Tuesday 13 October 2015

Term 3 - Week 5 - 10

ENGLISH

Since visiting Haileybury Primary in Melbourne at the beginning of this term, I have implemented many new strategies to engage and support children in developing a solid foundation in literacy. As a result, we have had many visitors to our classroom this term to come and observe our amazing Literacy Block. Both the children and I have had so much fun and learned so very much this term. I am so proud of their growth, their excitement and willingness to give each task their very best effort but above all, their focus and commitment.

Ethan with his Literacy Award from Ms. Roberts for showing outstanding knowledge

One of the aspects I observed at Haileybury was sentence building. Whilst, I have always implemented sentence building in my Literacy Block, I didn't do it like they did! I loved the concept and knew it was something I wanted to implement as soon as I got back into the classroom. We have worked very hard this term to develop our sentence building skills and the associated grammatical knowledge. How many times have you heard the noun, verb, adjective, adverb, simile or connective chants?

Below are some wonderful examples





We look forward to further developing our English skills in Term 4.



MATHS

Maths is all about PR1ME! I have never seen children get so excited about Maths than when I say it's PR1ME time. We have a range of foci each week. Each concept is introduced by posing a problem to the children relating to the learning objectives. This not only enables me to see what children already know about each concept but, how they problem solve, how they self talk and communicate their thoughts to others. It is quite enlightening. Below you will find photos of children during one of our problem solving sessions. We were about to learn about measuring and the importance of using uniform units to measure. For example, we were not able to get an accurate measurement if we used a range of objects such writing pencils. We found out that each group got very different results due to the fact that each pencil was a different size. Once we began to use uniform units such as unifix cubes, our measurements became much more accurate.







SCIENCE

This term saw us participate in our annual Science Tabloid afternoon (that was rescheduled to the morning due to bad weather). Children in years 1 and 2 came together to experience a range of experiments. Children were separated into groups and got to rotate between four experiments, some of which included: sherbert making, lava lamps, egg drop, coloured milk, and rainbow markers. It was a fun filled morning full of Science talk and excitement. 

Mrs Campbell ran the Lava Lamp experiment. She took one plastic bottle and filled it almost to the top with vegetable oil, then filled the rest with water. The water sunk to the bottom of the bottle even though we put it on top of the oil! Then we got to drop some food colouring in. The food colouring made little balls and sunk through the oil. When the balls hit the bottom they coloured the water but not the oil. Then Mrs Campbell dropped in some aspirin tablets and the coloured water made coloured bubbles that floated up into the oil. Mrs Campbell put a light underneath. It was AMAZING!!!













ENTERPRISE LEARNING - Student Fete

To celebrate our school turning 100 years old this year our school had a Student Fete. Room 13 decided to have a fishing game with prizes for each winner however, after a 'technical glitch', we decided to make our stall a Lucky Dip. We set about decorating paper bags to place our prizes into. We ended up decorating and filling 100 girl bags AND 100 boy bags! What a huge effort. We were so worried we would have lots of prizes left over after the fete, but hoped we wouldn't. Due to some generous donations, we did not have to apply to the 'bank' (Ms. Roberts) for a loan. In order to ensure our stall ran as a real business would, we had to form committees such as advertising, decorating, clean and pack away and marketing. We also had to develop a business plan to present. The skills we developed as a result, were invaluable.

There was a lot of work involved but, we sold EVERY SINGLE ONE of our lucky dip bags and made a whopping $205.00 to spend on resources for our classroom. Stay tuned to find out what we purchase. 

The photos below were taken by the talented Leeanne (Taj's mum). Thank you for sharing :)





















FACTION CARNIVAL  

Congratulations to BLUE for taking out the title!

I am very proud of the training and effort everyone in Room 13 put into the Faction Carnival preparation and day. Well done!










What a fun filled, busy term it has been. Have a safe and relaxing holiday.
See in Term 4

Mrs C





Wednesday 12 August 2015

Term 3

Hello and welcome to term 3! TERM 3!! Where is the year going?

The start to this term has been a very busy one and I have a feeling it will continue for the entire term.


Happy Birthday Wattle Grove Primary School 1915~2015

Already this term we have seen Wattle Grove Primary School turn 100! We began studying the history of our school last term and will continue to do so this term. We celebrated turning 100 by having a special assembly at which we saw Mrs Beed cut the 'birthday' cake. How lucky we are to be able to participate in such a milestone event.



 Semester Two Student Councillors


Of course the beginning of a new semester also means the appointment of new Student Councillors. We had many applicants and decided the fairest way to choose our new room 13 representatives would be to draw the names from a 'hat'. After much nail biting suspense, I am proud to announce our new councillors are...

Audrey 



Nad



I am sure our new councillors will represent  room 13 to the same high standard our semester 1 councillors did.



Our semester 1 councillor Natalia handing over her role to Audrey

The pinning of the badge

Our semester 1 councillor Ansh handing over his role to Nad

 
The pinning of the badge


Lap-a-thon

On Friday, after lunch, the whole of Wattle Grove Primary School participated in Lap-a-thon to raise money for more iPads. We had to run around the school oval lots of times. It was great fun.

Firstly, Mrs Campbell told us all the information we needed to know about running and getting our cards stamped to record our laps. Then we had to put our hats on and get our water bottles. We lined up outside and walked to the oval. When we got there we needed to look for the table that had a Room 13 sign on it.

Secondly, we did some stretching so we could run faster. Then we listened to a man talk about which direction we needed to run in. After that, he said "GO!" We ran so many laps. It was hot and tiring!

Thirdly, the running was over and we got to have a rest. Then Mrs Campbell said, "You need to line up now please." We walked back to class. Then a lady from the canteen brought us some icy poles to cool us down, they were DELICIOUS! 

Finally, we went back into class and Mrs Campbell told us all how many laps we ran. We were so tired. It was the best day ever!

Children of Room 13 (Shared writing task).



Homework

It is very important that children remember to return their homework folder each Friday as the books need to be returned to the library in order to be available to other classes. New spelling lists and home readers are given each Monday, please ensure you read with your child each night. Practice ensures fluency which in turn supports comprehension.



 


Wednesday 24 June 2015

Week 10


Almost there!
I am absolutely amazed with how far each and every child in Room 13 has progressed this semester. I hope you are as proud of them as I am. I look forward to an amazing second semester.

This week is all about our assembly. We have been singing up a storm in Room 13. I have attached the download links for both the song and poem again.

Poem

Song


On Tuesday, we had a special guest all the way from Domain Stadium. Joe and Rick the Rock from the Eagles Football Club came to visit Wattle Grove. They both taught us the skills we need to achieve our goals.

1. Exercise
2. Healthy food
3.  Being prepared
4. Resilience (Bouncing Back)
5. Sportsmanship


Joe and Rick the Rock from Kirsty Campbell

 We wrote some amazing recounts in our Writing Journals, maybe you could ask your child to read it to you the next time you are in class.


Talk Homework

This weeks Talk Homework is all about going to school 100 years ago. This will be our final piece of persuasive writing this term.

Thank you for your help with our assembly preparations. We can't wait to see you all there!

Week 9

This week was all about Jump Rope for Heart. We have been skipping non stop in Room 13. Every recess and lunch time has been filled with children eager to show off their new found skills and tricks they have learnt. It has been so heart warming watching the children teach each other tricks and encourage the less able.

We have recently found out that as a school we have raised over $6000!





We are getting very excited about our assembly. Due to this year being a centenary year for Wattle Grove Primary School, we will be presenting an item based on being a student 100 years ago.
Please find below a copy of our poem and song (sung to the tune of 'Let it Go' a song I am sure you will all know) for practicing at home. There will be plenty of opportunities for children to practice at school also.

Poem

Song

I would like to thank everyone for their support in completing homework tasks and returning homework files each Friday. It is important to our routine that these are returned on time.

Tuesday 23 June 2015

Week 8

Welcome to Week 8! My goodness this term is flying by!

The highlight of our week was having a visit from Harold the Giraffe from the Life Education Van.

 

Very sadly, we lost of photos of this event...we were devastated. However, we decided to write a recount of the event as a whole class.


Life Education Van

On Tuesday, Room 13 went to visit the Life Education Van just near our classroom.

Firstly, we met Hannah. She told us we needed to climb the stairs of the big van and sit down quietly inside, it was amazing inside the van. We really didn't think it would look like it did inside.

Secondly, we met Harold the Giraffe. Mrs Campbell thought he was a real giraffe but we told her he was just a puppet, but we liked him anyway. He was very funny. Harold told us we needed to become Junior Detectives so we could help him solve a mystery. The mystery was that his friend Cocky had gone missing.

Next, we watched a video and had to look for clues. When Hannah stopped the video we had to work on some tasks. First, Mrs Campbell had to read us a clue from the wall and we had to think of people we can talk to when we have a problem. Next, we had to name body parts and how to keep them healthy. Then we watched more of the video.

After that, we solved the mystery. Cocky was at a fun run. Then Hannah asked us what we would do if we found a needle in the playground or at the park. We learnt that we were NOT allowed to touch it. We had to leave someone in charge of making sure no one went near it and send someone to get an adult to take care of the situation.

Finally, we went back to our classroom and talked about what we had learnt. We had a great time and really enjoyed our visit with Harold.

Room 13

Wednesday 10 June 2015

Week 7

Welcome to W.A week

As part of W.A week we discussed what it means to be a West Australian. We talked about the ways we like to relax, the wonderful things we love about W.A and our favourite places to visit.

We learned about the aspects of a postcard and how to write one. Then we got busy designing and writing. They turned out amazing! We certainly have some buddy little artists in Room 13.
                          



In order to provide a context and purpose for our postcards, it was decided, in discussion with Mrs S (our buddy class teacher), that the children would create a postcard for each other. Then on Friday we got together with our buddy class (Room 21) and to deliver our postcards. As you can see, it was a success.


Sunday 7 June 2015

Week 6

This week we have had a HUGE focus on reading.
As you may be aware, we have been lucky enough to have some mums come in to do reading with our class. The children have really enjoyed this so much so, that we decided our reading corner was in need of a makeover. After much discussion, a camping theme was chosen. I was then set the task of making this happen. Research, then shopping, then a little more shopping and VOILA! Room 13 has a camp site.

In order to gain the most of this new space and the enthusiasm to read, I implemented what we like to call 'Buddy Reading'. Each day after lunch, children choose a buddy to read with. The difference this has made to the children's confidence, fluency and intonation has proven just how much practice, practice, practice, makes perfect! And well, what a cute way to do it.