Junior News
St Anthony's School
Just four weeks into Term 4 of our final year together, and there is already so much to share! Our Junior students have been busy exploring new ideas, making discoveries and celebrating together. Here’s a look at what we’ve been learning.
Italian Day
Students had a wonderful time celebrating Italian Day! They enjoyed watching the play and taking part in activities, including sorting pasta, playing ‘Pin the Pepperoni on the Pizza’ and making chef’s hats. Delicious gelato was another highlight! It was a day filled with laughter, creativity and opportunities to learn about Italian culture.
English
In Reading, students have been practising retelling stories in their own words, sharing the key events from the beginning, middle and end. Our Year 1 and Year 2 students have also been exploring the wonderful world of Roald Dahl! Together, we have read and compared his books, shared our thoughts about the characters and their adventures, and discovered new words along the way.
In Writing, our focus has been on procedural texts: instructions that explain how to make or do something. Students have been thinking carefully about putting steps in order and making their instructions clear and easy to follow. Through drawing, labelling and writing sentences, they have been planning their ideas and rereading their work to check that no steps were missed. Along the way, they have continued to develop their spelling, punctuation and handwriting skills.
Mathematics
In Maths, students have been exploring how numbers work and how we can use them to solve everyday problems. Using hands-on materials and drawings, they have been counting, comparing and ordering numbers, investigating place value, and trying different ways to add and subtract.
Our Year 1 and Year 2 students have also been breaking larger numbers into smaller parts, practising skip counting and building their confidence in recalling number facts. By arranging objects into rows and equal groups, they have been discovering connections between addition and multiplication. Grouping and sharing have also helped them explore division.
Sharing ideas has been an important part of our learning. Students have been explaining how they worked out their answers and listening to one another’s strategies, discovering that there can be more than one way to solve a problem!
Integrated Studies – Chemical Science
Slime, ice cream and Crazy Chemistry—our Science learning has been full of discoveries! Students have been getting hands-on with chemical science, exploring what happens when everyday materials are mixed together. Making slime and ice cream has provided plenty of opportunities to observe changes, ask questions and share ideas.
The excitement continued this week with the Crazy Chemistry incursion from Supercharged Science! Through hands-on experiments, students explored how materials change when combined. It has been wonderful to see their curiosity grow as they have made predictions, compared results and discovered that mixing materials can lead to surprising changes!
Religion
Students have been learning about Jesus, Mary and Joseph, reflecting on the love and care shown within the Holy Family. They have considered how they can follow Jesus’ example through kindness, forgiveness and caring for others.
As we look ahead to Christmas, students will explore Advent as a time of waiting and preparation for the birth of Jesus. Through stories, prayer and activities, they will learn about the Advent wreath and the themes of hope, peace, joy and love.
Social and Emotional Learning
Our social and emotional learning has focused on treating everyone with kindness, fairness and respect. Students have been exploring how everyone deserves equal opportunities, regardless of gender.
We have also been discussing personal boundaries, safe and unsafe behaviours, and everyone’s right to feel safe. Students have been practising expressing their feelings, respecting others’ boundaries and choices, and seeking help from trusted adults.
Celebrating Our Junior Students
We are so proud of all our Junior students! Our Preps have embraced their first year of school with enthusiasm and made wonderful progress along the way. Our Year 1 students have shown kindness and growing independence while being caring role models for the Preps. Our Year 2 students have supported their younger peers, and we look forward to seeing them take their next step into Year 3.
Each child has brought something special to our Junior community, and it has been a joy to watch them learn and grow!
Thank you for your ongoing support throughout the year. We look forward to sharing more learning, discoveries and celebrations with our Junior students and their families throughout the rest of Term 4!
