English
This term in English, Stage 2 students have been sharing the very well known Australian novel ‘Storm Boy’ by Colin Theile. The story shares the relationship between Storm Boy and Mr Percival, a pelican. Storm Boy lives a reclusive life with his dad, Hideaway Tom, on the South Australian coast and while their relationship builds throughout the story, there are underlying themes of animal and environmental protection. These themes have linked in very nicely with our Informative writing unit of work. Using the Coorong National Park as our focus, we have been researching the cultural heritage of the Ngarrindjeri people and the importance of preserving the unique habitats of the environment. The students have been thoroughly immersed in learning about the Coorong area to help visualise the setting of the story of Storm Boy. 

We continue to take part in Daily Review lessons which revise and practice word level reading, grammar, vocabulary etc.  Using vocabulary from the novel, we explore and devise complex and compound sentences. This week, our vocabulary words have been sulk, slogged and blurted. The students worked with a partner to write creatively and share their sentences using their understanding of the word meanings. 

What I like about the story Storm Boy so far…..

Ryan F: ‘I like the pelicans in the story, they think that Storm Boy is their Dad and that Hide away Tom is their grandad’.

Benjamin L: ‘I like that Storm Boy has found the pelicans and I think Storm Boy will help them. Mr Percival is Storm Boy’s favourite because he is calm and quiet and not bossy like the other two pelicans’.

Theodore: ‘I like learning all the facts about the Coorong National Park and how we have to make sure we look after the environment for the animals like the pelicans’.

Winnie: ‘ I like that the story is based around the beach, where Storm Boy lives in a beach humpy. I also like how Storm Boy looks after nature’.

Tommy: ‘I like that it has lots of details about the Coorong and they have included facts about the animals that live in the wetlands.’

Ginger: ‘ I like how Storm Boy takes in the pelicans and takes care of them. He wants to make them well enough so they can be back in the wild.’

(insert photos information report writing planning notes- see photos in newsletter drive)

Maths
This week in  Year 3 Maths, we conducted a chance experiment using a coin and learning how to record our results in a table. As a class, we identified the vocabulary surrounding chance experiments including: likely, unlikely, certain, uncertain, possible, impossible. We predicted that while it was ‘possible’ to throw all heads or all tails, it was unlikely. Year 3 played Heads and Tails and identified we had one chance out of two of tossing a head or a tail. We used our skills to draw a table to tally our results within an experiment of 10 coin tosses. While in Year 4, students have been learning about converting fractions to decimals and recognising the pictorial value of tenths and hundredths. We have been exploring the different ways to write a fraction as a mixed numeral or improper fraction.

Our students are continuing to learn about the link between the Sacraments of the Church and the Gospel teachings of Jesus. The Gospels portray Jesus as a person of compassion, someone who saw the suffering of those around him and responded in word and action. We will continue to look at Gospel stories from Mark and John that explain the context of healing as actions for today and how we too can be like Jesus. 

Science
This term in Science, Year 3 has been investigating a unit of work about Earth and Space. We have identified planets and super planets and that the sun is the star closest to earth. We have also learnt about clouds, storms and that earth spins on an axis giving us night and day. Recently we conducted an experiment using a globe and a torch. The globe was spinning, on an axis, and as it spun, the torch showed the parts of the world that were in daylight and those in the night time.

Milton: ‘I like that we are learning about the sun and how the earth spins around it’.

Tash: ‘I liked that I could see which parts of the world were having daylight when the other parts of the world were at night time’.

Oliver: “ I like learning about space and the sun, the axis that earths spins on but we don’t even know that it is spinning’.

Alonso: ‘I like learning about Earth and its amazing features, the moon, the stars and the sun’.

Patrick S: I like learning about the sun and the reason why we have day and night - because the earth spins on an axis and the sun shines in different parts of the world.’

In Year 4 Science students have also been investigating Earth and Space. Students have been working with Mr Bateman and learning about the earth’s core and tectonic plates in recent weeks. Students have made a 3D representation of the earth’s core using plasticine. 

Art
Father Day Craft (Spoiler alert…Dads look away now)

To spoil our Dads, Granddads, uncles and special men in our lives, we have been busily preparing a beautiful Fathers day gift that the students will take home in time for Fathers Day this weekend. In a very fun and very messy session, we used coloured fabric dye and elastic bands to tie dye some socks. The end results are amazing! We hope all dads and granddads will get lots of use out of these works of art! Thanks to Mrs Durnan for her excellent organisational skills and to Mrs Ryan for her help to get them dry and finished to take home this week.

Students have also enjoyed taking part in our sketching lesson to create lively leaf watercolour paintings. Students have practised using light sketch lines to create a branch and leaves, before adding watercolour paints in warm colours to contrast the cool colour backgrounds. The art works are still in progress but as you can see, we may have some up and coming artists within our classrooms.

Geography
Year 3 are thoroughly enjoying their geography lessons “Places are similar and different,” so far this term. We have investigated Australia’s major natural and human features and have explored the importance of ‘place.’ Students learnt that the Australian continent is divided into spaces and they can now confidently label and name all states, territories and capital cities. 

Year 4 are researching different types of biomes such as tundras, grasslands, deciduous and coniferous forests in both Australia and the world. We are building on our knowledge of continents, and have been looking at different features of biomes and how they are impacted by location on our planet, weather patterns and temperature. 

Evander: ‘I have been learning about the states and capitals cities that make up Australia and now I need to practise at home plotting these on a large map.’

Alonso: ‘In Geography we are learning about all of the natural features that make up Australia. We learnt how to draw a salt pan, a scrub and plains. It is lots of fun!’ 

Oliver R: ‘I really enjoyed learning about the different states in Australia and it was fun when we drew different landforms in different states.’ 

Bentley: ‘Australia is a special place and you can go and see lots of different landmarks around Australia.’