Week 7 Term1

Good morning,

I hope you are having a great weekend. As I sit here looking at the beautiful sunrise, I can't help be thankful for the amazing place we live and the opportunity I have to do what I love: that is teach your children!

CLASSROOM

LITERACY

In Spelling last week we started to learn our new rules, one fun way to reinforce our knowledge of the words was to trace them on each others back. This proved to be highly motivating, yet a little more challenging than the children had thought! The students will continue to learn the same spelling rules this week, due to the shortened week last week.

Last week the students began planning a Persuasive text on their own chosen class pet. We spent Wednesday and Thursday planning out our arguments and then on Friday we wrote our introduction. This week will continue to write our expositions; using high modality words, time connectives, varied sentence openers, emotive language and good paragraph structures. I look forward to seeing the final products come to fruition.

In Reading Groups this week, we will be looking at the Reading Comprehension strategy of 'Questioning'. Questioning is when readers ask questions about the text and the author's intention and seek information to clarify and extend their thinking before, during and after reading.

MATHEMATICS

After completing our Place Value unit, we have moved onto reviewing and applying mental and written strategies for the operations of Addition and Subtraction. This week we will continue this and look at the different mental strategies we can apply to multiplication sums, including a focus on our timestables.

RELIGION

We have been working on the unit 'Whispers From Within', which places a focus on the sacrament of Baptism. This week we will round off this unit with a review and assessment, allowing us to lead into our Lent and Easter unit of work.

SCIENCE

Thank you to the Kerr's for the donation of the biggest tadpoles I've ever seen! Science was so much fun this week, the students learnt about the life cycle of a frog in such an interactive way! We had a range of tadpoles at different developmental stages, so as we were learning we could identify which tadpole was at that developmental stage. What I loved the most was, that the students were then motivated to research the optimum habitat for a tadpole to ensure our little buddies stay alive. Thank you to those who brought in donations for this tadpole habitat, we are still looking for an empty fish tank or container with a lid to keep them in. Currently they are in a plastic container with no lid, however if we are successful in keeping them alive, we will eventually need something with a lid!

ART

Last week, we finished our sunset pictures and they look a treat! This week we will be creating a piece of art with water colours, to display in the hall for Holy Week. Our topic is the Ressurection, here is a sneak peek of what we will be creating on the left.

HOMEWORK 

WEEK 7 -

The students will not get new worksheets this week, they will continue to use the ones from last week as there will be spaces on Monday and Tuesday.

1. Reading (Reading Eggspress Book) - 10 minutes each night. Please make sure your child is filling out the Reading Log each night, it takes no more than a couple of minutes to write it in.
NB: Students are asked to read their set Reading Eggspress Book (this will be the same book as last week and then after their Reading Groups they will continue to the book started in class).

2. Mental Maths - Think Mentals 4 Student Book, Week 7: students are to complete a column each night. These will be marked the next day in class, so we are able to discuss the more challenging concepts.

* Please note: I ask that the students complete at least 4 set Mathletics tasks this week.

3. Spelling - Complete LOOK, SAY, COVER, WRITE, CHECK with their given spelling words. They are to also complete one spelling activity into their homework book from the spelling grid. 
(The students have the same words as last week due to the shorter week)

NOTICES

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

There is a general assembly on Friday, we will inform those who will be receiving Merit Awards very soon.

Congratulations to Savannah Van Es, who received a Merit Award last week, she has been working very hard!

One Note

The children have taken photos of their recent Math's test results and uploaded them on One Note under the folder 'My Learning Journey'. We have done this and will continue to do this for every assessment so you are able to see their results, showing what they are doing well and the areas they still need to develop. If you haven't seen these yet, take the time to sit with your child to talk through their results.

PARENT HELP

Some people have expressed interest in helping out in the classroom. Now that we are doing Reading and Maths groups in class, there is always a need for an extra set of hands. You would be required to sit with a group complete an activity together, nothing too challenging! The session times that I would need are morning sessions from 9.15-10.15am (mainly Maths) and other sessions from 11.20-12.20pm (mainly Literacy). I will put up a roster on our class notice board and if you are able to help in any way it would be greatly appreciated.

UTHANDO DOLL PROJECT

As you are aware Mr Torrese will be starting the Uthando Doll Project with the students this term in Design and Technology. Lynn Tognolini will be coming to our school on Friday 23rd March to discuss this project, in particular the benefits of it with the students.

HOLY WEEK

In week 8, all classes will be presenting, on different days, a short reflection on an event from Holy Week. We will be combining with the Year 3's to present the Resurrection to the rest of the school. Some children will receive readings this week, I ask that you practise these at home to learn them off by heart (where possible). Time in class will also be spent doing this.


Have a wonderful week...not long now to our next long weekend!

Mrs Ricciardone