Welcome to a look at Week 8!

R U OK? DAY

We celebrated RU OK? Day, a national day of action dedicated to reminding everyone to stay connected and making asking “are you OK?” a part of their everyday. Students wore yellow and engaged with activities to promote the positive messages of the day.

Congratulations to Jason for reading 150 nights!

In Literacy, we learned that the bossy e makes the letter a say its name in words like cake and the letter i say its name in words like bike. As a class, we worked together to write a persuasive text by sharing our opinion, giving reasons, and writing an ending about why we should have tastier lunches. We then practised reading our persuasive texts using a strong voice and expression to convince others.

In Maths,  we continued our exploration of measurement, focusing on length and height. The students had lots of fun using non-standard units to measure various objects around the classroom, including Pokémon characters and natural resources. They were encouraged to measure accurately, order their items from smallest to largest, and describe their findings using comparative language such as shorter than and longer than. It’s been wonderful to see them developing their measuring skills through hands-on learning!

Measuring and ordering our heights.

In Technologies, we tested our bridges to see if they were successful. We checked if they could hold the three goats and if they were tall enough for the troll to fit underneath. Afterwards, we thought about what worked well and what we could change to make our bridges even better. We wrote our reflections on the back of our A4 design sheet from week 4, finishing with the sentence “Next time we would…” to show how we could improve our design.

In Health, we  learned that when people argue, it’s normal to feel worried, but it’s important to stay safe. We talked about what children can do if they see or hear an argument, like going to a safe place and telling someone in their trusted network.

In Religion, we explored the important role families play in our lives. Our learning intention was to understand that families are a place where children are nurtured, feel safe, and begin to learn how to be part of a community. After reading God Gave Us Family by Lisa Tawn Bergen, we discussed how our families show love and care. The students then reflected on something that their parents had taught them and wrote a sentence about it.

In Science, This week, the children learned about forces, focusing on push and pull. We explored everyday objects that we push or pull, and discussed how these forces help us move things. Students then chose a toy, drew a picture of it, and explained whether they use a push, pull, or both to play with it!

Welcome to Week 7. We wish all of our fathers a very Happy Father’s Day!

Father’s Day Crafts

In English, we have been learning about base words and suffixes, as well as different spelling patterns for the /er/ sound. Students explored ‘ir’ (stir), ‘ur’ (surf), ‘er’ (fern), and practiced reading two-syllable words with ‘er’.

In writing, we have been focusing on the features of persuasive texts. Students used the word “because” to support their opinions (e.g., “I think we should have a class pet because…”). They practiced this through sentence building, partner talk, and journal writing with drawings. We also explored strong and emotive words (like fun, safe, best). Students helped with shared writing, highlighted strong words in examples, and improved their persuasive sentences by adding adjectives before rewriting their class pet opinions with drawings.

In Maths, we are exploring the concept of length by learning to order objects from shortest to longest. The children have been observing things around the school that are narrow, wide, short, and long, and practicing using everyday language to describe and compare lengths. We have also been ordering caterpillar models based on their length to support their understanding.

In Religion, students have been learning that Christians are people who believe in Jesus and follow his example. They showed their understanding by creating posters to share what they know about Christianity.

In Technologies, students have been generating and communicating ideas through making. This week, they built their bridges from the designs they created last week, using the materials they had planned. They even tested their bridges with a troll to check how high and strong they needed to be!

In Health, students have been learning about protective behaviours to keep themselves and others safe. They discussed what violence means and learned that everyone has the right to feel safe. After listening to This is Our House by Michael Rosen, students talked about safe ways to manage anger and created strategies they can use to help others when they are feeling angry.

Welcome to Week 6.

In Literacy, students explored the ‘or’ sound in words like fork and snore, and practised adding suffixes ‘s’ and ‘ing’ to verbs to use them in sentences. In writing, we continued our learning about persuasive texts. Students read a model text, identified opinions and reasons, and wrote their own piece titled We Should Have More Play Time at School, complete with illustrations. They also practised writing short persuasive messages to different audiences such as parents, teachers, and the principal.

This week in Maths, the children have been exploring measurement, with a focus on capacity. They used informal units to measure various containers, then ordered them from smallest to largest. Using language like “more” and “less,” they explained their findings and compared the capacities with growing confidence.

In Religion, we learned that Christians are people who believe in Jesus and follow his example. We watched a short video about Christianity, discussed what it means, and explored the significance of different Christian symbols such as the cross and the fish. Students then drew some of these symbols and wrote about what they represent in the Christian faith.

In Technologies, Year 1 students used the story The Three Billy Goats Gruff as inspiration for their design challenge. They were asked to create a bridge strong enough to hold the goats and tall enough for the troll to fit underneath. Working in pairs, students drew and labelled their bridge designs on A4 paper, ready to build them in next week’s lesson.

In Health, we learned about protective behaviours and basic needs that help keep them safe and happy. After reading Mutt Dog, we discussed how pets and children feel when their needs are not met, and whose responsibility it is to provide care. Students shared ideas about what children need to feel safe, such as food, water, shelter, love, and friendship, before writing and illustrating their own lists of basic needs.

In The Arts, we practised the Waka Waka dance, focusing on showing confidence and respect while performing. We also learned about audience etiquette by watching, listening, and encouraging others respectfully during performances.

In HASS, we are learning to identify natural features of local places by exploring stories from First Nations Australians. The children watched the story of ‘The Rainbow Serpent’ and were looking for the natural places mentioned. We also had a go at reading map symbols for natural features and then used these symbols to create our own maps.

Working with our Buddies

This week, 1IA and 3EV enjoyed a fun afternoon together exploring art inspired by the full moon. We are getting excited as we prepare for our Moon Lantern Festival Assembly, which we will be hosting on Friday in Week 10.

Dear Parents and Carers,

In Technology this term, our students are working in pairs to design and build their own bridges as part of our designing challenge! They have already planned their designs and listed the materials they may need to bring from home.

We kindly ask for your support in sending in any materials your child would like or needs for their bridge. Many are using recyclable items such as toilet rolls, cups, small boxes, cardboard etc.

The goal is to build a bridge that is tall enough for a “troll” to fit underneath and strong enough to hold the Three Billy Goats standing on top!

Thank you for helping support.

Kind regards,

Emily and Irene

Welcome to Week 5!

Bookweek Photos

We learned to add ‘s’ to words to make them mean more than one, and we learned the ‘ar’ sound like in the word star. We also learned that persuasive writing is used to convince others, and we learned to use persuasive words like “I think” and “You should.” We wrote a persuasive text on ‘Pick up your Rubbish’ in our learning journals and added a picture.

In Religion, we learned that Christians are people who believe in Jesus and follow his example. We listened to Gospel stories and shared how Jesus showed love to others. We watched the video “Jesus loves everyone” and wrote a sentence using “Jesus showed love when he…”. We also illustrated our sentences in our learning journals to show why we should follow Jesus’ example.

This week in Maths, we have been learning about capacity. The students have been using informal units like sand, blocks, and water to measure and compare how much different containers can hold. They enjoyed ordering the containers from smallest to largest capacity through hands-on activities!

In Technologies, we tested our boats to see if they could float with the Gingerbread Man inside for one minute. We learned which boats were strong and could stay floating. We were very excited to discover that all of our boats floated!

Book Week is fast approaching…

Students are encouraged to dress up as their favourite book character this Thursday the 21st of August.

Welcome to Week 4.

In English,  we learnt the ‘ue’ sound like in glue and the ‘ew’ sound like in grew. We also practised editing our writing and creating a final recount about a familiar class event, with 1EJ and 1IA writing about their own Assembly.

In Maths, we continued exploring the concept of mass. Students discovered that bigger objects aren’t always heavier and enjoyed hands-on activities such as hefting, using balance scales, and comparing the weights of different items. We also began exploring capacity, learning how we can measure containers by how much they hold through fun, practical investigations.

Last week in Technologies, we designed a boat for the Gingerbread Man to cross the river, drawing and labelling the materials we would need. This week we made our boats according to our designs. Next week, we will test them to see if they will float for one minute and hold the Gingerbread Man safely.

In Health, we learnt about protective behaviours and how to keep ourselves and others safe. We talked about what safe touch is, what not safe touch is, and why it is important to respect others, then drew pictures to show each scenario and shared our ideas about how to speak up and tell a trusted adult.

In Science, we continued our learning about living things, focusing especially on animals. We visited Mudla, the fish farm, and the billabongs, and had a special talk from Mr McCarthy, who cares for the animals at our school. We got to touch, see, and listen to important information about these animals, helping us understand how they live and how to look after them.

Welcome to Week 3!

In Literacy, the class worked together to write a recount of a shared event, focusing on starting sentences with time words and using capitals and full stops correctly. Then, students used their plans to write their own individual recounts about familiar experiences.

Students brainstormed ideas as a class and wrote recounts about school events, everyday routines, special celebrations, or home and weekend experiences.

Throughout the week, students also learned about the “igh” sound in words like light and were introduced to adjectives, discovering how describing words make writing more interesting.

In Maths, we concluded our learning on patterns. Students had the opportunity to showcase their understanding by creating and repeating a variety patterns, identifying the unit of repeat and discussing the similarities and differences. We then began exploring the concept of Mass.The students were introduced to the term hefting as they compared the weight of different objects using their hands.

In Religion this week, we explored the sacrament of Baptism. Our learning intention was: In the sacrament of Baptism, the Church community welcomes new members. Students learnt about the key people involved, some of the important symbols used, and had the opportunity to explain what happens during a baptism ceremony.

This week in Design and Technologies, students explored how to create and communicate their ideas by designing their own boats. They were challenged to build a boat that could hold an object in water for at least one minute. Students carefully drew and labelled their plans, thinking about the materials they would need to make their designs float and stay strong.

In Science, we’ve been learning about the needs of living things, with a special focus on animals. Students explored how we care for our pets and what they need to stay healthy and happy. Each student chose a pet and wrote about what it eats, where it lives, and how they would look after it.

In HASS, we continued exploring natural, managed, and constructed environments. We brainstormed examples of each within our school grounds and discussed how they are different. Students then created an artwork to display their understanding of these environments.

In The Arts, students learned about non-locomotor movements and their body zones. During the lesson, students practiced safe dance habits like warming up, cooling down, staying aware of their environment, and drinking water. They explored why people dance and reviewed locomotor movements—those that travel from one place to another—before being introduced to non-locomotor movements, which are performed on the spot.

Students took turns leading and copying non-locomotor movements, such as hopping on the spot, and followed along with fun dance videos like the Cha Cha Slide. We then finished with gentle stretching to cool down.

Andrew Chinn

Have a wonderful weekend! We look forward to seeing the students on Monday 🙂

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Over the next couple of weeks in Design and Technologies, students will be building a small boat that can hold a gingerbread man and float in a pool of water for at least one minute!

Students have already designed their boats and considered the types of materials they may need. To support this activity, we are kindly asking for donations of recyclable materials that could be useful for boat construction.

Some suggested items include:

• Cardboard boxes

• Plastic water or soft drink bottles

• Aluminium foil

• Popsticks/paddle sticks

• Toilet paper or paper towel rolls

• Bottle caps

• Foam trays

• Other lightweight, waterproof or floatable items

Please send any materials to school with your child by the 12th of August.

Thank you for your support in helping make this a fun and creative learning experience!

Kind regards,
Emily and Irene

Welcome to a look into Week 2!

This week in Literacy, we reviewed the long vowel digraphs ai, ay, ee, ea, oa, and ow and we also introduced the sound -y (as in cry). We also revisited homophones, listened carefully to long vowel sounds, read words aloud, and had fun playing a sentence-making game using our focus sounds. To strengthen our reading fluency, we practised our tricky words, read a short paragraph together, and went on a word hunt to spot words we’ve been learning.

During story time, we revisited the book Captain Jack and the Pirates. We summarised the story together and explored new vocabulary words such as abandon, spy, and holler. To finish, we completed some story-based activities to help consolidate our understanding of the text.

During writing, our focus was on planning a recount using time connectives. We explored important time words such as first, next, then, after that, and finally. We practised identifying time words and how they help us sequence events clearly. Students then practised retelling their recount plan for our shared event, Visit to the Library, using these time connectives.

To apply their learning, students completed a hands-on picture sequencing activity, using time word cards to retell the event in order.

In Maths, students are recognising, copying, and continuing repeating patterns, identifying the unit of repeat as they build their understanding of how patterns work. This week, we also explored how music has patterns. We made our own patterns using actions to the popular song We Will Rock You.

In Religion, students are learning how the Church community welcomes new members through the sacrament of Baptism. They are exploring the key people involved and recognising important symbols used in this special celebration.

In Health students are learning to name and label parts of the body using correct terms. They are also exploring how we use different body parts, helping them to build self-awareness and understand how to care for their bodies respectfully.

In HASS, students have been learning to identify and sort features in their environment. They explored the log park and learned to recognise natural, managed, and constructed features by drawing and labelling their observations.

In Design and Technology, students generated and communicated ideas by drawing bird’s eye and front/side views of a cubby house. They then brought their designs to life by building their cubby houses using recyclable materials! Have a look at our creative work.

We look forward to seeing the children return to school on Monday the 4th of August.