Mrs Bryan’s Bright Bunch

Welcome back.

Our vegetable patch is beginning to take shape. Hopefully we will be ready to begin planting early next week.

In maths we have been looking at symmetry and division. The children have made a variety of symmetrical patterns as well as trying some tricky symmetry problems and in writing we are currently experimenting with writing a puppet play.

On Thursday we were visited by the people from the Grab 5 program. They talked to us about the 4 things that we need for a healthy body – healthy food, exercise, sleep and water. The children then sorted foods into the 5 food groups and made a healthy eating poster. This program will run for 5 weeks, culminating in a cooking activity. The cost for this program is $5 which will be deducted from the excursion fund. Look for the slideshow of their work in this blog. Also, don’t forget to check out the online activites for My body, My job. I have put a heap of links on the relevant page in this blog.

Coming up in a couple of weeks is the visit from Music is Fun Band. They have been visiting our school for several years and the children always really enjoy their performances. I’m not sure of the cost yet, or whether there is enough left in the excursion fund to cover it, but will let you know when I know.

Don’t forget that we are having an ICT sharing evening on Tuesdayat 6pm, where your children will be sharing their e-portfolios with you. This is a collection of their work throughout the year, mainly PYP, that they have put into a webpage format. Many thanks to Jonathan for his help in computing throughout this year   Please bring along a USB if you would like to keep a copy of their work.

Welcome back!!
Just a few bits and pieces about this term -
We are now trialling changing our readers once a week (Mondays) so the children are trying to gauge how many readers they will need to last the week. Some will need 5, while others will only need 2 or 3 depending on the type of books they are reading. This may take a while to perfect but we’ll get there in the end.
We are looking at Colour and Light as a mini unit in technology/science. This week we explored a lot of different equipment including prisms, kaleidoscopes, holoscopes and stellascopes. Next week we are planning to try to make our own kaleidoscopes!
In English we are focussing on Procedure writing. Today we made a creature for our imaginary country and then tried to write instructions on how to make it. Next week we will be doing a similar activity and then we will be doing some cooking which we will be writing about. More information on this will follow – watch for the note in the next week or so.
In maths we are learning about fractions which will link to a unit of work on time. You can help by talking to your child about fractions when you are cooking, or cutting a sandwich/pizza/cake into equal parts. You could also talk to your child about telling the time on an analogue clock (one with a face rather than a digital clock). It is particularly helpful to talk about what half past, quarter past and quarter to look like, as well as 5 minute intervals. Of course in order to understand these concepts children need to have an understanding of where the starting point is (at the 12 because half past actually refers to half way around the clock, or half past the hour).
Your child may also have mentioned  that I am having a blitz on neatness – handwriting, use of margins, date and title

All in all its shaping up to be another busy term!

I went to another training today, this time one of the topics was on free downloadable resources for children.
Have a look at them and see if you like them.

Tux Type – an arcade style typing tutor
Tux maths – another arcade style game based on +, -, x and divide
Tux paint – a lot like KidPix – but free!

Collages

As you know we had our special lunch yesterday. The children did a really good job of working out exactly what they wanted to eat, and how much it would ‘cost’ in total. It looked like they really enjoyed making and eating it too!

Bank Books

To help us learn about money we all have a ‘bank book’. We can earn money stamps by doing great work and behaving really well. If we earn 50c we can buy a rubber to go on a pencil. If we earn $1.30 we can choose from pens and pencils. If we earn more than $2.00 we can buy a gel pen. This is a great way to learn how to add amounts of money.

Next week on Tuesday, we will be having a special lunch where the children will need to work out what each ingredient will cost them and the total. They will then get to make their lunch ‘buying’ the ingredients for this. There is no actual cost to you as the money is virtual. Children will not need to bring their lunch on Tuesday.

This week we have had a very busy week working on lots of things to do with our imagination.  Some of our favourite things were: making a monster using only torn paper; and making a bridge that spans 20cm and can hold a whiteboard duster using newspaper. We also made an Imaginary Pet today in technology. We had to use 1 popstick, 1 foam ball, 6 match sticks, 2 feathers and 4 other things.

In child protection this week we thought abut the things that make us happy. We then wrote some of these down on love hearts and made a ‘Happiness Tree’.

In maths we have been learning to make a tally and to make bar and column graphs using the data. So far we have graphed our favourite subjects and vehicles that pass our school. 

 Don’t forget that our year 7’s are at Murray Bridge competing in the Pedal Prix event. Racing starts at 12 noon Saturday and finishes at 12 noon Sunday. Ity is a really great event and I’m sure that your children would be interested to see our guys compete.

What a busy few weeks we have had!

The special lunch that we held last Friday week was a big success. All of the children managed to calculate the cost of their lunch, although a few did only allow for margarine on 1 slice of bread

We have now finished our unit of work on money and the children completed a test today to show their growth over the unit. Most children made good progress. It would still be really beneficial if you could involve them in ‘real’ money tasks when they are with you, especially giving change up to amounts of $1.00.

This week we are moving on to graphing in maths.

Our current PYP unit is to do with Imagination. We are really enjoying letting our imaginations run wild! Some of the things that we have done so far include: invent a ‘trancapar’, draw a ‘giraforilla’, design and make a bridge out of straws in small groups.

Today we have begun to write narratives about the day we drank a ‘potion’ that made us as small as a mouse.

Last week we spent Wednesday afternoon learning about safely entering and exiting cars, especially at the front of our school. Hopefully you have all seen the yellow TravelSmart folder and have done the homework with your child.

Don’t forget to tease your brain There’s a new challenge waiting for you on the Brainteaser page.

Have a great week.

We had another busy time last week. I think the highlight was the year 1-2 market where we exchanged our worry dolls for masks, chop sticks and dream catchers. The children were certainly appreciative of their goodies.

Don’t forget to keep practicing adding amounts of money at home. This week you will be able to add up all of the money in your ‘bank book’ and spend it at our class ’shop’. Don’t forget to visit the Brain teaser page to test your knowledge!

I certainly got a lot of ideas in Melbourne and will gradually begin to implement them in our class. Overall it was a very worthwhile conference to attend, learning lots as well as making connections with other educators.

We are beginning a unit of work on money. It would greatly benefit your child if you could involve them in real life situations with money – maybe counting their pocket money (especially if it is given in small coins), paying for small items at the shops, calculating change etc.

There are lots of online activities listed in the maths section of this bog.

We are beginning a unit on telling the time. Check out the page titled ‘Online Time Activities’ for loads of interactive games and activities to help you practice.