Class Newsletters - Term 3, 2023

English

Throughout Term 3, Prep students will continue their learning of phonetic and phonemic awareness, duck handing and blending words, reading and writing, exposure to familiar words, handrwriting through Casey the Caterpillar and involvement with quality literature. Rhyming will be a main focus of term 2. 

Students will be assessed on their ability to respond to and retell a Fairy Tale. They will present their retell to the class. 

Mathematics

Throughout Term 3 students will explore the concept of measurement and compare objects using mass, length and capacity.   They will answer questions to collect information and make simple inferences.  

Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS)

Students will continue to examine personal growth and development, families, relationships, rules and how we fit in to the community. Students will explore familiar events and respond to questions.

Science

Throughout Term 3, students will investigate materials and describe the properties and behaviour of familiar objects.

Students will be assessed on identifying materials and use materials to create a object for a familiar Fairy Tale character.

Technology

Students will explore a variety of design and digital technologies through the Term. 

Music with Ms Hopper

Students will move, sing, play games and use melodic percussion and hand signs to develop beat, rhythm and pitch.  Students will respond to where they hear music in the world.

Students will be assessed on:

a)      Keeping a beat in time on a melodic instrument

b)      Respond to where they hear music in the world through short response.

Health with Mrs Stirling

Students will identify actions that help them to be healthy, safe and physically active.

Students will be assessed by being able to demonstrate practices, actions and protective behaviours to keep themselves safe and healthy in different activities.

PE with Mr Brady

Fundamental Movement Skills – Mr Brady - lbrad101@eq.edu.au

Practical: Students explore how to move and play safely during physical activity. They develop the fundamental movement skills of:

• Running
• Jumping
• Hopping
• Galloping

Assessment: The assessment will gather evidence of the student’s ability to:

• perform fundamental movement skills
• solve movement challenges
• demonstrate, with guidance, practices to keep themselves safe in different activities.

English

In Term 3 the students will be focusing on listening and presenting skills as well as creating procedural texts.  For assesssment, students will write a procedure, make the item, then present to the class. They will also complete a reading assessment.

Mathematics

In Term 3 students order objects based on lengths and capacities using formal units. They describe 2D shapes and 3D objects and identify representations of a half. We will continue to develop understanding of numbers to 100 and addition and subtraction skills.    There will be written assessments to display learning after each topic.  

Technology

Technologies has been integrated into the Science and English curriculum for this term.
Students will analyse their "sandwich saver" design.

Science

In Term 3 students will describe the effects of interacting with materials and objects. They will be investigating light and sound. They respond to questions and make predictions participating in guided investigations.    Students will plan and create a “sandwich saver” and then evaluate their design. 

The Arts

Students will continue to learn elements of dance, drama and visual arts and add to their portfolio.

Music with Ms Hopper

Students will use rhythmic percussion to experience simple part work and ostinato.

Students will be assessed on:
 a) Playing a simple ostinato on a drum behind a sung melody. 
 b) Matching pitch by singing a major scale in Solfa.

Health with Mrs Stirling

Students will describe changes that occur as they grow older. Students will select and apply strategies to keep themselves safe and are able to ask for help with tasks or problems.  Students will be assessed by describing and demonstrating strategies to keep themselves safe. Students will identify similarities and differences with their peers and describe ways to include others.

PE with Mr Brady

Catch me if you can! – Mr Brady - lbrad101@eq.edu.au

Practical: Students develop the fundamental movement skills of dodging and running and test alternatives to evade others and objects in tagging games. They explore positive ways to interact with others, including strategies to work in groups and play fairly during tagging games.

Assessment: Performances are observed on a number of occasions throughout a unit of work, and judgments relating to the quality of performance are made and recorded on observation records.

The assessment will gather evidence of the student’s ability to:

• demonstrate fundamental movement skills in a variety of situations
• test alternatives to solve movement challenges
• demonstrate positive ways to interact with others

English

Students will identify the elements and structure of an information report. They will read and write a variety of information reports about living things. 

Students will be assessed by: Creating an information report on an animal of their choice.

Mathematics

We will be focusing on the following concepts: Number patterns increasing and decreasing from any given number, Australian coins and notes and addition and subtraction strategies. 

Students will be assessed on investigating increasing and decreasing number patterns with missing elements, comparing, ordering and finding equivalent values of Australian coins and notes, and solving addition and subtraction problems. 

Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS)

Students will be focussing on: Exploring significant places, local communities and connection to places.

Students will be assessed by: Explaining why places are important to people, describing locations and elements in communities.

Science 

Students will investigate the life cycles of plants and animals.  Students will be assessed by: sequencing and comparing life cycles of different animals.

Digital and Design Technology

Students will investigate Design techniques and concepts that help living things grow and survive.

Students will be assessed by: Planning and designing a greenhouse to house their plant.

Music with Ms Hopper

2N and 2B
Students will use simple Compound time repertoire to create group arrangements. These arrangements explore instrumentation and dynamics.  Students will complete their Selmer Instrumental Music listening test.

Students will be assessed on:
a)   Creating group arrangements demonstrating instrumentation and dynamics.
b)   Performing their compositions to the class.
 
2/3D
Students will use simple Compound time repertoire to create group arrangements. These arrangements explore instrumentation and dynamics. Year 3 have an Ostinato focus in their performance. Students will complete their Selmer Instrumental Music listening test.

Students will be assessed on:
a)   Creating group arrangements demonstrating instrumentation and dynamics.
b)   Performing their compositions to the class.

Health with Ms Stirling

Students will describe changes that occur as they grow older. Students will select and apply strategies to keep themselves safe and are able to ask for help with tasks or problems.

Students will be assessed by describing and demonstrating strategies to keep themselves safe. Students will identify similarities and differences with their peers and describe ways to include others.

PE with Mr Brady

Catch me if you can! – Mr Brady - lbrad101@eq.edu.au

Practical: Students develop the fundamental movement skills of dodging and running and test alternatives to evade others and objects in tagging games. They explore positive ways to interact with others, including strategies to work in groups and play fairly during tagging games.

Assessment: Performances are observed on a number of occasions throughout a unit of work, and judgments relating to the quality of performance are made and recorded on observation records.

The assessment will gather evidence of the student’s ability to:

• demonstrate fundamental movement skills in a variety of situations
• test alternatives to solve movement challenges
• demonstrate positive ways to interact with others

English

Students will identify the elements and structure of a narrative text.   Students will be assessed on their creation of an 'Out of this World' narrative text.

2/3D English:
Students will read, view and analyse elements of information reports.  Students will be assessed on their creation of an information report on an animal of their choice.

Mathematics

Students will apply a variety of mathematical concepts in real-life, lifelike and everyday mathematical situations.  Students will be assessed on recalling addition facts, counting to and from 10,000, using unit fractions, measuring length, mass and capacity, and calculating money.

2/3D Mathematics: 
Students will apply a variety of mathematical concepts in real-life, lifelike and everyday mathematical situations.  Students will be assessed on creating and explaining increasing and decreasing number patterns, representing money with different combinations of notes and coins, identifying equivalent values of Australian coins and notes and calculating change.

Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS)

Students will explore similarities and differences in places near and far. They will look at Australia’s states and territories, the continents of the world, Australia’s neighbours, climate and human and natural features of Australia and its neighbouring countries. Students will learn about the role of rules within communities and making decisions democratically. This will form part of our inquiry, “How are places similar and different?” 
Students will be assessed by describing and interpreting data about Australian places and identifying similarities and differences between the characteristics of places.

Science

Students conduct an inquiry to explore the question, “Could there be life on Mars?” They will investigate the effect of the Earth’s rotation on its axis in relation to the position of the sun; and identify the observable and non-observable features of Earth, comparing its size with the sun and moon. They will make observations of day and night, sunrise and sunset, and shadows as they investigate how Earth’s movement causes these changes.
Students will demonstrate their understanding of day and night, sunrise, sunset, and shadows by completing questions and activities on a PowerPoint presentation.

2/3D Science:
Students will be investigating living things and non-living things. 
Students will demonstrate their understanding of living things by explaining what living things are and need, and grouping living things according to their features, habitat and needs.

Design Technology

Students will outline and define needs, opportunities or problems relating to their Science Inquiry “Could there be life on Mars?" They will plan and safely produce designed solutions, and generate and record design ideas using technical terms and graphical and non-graphical representation techniques.  Students will be assessed by designing and making a 'Crew Exploration Vehicle' that can carry toy astronauts, float on water and keep water out.   

2/3D Design Technology:
Students will outline and define needs, opportunities or problems relating to their Science Inquiry "What do living things need?" They will plan and safely produce designed solutions, and generate and record design ideas using technical terms and graphical and non-graphical representation techniques.  Students will be assessed by designing and making a 'Greenhouse' that will house their healthy plant.

Music with Ms Hopper

(3C and 3K)

Students will use voice and melodic percussion to explore part-work, canon, dynamics and the rhythm element Tikkatikka. Students will respond to music they listen to using the elements of music. They will complete their Selmer Instrumental Music listening test.Students will be assessed on individually performing a Pentatonic melody on melodic percussion, and responding to two pieces of music comparing the similarities and differences of the Musical elements.

(2/3D)

Students will use simple Compound time repertoire to create group arrangements. These arrangements explore instrumentation and dynamics. Year 3 have an Ostinato focus in their performance. Students will complete their Selmer Instrumental Music listening test.

Students will be assessed on:

a)   Creating group arrangements demonstrating instrumentation and dynamics.

b)   Performing their compositions to the class.

Health with Mrs Stirling

Students will recognise strategies for managing changes and understand the benefits of being healthy and physically active.  Students will categorise changes as physical, social or emotional and describe strategies to manage these changes. Students will suggest ways to be healthy and physically active. 

PE with Mr Brady

Ultimate Frisbee – Mr Brady – lbrad101@eq.edu.au

Practical: Students refine the fundamental movement skills of throwing and catching and transfer them to a range of movement situations. They develop understanding of Ultimate Frisbee game movement concepts and strategies and apply these to solve the offence and defence challenges faced during games.

Assessment: Performances are observed on a number of occasions throughout a unit and the assessment will gather evidence of the student’s ability to:

• refine fundamental movement skills
• apply movement concepts and strategies and to solve movement challenges while in gameplay
• apply strategies for working cooperatively and apply rules fairly

English

How can we time travel with fiction?
Students will be assessed on their ability to read, comprehend and create their own narratives set in the past.

Mathematics

What's between and behind numbers?

Students will be assessed on their ability to:
•    recognise and locate fractions such as halves, quarters and thirds, including mixed numerals;
•    analyse data presented in tables and graphs;
•    compare areas and measure with a range of familiar metric units; and
•    solve purchasing problems with dollars and cents.

Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) with Mrs Anglim 

How are people and the environment interconnected?   Students will be assessed on their ability to research how places across the world have diverse characteristics, and to use questioning and investigation skills to respond to a sustainability issue. 

Science with Miss Smith

How do forces make games fun? 
Students will be assessed on their ability to investigate and describe how contact forces (eg push, pull, air resistance and friction) and non-contact forces (eg gravity) affect interactions between objects.

Technology with Ms Ryan:

Does technology improve our lives? 

Students will be assessed on their ability to plan a sequence of steps (algorithms) to create designed solutions including using using a visual programming language.

Music with Ms Hopper

Students will compose melodies using BAGE notes and work on notating these on the stave. They will respond to music they listen to and play. 

Students will be assessed on composing a melody using a given rhythm and BAGE notes and notating it on the music staff; and responding to two pieces of music using the Musical elements. 

Health with Mrs Stirling

Students will understand the benefits of being safe, healthy and physically active. 
Students will be assessed by identifying and adapting their own safe and healthy practices to promote health, safety and wellbeing.

Japanese with Nagashima Sensai

Students use language to explore family. They will learn to say family members, introduce family members, know different counter classifiers and use Kanji numbers 1-10. Also they learn and experience traditional events.

Students will be assessed on notebook work; and reading Japanese scripts written about family.

PE with Mr Brady

Ultimate Frisbee – Mr Brady – lbrad101@eq.edu.au

Practical: Students refine the fundamental movement skills of throwing and catching and transfer them to a range of movement situations. They develop understanding of Ultimate Frisbee game movement concepts and strategies and apply these to solve the offence and defence challenges faced during games.

Assessment: Performances are observed on a number of occasions throughout a unit and the assessment will gather evidence of the student’s ability to:

• refine fundamental movement skills
• apply movement concepts and strategies and to solve movement challenges while in gameplay
• apply strategies for working cooperatively and apply rules fairly  

English

Students will listen to, read and view films and novels with a range of characters and involving flashbacks or shifts in time. They will demonstrate an understanding of the depiction of characters, setting and events in a chosen film. Students will view and listen to film reviews and create a written film review of a chosen film. They will express and justify opinions about aspects of the novels and films during group discussions.

Assessment: A written comparison of a novel and the film adaptation.

English 5M
Students will listen to, read and view films and novels with a range of characters and involving flashbacks or shifts in time. They will demonstrate an understanding of the depiction of characters, setting and events in a chosen film. Students will view and listen to film reviews and create a written film review of a chosen film. They will express and justify opinions about aspects of the novels and films during group discussions.

Assessment:A written comparison of a novel and the film adaptation.

Mathematics with Mrs Cramb/Mrs McNamara

Students will apply a variety of mathematical concepts to solve a range of inquiry-based questions. Concepts will include: fractions and decimals; money and financial Maths; patterns and algebra; unit fractions and decimals; location and transformation. 

Assessment:  Choosing appropriate units of measurement to calculate: length, perimeter, area, volume, capacity and mass.  They will also calculate with money and investigate continuing number patterns, including fractions and decimals.  

Science with Ms Daglish/Mrs McNamara

Students will investigate the properties of light and the formation of shadows.

Assessment:  Students plan, predict and conduct a fair investigation to explain everyday phenomena associated with the transfer of light.  

Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) with Mrs McNamara/Ms Daglish

Students will examine key events related to the development of British colonies in Australia after 1800, including the significance of the Gold Rush.

Assessment:  Students will conduct an inquiry to answer the question, 'How and why did the lives of the people in the Australian colonies change or stay the same as a result of the Gold Rush?'

The Arts 

Media, Visual and Performance Arts, students will experiement with stop motion shadow animation and shadow dance.

Music with Ms Hopper (5D, 5C)

Students will continue to develop ukulele skills. They will compose, arrange and perform music. 

Students will be assessed on:
a)      Composing and recording a melody for ukulele.
b)      Performing music they have composed.

Music with Ms Hopper 5M

Students will continue to develop ukulele skills. They will compose, arrange and perform music. 

Students will be assessed on:
a)      Composing and recording a melody for ukulele.
b)      Performing music they have composed.

Health with Ms Stirling

Students will describe their own and others’ contributions to physical activity, safety and wellbeing. Students will investigate practices that promote and maintain health and wellbeing.

Students will be assessed by describing the features of health-related fitness and the significance of physical activity to their health, safety and wellbeing. 

Japanese with Sensai Nagashima

Students use language to explore the concept of a good team.  They will learn about school sports event in Japanese schools, reflect how they treat their friends, and compare how they build team work in Japan and Australia. 

Students will be assessed on:
a)    Notebook work
b)    Reading Japanese phrases regarding building a good team.
c)    Reflecting how to build a good team in Japan and Australia.

Students will be assessed on reading a short hiragana book aloud.

PE with Mr Brady (lbrad101@eq.edu.au) 

Practical: Students combine movement concepts and strategies during mini-tennis gameplay to open up space on the court to win points or gain control in rallies. They demonstrate fair play and skills to work collaboratively during tennis activities and games.

Assessment: Performances are observed on a number of occasions throughout a unit and the assessment will gather evidence of the student’s ability to:

• perform specialised movement skills
• combine movement concepts and strategies to achieve movement outcomes and to solve movement challenges
• demonstrate fair play and skills to work collaboratively

English

This term Year 6 students will analyse and evaluate the style of an individual author before writing and delivering a speech in a debate on a topic using persuasive techniques.

Students will be assessed on preparing a response that explains how an author has represented characters, ideas and events.

Mathematics with Mr France

• Calculating fractions and decimals with operations.
• Locating integers, Cartesian plane and describing transformations.
• Identifying number properties and calculating discount percentages.

Students will be assessed on various assessment tasks.

HASS (Humanities and Social Sciences) with Mrs Jarvis

This term Year 6 students will look at diversity in the world around them. They will explore how places, people and cultures differ across the world and take a closer look at our Asia Pacific Region.

Students will be assessed on a collection of work.

Science with Mrs Jarvis

This term students will look at how natural disasters around the world impact the planet. Students will be displaying their dynamic models at the Science Expo on Wednesday 16th Aug. These models will be constructed as a homework task in Weeks 2 – 5 so we ask for your support in this. 

Students will be assessed on practical experiments.

The Arts with Mr France

This term students will exploring art works of famous artists through time. They will use these famous pieces as inspiration when creating their portfolios.

Health with Ms Stirling

Students will describe their own and others’ contributions to physical activity, safety and wellbeing. Students will investigate practices that promote and maintain health and wellbeing.

Students will be assessed by describing the features of health-related fitness and the significance of physical activity to their health, safety and wellbeing.

Japanese with Sensai Nagashima

Students use language to explore restaurant and food industry. (This topic will be covered over two terms)

They will:

• Learn Japanese table manners including how to use chopsticks
• Learn to describe taste of food using adjectives.
• Use Japanese phrases used in restaurant/shop.
• Learn how Japanese currency (Yen) look like and value.
• Understand that loan words are written in Katakana.
• Lunch delivery from Japanese restaurant (TBC)

They will be assessed on:

1. Notebook work
2. Creating a bilingual restaurant menu

Music with Ms Hopper

Students will use GarageBand for iPad to compose music that represents ideas. They will respond to music that they have composed.  Students will listen to, play, arrange and analyse a variety of music from around the world using voice, instruments and the musical elements. 

They will be assessed on:
a)    Composing music to express ideas using Garageband for iPad.
b)  Writing composers notes explaining how they used the musical elements to represent their ideas.

PE with Mr Brady (lbrad101@eq.edu.au )

Practical: Students combine movement concepts and strategies during mini-tennis gameplay to open up space on the court to win points or gain control in rallies. They demonstrate fair play and skills to work collaboratively during tennis activities and games.

Assessment: Performances are observed on a number of occasions throughout a unit and the assessment will gather evidence of the student’s ability to:

• perform specialised movement skills
• combine movement concepts and strategies to achieve movement outcomes and to solve movement challenges
• demonstrate fair play and skills to work collaboratively