The Totara Times

Issue 6 - April 12th 

The Totara Team would like to thank Nicky Tong who has offered to be the Totara Team Parent Representative for 2016.

We have had a very busy term and are looking forward to a relaxing holiday. Here’s a snapshot of what we have been doing most recently in each curriculum area:

Writing

Our newspapers are almost finished! We are very excited to bring home a copy on Friday and share with you our articles over the holidays. This was quite a challenging process but we are very proud journalists.

Maths

Over the holidays we don’t want to forget what we’ve learned so far this year so we would love to practise our basic facts. There are a few cool apps we have started to use, like Maths Shake, which are great for helping us solve maths problems.

Reading

We have learnt a lot of comprehension strategies this term and still have more to learn next term! We are pretty good at decoding fluently but need to practise understanding the deeper meaning.

Art

We are amazing artists! The teachers are very impressed and we have lots of art on display to share with you.

Inquiry

We have been working hard on our personal inquiries about the challenges people with disabilities face. We had a guest speaker come in and talk to us about the different challenges that being blind comes with. We are really looking forward to our Challenge Day on Thursday to experience what it is like to be disadvantaged in different ways.

Technology

Our technology skills have improved greatly since the start of the year! We are pros at logging in to Office 365 and using the Totara Team Notebook. We have learnt different shortcuts, e.g. copy and paste, and how to use the snipping tool. We have also been shown lots of cool websites like Blendspace to create our own websites and Mind42 to create mind maps.

Passion Project

We have now finished our projects and have planned our student led workshops for next term. Michaela will send out a timetable of who is taking their workshops each week so we know when to bring in our resources.

On Friday, as a reward for all of our hard work this term, we will be having an electronics day. This means students have the option of bringing in a device from home (or they can use a school one) to share with each other different games, websites and apps that they use in their spare time for learning and enjoyment. As per usual they will be locked away during morning tea and lunch but ultimately they are our responsibility for being charged and making sure we take them home!

We hope you all have a great holiday!

Monday 2nd May - First Day Back :)