Here is our learning for Week 5 and what a busy week it was. This week our classes celebrated the Hindu festival of Diwali also known as the festival of lights. It symbolises the spiritual victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.

We celebrated Diwali by participating in a range of tradition activities. The children had a go at making their own clay diya, a rangoli sand animal and a Diwali themed card for a loved one. The students enjoyed having a go at traditional activities from another culture and students from our own class who celebrated Diwali on the weekend shared their understandings the things they got up to with their families.

During Literacy this week we have been exploring the genre; persuasive texts. We read the book ‘Persuading Mrs Doover’ where two best friends try to convince their teacher to let them sit together by writing a persuasive argument. Then we put 1SA and 1EJ up to the challenge. All the chairs in the classroom were TAKEN and the students needed to come up with all the reasons why they needed them back. The students thought very carefully and made calm, clear and kind arguments as to why chairs were important for their school day. Thankfully Mrs Sharman and Miss Jackson were convinced by the strong evidence of their importance and they were returned promptly 🙂

In Mathematics we continued to discuss position and location with many students showing a thorough understanding of positional language. The students showcased this understanding through their very own ‘bee and flower’ books which may have arrived home this week!

On Tuesday, we were lucky enough to watch some more fish be released into our school billabongs. Mr McCarthy with help of some 5/6 students released many Yarra Pygmy Perch and Purple Spotted Gudgeons into two of the billabongs.

In Health this week,we explored the importance of being assertive. Students role played what it looks like to be assertive, ensuring that they are using affective body language and tone of voice as well as keeping eye contact. We watched a story called ‘Mary Wrightly, So Politely’ and discussed that being assertive is not about being demanding or telling someone what to do. It is about being clear and honest about what you want. In groups we sorted a range of scenarios based on whether they were showing someone ‘being assertive’ or ‘not assertive’. Have a look at us hard a work!

As we are coming into the end of the year and the beginning of December, we have been learning all about Advent in religion. We learnt that Christians mark the four Sundays in Advent as a way to prepare their hearts for the coming of Jesus. The students investigated the meaning of each candle that is lit during the lead up to Christmas and created their own wreaths showing the 3 purple candles resembling hope, love and peace and the pink candle resembling joy.

We look forward to seeing everyone Monday for a another busy week of learning!