Curriculum News Prep to Grade 3

Prep

Reading

The students in Prep have been working on their fluency when reading. Being able to read fluently, increases students' ability to understand or comprehend what they are reading. This is because their energy isn't going into decoding the words.

They have also been developing their comprehension skills when reading narrative texts, identifying the beginning, middle and end of the story and retelling what happened. Key information from the text such as the setting and characters have also been utilised by students to add a high level of detail to their retell.

Writing

Recently the Prep students have begun editing their work. The students have been learning how to revise their writing by fixing up their spelling using a picture dictionary or word card. They have also been learning that editing is an important part of the writing process and that they need to re-read their work to make sure that it makes sense and that they have used basic punctuation correctly in their stories such as capital letters and full stops. A red pencil was used to correct spelling and a green pencil was used to edit punctuation. Here are some examples of the children’s edited writing samples.

Maths

Over the past two weeks the students in Prep have been applying their understanding of numbers to solve simple addition and subtraction problems. The students have been exploring a range of strategies such as using doubles, counting on and back. They have been using concrete materials to solve simple addition and subtraction word problems and have further developed their understanding of the friends of 10 facts. To build their understanding the students have played various addition and subtraction board games. Some of the prep students even practised their addition skills by playing board games with their Grade 4 buddies! Take a look at some of the photos of the Preps building on their knowledge of addition and subtraction.

Inquiry

This fortnight, during Inquiry, the Prep students have been continuing their investigation into living and non living things. They have explored farm animals and the products we get from them such as, milk, cheese, wool, leather and down. Students have also explored the lifecycle of a butterfly!

Year 1

Reading

In reading, the grade 1s were looking at predicting what was going to happen in the book and how these predictions may change as we kept reading the books. We predicted who the characters were going to be, and what problems they would face as well as how these problems would be solved. We had heaps of fun reading to find out what would happen next in the story!

I look at the cover page and guess what will happen in the book - Georgeuo 1B

I look at the pictures and think what the book is going to be about- Everly 1B 

We don't open the book and predict what is in the book and then we can see if they are correct while we are reading - Taveesh 1C

I know what's going to be in the book by looking at the cover page - Gabriella 1C

We learned to tell what would happen in the book - Genevieve 1C

Writing

In writing, we worked on information reports. Our Year 1 excursion is going to be at the Melbourne Aquarium so we used laptops to explore the website and find out about 1 animal. Students navigated the website to explore their animals and write about the animals' habitat, diet, what they look like and some fun facts. The students can’t wait to go to the Melbourne Aquarium.

Maths

In maths we explored subtraction. We did subtracting friends of 10 and writing subtraction number sentences. We used blocks to help us understand what subtracting looked like and how it worked. 

I know that 8-5= 3  Huseyin 1B

I learnt that numbers get bigger when we add Lyric 1B

We have to lock the bigger number and count get the answer Evelyn 1C

I learned that we have to count backwards from  bigger number to find the answer  Christopher 1C

Inquiry

During our Inquiry lessons we did some amazing experiments and explored buoyancy. We explored how objects are made with different materials and explored whether they floated or sank and what this meant. This was so much fun to do

Year 2

Reading In Reading the students have been listening to and reading a variety of texts . The students  enjoyed listening to texts from the same authors and reflecting on their own opinions of the texts. Some of the authors that the students can’t get enough of are books by Roald Dahl, Aaron Blabey and Eric Carl.

The students have developed a deeper understanding of the main characters in a variety of texts and have explored how the main characters’ emotions change throughout the story. The literacy skills that the students are working on are, predicting, inferencing, asking and answering questions, summarising and reviewing.

I enjoyed reading Pig the Monster by Aaron Blabey - Salman 2A

I liked learning about the author's message - Evelyn 2A

It was fun reading Pig the Tourist! - Hope 2A

I really enjoyed the story about Elmer because it had a strong message  -Yohan 2B

Elmer the elephant taught me that it is okay to be different and you should include people no matter what - Jobe 2B

I like that the character’s emotions and feelings change throughout the story and I can say which emotions they are and add details to my writing - Daania 2B

I liked how we found evidence from the text to explain how the character’s emotions changed- Shishir 2C

I liked when we read ‘The Recess Queen’.- Lucas 2C

I enjoyed when Mean Jean was being friends with the new student- Abigail 2C

I liked listening to the story and when Mean Jean was not mean anymore- Elena 2C
  

Writing

Our Year 2 Students have been writing about reading! This is a very important part of their development in Literacy. They have been reading familiar Dreamtime stories, making connections to texts, writing about important parts of the story and expressing their opinions about the story. Students have even created alternate endings to stories. Through this work, students have continued to follow the writing process to explore, plan, draft, revise, edit and publish their writing. We are so proud of the progress our Year 2 students have made as writers over their final term this year. They will continue to develop their skills over the next 2 weeks. There are lots of ways you can engage your child in writing at home. They can keep a journal, write shopping or other types of lists and create their own stories. See if you can try one of these ideas prior to the end of the school year.

Maths

During Mathematics, counting has been the focus during lesson warm ups! Students have been developing their skip counting skills through exploring patterns and choral counting. Data and the ways we collect data has been investigated by our students. They have been asking and answering questions to collect data in the classroom, including the different toppings people like to have on their pizza! YUM! Students have also been looking at the ways to record data when asking questions. They have been applying the tally mark system to record responses and graphing the data using bar graphs.

Inquiry

Push, pull and forces have continued to be the focus during Inquiry learning for our Year 2 students. They have investigated air resistance and the impact this can have on an object's ability to move. Students engaged in experiments with objects of different weights, such as a pencil and a ball. They also created their own paper planes and tested how far they could travel. 

Buoyancy was also unpacked by our classes, with students building their understanding that buoyancy is the ability of an object to float in a fluid. Much fun was had by collaborating to create a paper raft or boat. The buoyancy was then tested by determining how many marbles the vessel could hold before it sank!

Year 3

Reading

During Reading Lessons, our Year 3 students continued to investigate the analysing strategy. They focused on the key work of illustrators and the important layer of information those visual images create for the reader. They looked at the intent of the author and what they wanted to portray to the reader with illustrations. Students also applied the critiquing strategy, giving their opinion on the effectiveness of the images included.

Poetry will be the focus moving forward for the remainder of the term during reading. Students have explored different styles of poetry, with a focus on Haiku and Cinquain poems. Poetic devices such as alliteration and rhythm have been investigated through the exploration of different poetry. Great connections have been made between reading and writing through this process.

Writing

Haiku poems are a simple and effective form of poetry. The haiku is a Japanese poetic form that consists of three lines, with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third. The haiku developed from the hokku, the opening three lines of a longer poem known as a tanka. Students followed the writing process to create their own haiku poems.

Students have also been creating Cinquain poems. A cinquain poem is a 5 line poem that does not rhyme. They can be written about any topic. The syllable pattern is 2, 4, 6, 8, 2. It is best to count the syllables and brainstorm ideas to help you follow the structure. They are inspired by Japanese Haiku. Again, students have followed the writing process to create their own, inspiring cinquain poems!

Maths

Over the last few weeks, Year 3 students have started their unit on money. Students have been participating in an ‘Earn and Learn’ program where they have been working hard to save up for a special class reward in the last week of school. Different money amounts will earn students different experiences on the day. Students can earn money for actions such as making positive choices, displaying school values, completing their class job, attending school on time or completing homework tasks. Students can also be fined for negative actions and choices. 

Through this experience, students will learn about the different values of Australian notes and coins, how to accurately count money amounts using different strategies, how to represent money amounts in various ways, as well as how to calculate change. 

The Year 3s have been loving this experience so far. It is making maths meaningful and involving real life problems, setting students up with skills they will use in their future. 

Here’s what the students have had to say about their experience so far:

“It’s pretty good with the rewards. Some of the fines seem like a bit too much money!” - Oscar 3A

“I like our rewards with money because it’s fun and we learn about money. That way when we’re older we know about money and how to use it.” - Abigail 3A

“Earning money for the class reward is fun. It teaches you how to be responsible and learn about money.” - Chelsy 3B

“We are learning about money. We can add money to make higher amounts.” - Nathan 3B

“I like earning money for doing things in the classroom.” - Joban 3C

“We have been collecting money. It is fun!” - Toran 3C

“I have learnt about the value of each coin and note.” - Zaylee 3C

Inquiry

Laws and consequences have been a big focus during Inquiry learning. Students have also explored what a right is, for example, at school everyone has the right to learn. Lots of discussion has taken place about how laws are actually created and the people that ensure we follow the laws. The concept of government has been unpacked and how this process impacts the creation and implementation of laws. 


Lauren Allen 
Assistant Principal 
Grade Prep to 3