Green Dragon Class News

We had a fantastic ‘Project Day’ today. The students all worked really well in their buddy groups to make boats out of everyday objects. We began the day at 10:00am. Each group was given a box of containers. They had to decide which objects would float or sink. After recess the students designed their boats and then made them.  They then decorated and showed their boats to another group.

I was so impressed by all of the Green Dragons. They helped, encouraged and supported their younger team mates. Well done everyone!

The Year 2 “Buddies” did a fantastic job last week leading their groups and teaching the younger children about support.  Well done everyone! This week the Buddies will be co-operation. They will discuss what it means and play games to demonstrate co-operation.

In literacy we had our first ‘published’ pieces of writing on Friday. The students have been writing stories, procedures and poems for the last two weeks. Every two weeks they choose their favourite to put into their published copies. I choose two or three each fortnight to type up and put on the published board. In maths, we began subtracting three-digit numbers. We have also been drawing 3D shapes. I will begin the child protection programme this week.

There will be a scooter safety programme for the students in year 1 and 2 next Wednesday. I am on a course next Monday so there will be a casual in my place.

For homework this week, the children have a procedure to write that they will present on their news day.  They also have reading, spellings and a maths sheet.

Xavier, Catherine and Lotus will be reading at assembly this Thursday.

I hope you all have a great end to the week and enjoy your weekend!

Claire Mc Ginty

The Year 2 “Buddies” did a fantastic job last week leading their groups and teaching the younger children about integrity. Well done everyone! This week the Buddies will be discussing “support” with their groups. They will help explain that support is when you help and take care of others. They will play the games “Who am I” and “Rock, paper, scissors”.

I have had the pleasure of hearing some super procedures during news time! Well done everyone! We are continuing writing procedures and ordering procedures. We are also continuing our study of the Titanic. Today the students came up with character profiles of first class passengers.

In maths, we began subtracting two-digit numbers. We are also discussing the volume of containers and will be measuring volumes later in the week.

In science, we explored why objects float and sink. We discussed gravity, buoyancy, density, shape and air pockets! We carried out some experiments. Today in art, we just finished marbling and we drew the Titanic with charcoal.

For homework this week, the children have a procedure to write that they will present on their news day.  They also have reading, spellings and a maths sheet.

Odette, Callum O’Brien and Alexander will be reading at assembly this Thursday.

I hope you all have a great end to the week and enjoy your weekend!

Claire Mc Ginty

We had a wonderful “Buddies Day Camp” on Monday. All of the children really enjoyed it! We started off the day by putting the children into groups. The groups then designed posters. After recess the groups had to design towers from sticks and blue tack. Before lunch they had to build bridges strong enough to hold a toy car. In both tasks the children came up with fantastic creations! The towers and bridges are in the hall for everyone to look at. We had pizza for lunch and then played a musical dress up game! To finish off the day the students got their certificates and an ice-block.

Tomorrow the buddies will be taking their groups and will be talking about integrity. They will discuss what it means to be honest and fair. They will play some games with their buddy group.

This week we began to look at procedures. Tomorrow w e will be following a procedure and will make a puppet. In Science, the class have been carrying out floating and sinking experiments. We will be doing more experiments in the next few weeks. We have also been reading “Samson’s Titanic” and have been discussing the story of the Titanic. The class are very interested in the topic and we will be doing further work on this book. In Maths, the children are doing a great job at adding two-digit numbers. We have even moved on to regrouping!

For homework this week, the children have a procedure to write that they will present on their news day.  They also have reading, spellings and a maths sheet.

Felix, Molly and Elena will be reading at assembly this Friday. It is a special assembly for Mr. Cheng as it will be his last day. The assembly will start at 2:15.

I hope you all have a great end to the week and enjoy your weekend!

Claire Mc Ginty

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a great break!

I must apologise as I put the wrong date on the permission note for the buddies day camp that was handed out today. The camp is on this Monday 30th April. It should be a great day! We will be providing a pizza lunch on the day!

There will be an Anzac assembly on Thursday. There will be no awards given out this week. Alec, Ned and Audrey will be reading at the assembly.

As the whole school will be engaging in “design and make” projects this term we are asking parents to send in materials such as plastic containers, egg boxes, corks etc. Due to hygiene reasons toilet rolls are not allowed.

This week the Green Dragons will be revising maths concepts. They have been learning about Anzac Day. In literacy, they will be sequencing stories. We will also be discovering what items float and sink in Science.

I hope you enjoy whatever you have planned for Anzac Day.

Kind regards,

Claire Mc Ginty

Tomorrow is our last day of term!!I would like to thank everyone for making me feel so welcome. I want to give a big thank you to all the parent helpers over the term.

Green dragons have been busy revising their spellings and sounds this week. After our term of doing recounts they are writing some fantastic pieces. I am delighted to see capital letters and full stops in the correct places!

In maths, the students did such a great job at adding two-digit numbers that we moved on to adding three-digit numbers!!! This is a difficult concept and they are all doing a super job.

We have been doing lots of Easter art and crafts. The students have been busy creating cards, colouring and doing their Easter books.

Last week we had great fun doing some orienteering. The class were divided into teams and had to find a piece of a puzzle hidden in the playground. Their only clue was a photo graph of an area. We had great fun!! On Friday we went to the park and played another game! Thank you to the parents who helped to hide the puzzle pieces.

We will be doing another game in the park tomorrow and a small Easter egg hunt! (Please don’t tell the children as I want it to be a surprise!) I am going to use plastic eggs with natural confectionery jellies.

Lotus and Rowan will be reading at our final assembly of the term, which is an afternoon assembly.

I hope you all have a fantastic break! See you all in term 2!

Claire Mc Ginty

Thanks to all the grand-friends who visited today! It was great to meet everyone and the children really enjoyed having their grand-friends in the school.

Green Dragons have been busy reading stories about grandparents and doing recounts on them. We have been looking at past, present and future tenses. Our sound of the week is ‘ea’ and many of the students have spotted ‘ea’ words in their reading this week. Thanks to all the helpers during literacy groups!

In maths, the students have been learning to add two-digit numbers. This is a difficult concept and they are all doing a fantastic job. We have also been using positional language and leading a friend around by giving directions.

In science, we have been discovering where our food comes from. The students have been learning the processes involved in making a bread, rice and milk.

In art, we did some paper weaving to make Easter baskets and the students are going to finish these pictures using collage.

In sport, we are going to do some orienteering this week. It should be fun!

Lotus and Rowan will be reading at our final assembly of the term next week.

For homework this week the children will have reading, spelling and mathletics homework each night. The news topic for next week is the child’s choice.  The spellings for next week are: every, would, found, because, suddenly, address, minute, beneath.

I will be on a course next Wednesday so there will be no literacy groups.

Have a great week!

Kind regards,

Claire Mc Ginty

Next Wednesday is Gran-friends Day. Assembly is on at 11:00 in the kola. Gran-friends are then invited to come up to see the classroom and get involved in some activities from about 11:45 – 12:15. I look forward to meeting all the Gran-friends!

For Gran-friends Day assembly the Green Dragons will sing a song about rain. Therefore, I would appreciate it if they could bring in raincoats, hats or wellingtons to wear.

This week we have been doing recounts on a story called Granny McGarvey. We are learning about homophones and putting verbs in the past tense. Thanks to all the parents who have been so helpful doing literacy groups. I really appreciate your help.

In maths we are still doing time, subtraction and position. The class are excellent at telling the time from analogue and digital clocks.

In science, we have been discovering where our food comes from. The students have been learning the processes involved in making a burger, porridge and fish fingers. We will be examining more foods next week.

The students examined pointillism in art. They have been creating butterflies just using dots!

George and Siobhan are reading at assembly this week. Next week is Saskia, Holly, Oles and Finnigan.

For homework this week the children will have reading, spelling and mathletics homework each night. The news topic for next week is the child’s choice.  The spellings for next week are as follows: myself, pick, six, today, meat, dream, scream, please.

Claire Mc Ginty

Tomorrow is Tabloid Sports Day! The students need to wear trainers and should have their hats. There will be ten groups doing ten various stations. Some of the Green Dragon students are leaders of the groups while others are helpers.

On Friday we will be doing our Irish dancing for all the parents. Please come along the children are very excited and love dancing. This will be part of assembly. It will take place at 2:30 on Friday. As Saturday is St. Patrick’s Day the class have been learning about St. Patrick and how people celebrate it. The students have also been looking at images of Ireland. In art the class made a St. Patrick’s Day leprechaun.

This week in maths we are doing subtraction, time and position. There is a great game that the students love playing called ‘minus mission’. I would recommend this game. You will find it by putting it in a search engine or go in to the website ‘topmarks.co.uk’ and search for it. Another game that we are playing is ‘stop the clock’. Again this is on the topmarks website.

 In literacy, the children have been working hard during literacy groups. Many have been busy doing ‘blue box’ cards. We have been doing recounts on a book called ‘Jungle Drums’. We have also been looking at some homophones – words that sound the same but have a different meaning and/or spelling. We looked at their and there last week. This week we will be working on to/too/two.

Sophia, Oliver and Calum T.M. are reading at assembly this week. Next week it is Siobhan and George.

For homework this week the children will have reading, spelling and mathletics homework each night. The news topic for next week is the child’s choice.  The spellings for week 9 are as follows: , eight, got, hurt, laugh, tree, seed, between, feelings.

La Fheile Phadraig Shona Dhuit!

(Happy St. Patrick’s Day!)

Claire Mc Ginty

Hi,

In maths we are still doing money. We are making amounts and the students have to decide what they were going to spend $5 dollars on. I would encourage you to give your child opportunities to choose items in shops and buy items. We will also be carrying out our survey later in the week.

 In literacy, the students are working hard producing recounts, improving  their handwriting and spellings. Over the past few weeks we have been looking at nouns, verbs, adjectives and pronouns. I would encourage parents to get their child to pick out some of these after they have read a page of their home reader.

Today in art we are doing abstract art. The students will be looking at abstract pieces and creating one of their own by following directions from me.

Tabloid Sports day is next Thursday. Please ensure that your child is wearing trainers. On Friday we will be showing off our Irish dancing. Please come along!

Rowan and Eirn are reading at assembly this week. Next week it is Sophia, Oliver and Calum T.M.

For homework this week the children will have reading, spelling and mathletics homework each night. The news topic for next week is the child’s choice.  The spellings for week 8 are as follows: which, would, better, cut, play, away, holiday, yesterday.

Regards,

Claire Mc Ginty

Hi,

Today we just finished some Picasso portraits. We learned about Picasso’s life and about his blue, rose, African and cubism periods. The students then did some wonderful cubism portraits. If you are interested, the Art Gallery of New South Wales has a Picasso Exhibition on at the moment. Some of the children have already been!

Parent helpers started this week during literacy groups. Thank you to everyone who has given up their time. Your help is really appreciated. We read and did recounts on a story called ‘The dragon who couldn’t do dragony things’.

In maths we are doing money. The students are really enjoying playing the game ‘cash and carry’. We are also doing data and did a survey of our favourite snack. This week the children drew the graphs in copy books. This is quite tricky but everyone did great.

In science we made healthy restaurant menus. The students will also pick out and design food for a healthy party.

Hopefully the weather will dry up on Friday and we will continue with our sprints and relays. The students should wear their trainers on a Monday for kickstart and on Fridays for sport.

Amelie, Hoatian and Dominic are reading at assembly this week. Next week it is Rowan and Eirn.

For homework this week the children will have reading, spelling and mathletics homework each night. The news topic for next week is the child’s choice.  The spellings for week 6 are as follows: or, sing, their, us, space, awake, escape, and astronaut.

Regards,

Claire Mc Ginty