For Number, students have been working hard on their understanding of place value. Students have been working on ones, tens, hundreds and thousands. Students got to gain a deeper understanding of place value by creating an interactive game. When creating a game, students had to think about how other players can practice their place value knowledge in various ways. It was a lot of fun as students got creative with it and added their own unique twists, such as challenges, rewards, and special rules to make their games more engaging. It was great to see their enthusiasm as they tested each other’s games and refined their ideas!

For Inquiry Maths the focus has been on Measurement. Students have learnt the 3 key concepts of length, mass and capacity. The aim was to create an environment that allowed students to be creative and hands-on in order to develop a deeper understanding of the measurement concepts. Within the last week we have introduced Time. We worked very hard to create our very own clocks, familiarising ourselves with skip counting by 5’s and the hour/minute hand. 

Literacy:

In year 3 students have gained the privilege of using chromebooks. This has been incorporated into our literacy time and students have found it very engaging. We are still focusing on their handwriting and spelling skills through targeted handwriting and spelling lessons.

Spelling: Our SPELLEX program is well underway and students are showing growth and engaging in lessons. We have been learning about the terms “phoneme - the individual sounds in a word”, “grapheme - the ways sounds are written”. We have also been learning about base words, and how we add prefixes and suffixes to change their meaning.

Writing and Reading: This term in year 3 we have been looking at narrative writing and descriptive language. Students have also enjoyed reading our mentor text Matilda by Roald Dahl. Through Dahl’s descriptive language we have been learning about simile and metaphor. Students have been using this knowledge to plan and write a narrative on the chromebooks.

How the World Works Inquiry:

Our How the World Works Inquiry has been focused on how “temperature influences our lives”. We began by exploring heat sources we know and designing a sunsafe playground. Over the last few lessons we have started learning about different states of matter and how heat or the lack of influences changes by experimenting with ice cubes.

How we Organise Ourselves Inquiry: We have been busy learning about how to make our brains stronger. We have learnt the key parts of the brain. We have learnt about the prefrontal cortex which is our wise old owl, the part of the brain we are trying to make strong. The amygdala, which is our guard dog, its job is to keep us safe. The hippocampus, the elephant in our brain that stores all of our memories. Over the next two terms we will be learning strategies to make sure we are listening to our amygdala but also making our prefrontal cortex strong so that it is always thinking. 

Literacy and Numeracy

Year 4 students have started the year strong, establishing routines for literacy and numeracy.

Our explicit spelling program, SpellEx, has started and students are showing growth in understanding and applying specific spelling rules.

Specifically, students have been focussing on prefixes and suffixes, understanding the rules and applying these to a large variety of simple and complex vocabulary. Students have also been transferring this knowledge of specific vocabulary into maths and Inquiry. This is supporting them to understand the vocabulary and word problems and accurately solve them.

Students have been exploring the four GROW values in greater detail and depth. We have created a year 4 display that represents our understanding of what each of the four values, Growth Mindset, Respect, Organisation and Wellbeing look like in our cohort.

Year 5 have been exploring language features such as simile and metaphor by identifying them in poetry and applying them to their own writing. They created colour poems using the five senses and similes to describe a colour and add detail to their writing. They have been working through the stages of the writing process to plan, draft, edit and publish their work. Students have also been participating in literacy rotations where they have been developing their reading, comprehension, writing and spelling skills in a variety of activities. 

“I really enjoyed making colour poems.” - Christian

“The colour poems were fun and interesting.” - Razan

Year 5 have embraced numeracy learning this term, developing their knowledge of factors, multiples, divisibility strategies and angles. Students have shared their knowledge in a variety of ways, documenting their learning and ideas through online tasks, think boards, collaborative challenges, mathematical artworks and independent problem solving tasks. 

Multimodal learning encourages students to think critically and to apply their knowledge in different contexts. 

“I enjoyed doing the angles artwork because it combined art with math and made angles creative and easier to understand.” - Andrea

“All the number learning we do in Year 5 is fun and enjoyable.” - Bhavika

Inquiry

Students have been looking at the elements of drama and visual arts, using them to analyse different artworks and create our own. We have conducted research on the different cultures around the world and how they express themselves through the arts. 

We have discussed the different factors that make up our identities and how these can change over time. We discussed different stereotypes and have begun looking at different people throughout history who have worked to break them. We had a particular look at gender stereotypes to line up with International Women's Day. 

“I love all the drama and art activities” - Zara

“I enjoyed researching about different people and cultures” - Joni

Kindergarten – MUSIC EXPLORER

We began the term singing songs that I thought Kindy would not know ! What a surprise that they know SO many songs. I just can not trick them at all !!!  We are practicing keeping the beat steady with music we hear and with music we song and play. We can show the beat on different parts of our body ! We LOVE the rainbow ring ! Kindergarten can demonstrate fast/slow and loud/quiet and give examples! They are beginning to realise that music that is high is not the same as music that is loud.        

Year One – RHYTHM QUEST

Year One are on a rhythm quest !!! Ask us to explain how many sounds are on a beat when we play ta and titi. Ask us to demonstrate and say a rhythm ! We know the rhythm is the way the words go and have been making body rhythms for some words ! This has been fun. We are also learning rhymes and songs to help us hear the rhythms of words. Sounds of  Moosic is a favourite !

Year Two – BEAT vs RHYTHM

Year Two have been revising known rhythms and have discovered the mystery rhythm zah in songs, chants and games. We have participated in various rhythm trains and are composing our own rhythm test book soon ! Ask us to sing and play Bow Wow Wow with you and explain the rhythm. Ask us how many beats in this song and how we find out !

Year Three – KARATE RECORDER

Year Three are learning the recorder ! This fabulous instrument is versatile and is a great tool for learning to read and compose on the treble clef staff. Recoder readily transfers to other woodwind instruments.

Year Four – DRUMMING 101

Year Four are bucket drumming. They are learning to play a simple rock beat and read a drum grid. This week Karate Drumming will be introduced, where students work through a series of rhythm patterns, using the correct stick techniques and rehearse and then perform their works. Each time they complete a set, they move up to a new Karate belt in drumming!

Year Five –

Year Five have been learning to play the Orff instruments using the pentatonic scale. Their task is to play a simple song keeping a steady beat and then improvise over the bordun with a partner. Here are a few examples of their work. Simply use your camera to hear their rehearsals.

Year Six –

Year Six have already completed their first task for the year. They had to choose a mode and compose their own melody to a simple given chant. Here are a few examples of their work. Simply use your camera to hear their compositions.

CWS is Singing Around the World !

Each fortnight we are learning a new song from our very big world !

Can you help??? Is there a childrens song or chant that you can teach us?

Please email and let me know !

Susan.Curbishley@ed.act.edu.au

Choir News

Our CWS choir has all music on SeeSaw in our choir classroom. Please contact Mrs Curbishley for access.

We are currently learning “The Three Little Pigs” and will betaking this “story song”

across the road to the Coombs ELC later this term.

SAVE THE DATE: July 30^th is our next PYP Choir day and will be held at CGGS.

 MUSIC CLUBS TERM ONE

It was so lovely to begin the library year by welcoming families into the library space on the Welcome Evening. Classes are back in full swing with borrowing in all grades and preschool coming for their very fist library time.

Our library purchases new books every year based on student and teacher requests and units of inquiry, and prioritises purchasing new, preferably Australian books that showcase the diversity of learners who attend our school. We hope that all students find books that act as mirrors to their identity and that they can see themselves in our stories. We are also working to update the resources in our non-fiction collection of information books.

Every library purchase is possible because of your generous, tax-deductible donations to our Library Trust Fund. Information about how to make one these donations will be sent out very soon. This year we are suggesting that families make a donation equivalent to $15 per student per term which equates to purchasing one new soft cover book per child each term. If you are in a position to make a higher donation, it is greatly appreciated. 

We also happily accept donations of childrens books (for ages 5-12) that are in good condition. These donations are collected at the front office. In particular, we would love to grow our collection of picture books in languages other than English. If you have any to donate or are travelling overseas during the year, we would love to add them to our Mother Tongue resources.

Some families have noticed that the usual Scholastic Book Club catalogues have not been distributed this term. The LOOP portal is still open if you would like to place an order. 

We are please to be able to offer a new Book Club this term. The amazing independent bookshop, The Book Cow, have created their first Kids Book Club catalogue which can be viewed digitally here: https://www.bookcow.com.au/schools 

• Enjoy exclusive specials each term - more books and fewer stationery items!
• When you purchase with The Book Cow kids and teen book clubs you will earn 15% of your purchase worth of credit for the school library 
• You also earn 5% of your purchase in Herd credits for future purchases, in store at their Kingston location
• Purchases can be made online at https://schools-bookcow.square.site/
• Orders will be packed and delivered to school each week and will be delivered to your childs class (unless you note that it is a gift order and it can be collected from the front office)
• When ordering, select “Charles Weston School” under the Store Pick-Up option and then enter your child’s name and class in the notes section of the order.

Thank you so much for all the support you show our school library.

Happy reading!

Mrs Mengel, Teacher Librarian