In Room 1 we are getting ready for the festive season. This week in class the children wrote persuasive letters to Santa trying to persuade him the reason why they should get their favourite toy for Christmas.

In Room 1 we have been learning how to plan and write exciting narratives. We have been learning that a narrative can start with a hook at the beginning to get the reader interested. The structure of a narrative includes an orientation (which sets the scene for a narrative), a problem, a series of events and a solution.  A highlight was the great Dr. Seuss narratives the children wrote based on his story ‘Green Eggs and Ham.’ Room 1 did you have a favourite narrative you have written so far?

In Grade 2 we have started our inquiry ‘It’s about time.’ We have been learning about families and how they are all different and special. The children in the process of making and sharing their family trees. We also did a family job sort to see the different roles and responsibilities people have in our families. We then explored what these roles and responsibilities might have looked for families a hundred years ago.

In Maths this week we are learning about 3D shapes and identifying geometric features such as the number of faces, corners or edges. We created 3D shapes using match sticks and plasticine and by folding paper.

3D shapes are everywhere! Tonight for dinner I used a can of tomatoes and I noticed the can was in the shape of a cylinder. Room 1 can you find any 3D shapes in your house?

Today at school the children experienced a sharing culture incursion. Gwenda taught us a lot of interesting things about the Aboriginal culture. The children learnt about family, animals, music, dance and lifestyle of Indigenous Australians. At the end Gwenda answered any wonderings and questions.

Last week on November 3^rd it was the Melbourne Cup. In Room 1 we learnt about the history of ‘the race that stops the nation.’ The children wrote an information report about The Melbourne Cup and designed their own jockey silks. To finish off the day we watched the race. Prince of Penzance won the race and it was exciting to see the first female jockey ever win the cup!

In Room 1 this term we have been learning about health and safety. Some things the children have been learning about include- safety around medicines, healthy eating, safety at school and emergency procedures. Last week the children wrote an explanation about how to live a healthy lifestyle and published their work. Have a look at the different work completed in our health and safety unit.

In Room 1 we have been working on making deeper connections with the books we are reading and developing our comprehension skills. The children now all have a reading journal to record their thinking about the book. This week we have been focusing on making inferences. This means using clues in the story and our own experiences to figure out something the author did not tell us directly. In Room 1 we are reading detectives!

Welcome back to Term 4! In Maths this week we have been learning about number and place value. The children have been learning about the value of numbers and  different ways to represent numbers.

In Room 1 the children have been learning about spelling knowledge and the four knowledge areas required for learning to spell words – visual, phonological, morphemic and etymological.

Visual knowledge is the way words look.

Phonological knowledge is how words and letters combinations sound.

Morphemic knowledge is how words change when we add things to the beginning or the end.

Etymological knowledge are where words comes from or the origin of words.

In the children have been sorting words into the four knowledges. It can be very tricky but the children are learning to recognise what knowledge or strategy is needed to spell different words. Room 1 I wonder if you can sort the following words into the four spelling knowledges/spelling strategies?

 important

octopus

driving

unpack

cousin