Welcome to Week 4!

We have had a busy start to the term!

This week’s Maths topic is Time. We will be focusing on confidently reading and writing the time at half-past on an analog clock, interpreting calendars, considering time in daily life and comparing the duration of events. At home children could...

- Practice the following song

30 days has September,
April, June and November.
All the rest have 31
Except for February which is alone.
February has 28 days in a normal year
But 29 days in each leap year.

-Look into leap years. E.g. How many leap years have there been in their lifetime? When will the next one be? How old will they be then?
-Look at the family calendar and remind you of some upcoming events!
-Make their own calendar (you can download blank calendar 'printables' online or students can ask me for some if they’re keen!) and record all the birthdays and important dates they know.
-Look into another aspect of the calendar e.g. the moon cycle (http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/moon-phase-calendar-2/)

Our spelling focus this week is the ‘igh’ sound. Our 10 core spelling words are

high

sigh

thigh

fight

right

night

light

flight

height

weight

Children are encouraged to find or think of any other words that have the ‘igh’ sound.

Religion

The children have listened to, learnt about, retold and responded to the story of The Good Samaritan which teaches us not to turn away from our ‘neighbour’ when they need help. This reminds us of St Mary MacKillop’s saying “never see a need without doing something about it.” (1871)
This is a prayer that we will be saying in class. You might like to say this together at home.
Jesus, teach us to accept one another and be thankful for the ways we are different. Help us care for one another, especially those who are in need. Amen.

As usual, please don’t hesitate to contact me if you need to.

Mrs Robinson
veronica.larkin@dow.catholic.edu.au

First Week Back

Well here we are...in the last term of the year and the children’s last term of infants! I have heard that the children had a great holiday and thankfully they all came back well and with no broken bones!

Week 1 Maths:

This week we revised and practiced basic addition strategies. I have encouraged the children to practice fast recall of ‘doubles’ (e.g. 4 and 4) up to 15 and 15. Then multiples of ten (e.g. 20 and 20), then they can challenge themselves with trickier ones (e.g. 36 and 36).

Students should understand that ‘double 6’, ‘6 and 6’, ‘6 + 6’ and ‘6 x 2’ is the same. If you happen to be ‘quizzing’ them (I must warn that they may be asking this of you!) it is good to use these terms interchangeably.

Students can use this knowledge or strategy to solve more difficult maths problems.

Students can also use their knowledge of ‘doubles’ to solve ‘near doubles’ (e.g. 6 and 6 is 12, so 6 and 7 is 13).

I have also encouraged the children to practice their recall of pairs of numbers that make 10, 20, up to 100.

Term 4 Homework:

Homework will be the same as it has all year. On Mondays, children will take home their Homework Contract Book with the week’s spelling words, reading books and their yellow Reading Log Book. Students receive one token each time they hand in either their contract or log book. We have some new home readers in our class collection however the children can read books from home or the library if they find these more enjoyable.

The Homework Contract Book and weekly spelling focus will finish before the end of the term (possibly week 6) so I may send home some revision work after that.

Welcome back and please don’t hesitate to contact me this term.

Mrs Veronica Robinson

veronica.larkin@dow.catholic.edu.au

Dragons' Visit

On Thursday representatives from the St George Illawarra Dragons visited to share a story with the children and teach them some skills through active games.

Goodbye & Thank you Mrs A!

Good bye Mrs Aguilera, the students and I thank you for this year! We wish you and your family well and we excitedly await news from you! We will miss you and look forward to you and the new arrival visiting us later in the year. x

Week 10

Welcome to week 10! Wow, can you believe how fast the term has gone?

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

Firstly, congratulations to the students who made their First Holy Communion over the weekend, we are very proud of how seriously you took the preparation and with how reverently you participated in mass. We hope you had a lovely time celebrating this very special time with you families. We continue to pray for those students who are making their First Holy Communion on another weekend and we wish you well.

PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION

We would like to thank all the students who presented their persuasive speech. We were very impressed with the standard of students’ speeches, both content and delivery! The confidence and skills that students are developing with public speaking is clearly evident. It was wonderful to hear students’ different opinions and arguments. As convincing as some students were around the issue that homework should be banned, I’m sorry to say that Year 2 will still be doing homework next term!

We would like to congratulate the six students who made it through to the next round – Charlotte, Tarlay, Alexis, Leo, Will and Yanna. Well done!

The 3 finalists will present their speeches in the hall on Wednesday at 9:00am.

WEEK 9 SPELLING

This week, students will go through their previous spelling tests and workbooks to identify words that they are currently having difficulty spelling correctly. Students can practice learning these words at home and in class. We will do peer-testing of these words on Friday.

LIFE EDUCATION VAN

Year 2 will visit the Life Education Van at 11:30 on Wednesday.

We hope you enjoy the last week of Term 3,

Mrs Robinson & Mrs Aguilera

Year 2 Assembly Item

Year 2, Great job with your assembly item on 'Habit 3: Put First Things First' on Friday!

You were wonderful!

Thirroul Fire Brigade Visit

Last Thursday, Thirroul Fire Brigade visited to educate the children on fire safety. Their main message to the children was 
'Fire is a tool for adults, not a toy for children'.

The children all had a chance to explore a fire truck and have a go at extinguishing a ‘fire’ with a hose.

The children will be bringing home information about making, or reviewing a family fire escape plan just in time for the school holidays!

For more information, and for kids’ activities visit

 http://www.fire.nsw.gov.au/page.php?id=71