Thursday’s antics

Our Buddies Easter Picnic was a great success! Our very thoughtful big buddies made us bunny ears, which looked fantastic. After getting through 4 tabletops of food (thanks families!) everyone had fun playing together.

In our science inquiry session we investigated the quickest way to melt a piece of ice using body heat. The Black Jaguars are working like scientists as they improve their skills of predicting, recording their observations and reflecting on their findings.

I hope everyone has a safe and relaxing long weekend.

See you in week 10!

Communicators

We have been practicing our communication skills by playing “back-to-back”. Turns out some of the black jaguars have a bit of work to do on communicating clearly and giving specific detail…

Also, I have set up a board in the office foyer to communicate the learning we have been doing about heat. Check it out when you get a chance!

Enterprise Day planning

Hi everyone,

Enterprise Day (11 April, Wednesday wk 11) is fast approaching, so it’s time for us to get on with our planning!

To connect with our science inquiry into heat, I challenged the jaguars to think of stall ideas that use heat. After a brainstorming session, the idea of having a barbecue was mentioned. With alarm bells ringing in my mind and visions of burns and food poisoning, I smiled and nodded and wrote it on the board. Now after some thought, and discussions at the Enterprise Day committee meeting, I’m beginning to think that maybe it could work… but only if we have your help!

If this is to go ahead, I will approach local butchers to ask for donations or discounts in exchange for advertising at the stall (unless you have other connections). What I will need from parents is donations of bread, sauce, onions, serviettes, and time to help cook the barbecue.

Previously sausage sizzles have been run by the sports club or Lions club, with profits going back to their clubs. This way all profits will come back to the school, and contribute to renovating the Louvre into a new learning space equipped for cooking and science.

Please let me know if you or someone from your family can help in any way so that I can lock it in, otherwise I will gently nudge the ideas in a different direction.

Thanks!
Erin

Jungle update

Hi everyone!

In the classroom:
What a successful week we’ve had. It finally feels like we’re getting on track, which for me is really exciting! We’ve been writing narratives, sorting and classifying materials, learning new vocabulary, trying to read huge numbers (definitely some neurons firing there), getting tangled, working as a team to untangle ourselves and today we even had a boogie with our buddies. It’s been great! But now I’m realising I’ve spent so much time getting involved that I have no photos to show for it, and I’m devastated! I hope your jaguar can fill you in with all/at least some of the details. My goal next week will be to keep my iPad in my hand as much as possible so that I can share all of these wonderful moments.

Parent – Teacher interviews:
This afternoon notes went home about the parent teacher interviews, which will be in week 9. Please book your preferred time ASAP. I’ve got a link to a photo of the page here

Info for year 3’s:
CLG is offering students the opportunity to participate in the 2018 International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) program. The assessments are available for Maths, Science and English. Participation is entirely optional. Registration and payment are due by March 22nd. Here’s a link for the information and registration letter: ICAS Payment Letter 2018-22f6vwi

Easter Picnic:
Our Buddy class has invited us to a shared recess picnic on Thursday of Week 9 (29/03/18). They have promised us a formal invitation, but I thought I’d give you the heads up that they are asking everyone to bring a small plate to share. At this stage I haven’t been told if there’s anything specific to bring (eg. girls sweet, boys savoury), or of any dietary requirements. I’ll be sure to pass on more information if required.

I think that’s it for now…

Enjoy your weekend!

Spelling week 7

Hi families, and keen home learners!

Posting this list was at the top of my list of things to do today, but I’ve been unable to access the internet at all! I promise this is the first thing I’m doing now that I’m home.

I completely understand if there isn’t much work done for the spelling, or if the books are handed back on Friday.

Spelling week 6

Hi everyone,
One of the home learning tasks is practicing the spelling sound for the week. In the rush of the day the children didn’t get a chance to write their chosen words into their home learning books. Here’s a photo of the spelling words they could choose from.

Thanks,
Erin

Week 5 update

Well, after a manic week trying to get organised for our assembly, it’s been such a relief to have some more structure and routine in the classroom.

We have begun our Literacy Block rotations, where the children work through different activities that focus on skills such as reading, comprehension, spelling, genre studies and vocabulary. One of the activities is a “study group” where the children work with me so that I can give more targeted support. It’s great to have this opportunity to work with a small group while the rest of the class works independently. They’ve done brilliantly for their first go!

This week we have been following Youcubed’s week of Inspirational Maths, developed by Jo Boaler and Stamford University. The week is all about promoting growth mindset in maths, and helping children to understand key messages around brain development, growth and the importance of thinking deeply, rather than working quickly. Each session starts with a growth mindset video, then the children work through an open-ended task, which we reflect on after the session. Here’s a link to one of the videos: Brains Grow and Change

Here are some of the Black Jaguars “building shapes”; a teamwork activity which was part of our week of inspirational maths.

The Lower Mortlock Crew are beginning their Science Inquiry next week. To get us in the mood we’ve started to think about about what scientists do. The words “research”, “discover” and “study” came up, so we made some Lenses of Extraordinary Perception to use for when we really need to look at things like scientists.

If I don’t see you at the picnic, then I hope you have a great weekend!


PS. A note on winter sports: