GRADE Prep - Term 4 Curriculum Newsletter

General comment

This Term Newsletter will provide you with information about your children’s upcoming teaching and learning experiences in the new term.

These Newsletters are provided to all parents across the school, so that everyone is aware of the great things happening at our school, even if you don’t have a child in this level. Of course, you may choose to read only those Newsletters affecting your children.

There is also plenty of additional information provided via Compass throughout the school year, so please make a point of touching base regularly.

Literacy

The growth in students understanding of written and read texts has skyrocketed this year. The students are reading and writing confidently and have been ignited with a love of literacy through the development of their classroom libraries and independent reading boxes. It is a pleasure to listen to them read following up with rich and authentic book conversations. Some children are even beginning to favor certain authors. We thank you for your support at home and ask that you continue to read with your child at home. We understand that this is a busy time of year but our school policy for home reading is 4 nights a week for 10 minutes per night. This dramatically impacts on the success of your child's reading fluency and comprehension. In writing, we have been working on purposeful writing tasks that link to children's interests as a means to motivate and innovate young writers. Students have been working with Writers Notebooks and moving through the Writer’s Cycle. They have been able to explore features of narrative texts and writing their narratives with a clear beginning middle and end. Students understand that narratives include characters, a setting, a problem and a solution. They have worked on revising and editing their work and publishing to share with an audience.

Numeracy

This term in numeracy the children are going to consolidate their understanding of numbers to 20, simple addition and subtraction stories, ordinal numbers, 2D and 3D shapes and location. They’re using their knowledge of language and their growing skillset to use a range of strategies to problem solve and become more efficient in their use of mathematical terms and methods. The students are applying their real world knowledge by learning through role play shopping, following maps, giving instructions to peers and working with partners and/or small groups. Students are also playing a range of games to add enjoyment to their learning whilst providing a hands on, interactive learning experience. In addition, students are also cementing their Number Sense from 0-20 and 20-0, particularly counting back. In Grade Prep, children must be able to competently count forward to 20 and back form 20 at any starting point. To support at home, you may choose to count from any starting point, ensuring your child articulates “teen” numbers correctly. They may also like to practise their skip counting by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s.

Indonesian

This term in Indonesian, P-2 students will understand and follow instructions in Indonesian in order to participate in classroom routines, games, songs and simple activities where they will build upon their previous vocabulary related to numbers and colours. Students will also learn how to describe their family, identify different types of fruits and express their preferences in short sentences. They will apply their prior knowledge and comprehension skills, such as predicting and making connections to help them understand a story in Indonesian as well as learn about orang-utans and develop an awareness of why they are endangered.

Reminders

Encouraging Independence

As Prep teachers, we aim to foster independence in our students. Parents play a key role in this. Prep children should now be unpacking their own bags before school, putting books, notes and readers in the appropriate containers/locations and putting their own bag on the shelving.

To further increase independence, perhaps consider saying goodbye to your child at the gate or playground and meeting your child some distance away from their classroom door in the afternoon in order to decrease anxiety and congestion around the doorways of the Prep rooms.

Punctuality

Punctuality is important. Being late to school is disruptive to your child’s learning. Literacy teaching starts promptly at 9:00am every day and your child’s late arrival interrupts the teacher, the teaching, the class and often affects your child’s confidence and learning. Good habits start from early in your child’s school life, so please give your child every chance to succeed by ensuring that they are at school ready to start the school day with a smile at 9:00am. Please contact your child’s teacher if you need assistance with strategies to get your child to school on time.

Transition to Grade One
As this is the final term of Grade Prep for 2020, we are beginning to transition the students into Grade One. The students will be participating in a transition process where they learn about expectations in Grade One. They will visit the Grade One classrooms and meet some of the current Grade One teachers. All transition processes are subject to change due to Covid-19 restrictions and Government decisions but teachers will be working with students to ensure they are ready for 2021.

Grade 1 Term 4 Curriculum Overview Newsletter

This Term Newsletter will provide you with information about your children’s upcoming teaching and learning experiences in the new term.

These Newsletters are provided to all parents across the school, so that everyone is aware of the great things happening at our school, even if you don’t have a child in this level. Of course, you may choose to read only those Newsletters affecting your children.

There is also plenty of additional information provided via Compass throughout the school year, so please make a point of touching base regularly.

General

This term we continue with 7 Grade 1 classes. The classroom teachers in Term 4 are Mrs Nyree Asmussen grade sharing with Mrs Michelle Da Silva (1AM), Mrs Milli Gardiner sharing with Ms Melissa Tinkler (1GT), Mrs Chelsea Bevan who will replace Ms Roxy Clarke-Hinch (1RC), Mr Blake Freeman (1BF), Mr Gregory Quirk (1GQ) Ms Allison Scrivener (1AS) and Mr Stephen Hargreaves (1SH) who is our Team Leader for 2020.

Welcome to the last term of 2020. The students will be returning to class after remote learning and quickly getting back into class routines and understanding expectations. We have thoroughly enjoyed observing children develop positive relationships and friendships over the year, even though there have been 2 blocks of remote learning.

When the students return next term, we will be conducting extensive assessments of their learning and academic development. At the end of Term 4, final student reports will be provided.

Students by now should have a good understanding of the different ways that they like to learn through completing a range of activities and be able to articulate some of their learning styles. Throughout the term we will continue to incorporate Play is The Way games and Community Circles to immerse students in team building and problem solving activities to encourage a safe, productive and harmonious community as the students prepare themselves for new class friends for next year.

Literacy

Term 4 will continue with our independent reading being the basis of our Reading block. Students will be able to choose their Just Right books to practise strategies that have been explicitly taught in daily mini lessons. They will also be working on their own personal reading goals. Each classroom has a stylish, student created classroom library for your children to select books of their choice for their learning.

An important part of the literacy success of your child is to be supported at home and this can be done through daily home reading. Reading aloud to your child can be one of your best parenting experiences! We hope that you and your child create many loving memories as you explore children's books together.

The reading patterns you establish at home influence your child’s ability to do well in school. One of our major goals this year in the Prep - 2 Department is to help your child grow further as a reader. You have a big role to play in achieving this. One of the ways for your children to grow as readers is for them to read daily. At Lara Lake Primary School, we are very proud of the progress that our children make with their Literacy learning. With the support that we as teachers give in the classroom and the support that you provide at home, each child progresses at their own rate and we celebrate each achievement that is made.

In writing the students will continue to explore different genres to build upon what they already know and to extend themselves. In the teaching of writing, it is important that students understand, the purpose of the text being written, the audience it is intended for and the language choices which shape the intended meanings for both purpose and audience. Students at Lara Lake PS, whether in Prep or in Grade 6, follow the same writing cycle to publish their writing for others to enjoy. We follow the Writers’ Workshop approach to the teaching of writing. You students will continue to use a Writer’s Notebook to collect their writing seed ideas in.

Numeracy

In Numeracy this term, the students will continue their work on counting and number sense, ordering numbers, counting forwards and backwards to 100 and looking at numbers before and after and ordering numbers. They will build on their understanding as to how to represent numbers with materials up to 100. They will work on adding and subtracting numbers using partitioning where the numbers are added as 10s and 1s. The students will continue to build on their understandings about time as part of school and home routines and also work with clocks to show their understanding of hour and half hour. They will use skip counting to count money as well as recognise the value of Australian coins. The students will use money to make the same value in different ways. There will also be a focus on the language of chance through chance games and use yes/no questions to create simple data displays.

Families can support at home by playing games involving counting and number facts, and providing opportunities for your child to access Mathletics.

www.mathletics.com.au

Indonesian

This term in Indonesian, P-2 students will understand and follow instructions in Indonesian in order to participate in classroom routines, games, songs and simple activities where they will build upon their previous vocabulary related to numbers and colours.

Students will also learn how to describe their family, identify different types of fruits and express their preferences in short sentences.

They will apply their prior knowledge and comprehension skills, such as predicting and making connections to help them understand a story in Indonesian as well as learn about orang-utans and develop an awareness of why they are endangered.

Inquiry

The Integrated Inquiry unit this term is ‘Paddock to Plate'. Throughout this unit students will develop their understanding of where food comes from and how it arrives to our plate, how we package our food and our country's recycling habits and plastic usage. Term 4 will provide students with the chance to explore how plants and animals are grown for food, clothing and shelter, how we can live sustainably, how we package products and how we can limit our use of plastics. At the end of this unit students will get the opportunity to plan for and design a sustainable product and develop their understanding of sustainable practices which they will use to convince others of the importance of caring for our environment.

Science

This term the students will participate in some rotating Science activities. They will be engaging in hands on activities, exploring and discussing concepts related to the activities as they work with all teachers in the Grade 1 Team. Biological, Chemical, Environmental and Physical sciences are covered in this program.

Seesaw

The students will also be using Seesaw more frequently, a program that allows the students and the teacher to capture moments or examples of work. This work is catalogued and kept in a student folder to be used in a variety of ways including showing parents the work they have completed.

Extra-curricula

At this stage with Covid restrictions and the wellbeing of our children being our main priority, it is not possible for us to determine which extra curricula activities which would normally take place in Term 4 will be possible. We will keep you informed as we are notified as to what is permitted for us to be part of.

Reminders

Book Pouches/satchels

Please support your child to bring their Book Pouch and reading material to school each day.

Drink Bottles

Please ensure your child has a water bottle each day with their name clearly labeled. Shared drink taps are not permitted to be used.

Hats, Hats, Hats!

The weather remains warm and our No Hat No Play! Policy is in force. Please ensure your child brings their school hat to school each day to protect them from the harsh UV rays.

Label all Clothes and Belongings

Please ensure that all items belonging to your child are clearly labeled with their full name and grade.

Class donations

We would appreciate any donations of tissues, paper towel and hand sanitiser.

Attendance

Please contact via Compass, your child’s teacher to explain your child’s absence.

Regards

Stephen Hargreaves

Grade 1 Team Leader

Lara Lake Primary School

Term 4 Curriculum Newsletter 2020 - GRADE TWO

This term newsletter will provide you with information about your children’s upcoming teaching and learning experiences in the new term. These Newsletters are provided to all parents across the school, so that everyone is aware of the great things happening at our school, even if you don’t have a child in this level. Of course, you may choose to read only those newsletters affecting your children. There is also plenty of additional information provided via Compass throughout the school year, so please make a point of touching base regularly.

GENERAL COMMENT

Welcome to Term Four! It has been a long and cold winter, filled with the trials and tribulations of remote learning. We’d like to congratulate all students and parents for their resilience and willingness to adapt during these uncertain times. But as the spring weather brings sunshine and longer days, the Grade Two Team is excited to finally return to the classroom and provide a sense of normality for students.

In the early parts of Term Four, students will focus on re-establishing previous learning routines. They will receive support to further develop their ability to work independently as preparation for their move into the middle school. This term, our key focus will revolve around the core subjects of Reading, Writing and Mathematics. In the first few weeks of term, students will also be undertaking a number of assessment tasks as teachers begin preparations for report writing. Whilst ongoing Coronavirus restrictions cast uncertainty over some of our usual end of year activities, students can look forward to participating in numerous Play is the Way activities, as well as learn about various festivities and celebrations around the world as part of our Inquiry topic ‘Celebrations.’

Please remember to check Compass regularly in regards to communication from your child’s teacher and for important events that are occurring towards the final weeks of the year. Also, a reminder that in Term Four, students are required to wear a school hat in the yard as part of our SunSmart program.

READING

In Term Four, students will continue to build on all the literacy skills they have developed during on-site and remote learning periods this year. After beginning the term remotely, students will be back on site in Week Two and able to once again explore their classroom libraries. When browsing their library for texts, children are expected to preview selected reading material to ensure it is ‘just right.’ As part of our Reading Workshop, the children will have daily mini-lessons that include read-alouds, shared reading and a focus on comprehension strategies (summarising/sequencing, monitoring, making connections, making inferences, vocabulary and asking questions). The children apply the skills and knowledge presented by their teachers in the mini-lessons to their own reading during the daily independent reading session, (30 minutes). During independent reading, students and teachers engage in regular reading conferences, in which children are given an individual goal to work on.

WRITING

In Writing, we will be continuing to build the writing culture within our classrooms with the ultimate goal of developing lifelong writers. Each day the children will be given 30 minutes of independent writing time. During this time, students will need to follow the steps of the Writing Cycle. The steps of the Writing Cycle include generating and collecting seed ideas, choosing an idea, rehearsing, drafting, revising, editing and publishing. Teachers will model these steps through mini lessons and the children will be given opportunities to practise them during their own writing time. This term students will continue to build their writing fluency and skills. They will learn to add more detail and richer vocabulary to their writing.

MATHEMATICS

In Term Four, students will consolidate their understanding of place value by breaking apart numbers into hundreds, tens and ones using materials such as MAB and bundles of Paddle Pop sticks. By the end of Grade Two, it is expected that students can count and order numbers up to 1000. Students will develop their ability to use written and mental strategies to solve a range of addition and subtraction problems. In our Fractions unit, students will explore dividing objects and collections into halves, quarters and eighths using a range of material such as playdough, counters, paper and connector blocks. Students will be investigating the properties of 2D and 3D shapes, as well as investigate the effect of simple transformations of slides, flips and turns on 2D shapes. As always, we encourage students to complete Mathletics as part of their weekly homework to help reinforce what they have learned at school.

INQUIRY
The Term Four Inquiry unit is called ‘Celebrations’. Students will gain an understanding and awareness of how we celebrate important events in Australia and around the world. They will identify the different types of celebrations that exist, including multi-cultural, religious, historic and sporting events. Students will learn why we come together with others to celebrate, as well as how people do this. Students will investigate celebrations such as; the Melbourne Cup, Halloween, Day of the Dead, Diwali, Thanks Giving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Easter, New Year’s Eve and many more.

PLAY IS THE WAY

In Term Four, students will be looking forward to our regular Play is the Way activities and the ‘Community Circle’ chats that go along with them. Some of the Play is the Way ‘Life Rafts’ we will be focusing on this term are, ‘Be Brave - Participate to Progress’, where students learn about the importance of having an attitude where they will give anything a try, even if a task seems too challenging, in order to improve. ‘The Golden Rule – treat others as you would like them to treat you’, where children learn about the consequences of their actions, both good and bad, and ways to ensure they are treating others in a way that will ‘fill their bucket’.

INDONESIAN:

This term in Indonesian, P-2 students will understand and follow instructions in Indonesian in order to participate in classroom routines, games, songs and simple activities where they will build upon their previous vocabulary related to numbers and colours.

Students will also learn how to describe their family, identify different types of fruits and express their preferences in short sentences. They will apply their prior knowledge and comprehension skills, such as predicting and making connections to help them understand a story in Indonesian as well as learn about orang-utans and develop an awareness of why they are endangered.

KEY DATES
- Monday 5th October – All students back to on-site learning.

- Friday 21 October. Geelong Cup Public Holiday

- Friday 23rd October. Grand Final Public Holiday.

- Monday 2nd November. Curriculum Day (pupil free).

- Thursday 17th December. Students' last day of the year.

- Friday 18th December. Curriculum Day (pupil free).

Term 4 Curriculum News Grade 3

General

The Grade 3 students have done a fantastic job at remote learning and we are looking forward to seeing them again at school in Term 4. Thank you for your support with them at home. We know it wasn’t always easy and everyone has done the very best that they can. As you know, the first week of Term Four will be occurring via remote learning. Our focus for this time will be on revision of learning to prepare the students for return to on-site learning the following week. Within the first few weeks back, the students will be completing some assessments so teachers can gather information for addressing student needs throughout the term. This will occur again at the end of term in order to allow teachers to report on students as accurately as possible in the current climate. It is important that students come to school organised and ready to engage with the day. They will need to return to school with the supplies they took with them to remote learning to ensure this transition goes as smoothly as possible. This includes their pencil case and any books they have been using. A reminder that in Term Four, students will require hats when outside.

Literacy

During Term Four, we will again be re-familiarising students with choosing ‘Just Right’ books —books or texts that suit the individual needs of our students and ensuring their use in their own student-driven Classroom Library. Reading Journals will continue to serve as a tool to track their individual goals and daily reading, while the Reading Response section will enable students to provide evidence of how they are working towards achieving their goals. In Writing, we will be encouraging students to draw on their own interests and personal experiences. We will continue to place emphasis on The Writing Cycle within our Writer’s Workshop, to ensure students understand the expectations of an author. We will be encouraging them to develop a range of texts to meet the needs of their purpose for writing as well as the audience who they are writing for. Parents can continue to support students by reading for 20 minutes every night and encouraging them to write for authentic purposes, such as birthday cards, letters, shopping lists or keeping a diary of daily events or feelings.

Numeracy

In Mathematics next term, the children will learn about a range of concepts, skills and strategies. They will also continue to focus on recalling basic number facts quickly and accurately (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). Children will understand the purpose for learning these skills and strategies and how they are linked to everyday life. They will be encouraged to develop their problem solving skills as well as their ability to choose strategies that best suit their ability and learning style.

You can support your child at home by encouraging them to play games involving counting and number facts, and by providing opportunities for your child to access Mathletics on a regular basis. We encourage you to set up a home routine to practise quick recall of the 2, 3, 5 and 10 times tables along with the related division fact (i.e. 2 x 5 = 10 & 10 ÷ 5 = 2).

Mathletics: www.mathletics.com.au

Essential Assessment: https://www.essentialassessment.com.au/

Hit the Button: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

Inquiry

Throughout Term Four, the Grade 3s will be engaging in the Inquiry topic called ‘Special Places’. This unit investigates the important and unique locations to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within Australia. We will be looking at where these places are, along with why these places are sacred to the Indigenous. We will work towards using our knowledge to share our learning with others. Children will work to showcase and promote indigenous locations within Australia.

Term 4 Curriculum News – Grade 4

General comment

This Term Newsletter will provide you with information about your children’s upcoming teaching and learning experiences in the new term.

These Newsletters are provided to all parents across the school, so that everyone is aware of the great things happening at our school, even if you don’t have a child in this level. Of course, you may choose to read only those Newsletters affecting your children.

There is also plenty of additional information provided via Compass throughout the school year, so please make a point of touching base regularly.

General
WELCOME BACK to Term 4! We hope you have all enjoyed a safe, relaxing and happy break. The Grade 4 team are really excited to be back onsite Week 2 after Remote Learning 2.0 and we would like to congratulate our students for the way in which they have applied themselves to their online learning during this time.

The Grade 4 team would like to continue open, honest parent-teacher communication to ensure your child is safe, happy and learning. If there is any correspondence that requires the attention of your class teacher, feel free to contact us via the Compass app. For more urgent matters, please contact the office directly. The team will endeavour to reply to any queries as soon as possible. We look forward to an exciting term of learning.

Literacy
This term in Reading, students will be continuing to participate in daily Independent Reading where they will continue to strengthen their comprehension strategies to support them to monitor meaning as they read. Reading nightly at home will continue an important part of your child’s routine.
DID YOU KNOW that a child who reads for 67.3 minutes a day will read a total of 4,733,000 words a year? This puts them in the 98^th percentile rank! This includes any form of reading such as signs, books, notes etc.

In Writing, children will continue to participate in writing workshops with students focussing on writing ‘just right’ texts whilst strengthening their revising and editing skills. We will also continue to celebrate student’s writing success through ongoing classroom ‘Author’s Chair’ share time where students are also provided with valuable peer feedback.

Numeracy
This term, students will be focusing on developing their understanding of 2D and 3D shapes, Mapping and Angles. The Four Processes (Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division) will continue to be strengthened through. Students will continue to explore these concepts through rich learning tasks and open ended exploration.

Inquiry
We will continue to embed the school’s prosocial program ‘Play is the Way’, where students will identify their personal strengths and areas of future development. They will suggest strategies for coping with difficult situations, investigate and discuss which behaviours lead to positive relationships with peers, other people at school and in the community. Finally, students will identify and discuss a range of conflict resolution strategies to develop their independence and ability to negotiate positive outcomes to problems.

Science
This Term, our Science topic is ‘Package it Better’ where students will develop an understanding of the design of packages and the choice of appropriate materials to use. Students design and test a package that will safely deliver a fragile gift. Through investigations students observe and gather information about what makes a successful package. This unit of work also links to our investigations of 3D shapes

iPads
Google Classroom will continue to be an accompaniment to our everyday learning. iPads will be required at school, fully charged so that students can continue to access blended learning. Please ensure any non-school based apps are deleted from your child’s iPad to comply with the LLPS User Agreement.

A reminder that New Department of Education guidelines stipulate that no mobile phones or smart watches can be used on the school premises during school hours. For further details please refer to the policy documents on Compass and the Lara Lake PS website.

Homework
Homework will continue to be sent home digitally via Google Classroom and the expectation remains that our students are reading every night as well as completing self-selected maths tasks (Mathletics, Prodigy, Sunset). Should you be experiencing any difficulties, please do not hesitate to send a handwritten note through to the classroom teacher or send an email via the Compass app.

Supplies
Thank you to all the families who have so far donated much needed tissues and paper towel. These are essential items for the classroom and we thoroughly appreciate the donations. If you have not yet sent in your donation, please do so at your earliest convenience.

Grade 5 Term 4 Curriculum News 2020

General Comment

This Term Newsletter will provide you with information about your children’s upcoming teaching and learning experiences in the new term. These newsletters are provided to all parents across the school, so that everyone is aware of the great things happening at our school, even if you don’t have a child in this level. Of course, you may choose to read only those Newsletters affecting your children. There is also plenty of additional information provided via Compass throughout the school year, so please make a point of touching base regularly.

When we think of the character traits and qualities we hope to instil in our young learners, a few come to mind – persistence, resilience and kindness. Over the past two terms, our Grade 5 learners have demonstrated their ability to rise above the ongoing pressures of isolation and remote learning and adapt in ways we’ve never seen before. Their commitment to completing online learning tasks, responding to feedback and pushing themselves to improve has been inspiring. We observed many writing skills develop as students experimented with characterisation, description, language features and improved punctuation. We celebrated a range of authors and their texts and analysed the structure and impact of many narratives. Results in maths were overwhelming, with many students achieving growth well above expectation! Despite the physical space between teachers and students, we can all reflect on remote learning as being the best possible experience given the challenges we faced. Teachers ought to be commended on their ongoing commitment to developing high quality learning tasks. Students ought to be congratulated on their engagement levels each and every day.

As Term 4 begins, we will inevitably hit the ground running. Literacy and numeracy assessments will begin immediately, allowing teachers to gain a greater insight into the individual needs of every child. Our teaching and learning program will continue to be rich, ensuring student learning is targeted. The term is going to busy, but incredibly exciting. We are hopeful that the ‘downward trend’ continues and we will be able to finish the year on-site, surrounded by friends and peers.

The Grade 5 teachers would like to thank all families for their incredible support and flexibility throughout this difficult time. We look forward to working together for the remainder of the year to ensure all children succeed!

Numeracy
In Term 4, students will have an opportunity to extend their learning about location, transformation and angles, including symmetry, grid references and mapping. We will continue to teach a range of problem solving skills throughout the term and provide opportunities for students to practise and apply many multiplication, division, addition and subtraction strategies in various open and closed settings.

Literacy
Students will continue to participate in sustained independent reading throughout Term 4. They will have ownership over the texts they choose to read and will establish and review reading goals through teacher-student conferences and peer discussions. We hope to see many students inspired by the texts they read and use these to develop their own identities as authors. Our writing sessions will continue to centre on the Writing Workshop model, where students will be explicitly taught skills associated with seeding new ideas, drafting texts, revising, editing and publishing. The ‘Author’s Chair’ will be one of the many ways we continue to showcase and celebrate student learning during our literacy sessions.

Inquiry
The Inquiry theme, ‘Our Place in the World’, will continue into Term 4. Students will investigate and research many Asian countries and strengthen their knowledge of the associated cultures, rituals and celebrations.

Term 4 Grade 6 Curriculum News 2020

This Term Newsletter will provide you with information about your children’s upcoming teaching and learning experiences in the new term.

These Newsletters are provided to all parents across the school, so that everyone is aware of the great things happening at our school, even if you don’t have a child in this level. Of course, you may choose to read only those Newsletters affecting your children.

There is also plenty of additional information provided via Compass throughout the school year, so please make a point of touching base regularly.

General

Welcome to Term 4 2020 and onsite learning again! The year 2020 has thrown considerable curveballs at us but we have coped well and it’s really exciting to get back to some sort of normality in Term 4. We are excited to have students back onsite and we look forward to making the most of the remainder of 2020 for our Grade 6 cohort this year. We hope all of the students end the year on a high by demonstrating great leadership and maturity as they spend their remaining weeks as a Grade 6 student before moving onto Secondary School.

Literacy

Nurturing our students’ love of reading is a passion for all of the Grade 6 teachers at LLPS. It has been pleasing to see the students’ independence as readers develop even at home during Remote Learning. This term, we will be continuing to challenge the students with texts that will enhance their vocabulary, knowledge and make them think deeply about world issues, preparing them for high school. We look forward to seeing the students further utilise our extensive classroom library to engage in a wider range of authors and text types. Students have also been given access to the online reading resources ’Epic’ and ’Sunshine Online’, in order to increase the range of fiction and non-fiction texts available to students. Throughout the term, we will focus on using the comprehension strategies to support our understanding during reading, particularly summarising, retelling, inferencing and questioning.

We want to continue to foster the love of writing in Term 4, so we will be refining the students’ skills of the writing process through ‘free-choice’ in their Writer’s Notebook. Students will engage in the planning, drafting and publishing of texts and explore the key structures and language features of text types. Our Writer’s Workshop program will offer opportunities for students to pursue what interests them, to develop their writing style and find their ‘voice’ when writing to persuade, inform and entertain the reader.

In Spelling, students will continue to develop their spelling skills by understanding that a combination of the sound, the history and the meaning of the word influences its spelling. Students will build their meta-awareness of words by continuing to develop their knowledge of four interrelated threads: phonology, orthography, etymology and morphology.

Numeracy

In Mathematics, students will continue to develop their knowledge of ‘Number’ by completing a unit of work throughout the term using written and mental strategies to solve problems using all four processes (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). Students will be encouraged to use estimation to ensure they understand the question. They will be supported to select and apply appropriate problem solving strategies and explain their reasoning behind this. There will be an emphasis placed on the problem solving process so that students follow the following structure - Understand, Plan, Solve and Check. They will also have a ‘Measurement and Geometry’ focus by categorising and comparing various angles, investigating shape transformations and converting units of measurement while investigating volume and capacity.

Inquiry

During our Inquiry unit this term, we will be exploring how to manage the transitions and changes that occur during puberty. Students will continue to plan and practise strategies that promote health, safety and wellbeing.

CURRICULUM NEWS TERM 4 SPECIALISTS 2020

Physical Education

Welcome back everyone to Term 4! We have been overwhelmed with the number of students who have participated in our online Physical Education classes and we are incredibly excited to have you back in the Gym and on the oval soon!

Term 3 focused a lot on the Movement and Physical Activity strands of the Curriculum and we look forward to delving into that further. With the AFL Grand Final in Week 3 we will begin by focusing on AFL Football and the many different skills it requires. From there we will move onto a range of sports including Cricket. Prep and Junior levels will continue to develop Fundamental Motor Skills through skill stations and games which incorporate AFL or cricket themes. Middle and Senior levels will be focusing on how success, challenge and failure can strengthen our personal identities in competitive and team sports. They will need to use creative thinking processes, problem solving skills and participate positively while taking on different roles and responsibilities within a team.

Please remember hats and sunscreen as we will be taking a lot of our lessons outside this term. Feel free to contact any of your child's Physical Education teachers if you have any questions.

Thank-you, Mr. Tim Arnel, Mrs. Ellie Johnson, Mrs. Jess Millard & Mr. Rob Turner.

Art

We are so excited to welcome everyone back to school after a long break! Term Four is filled with a lot of exciting and enjoyable activities in Visual Arts. We have so many wonderful pieces to complete and explore! Term Four is eleven weeks long and so we thought we would get in early... If anyone has any old birthday or Christmas cards PLEASE send them along to the Art Room, we would love to use them later in the term!

Our School’s Community Christmas Tree will be decorated this term by our ES Staff and selected students and will be on display at our office for a short time and then in the Mall as part of the Geelong Christmas display. Grade 6 students will also be taking part in a Christmas tree being created for the Lara Community, this program is being run by the Lara Lions Club. We look forward to seeing this piece come to life. What a way for Grade 6 students to express themselves through Art to the community!

This term we will be exposing students to different types of modelling materials like clay. This allows us to teach an important and favourable part of the Victorian Curriculum which allows the students to both explore and express their ideas through modelling. Our lessons will be reflecting and interpreting each grade levels Inquiry units, ensuring that we are complementing the learning that is happening inside the classroom.

At the end of the year we look forward our Christmas Unit! This unit allows children to experiment with different materials, such as paints, crayons, pastels, found objects and recycled materials. Children will be learn how to select appropriate materials to express their ideas.

During the final two weeks of the year your child will come home with their Art Folio. This is a wonderful keepsake and the large quality folio is a great storage solution for their precious artwork. We hope you are looking forward to it, we are!

Mrs. Torriero, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Millard and Mr. Turner.

Music

Term 4 is all about making music together!

Singing, dancing and playing instruments will be combined with composing, performing and even recording our music!

In music classes, we will use our music reading skills to work in large and small groups, and to make music using a variety of percussion instruments: Marimbas, Boomwhackers, Bells, egg shakers, Bucket Drums, Ukeleles as well as the “Rock Band instruments” such as Accoustic and Electric Guitar, Bass Guitars, drums and Drum Kit.

Vocals will also be a focus, with singing “in tune” skills being further developed, and breathing and projection being explored. Singing games and songs will be played in Prep and junior music classes with Mrs Mckenzie, Mr Turner and Mrs Johnson.

Mr Turner is a name you may have heard about in relation to music classes in term 2, and 3 this year, and he has brought a range of skills to the school, and to music classes. As a professional musician, he has wowed us with his instrumental skills on violin, guitar, vocals and trumpet, and as a sound technician he has set up proper recording studio equipment in the music room. We will be using this with students this term.

This year our "Big Sing" (otherwise known as "Music Count Us In") will be different from previous years, with classes practicing and performing the 2020 song in alternative ways to previous years. Teachers, Parents and children will be advised closer to the date, what form it will take this year.

Mrs Mckenzie, Mr Turner and Mrs Johnson.