Knitting Club

We had such an overwhelming response to our knitting club in the first week and we would like to thank all the children who attended. Thank you also to the teachers who came along and assisted us.  Thanks Anne Maree and Luisa. Also a big thank you to Amran (Hebo’s mum Year 2) who came along to help. 

Trying to cast on and instruct many children how to knit can be tricky.  Parents and grandparents are welcome to come along on, Thursday’s at lunch time 11.10 and 11.40 am, and help.  If your child is interested in knitting can you please send them along to school with a pair of knitting needles and wool (we have some supplies but they were limited on the day).  It would be a great help if parents could cast on (about 40 stitches for a blanket square) and knit a couple of rows to start your child off.

Thanks again for your support

Jessica and Sia

Inquiry presentation

The children have been working hard this following week finishing off their Inquiry Presentations.  Each research group has chosen a different way to present their findings, for example, talks, posters, filming, animation etc.,

A couple of the projects will be presented at assembly on Tuesday 29^th April, and the remaining projects will be presented to the year 2 parent /cares community at a future date.

Book Talk

Thank you once again to all the parents and year 5/6 students who joined us for book talk on Wednesday.  All parents are welcome. If you wish to stay on Wednesday morning for an hour of book talk (9-10am) just speak to one of the teachers.

Maths Games Night

The teachers in your child’s neighbourhood will be conducting a maths information night on Tuesday the 6^th of May from 5 to 6pm.  The information night will be held in your child’s neighbourhood and will focus on how games can be utilised for developing conceptual understanding in number and enumeration. 

The maths night will build on the parent information night presented by Professor Di Siemen last term.  If you were unable to attend on that night, you can access the Professor Siemen’s notes by visiting your child’s neighbourhood blog. 

During the information night, explicit links will be made on the kinds of misconceptions that the games might expose and provide interpretations of what different student responses might mean with some practical ideas to address particular learning needs.  Games encourage students to talk about and share their ideas in a cooperative atmosphere. The night will also explore questions techniques that parents can use to allow their children to further develop their thoughts.

We look forward to seeing you there.  It promises to be both an informative and fun evening.

Assembly and Farewell

Join us on Tuesday 29^th April for the year 2 neighbourhood presentation but most importantly to farewell Esme Capp. 

Dear Parents/Carers,
Please join us on Tuesday 29^th April for Esme's last assembly.  The school community will take this opportunity to thank her for all she has done for our school.

We would love to have you stay after assembly to enjoy morning tea and wish her well. The coffee cart will be available for those wanting to purchase coffee/tea. Look forward to seeing you this Tuesday.
 Thank you,
On behalf of School Council
Tina Winn

Term 2 - Welcome Back

We would like to welcome back all our year 2 neighbourhood students and parent community.  It was wonderful to see all the beautiful smiling faces of the children greeting us back on Tuesday morning.  We are looking forward to an exciting term, starting off with the year 2 neighbourhood assembly presentation coming up this Tuesday 29^th April.  The children were busily finishing off their inquiry projects and practicing their presentations. (There will be however a slight change to our assembly presentation due to an added presentation to farewell Esme Capp.)

All children will have an opportunity to present their inquiry projects at a later date, and parents will be invited.

Year 2 Assembly Presentation - Tuesday 29^th April

Maths Information Evening – Tuesday 6^th May

Walkathon – Wednesday 28^th May (Weather permitting)

Have a happy term one holiday break!

Thank you to all the families of the year 2 neighbourhood.  We have really enjoyed getting to know all the children and seeing their bright and happy faces each day. First term is always a period of settling into a new environment, new teachers and new expectations.  The children have comfortably settled into school and have made a very successful start to the year.  We wish you all a safe and happy first term holiday break and we look forward to the children’s return on Tuesday 22^nd April.

With warm regards
Kevin, Sia and Elizabeth

Knitting Club

In term 2 and 3, Sia (year 2) and Jessica (Prep) will be starting a knitting club at lunchtime.  The knitting club has two aims, one to develop knitting skills and secondly for the more competent knitters to knit for the penguins.  As part of our whole school inquiry into ‘Change’,

How can we be the change we want to see in the world? 

We are knitting jumpers for penguins who have been caught up in oil spills.

More information can be viewed from the following website:

penguinfoundation.org.au/about-the-penguin.../wildlife-rehabilitation/‎

This is an article from the above website:

Knitted penguin jumpers 

This is not a fashion statement!

These knitted penguin jumpers play an important role in saving little penguins affected by oil pollution. A patch of oil the size of a thumb nail can kill a little penguin. Oiled penguins often die from exposure and starvation. Oil separates and mats feathers, allowing water to get in which makes a penguin very cold, heavy and less able to successfully hunt for food.

When oiled penguins are admitted to the Wildlife Clinic at Phillip Island Nature Parks, a knitted jumper is placed on the penguins to prevent them from preening and swallowing the toxic oil before they are washed and the oil removed by staff.

453 little penguins were affected by the last major oil spill near Phillip Island in 2001. 96% were successfully saved and rehabilitated at the Wildlife Clinic and released back into the wild.

Other websites for your information:

Knitters wanted for penguin pullovers - ABC Melbourne - Australian

penguinfoundation.org.au/assets/.../penguin-jumper-pattern-2014.pdf‎

The knitting club will be held on Thursday at the start of lunch break until 11.40am.  We would appreciate if children brought along their own needles and wool.  Experienced parent, teacher and student helpers are welcome.

Inquiry Research

The children have been researching and collecting information about the different groups that exist in the school. The children wrote questions and chose to interview teachers, other children and each other, using ipads.  Once the children had collected their information, the children were asked:-

How can we present our information?

The children contributed to a list of ways in which information could be presented such as, animation, talks, posters, graphs, films etc.

 

The children have stated working on their presentations and will continue to work on their presentations in term 2.  Some of the presentations will be highlighted at our Year 2 school assembly in week 2.  At a date to be announced the presentations will also be presented to parents.

 

Interviewing 5/6 peer mediators and JSC.  Instrumental group interview each other                              

Chess group interviewing each other.  Library group interviewing Kevin

Chess group working on a poster.   Animation group working on an aninmation

Green group writing a report.  Rubbish Collection interviewing 5/6 student

Italian Choir group interviewing Ivy 5/6. Choir group interviewing Elizabeth

Ukulele group interviewing Elizabeth. Instrumental Music group interviewing each other

 

 

Mathematics in Year 2

As part of our Maths investigation into Place Value we have been developing the following ‘big ideas’.

Big Ideas

·         Representation – numbers can be modeled and represented in many different ways (e.g., materials, diagrams, number charts, partial/open number lines)

·         Enumeration – whole numbers are used to count collections, counts can be achieved in multiple ways, and different units can be used to say how many or how much

·         Equivalence – numbers can be renamed in many different but equivalent ways, renaming is a special type of representation

·         Relationships – numbers can be used to compare and order

The children have explored a number of mathematical experiences around Place Value and will continue to develop their understandings in term 2.

Mathematical ideas explored:-

Place-value (10-999): Numbers to 1 thousand are made up of a count of hundreds (1-9), a count of tens (0-9) and a count of ones (0-9) where the place of the digit indicates the unit

Renaming (place-value): Numbers can be renamed in many different ways (e.g., 65 is 6 tens and 5 ones or 65 ones, 472 is 47 tens and 2 ones etc)

Comparing/ordering (10-999): Numbers can be compared and ordered on the basis of the value of the digits in comparable place-value locations

Skip counting is counting by a number that is not one (e.g., counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s); skip counting reveals patterns in numbers.

Counting (place-value): Counting forwards or backwards in place-value units from a given number requires a knowledge of the number naming sequence and the structure of the base ten numeration system.

 

Book Talk

Thank you once again to the wonderful parents who joined us for Book Talk in the final week of term one. We had a record number of parents assist us this week and their contribution has been invaluable.  The children are always happy to listen and discuss books.  We look forward to seeing parents once again next term when Book Talk resumes on Wednesday mornings.