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.