Social Skills

As a class we look at activities each week explain how the brain works. Our latest activity looked at dopamine and how our brain releases dopamine when we are happy, when others say or do kind things for us and also when we do kind things for others.  If you are interested in seeing some of the episodes that we use to start our discussion then search for The Mindfulness Tool Kit on ABC iview.

Numeracy

We are concentrating on counting and addition. In Maths groups we are rotating through activities such as Mathletics (practicing logging in and doing revision work independently), teacher groups, adding activities, counting activities and maths games.

Our counting activity was based on guessing how many pieces of pasta we had and then counting and checking to see who got the closest guess. Different groups of students came up with different ways to count large numbers. Some students used egg cartons to group their counting into tens and twenties to make their final counting easier.

• Count in ones, twos, fives and tens from predicted numbers and from random numbers.
• Play maths games and board games at home.
• Count money and work out change.
• Tell the time (both analogue and digital).
• Work on Mathletics at home.
• Remind your child about the days of the week, the months of the year, the seasons etc.
• Cook together and measure out and weigh ingredients, work out fractions such as ½ a cup, time the cooking and share the food evenly.

HASS

Our history work has been looking at things from the past and comparing them to present day items. We then make predictions about the future. The ‘Topic Talks’ about old fashioned toys was really interesting. We discussed the materials that toys have been made from and how they are powered.

In geography we are looking at the different types of houses we live in and how different houses can serve different purposes. We have been drawing and labelling parts of houses and looking at the different materials used to make houses.

Next week’s ‘Topic Talk’ is a celebration or a special family tradition. This will hopefully allow us to discuss different traditions and celebrations around the world and compare them to our own.

A big thank you to all families who are reading together at home. We certainly do lots of borrowing from the library and enjoy reading either on our own or with a friend in class.