Week 14

Dear Parents and Students,

It was a little disappointing that the weather didn’t favour us on Wednesday. Thank you to all parents who helped to make sure that everyone was wearing team colours; the classroom was very bright! We will just have to be patient, and wait until the 16^th January to enjoy Fun Day. Despite the disappointment, we have had a lot of fun this week.

In the classroom:

Maths: The week has been dedicated to division. We have used counters, pictures, diagrams, and expanded algorithms to find the quotients of single, double, and triple digit dividends. We will continue with Topic 8 next week, with the test to take place on Thursday.

Literacy: We have spent the week reading A Very Important Day, and our close-reading skills continue to improve. Next week, we will begin planning and drafting for our Narrative Story. This process will occupy the best part of the final two weeks before Winter Break, and we will be reading our stories aloud before the class once we have finished publishing.

Science: We enjoyed another practical assignment this week, as we continue to study thermal energy. Our challenge was to use heat to propel a spinner which we built from paper templates. We then compared the chain reactions of our designs to those found in other existing heat engines. Pictures of our workshop can be found via the link at the bottom of this post.

Social Studies: We have continued our discussion about different levels of government, and we have also observed the various kinds of regions into which a country can be divided. Next week, we will revise what we have learned over the past few weeks, then begin preparing for our open book test, due to take place on the following Tuesday, 11^th December.

As you know, our Christmas show is to take place next Friday, 7^th December. Everyone has been working hard preparing for the performances, and Mrs Johnson has done a wonderful job directing each number. It promises to be an entertaining evening, and I look forward to seeing you all there.

Students, I’ll see you all next Monday.

Important Dates:

Thu, Dec 6: Maths test – Topic 8

Fri, Dec 7: Christmas Show

Fri, Dec 14: Half Day

15^th Dec – 1^st Jan: Winter Break

Click here for photos of our Heat Engine experiment.

Students of the Week

Runa, Liam, Soushi, Evelyn, Bronte (Guess-how-many-eyeballs winner) and Christine

Student of the Week, Week 14

Congratulations to Gary!

Gary has had a very good week. He has increased his focus on his work, and his involvement in Reading Circles and the Science practical task has shown enthusiasm while being beneficial to his groups. Well done, Gary, and keep up the good work!

Fun Day Tomorrow!

Please remember to wear your colour and dress for the weather (it is forecast to rain, but we are hopeful it will not, and we want to be ready).

Miss Barry will send a message via Class Dojo by 12:00pm tomorrow to confirm if we are to go ahead or not.

Also, there are NO CLUBS tomorrow afternoon. Buses will leave at regular times.

Homework, Tuesday, 27th November

Maths: Practice 8-3 Dividing with Remainders; Enrichment 8-3 Order Lunch
Reading: Finish reading A Very Important Day by Thursday.
Spelling: Review List 13  Click here for Spelling City       Click here for Quizlet

List 13 – ( / ôr / , / ûr / and / yoor /  sounds)

Core Words

horse	chore	firm	learn
dirty	curve	world	pure
board	course	heard	return
cure	score	worm	thirteen
worn	curl	shirt	search

Challenge Words             

thoroughbred

fortunate

hurdle

foreign

earnest

Advanced/Tier 3    Click her for Spelling City.

squirm	unicorn	worship	whirl
enormous	storm	torch	bored
sure	lure	chore	nature
curve	hooray	information	transportation
important	discourage	gorgeous	encourage

Homework, Monday, 26th November

Maths: Practice 8-2 Estimating Quotients; Enrichment 8-2 Franny's To-Do List
Reading: A Very Important Day pages 251-259

Spelling: Review List 12  Click here for Spelling City or Click here for Quizlet  

List 12 – ( /îr/, /är/ and /âr/ sounds)

Core Words

gear	cheer	starve	stairs
spear	square	charm	year
sharp	hairy	beard	charge
stare	heart	hardly	dairy
alarm	weird	spare	scarce

Challenge Words             

pioneer

awareness

startle

marvel

weary

Fun Day Teams

Week 13

Dear Parents and Students,

I hope you are all getting over the enormous meal we had for Thanksgiving! Thank you to all parents for the delicious food that was brought or sent for the celebration. Thanks also to all family members who were able to join in the fun. It was nice to spend some time together in a more social setting and enjoy one another's company. A link to photos of the day can be found at the bottom of this post.

In the classroom:

In Maths, we had a test on Thursday to complete Topic 7. This was a short topic about multiplication. We have already begun Topic 8, which is dedicated to division.  This is a longer topic, and the test won't take place until Thursday, the week after next.

In our Literacy Workshop, we spent more time in our Reading Circles, and our story of the week was Boss of the Plains. The conversations and collaborative work are really beginning to develop, and each group is becoming less reliant on guided instruction. We will continue the process next week with a story called A Very Important Day. We are well into our grammar unit about verbs, and have spent some time studying tense and verb agreement. This unit will also continue throughout next week.

In Science, we have been investigating thermal energy, and we enjoyed another practical assignment on Wednesday. Pictures of our research efforts can be seen via the link at the end of this post. Next week, we will be reviewing all we have learnt in this unit about energy, and we have another practical task scheduled for Wednesday.

In Social Studies, we spent a little bit more time learning about governments and economies. Next week, we will be learning about how nations and continents can be divided into different types of regions.

As you know, Fun Day will be taking place next Wednesday. All parents and family members are invited to come along to watch the fun. For those of you who can make it, I look forward to seeing you then.

As always, important upcoming dates are listed below. Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you all next Monday.

Wed, Nov 28:              Fun Day – Parents welcome

Fri, Nov 30:                Monthly Assembly – Parents welcome

Fri, Dec 7:                   Christmas Show

Fri, Dec 14:                 Half Day

15^th Dec – 1^st Jan:        Winter Break

Click here for photos of our Thanksgiving Lunch

Please feel free to add any photos of your own.

Click here for photos of this week's Science investigation.

Student of the Week, Week 13

Congratulations to Runa!

Runa has been more focused on her work this week, and has increased her level of involvement in group discussions and collaborative work.  Thank you for your efforts, Runa. Keep it up!

Homework, Thursday, 22nd November

Maths: Enrichment 7-6 Treasure
Reading: Have you completed an Achieve 3000 article this week?

Homework, Wednesday, 21st November

Maths: Practice 7-6 Special Cases due tomorrow
             Enrichment 7-6 Treasure - due Friday
Review Topic 7 - Test tomorrow   pp. 158-159 (Answers below) Extra Practice pp.160-161
Social Studies: pp.66-67 Questions 1-20  due next Wednesday

Math - Practice Test 7 Answers

1. C     2. C     3. B     4. B     5. C     6. A     7. B     8. A     9. C     10. D   11. D   12. B   13. A   14. D   15. D

Topic 7 Extra Practice Answer Key

Set A 1. 40 2. 7,000 3. 48,000 4. 200,000 5. 2,700 6. 6,000	Set B 1. 2,000 2. 2,400 3. 5,400 4. 2,100	Set C 1. 448 2. 768 3. 952 4. 1,080 5. 1,638 6. 1,269	Set D 1. 390 2. 1,680 3. 820 4. 780	SET E 1. 1,908 2. 414 3. 2,409 4. 2.294 5. 3,584 6. 3,189 7. 28,000 8. 8,400 9. 7,500 10. 90,000
SET F Problem 1: 42 Souvenirs Problem 2: $84

Here's this morning's Mystery Lesson: Why is it so hard for firefighters to put out wildfires?

...and here is video of a koala that survived a bushfire.

Homework, Tuesday, 20th November

Reading: Read pages 220-229 before Thursday.


Maths: Practice 7-5 Multiplying 2-Digit by 2-Digit Numbers; Enrichment 7-5 Food for Thought
Click here if you would like an online tutorial for multiplying 2-digit numbers

Watch below if you would like to see more of the Japanese array method.

Spelling: Review List 12  Click here for Spelling City or Click here for Quizlet  

List 12 – ( /îr/, /är/ and /âr/ sounds)

Core Words

gear	cheer	starve	stairs
spear	square	charm	year
sharp	hairy	beard	charge
stare	heart	hardly	dairy
alarm	weird	spare	scarce

Challenge Words             

pioneer

awareness

startle

marvel

weary

Homework, Monday, 19th November

Maths: Practice 7-4 Multiplying 2-Digit Numbers by Multiples of 10; Enrichment 7-4 A Finished Product!

Spelling: Review List 11  Click here for Spelling City or Click here for Quizlet  

List 11 – (long and short oo sounds)

Core Words

wood	push	stood	bush
brook	full	stool	fool
tool	roof	hook	pull
put	group	smooth	soup
wool	prove	shoot	move

Challenge Words             

soot

marooned

pudding

cocoon

superb

If you would like to listen to Boss of the Plains ahead of tomorrow's reading, click below.