Welcome back Year 1 families to another exciting term! The Year 1 students have been busy as bees starting our poetry unit in Literacy. We have been exploring different types of poetry about topics such as seasons and animals and introducing some poetic devices that poets use including similes, repetition and rhythm.

So far students have had lots of fun writing acrostic and simile poems on different topics. Take a look at some of our wonderful work below.

In Reading, students will read a variety of narratives, information texts and

poems. They will consider text structure and language features of these texts,

and will work on developing the comprehension strategies of visualising,

retelling, questioning and inferring. When reading independently, students will

focus on developing their reading fluency and expression.

In Writing, students will continue to create narratives and write a variety of

poems. There will be a strong focus on developing descriptive language in their

writing and varying sentence structure. They will use their knowledge of the

writing process to publish their favourite pieces of writing.

In Maths, students will complete simple division tasks, focusing on equal

shares. They will recognise and describe simple fractions such as half and

quarter. Students will be able to recognise and classify common 3D shapes.

Students will create simple questions, gather responses, and represent their

data in a table and graph.

In Inquiry, students will engage in the topic ‘Weather and Climate’, where

they will investigate local weather and climate conditions, collect data using

thermometers, as well as explore the effects on people, animals and the environment.

Welcome back to the final term for 2019! 

The weeks ahead are filled with lots of exciting learning and events. 

The Grade 2 cohort are really looking forward to our sleepover coming up in the next few weeks. Students will engage in some special entertainment, have dinner at school with their classmates and friends. They will enjoy setting up their beds and going to bed only to find themselves still at school the next morning! Students will be involved in a camp style routine to help build their confidence for camp in the coming years. 

In Literacy, we are looking at the features of narratives. Students will be breaking down these features in reading and analysing the way in which they have been used in texts. In Writing students will be using these features as building blocks along with the help of VCOP to be creative writers. 

In Maths, students will be consolidating all four number operations and applying them to topics like money or fractions. We will also be building on our knowledge of 3D shapes, capacity and location. 

Our Inquiry Topic this term is a new topic for Grade 2, students will look at one of their favourite topics, technology. Students will explore the world of technology and coding.

The Grade 3’s have had a busy start to their Term 3. Following the writing process, students have enjoyed sharing wonderful holiday memories through their written recounts. During math sessions, students have been consolidating their knowledge of place value through a range of different activities such as games, MAB, think sheets, digital media and focus groups. 

Inquiry

This term, the Grade 3’s inquiry topic is ‘Ecosystems’.Through this engaging topic, students will investigate an ecosystem and how it is made up of living (biotic/biological) and non-living (abiotic) components that work together. They will learn that an Ecosystems exist in many different physical environments and discover there are different categories of ecosystems. During week 5, students will go on an excursion to the Royal Botanical Gardens and build on their learnt knowledge of ecosystems and what can have negative and positive influences on them. 

Reading

In Reading, students will continue to participate in daily reciprocal reading and complete weekly roles focusing on strengthening their use of reading strategies; link maker (making connections), summariser, visualiser, questioner, predictor, clarifier and illustrator. During shared reading, students will be exposed to a range of different genres and topics, linking their reading of Non Fiction texts to our Inquiry topic.

Writing

During writing sessions, students will continue following the writing process and participating in VCOP sessions including BIG Writes and COLD Writes. They will further build on Up-Leveling their writing and extending their vocabulary. This term, students will link their inquiry topic by writing information texts. They will focus on correct structure and the key features of this genre including illustrations and diagrams. During the second half of the term, students will complete a poetry topic. Through this sequence of lessons, students will create a range of different types of poems and utilise figurative language to craft their writing. 

Maths

This term in maths, students will build on their understanding of fractions. They will name, label, create and represent fractions in different ways. They will compare fractions and transfer their understanding to real life situations. Students will enhance their ability in reading the time to the minute using an analogue clock. They will build on their understanding of money and consolidate their problem solving skills through real life scenarios. There will be an opportunity for students to be creative when learning about symmetry and utilising 2D shapes to create tessellations. Students will learn about probability and the language of chance in mapping the likelihood of everyday events.

Term 4 is an exciting time for the Grade 4 students. They will continue to develop and grow their learning across the curriculum, attend excursions and incursions and prepare for next year as grade 5 students. 

Reading

Throughout the term, students will continue to develop fluency, accuracy, decoding and comprehension skills in reading. Students will explore Fountas and Pinnell reading and comprehension strategies to target their reading needs. Students will focus on critiquing, searching for and using information, summarising and word solving. Students will participate in reading activities, including Guided Reading, Literacy Circles and independent tasks to practise these skills. 

Writing

In Writing, students will be writing recounts, narratives and persuasive texts. They will continue to develop strategies to engage their readers, develop correct sentence structure and punctuation and use subject specific technical vocabulary. Students will develop their skills drafting, revising, editing and publishing texts. Students will complete weekly Home Talk in preparation for their Big Write on Thursdays and will participate in VCOP and Breakdown Buddy sessions.

Numeracy

This term in Mathematics, students will be continuing to develop their number and algebra skills. They will be developing their knowledge of money, shape, geometric reasoning, and shape transformation. Students will continue to have their learning targeted to their needs in flexible maths groups. 

Inquiry

Throughout the term, students will be exploring new concepts in Inquiry, including design technologies and sustainability. Students will explore design technologies where they will recognise the role of people in design and technology occupations and explore factors, including sustainability, that impact on the design of solutions to meet community needs.