Junior School Term 2 Week 3

From the Head of Campus 

I hope all our parents and families are well and adjusting to the wintry days. I wanted to take this opportunity in our Vine this week to reach out to all our mothers and those caring for children at our Junior School. The role of caring for our children as a mother, grandmother, aunty stepmother or other special person is a unique blessing and gift. In doing some reading it is recorded that the first Mothers’ Day was celebrated in West Virginia in 1912 where a special day was created for mothers to be recognised as an important part of our culture and lives.

Our children are the richer when they experience the unconditional love of a mother or mother figure in their lives. I am always inspired by the words of Abraham Lincoln when he said, “All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother.”

What’s on at Junior School  

Preps Have a Day of Halves! 

Prep children at Junior School celebrated the halfway mark to 100 days of school with a day of halves for our 50 days of school celebrations.

We did half of our spelling activities, listened to half of a story, made fairy bread and cut it into halves, drew the other half of our faces, made pictures with shapes cut into halves, decorated the number 50 and created the second half of a picture drawn by our buddies. The children even came to school in halves! They wore their hair half one way and half the other, they had one sock or shoe in one colour and the other half a different colour, some children even had half their clothes one type and the other half a different type. 

It was such a fun way to celebrate our halfway mark to 100 Days of school. 

Some thoughts from the Preps: 

It was fun, all of it!  Maisie 

I loved eating fairy bread. Dabi 

It was fun because everyone was wearing their amazing colours. Mylah 

I liked decorating the 50. Jacob G 

It was fun to make fairy bread. Amelia 

I liked the fact that my mum came, and it was fun seeing my friends in half and half. Parker 

I had fun because it was half day, and my friends were all happy. Ivy 

I liked making fairy bread. Samuel 

It was fun seeing everyone in different clothes. Maeve 

I liked my spiky hair. Kai 

It was good to do LEGO when we had half of investigations. Jacob M 

It was fun playing with my friends and making fairy bread. Maddie

We are looking forward to more fun and learning as we head towards 100 Days of school and beyond! 

Learning all About Time  

This term, one of our units for Mathematics in Year 1 has focused on the topic of ‘Time’. The children have participated in a range of activities with the aim of building and reinforcing their knowledge and understanding of this area of work.

Some of the activities the students have completed include identifying different time words, asking key questions about the topic, searching for analogue and digital clocks through the community, beginning to learn about o’clock and half past times, and completing some problem-solving challenges through our online program of Matific.

One of the set tasks encouraged the children to create an analogue clock using a paper plate. The students worked hard to ensure that their numbers were evenly spaced on their paper clocks, and that they had both a minute and hour hand. This activity reinforced a number of our Building Learning Power principles including perseverance, reflectiveness and being resourceful.

Over the next few weeks, our Year 1 mathematicians will continue to investigate the topic of time as they apply their critical thinking skills to represent different times and to also solve challenges, including questions, such as: How many minutes are there in a day…a month…a year? 

All About Shape!  

One area that holds great potential for engaging young learners is the exploration of 2D and 3D shapes. By incorporating these fundamental concepts into the classroom, our Year 4 students have developed a deeper understanding of geometry, spatial reasoning, and critical thinking skills.

Shape hunts encourage students to search for 2D shapes in their surroundings, both in the classroom and outdoors. This activity develops their ability to identify shapes in real-life objects. Shape sorting provides students with a collection of 2D shape cards and asks them to sort the shapes based on common attributes such as the number of sides or angles. This promotes critical thinking and shape classification skills.

Once students have a solid understanding of 2D shapes, they can progress to exploring 3D shapes. These activities help develop visualisation skills and deepen spatial awareness. 

3D shape manipulations provide students with 3D shape models such as cubes, spheres, and cones. Encouraging them to observe and manipulate these shapes, focusing on their faces, edges, and vertices. This hands-on exploration solidifies their understanding of 3D shapes’ properties. Real-World connections help students recognise 3D shapes in everyday objects such as cans, balls, and boxes. Discussing the relationship between the object’s shape and its purpose. This activity enhances the students’ ability to identify and classify 3D shapes in real-life contexts.

Take a look at all the ways the year 4s have been using shape in and around our school! 

Recorder Time 

In Music this term Year 3 students have been very excited to commence learning the recorder. This fantastic, easily accessible instrument allows young children to play a variety of tunes quickly and easily. The skills required for the recorder are transferable, providing a strong foundation for playing all woodwind instruments including, flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone and bassoon.

Learning the recorder helps students to develop breath control, work on their fine motor skills, learn how to use their tongues to articulate rhythms and provides a great platform to commence pitched reading using traditional music notation on the treble clef stave.

Students have the opportunity in lessons to play all together as a class, in small groups and independently. Students are enjoying the challenge of learning progressively more difficult pieces and have been very keen to share their skills and advance through the different levels of our recorder karate program. 

Uniform Shop Clearance Sale!