Keep up-to-date with your child’s learning with these short weekly updates from their teachers. Click on the buttons below to go straight to your child’s class, or find out what others are up to!
Kindergarten/Boronia Room
The arrival of two beautiful sunny days this week, ignited thoughts of the coming Spring in the Kindergarten. We have been observing the buds emerging on the trees and plants in our garden and delight and joy erupted within our hearts, when two yellow daffodils appeared spontaneously in the garden outside the office. So consequently, this week was all about the little ‘Snow Drop’ and the story of “The First Signs of Spring”.
The children shaped beautiful delicate little snow drops in beeswax in response to Snow Drops that Jasmine brought in from her garden in Blackheath to support the telling of this week’s story, “The First Signs of Spring’. This delightful nature tale highlights the arrival of the little snow drop, as an important sign of the coming of Spring!
The Winter felt mice are complete and we have been catching them running around the room at play time and hiding away in the corners at pack up. The children are very proud of their latest new friends and their crafting abilities. We are now moving onto creating rainbow, springtime cushions with the children’s colourful finger knitting.
Enjoy a restful weekend everyone.
Warmly,
Francine
Class 1/2
The sun has been sparkling this week and we have been enjoying playing outside with our friends. PE with Pete, Gardening with Annie and bush play have been opportunities for the children to stretch their legs and explore our beautiful, bush playground.
The children have been working hard on their recorder playing and this week we have introduced a French folk song Au Clair de la Lune. Seeing their joy and progress makes our hearts warm! There’s always an opportunity for children to practice individually and with a friend before performing in front of the group. They are fortunate to have a friendly and supportive audience to build confidence in performing in front of a crowd.
We have been thoroughly enjoying Science Week in Class 1/2! We began with reading The First Scientists: Deadly Inventions and Innovations from Australia’s First Peoples written by Corey Tutt and hearing about The Emu in the Sky, one of Australia’s most famous dark constellations. The children explored the water cycle and simulated clouds with shaving cream; identified solids and liquids as well as pondering why sometimes things can be liquid and change into a solid while baking Impossible Pie; and identified how nutrients move through plants by placing celery in coloured water. Thank you to Dr Imogen Jones (Sable’s mum) for visiting us to share more about the solar system and how it impacts our seasons. Amazing and inspiring to watch Imogen at work answering all questions big and bigger.
Enjoy a restful weekend!
Warmly,
Kath & Class 1/2 Assistants
Class 3/4
This week we started making clay runes and continued excitedly with our ongoing craft projects.
We drew a map of the Blue Mountains and discussed our associations with each town. To our amusement it was like a “Best Food Guide” to the mountains with passionate excitement about the cafes, and restaurants and bakeries the children love.
We looked at Aunty Carol Cooper’s story and the sadness of how she was not allowed inside the school classroom at primary school. And also the significant history of Gungaree, the Gully, for the Blue Mountains. This place acted as a haven for plants, animals, birds, Aboriginal people and also those down in their luck were welcomed to the sanctuary. A beautiful example of compassion and community connected with nature.
We now have an excursion planned to the Gully for the 11th September, with David King.
We also looked at Aboriginal astronomy and the dark emu, Dinewan that can be seen in the Milky Way and shows time to source emu eggs.
We had more successful Maypole practices. And Cross-Country training is ongoing in the sunshine and crisp air.
We also celebrated two birthdays with delicious fruit to share. Billy and Jupi.
There was a lot of sickness last week and it caught up with Meredith and I this week. We thank Soumya, Jess and Jenn for caring for the class for the end of the week as we rest.
Next week is exciting with Book Week to enjoy. I am passionate about contemporary Australian children’s literature and get very excited about Book Week as an event created to celebrate this.
Enjoy your weekend.
Jeneva and Meredith
Class 5/6
I love it when things come together in synchronistic ways…Science Week has landed during our Geology Main Lesson or perhaps the other way around – either way, it’s good timing. The class heard stories of how parts of the Earth formed and after hearing the stories and forming visual pictures, we went on to the more technical aspects of the subject: rock types and their connection to Earth’s story. We’ve been testing the porosity of rocks around our bush playground with a very systematic and scientific approach. We discussed what a ‘hypothesis’ is, amongst other aspects of scientific report writing. We’re in the process of ‘making’ crystals and hoping for a dazzling outcome.
We were so fortunate to have Sable’s mother, Imogen come and talk to the class about physics. Imogen is an astrophysicist and her deep understanding, extreme curiosity and expert information was infectious to Class 5/6. The children had many intelligent questions and it was great to see how much knowledge and how much curiosity they held for this amazing and far reaching topic. Thank you Imogen!
On other matters: we began designing, collecting, cutting and pinning for our quilting project. The class is trying to beat their personal best each day by running around The Knoll 5 times each morning and then graphing their timed results.
Akira and Louis visited Francine and Kindergarten for a day, as part of Class 6 revisiting their younger years in primary school before moving on.
Next Tuesday is our bushwalk excursion to Evan’s Crown granite rocks near Tarana. Please ensure your child has appropriate footwear, a good amount of food, water bottle, hat and raincoat. We’ll be leaving at 9am.
Book Week and Book Parade is also on. Check newsletter for details. Your children are discussing dress up ideas fast and furiously!
Have a lovely weekend,
Julie and Lee
