Reception – Krystal Room 1 and Anita Room 2
We have had a great start to the final term of the year. Students had a fantastic week at swimming last week and recorded a recount of each day in their swimming journal.This term in English we have been learning how to write narratives. In Reception, the goal for narrative writing is to use our descriptive writing skills to write a good orientation. An orientation is the beginning part of a narrative and includes the When? Where? And Who? elements. We have then been attempting to write the what? element of a narrative, which focuses on a problem and how the problem is solved. In Guided Reading, we have been reading and learning about Information Reports. This learning will help us to summarise the key information in non-fiction texts.
In Mathematics we have been consolidating our learning in all areas. We are really focusing on counting forwards and backwards, recognising numerals, addition and subtraction facts and mental computation skills.
In science we have been learning about different animals that live in the ocean. This ties in to our guided reading and our descriptive writing lessons. We look forward to starting our concert item and the end of year celebrations.
Reception / Year 1 – Katrina Room 3 and Christina Room 4
Wow, we cannot believe we are already in Term 4. Time definitely flies when you’re having fun. Everyone has welcomed the last term of 2019 with excitement and an eagerness to learn. We had such an amazing time at swimming last week and reflected on our lessons each day in our swimming journal. We were able to use our understanding of the features and structure of a recount to help us. In maths we are continuing our understanding and fluency with number strategies and applying our knowledge when learning about money. We have started learning about narratives and how to write an interesting and exciting orientation as well as detailed character descriptions. This will support the foundation for writing the sequence of events and resolution. We look forward to developing our skills in writing narratives and being able to share our published narratives with the our peers. We are excited about consolidating this year’s learning in the next few weeks in the lead up to the end of Term 4.
Year 2 – Jess Room 5 and Mary Room 6
Welcome to Term 4! What a busy start to the term it has been with one of the highlights of the year, swimming week. We are proud of our organisation and behaviour at swimming and we absolutely loved learning new skills and practising old ones. In English we started the term with review writing and enjoyed the process of reviewing some well-loved books. We are now revisiting the genres taught throughout the year with a swimming reflection journal that consolidates our recount skills. We are also looking to sharing our opinions on different topics for exposition writing. We are continuing to learn our Words Their Way spelling rules and our work to become balanced readers is a focus in guided sessions.
In Maths we started the term with work on fractions and enjoyed learning about halves, quarters, fifths and eighths. Our next topics will be multiplication and division where we will have another chance to apply our learning through worded problem solving. In Health we have been focussing on water safety in conjunction with swimming lessons and we will be revisiting child protection strategies in line with Day for Daniel which we will acknowledge on Friday of Week 3. Looking back to the end of Term 3, the students in Room 5 are proud to announce that they raised over $200 for the Little Heroes Foundation with our cake stall. We would like to say a big thank you to all those who supported us.
Year 3/4 Jenna Room 9 and Sabrina Room 10
Room 9 and 10 have launched into a busy final term of learning! We can’t believe it is Term 4! We very much enjoyed travelling together in week two by bus to the Aquadome for our swimming lessons. We learnt many important skills to keep us safe in the water which complimented our health lessons where we are learning strategies to protect ourselves.
This term we are revising and consolidating concepts taught throughout the year. In English we are writing letters to Santa/parents to convince them in three reasons, why we deserve to be on the ‘nice’ list! In maths we are focusing on revision of number concepts and problem solving using money amounts. We are using RUCSAC as a success criteria to comprehend the problems and help us to select the correct operation and strategy. We are working in groups and learning to respectfully challenge each other’s thinking.
During our Science unit ‘Beneath our Feet Students this term, we are learning about the process of erosion and the effect time has on natural landmarks. Linking nicely into this unit of work in Civics and Citizenship, we are making our very own a worm farms! We aim to give back the castings to our kitchen garden to help the plants and vegetables flourish! We will be documenting this process for our yearly peace project.
We are looking forward to soon starting practise on our musical item for the end of year concert! We know this term will continue to fly by so we are making the most of every ‘learning’ minute.
Year 4/5 – Belinda Room 7, Rachele Room 8 and Elliana Room 11
In maths, students will be involved in reading and interpreting worded problems, and will need to be able to select the appropriate operation(s) to solve the problems. They will approach each problem in a systematic way to ensure they understand what they are being asked to do. The acronym RUCSAC will be constantly referred to when problem solving. On Thursdays and Fridays, students will be investigating measuring time. They will be refining their skills with telling the time, reading time in 12 and 24 hour form and interpreting timetables. They will be investigating different Australian time zones. Students will then be collecting, recording, displaying and interpreting a variety of data.
In writing, students will start the term writing response texts. They will be making judgement statements about the Parliament House tour and the swimming lessons. Students who did not attend swimming will be responding about the book Victor’s Quest. When writing they will need to attend to the structure of the text and use judgement vocabulary in the 4th paragraph where they write their critical summary and in the last paragraph where they evaluate the event and recommend it.
Students will then finish the term writing poetry. This will allow the students to once again focus on using descriptive language. They will be investigating rhyming words and learning about how and why authors use figurative language.
In guided reading lessons, students will continue to develop the skills to become balanced readers. As well as being able to decode and read fluently, balanced readers need to be able to comprehend the text at different levels (literal, inferential, response). Students will be engaging in a variety of comprehension activities independently and in small groups.
Year 6/7 – Georgina Room 12, Jason Room 13 and Cathy Room 14
In reading, we have shifted our focus to look at various forms of discussion text types. Some of the structures and elements that we have been looking at are: Ideas with supporting evidence, expert testimonials, counter arguments and contrary statements. We are continuing small group Guided Reading sessions and Literacy Circles for some groups.
In writing, we have been constructing discussion and response texts. This response text was to give learners the opportunity to discuss and judge their experiences from Aquatics. They have been able to write well-structured responses that include context, recounting of experiences, judgements and recommendations. For our discussion writing, students have been given a range of different topics that they have been asked to discuss in a fair and even manner. Then they are asked to include personal pronouns, emotive language and high-modality word choice to show their opinion and indicate judgement.
In Mathematics we have been focussed on data collection and representation. This has included a range of ways to present data such as pie charts, segmented bar graphs and dot plots. After concluding these topics we will be looking into finding the Average. Learners will be required to collect and analyse data to find the mean, median and mode of various number based scenarios.
Junior Primary / Primary Art – Sue Graham
Students are involved in a term of Dance/Drama studies. Junior primary students are working on weekly themes using a play based approach whereby costumes, props and music are used to help students think creatively when acting out various scenarios.
Middle and upper primary students have formed drama “teams” for the duration of the term. They will be studying the elements of Drama such as plot, theme, characterisation and setting. The successful study of Drama is contingent on students being able to plan and manage time, build trust and develop conflict resolution skills in a group situation. The emphasis this term is on developing great team work skills.
Junior Primary / Primary Science – James Yates
The Junior Primary students have recently started their final assessments for their topic on objects and their properties. I have been really impressed with a large number of students being able to distinguish different materials and observe and explain a variety of properties.
The middle primary students have also just started their final assessments on materials. The students have really enjoyed their building lessons in which they have been making different structures and learning how to make materials stronger based on shape and support.
The primary students have recently started their final unit of work based on physical and chemical change. Students have shown a great interest in this topic and are looking forward to experimenting with more materials.
Junior Primary / Primary Language- Thi Hien Danh
This term, students will be focusing on some traditional games. Junior Primary classes will be learning about different types of games and these lessons will be integrated with P.E lessons. Primary classes will have a major focus on badminton and tennis.
At lunch time on Wednesdays and Fridays some children from year 5 to year 7 will be practising fan dancing and designing traditional Vietnamese hats. This dance will be performed at the end of year concert.
JP/P PE – James Yates and Marie Lionello
This term all students participated in an Adelaide Crows presentation, followed by a clinic for the JP students to encourage them to be an active and positive team player.
The JP students have been focussing on skipping skills and team games with an emphasis on co-ordination, being persistent and continuing to work positively as a team.
The Primary students have been continuing on with their Netball unit of work. Students have picked up the skills/rules involved really well and have begun playing in proper matches and are adjusting to the different positions.
