Classroom News
St Mary's Primary School Colac
PREP
In Prep, we have certainly hit the ground running! We are so pleased with how our Preps have returned to school, ready to learn and give everything a go.
In Little Learners Love Literacy, we have made our way to Stage 7.1! This week, we have been learning that ‘ai’ and ‘ay’ can both make the long ‘a’ sound. Our clever Preps have been working hard to work out which spelling choice to use in words such as sail and play. We are so proud of their enthusiasm and the progress they are making!
We encourage families to continue with regular reading and Heart Word practice at home. We completely understand if these routines slipped a little over the school holidays! At the end of last term, some students were sent home some highlighted Heart Words that needed a little extra practice. Spending a few minutes revisiting these words at home will help build confidence and support the wonderful progress the Preps are making with their reading.
Catholic Mission Day – Friday 23rd October
Next Friday, 23rd October, we will be celebrating our Catholic Mission Day at school! This is always a wonderful day that the children look forward to year after year. It is also a fantastic opportunity to raise much-needed funds for Catholic Mission, supporting communities and people in need.
Our older grades are busy planning and preparing a wonderful variety of stalls, and there is sure to be something for everyone! From 12pm, the children will have the opportunity to wander around, explore the stalls and choose something special to buy.
Please send your child along with a named bag containing coins (10c, 20c, 50c and gold coins, if you have some to spare) so they can enjoy purchasing items from the stalls.
Families are warmly invited to join us from 12pm to enjoy the fun and support this wonderful cause. We look forward to another fantastic day of community, generosity and fun!
Messy Patch Excursion – Thursday 5th November
Keep an eye out on PAM for the Messy Patch excursion permission form, that is available to complete now. The Preps will be heading off on this exciting excursion on Thursday 5th November. We look forward to a fun-filled day of exploring, learning and getting a little messy!
Here are some dates for Term 4 to pop in your diary -
Friday 23rd October - Mission Day
Monday 26th October - Pet Ownership Session - 1145-1:15
Monday 2nd November- Pupil Free Day
Tuesday 3rd November - Public Holiday
Wednesday 4th November - Pupil Free Day
Thursday 5th November- Excursion to The Messy Patch, Mount Duneed
Friday 13th November - Prep Prayer Gathering
Elissa Rodger erodger@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Emma Roberts eroberts@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Liza Alexander lalexander@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 1
Welcome back to Term 4! We hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing holiday. It has been lovely to see the students settle back into their routines, and we have already had a fantastic start to the term with lots of exciting learning!
In Maths, we have begun Unit 4 of Addition and Subtraction. Students have been using Think Boards and concrete materials to solve worded problems and write matching number sentences. We have also been focusing on identifying key words such as altogether and left to help us decide whether to use addition or subtraction.
In Literacy, we have been revisiting previously taught spelling choices to consolidate our understanding. We have also begun exploring the split digraph e-e, as in delete, and how it helps create the long /e/ sound in words.
In Religion, we have begun our new unit on Invitation. Students have been exploring what invitations are, how they make us feel and how inviting others can help create a sense of belonging and inclusion.
Our Find Out Fridays continue to be a highlight as we explore new and exciting topics! Our latest topic was all about cats, with students enjoying discovering interesting facts about our furry friends.
Reminders
- As the weather warms up, please ensure your child has their school hat at school each day.
- Please continue to send reading folders to school every Friday so we can change readers ready for the following week.
Leah Martin lmartin@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Abbey Hayes ahayes@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 2
We have had another busy and engaging week in Grade 2! We are excited to welcome our new classmate, Drake, to our classroom community.
We have begun our new Religion unit, Invitation, where we are exploring the difference between being invited somewhere and truly feeling that we belong. We are thinking about what it means to be welcomed, included and valued as part of a community. Deb’s class has also begun planning their Prayer Gathering for next week, and we look forward to sharing this special time of prayer together.
In Inquiry, we have started a new unit exploring place names and the stories behind them. We are discovering how places get their names and what these names can tell us about their history and significance. We are also reflecting on the places where we feel we belong and the connections that make these places special to us.
In Literacy, we are enjoying a new text study based on Tadpole’s Promise. This engaging story provides lots of opportunities for discussion, making predictions and exploring characters and events. We are using the text to develop our comprehension skills and deepen our understanding of how authors use language to tell a story.
In Numeracy, we are revising our learning about fractions, with a particular focus on halves, quarters and eighths. We are practising how to recognise, represent and describe these fractions in a range of different contexts. We are building our confidence in understanding how a whole can be divided into equal parts.
In Health, we continue to develop strategies to support our emotional regulation. We are learning to recognise our emotions, understand how they can affect our behaviour and identify helpful strategies to manage different feelings. These skills are helping us to build self-awareness, make positive choices and navigate challenges both in and out of the classroom.
Reminders:
-2DH Prayer Gathering is next Friday 23rd October.
-Mission Day Friday 23rd October.
-Hats are to be worn when outside, children who do not have hats will be asked to remain in shaded areas.
Matt O'Dowd modowd@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Deb Holland dholland@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 3
Welcome back! We hope everyone had a lovely and relaxing spring holiday break. We are already back into the full swing of things in Year 3 and are looking forward to a busy and exciting final term together.
In Literacy, we are reading our new class novel, The Butterfly Lion. We are exploring a range of literary devices, including repetition and metaphors, and looking at how authors use these techniques to make their writing more engaging. We are also mapping out the story spiral as we read, identifying the important events and how the story develops.
In Numeracy, we are finishing our unit on proper fractions and consolidating our understanding before moving into our new mapping unit. We will be exploring 2D maps, grid coordinates and how we can use location and direction to describe where things are positioned.
Today we are enjoying our Year 3/4 Camp Day! We can’t wait to share more about our adventures in the next newsletter, but we already know it has been a fantastic day filled with plenty of fun, new experiences and memories together.
Tomorrow morning we will be leading our final Year 3 Prayer Gathering for the year. We have been practising very hard and are looking forward to coming together and sharing this special time with our school community. Hopefully all of our practice comes together beautifully on the day!
We are looking forward to a fantastic Term 4 and making the most of our final term together in Year 3!
Matt Absalom mabsalom@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 4
Welcome back to Term 4! We hope everyone had an amazing break—it has been wonderful hearing all the exciting stories from the holidays, and it sounds like everyone had a restful and fun-filled time.
In Literacy and Inquiry students are diving into the Age of Exploration and the journey of the First Fleet. We will also be reading Fire by Jackie French, analyzing how natural disasters impact communities and making thoughtful connections back to our inquiry investigations from earlier this year. In Mathematics, our focus turns to fractions, space, location, mapping, and time.
Please mark two important dates on your calendar: our highly anticipated school excursion is this Thursday, October 15th (the students are buzzing with excitement, and we know it's going to be a fantastic day!), and our swimming program begins in Week 3. On swimming days, please ensure students wear their swimsuits under their uniform to school and bring appropriate footwear, a towel, goggles, and a clean change of underwear. Swimming uses a lot of energy, so packing a few extra snacks or additional food on these days is highly recommended to keep our busy swimmers fueled!
We are looking forward to a fabulous term ahead!
Rebecca Gallagher rgallagher@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Amanda Delorenzo mdelorenzo@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Meg Knight mknight@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 5
We welcome all students and families back to Term 4 after what was hopefully a restful and refreshing September holidays. Our Grade 5s haven’t missed a beat and have settled straight back into school and their learning with enthusiasm.
We have started the term off in Literacy by beginning our novel study on the book ‘The Wind in the Willows’ by Kenneth Graham. As the book was first published in 1908, the students have been learning about the Edwardian Era (the time period in England when the story was written) and have been connecting how the book and the characters represent what life was like at that time. We look forward to another intensive week of study of this text next week, where students will be looking at different imagery in the text, exploring the language used in the text to demonstrate the character’s relationships, forming opinions of the text and using evidence to back up their thinking.
This week we will finish up our short Maths Measurement unit, where the students explored length, mass and volume and capacity by using skills such as comparing units of measurement, selecting appropriate units of measurement and accurately measuring using appropriate units of measurement. Next week, students will begin a second unit on decimals which will extend and build upon decimal learning from Semester 1, whilst also assisting students to fill in any learning gaps from content that we have already covered.
In R.E. this term, we are learning about the concept of ‘Transformation’. The students were introduced to this topic by exploring the story of Eddie Jaku, a Holocaust survivor and the author of the story book, ‘The Happiest Boy on Earth’ (the adult equivalent being the novel, ‘The Happiest Man on Earth’). Using Eddie’s story of hardship, survival and ultimately, hope, the students explored the concept of how different things in our lives can transform others and our own lives. The students will be coming home with a ‘Transformation Interview’ as a small homework task this week, whereby students are asked to interview someone they know and ask them about a time in their lives where they have experienced transformation. Well done to Rachel D’s Grade 5 class for leading us in their beautiful Prayer Gathering last week teaching us about Mission Month and the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. Considering the students had to pivot from the norm in terms of having their Prayer Gathering in the library, they did an excellent job of adapting to this and presented and celebrated their Prayer Gathering with confidence and reverence.
We are still finishing off our European country brochures from last term in Inquiry, so we are yet to start our new topic on Economics and Business which we will start next week.
Swimming starts next Thursday at Bluewater and goes until week 8. A reminder to please attend to PAM for permission please and that each week, students will need to pack bathers/swimmers, a towel, thongs and spare underwear in a separate swimming bag.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Rachel Downard rdownard@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Rachael Cahill rcahill@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 6
Welcome to Term 4!
We are kicking off our final term of primary school with a bang, heading off to Melbourne for our Grade 6 camp! There is plenty of excitement in the air, and we can't wait for all the fun, adventures and memories that are sure to come!
Term 4 is shaping up to be an incredibly busy and exciting one, with lots of special events and celebrations as we make the most of our final weeks together. Be sure to keep an eye on the important dates so you don't miss any of the fabulous things we have coming up!
In Literacy, we have jumped straight back into our poetry unit, with students now creating their very own narrative poems inspired by Jabberwocky. Students have been experimenting with quatrains, imaginative language and nonsense words to bring their weird and wonderful stories to life. We have already seen some fantastic creativity, and we can't wait to read their completed masterpieces. It has certainly been a frabjous time!
In Numeracy, we have been exploring multiplication with decimals, building on our understanding of place value to develop efficient strategies. Students have been using Gattegno charts to help visualise how numbers change when multiplied and deepen their understanding of the mathematical processes involved.
Our Religion focus this term is Transformation. So far, we have explored the inspiring story of Eddie Jaku, The Happiest Man on Earth, and the transformation of Saul. Through these stories, students have been reflecting on how people's experiences, choices and beliefs can lead to powerful changes in their lives.
With so much to look forward to, we are excited to make this final term of primary school one to remember. Let's make it a fantastic finish to Year 6!
Jess Downard jdownard@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Jodie Hassett jhassett@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Maegen Potter mpotter@smcolac.catholic.edu.au