Sarah’s Class: Term 1 Week 5

Dear Parents,

I hope you’ve had a lovely weekend. We’ve had lots of discussions this week about persuasive arguing and have started looking into what a Debate is, as there was interest in setting up a debate on a specific topic of interest. So the children voted on 2 topics they would like to debate: Should students have more excursions AND Is it better to have one friend or lots of friends? To get our thinking around reasons FOR and AGAINST we came up with different reasons for a side. We looked at a couple of videos on debating and how each side takes turns to put their point forward. We ’ll do a mock debate on 1 topic next week and work towards a more formal debate with teams and adjudicators. It will be a process but hopefully, an insightful one with the children learning the skill of active listening and the language around putting a good argument together.

For Maths this week we’ve continued our focus on addition and subtraction algorithms using trading/regrouping. The children completed beautiful ‘wheels’ on something that matters and the flow-on effect of doing one small act. They came up with different things which could have a ripple effect from doing something small. We also brainstormed what Social Responsibility means and came up with a great poster showcasing the children’s ideas and thoughts on this topic.

We’ve received some beautiful books on famous people who have made a difference which the children are super engaged in reading. Our reading comprehension activity this week focused on the children’s author/comedian – Anh Do! For our PE this week we played lots of ball games, focusing on dribbling and hand/eye coordination.

Next week, on Monday we return to Lane Cove Library, so please pack books from home to return. Swimming will also resume for the next 2 x weeks on Tuesday mornings.

That’s it!

Love, Sarah