Foundation

NATIVITY

It is only 5 weeks until the Foundation class tell the story of the First Christmas across multiple venues and times. Predicting sell-out crowds and a underground black market for tickets, the class are practising very hard to deliver an excellent performance. But the highlight, without a doubt, will be the chance to 'dress up'. We have some very basic options at school (i.e.: prayer cloths we can artistically drape) and we can make masks for any student lucky enough to be one of the animals in story, but I am hoping everyone else can cobble together their own outfit. 

Very simple, no stress. 

For example, angels could wear a white tshirt/dress/shorts/sheet and tinsel around their heads. Last year's shepherds wore dressing gowns, tea towels as head gear and some carried a big stick. If you have any problem with this, please see/contact me and we will sort something out. I am blessed to have a very creative assistant in the Foundation Room (one of her many talents) who I'm sure will be delighted to help if you are truly stumped for ideas. 

After a rigorous audition process (where everyone yelled out all the parts they would like to have) the cast is as follows...

Mary- Summer

Joseph- Louie

Angel Gabriel- Ardie

King- Archie

Inn Keeper- Jonty

Angels- Abbie, Freya, Dusty, Lolly, Lucy, Amity, Peyton

Shepherds- Aylah, Rudy, Pippa

3 Wise Men- James, Wayde, Albert

Animals- Archer, Aahan

Don't forget, we will be performing the play at Granite Hill in the afternoon and at the School Concert on Thursday 10th December, and at St John's Church on Sunday 13th December at 6pm.

LITERACY

We have officially completed the Foundation Multilit program and are now in the process of constantly revising some of the more challenging sounds (v,w,x,y,z) and all of the digraphs. It is not uncommon to hear the occasional "we've already done this" from the students as we start the lesson each morning. Whilst it is fantastic that they remember the lesson, the fact that we have gone through the content before does not concern me.  There is a well-known saying that some students require "100 hits" of a concept before it becomes fully embedded. This is valuable time which will only benefit future student progress.  Between this, building vocabulary through the few remaining shared story books we have left to complete, and trying to master all of the tricky words, our daily literacy block remains well and truly packed. 

NUMERACY

We have zipped though Data and Location already this Term and are now revisiting place value which is a fundamental concept in Mathematics.  We are learning how numbers work by using the digits 0–9. Children are developing their understanding of grouping objects into tens and ones, and how the position of each digit tells us what a number is worth. There are lots of hands on activities- building groups of tens and ones, plus recognising and writing 2 digit numbers. 

We have another new game under our collective belts- "Greedy Pig" from the lovemaths

 website. The game is based around the notion of probability and chance. Are you brave enough to keep rolling the dice in order to get the biggest number? Turns out the majority of Foundation students have nerves of steel in high pressure situations! Our next goal is to work on dealing with disappointment when we choose the wrong option...

Greedy Pig

Concepts covered: Probability, addition

Equipment: Six-sided dice, paper and pens

Good questions to ask while playing:  “Why did you decide to stop when you did?/ Why did you decide to keep going?”;  “Do the numbers you roll influence your decision on when to stop or not?  Explain why/why not.”;  “What is the chance of rolling a 2?”;  “What would you do differently next time you play?” 

RELIGION

In the unit "We Are Special", students explored their identity as unique and loved children of God. Through Scripture, stories, discussion and play, students discovered that every person is created and loved by God and deserves to be welcomed, respected and cared for. Students began to recognise that God's love is shared through the kindness, friendship and care we show one another. This provided the foundation for understanding that Christians believe every person has dignity because they are created and loved by God, and that our words and actions can help others know they are special.

We now move onto "The First Christmas" which is all about the birth of Jesus. And we also have to learn quite a number of new songs. Just so I am not the only person who can't get to sleep every night due to catchy little tunes incessantly playing in her head, I have attached the links for the 4 Nativity songs belong. It is up to you what you do with them.

 Remember, as Spiderman once said "with great power comes great responsibility"...

"Angel Gabriel" Bing Videos

"No room at the Inn" Bing Videos

"Hush! There's a baby Bing Videos

"Oh what a special night" Bing Videos

GRANITE HILL

On Thursday 15th October the Foundation class walked up to Granite Hill to read their take home readers to the residents. Despite a couple of requests from weary walkers to 'get a bus', we all made the 3 block trek with relatively few issues. And once there, it was just pure joy. Both the young and the not so young had a lovely time conversing, with plenty of compliments received by the students on their excellent reading abilities. It was a really positive experience for everyone involved. We will return to Granite Hill to share our Nativity play later in the Term. It can be a dress rehearsal for the School Concert that night.

WOW Sock Day

On Wednesday 28th October, students across the school donned their finest footwear to support the idea that just like the socks, people are all different too. We had a lovely session with the Yr 5 students where we discussed sock choices, learned a mindful breathing strategy, coloured in some socks and played "Chinese Whispers". We DID NOT excel at this game- we started with "the cat sat on the mat' and once everyone had whispered the secret message into the next person's ear, we ended up with 'Do you have a llama?'. Lots of laughs and lots of learning. 

ONGOING REMINDERS

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Zooper Doopers are $1, Cake Raffle tickets are 50c. Both momentous events happen each Friday. 
4. Lunch Orders are every Wednesday.
5. 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, 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

phone: 57952937

Thank you,

Sally and Lisa