Hot but Busy

Despite some really hot days this week, students kept working towards achieving this week's learning intentions and their personal goals.

In Science, we investigated how sound travels from the source to the ear and in the process, had lots of fun dancing to the beat of our own drums - literally. We have also added a few new words to our vocabulary.

We continued our work on 3D shapes, matching printed shapes to real-life objects. We also added and subtracted using the friends of ten.

 This week's Friday awards were given for enthusiastic participation in Mathematics and demonstrating a good understanding of addition and subtraction. Keep up the good job.

2S, please share with your parents that big word we learnt in Science. It starts with O, ends with A and has 12 letters. Explain to them what it means and give them some examples.

Setting Goals

When constructing any jigsaw puzzle, especially a 1000-piece one, it is most helpful to know what is should look like in the end. The complete picture on the box gives us direction; we know the goal. Having no picture for guidance would make the task most arduous.

It is the same with the learning process. We must know where we are and where we want to go. We have been busy conferring and setting reading, writing and numeracy goals in our class.  These are to help every student identify the specific areas that they need to work on e.g. consistently using full stops and capital letters or looking out for new and interesting words when reading or correctly reading and representing three-digit numbers.

2S, share your goals with your parents. Explain them so that you can understand them even better.

All students come prepared to give their best effort and these are to be congratulated for a very good work ethic over the last two weeks. Keep it up!

Investigating Number

We were nearly at the end of our Maths lesson working with 3-digit numbers when I noticed that all the students were on the floor and were collaborating on something while I worked with a small group. They had emptied all the base ten materials from their plastic home and they were arranging them on the floor. The intention, they said, was find out the biggest number they could make using all the materials.

This provided an excellent opportunity to assess each student through observation and listening in to the conversation. I did not interrupt until invited only to respond with a question. A few children congregated near the board to record the number while the rest kept calling out what they had counted. Twenty minutes later, they had it - 5,586. And so simply, they had introduced themselves to 4-digit numbers.

2S, be sure to share with your families what you are learning about number.

Investigating Sounds

We have been investigating the sounds we can make using a variety of instruments:

• Can we make loud or soft sounds?
• How can we make different sounds using the same instrument?

Students worked in small groups to investigate.

Afterwards, the groups tried out one another's instruments to have a feel.

All in a Week

Understanding number partly comes by reading it, writing it and representing it in different ways. Students are continuing to grow their knowledge in this area.

We were also very privileged to receive a visit from Thor - Sydney Thunder's mascot at our Friday assembly. He came to promote Cricket as a fun sport for all - girls and boys alike.

And congratulations to our very first award recipients of the year for their focused effort in Science.

Welcome to 2S

It is a pleasure to be guiding your child in their learning journey this year. We have enjoyed our first two days getting to know one another, forming new friendships and making a start in our reading and writing.