Newsletter – Term 4 – Dianella Campus

Term 4 has been a wonderful term for Year Ones at AIC Dianella! We have worked so hard and are feeling sad as we come to the end of the year. We are preparing for Year Two with excitement and enthusiasm.

Let me convince you…. That the Year Ones are incredible persuasive writers! We have learnt all about using ‘convincing words’, ‘for’ and ‘against’, and how to convince readers with amazing reasons on many different topics.

Our biggest achievement in Maths this term is that we have learnt our 2s, 5s, and 10s times tables!! The teachers are so proud of all the students learning about multiplication so quickly.

This term, the Year Ones have absolutely loved learning about physical changes in science. We have learnt about states of matter and how we can change materials through bending, stretching, melting, freezing and squishing. We have loved exploring these changes with lots of fun experiments including chocolate, spaghetti and popcorn!

In HASS, we have been learning all about Indigenous culture and history. We have really enjoyed discovering Aboriginal tools, seasons, and special places. It makes us excited to learn more about Indigenous culture in Year Two and beyond.

Bring on Year Two!!!

We started the term with excitement, looking forward to all the new learning areas.

In Maths, we began term 4 by learning to represent division as grouping into equal sets and understanding that division is repeated subtraction and multiplication is repeated addition. Through the term, we learned how to create displays of data using lists, table and picture graphs and how to interpret them. In addition, we learnt about fractions, namely, halves, quarters, thirds and eighths. We also learnt the features of three-dimensional objects.

For writing, we have focussed on narrative texts. We wrote on a fair few topics and the most popular one among the students was ‘What a mess?’ We also were assessed on the topic ‘Through the doorway…’

In Science, we have been learning about Chemical Sciences this term. We have learnt about how different materials are chosen to make a variety of objects using their properties. As our assignment task, we designed a toy and explained why we chose different materials for different parts of the toy.

In HASS this term, we started the term with learning about how technology has changed our lives, especially at home and in transport. Later during the term, we learnt how we are connected to different places, how often we visit them and how we get to them.

As part of the health and fitness program, we also had an excursion to ‘Bouncers Sports’ in Joondalup to learn the rules and play cricket, hockey, soccer, netball and dodgeball.

– The Year 2 teachers

Mrs Canal, Mrs Herbert, Mrs Gould, Ms Sahudhullah

This term has been thrilling and rewarding for the Year 3’s.  We have been developing our social skills by working in teams during activities, and our focus has been to build positive relationships with each other both in the classroom and in the playground. In literature, we have been focusing on creating captivating stories and mesmerizing stories along with advancing our reading skill. The experiments we have carried out in mathematics and science have given the children hands on experience to build and develop their own understanding of the world we live in.

LITERACY

Our writing focus this term has been creating captivating stories full of suspense. The children have plunged themselves into reading and listening to different kinds of narrative and extending their love for books which in the long run will develop both writing and reading skills. The children were able to use a variety of prompts to create captivating stories with little to no assistance.

MATHEMATICS

This terms mathematics program has given us the chance to further develop our times table skills, addition and subtractions to ten thousands. Our skills in reading calendars were also tested as had to use information on a calendar to answer challenging questions.  We then shifted our focus to measurement, and this is one of the topics the children really enjoyed as the children had to measure the weight of different objects, and this has been fascinating.

SCIENCE

Science unit this term has been about chemistry. The children have been identifying and exploring the different states of matter and factors that influence or aid the changes from one state to another. We therefore made vanilla ice-cream using an ice-bath.  The children watched the transformation of liquid to solid they were so amazed. The second experiment covered the change of solid to liquid and the children were amazed by the transformation.

HASS

This term, our emphasis has been on citizenship. What makes you a good citizen? This was the question that sparked a long discussion, fully engaging the children in describing their thoughts and ideas of being a good citizen and what they can do in their classroom and community to become a good citizen. We also learnt about the symbols that represent Australia and our states and territories.

Having a closer look at the Western Australian Coat of arm, sparked a discussion about the Swan River in Perth, which the children are keen to explore more of.

The team behind the awesome participation of the Year 3 children are:

• Mrs. Nafisa Ebrahim 3A
• Ms.   Priscilla Sampson 3B
• Miss Jessica Wallace 3C

Assalamu Alaikum Parents/Guardians.

This Term we worked hard to prepare our students for year 5, so that they can be empowered with the tools and concepts they need moving forward insha’Allah.

Literacy

They Year 4s have been working hard in improving their writing skills this term. They have acquired the essential skills to start developing further their written Narrative and Persuasive writing skills. Apart from their daily Literacy Block writing sessions, students were able to continue practising improving their written expressions and vocabulary building during the day.

One of the highlights of our literacy lessons this term was the Year 4s learning about the different form of poetry. The students wrote some outstanding haiku, cinquain, diamante, and acrostic poems throughout the semester.

Mathematics

In math this Term, the year 4s has applied their knowledge of Place Value to partition, rearrange and regroup numbers up to one million. In Chance and Probability, they conducted hands-on experiments where they were given the opportunity to select and trial authentic methods of data collection and constructed suitable data displays such as tables and bar graphs. They learned how to read and interpret data from tables, column graphs and picture graphs.  In Measurement and Geometry students applied problem solving strategies to calculate real world problems involving elapsed time and area.

Science

The year 4 cohort have been exploring chemical sciences this term. They have learnt to describe materials, classify them as natural or synthetic and identify their properties. They have especially enjoyed partaking in science investigations to test the specific properties of everyday materials, such as the insulating property of cotton. Students were thoroughly engaged and enjoyed discussing their results with the class.

As we come to the end of another busy school year, I would like to wish all my students a happy, productive journey in Year 5.

It has been a joy to get to know them, share their stories and watch them  grow. I will be leaving the school at the end of 2021 and would like to thank the children and the parents for their love and support. It has been a pleasure to get to know you.  I wish everyone all the best for a safe and bright 2022, May Allah bless you all.

Year 4A: Mrs. Safi

Year 4B: Mrs. Carter

Year 4 C: Mrs. Tookhi

Year 4D: Miss Druitt

This term the students of Year 5 have been learning about the different states of matter in Science. Students have observed and conducted various investigations to identify whether a material is a solid, liquid or gas. Here the students are designing their own posters explaining the three different states of matter and their observable properties.

The students have also been demonstrating excellent mathematics and English skills. To enhance the students learning and creativity we decided to allow the students to develop their collaborative skills by working in groups to create gameboards. The gameboards are to incorporate either Math’s or English content. The results were amazing with very creative and abstract ideas. Students use these board games to challenge each other and also to improve their mental maths and spelling understanding. The students encountered problems which they had to resolve as a group making them more independent thinker who re future ready.

Literacy

The Year 6 students were trained on persuasive writing skills using the ‘Seven steps of writing’. Students learn how to write convincing arguments almost every day of the week and that helped them build a sense of confidence with their writing. To prepare them for NAPLAN, they also had to practice typing their drafted work using Microsoft Words.

Numeracy

Students learnt a variety of topics which includes measurement, ratio, probability, coordinates and statistics. Since much of this term’s focus was on preparing them for graduation, we spent several lessons revisiting past topics such as fractions and decimals. In 6A, those who were interested or need remediation, Tutorial Thursdays was organized for them to clarify their doubts or misconceptions, especially for Math. Students spent half hour after school on every Thursday to develop a better understanding of a Math topic. This helps create clarity of what they never fully understood in prior terms.

Science

For Science, we had spent much time completing last term’s STEM project. Thanks to Brother Zubair’s guidance and help, students had a fruitful time building a moving robot using recyclable materials!

HASS and Health

HASS and Health are times for students to develop real life skill or strategies. Students learned business and financial literacy during HASS. They also learned strategies to manage their emotions and how to deal with risky situations during Health.

Overall, the year 6s had spent much of this term learning and developing their character Islamically. They understood that the right decisions are harder to stick to and that to be consistently good is not an easy feat to maintain. Nonetheless, many had pulled through successfully. While we will miss the Year 6s and their quirky characters, we hope and wish that 2022 will bring a new era of learning for all of them as they embark on their journey into high school.