JSS as Busy as Ever

Hard at work again, we have been busy doing heaps of great things over the last couple of weeks.

In Mathematics the children have been doing lots of measurement of length, perimeter and area. On our Open Day our visitors were able to help us measure the perimeter of large objects in the classroom. We were so flat out that we forgot to take any pictures of our visitors helping!

We took some the next day when we used small units of measurement to check the perimeter of smaller objects like our foot. Kelsey's mum was our parent helper and we kept her very busy!

Where did we come from?

JSS have used the data from our surveys to create graphs showing where our parents, grandparents and great grandparents were born.

The process involved making a tally listing the name of each country and using tally marks for each person.

The next step was to use concrete materials to create a graph to represent this information. The children worked in small co-operative groups to create their graphs.

They discovered that the materials need to be the same size to make the graph accurate, a graph needs a title to explain to people what is is about and it needs labels to tell people each thing that was measured.

We then transfered the information into the Excel Program on the computer to create a different version of the graphs.

Well done JSS! I hope some of your grandparents can come in to look at the great display of our work on Grandparents Open Day.

Happy Mother's Day

We have had a busy day preparing for this Sunday! The children were very careful bargain hunters at the Mother's Day Stall and were very proud of doing there own shopping for the special person in their life.

Next came the important job of using our creative skills on the most important part of their gifts. Have a look at the children hard at work making their own cards! We had to take of photo of the mess on the floor as well. Creativity takes a lot of work but it was all worth it as I am sure you will agree when you see the finished results on Sunday. No peeking before then please.

I hope you have seen the newsletter with the photo of all of JSS nominated as Mathematicians of the Week. The children really worked with fantastic focus during our place value unit of work and all demonstrated improvement in their understandings. I was very proud of themall!

Spelling Homework Begins

Welcome back to another busy term. The children have settled back into our routines and are working well together.

Spelling Homework has begun!

Children will bring home their spelling book each Monday and return the book on Friday ready to be tested. I would encouraged them to keep their spelling books in their Take Home Reading pouches for safe keeping. The words will incorportate both THRASS and high frequency words and the children are encouraged to practise them regularly during the week.

We are fortunate to have a pre-service teacher working in our room at the moment. Mr Picone has enjoyed getting to know everyone and will visit us during the year.

Last Week of Term

Wow! Where has the time gone? It seems hard to think that our first term together is almost over. Well done JSS, you have all worked to your personal best and should feel very proud of your achievements. Make sure you show off those wonderful portfolios that are going home on Friday!

Here are some photos of some of the great activities that we have been involved in over the last few weeks:

The Yarn Strong Sista incursion puppet play was a wonderful introduction to our Indigenous Australian as the children listened to the story about possum hunting.

Liz Smith spoke to the children about the South African culture and had them all enthralled with the clothing and other artifacts. We were not too sure about exactly it was that witch doctors do in South Africa. Maybe that will be an inquiry question that needs investigating?

Amber Blackwood wowed the children with some fabulous Easter singing and games. We had great fun making our own Easter eggs using eggs produced by our very own Yarrambat chickens! Our classrooms did smell a bit eggy at the end of the day.

Congratulations to all of JSS who have now finished presenting speeches about their family to the class. We heard some confident presentations and children asked relevant and interested questions. It was a pleasure to hear them all. Well done everyone.

I hope you enjoy a happy and safe holiday over the next two weeks and look forward to another busy term with you all next term. Happy Easter for next week too!

Place Value Champians

Wow! JSS have really been impressive this week when working on their Place Value unit in Mathematics. Look at them hard at work playing the Plus-One game on their trading boards.

Can they explain to you when they needed to trade in the different lands we visited? Do you know about Zibland and Glibland?

We are looking forward to our incursion on Monday when we will see a puppet show performed by 'Yarn Strong Sista' and then try some ochre painting. The activities will help us begin to learn about Indigenous Australians as part of our 'I Am, You Are, We Are Australian' inquiry unit.

Stand by for some more great photos of our parent guest speakers talking about their different cultural backgrounds.

Say no to bullies

Hello from JSS after another jam packed week. We have concluded our Foundations with a focus on rejection of bullying. The children created badges to promote their ideas about how to reject bullying and have a happy classroom and school.

Our class pledge brings the ideas discussed during Foundations together and the children have signed this as a promise they make as members of JSS.