Class News: Week 5, Term 1 2023
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
A big thank you to the parents who were able to attend this week’s Parent/Teacher night. We shared the morning songs and verses together, along with the new Autumn Morning Circle, “The Pancake Mill”. Then everyone made something in beeswax and left it for the children to discover the next day at school. We talked about the 12 senses and shared details about the children’s day at school.
In Week 9 of this term, every parent will be given a chance to meet with me for a one-to-one interview to discuss their child’s progress and development at school.
I also raise the point that most of the Kindergarten Festivals take place on a Wednesday at the end of each term, except for the Winter Festival which will be held on Friday evening, 16 June in Week 8 of Term 2.
Please note that the Kindy Autumn Festival will be held on Wednesday 5th April at 10am. This is the last day of Term 1 and children are asked to come to school with their parents at the later time of 10am. After sharing morning tea together, children may go home with their parents or extended family members, or remain at school until 3pm.
School photos are happening next week so please come to school ready for both a group photo and an individual shot. Sibling photos are also available.
We have enjoyed another very full and active week.
Rest well everyone!
Francine, Freya and Zenith
Class 1/2
Can you believe we’re already halfway through the term? Class 1/2 have been busy learning, crafting and playing.
In Main Lesson, Class 1 is working on learning all the letters of the alphabet and their sounds. They are listening to fairy tales to introduce a letter at a time. Once they have slept over it the fairy tale is recalled the next day. The children are getting so good at retelling the story and helping each other when one gets stuck. As part of the recall, they also draw a picture and I scribe a sentence that goes with the picture. After introducing the magic vowels “a” and “i”, we have now started blending simple words such as mat, bat, dip, sit, etc. It’s beautiful to see the children being able to sound out these words and read them. The children are such keen learners and put a lot of effort into their work.
Class 2 have been listening to fables and, this week, started to dramatise them. The children are very engaged and love this activity. They have been acting out their stories this week – during lesson time and also every recess and lunch.
Wednesday marked the first day of Autumn and therefore the start of our St Michael’s play rehearsals. We came together as a whole school to practice the songs, tell the story of St Michael and the Dragon and walk through the script. Class 2 still remembered so much from last year and Class 1 were listening beautifully and trying to join in the songs. We will be practicing the songs and our parts during Morning Circle going forward. Enjoy the sunny weather and have a great weekend,
Isabelle and Amy
Class 3/4
Class 3/4 are working on understanding the concept of perimeter and have been designing their own animal enclosures for Audrey and Fred’s farm. They have calculated the meterage and have worked out how much the fencing wire will cost if it’s $9 per metre. The 9 times tables are our times table of the week. The class are great designers.
Please make sure you return readers at least once a week. It would be great if your child has sunscreen on before they come to school, and also bring their own supply, though we do have some in the classroom if necessary.
Also, water bottles… many children are forgetting to bring their water bottles to school.
Have a great weekend,
Julie and Meredith
Class 5/6
Class 5/6 and their teachers had an absolute ball on camp down at the Yarramundi Outdoor Education Centre! As well as class community-building and gaining some independence in managing being away from home, the encouragement from their leader, Flynn, to be open to the ‘challenge by choice’ activities paid dividends as the students pushed themselves to try rock climbing, the Giant Swing, the High Ropes course (and it was high!) and to stay focussed and involved during the group challenges/initiatives session ‘Alpine Rescue’.
A sprinkle of rain did not deter us from an evening campfire, and more than a few arrows found the target board during our Archery session at the end! A huge thankyou to Martin and Lee for accompanying us, and to Nyla for the lift to and from. A sign on the grounds said, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone”, and it’s always true – on return from camp, students hold their heads a bit higher both socially and academically. There is magic in the PDHPE curriculum, and we are very fortunate to have their facility so close to our school.
With the start of autumn, our St Michael Play practice has begun and the class are doing a beautiful job leading the Townsfolk as they develop their speaking skills to tell this story at our upcoming festival. They just love seeing all the roles which they have carried coming together in our annual Play (a few said they miss being the Class 1 Gnomies!).
For Main Lesson we have been hearing about the opening up of ancient China along the silk road and the adventures of Marco Polo. On Wednesday students were given their first project of the year which is to research an invention of Ancient China still used in the world today – and there are so many! Please let me know if you have any questions or you think your child needs more support. We have gone over the brief and the marking criteria (the latter is in a similar format to what students will experience in high school).
During our Maths practice lessons we have been working on the inverse relationship between multiplication and division, which helps to understand these concepts and remember more number facts. Next week, students will receive a list of the multiplication table facts they need to work on, with the first five facts being the initial target, so as not to overwhelm them – steady does it! 🙂
Just a note for students working on their Typequick programs at home, please ensure they are ‘launching’ their fingers from the ‘home’ position (asdf/jfk;) so they can learn correctly as some are needing reminders during our sessions!
On Friday, I will be going through the updated Food and Clothing Policies with the class especially as being senior students they are now able to help pack their lunchbox and select clothing for school, working within our dress code. It would be so much appreciated if you could please support them in this, a copy will be sent home to help. Many thanks!
Below are some dates for your diary:
- Monday 13 March Swimming Fun Day
- Wednesday 15 to Friday 17 March Class 5 NAPLAN dates (more information to follow)
- Tuesday 21 March 5.30pm St Michael Play
- Tuesday 28 and Thursday 30 March Parent Teacher Interviews (information for booking with Karen will follow).
Enjoy your weekend,
Steph and Lee