In Religion this week we’ve compiled a list of the formal prayers that we already know. We’ve looked closely at the words to the ‘Our Father’ and have broken the prayer down, line by line, to better understand the meaning behind some of the words and phrases used. In English we analysed a short narrative video by illustrating the setting, and naming and describing the characters in the narrative. We’ve had a focus on using adjectives in our writing this week, in order to give more information about nouns and to make our writing more interesting to read. Reading groups are back up and running again now, and the children have enjoyed the return to routine. 

During Week 7, Year 1 were learning about Data. We worked on different topics to collect, organise and read the information we gathered. When asking people about their favourite colour, we gave them 5 options to choose from. We learnt how to record data using tally marks and then could answer questions about what colours were most/least popular by reading our tables. 

This week we are learning about 2 Dimensional Shapes. We have discussed what horizontal, vertical and parallel lines are. We are also learning the properties of different 2D shapes.

We have enjoyed being back at school to work on our problem solving strategies. Year 1 have been doing an excellent job on using the ‘Draw a picture’ strategy to help solve problems. We all had the same problem but came up with different pictures to help us solve them!

In Science, we have been doing many investigations about how materials can change by bending, stretching and twisting them. We had a lot of fun in Week 6 with our Jelly Snakes investigation! We compared different brands of Snakes lollies to see which brand could be stretched the most. We had to make sure our investigation was fair and stretched each brand the same distance. We then waited to see how much the snakes shrunk back to their original size! Lucky there were plenty of snakes left over!!

In Health we have been discussing the importance of rules. We have rules in the classroom, at home and when we play games in sport. We talked about how rules in sport are important to keep us safe but also make the game fair for everyone to have an equal chance of winning. We had fun playing games outside to understand the importance of these rules. 

Last week in Mathematics we looked at multiplication and spent some time learning our 2 times tables. Children have learnt a new card game which will help them learn their 2 times tables. Please ask your child to teach you this new game all you need is a deck of cards. This week we are looking at division.

In Science this week the children have had to draw their sustainable house and garden labelling their diagram. In the next few days they will need to explain their house and garden while Mrs Dunn tapes them. Hopefully we can share a few of these.

In English last week we worked as a class to collect information about Koalas. We grouped the information in point form then the children worked in groups of three to type up their information report. As promised I have attached two information reports.

YEAR 3

In Religion, we have been exploring different ways to pray. Last week we read from the Book of Psalms. This book of the bible consists of songs and poems that were written by the Hebrews. Some are psalms of praise, others are psalms of thanksgiving, some are psalms of sorrow, while there are some psalms that ask for God’s help. There is a total of 150 psalms in the bible. One psalm we read together was psalm 23 – The Lord is my Shepherd – which is one of the most well-known of the 150 psalms. Many of the psalms in the bible have been used to write modern day songs that we here in our churches today. This week we took part in ‘Lectio Divina’ - a type of meditation and prayer that helps us feel closer to God.

In English, we finished reading the book ‘The Tale of Despereaux’ by Kate DiCamillo. It was a great ending that no one really expected. We are looking forward to watching the movie next week and to comparing it to the book.   

In Maths, we completed activities in Patterns and Algebra. We used a hundreds chart to see the links between multiples of different numbers. For example, there are links between the multiples of 2, 4 and 8 (– 2 is half of 4, 4 is half of 8). When we coloured the multiples of these numbers on the hundreds chart, we found that they made similar patterns. We also looked at patterns in addition and subtraction focusing on the oddness and evenness of the numbers used. Did you know that ‘odd + odd’ will always give an ‘even’ answer; and ‘odd + even’ will always give an ‘odd’ answer; ‘even’ + ‘even’ equals an ‘even’ number. Try it with different numbers.

We also are practising meditation as part of learning about prayer. We took part in a Lectio Divina, which involves using verses from the Bible and meditating on their message and meaning, and we also participated in a guided meditation. We really enjoyed these experiences!

In English, we continue to learn about Figurative Language and we have been focusing on metaphors. We are gaining a better understanding of metaphors and we had fun writing some of our own. We also looked at a list of sentences and determined whether they were similes, metaphors or neither.

In our Persuasive Writing lessons we have been sharing our written texts with the class. After reading the text, class members give their positive statements on the effectiveness of our writing and they also offer suggestions of ways we could improve, e.g. by adding more evidence/ arguments to support our points. It has been a great way to reflect on our work.

Our focus in Maths was Number Patterns last week, and Multiplication and Division this week. We learnt some very interesting facts about the multiples of 3 and we discovered some obvious patterns when we indicated multiples of 3, 6 and 9 on a Hundreds Chart. We had fun finding out about odd and even numbers when adding, subtracting and multiplying even with even, odd with odd and even with odd numbers! We used arrays of counters to see the relationship between multiplication and division and it made it very clear to us. We also learnt about the commutative property of numbers in multiplication, meaning they can be multiplied in either order.

In History, we have learnt about the arrival of the First Fleet into Botany Bay and then to Sydney Cove. We wondered how the Indigenous Australians felt at the time and what sort of questions they may have had.

In Visual Arts we are creating a barn scene from Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White. We are working really well together to draw and paint some barn doors, stall fences, a barn loft and Charlotte’s spider web on the corner of the doorway. It is fun and we are happy with our efforts so far. We are showing great cooperation skills!

 For Drama, we are also practising a Readers' Theatre play about Charlotte's Web. There are a lot of aspiring actors in our class!

In Religion, we have continued looking at the Scriptures and, using a variety of activities, have looked at who was involved, what happened, the messages they give and the how these messages can be lived in our daily lives.      

Two weeks ago, we started NO WASTE WEDNESDAY. Because we are stewards of the earth and we want to create a better world, as a class we decided that we would reduce the waste we were creating from our lunchboxes. In our first week, we were mildly successful, last week was better and this week, better again. We hope to continue this trend and encourage other classes to join us. Along with our Wednesday campaign, TRASHLESS TUESDAY is our next goal.

In English, we have been reading a book called ‘Little Brother’. It is about an 11 year old boy named Vithy who is trying to find his older brother Mang, while he is being chased by the Khmer Rouge. We have just read Chapter 15 where Vithy tells his sad story of his tragic past. (Maria and Ewan)

In Maths, Year 5 have been studying angles and the 4 different types of triangles. They are equilateral, right-angled, isosceles and scalene. We have been using protractors to measure and construct these triangles. Year 6 have been investigating different and difficult angles. (Levi and Elsie)

In Science, we have been looking at tsunamis, volcanoes and what happens when two tectonic plates collide. When two tectonic plates collide, it triggers and underwater explosion which causes tsunamis and eruptions. We have also been discussing how a seismograph works. We acted out how an earthquake and how the seismograph reads the earthquake.

In Art, we have been recreating Asian art. So far we have created a chery blossom tree, the Great Wave nd now we are painting Mount Fuji. (Annalise, El and Georgina)

In Music, we have been making up dances and learning about body percussion.  (Annalise, El and Georgina)

PE has started again and will happen every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 1:30pm. Year 6 are currently doing aerobics with Miss Gallagher and Year 5 are doing brain games with Ms McGann. For Sport we have been doing an underarm throwing version of dodgeball. Last week we also did dancing and stretching activities. (Deacon and Sam)

And introducing….the Year 6 sports shirts!

Our long awaited shirts have finally arrived. We have been looking forward to getting our shirts and the wait was worth it because the design is awesome, the material is soft and comfortable and it includes our classmates’ and teachers’ names on the back. The image below shows what the shirt looks like. (Olivia and Lachlan)