Every student is ploughing through our work tasks. Many of the topics are information based to begin with, requiring copying down or recording items in written form.  Then once we have that information, we can form into groups for research or are given specific tasks. We have discussed the importance of neat bookwork and presentation when writing information down.  This is to enable the student, others and myself to be able to read it clearly and refer to it for assistance/reference for future tasks. 

So our Ready To Learn focus has been clear setting out, neatness and organization of pages.  It is becoming a really vital skill and each and every student is showing improvement in this area! PEN Licences are been granted in Week 8.

English:  Our writing to Inform genre has given us many different writing experiences.  Last week they wrote interview questions, then interviewed a peer about a specific topic.  Students wrote a News Article, then reviewed and gave feedback to another student on their article. We have been reviewing the 3 types of sentences expected in a writing piece (simple, compound and complex) and using Text Deconstruction (with the help of stimulus pictures) in partner work to encourage more descriptive and extended vocabulary.  We have discussed the use of noun groups, similes and metaphors as well to include in their writing.

Maths:  To understand the “Order of Operations” concept, we have been working in pairs every session using the BOMDAS sequence.  This helps us to decode the operation, work logically to a formula and check with a calculator.  We have observed how easy it is to make simple errors, (I made a few!) and the importance of checking over your working out.  Really great progress here to “get it” but it took repetition, repetition, repetition to consolidate the concept.

Religion: Modern Day Prophet assessment tasks were completed.  I am very impressed with some of the connections made by students about how the message of their prophet related to their lives, our 4 R’s at school and the teachings of Jesus from the Bible.  The students presented these to a small group and were given feedback from them.  This week we have been exploring the Project Compassion website. We are learning about the challenges faces by ordinary people in different countries, how they have changed their loves and how we can GO FURTHER TOGETHER.  We learnt some startling facts about poverty and how some families love compared to us.

HASS:  We are looking at the 3 Levels of Government, what the role of each government has and how this affects us.  Classic question from a student was “Do you pay tax?............”.  Next few weeks will be looking at Parliament, the constitution and democracy.  We continue to look at Federation and the viewpoint of different people during this time.

Please keep up the food in lunchboxes and good sleep patterns. Keep up the great effort!

Congratulations to Luke and Angus, Sophie and Jasmine who ran the assembly last 2 weeks.