Learning 

Woiwurrung Word of the Week

St Johns has purchased the Woiwurrung Language Resource for the Early Years.

Woiwurrung language was traditionally spoken and is being reclaimed today by the Wurundjeri people, who inhabited the land along the Yarra and Maribyrnong rivers.

The Woiwurrung Language Cards have been produced by the Wurun Child and Family Place and Yarra Ranges Council with permission from key Wurundjeri Elders.

Acknowledging and celebrating Aboriginal culture and its connection to spirituality and language, family and kinship, land, country and community is important in protecting and developing inclusion and equity. Language in particular is recognised as a precious part of cultural strength and pride.

Each newsletter we will share with you a new Woiwurrung word of the week, we hope that this will provide you with a chance to read, speak, and talk about it with your family.

Wellbeing and Learning & Teaching

We started off this week by asking ourselves what we are grateful for. We talked of family and friends, our pets and our warm homes.  

On Monday afternoon, we asked staff to reflect on our first day back online with three words. The words were overwhelmingly positive. We are incredibly grateful to our committed staff for pivoting back into remote learning like pros, and working tirelessly to make sure the transition is as smooth as possible. We are also incredibly grateful to our learners and their families for also making the transition back into the online learning space. Amongst the richness of learning in target groups, we have noticed lots of smiling faces and positive vibes from you all.

In challenging times like this, there are always hurdles that spring up unexpectedly. We appreciate your patience and understanding, and welcome any feedback that will support us to make remote learning even better or feedback that celebrates what has been working well.

We encourage you to provide feedback to Jarryd or Lauren on this Google Form: 

https://forms.gle/xZKwoCSJcxqHzHCr9 

As Gemma said last week, your family needs are most important. Please take the time to be together and do whatever it takes to look after yourselves. If we can support the wellbeing of your children or your family in any way please get in touch

with Gemma or Ashlee (aowen@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au).

Literacy

We all love a good ‘Poddy’ (or Podcast, for those not familiar with the lingo!). Recently, I listened to an interview with the brilliant Australian Author, Mem Fox, ‘Capturing Hearts and Minds Through Literature’. Mem Fox is the Author of acclaimed books such as ‘Where is the green sheep’, ‘Possum Magic’, ‘Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge’ and ‘Hunwick’s Egg’ (which our Grade One children are currently exploring!).

In the Podcast, Mem Fox talks about the power of the ‘Read Aloud’ (reading a story out loud to children). She suggests that reading aloud helps children to: build a love of literature and expand their vocabulary (by exposing them to new and unfamiliar words) and supports them to develop fluency as readers by listening to varying tone, pitch and intonation. 

Mem Fox refers to picture books,  however, the same strategies would work just as well with chapter books!

Some of Mem Fox’ tips include:

• Choose a text that will bring joy / pleasure / happiness
• Know the story well before you read it (relevant for picture story books)
• Hook children in with the first line
• Read with tone and intonation
• Alter your voice through:
  • Loud vs soft
  • High vs low
  • Fast vs slow
• Pause at the end of the story to gauge your child’s reaction / questions / wonderings

**For more tips, visit Mem Fox’s website which has some resources for families. This clip of Mem Fox reading is a great example, too** 

Our children currently bring home books from our School library. Feel free to send a list of any books you’d like your child to borrow to school (they can still borrow a book they have chosen, too). Once libraries reopen post lockdown, you can visit with your child and choose stories to explore together. 

If you have any questions or areas within Literacy you’d like me to explore through our Newsletter, feel free to email these through to me! 

Daniela De Luca

Literacy Leader

ddeluca@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au

Faith

Sacrament of Confirmation

A small group of our Year 6 children are in the midst of preparing to celebrate Confirmation. We gathered for a faith evening online with the children and their parents last week. It's always a privilege to be part of this journey with our St John's families and even more so when we are still able to find the opportunity to connect online and reflect on the gifts that we are to one another. Whilst the celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation has been postponed due to COVID we will continue to explore the Gifts of the Spirit with the children. As soon as we can secure a new date to celebrate, a letter will be sent to families to let you know. 

Temple Visit - 15th June, 4 pm

We are still hoping that our visit to the temple can go ahead, however we will be guided by any restrictions that are in place. As soon as we have any further details we'll advise all families. 

Thank you to the many families who have joined us for our Prayer Gatherings over the last couple of months, it brings us all such joy to be able to celebrate together. Here's hoping it won't be long until we are onsite again. 

Please see below for an update message from our Social Justice Leaders, who find themselves once again adjusting their project due to remote learning. 

Aoife

(amccarthy@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au) 

Social Justice News

Dear Families,

This term we’re collecting things to donate to Ways of the West. We are collecting items such as beanies, scarves, gloves, socks and tins of soup. Any warm food and clothing that you’re happy to donate will be appreciated. We have changed the final date for donations due to lockdown so there is still lots of time to support this worthy cause!

You can send your child’s donations to their hub and the Social Justice Leaders will collect them. Our collection begins from Friday 21st May - we will collect items up until Friday the 11th of June and then we will send all of the donations to Mark at Way of the West. He comes to visit us each year and is always really happy that we can help people in our local community.

Thank you for your support.

Kelly, Paulino, Jordan and Adler

Social Justice Leaders

Report from Media Leader

By Thomas Nguyen

The 5/6 Trip to the Chinese Museum

On the 20th of May on Thursday of 2021 the 5/6 Hub went to a Chinese Museum in Chinatown to learn about the Chinese community during the Gold Rush.

The trip to the Chinese Museum was an absolute surreal and amazing experience.

First, we were split into two groups, a tour guide took the group I was in to the basement where the group took notes on how the Chinese and other communities to get to Australia (which was by boat) and how long it took to get to Australia from China, which was 60 days (around 2 months).

Next, the tour guide showed us a cookshop and told us that the Chinese put cookshops in their mines to feed the miners.

The tour guide then led us to a shrine with red, yellow, and golden which the guide said were the colours that gave you luck.

After that, the guide showed us into a little tent which was where we learned that the Chinese entertained the miners with opera and plays.

Then the tour guide showed us to a room where he showed us the tail of a costume called the Millennium Dragon, it had mirror scales that, we were told, was to avoid bad spirits. We went up a few flights of stairs, following the ongoing body of the dragon until we finally reached the head. The guide asked us to guess the length of the dragon and surprised us by saying that the dragon was 63m long!

After that, we watched a video about a timeline of the Chinese Community and the Gold Rush. 

1818 the first Chinese people to Australia

1848 Chinese indentured labourers arrive

1850s Gold Rushes

Lastly, the tour guide led us to a little exhibit full of Chinese artefacts. This was also the place where the guide showed us these Chinese clothing with amazing patterns.

After that, the tour had to come to an end, we thanked the tour guide for helping us. 

We found the other group and left the museum now full of new knowledge. 

3/4 Excursion to the Immigration Museum and NGV

Reflections from Baydah and Vanessa