Term 3, 2024
Hello Students and Families. Thank you and congratulations for all your hard work over the hectic period that is Term 3. Each part of the year has its own flavour and the period from July through to September is always jam-packed with activities – Winter Sports, Doing Taxes, Prepping for Exams, Spring Cleans and Athletics Carnivals. I commend you all for making time in your busy lives to working extra hard on your learning goals through all this hustle and bustle.
Little Learners PP-Year 4
Anyone littler than me is a Little Learner. There are now two distinct groups of Little Learners – the Saturday group and our Wednesday group. Our Saturday group has been working hard on building our reading fluency – decoding words with more ease so that their reading flows and the meaning of what they read can sink in. We cycle through phoneme/grapheme combinations, reteaching the two letter (digraphs) sounds like ai/ay and then using them in word families, stories, word chains and games to cement them in the children’s memory banks. Then, after the hard work and good concentration we finish off with free choice play – with the chickens, chalk, paint, books and games.
Our Wednesday group do a combination of Maths fundamentals and phonics. The focus is on getting the basics of Mathematics understood and automatic and on building upon decoding (reading) and comprehension skills in English. More complex spelling rules are introduced, as well as there being more of an emphasis on writing more extended pieces. This group are also learning teamwork skills to support each other as learners.
Growing Together
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Growing Together 〰️ 〰️
Middle Schoolers
Our Middle School Monday kids are concentrating on genre in texts. They are learning the conventions of different types of texts that they read, view, listen to and interact with every day. This is important for comprehension and for writing flexibility. We have studied non fiction texts such as information texts about the phases of the moon and the history of kites. We have studied biographies – such as Jesse Owen and his time at the Munich Olympics. We have learned how to write an essay and practiced the structure and language of persuasion. We have looked at Fairytales and learned the common features of fairytales. We have revised poetry techniques. We have written responses, notes and plans. We always make sure that we pay attention to spelling and grammar.
High School Girls’ Study Club
Tuesday’s group takes the time to study, make notes, write drafts, do homework and revise concepts they learned in school. All the girls work individually to make sure that they are prepared for the next test, next assignment and the next week at school. This is a chance for them to show me their work for feedback, get clarity on a concept that they are struggling with, read their notes again, reflect on and revise their work. At the end we either learn a new concept, play a game or explore a new text. This is a much needed quiet study space in a hectic school day. Congratulations to our Year 12 girls who are preparing for their final exams – you have worked so hard and are nearly ready for your long Summer break. Our Year 10 and Year 7 enjoy spending time with the older girls to see what Year 12 is like, with the ball, learning to drive, having part time jobs… and all the responsibility of the final year of school.
Everyone Else
There are a lot of people who are learning with us – either at the classroom or elsewhere and they are doing so well. On Friday I have the adult English as a Second Language pair who are both learning grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and comprehension. I have another adult student who is learning to read and is so excited at all the words now jumping out at him every day. His enthusiasm and delight are really wonderful. I have a high school writer who will be a published author one day soon – she has a very distinctive style and it is absolutely magical. There are a couple of boys I see who are working on their spelling and reading skills and are doing so well. There’s a high schooler I see who has been working so hard to re-submit her work and get the grades she wants. There’s a high schooler who is really fun to work with because she keeps me updated about all her circus activities while we work on her assignments. There are young ones I see through the Department of Communities and they are wonderful kids to work with, as well as their teachers, case workers and families. There are some Year 12 ATAR students who are fine tuning their skills and sharpening their pencils in preparation for the final push to the end of year exams. There are home schoolers who are all creative and lovely kids who are seeing me to add variety to their curriculum – one of our home schoolers created her own book and renovated the doll’s house to become a fairy house. Well done everyone!
See you in class, soon!