From the Classroom

FOUNDATION – YEAR 2

These are busy times in Foundation to Year 2. Our youngest students have continued learning their letter sounds and have been working on mastering their formation. In Maths, among other skills, our students have been learning how to subitise, which means they can look at a number of objects and work out how many there are without actually counting each one. To help grasp this skill, they have played with dominoes.

The Foundation students have been introduced to their buddies, our brilliant Year 5 students, and they have begun building meaningful relationships. Foundation students are learning to follow the school rules and routines, such as being kind and helpful to one another.

Year 1 students have been excited to learn about the features and lifestyles of various minibeasts. They have explored how these tiny, amazing creatures grow and change. They have incorporated minibeasts into their art to form starfish out of salt dough and created collaged butterflies and caterpillars. In Maths, students have been focusing on patterns, while in literacy, activities have included learning new digraphs — two letter combinations that represent one sound — and then identifying words that contain those digraphs.

Year 2 have been exploring sustainability, which includes working out ways to protect and conserve our environment at school. They are becoming very knowledgeable about this important issue and are learning how sustainability is important for the parks near our school, where many birds live. Students have also discovered some interesting ways to learn about procedural texts by crafting their own pizza, making pancakes and understanding how to bathe a dog. Our amazing teachers are continually creating engaging ways to make learning fun.

Foundation A have been learning some new Maths games. Students used their Super Hero eyes to quickly look at the different coloured counters and then their Maths partner covered up the counters. Students then had to try to remember how many counters they saw in each colour before their partner revealed the counters and they counted them together.
Foundation B have been exploring the season of autumn. The students created rhythmic art pieces using their fingers and pastels that incorporated the colours of autumn.
In Year 1, the students have been exploring patterns. They have learnt that a pattern is something that repeats in a regular cycle — over and over again. They enojoyed creating their own patterns using materials in the classrooms such as unifix cubes, counters, pencils, sticks and even themselves. Students have also been simplifying patterns by classifying them using the AB pattern structure. It has been a fun and engaging way to deepen their understanding of patterns.

In Art, students have continued their creative minibeast journey as part of Integrated Studies. They have made butterflies, bees, ladybugs and caterpillars and now they are exploring sea minibeasts, including starfish. The students had a fantastic time using salt dough to mould and shape the five legs of a starfish. They carefully rolled and formed the dough, adding holes to create a more realistic texture. After allowing the starfish to dry overnight, the students were ready to showcase their amazing artistic efforts.

Our Year 2 students are learning the value of money. They have been shopping using Big W catalogues, selecting their favourite items, and then using different combinations of money to purchase those items.
There is a buzz of excitement throughout the Year 2 classrooms as we take our class pets home for a week. So far, our pets have attended birthday parties, gone to the city and even enjoyed doing some crochet.

YEARS 3 – 5

The busy year continues in the Junior School and the Years 3 and 5 students have just completed the annual NAPLAN tests. These tests assessed the students’ English skills through their written work, reading comprehension and knowledge of spelling, grammar and punctuation. The students also completed a maths/numeracy test.

The students have all been working hard in the classroom to prepare for these tests. After tests were done, we felt our students had earned a break, so we wandered down to the local park for some fun and games. There is nothing like getting your feet wet on a nice hot summer’s day and returning to school just in time for an icy pole.

In 3A, as part of our Integrated Studies unit on celebrations, students explored the Carnivale in Brazil. They learnt about the festival’s traditions and then got creative by designing and decorating their own festive masks. To bring the Carnivale experience to life, the students showcased their colourful masks in a lively parade with samba music.
This week, 3B have been learning about fractions. They learnt that fractions are one way of showing ‘parts of a whole.’ They also learnt that fractions can be written as traditional fractions, or they can be written in words, or shown using different objects.

For part two of their ‘en plein air’ art sessions, Year 4 students took an opposite approach to the previous nature-focused session by venturing out to the school fence. First, they sketched their piece in grey lead, capturing the newly-developed urban landscape on the north side of the property. Then they used watercolours and fine liners to bring their artwork to life.

Our Year 4 students explored the importance of reducing food waste and discovered how cosmetic flaws can cause perfectly edible food to be discarded. Thanks to our generous community, many bananas were donated to Year 4 and the students baked delicious banana bread and muffins. They were very proud to transform potential waste into wholesome treats.
5A have finished the class novel they have read together this term —
Super Sleuth by David Walliams. The children made predictions about the text, looked at character traits, compared characters and simply enjoyed reading a good book with an interesting twist. They are looking forward to their next class novel.
Year 5B students explored improper fractions while using a fun, hands-on approach — they played cards. By grouping and exchanging cards, they visualised how mixed numbers and improper fractions relate. This interactive activity deepened their understanding and made abstract concepts more concrete and interesting.