Cross Country

Each Monday at the beginning of lunch the students in the Junior School participate in Cross Country Training. They have the option of running a 1, 2 or 3km route that takes them just outside of the school and back. The students record how many kilometres they complete each week and these will be tallied for each House Group. The House Group with the most kilometres run by its members will receive a trophy for their efforts.

Readingo

Readingo is a reading-incentive scheme that encourages readers to explore a wide variety of texts. A grid is filled with examples of different texts, or types of texts. As the student reads each text, the square is coloured to indicate the reader’s response to it; for instance, red for brilliant, blue for good, green for okay, or yellow for awful. There are two types of Readingo grids: closed and open. A closed grid is created when specific titles are listed; for example, columns or rows might list particular texts from different learning areas. Closed grids enable the teacher to exercise more influence over the students’ reading; however, they require consideration of reader ability and text difficulty. The Readingo sheet can be used as a partial record of personal reading habits.

To complete the activity, students:

• choose one of the texts on the grid;

• read it;

• colour the square and

• choose another text from the grid to continue on the path horizontally, vertically or diagonally.

Grandparent's Day

The annual Grandparents event is always a day to remember! Starting the day, Grandparents were treated to a highly polished music concert involving each student in the Junior School. Musical events included: music from the band, our highland dancers, the vocal ensembles, the Year 3/4 choir, Year 6 Ukuleles, Year 5/6 choir and a Junior Primary song. 

Following the performance Grandparents had the opportunity to spend time in their Grandchild’s classroom. I’m told that there were up to 510 registered visitors on the day – an all time record! How lovely it was to see so many Grandparents in and around our school community.

Quatrain Poetry

During Written Language this term students defined and discussed the purpose of poetry and had opportunities to share poetry styles and poets who were already known. Once this was established, a more thorough investigation into Quatrain Poetry occurred.

The quatrain is a poem or stanza of four lines and has several common rhyming patterns: AABB, ABAB, ABBA and ABCA. Students explored the AABB model during class and had opportunities to develop their own, relating to the topic ‘Grandparents’. Discussions about rhyme and rhythm occurred throughout the investigation, to ensure the best possible outcome for each student. All poems are on display and a separate copy was provided to each student’s grandparent on Grandparents’ Day.

Exploring Brochures

Students will extensively explore the key elements of a brochure. The knowledge acquired will unquestionably assist students with the layout of their biomes brochure.

An effective brochure informs, educates, or persuades. A brochure should not contain an in-depth study of a topic, but it should give enough information to grab and keep the reader’s interest from start to finish.

Content can be arranged in paragraphs, lists, graphs or charts, or using a number of other choices along with graphics. The arrangement should lead the readers to find what they want to know quickly and easily.

Biomes Brochures

Biomes are defined as the world's major communities, grouped according to the vegetation and organisms that live in that particular environment. Biomes have changed and moved throughout history due to human activity. Conservation and preservation of biomes should be a concern to us all. Biomes can be grouped in a variety of ways, but we have chosen to group them in the following categories:

Freshwater: Ponds and Lakes, Streams and Rivers, Wetlands

Marine: Oceans, Coral Reefs, and Estuaries

Desert: Coastal, Cold, Semi-Arid, Hot and Dry

Forest: Tropical, Temperate, Boreal

Grassland: Tropical and Temperate

Tundra: Arctic and Alpine

Students will select a biome, research it thoroughly and present the data in the form of a brochure. Categories that are being explored are vegetation, animals, location, climate/temperature, physical features, misuse and problems and strategies to conserve and preserve.

Eco Friendly Houses - Google Sketch Up

Students have been provided with the task of designing and building an environmentally friendly house that forms part of our class display. They will also need to produce a folio that shows all designs and documentation of the project. This task will demonstrate what has been learnt about building materials and environmental features for housing.

The task will require students to use skills and new learning in Geometry, Measurement, Science, Art, Design and Technology, ICT and Society and Environment. Finished houses will form part of an ‘Open Inspection’ Day during our showcase timeslot at the end of Term 2.

Premier's Reading Challenge

http://www.premiersreadingchallenge.sa.edu.au/prc/

The Premier's Reading Challenge is a literacy engagement program that was introduced by the Premier in 2004 to encourage students to read more books and enjoy reading and improve literacy levels.

Other Benefits:

· raises the profile of reading, libraries and literacy in schools;

· gives students a focus for their reading;

· encourages students to read more books and enjoy reading more;

· encourages boys to participate by being 'challenged':

· offers incentives for reluctant readers;

· builds self-esteem and pride, school unity, and a sense of achievement;

· increases the involvement of parents in their child's reading;

· increases library borrowing and

· contributes to increased literacy levels.

The Challenge requires students to read 12 books between the beginning of the school year and early September. Please consult the school library, your local library, or the website listed above for a list of books linked to the award.

Reading Rave

Tiered reading tasks have been developed to suit students’ ability and learning style. The skills we will be developing are: scanning, summarising, paraphrasing, analysing and comprehension. Most activities follow a two-week cycle, the first week viewing or reading the material, and the following week will be the task related to the reading material.

Students will have the opportunity to read and view material relating to the topics:

· Global Warming

· Climate Change

· Biodiversity

· Renewable and Non Renewable Energy Forms

Salt Germination

This fascinating and reliable experiment clearly demonstrates the damaging effects of salinity (salt) on seed germination. Mung beans are germinated on paper towels in takeaway containers using various concentrations of salt water. The activity has captivated student interest and results were visible within four days. Students quickly realised the negative effects of salt water on plant/seed growth.

Australian National Curriculum - Science

The aim of the Australian Science Curriculum is to provide students with a solid foundation in science knowledge, understanding, skills and values on which further learning and adult life can be built. The Science curriculum will be organised around three interrelated strands: science understanding; science inquiry skills; and Science as a human endeavour. This term students will be immersed in a range of science experiments that help develop students understanding of how to write an effective science report and develop their awareness of biodiversity.

Carbon Emission Mission

The students’ SOSE mission is to reduce their family’s global greenhouse emissions. Students will achieve this by eliminating unnecessary household Carbon emissions. They will investigate the causes, target the problems and then attack! The household reductions will be measured against those of other class members to see whose mission has been the most successful. Other topics students will explore during this investigation are:

· Carbon Ecological Footprints

· Climate Change – rising sea temperatures and sea level changes

· Fossil fuels and Co2 Emissions

· Transport and Greenhouse Emissions

· Sustainability and Sustainable Living

· Greenhouse Gas Emissions

· Waste and Packaging

· Kyoto Protocol

Health - Keeping Safe Curriculum

As part of our Health programs this term we will be implementing the new Child Protection Curriculum – Keeping Safe. It is designed to develop skills and strategies for personal safety and abuse protection. We have married this document with our existing Health document Bounce Back so the students benefit from both.  The Child Protection Curriculum is divided into five levels or stages from Preschool to Year 12, with each comprising four focus areas namely-

• The Right To be Safe

• Relationships

• Recognising and Reporting Abuse

• Protective Strategies

In each stage two main themes are presented which are:

Theme 1: We all have the right to be safe.

Theme 2: We can help ourselves to be safe by talking to people we can trust.

In the Middle Years Band 6-9 concepts covered in the focus area The Right to be Safe include :

• Adolescents and the concept of safety

• Early Warning Signs- “Fight or Flight” response and external signs

• Risk taking and adolescents

• Personal emergencies