Wendy’s Group Week 10 Term 1

Thank you so much to Sally and the team who organised the social last Friday night. I hope you all enjoyed the drumming as much as we did and enjoyed the gathering too. I loved seeing so many of our ex-students visit for the event and hearing about their first weeks of high school. It sounds as if they have all settled in well, though definitely finding the whole experience tiring! All those new people and subjects to handle and widely varying amounts of homework!

So here we are at the end of Term 1! Our group has voted not to have a movie on Friday but to get all our jobs done and then walk to the shops, buy lunch and eat up there. Of course, the “must do” list still needs to be completed and folders done… we’re doing well so far (Thursday as I write!).

We have finished off learning about the features of informative writing and it’s very obvious how well everyone understands this genre as we listen to PIP presentations! The topics have been varied as usual and very well researched and presented. We’ve learned about the Grammies, The Ocean, Fortnite, Board Games, Mines and Pompeii this week, just to mention a few. It is endlessly fascinating to see how diverse the children’s interests are! Now, of course, with Term 1 PIPs presented, some of the children have already made a start on their Term 2 PIPs! So wonderful to see the enthusiasm!

In Maths, we have focussed on multiplication this week, revising the area model and the formal algorithm for multiplying 3 digit numbers. Of course, knowing times tables really helps with this so we are also having a bit of a blitz on memorising these. Maybe something to practise in the holidays perhaps?? Everyone knows which tables they are currently working on.

We had the first of our Water models demonstrated in our Science session with Jess’s group on Monday. They have been fabulous models so far and children are writing reflections about the design process and what they have learned. There will be at least one more of our combined Water sessions at the start of Term 2, in order to finish the demonstrations. Then we will have a joint excursion to either Ryde Pool or Homebush possibly in Week 2… to play in the amazing H2O that we’ve been learning about!!

I hope you all have a very wonderful holiday and enjoy the break. I’m looking forward to Term 2 with this gorgeous group of children!

With love,
Wendy