Letters made out of play dough

Cruz and Aaliyah wanted me to take a picture of their successful letters made out of play dough. Great activity to work on the kids fine motor skills and develop increased knowledge about forming letters.

 

                                       

Soccer

The kids are lucky enough to get fortnightly soccer lessons on a Wednesday. Check out the fun they have!

                                         

                             

Maths - the start of rounding to the nearest 10

This week, this group began to learn a new strategy to use when solving equations. It's all about rounding to the nearest 10 to break the numbers down and create an easier way to solve larger numbers (when we get to larger numbers). I call it the "jelly bean" strategy, as you make a jelly bean in the equation as shown in the pictures below.

                 

       

Buddy reading with Room 7

Every Friday we go to Room 7 and they help us to read. They also read to us, to show us what good readers look and sound like. Buddy reading is important because it not only helps the younger students, it puts the older students in a role of responsibility and allows them to be the experts. This helps them to build confidence and it helps the younger students as some ideas may be put in a way that is easier to understand - "kid speak". Take a look at how awesome both classes are together.

                   

                                                 

Week 2, Term 4

Room 5 welcomed some new members this week - 8 teeny tiny tadpoles. We haven't named them as we can't tell them apart but it will be great for the children to observe the various changes they go through for our Animal topic. At the end of term they are free to a good home, or they will be joining their siblings in my Dads pond. The children were very interested in them and we even found a book that can be displayed to give visitors information on the changes they go through. Come in and visit them any time!

                        

                                                                     

Week 1, Term 4

Wow! What a fantastic start to Term 4. We welcomed 13 children from Room's 1 and 2 and they have settled in brilliantly. Welcome to: Kitty, Dilan, Charlie, Zara, Sophie, Michael, Sol, Harry, Cairo, Bowie, Molly, Lebron, and Maddie.

To start the term, we had a music lesson. The children learnt about the notes C and G and began to learn a song on the xylophone. They had a fantastic time as pictured below and I took a short video to demonstrate their growing skills :)

                                                

We have also spent time going over the rules and routines of the classroom. This includes learning task board activities and independent activities. A lot of time is spent at the beginning of the term to scaffold and guide the children into completing activities independently and acquiring the ability to work well with a group. Below are some pictures of Room 5 teaching and learning various task board activities. These are what the children will be doing while groups are with me, along with different follow up activities.

Our topic this term is Animals - I am looking at getting some tadpoles for the class this weekend so the children can observe and study their change throughout the next month. If anyone has any spare oxygen weed I would love to borrow some - it is for a great cause! 

                       

The first couple of weeks we will also be focusing on the Rugby World Cup - hopefully we will have a positive ending to share :)