ and ‘ll’ after a vowel, at the end of a word - for example: jazz and hill. We practised reading and writing words with these sounds. This week, we have been learning about adjectives and we are now taking on the challenge to include an adjective such as the big bug in our sentences!

In Maths, our focus has been on learning how to count and write the numbers 11-20!

As part of our Big Question, we read several books including ‘Walk With Us’ by Adam Goodes and Ellie Laing. We learned about how First Nations people used different plants for medicine, created their own tools, celebrated with different ceremonies and knew how to find water and food.

In Wellbeing, we learned and practised ways to seek, give and deny permission respectfully such as when saying ‘no’ if someone asks you for a hug and you don’t want to give one. We learned that ‘no is no, and that’s okay'.

Next week in Literacy, we will continue reading and writing words with the FSZL gang. In Maths, we will continue growing in confidence counting, writing, ordering and matching collections, the numbers 11-20. There will also be a new STEAM Challenge to tackle! 

We hope you all enjoy your long weekend! 

Nicole and Miss Else

Hello from the Golden Wattle Building!  

We have had so much fun this week looking at the History of toys in our BQT studies. We have learned about how toys used to be made and what was popular up to 150 years ago. 

This has flowed across to our Literacy lessons, where we have been reading 'The Velveteen Rabbit' and swimming in all of the beautiful vocabulary featured in this story. We then took a dive into the future with Mo Willems, ‘Knuffle Bunny,’ where we talked about what it is to lose something and created Missing posters for the bunny in the story. 

In our respectful relationship studies, we have also been thinking about what it feels like to be sad, worried and overwhelmed. We have looked at coping strategies - take a look at our photos - where we acted out which coping strategies we could use to help us with big feelings.

In STEAM, we have looked at pop-up puppets in History and have had fun designing and creating our own puppets. We hope you enjoy them too. 

In Maths, we have continued building our addition and subtraction skills, this week focusing on mental addition and subtraction. We have been practising recalling our number facts at speed. We have been looking at how we can use friends of ten to help us with this and drawing upon our studies last week with place value. This week’s favourite game was, around the world’ ask you student - you could play in your family! 

Next week, our Big Question focuses around clothes and how they have changed. In Literacy, we will be continuing our work creating complete sentences, while in Maths, we’ll begin looking at patterns.

Have a great long weekend! 

Wendy, Laura, Claire, Sarah and Andrew. 

Welcome to Silver Banksia, 

We have continued to learn about Australia’s history this week, and continued to write and illustrate our recounts. This week we have been focussing on the Gold Rush and the sentiments towards non-white people on the Goldfields, particularly the Chinese. We have also learnt about how and when Australia became a Federation. As part of our Civics and Citizenship throughline, we have learning about the election process in Australia – touching on subjects such as who has the power and who decides who has the power in our country.

In Maths, we have been revising the division algorithm, and moving on to how to represent the remainder in a division sum as a decimal. We have used our knowledge of the powers of ten while measuring real life objects and converting them into decimals, e.g. our classroom desks are 72cm high, which is 0.72m.  

Just a reminder that we have our incursion learning about the Parliament of Australia coming up on the 16th of June. You will have received a note about this.

Prep – Students have been exploring the bark paintings of Nongirrna Marawili, an artist from Yirrkala in northeast Arnhem Land. Her work captures the powerful energy of nature—lightning, water, wind, and fire—through vibrant colours. Inspired by her techniques, Preps created dynamic patterns using paint sticks, then designed stencils by cutting shapes from card, rolling paint over them to produce striking artworks. 

Grades 1/2 – Last week, students learned about the meaning behind the colours of the Aboriginal flag and its creator, Harold Thomas, who designed it in 1970. They have made string prints representing the flag, creating beautiful line patterns through the printing process. Additionally, they experimented with collagraph prints, using small tiles with glued shapes to form stamps, similar to traditional woodblock printing. 

Grades 3/4 – Students have completed their lunchbox prints, adding colour to bring their designs to life—now proudly displayed in the Blackwood Building. This week, they engaged with Kath Coff’s poem Me-Mandook Galk, which celebrates the Grandmother tree in Chewton. Students illustrated the tree and incorporated a verse from the poem into their artwork. Next week, they are excited to visit the Castlemaine Art Museum to explore local artist, Sir Leslie Thornton’s exhibition. 

Grades 5/6 – Students have successfully completed their lino printing project, tackling the complexities of this technique with skill and focus. Through this process, they have gained a deeper understanding of the different stages involved in printmaking. Next week, they will engage with the work of First Nations artist Tony Albert, reflecting on his artistic themes and techniques as they develop their own creative responses. 

Essendon AFLW Player Visit 

On Monday 16th June, Essendon AFLW players will visit our school at 12:00-12:45 for a combination of Question and Answer and kick-to-kick session with our students. 

Goldfields Division Winter Sport (select Gr. 5/6 teams) 

On Monday 23rd June, we will be entering football, netball and soccer teams to contest the Goldfields Division event. This is a progression from our District, where our students are selected for these teams to play against other schools from Macedon Ranges and Maryborough, as well as our own local Castlemaine area. Permission notes to be returned with payment to the office by Thursday 19th June. Parents and carers are invited to assist us with coaching and umpiring these teams, which may include lunchtime training before the day if you’re available. We are also hoping to borrow footy jumpers from a local club, so please get in contact with carly.mcginniskin@education.vic.gov.au if you can help with any of these tasks.

House Athletics Grade 3-6: Recap

After a frosty start, it was a glorious, sunny day for our House Athletics last Friday. Students enjoyed a day of running, jumping, throwing and Indigenous games. Green House (Laver) earned the most points for the day, followed by Yellow (Freeman), Red (Jackson) and Blue (Evans). Some students will have the opportunity to participate in the Goldfields Division Track and Field held in Bendigo in September.

Prep E

Monte M - for the impressive way you wrote your sentence independently and included the adjective 'colourful'.
Freddie F - for always listening respectfully to your peers and patiently waiting for your turn to share during class discussions.

Prep N

Percy C - for your persistence and enthusiasm during skipping activities in PMP.
Archer H - for the thoughtful, calm and respectful way you have been managing your emotions.

1/2 CS

Albertine C - for showing determination to work through challenging maths problems.
Taras H - for your thoughtful contributions to class discussions.

1/2 L

Emellia M - for the interest that so clearly shone on your face during our Miss Cox interview.
Digby F - for your exceptional understanding of 3-digit addition and subtraction.

1/2 WA

Leon R - for the courage and fun you showed when participating in our class Wilson games.
William E - for your beautiful and thoughtful questions when responding to the story 'The Velveteen Rabbit'.

3/4 H

Rafi A - for your creative healthy eating poster!
Arthur C - for the care and effort you put into your healthy eating poster.

3/4 PS

Delilah B - for having the courage to get involved in a big team game.
Arlen J - for the kind way you helped your peer with multiplication practice.

3/4 S

Sierra E - for the brave way you took your learning further in maths.
Takisha C - for showing initiative and thoughtfulness to help keep our classroom organised.

5/6 BN

Brax G - for the quiet and determined way you are focussed on your learning.
Remy V - for your understanding of Australia's history, which is resulting in an impressive recount.

5/6 H

Tessa H - for working hard to catch up after your family holiday.
Nellie D - for stepping in to support a temporarily disabled student.

5/6 J

Lucy H - for checking in on an injured classmate.

Performing Arts

Thomas C - for having the courage to perform your play to an audience.
Archer H - Well done on the focus you showed during Performing Arts.

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