Jess and Susan’s Class: Term 2 Week 2

Dear parents,

This week we’ve continued our investigations into early seafarers by examining a timeline from when Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples arrived in Australia from Southeast Asia (likely using watercraft across short sea crossings), to the age of exploration and the time that the British colonised Australia.

We continued reading Greek sea mythology and to integrate our studies with English, the children have begun to write their own imaginative sea myths. After agreeing on the essential elements of a myth including heroes, adventure and supernatural forces or creatures, the children were buzzing with ideas.

We also have tadpoles in the class! Eggs from Wendy’s pond have hatched into what looks like possibly hundreds of tadpoles. There are also worms in the small container and there’s lots of wondering about who will eat whom in the mini eco-system!

In maths we’ve been reviewing the jump strategy particularly as a tool for subtraction with numbers in the hundreds.

In keeping with our broad theme of seafarers and navigation, our Thursday maths session involved using Google Earth to measure distances and identify cardinal directions for a possible local expedition later this term. After measuring distances in metres and converting to kilometres, as a group we challenged ourselves further by converting these measurements into centimetres. We also calculated and compared the distances from Currambena to Pottery Green and from Currambena to Galuwa, where we will be playing pickleball for sport this week.

With the support of Lane Cove Council, next Thursday we have an excursion to Wararoon Reserve with The Field Of Mars Environmental Education Centre. The program is called ‘Documentary in a Day’ and is a wonderful opportunity for the children to learn the documentary filmmaking process from planning through to post- production. Children will be spending time in bushland, so please ensure they have appropriate clothing and footwear.

Warm wishes,
Jess and Susan