Welcome to Waratah!
This year the Waratah unit will be home to five Year 3/4 classes. As part of the daily program students are involved in opportunities to read, write, explore number concepts and further mathematical understandings. They also undertake Integrated Studies, learning History, Geography, Science, Digital Technologies, Humanities and Social Sciences.
English
Gordon Primary promotes a balanced literacy approach to teaching English with integrated inquiry units providing authentic contexts for learners to develop and use language. The individual literacy learning needs of students are catered for through differentiation. A variety of strategies, resources and support mechanisms are used to scaffold student success and allow every student to achieve. The skills needed to become a proficient reader, writer, speaker, listener and viewer are taught explicitly across all areas of the curriculum. We use quality literature, both fiction and non-fiction, as a platform to explicitly teach and model using reading strategies to the students.
In Waratah, students will participate in a range of reading, writing, speaking and listening activities daily. Reading Groups will be held across the unit and will consist of students participating in Reader’s Workshop or Cooperative Reading. Students will be placed into one of these groups depending on their reading needs. In Reading Groups, we will be exploring and using a range of reading strategies to improve our decoding, fluency and comprehension.
In writing we will be focusing on the writing process (plan, draft, confer, revise, publish) and on the text types of exposition (persuasive writing), narrative writing, procedural and informative. Proof-reading and editing will form a big part of our writing sessions and correct handwriting techniques and formations will be taught. Spelling strategies will be introduced and practised as we work towards being word-conscious classrooms.
Mathematics
The Mathematics program is built around developing a strong understanding of content and knowledge of Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry and Statistics and Probability. Teaching and learning experiences at Gordon Primary provides students with opportunities to explore concepts in various ways and encourage student collaboration and investigation. The four proficiency strands Understanding, Fluency, Problem Solving and Reasoning, as outlined by the Australian Curriculum - Mathematics are integrated into these experiences.
Through Mathematics students learn to ‘investigate, represent and interpret situations in their personal and work lives. In Waratah students engage in Mathematics through hands on activities, explicit teaching and are supported by online resources.
Learning Modules
At Gordon Primary, teachers plan learning modules using the ‘Learning by Design’ approach. In Waratah, students explore the concepts of Glasser needs, our place in history and space, as well as the Arts (music, media, dance, drama and visual arts). Starting with ‘experiencing the known’, or identifying familiar experiences and background knowledge, students then move into linking this to new information, processes and skills in the content areas of science, history, the Arts and geography.
Specialist lessons
Over the year, Waratah students receive lessons from specialist teachers in a variety of areas – such as Japanese, emotional/social learning and digital technology. They visit the library regularly to learn how to choose books that they enjoy reading. They also have many opportunities to develop gross motor skills through structured PE lessons as well as games involving teamwork.
