Dear Parents, Carers and Community Members,
It has been a wonderful few weeks since our last newsletter. Our students have been busy in their classrooms and have now begun Week One of assessments. Students are being assessed across all curriculum areas, and from these assessments, teachers will make judgements against the Victorian Curriculum.
This week we have embarked on all things assessment! Students have been working really hard to demonstrate all of the Literacy and Numeracy concepts they have learned over the last 16 weeks of school. It is evident that many students are really locking into their learning each day, and this is visible in their test results! We have been working really hard these last three weeks to put our words into sentences, using a kernel and expanding it using where and when onto a scaffolding template. It’s so fulfilling to see how proud everyone is when they have written their own sentence! We will continue this consistency in Writing over the next few weeks, to consolidate understanding and I look forward to seeing how much each student can progress!
This fortnight, our Grade One students have tasted history—literally! As part of our ANZAC knowledge unit, we explored what life might have been like in the trenches by sampling some classic wartime foods. The students bravely tried tinned meats like Spam and corned beef, hard biscuits with jam, and even plain rice—just like the soldiers might have eaten.
To finish our ANZAC unit, we baked delicious ANZAC biscuits. It was a fun (and tasty!) way to connect with the past and honour our ANZACs.
In Literacy, we’re focusing on the <ea> letter combination and the different sounds it can make—e.g., beach, treat, break and great! Students are also refining their writing skills by crafting gripping persuasive pieces—full of reasons and opinions to get their point across!
It’s been a fortnight full of food, fun, and fantastic learning!
Grade 2s last week finished up with their knowledge unit - Australia at War. In the final week students learnt about food from WW1. Grade 1 and 2 students came together and had the opportunity to taste a range of food similar to what the ANZAC soldiers ate. They tried spam and corned beef from a can, white rice, jam and a special biscuit called 'hard tack' - we had to soak it in water for 5 minutes it was that hard! Students also made ANZAC biscuits which were originally made by families back home in Australia to send to their loved ones during the war. This one was a hit with everyone. Finally, students in Grade 2 had a chance to try black tea which was originally used to mask the taste of water that was transported in jerry cans which may have contain fuel at one stage. All agreed it tasted better after we added some sugar!
For the initial weeks in this term, the writing genre in focus has been ‘persuasive’. Our task was to write a letter to the Prime Minister with the aim of either convincing him that Australians should be sent to war, or that Australians should not be sent to war. Charlotte shared hers at assembly last week.
Here is Sam’s piece:
Dear Prime Minister,
I am writing to you because I strongly believe that soldiers should not be conscripted. People may not want to go to war and if we lose, it’ll be their fault. Also, war is extremely dangerous and by sending more soldiers we’d just be adding to the chaos.
Firstly, people may not want to go to war. You shouldn’t force people to risk their life without their consent. If we lose the war, it’ll be their fault. We can’t make people who don’t stand a chance fight in a dangerous war; how would you feel if you were one of those innocent people that were forced to go to a dangerous war?
Furthermore, war is extremely dangerous. We absolutely cannot bare our – and other countries – cities and towns being annihilated. There would also be countless stray bullets and bombs that may kill innocent citizens.
Lastly, sending more soldiers to war would just add to the chaos. We can’t end a war death – we have to end wars with peace. By adding more people who injure or kill others (and get injured or killed by others) we would have way too much bloodshed.
To conclude, Australian soldiers should not be sent to war because people may not want to go to war, it is incredibly dangerous and sending more soldiers to war would make war even more atrocious. We need to keep peace in the world.
Thank you very much for reading my letter; I hope that you make great decisions.
Yours sincerely,
Sam Joyce
We have had another busy fortnight in Grade 5/6. We have concluded our work on the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which was the beginning of the Pacific Front during WWII. We rounded out this unit by making and displaying our own Spitfires.
This week we began learning about the Battle of Kokoda. This battle was an important part of the war as it helped the Allies gain more ground against Japan. We learnt that the Kokoda Trail is 96km long and the terrain was steep and rough. We have set a challenge for ourselves to try and walk the distance of the Kokoda Track before the end of Term 2. We have set out a course around the school and to reach 96km, each student needs to complete 240 laps! It has been wonderful to see students encouraging each other to complete as many laps as they can during recess.
Happy Birthday to the students who have celebrated their birthday in the last week or will celebrate their birthday in the coming days.
