Specialist Showcase
Discovery Centre
The Book Fair has arrived in the Discovery Centre.
Many excited children welcomed the Scholastic truck on Wednesday morning when it delivered our Book Fair. All classes have now come in for a preview and this years collection is particularly good, from the latest Dog man and Treehouse books to quality literature, activity packs and of course the popular posters and stationery. The Book Fair will continue until Tuesday 20th August, and is open before school and after school, so please come in and have a look.
We have been reading the Children’s Book Council Shortlisted books for this year and doing some follow up activities. The Year 5 and 6 students recently made a feather mobile, from the book “Feather”/ by Margaret Wild. The younger students made some very cute rainbow bears to accompany the story “Rainbow bear” by Stephen Michael King.
BOOK WEEK
Please see flyer and information packs for the full details.
Some highlights:
Book parade - Thursday 22nd August 9-10am on the basketball courts or in the Hall if the weather is inclement (which at this stage is looking the case).
Sausage sizzle - Thursday 22nd August
Whole School Reading - Friday 23rd August 2.30-3.10pm. Various venues around the school, as it looks like the oval sadly will not be ready for us to use.
Prep, Year 5, Year 6 - Hall
Year 1, Year 3 - Discovery Centre
Year 2, Year 4 - Year 1/2 Centre Area
We are looking forward to an exciting week next week - when we get the chance to celebrate books and reading.
BOOK OF THE WEEK
Dog man would have to be one of the most popular series in the DC. The latest title by Dav Pilkey (who is also the creator of Captain Underpants) is “Dog man - for whom the ball rolls”. This series appeals to readers of all ages and explores positive themes including empathy, kindness and persistence.
“Ninja Kid 4” by Anh Doh was our book of the week last week. In this latest book the circus is coming to town, and Nelson and his friends have a chance to be part of the show. But then trouble arrives… You will have to read it yourself to find out what happens.
STEM News - 3D Printing
3D Printing Technology has come to St Francis. We were very fortunate that the Raynes families (x2) very generously donated a 3D printer to us. A 3D printer is a machine allowing the creation of a physical object from a three-dimensional digital model, typically by laying down many thin layers of a material in succession. In STEM, over the last few weeks, we have been using Tinkercad to explore ways to engineer various 3D objects and have begun the process of printing the students designs, starting with the Raynes children.
I’ve made three videos showcasing some of the wonderful work done by the students at St Francis Xavier. STEM is a specialist subject that I am passionate about and it’s great to see the students learning so much and journeying with STEM.
Year 1/2 STEM/Digital Literacy Activity – Space Rover
During our Reading session and following on from our excursion to Science Works, the students completed a STEM activity using the Lego WeDo 2.0 kits.
Prep STEM Activity – Spiderwebs
During STEM, the students used their mathematics and engineering skills to create spiderwebs, their scientific skills to draw anatomically correct spiders and their coding skills to plan a path for a Bee-Bot to avoid the spiderweb.
Year 5/6 STEM Activity – Makey Makeys
During STEM, the students used a Makey Makey Kit. Makey Makey is an electronic invention, tool and toy that allows users to connect everyday objects to computer programs. Using a circuit board, alligator clips and a USB cable, the students used closed loop electrical signals through the Makey Makey to send the computer a keyboard stroke when touched. After creating their closed loop and attaching various buttons to the Makey Makey, the student saw if they could play a game using the Makey Makey.
Thanks,
Daniel Egan.