Wednesday (Term 2 | Week 8)

Welcome to wonderful Wednesday!

As the children unpacked their bags and sat on the mat for morning organisation, we had a word spotting challenge for them based on the theme of books and reading. Well done to the following eagle-eyed students:

LIAM for finding PAGES
KYLE for finding NOVEL
ALEER for finding WORDS
LINA for finding STORY
ABEL for finding READ
ARNAV for finding BOOK

LIBRARY

Today we shared a book called Respect: ‘Our way is respect. We listen. Learn. Share. We respect Country, each other, me.’

Dream team Aunty Fay Muir and Sue Lawson, who previously brought us the excellent Nganga: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander words and phrases, have collaborated with artist Lisa Kennedy to deliver this absolutely exquisite picture book. In Respect, the first book in Magabala’s Our Place series—the aim of which is to welcome children to Aboriginal culture—Muir and Lawson’s sparse text is offset by Kennedy’s luminous images, which come alive on the page. We follow a young girl as she learns the importance of respecting nature, Country, her heritage and her elders. As her grandmother tells her: ‘Our way is old, older than red earth, older than flickering stars. Our way is respect.’ Kennedy blends past, present and future in her evocative imagery, which is redolent of traditional illustrative techniques while also envisioning the future of Aboriginal art and culture. Mixing motifs reminiscent of cave paintings with modern illustrations, the visual depictions underscore Muir and Lawson’s text about the enduring importance of respecting elders and the ways of the past, as well as respecting others and, importantly, yourself.

PHONICS: LETTERS AND SOUNDS

Group 1 were learning about the letter v and the sound it makes /v/.

Group 2 were learning about the digraph -ng.

NUMERACY

We continued with our number investigations. Some children worked with Mrs Papillo who taught them how to play a new numeracy game, whilst others responded to various provocations laid out around the room.

: Adding and subtracting game.

: Cards and sorting.

: Filling in the gaps.

: Making towers of numbers.

: Roll & Build

: Tracing numbers.

: Snakes and Ladders

: Subitising Game.

: Numbers and subitising.

: Copy the numbers and draw the matching Trdots.

We followed this with outdoor fitness for 20 minutes.

SCIENCE

Today we were finding out about animal habitats.

Mrs Handforth asked: What do you know about habitats?

Dylan: A habitat is where an animal lives
Lowell : It is what makes the animal live. The Arctic is a habitat for Polar Bears.
Abhay: Animals might live in trees or bushes.
Ebony: Ladybugs live in habitats like the air or on plants.
Andrew: Habitats are everything an animal needs
Deanna: A forest is a habitat.
Aisha: Habitats have things in them to eat.
Abel: Some habitats have water.
Williams: Animals need to drink water.
Vonn: Possums live in holes in the ground.
Riaan: Habitats are homes for animals.

We shared a brief presentation in class and discussed the living creatures we saw and the features of the natural habitats in which they live.

We then went over the MUDLA, where living things are living in habitats that are man-made. The students explored this learning space and then chose at least one man-made habitat to explore in more detail. They recorded the habitat and the features of the man-made habitat that provide food, shelter and security.