We were SO lucky today to have a visit from two amazing KS authors this morning. Nieve and Ariana had written some beautiful stories, and their writing included spectacular spelling, incredible imagination and powerful punctuation. Well done girls!! We are so excited to see you in Year 1 next year!!
1 Comment
Congratulations to our very talented and hard working award winners this week! Sam, for making valuable contributions in literacy groups, and Keeley, for her beautiful imaginative writing.
We love reading in 1/2T and we were lucky enough to have some parent helpers enrich our classroom this afternoon after a very busy day. Not only did we get to read some very funny and adventurous stories, we also discovered fairy toothbrushes!! The Speaking and Listening strand of the English syllabus is embedded across all key learning areas as students use their communication skills to learn, to question, to deepen, clarify and demonstrate their knowledge and understanding. Our fortnightly news topics are one of the important ways we develop these skills.
A big congratulations to Year 1 this week! Most students did an excellent job in preparing and presenting news about their holidays. For some people it takes a lot of courage to stand in front of an audience, even one as supportive and respectful as 1/2T. Tanaz did an outstanding job yesterday, telling us about her trip to the zoo, her favourite animals, and Gina! Gina is a beautiful eagle who has just started performing in the bird show at Taronga Zoo, she has a wing span of 2m. We even saw a photo of Gina mid-flight - spectacular! Belle shared lots of complimentary details about her zoo visit, adjusting her presentation as she went so as not to double up with details Tanaz was talking about... a great skill to have Belle. Of course we also loved hearing about Sam's trip to Italy, Jaydon's trip to China, Freya's trip out west and all the other adventures.... and I am going to ask Tess's grandparents to adopt me! I can't wait to hear what Year 2 have to share next week :-)
Persuasive writing We have been learning about writing for a purpose. The purpose may be to entertain, to inform or to persuade. I am always keen to make our learning experiences as authentic as possible.... So, 1/2T decided to see if we could persuade Costa from ABC's Dirt Girl World and Gardening Australia to come and visit our school! The letters used lots of persuasive language and tried to make connections between the fantastic things happening in our school and the things Costa is passionate about, including gardening, chooks, healthy food and sustainability. Do you think our persuasive letters will work????
Term 4 already! Welcome back to school - I hope everyone enjoyed a fun-filled relaxing holiday. 1/2T has got off to a flying start, consolidating our addition and subtraction strategies in mathematics and setting individual writing goals for each child. I have been so impressed by the progress I see in only a couple of days as students focus on specific actions to improve their writing! We have also been talking about the language tools which authors use to engage their audience, including punctuation, alliteration and onomatopoeia - the more we talk about it, the more the kids identify and use these features in their own work..... We had a three cartwheel day in Week 1!!
You may have also heard about another exciting event in our classroom. On Thursday, just before Enrichment Groups, a fairy door appeared in our classroom. Well, we called it a fairy door, but it may well be a Dragon Door, considering how much we have been talking about dragons this week! Anyway, a magical little door appeared the same day that 1/2T was discussing Albert Einstein and his belief that imagination is more important than knowledge. There certainly appears to be a good combination of the two in our classroom 😊 After the enormous success of our veggie patch last term, we have expanded our growing capabilities in the form of an additional bed - thanks for your help Mr Brian. Our class has planted tomatoes, beans, eggplants, cucumbers, radishes, beetroot and capsicums. I love seeing the children nurture our tiny seedlings and caring for something that takes time and commitment. Not to mention the 'non-veggie' eaters whose faces light up while eating fresh raw snow peas between the garden beds! We are trying to build a crop abundant enough to supply the canteen and sell to our families. Watch this space! And if you would like to help out in the garden, please let me know, I'm happy to organise some after school gardening sessions. |
Rebecca ThomsonI come to teaching later in life with all the enthusiasm and passion it takes to complete a degree while parenting and working part time. I was lucky enough to complete my internship with Skye Surrest on Stage 3 in 2013 and am now loving my third year teaching a Stage One class at Brookvale Public School. Brookvale is a very special school. The staff are amazing, incredibly dedicated, kind and supportive... But most of all, I love the students! 1/2T are such a wonderful class and I adore teaching and learning with them every single day! Blogs I follow
Archives
January 2017
Categories |
Welcome to 1/2T
These pages will give you a glimpse of the learning experiences in our classroom.
.