Term 2, 2025
A time to grow
Lots of people complain about Winter because they don’t like the cold or the rain, but I LOVE it because I know that it is the time where we are getting ready to grow.
Learning is like this too – we need time to learn, to grow. We need time to sit still with something so it can grow deep inside us. We need to slow down and enjoy a good book under a blanket. Cozy up and read about what we have been doing at Ms Calleja’s Classroom this term.
Little Ones and Medium Sized Ones – our Year 2 to 6 groups
We started the term with an Outer Space theme, but it got too cold and lonely out there so we came back down to earth and have been exploring different interesting animals. Nothing like intergalactic travel and interest in all creatures to get our minds and hearts racing. We have been doing dictation, narrative writing, worksheets, reading, viewing, handwriting practice and maths games. The Upper Primary kids have been working on extended writing to prepare for the type of work they will be producing in High School. We have been working on editing and improving our work.
Here are the phonemes (sounds) and graphemes we have covered this term:
ay/ai/a-e/a (ray, rain, space, alien)
oa/o-e/ow/o/oe (groan, bone, snow, go, toe)
ie/i-e/igh/i/y (pie, kite, flight, hi, sky)
ee/ea/e/y/e-e/ey (see, sea, me, pony, delete, monkey)
or/au/aw/augh/our/al (for, August, awful, taught, pour, walk)
oo/ue/u-e/u (moon, blue, chute, music)
oo, u, oul (look, bull, could)
qu (quasar)
ou/ow (cloud, frown)
High School – Lower High School Study Club and Senior Study Club
All students in these groups have different goals, and Study Club is here to make sure that they work on these goals. Some students need help extending their ideas and explaining more fully what they know. Others need help with editing and refining their work. Others have the stress of OLNA and need to get that done and dusted so that they can enjoy their senior year milestones without having it niggling at them in the background. Others are focused on improving their ATAR scores so that they can feel confident going into exams. Others need time and space to catch up on their homework and get their work checked. We work on individual goals in the first hour and use the last half hour to connect, learn, debate, laugh and experiment with ideas by viewing or reading texts…there may also be a hotly contested game of UNO in the last 15 minutes.
Students during the day and in the evening
Ms Calleja’s Classroom is often on the move, visiting schools and homes from Lockridge to Chidlow to Middle Swan and back to Darlington. We see home schoolers, adults and children through government programs to work on individual growth and learning goals – from learning English as a Second Language, to Reading Skills, Study Skills and Higher Education goals. Everyone has worked so hard!
More News
This term I have spent some time teaching teachers – first as a guest presenter at the English Teachers’ Association of WA State Conference and then at Ms Calleja’s Classroom. At the ETAWA conference, I presented a workshop on how to use the topic of Monsters in a High School English class – for varying levels of difficulty. This workshop was lots of fun and we enjoyed sharing our ideas with each other. At Ms Calleja’s Classroom I hosted teachers who wanted to learn how to use Grammar Games to make their “nuts and bolts” literacy time more engaging.
I’m heading to Hobart on the 2nd July to attend the AATE ALEA Literacy Conference (it will be the third one I have attended) and I look forward to bringing back plenty of new ideas to share with all my students. I presented at the 2016 Conference and this year I will have the pleasure of seeing my wonderful friend, Susan, present her seminar.
Sad News
Ms Calleja's Classroom wishes to let you know of the sad news of our lovely dog, Beetle, passing away. She was a good girl who loved naps, chasing quendas, eating human food and getting pats. She was a school house dog, making her home under the school house in Yulga Jinna Remote Community School, before finding her way to Ms Calleja's Classroom. She is buried under a tree in front of the classroom and the library cubby is now dedicated to her. Good girl, Beetle. We love you.
At Ms Calleja’s Classroom we care about your kids and strive to create a learning environment where everyone can shine to their full potential.
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