This term the preschool children have returned with lots of excitement for all the upcoming events that will occur in our last term together. We have been discussing school readiness and are encouraging children to develop behaviours and skills that will enable them to be more independent and of course, school ready! In the first two weeks of term we revisited our learning about basic 2D shapes (identifying them by name) and have extended on this learning by teaching the children to not only identify the shapes by name but to also count and identify the edges and vertices of the shapes. With book week this week children will engage in bookmaking experiences both independently and collaboratively, participate in a book week activity with our buddy class, Room 9 and will be learning about text conventions through modelled reading. For the rest of the term children will continue practising for the end of year concert, engage in learning about the life cycle of a butterfly, revisit and consolidate their phonological awareness skills and prepare for their graduation.
Reception – Krystal Room 1 & Anita Room 2:
We have had a very busy start to Term 4 and are excited about all the fun learning and events happening at VPS this term. We have been working hard on consolidating our phonics knowledge and ensuring we have a thorough and in-depth understanding of letter-sound relationships. We have had a large focus on recognising single phonemes, digraphs, tri-graphs and quad-graphs. Having a solid phonics knowledge going into year 1 will help us progress with our decoding and encoding (reading and writing). We were very excited to have Minister John Gardner visit to watch our sound inquiry last week. In writing we have been learning how to write a procedure text types. In Mathematics, we have also been consolidating our knowledge and number skills as well as working on collecting and organising data. We will be doing a week on data and graphing during swimming week. We are excited to finish the year feeling accomplished and ready to become big Year 1’s.
Year 1 – Katrina Room 3 & 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 2020 with excitement and an eagerness to learn. We had an amazing time dressing up as our favourite book characters for book week and we loved seeing everyone participate in the parade. In Maths we are continuing our understanding and fluency with number strategies and applying our knowledge when learning about money. The next topic that we will be learning about is measurement. In writing this term we have continued our focus on narratives and next will be exploring procedural texts. We are looking forward to swimming next week and we will be reflecting on our lessons each day in our swimming journal. We will be using our understanding of the features and structure of a recount to help us. 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 1/2 – Mary Room 5 & Jess Room 6:
Welcome to Term 4! What a busy start to the term it has been with a couple of major highlights of the year occurring already, the Book Week Parade and of course Sports Day! We were so pleased to see the students come dressed as their favourite book characters and ‘Curious Creatures’ and even prouder for their amazing efforts and sportsmanship on Sports Day. We are so excited for our annual swimming lessons next week and can’t wait to learn some new skills as well as revisit old ones. In English we started the term with reviewing the Information Report text type. The students have proven themselves to be excellent researchers, using their note taking skills to write detailed reports. We are now continuing to revisit 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 when we review exposition writing. Whilst some students are continuing to build their Words Their Way spelling rules, others have just started this spelling program this term and are doing a fantastic job. We are also continuing our work to become balanced readers which is focus in guided and modelled reading sessions. In Maths we have just completed our work on subtraction strategies which has carried over from last term. Our next topics will include multiplication and division, chance and data and measurement. In Health we will be focussing on water safety in conjunction with swimming lessons and we will be continue to broaden our knowledge of child protection strategies in line with Day for Daniel on Friday of Week 3.
Year 3/4 Jenna Room 9 & Sabrina Room 10:
After all the curve balls that 2020 has thrown us, we know one thing for sure, the learning that has taken place in rooms 9 and 10 has never stopped and the progress made by our students has been remarkable. Miss Sliskovic and Miss Jenna are extremely proud of all our students and can’t believe the year is almost over!
In literacy this term, Room 10 has read the classic, Jolly Postman and has used this book to inspire their writing. All text types have been revised and refined with exciting themes related to each Jolly Postman letter. Students have demonstrated transference of texts type knowledge and have let their creativity run wild with such a variety of writing tasks.
Room 9 has used their class novel James and the giant peach to inspire their writing this term and will continue to do so into the last weeks of school. We have become peach experts, from where and how they are grown and can describe a peaches appearance using extraordinary vocabulary. We can’t wait to watch the movie and write a compare and contract between that and the book.
In Maths this term data collection and graphing has been the highlight! Students are close to becoming expert data collectors and investigators. Survey creation and graphing has combined real life ponderings with math skills and understandings, which has been been a delight to watch the students enjoy. Worded problem solving and revision of the 4 operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) has also been a focus. Learning how to choose and implement the most efficient strategy has enabled students to become fluent and confident in accurately answering problems.
Within Science this term we have finished our desert survivors unit - which involved the students learning about animal and plant adaptations and how they survive in the desert. We wish that we had some of these adaptations for when out in the hot Virginia sun! We have also just started learning about earths place in space. The students are fascinated with what is beyond the sky and how our earth connects with the sun, moon and other planets.
In between our jam packed learning schedule, we are having a blast practising for end of year concert and can’t wait to show off our super dance moves in week 8!
Year 4/5 – Belinda Room 7 & Rachele Room 8:
Students started the term with great enthusiasm. They thoroughly enjoyed Sports Day and our Book Week parade and buddy class activity. Next week we are off to swimming and I’m sure we will have a wonderful time.
In Mathematics, students will be engaging in a variety of tasks and games aimed at developing and consolidating their skills, knowledge and understanding of fractions. This includes finding equivalent fractions, renaming mixed numbers as improper fractions and adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators. They will then explore how the place value system extends to tenths, hundredths and thousandths and learn how to write these numbers as decimals. Students will finish the term creating simple budgets, calculating running totals and change.
In English, Students will be writing Exposition texts. They will plan, draft and publish these texts choosing text structures and language features appropriate to purpose and audience. They will be investigating the various techniques that authors use to create texts. Students will learn how to revise their writing to improve it. Students will be working with the teacher in targeted reading groups. They will be learning about and practising skills to assist with decoding, fluency and phrasing. The reading strategies we are focusing on this term are ‘Retell & Summarise’, ‘Prediction & Inferring’, ‘Making Connections’ and ‘Questioning’. We will also be exploring new vocabulary and identifying text features and structures of fiction texts. Students will be working on developing strategies which writers need when working out how to spell words to become proficient spellers. Each fortnight, students will create individual lists of words that they will use in a variety of activities. Each list has a particular sound focus and the words contain different ways of representing that sound.
Year 5/6 – Elliana Room 12:
Term 4 is upon us already and even though we say it every term, we can’t believe how fast this year is flying past. The saying must be true - “Time flies when you’re having fun…. and learning lots”. Our year 6’s had a blast at Aquatics last week and our Year 5’s are eagerly awaiting swimming lessons next week!
This term, we are very pleased to welcome Miss R to Room 12, between weeks 2-5. Sharnae Robins is joining us from UNISA for her 2nd year placement of her primary teaching degree. Below is a quick note Miss R has provided for students to get to know her!
I am currently studying a Bachelor of Primary Education at UniSA and am doing my second-year placement. Get to know some things about me:
- I absolutely love working with children and it is a deep passion of mine.
- I have worked within the Arts previously; I was a drama student in Year 12 and performed in many shows.
- I am outgoing, positive, creative, fun, passionate, easy going and a hard worker.
- I enjoy travelling and seeing the world.
- I love spending time with my friends and family.
In mathematics this term, we are finishing off our work with decimals before moving onto some learning about angles and shape. We will be using protractors to investigate, measure and calculate a range of different angles before moving onto some more revision and practice with the four operations to make sure we have these skills mastered before the end of the year.
Within our literacy block this term, will be writing Expositions texts, writing to persuade an audience on a chosen topic. Students will plan, draft and publish these written texts choosing text structures and language features appropriate to purpose and audience. They will be investigating the various techniques that authors use to create texts and will learn how to revise their writing for improvement.
We continue our work in our reading groups continually striving to become more consistent and balanced readers.
This term we are also conducting a biological science unit, where students will be looking at an animal to identify structural, behavioural and physiological features. For example, some animals have large eyes that allow them to see in darkness and some plants have waxy leaves that help minimise water loss. These features, which are important to the survival of an animal or plant in its native environment, are called ‘adaptations’. Adaptations can also be behaviours, such as the instinct to run from danger or the unfurling of leaves when sunlight hits them. Students will be investigating ‘Desert Survivors’ to classify a desert and then investigate the adaptations that different animals within the desert have for survival.
Year 6/7 – Georgina Room 13 & Cathy Room 14:
Term 4 is a very busy term for Room 13 and Room 14. The year 6 and 7 students attended Aquatics and we were very lucky that the weather held up for us. Based on the feedback we received from the students, the students once again found this a valuable experience. For writing we are doing a response text based on the Aquatics experience followed by making a movie. We are also working on discussion texts. The students are also preparing for their graduation speeches, MC applications and student comments.
For Maths the students are learning about data which includes collecting, interpreting and analysing graphs.
Junior Primary / Primary Art – Sue Graham:
Junior Primary classes have used paint, pen and collage to create “curious creatures” to celebrate Book Week 2020.
Middle Primary students have edge printed paintings featuring the beautiful bottlebrush plants found in our school grounds.
Upper Primary students are refining their chalk pastel techniques to also create Book Week creatures.
In the Kitchen garden students are preparing garden beds for the summer break by weeding and tiling. They will plant nitrogen rich plants in the coming weeks.
Junior Primary / Primary Science – James Yates:
Junior Primary students have been busy investigating mixtures and how some mixtures undergo a reaction which can then change that mixtures properties creating a new substance (cake mix – cake etc.) Students enjoyed creating their own Halloween Witches Stew mixtures. Middle Primary classes have been learning about melting and freezing, they have been engaged in many experiments looking at melting and freezing points of a range of objects and how this changes the objects properties. Upper primary students have been experimenting with how to separate a range of mixtures through different processes (hand picking/using tools/ filtration etc.
Junior Primary / Primary Language- Thi Hien Danh:
This is a very busy term for all of us. In Vietnamese children from all classes will be tasting the mooncake. JP students are busy making masks for their play about the stories of “The moon festival and the Jade rabbit.”
Primary classes are finishing off last term work and soon they will be participating in different culture games.
Primary PE – James Yates & JP- Thuy Nguyen:
Primary and JP classes have recently finished off their athletics unit of work which was in preparation for sports day. Kids were very excited that they were able to have sports day this year after many setbacks and did very well on the day. JP students are now starting a football unit of work based on Auskick and Primary classes have revisited their European Handball unit and are now moving onto cricket for the last few weeks.
