Term 4

This last fortnight for Term 4 saw us revisiting characters' feelings as they change through a story narrative. We read a story of Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten. In the story, we identified how the main character Mr Wintergarten felt at the start of the narrative and how he has been described by other characters such as mean and horrible. We identified how he felt happy at the end of the narratives. In addition, we used the festive season to engage with more narratives such as Sunny Santa’s Beach Break, and The Great Wombat Gift Swap.

We used all these different narratives to establish cause and effect to interpret the characters’ actions and identify the problem. We were not just limited to understanding the feelings of the character, or cause and effect, we used our knowledge of the story to make interpretations that helped us to answer some comprehension questions in full sentences. 

In our writing, we made good efforts to reflect the skill we have learnt to write our own small narratives.

Last two weeks, we have been learning how to solve problems and measure objects in different ways.

First, we learned how to solve word problems by using doubling and halving as well as fact families to help us work out the answers. We used what we already know to help us work out the answers. This helped us understand how doubling and halving can be useful in real-life situations, like sharing or grouping things.

Next, we learned how to measure the length of different pieces of string. We measured each string carefully and then ordered them from shortest to longest. This helped us see that everyday objects can be different lengths and that some can be short, long, or the same.

Finally, we learned how to measure lengths accurately and compare them. We measured strings, checked another group’s measurements, and wrote sentences to explain what we found. We used words like longer, shorter, and the same length to describe the differences.

All of this learning helped us understand how maths is useful in everyday life and how measuring and problem-solving help us make sense of the world around us.

Personal & Social Learning:
Over the past fortnight, we have been learning how to cooperate with our peers. We practised taking turns, listening to each other, sharing materials and working calmly in pairs and small groups. We talked about why cooperation is important and how it helps us work together, solve problems and build positive friendships in our classroom.

RRRR Learning:
In our RRRR lessons, we focused on working together respectfully and including everyone. We completed cooperation challenges where we had to listen, take turns and work as a team. We also learned that anyone can do any job, no matter their gender. We explored different jobs and created posters about what we want to be when we grow up, using words like strong, smart and caring. This helped us understand fairness, respect and teamwork.

Over the last fortnight, we have been finishing our CBL project to respond to our challenge:
Design and create something that represents you, your family or your community so it becomes part of the school’s history and environment.
We celebrated our learning about the big idea of Environment and how it influences us, our families, our culture and how it changes over time. 

We continued painting our canvas squares using symbols, shapes and patterns to represent ourselves, our families and our community, using our school colours. This artwork helps us share our identity and become part of Aitken Creek Primary School’s history. 

In the final week of Year 2, we reflected on what we learned throughout the Term and our designs and celebrated the effort and creativity we showed throughout the term. 

Over the past two weeks, we have been super busy in Year 2 and our classrooms have been full of excitement!
In Week 8, our Reading lessons helped us understand characters more deeply. We learned to empathise with how characters feel, describe how their feelings change, and compare the beginning and end of a story. In Writing, we worked hard to revise our persuasive pieces by improving our ideas, not just fixing spelling. We then published our writing and felt very proud of our finished pieces.

In Week 9, we became story experts! In Reading, we learned how to retell the important parts of a fiction text and practised answering literal and inferential questions. We even had a go at inferring how a character feels using clues from the story. In Writing, we started creating narratives that link to our persuasive ideas. We brainstormed characters and settings, thought of exciting problems and solutions, built our story mountains, and began drafting with sizzling starts and interesting build-ups. 

We’re getting so close to the end of the year, and we’re feeling really proud of how much we’ve learned!

Over the past two weeks we have been busy revising lots of maths skills we learned this year. It’s been fun to see how much we remember and how much more confident we’ve become.

We worked on addition and subtraction problems using the jump strategy. We used number lines to jump forwards and backwards to find our answers. We also used the part–part–whole strategy to find the missing part in equations. This helped us use both our addition and subtraction knowledge. We practised renaming numbers with MAB blocks and realised that numbers can be shown in lots of different ways using hundreds, tens and ones.

We also had fun describing and showing turns of shapes. We made right turns, left turns and even quarter turn. We also looked at graphs by reading the information carefully to answer questions and compare data. We’ve been practising telling the time to quarter past and quarter to on analogue clocks and we’ve used calendars to solve word problems about days, weeks and months between events.

In Personal and Social learning, we have been learning about how everyone in our class is unique and equally important. We explored the things we have in common, talked about the ways we are different, and discussed why our differences make our classroom special. 

We also learned about what arguing looks like and how small “ant problems” can quickly grow into big “elephant problems” if we don’t solve them early. 

Together, we created strategies to help us notice when a problem is small, stay calm, show respect, and ask for help when something feels too big to manage on our own. By understanding ourselves and others, we build a positive, kind, and inclusive classroom community.

This fortnight students have been working on a special identity art project that helped them explore who they are and what makes them unique. They have been learning to design and create artworks using meaningful symbols, shapes, patterns, and our school colours blue, orange, white, and black to represent themselves, their families, or our school community. 

Students began by brainstorming important people, places, cultures, memories, and interests that are significant to them. From their ideas, they selected one or two meaningful elements and sketched a plan showing how they would express these through art. Using their plans, students then painted their designs onto fabric , practising careful brushwork, thoughtful colour choices, and creative expression. 

Through this project, students are learning that art can tell a story, celebrate identity, and build a sense of belonging. Their finished artworks will contribute something meaningful to our school’s history and community. 

This fortnight, we have been exploring what acceptable work looks like and how building positive work habits helps us do our best. We looked closely at examples of strong work, discussed the importance of staying focused, using our time responsibly, and checking our work for accuracy, and we had many opportunities to practise these skills during class activities. 

Alongside this, we have also been learning about personal safety and how we can protect our bodies and seek help when something feels uncomfortable or unsafe. Using the simple No, Go, Tell model, we practised saying no, moving to a safe place, and telling a trusted adult. We also took part in discussions about what violence is and how it can sometimes be linked to unfair treatment based on gender. 

We shared our ideas about safe and unsafe behaviours and reflected on why everyone deserves to be treated fairly, kindly, and with respect. These lessons are important because they help us develop independence, confidence, and strong learning habits, while also empowering us to understand our rights and keep ourselves and others safe.

This fortnight in CBL, we went on our excursion to Bundoora Heritage Village as part of our History learning. We travelled back in time and learnt about how people used to live, learn, travel, and work. We also learnt about the significance of Bundoora and how it still remains an important place in our community today. 

We made connections with our learning by comparing how places like Bundoora have changed over time. We learnt that Bundoora was once a homestead where people lived and farmed, but nowadays it is a place where people and schools go to learn and explore. 

We continued to explore how places in the environment change over time by investigating places in our own local community, such as Malcolm Creek Wetlands in Craigieburn, and learning about its significance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

This fortnight in Numeracy, we have been busy exploring the exciting concepts of mass, volume and capacity through lots of hands-on investigations! We began by discussing and using everyday vocabulary such as lighter, heavier, balance, and scales to describe and compare the weight (mass) of different objects. We used balancing scales and informal units (like glue sticks or counters) to compare the mass of items found around the classroom. Through these experiences, we learnt that informal units must be the same size and weight to make fair comparisons. We also practised hefting using our hands to estimate which object feels heavier before confirming our predictions using scales. Alongside our work on mass, we explored the concept of capacity which is how much a container can hold. We discussed the difference between volume and capacity. Through these hands-on learning experience we were able to develop our mathematical language, reasoning skills, and understanding of how numbers connect to real-life measurement. 

In Personal and Social, we have been learning how to show independent work habits by managing distractions and completing tasks on our own. Together, we have discussed what independent work looks like, practised ways to stay focused, and reflected on our progress. Learning to work independently helps us grow in confidence, persist through challenges, and take responsibility for our learning both inside and outside the classroom.

During RRRR, we have been learning about consent what it means to ask for, give, or refuse consent in different situations. By practising strategies for seeking and giving consent, we are learning how to respect others’ boundaries and keep ourselves and others safe. Understanding and practising consent helps us build positive, respectful relationships every day.

In CBL, we have been learning about how our families’ lives and the places they live have changed or stayed the same over time. We compared what life was like in the past and what it’s like now. We looked at old photos and listened to stories from our parents and grandparents to learn about homes, school, and family traditions. We found out that some things, like technology and shopping, have changed a lot, but some things, like spending time with family, have stayed the same. We also learnt about important places in our community and how they have changed over time. It was interesting to see how our history helps us understand where we live today. 

In Literacy, we’ve started the term exploring persuasive writing. We have been learning how to share our opinions and give reasons to convince others. We are drafting our own persuasive texts using language features such as emotive words, modal verbs, and figurative language to make our writing more powerful.

 We have also been learning about the author’s purpose  why authors write to persuade  and how they use strong language to influence the reader’s thoughts and  feelings. To help us understand this, we have read persuasive picture books such as The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt and  I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff. 

These stories helped us see how authors use convincing reasons and expressive language to get what they want. We are now using these ideas in our own writing to become confident and persuasive writers.

In Numeracy this term, we have revisited patterns. We learnt how to identify the pattern rules whether it is counting forward or backward. We also learnt some mathematical vocabularies that allowed us to understand the process of patterns in different arrangements such as shrinking or decreasing or growing and increasing patterns. 

We further explored into mathematical strategies to solve multiplication and division . We built on the knowledge of skip counting and applied it to repeated addition to solve multiplication problems. Here, we also explored  strategies such as repeated subtraction to show  division on number lines to solve division problems which we then turned into number sentences.

 We also  explored rotations and turns! We learned what quarter, half, three-quarter, and full turns mean by using analogue clocks to show clockwise and anticlockwise movements. Through hands-on activities, we strengthened our understanding and vocabulary to describe each type of turn with confidence.

In the past few weeks, we have been learning lots of new things in our Personal and Social lessons, RRRR sessions, and with our Buddies!
In Personal and Social, we have been practising how to work independently and take responsibility for our own learning. We are learning that being independent helps us get ready for Year 3, where we will need to show more responsibility and confidence in our work. 

During RRRR, we have been learning about Positive Gender Relations  we talked about what violence means and how it can look different, and then we learned that the opposite of violence is respect. 

With our Buddies, we have been working together to show kindness, cooperation, and teamwork. We are learning to make respectful choices and treat everyone fairly. 

In our recent CBL lessons, we have been exploring the many ways families are structured and how culture, religion, community, and the environment influence family life. Through stories like The Family Book and Let’s Celebrate! Special Days Around the World, we shared our own family stories, compared families from the past and present, and discovered that while families may look different, they are all built on love and connection.

We also explored how special places and the environment play a role in family and community celebrations whether it’s gathering outdoors, visiting meaningful places, or honouring traditions that connect us to nature and each other.

These lessons have helped us celebrate the rich diversity of families in our classroom and understand how our own backgrounds, cultures, and environments shape who we are.