Sunday 6 August 2017

Welcome to Term 3

A Note From Mrs C


I know I say this all the time but, TERM 3??!! How is it already Term 3? Time flies when you're having fun, they say. We must be having a ball!

It's been a lovely, but very wet start to the term.

Some beautiful cookies from a very talented mum of a student I taught last year.

Gorgeous flowers from my lovely neighbour in Room 23



Just a little flooding

You may have also noticed a new addition to outside of our classroom door this term. Each class has been given a pot and some soil to grow whatever they choose. We had a class discussion and a fairy garden was the clear winner (even the boys voted for this idea!). The only stipulation from the kids was that it had to have a strawberry plant...so, of course, we have one. Can't wait for the first strawberry...wonder if can cut it into 24 haha. The rain has seen a huge growth even since this photo taken straight after planting.

Room 22's Fairy Garden

In addition to this, Room 22 has voted in new Student Councillors for Semester 2. Congratulations to Madelyn and Amelia. I am sure they will do us very proud. Well done to Shayan and Kayla.T. for their Semester 1 efforts, I hope you both enjoy your retirement.


Developing Independence


As you may have seen in the School Newsletter (Term 2, Week 8), we have a focus on developing independence in our students. We aim to provide a learning environment that encourages the opportunity for all students to achieve their personal best. It is vital to student success that they are able to set themselves up for the day. This not only encourages independence, but develops organisational skills.

There are a number of ways that families can support their child in these areas.

1. Commit to your child going to school every day on time.
One of the most important things you can do to ensure your child has a bright future is to make sure he or she goes to school every day – and gets there on time.

2. Make sure your child gets enough sleep.
A good night’s sleep consolidates learning, as well as assists future learning. Children need between 10-12 hours of sleep each day. Help kids get sufficient sleep by having a regular bed-time and get-up time each day.

3. Establish work & study habits.
The most successful students are those that develop regular study habits that suit their lifestyle, their study style and their school’s expectations.

4. Develop self-organisational skills.
Successful students are often well-organised, self-directed and self-motivated. Such skills as packing school bags and organising morning routines can be great lessons that impact on how kids perform at school.

Throughout the year, we encourage students to develop their independence by completing their classroom morning routines by themselves. Research has shown that a structured and organised morning routine is conducive to successful student learning. Our focus is on developing this classroom environment, particularly in all Year 2-6 classes. Children are encouraged to enter the classroom prepared to independently organise themselves for the school day ahead.  We look forward to working with parents to ensure the success of this whole school approach.


Your support in this focus is much appreciated and your child will thank you in the long run.



NAIDOC

Week 2 was NAIDOC week at Wattle Grove Primary School. We celebrated this on Tuesday by making damper. Thank you to Mrs Polydor for all her expert help. It was so delicious we forgot to take an after photo!







Friday the 28th of July was that day of Wattle Grove Primary School's NAIDOC celebrations.
We spent a wonderful afternoon rotating through all the classrooms of our block completing a variety of activities. Room 22 was the home of Language. We looked at a map of the school and re-labelled it using Noongar words. It is a shame the weather was so terrible and we couldn't walk around to find all the signs, however, a number of students (from all Block 3 classes) have been back to tell me they have seen the signs and that we labelled everything correctly...phew! haha

 Learning Area News

We have a range of new daily reviews we have begun to use this term to not only consolidate skills, but develop fluency, speed and accuracy. I am amazed at the difference these daily reviews are having already and it is week 4...so proud!
Below I have outlined the major foci for Term 3. Please feel free to consolidate any of these areas at home by asking students to explain and give examples or complete tasks online.

English 

Term 3 Focus

  •  VCOP aspects
  • Sentence structure (use nouns and verbs correctly in sentences)
  • Writing (persuasive and narrative) following all aspects of the format
  • Reading and spelling silent letters 
  • Gaining an understanding of all the different sounds vowels can make on their own and when paired with another vowel
  • Reading (by sight, not sounding out) and spelling of high frequency words  
  • Homophones/homographs
  • Similes and figures of speech
  • Contractions  
  • Tense, pronouns, adjectives 
  • A range of punctuation
  •  Fluency and Comprehension

Maths

Term 3 Focus

Number and Algebra

  • Orally counting
  • Skip counting
  • Facts to 10 and 20
  • Place value
  • Understanding and solving word problems  

 Measurement and Geometry

  • Measure using a range of measuring tools 
  • Recognise and classify 2D shapes using basic attributes and features
  • Recognise and classify 3D shapes using basic attributes and features

 Statistics and Probabilit

  • Identifying outcomes of familiar events involving chance and describing them using everyday language such as “will happen”, “won’t happen” or “might happen”
  • Asking questions to collect data, sorting data and representing data in a range of graphs 

 

Science

Term 3 Science is all about Physical Science - Forces and Motion.
So far we have explored the many forms of forces and how these forces cause motion.
We now know there are forces such as Magnetism, Buoyancy, Friction and Gravity.

Mitchell exploring friction

Joella exploring gravity

Buoyancy exploration


Magnet exploration

HASS

Term 3 HASS is History based. We will be learning all about how technology has changed over time. Stay turned for more on this!