User:Izabellaszymkowski/Week 3 - 1-2 Z

Hello Parents,

My sincere thanks for visiting the class blog. Here is a quick overview of our week.

Math: This week we are focusing on number patterns and telling the time. With our number work, we are focusing upon how we can represent additon problems through a part, another part and the whole. We are also making connections in that we can reverse addition problems to recieve the same whole. E.g 4 + 1 = 5 as does 1 +4. These connections will become more important as we use our knowledge of addition to help with our subtraction. As we look at telling the time, it's important that we practice using our new terminology: half past, quater past, quater to and so forth. Time has been proven to be one of the most difficult mathematics concepts for students to grasp. This is because time is not concrete, you cannot hold it or work with it in the same way as other concepts. I will be informing students of how important it is to constantly be looking at the time, practicing telling the time and using the right terminology. Parents you can really assist with this. Please make telling the time a big focus within your home. Even phrases such as 'look at the clock, when the big hand gets to ___ it is time for _____' 'Ok it's time for _____ now what is the time on the clock'. It is important students don't become fearful of telling the time on an anologue clock even if it feels easier to rely on digital. I would highly suggest if each student could have an anolouge watch to wear. This will make the concept of time more personal to them and please encourage family members and friends to ask them of the time and assist with this skill as often as possible until mastered.

English: Students are continuing with their work in character descriptions. Often when we think of describing someone we think of their physical features in how they look. I am working with the students this week to not forget to describe a characters qualities. This is who we are on the inside and what makes up our personality. Please discuss with students about qualities at home. Ask them what qualities they like in a friend, what good qualities they think they have and so on. The more confident students become in describing qualities, the more enriched their writing will become too. We are also talking about antonyms, words that mean the opposite meaning. Parents, a simple activity you can do to assist is when reading to or with your child, is to pick out a word and just ask them 'what's the opposite of this word__ what would the antonym be ? '. It is great practice for the children and also can help them understand the meaning of not one but two words more deeply. I would highly suggest each child has a personal dictionary at home. Please encoruage your child to find the meaning of words first themselves when they don't understand one instead of just relying on you. This is because your child will be more likely to remember the meaning if they found it themselves.

Science: In Science the term 2 focus is on push and pulls. This week we are focusing upon the forces we use on playground equipment. When playing, ask your child what force do they think they are using, a push or a pull?

HASS: In HASS we are focusing on how technology has changed. This week in particular we are focused on phone technology. This might be a great one for the grandparents to discuss all the changes phone technology they have witnessed. If even you parents can talk about your memories of phone technology and what phone you have today, that would be great. A good brainstorming activity at home would be to ask students to list all the features of  phone technology today that makes our life easier.

Speaking Program: I am intergrating a new program within the class. It will commence in week 4, a letter will be coming home to you parents this week with the full details.

Parents I am running a journalism club within the school. It will be held every Thursday big lunch in the STEM education room. Due to the nature of the club, it is only open to students in 4, 5 & 6 but if you have any other child/ren in those grades please welcome them to come a long and become a Miami School Journalist. I would love to meet and work with them.

To the lovely parents I have already had the pleasure of meeting, thank you for the warm welcome. I hope to meet more of you in the coming weeks.

Best Regards,

Izabella Szymkowski