We have been using arrays to help us learn our times table. As a class we worked on our 2 x table, making arrays with counters, drawing them on our desks and then writing the calculation. Some people were able to do this quickly so moved onto the 5 times table. By the of the week, a small group were able in their 5 times table so after the holidays will start work on the 3 times table. Lots of learning at each child’s own level.
We have been learning to estimate in Numeracy and we have been taking part in esti-mysteries once a week. We have been enjoying our learning and we work in random partners. One of our co-created Success Criteria was to use what we know about number to help us estimate. We talk about number throughout and use prior learning such as addition, subtraction and multiplication.
This amazing learner asked to lead our esti-mystery and supported Miss Marra with questioning. She got people talking about their estimate and explaining why they chose that number.
We write our estimate and change it throughout the esti-mystery as we work our way through the clues. More often than not, we have to change our estimate depending on the clues and we are provided with opportunities to share our answers.
This is our reaction when the answer is revealed. We then talk about our final estimate and compare strategies. 
In Literacy, we are continuing to work on identifying and using adjectives. We have worked in random partners to write sentences with adjectives, highlight adjectives in a passage and add missing adjectives to a passage.
We are use our learning to develop our confidence using adjectives in our writing. We can all explain what an adjective is now and we can give an example. We have been working very hard!
Article 13: We have the right to find out things and share what we think with others.
This week we have been learning to count, trying to use the most efficient strategy. First we had to estimate the amount of items in the bag and then had to count them. Most of us started counting in ones but Harrison decided it would be quicker to count in two’s. Once he explained his strategy to the class, other groups started counting in different amounts. Maisie, Reuben and Harry counted in 5’s and Mary’s group counted in 10’s. This became much quicker so the class decided it was more efficient to count in bigger numbers.
We also started writing a description. On Thursday we worked on our plan and then today used it to help us write a description of a Sea Turtle (Mrs Spence’s favourite animal). We used our learning about nouns and adjectives when we wrote our sentences. We discussed our descriptions and spoke about any corrections needed and where we could make our sentences better.
We listened to a story and thought of all the positional language we heard. We then worked with a partner to write down all the words we could think of. We watched a short video and discussed where items were in a house using the vocabulary we had learned.
We started learning about writing a description. To do this we read a passage and had to find all the nouns in it. We learned that a noun is a naming word for a people, place or thing. Later in the week we then used the same passage and highlighted all the adjectives. We though of other describing words that could be used.
We have been using concrete materials to help us with our Numeracy. We have lots of different tools in our class to support our learning. We use them to help us solve calculations. This week we were given the problem 24 + 12 and worked with a partner to solve it. We then had to keep adding 12. Some of us saw a pattern to the numbers and managed to work the problem to over 100. They then shared their strategy with the rest of the class.
We are constantly discussing our work with other people but sometimes we need to remember our listening skills. This week we worked in small groups to discuss our emotions. We had to remember to take turns, look at the person who was talking and listen to all their words.
Article 29: We have the right to develop our talents and abilities.
In Reading Comprehension, we are focusing on prediction this term. We learned that “prediction” means having a good guess about what we think will happen next in a text. Texts come in a variety of different forms and we used an exciting picture from a web site called “Once Upon a Picture.” Miss Marra asked us “what do we notice and what do we wonder?” We shared our ideas and used clues to predict what we think would happen next. One of our favourite parts of this task was working in “random partners.” We have been using our randomiser wheel or our magic box to choose a name at random. This is how we find out who we are going to be working with and it means we can work with different people each time.
We made some great predictions and shared our ideas confidently with the class. We worked well as part of a team which is one of the skills we identified when we co-created or Success Criteria. Miss Marra was impressed by how well we worked together on this task.
In Numeracy, we have started to explore addition strategies this week. We are learning to use the CPA Approach – concrete, pictorial and abstract. We started by adding Mathematical vocabulary to our Maths and Numeracy Learning Wall that we can use to help us when we learn addition. We came up with plus, add and addition and we are going to keep adding more. We also added vocabulary to support us with the other three operations (subtraction, multiplication and division.) We will re-visit this vocabulary and add more as part of our learning process.
We worked in random partners today and use our Numeracy Tools to show a calculation that was written on the board. We shared the strategy we used to calculate the answer and how we used the Tools to support our learning. We were provided with a challenge once we solved the first problem. We loved sharing our strategies with the class. In this photo below, Caelin and Olivia worked very well as part of a team to add 22 + 9. They could confidently explain how they solved the calculation.
One of our amazing learners was challenged even further in his group and was introduced to column addition. This is very early in primary 3; however, he was provided with the opportunity to learn this strategy and he then used his learning to teach others in his group. This learner was very proud to share his learning and support his peers.
This we we were learning about nouns and adjectives. We worked together to come up with adjectives for the noun ‘apple’. Then we split into random partnerships and worked together to find adjectives for the nouns ‘car & dog’. We thought about our senses to help us come up with words. What did a car look like, sound like, smell like and if we were to touch it, what would it feel like?
We were learning to order number to 100. We were given a card with a number on it and had to get ourselves in the correct order. Then we had to make our number using tools in the classroom. We came up with lots of different ways. Some of us laid counters out in twos and explained our strategy to everyone else. Belle had the number 18 so had two lines of 9. Brodie had 15 so had 2 lines of 7 plus a single counter. Next everybody in the class tried this strategy.
Article 28: We have the right to learn.
This week we have been getting to know each other and we have done so well settling into our new routines. We have had opportunities to explore our new toys, talk about our likes and dislikes and we created our Class Charter to help us follow our three School Rules, Ready, Respect and Safe. We will share a photo of our Charter when our display is completed along with the rules that we created together.
We have investigated Literacy and Numeracy Tools that we are going to use to support our learning.
In Literacy, we practised reading and writing Fry’s words and used different strategies. We read words on Fry’s word cards and used our knowledge of spelling rules and sounds to help us. We then wrote the words on the table with a white board pen. This was very exciting! We love using our tables as big white boards.
We also made Fry’s words and other words of our choice using magnetic letters and letter cubes. This learner was very proud that she remembered to spell “cheese” using the “ch and ee sounds.”
We also played a “Pop Corn Fry’s Words” game. This group are showing great teamwork and one learner identified this as an important skill we need to use when we play this game to help us be successful.
These learners challenged themselves when playing this word game. “We made up a game where we had to try and find cards that we can match to each other, like goat and cheese or hand and bag. It was fun!”
We enjoyed exploring the Numeracy Tools we have in our classroom. This amazing learner made a robot using the Numicon. She used addition strategies and could identify that she had made 28. This was her strategy:
“I started with 10, and then I added 6+6 which made 22. Then I added the two’s which made 28.”
The learner was then challenged to make a new robot using eights. She used six groups of 8 and shared that she “started on 8 and then kept adding 8 so I was counting on. I kept adding 8 until I counted them all and I realised I had 48.”
We investigated the Dienes materials and we started to recognise that they represent numbers. Some of us were counting in tens using the “tens rods” and some people made models and could talk about the numbers they used.
We explored the geo boards and used our curiosity to investigate different ways we can use this tool to support our learning. This learner was making patterns and numbers on her board.
Another learner also recognised that some “shapes were starting to come together” on her board. She could talk about how we could use the geo boards to help us learn more about shapes and identified that she has made circles, squares and triangles.
We enjoyed building and creating models with the tools to investigate and explore how we can use them. This learner built a tower and explained that this tool can be used to count, add and subtract. He also estimated that he had made the number 100 here because he had so many.
We explored the reckenrecks and knew that each reckenreck has 20 beads. This learner used eight reckenrecks and explained that she made 140. Her strategy was counting in 20’s. She was very focused when counting which is a very important skill.
We can’t wait to share more of our learning. What a brilliant first week!
This week we were investigating the tools that we can use for our Numeracy / Maths learning. We thought about what we noticed and then what we wonder. Some great discussions were had.
You can count with the counters – Harry
They have different colours one each side – Harper
I can make a pattern with the cubes – Maisie
I am copying a picture with the shapes – Illia
I am creating my own picture – Grace
I can make a coloured pattern with the beads – Elodie
We made a picture on the Geoboards- Alexis
I think 10 white cubes would make a red – Mary
Ten red make the orange one so that is 100 – Brodie
This week we have been working on counting back from 100. We had to share our strategy with the rest of the class. We then used the strategy to work out lots of different equations. Next we tried using the same strategy when the number was lower than 100. We worked out that the same strategy worked. Lots of problem solving this week!!
We have been doing a choral count almost every day. We take pictures and put them on our Numeracy Wall. We like to spot number patterns and we write them beside the choral count.
We like to change the numbers each time we do it. On this one, we were counting in 4’s. Sometimes, the people that are really confident find harder patterns. Miss Marra would say the first number and then we would say the second, then it keeps going for our choral count.
by Emmi
