5-8 Community News

Dear Families and Caregivers,

Thanks to all of those who attended our Subject Teacher Interviews on Tuesday. For those families who missed this opportunity, please get in contact with your TA teacher.

We have continued to teach The Resilience Project and the students have continued to respond exceptionally well with this learning.

This week students in Years 5/6 and 7/8 will learn about fixed and growth mindsets and how they relate to our emotions and will practice a growth mindset.

Students have watched a number of videos to help with their thinking around this topic. This video was provided to the students to help them identify some of these emotions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElVUqv0v1EE&list=PL4111402B45D10AFC&index=2

In their journals, students have answered the following questions:

With lunchtime activities commencing in the next week, I strongly encourage you to have conversations with your children about attending, particularly if they are finding themselves bored in the schoolyard. 

There are a number of activities that provide exceptional opportunities, further developing positive relationships/friendships but they also create a very safe space for our children.

A few healthy reminders:

• Encourage our students to seek help from the adults, where needed. If there is a challenge in the classroom where your child is not sure of a learning task or a concern outside of the learning space, please get in contact with your child's TA, or even better, encourage the children to seek us out.
• Please continue to ensure your child is in uniform. If they do not have the correct uniform, a note must be provided. If a note isn't provided, they will be placed on the detention list.
• School jumpers/jackets are encouraged as the mornings are starting to get fresh.  A reminder that if students are cold, they are most welcome to wear a St Augustines College jumper.
• Hats - these are not permitted anymore.
• TA - please remind your children about the importance of getting to TA on time. As I am sure you are aware, TA commences at 8.50am and concludes at 9.10am.  There is still an opportunity to book in a TA interview with your TA.
• Healthy diet - Plenty of fruit throughout the day and sandwiches packed with all kinds of salad will ensure that our children are remaining healthy. What I notice at recess and lunchtimes is that our students are very active. It's brilliant! Children need vitamins to ensure that they are reestablishing their depleted energy levels.

Corey Carver and Anthony Poppa

5-8 Community Leaders

SOLE Focus

In the 5-8 Community this week, we have been working towards respecting ourselves, our learning spaces and others, by seeking help when we are approached with a difficult learning task.

There are times where we will find something really challenging, but if we have a positive mindset we are able to overcome this issue. Sometimes, we might start to feel frustrated, annoyed, bothered or anxious. It is okay to feel these emotions!

If you find a learning task challenging, we want you to try these options:

1. Ask for help from your teacher - Can I have some help, please?

2. Ask a peer for support? - I am not sure what the teacher means, can you help?

3. If you have tried the first two options, have a break for 5 minutes, then resume with the learning task.

Remember: If you have a positive mindset, you will be able to overcome what's bothering/frustrating you!

Years 5 and 6

Festival of the Sacred

The Years 5 and 6 students will participate in the Festival of the Sacred on Wednesday 16th June. 

In the lead up to this event, students will have four rehearsals to ensure they are ready for the day. During rehearsals students participate in the singing and dancing components of performances. The first rehearsal was last week. 

Alma's Visit

This week we had the pleasure of having the lovely Alma visit us for Religious Education in Year 5/6 for our Sacramental Life Unit. 

Alma told us lots of interesting information about the Sacrament of Matrimony and the Sacrament of Holy Orders. 

A big thank you to Alma for generously giving us her time and to Miss Davidson for organising such a wonderful learning experience.

PBL Slime Report

In PBL this term we have been learning about States of Matter. On Friday of last week we made slime. This is how we made it and how it turned out.

Slime Procedure

We started off the slime procedure by getting ½ a cup of glue. Next we put in ½ a cup of baking soda. We then put a couple of drops of green food colouring. After that we added 1 tablespoon of eye contact solution to the mixture and then we added a couple of drops of baby oil and shaving cream.

How the slime turned out

After the slime was all mixed together we started to play with the slime which was really fun. Then we had to put it back in the cup and go inside to talk about whether slime was a solid or a liquid. We had a vote and it turned out that slime is a liquid. After we talked about that, we talked about why it was a liquid or a solid. It was definitely a liquid as it moved around to fit the shape of the cup. Our slime was really fluffy and was a lime kind of colour.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the slime turned out very well and was a fun activity to do for our PBL topic, States of Matter.  We were asked if slime was a liquid or a solid. We had a majority vote and it was decided that slime is a liquid.

By Ekaterina Street, Isobel Krestas and Madison Steele

Year 7

In English last week, Year 7 students were asked to create a persuasive piece based around ANZAC Day and WW1.  Here are some examples of the work produced.

Dear Joseph Cook, 

I believe that women should have the right to fight in the army. I don’t understand why you would limit the people going to war if there could be hundreds of women wanting to fight.

Women can be very motivated and wear their heart on their sleeve. They, if they had the chance, would even give up their family and lives to fight for their country.

As I was saying before, the leaders were punishing men for not going to war when told, trying to get as many people to fight as possible when they could just let women fight and have many more people.

People are always discriminating against women because they may be smaller or don’t speak up as much. But I strongly believe that women can do anything men can do, if not even better!

Thank you, Mr Prime Minister, for listening to my opinions and arguments. I hope that you have re-considered your rules and maybe have a second look at women’s power and rights.

Sincerely, 

Charli 

Author: Charli Miller

1272 Watson Rd                                                                      19 June 1915

Australian Government

Dear Mr Prime Minister 

I am writing to you from my dad's farm in Kyabram. Dad has just got a letter from the army telling him he must go to war. I think it's unfair that he is being forced to go. He provides the food for many and the money he earns is the only money our family has. If he is gone, there will be no food for our town. If my dad refuses to go, he will be put in jail. I have some suggestions on how your recruiting system could be improved, and I hope you will think about them as I have shared them with many others and they think they are a good idea.

My first suggestion is that you could send women to fight. They are just as good as men and some may be even better. Would you rather send a 20-year-old woman who is ready to fight or a 45 year old man who can barely move and doesn't want to be there? We women have many strengths that men may not have. Please consider this as we would like to honour our country as well.

As well as letting women fight, you could offer rewards to those who go to fight. As a local, I know that many people do not want to go because they will not be able to pay for their family. However, if you offered a reward or payment for joining the army more people may want to go.

Lastly, if you decide to continue to force people to go to war, I have a solution to jailing people who refuse. If you continue to jail people the jails will overflow, causing more unnecessary work. What use are they doing in jail? They should be helping our country through this hard time not doing nothing. My idea is that instead of jailing the people who don't go to war you should fine them and then let them continue to work. At least they will be useful then. 

Our country needs to continue running and it can't do that if everyone is in jail or at work. I hope you think about my ideas because they could help Australia. Thank-you for your time. 

From Jane 

Author: Tara Wakenshaw

Dear Joseph Cook,

Britain needs more troops to fight in Gallipoli. The allies need more troops as we are not in the most desirable position, we believe that the requirements are much too strict and that you could loosen them to get more entries.

We need more troops in the Holy Lands and on the Western Front. We also need more troops in the Dardanelles to secure Gallipoli and move on to Constantinople, knocking the Ottomans out of the war, then on to Germany.

We are also planning a campaign in France and Belgium. We believe that you should have a conscription to have as many troops as possible.

Sincerely, 

Winston Churchill

Author: Jack Cleary