SCHOOL OF WONDER

Winter is well and truly upon us with some very fresh and frosty mornings at the moment.

It’s a timely opportunity to remember to dress for the weather - layer up! Beanies, gloves and jackets are welcome for play breaks and we ask you to support your child in naming their items so they don’t go missing.

There are many bugs and illnesses around at the moment too and we ask families to support our staff and community members by keeping children at home if they are not feeling well, reminding children to cover their mouth when they cough, and washing hands regularly. Children who are unwell will be sent to sick bay and families called for collection. We know this can impact working families, but by working together we can reduce the spread of coughs, colds, flus and other illnesses and ensure we are all healthy at school.

We celebrated St. Anne's Feast Day today with a mass at Christ the King Church. It was wonderful to see the SOW children showing respect and reverence in the church, self managing and being their best. The children's singing brought much joy to the congregation and created an uplifting sense throughout the mass.

Our children loved having their Grandparents visit for Grandparent’s Day. The pride of showing off their learning spaces and being able to spend some time together was a real highlight to a busy day. Some lovely Grandparents ‘shared’ themselves around, and for that we are grateful.

Kara, School Leader

A huge thank you to our amazing Grandparents for joining the children this week! Enjoy some photos from the event below:

100 Days of Foundation Celebrations

We are very excited to announce Wednesday 7 August marks 100 days of our Foundation students being at St Anne’s College! It is a moment to celebrate their learning journey and we are inviting the Foundation students to dress up for the day with the theme being ‘100’. You might like to go as a 100-year-old or any other creative ways of touching on the theme 100! We cannot wait to see what you come up with! The day will also feature a number of fun activities for the students which we will be sure to share with you and our St Anne’s College community.

Literacy: Foundation students are continuing to develop their reading and decoding skills this term. In Term 3 we will be exploring a range of fairy tales and their features. Students will continue to learn how to correctly sequence sentences in writing and retell familiar fairy tale stories.

Inquiry: Foundation students were introduced to their Term 3 inquiry topic this week. Students will be inquiring into physical sciences, learning all about light and sound. We will also be delving deeper into the topic, exploring how light and sound is used in the Olympics and in fairytales.

Maths: Foundation students are learning to develop their addition and subtraction skills this term. This week we introduced addition, and focused on ‘friends of 10’ and counting on from a bigger number.

The Year 1/2 children are focusing on the Learner Asset of Collaboration. During play, children identified how collaboration helped them to work as a team, share and negotiate play situations. They have displayed ways to collaborate and explored how this helps them and others to succeed.

See the Bombers Fly Up

Year 3/4 students were surprised with a visit from the Essendon AFLW team hosted by AFL-GM staff on the first day back of Term 3. Students and team members headed straight outside for a kick-to-kick session where they perfected their skills and enjoyed many laughs together before heading inside for a Q&A session learning many facts about the team members.

Students learned how each of the players were drafted and their feelings which ranged from surprise, relief, excitement, eagerness and even happy tears!

There was much discussion on the players favourite pre-game meals, with pasta the night before being the absolute favourite and eggs on toast with avocado the brekky of choice.

The players went on to speak of all the places they play including Warrnambool, Mackay, WA, Adelaide, Ikon Park and Sydney with Darwin and Gold Coast to be added to their venue list this season.

Students asked the team some great questions:

- have won any finals yet?

- what sports they played growing up?

- why they love footy?

- who is their inspiration?

- where is their home ground?

- what is the biggest crowd they’ve played for?

If your student is interested in footy, visit the General Notices section for information on how to sign up. 

MATHS: Students worked to determine the appropriate mathematical strategies for various scenarios in word problem solving. They explored when to use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division by identifying key clues within the problems. 

They also worked in small groups to collect data and calculated the mean, median, mode. This collaborative exercise not only enhanced understanding of statistical concepts but also fostered teamwork and critical thinking.

WRITING: Students learned to write a holiday recount. They began by brainstorming ideas and details from their holiday experiences, then drafted a recount of at least one memorable event or experience. This activity helped enhance their writing abilities and allowed them to share their unique holiday stories with others. 

In addition, students practiced handwriting letters 'a' and 'b', improving their penmanship and letter formation.

READING: Students honed their reading skills using strategies such as prediction, vocabulary building, and identifying the main idea while exploring non-fiction books. They practiced making educated guesses about content, learned new words in context, and pinpointed the central themes of their readings. Additionally, students developed the ability to distinguish between fiction and non-fiction books, deepening their understanding of different genres and enhancing their overall literacy skills.

INQUIRY: In Inquiry, students investigated various places to locate valuable resources. They also examined the specific resources available at home, such as electricity, water, and among others.

Understanding both the sources of resources and what they have empowers them to make informed choices and utilise resources efficiently for their needs.

In SOW PE, children have been working hard on developing their athletics skills in preparation for the upcoming Athletics Day in Week 5. We have been practicing running events, both long and short, the vortex, hurdles, shot put and the jumping events. We look forward to being able to try our best in these events and have fun while doing it. 

If students are wearing gumboots to school due to the weather, please pack a pair of appropriate athletic shoes like runners in your student's bags on PE day to assist with this preparation.  

Ryleigh, Learning Mentor, PE

Throughout this term, students have been exploring music, specifically keeping the beat, rhythm and pattern, high and low, loud and soft, fast and slow. Interactive and enjoyable lessons are designed to engage students through exploration to assist them in developing basic musical knowledge.

Students are enjoying using various musical instruments such as drums, maracas, claves, bells, tambourines and castanets as well exploring sounds which can be made by their bodies (clapping, patting, stomping and voice).

Mel, Learning Mentor, Music

The next SOW assembly will be held on Monday next week, July 29 (Week 3) and will be led by 1/2 SS.

Please support our staff, and remember that drop off for children is from 8:30am. This is when staff are on duty. Prior to this any staff onsite are preparing for the day ahead, duty of care requirements mean children onsite require supervision and doing this takes staff away from their important preparation time.

Kara McCann & Emma O’Keeffe - School of Wonder Leaders

kmccann@sackialla.catholic.edu.au

eokeeffe@sackialla.catholic.edu.au

We are committed & dedicated educators

Teaching and Learning:

Our aim as Educators is always to improve student learning outcomes for all our learners. We continue to strive to improve our professional practice to ensure that our learners get the very best learning opportunities and outcomes. Our SOW team works collaboratively to provide thought provoking learning experiences to our learners. Our learner assets (collaboration, communication, self-management, thinking and researching) are life long skills that set our young people up to life long learners and to continually question, explore and challenge their thinking. Please direct any teaching and learning inquiries to Kara McCann kmccann@sackialla.catholic.edu.au

Wellbeing:

Wellbeing is a holistic term that encompasses all aspects of a student's life, including their physical, social, mental and emotional state. It is often defined as a sustainable state of positive mood and attitude, resilience, and satisfaction with self, relationships and experiences at school.

Wellbeing at St Anne’s is driven by the themes of doing our best, allowing everyone to succeed. Please direct any wellbeing inquiries to Emma O'Keeffe eokeeffe@sackialla.catholic.edu.au