Learning Communities
Foundation - Learning
What another wonderful couple of weeks we have had in Foundation! With the end of the year fast approaching we are busy completing assessment tasks and revising lots of things that we have learnt throughout the year. Even though we are all getting tired, the children should be so proud of themselves for remaining focused in class and for their excellent behaviour. This week we had great fun participating in many fun activities and eating gelato on our Italian Day. As St Luke’s welcomed the new Foundation students for a transition day this week we spent time with our 1/2 buddies in their classrooms. This was a great opportunity to meet some new people and to become familiar with what the 1/2 classrooms look like. We look forward to beginning to wrap the year up in the next couple of weeks with some fun activities and learning about Advent and the Nativity.
Next Week’s Learning (Week 9)…
SMART Spelling
Next week our word of the week is tape. We are becoming familiar with split digraphs. The split digraph that we are looking at next week is a-e as in snake and rake
Reading
For the next two weeks we will be reading ‘The Rainbow Fish’ by Marcus Pfister, and ‘The Hungry Giant’ by Joy Cowley. We will practise our word breaking and spelling by trying to find little words in big words. We will also continue to practise changing our voice when we see different forms of punctuation. We will also compare and contrast the main character of each book to ourselves.
Writing
We continue to practice being ‘SMART spellers’ by stretching out the sounds we can hear in words. We will be starting to review different forms of writing, including list making, recounts, letter writing and short narratives.
Mathematics
In Mathematics, we will continue to revise different concepts that we have learnt throughout the year. For the next two weeks we will review place value, addition, subtraction, 2D and 3D shapes and graphs. We look forward to solving some fun Christmas worded problems that will require students to apply their knowledge in many different ways.
Religion
In Religion we will begin our new unit, ‘We Celebrate Christmas’. We will explore the celebration of Jesus’ birth and explore the concept of waiting and preparing for special events in our lives.
Reminders: As the year draws to a close please send any library books back to school. We will not be borrowing any books for the remainder of the year.
Foundation Learning Community Teachers
Junior Learning Community
As we are sure you have all heard, the Junior Learning Community is now home to some living things! We have welcomed tadpoles, which excitingly, we have been able to watch turn from tadpoles to froglets, and now very soon to be frogs. This has linked beautifully to our Inquiry Unit, as life cycles have been the focus of many of our reading activities this fortnight. We are also waiting with bated breath as we watch our eggs in the incubator. Hopefully within the fortnight we will have chicks which would be a really exciting event - as you can all imagine.
In preparation for our Living Things Exhibition, our Writing focus has been on the preparation of letters and invitations, generation of information reports and poetry about the children’s made up animals. The teachers and students alike are excited about welcoming families into the classes on Thursday, December 1st, between 9.00am - 10.00am. We have been working hard to compile pieces of work which showcase the student’s creativity and imagination. We look forward to seeing you there.
In Mathematics, we concluded our Mass and Capacity unit with some fun hands-on activities. Fortunately the weather was still sunny when we went outside to measure different capacities of objects. This week we have begun to learn about Money. We begin the introduction of coins and their value. Next week we will move on to notes and totals. The children have shown great interest and knowledge so far in this area, which is wonderful to see given we live in an almost cashless society!
As we are approaching the end of year, we also approach the season of Advent. In Religion the students have begun to learn about the symbols of Advent and the importance of this time in our Liturgical calendar. We will continue this Unit through to the end of the Term in conjunction with learning about Christmas. It is a beautiful time of the year in Religion and we are enjoying sharing it with the children.
We look forward to welcoming you into our classrooms for the Exhibition and hope all the students have a wonderful last fortnight of the school year.
Junior Community Teachers
Middle Learning Community
We have had another fantastic fortnight in the Middle Learning Community with the official opening of our new school building and the celebrations of Italian Day today.
With the end of the year fast approaching we will be sending out the last of our ongoing assessments of the year in the coming weeks. Today, teachers have released our second last task, which focused on a combination of Literacy and Inquiry. The task required students to select an animal of interest, research and create an information report, explain how it is living and present their findings to the class.
As we approach Christmas time, the Middle Learning Community will celebrate Kris Kringle within their Learning Groups. Throughout the remainder of the year, students will work to create special gifts for their KK and plan kind actions to finish off the year. Please note that our Kris Kringle will not finish with a purchased gift exchange as may have been tradition in the past. The key intention will be to spread kindness throughout our Unit through their actions to end the year on a positive note.
Reading
In Week Nine, students will continue to apply their knowledge of inferring texts they read.
In Week Ten, students will revise the comprehension strategy predicting.
Writing
In Weeks Nine and Ten, students will revise written genres focused on throughout the year and present pieces for their Author’s Gifts.
Spelling
In Week Nine, our spelling focus will be on ‘words ending in f or ef - drop the f or fe and add ves.’ Example leaf or leaves.
In Week Ten, our spelling focus will be on contractions. Example, I am - I’m.
Numeracy
In Weeks Nine and Ten, students will develop their number fluency, order and partition numbers to the tens of thousands and revise the properties of odd and even numbers.
Religious Education
In Weeks Nine and Ten, students will continue to listen to the scriptures of the Jesse tree as we approach the birth of Jesus.
Students will also commence a Christmas art activity to represent the Nativity Scene.
Reminders:
- Please start returning borrowed books from the Library.
Middle Learning Community Teachers.
Senior Learning Community
Last week it was very exciting to have many important visitors at school to officially open the new building which we have been enjoying and learning in for almost three terms. We were very proud of our Grade Six students who stepped up on the day - greeting guests, reading prayers of the faithful and holding our beautiful new crosses to be blessed.
On Friday 11th November, Sacred Heart Cathedral in Bendigo held the MacKillop Art Exhibition. Each year, teachers from across the Sandhurst Diocese enter students' work from Year 3 to Year 12. This year, St. Luke entered two artworks from one of our Year 6 Students, Johan Jino. His first piece, titled ‘Self-Portrait,’ was entered into the Primary Art category. This category includes all students from Years 3 to 6 from schools across the Diocese. His second piece, ‘A Child’s Blossom,’ was entered into the Spiritual Primary Art category.
Johan was awarded first place in the Primary Art category for his self-portrait. We are incredibly proud of Johan for this wonderful achievement. Just a reminder that voting for The Mackillop People's Choice Awards closes on Sunday 27 November 2022.
Please go to: https://ceosand.catholic.edu.au/mae/ to view the Exhibition online and vote for you favourite finalist in the People's Choice section.
Last week all 5/6 students completed their Steampunk 3D Art pieces. It was amazing to see the talent and creativity of our students as their finished products were fantastic! We were fortunate to have these up for display in time for the building opening! They looked spectacular!
Graduation
On the 13th December, Grade Six students along with their families are expected to attend Graduation Mass at St Brendan’s Church. Students will be required to wear their summer uniform and Grade Six polo shirt. Mass will start at 6pm with students expected to arrive 15 minutes earlier. We look forward to celebrating the completion of Primary school for our graduates.
Senior Learning Community Teachers.
MacKillop Art Exhibition
