PREP

Welcome back to Term 2. We hope your family enjoyed a wonderful Easter break and the children are refreshed and eager for the coming term.

This week we are beginning Stage 2 of Little Learners Love Literacy, with our focus sounds/letters being ‘b, d, l, v, g, h, n, o’. In Numeracy, we have also commenced the topic of ‘Addition’ as our focus for this term. We are learning the terminology of add, plus, makes, equals and altogether.

We have some special events this term, including our very first Prep led Prayer Gathering (Thursday 22nd May at 9am), Jump Rope for Heart and the Pupil Free Day on Friday 23rd May.

We are excited for the term ahead.

Gemma Blake gblake@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Elissa Rodger erodger@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 1

Welcome back to our lovely families. It has been such a fun start to the week and we have loved hearing about all the exciting things that happened over the holidays. Horse riding, movie watching, new puppies, scout camps, trips to the pool and lots of relaxing!

This term our inquiry unit is ‘Helping Hands’, we have begun to explore and discuss what an emergency is and who we would call for help. The children were very creative in their role playing of this activity and practised sharing the school address with our emergency operator. Later this term we will be lucky enough to have some members of emergency services coming in to talk to the children.

In literacy we have been working on our reading fluency and tracking as we read large chunks of text. We have also been learning to differentiate between statements and questions and practised writing these to match pictures and using the correct punctuation.

In mathematics we have been practising our skip counting by 10s and learning to use a number line to solve addition problems.

Reminders:

This term our specialist subjects are Art and DDT
Library is on Thursdays
Reader folders to be returned and changed each Friday

Have a wonderful weekend, the Year 1 Team

Leah Martin lmartin@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Rebecca Murray rmurray@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Judy Carr jcarr@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Paula Parish pparish@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 2

Welcome to Term 2 in Year 2!

Welcome back to what’s already shaping up to be a fantastic Term 2! It’s been lovely hearing all about the holiday adventures and special moments your children have shared—we’re so excited for the busy and exciting weeks ahead.

We’ve noticed fewer views on our whole-class posts recently, so just a friendly reminder to check that your app is up-to-date and logged in. This is the best way to stay informed about everything happening in Year 2!

Our Little Learners Love Literacy journey continues this term as we dive into some tricky territory—exploring the letter C. While it may sound simple, we’re investigating the different ways to represent the /k/ sound, such as k, ck, and even ch. We’re also learning how C can represent the /s/ sound when paired with letters like i, y, s or e. Phonics can be complex, but we are incredibly proud of the effort and focus our Year 2 students are putting in!

In Maths this week, we’re exploring addition and subtraction strategies, with a strong focus on place value—breaking numbers into tens and ones—and using empty number lines to solve problems. The students are showing great persistence and developing strong number sense.

We are thrilled to launch our new Inquiry unit, Helping Hands. This term, we’ll be learning all about the incredible emergency services in our Colac community. We’re lucky to have several local heroes visiting us to share their knowledge and experiences!

As part of this unit, we encourage families to have conversations at home about what to do in an emergency. This includes helping your child learn their home address and important contact numbers.

Next week, we begin our new RE unit on Participation. We’re also preparing for our class prayer gathering, It’s a Beautiful Day, which we’ll be sharing with families on Friday of Week 4. Keep an eye on Class Dojo and your child’s school bag for more information closer to the date!

Thanks, as always, for your continued support. We can’t wait to see all the learning, growth and joy Term 2 will bring!

Emma Roberts eroberts@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Matt O'Dowd modowd@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Amanda Delorenzo mdelorenzo@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 3

We hope all our students had a wonderful Easter and enjoyed a fabulous break with their families. As we return, we’re excited to dive into another jam-packed term full of learning, activities, and special events. One highlight that we have been looking forward to is the Year 3/4 Footy Gala Day, which we participated in today – it was a fantastic opportunity for students to get active, build teamwork skills, and have lots of fun! We can’t wait to see the incredible things our students will achieve this term.

Jade LoRicco jloricco@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Deb Holland dholland@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 4

It’s been a busy and exciting start for our Grade 4 students!

This week, our Year 3 and 4 students had a fantastic time participating in the Footy Gala Day. The students demonstrated great sportsmanship, teamwork, and enthusiasm throughout the day, it was wonderful to see so many smiling faces on the field! We also look forward to our Cross Country try-outs this Friday, where students will have the opportunity to showcase their endurance and determination.

In the classroom, our learning continues with great focus and engagement. In Religion, we are exploring the concept of identity, encouraging students to reflect on who they are and what shapes them as individuals. In Mathematics, we are working through Place Value, helping students deepen their understanding of number structure and value.

In Literacy, our current focus is on narratives, where students are learning about story structure, character development, and descriptive language. We are also enjoying the shared reading of Leo and Ralph, which is sparking thoughtful discussions and inspiring creative writing.

We’re proud of the students’ efforts both inside and outside the classroom, and we look forward to another great week of learning and participation.

Matt Absalom mabsalom@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Maegen Potter mpotter@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Susie Scott sscott@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 5

Welcome Back, Year 5!

Welcome back to Term 2! We have a busy but really exciting term ahead of us. As we begin a fresh new term, we would like to share some information and a few important reminders with our Year 5 families:

Diaries:

This term, we are asking that student diaries are to be signed every Friday by a parent or guardian. This helps us monitor reading habits, encourages students to take responsibility for accurately recording their reading and ensures the home/school connection.

Homework:

A reminder that we encourage students to bring their homework folders in every Friday. This ensures we can distribute new homework on the following Monday without delay.

Behaviour Expectations:

Now that we are into Term 2, we believe it is time to raise the bar even higher for our Year 5 students. We are placing a strong emphasis on the golden rule: treat others the way you would like to be treated. We are working very hard on our Explicit Teaching Expectations during class time. We look forward to seeing our students continue to grow as learners and people with kindness, respect, and responsibility.

Excursion News:

We are excited to announce that our Year 5 excursion to Sovereign Hill is coming up in Week 4 — on Friday, the 16th of May! This ties in beautifully with our classroom novel, The Night They Stormed Eureka by Jackie French, which we are currently studying. Please keep an eye out for the PAM permission form and necessary information that will be sent home in the coming week.

To start the term on a positive note, we asked two students from each class to share something they are looking forward to this term:

Harper - I am looking forward to camp.

Frankie - Camp.

Louisa - Grade 5 Camp and hanging out with my friends.

Hugo - DDT and Art

Rachel Downard rdownard@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Rachael Cahill rcahill@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 6

We hope everyone enjoyed their extended break and is feeling refreshed and ready for another big term ahead! Well done to all the students who took part in our ANZAC Day ceremony on Monday — you represented our school with pride and respect. This week we have been learning about shape in numeracy and have begun looking at our topic on ‘Human Migration’ across both our literacy and inquiry sessions. The students have also begun the ‘Peaceful Classrooms’ program with Judy in GEM time. We’re looking forward to a jam-packed Term 2 for our Grade 6's, with plenty of fun, learning, and memorable moments to come!

Important Dates:

Thursday 8th May - Divisional Cross Country

Friday 30th May - Lightning Premiership

Friday 6th June - Girls Footy/Boys Netball

Friday 13th June - Divisional Soccer Tournament

Wed 15th Oct - Fri 17th Oct - Melbourne Camp

Jess Downard jdownard@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Jodie Hassett jhassett@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Katie Monaghan kmonaghan@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

The Marian News

Issue 6 · 01 May 2025

In this issue