Mac St News - Friday 1 November 2024
Principals Report
Dear Parents, Carers and Community Members,
It is hard to believe that we have finished the fourth week of Term 4. The term is going by rapidly.
It has been wonderful to see and feel some sunshine, the students have made the most of this when playing outside in the Gaga pit, playing four square or cricket.
This past fortnight we have had a blast diving deeper into our Core Knowledge unit learning about the four seasons. We learned about Autumn and then spent some more time understanding Summer.
We made a craft sun too! We have begun learning about different weather patterns across the seasons, in particular this week – storms and what a meteorologist does. In maths, we have been learning about capacity, and different positions in a queue.
Another fantastic week again in Grade 1/2! As part of knowledge the students have been learning about Earth and Space.
This week students have been learning about the inner and outer planets in our Solar System. The terrestrial or inner planets are; Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. These are known as the rocky planets. The outer planets are; Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. These are known as the gas planets.
The planets orbit around the sun due to its gravitational pull. Mercury only takes 88 Earth days to orbit the sun and completes one and a half rotations on its axis for the whole year!
Last week, the grade 1/2's also learnt about the Moon. Did you know that the moon stays the same in the sky, but appears differently in the sky each night because of how much sunlight reflects off the moon? There are 4 phases of the moon; New Moon, Half Moon, Cresent Moon and Full Moon.
The 3/4’s have been learning many vast and varied facts about space. Some interesting facts that we’ve learned include:
- A day on Venus takes longer than a year!
- Temperatures on Mercury can vary from 427°C (the side facing the sun) to -173°C (the side facing away from the sun).
- The four inner terrestrial planets and the outer gas giants are separated by the asteroid belt.
- Earth’s orbit is in the shape of an ellipse, not a circle.
- Debris, in the form of rocks or metal, are known as meteoroids when they are in space, meteors once they enter Earth’s atmosphere, and meteorites if they reach the surface of the Earth.
Grade 5/6 have been both excited and creative in designing moves for the songs we will perform in the concert. Students worked together and experimented with what would work well and what would be better to do.
They decided it would be more aesthetically pleasing to include actions where there is a break in the song instead of just standing still. The whole process is running smoothly and cohesively. Well done Grade 5/6S, I cannot wait to see you perform in the actual concert!
Throughout the last fortnight we have been focusing on the signs for different sports as well as some food signs. It has been wonderful to listen to the conversations between students as they discuss why certain signs might be formed the way they are.
We have enjoyed spending some of our Auslan lessons working in teams to play bingo. During this time students have been able to share their sign knowledge with others as well as perfect their own skills.
Students birthday
Happy Birthday to the students who have celebrated their birthdays recently or will be celebrating in the days ahead.
- Indi
- Beau
