Room 18

Term 2 – Week 2 –  Design and Technology

Invention Presentations

Last Friday the students presented their inventions to the class using De Bono’s six hat thinking framework. They were able to present, discuss and critique their inventions. They then presented their inventions to the class next door. I was very impressed with their creativity and flexible thinking.

 

Here are photos of the final products.

 

 


Welcome to Term 2!

The students have settled in quickly back into the school routine and are very eager to continue their learning. I loved hearing all their holiday stories.

In the first two weeks the students will be doing “Invention Time ” as part of the Design and Technologies curriculum. The students are learning to use perseverance, flexible thinking and creativity to invent a new and improved classroom item or tool. Design plans have been drawn, ideas shared and documented. Construction  has been happening this week. There will be cycles of testing, modifying, critiquing  and sharing to ensure the students have created a successful invention to their satisfaction.

Examples include:

  • an iPad holder

  • a table caddy for shared class equipment

  • a new and improved chair

  • an improved reader bag

  • an improved tray for student belongings

  • a drink bottle holder

Thank you to those families who have sent materials e.g. boxes, fabric, wool etc. to school for the students to use.


Room 18 – Week 11

HaPpY HoLiDaYs from the colorific terrific Year 2s in Room 18!!!

The Colour Fun Run was lots of fun and a big success.  Room 18 students and parents are all champions. Thank you for taking time to raise money for EMPS. Enjoy the break. Thanks to all parents for your support with your child’s learning. Also a big thank you to all the parents who were able to help during swimming week. All students have worked hard and made progress with their learning this term. They all presented well during the three way parent/student interviews. Look forward to seeing you all in Term 2.


Kalai

Kalai, our school pastor works with the class every fortnight on Fridays lesson 4. She is implementing a series of lessons to enable the students build a repertoire of knowledge and strategies to address negative emotions, bullying, positive social skills and child protection. The program compliments the Mindfulness lessons and Child Protection Curriculum I implement. She will continue the program next term as well.

In Child Protection Curriculum we covered the following topics this term:

Topic 1: Trust and networks

1.1 Exploring the meaning of trust

1.2 Developing a personal network

1.3 Will you be on my network please?

1.5 People I don’t know who might help

Topic 2: Rights and responsibilities

2.3 Behaviour code and children’s rights

2.4 Rights of children

Topic 3: Use and abuse of power

3.1 Demonstrate the language of safety

3.2 Understanding bullying

3.3 Dealing with bullying behaviour

 

A letter and your child’s  network was sent home last week. Please take time to talk your child, to remind them use their network if needed.


Inquiry in Room 18

Our inquiry focus for the term is centred around the big idea:

“There are many different places around the world”.

We have four driving questions.

  1. How is the world divided?

  2. What are the features of different places?

  3. What is life like in different places around the world?

  4. How are we connected to different places?

We have looked at how the world is geographically divided and how life is different in other countries. Part of our inquiry unit has been inspired by learning about the different cultures within our own class. We have looked at maps, globes and used iPads to research. We brainstormed questions about different continents.

The students have loved this inquiry unit and broadened their knowledge about the world, themselves and their classmates.


 

English in Room 18

We have been busy learning about reading and spelling strategies, grammar terms and writing recounts. We used proper nouns, verbs and adjectives to describe our dogs and used interesting adjectives to write dragon poems.


Harmony Day -Week 7

Last week we celebrated Harmony week. The themes “Everyone Belongs” and “Diversity is our Strength” were highlighted by whole school and class activities. The Harmony Day Parade was successful with students dressed in special national costumes or wearing orange. The whole school came together for a whole school shared lunch on Friday. We certainly had a variety of delicious food from many different countries. It was great to see so many family members join us.

National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence was on Friday 16th March 2018

Take a stand together – Bullying, no way! – was the main focus. The students identified what bullying behaviour looks like and we talked about how to take an active role as a bystander to help those being bullied. We also discussed why we think people bully others. The students wrote poems and role-played different scenarios.


 Maths in Room 18

Room 18 have been using the 1 – 100 number chart to develop our skills in locating, sequencing and ordering numbers 1-100. We have been using the language  “more than, less than, before, after, 2 more, 2 less”.  We played “I am thinking of a number that is…”

  • less than 50

  • 2 greater than 79

  • the number before 90

  • the number after 59

  • the number between 63 and 68

  • 10 more than 16

  • 10 less than 53

We also played ‘guess my number.’ Think of a number between 1 and 100 and you can ask yes/no questions to guess the number but you cannot ask what the number is. Try this at home.

We then practised making two digit numbers made up of tens and ones. we played the game -‘make my number.”

We are now exploring and making 3 digit numbers to 1000.

We have also been busy problem solving and our class  are showing some clever thinking. Well done terrific twos!


Welcome to Year 2 in Room 18

We have started this year with 24 curious and eager Year 2 students. We have had a great time at school so far, getting to know each other, developing team work skills and learning classroom routines.

We have been doing lots of group activities to develop our teamwork skills. After several teamwork activities, the class brainstormed answers to the question; “What are the skills we need to work in teams?”. The suggestions were – taking turns, sharing, being helpful, working together, clear communicating, problem solving, not giving up, being fair, being kind, listening to each other, not being bossy, sorting out the problem first. What great answers!

You may have heard your child talking about “filling buckets”. Last week we read the book “How full is your bucket?“.  This book is written to encourage children to be kind, give compliments and think about how they make others feel. The children made their own buckets, and have loved giving each other compliments.

Another task the children really enjoyed was creating a “ME BAG”. Each student had to fill the bag with 5 items that they could use to describe themselves.

They delivered excellent oral presentations, and it was a wonderful way for us to get to know each other better. We also drew self- portraits and wrote and shared 10 things to know about me.

We have been learning about the Chinese New Year to tune the class in to our inquiry topic – “Places around the world”. The class really enjoyed making Chinese Dragons with their Year 7 Buddy Class.

What a fantastic start to our learning journey together this year!