Foundation
Week 6 and it is scary to say that we are officially more than halfway through Term 2. The majority of students settled back into school life easily after their extended holiday break and have been working like little champions ever since.
Rules have become a little tighter, with "learning time is for learning" a common and much-repeated phrase. Our aim is to have classes of independent learners who optimize their learning opportunities and can block out and ignore any distracting influences around them. It is a work in progress but one that is showing pleasing improvement.
CROSS COUNTRY
Students participated enthusiastically when the annual St John's Cross Country event was held on Friday 2nd May. Under glorious blue skies, Foundation students ran one and a half laps of the school oval, quite a long way for little legs, and finished to roars of encouragement from the whole school community.
Congratulations to Linc McKernan for organising the event with precision. He is currently recuperating in Europe before the next sporting event- The School Athletics Carnival.
MOTHERS' DAY
We had a wonderful turnout for another favourite event on the school calendar. Mums, Grandmothers, Aunties and special friends were all experienced an afternoon of pampering like never before. The smiles on everyone's faces were a lovely way to begin the weekend, and the smell of nail polish has disappeared by the Monday...
LITERACY
It has been 5 weeks of mighty achievement and growth in the Foundation rooms, with many students discovering, much to their surprise, that they can read independently. The daily routine of hearing the decodable book is paying dividends, with student skill and confidence growing. We cannot stress enough just how beneficial reading with your child each day is for student development. It is also an excellent habit for all students to establish, so thank you to everyone who is making this time daily. For those nights when tiredness and fatigue may be an issue, choosing a favourite picture story book to listen to is also a great use of time.
As part of the Initialit program, we use on-going assessments to track student knowledge of the letters and sounds taught. This has been a very affirming practice, and also pinpoints exactly the 'gaps' some students may have in their learning. We then address these gaps in small group situations, which allows the teacher to work with 3-4 students who may have the same learning needs. For other groups it may be extension work that is required so as to maintain challenge and enthusiasm for all learners.
Students are starting to use their growing bank of sounds to write short stories by themselves. There is usually a sentence starter and students go from there. Work is written exactly as it sounds, and much pride is taken when sharing completed stories with peers.
Maths
Partitioning has been the main focus in Maths lessons, which is simply means breaking up into small parts that combine to make the whole. For example, we can partition 5 into 5 and 0, 4 and 1, 3 and 2, 2 and 3, 1 and 4. We have done the same with the number 10. Students have been practising how to correctly form numbers, with 3,5, and 8 continuing to cause grief for many. Thank goodness for whiteboards and rubbers!
The number of slides for each daily power point presentation is gradually increasing, which means the ability to sit still and concentrate for longer periods of time is also increasing. Most students are adapting to this very well, however the occasional game or movement activity is often needed to maintain focus.
"Order, Order" is the latest game from the Love Maths website that we have introduced to the students. Progress was halted slightly when it was discovered that we did not have ONE COMPLETE PACK of cards- a necessity for the game to be successful...
Thank goodness for Mr Saxon who has been diligently sorting the cards back into complete packs. Onwards and upwards from now on!!
RELIGION
New Term, new Religious Education unit. We have started to investigate " Finding God in All Things", and has been a chance for students to explore the reality of God in their world and lives. Students will come to understand that God has many different names, and can be known to us through Jesus, creation, the Bible and other people.
The main scripture used is the story of Blind Bartimaeus, a beggar to whom Jesus restores the gift of sight. Godly Play, an interactive way of sharing the scared word, has been used to great effect, with students thinking of many different wonderings from the story shared.
Our next unit will be "The Catholic Church", which could be very timely with the recent announcement of Pope Leo.
Faithful God,
You guide us on the path of life and your goodness is our constant companion.
Be with our new Shepherd, Pope Leo XIV, in his service of the Church.
Fill him with the power of your Spirit, the peace of your presence and the compassion of Christ.
May he walk with you in wisdom and humility,
and lead us, together with all God’s people
to embody your love for the world.
Amen.
Did you know every time you do something kind for someone else, your brain releases oxytocin? Oxytocin leads to:
- Increased self-esteem/confidence.
- Increased energy.
- Increased levels of happiness.
- Increased levels of positivity.
It is the idea that being kind makes both yourself AND someone else feel better that we have been working on during our weekly Resilience Project lessons. Students have shared their performance skills by acting out different scenarios when they showed kindness to another person and are learning to identify different emotions.
INQUIRY
In Foundation we are focusing on, My Places, students will explore the concept of familiar places, understand why some places are special to people, and learn ways to care for them. They will begin by defining what a place is. The unit will engage students in thinking about places from a personal perspective, recognising how familiarity and shared experiences create a sense of belonging. They will delve into the idea of 'special places,' reflecting on personal memories, describing places using their senses, and understanding the emotional connections to locations. Additionally, students will learn about the diverse reasons people visit different locations, such as for basic needs, enjoyment, and learning.
To consolidate our understanding of special places the Foundation students were lucky enough to go on a walk about of Euroa. Along the way we stopped at many special places - St John's Church, Post Office, Police Station, Victoria Cross Soldiers and one of the highlights, The Euroa Magpie.
ON-GOING REMINDERS
- St John's is a "No Hat, No Play" school, which means everyone is wearing their hats every day. High ponytails and hair buns can cause difficulty for some students in trying to get their hat to actually sit on their head properly. Just something to ponder when creating hairstyles in the morning.
- Everything needs to be labelled. And this mantra will be repeated on a regular basis throughout the year. You will get sick of hearing it, we will get sick of saying it, but please make sure your child's belongings can be easily returned to them should they accidentally be misplaced.
- Zooper Doopers are $1, Cake Raffle tickets are 50c. Both momentous events happen each Friday.
- Lunch Orders are every Wednesday.
- Library visits take place on a Friday. If last week's borrowed book is not returned, a new one cannot be borrowed.
6. Birthday invitations- Foundation is traditionally the year of Birthday Parties. We are happy to hand out invitations at school if everyone is invited (just classroom cohort, not necessarily all of Foundation) But if you choose to only invite some friends to your child's party (and we completely understand this approach) we would prefer that the invitations were shared another way. Whilst life does have the occasional disappointment, not being invited to a party is a pretty big one when you are 5 or 6 years old and we would rather the school not be the place of the upset.
If you have any questions or queries about anything, please contact us. We have Staff Meetings after school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so these times are unavailable, but can make any other time work.
sredfern@sjeuroa.catholic.edu.au
tramsden@sjeuroa.catholic.edu.au
phone: 57952937
Thank you,
Sally, Thom and Damien