The K/1/2 students have been keeping busy this term. By all accounts, the students thoroughly enjoyed their excursion to Canberra to visit the National Zoo & Aquarium and National Portrait Gallery. They also enthusiastically took part in a trip to our local art gallery and the Athletics Carnival. National Simultaneous Storytime also proved a big hit with primary and preschool children alike!

 This term, Religious Education and Geography will be studied together. The students will focus on the diversity and richness of places of significance and ways in which humans use and interact with them. Notably, this lens emphasises the need to care for and live responsibly with the environment. We were also fortunate to have a visit from Sister Mary Corcoran to provide us with more insights!

In English this term, the literacy learning of students is continuing to progress well as a result of participation in their respective InitiaLit programs. The students have been learning about a variety of letter and sound combinations and are working to apply these in their written texts. They are also developing their reading skills. In particular, Kindergarten have been learning ‘tricky’ words that cannot be sounded out. The students have also been focusing on how to write informative texts.

This term, in Mathematics, the students have been learning to recognise, continue and create repeating patterns using shapes or objects, and describe accordingly. They have been counting by twos, threes, fives, and tens, and finding the total number using repeated addition. The students modelled equal groups and modelling multiplication as repeated addition and an array of equal groups. They have also been examining the commutative property of multiplication. The students are also learning about ‘time’, including calendars and seasons, and reading analogue clock times.

In Japanese this term the students are continuing to develop their language acquisition. They have been continuing to learn to exchange greetings and introduce and share information about themselves with their teachers and peers using simple language and gestures. The students have been reinforcing their knowledge of Japanese numbers through fun group activities. They have also focused on Japanese words used for various sports and discussed the future Tokyo Olympic Games.

This term in Science the students are developing an understanding of properties of materials and their uses. They have investigated the effects of mixing specific materials together and ended up making playdough! In doing so, the students worked to identify that materials can be changed or combined for a particular purpose. They are now investigating ways Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples use different materials to create utensils and are planning a utensil of their own. The scientific skills they are focusing on are predicting, observing, investigating, and communicating.

 Although the Henry Lawson Festival will not be held in its normal format this year, the expressive talents of primary school age students within the community will be showcased in the coming weeks. The students are looking forward to the opportunity to perform a class play titled ‘Humpty Dumpty’. We look forward to keeping you up to date with the play and all other class happenings!