Learning & Teaching 

LITERACY - Vira Pirrotta

Circus Performance 

This Thursday October 20, all the students are expected to participate in the Whole School Circus Performance. 

The Performance will take place in our School Hall at 7 pm. As noted in last week’s newsletter, there is limited seating. Therefore only families are invited to attend. The family tickets are $30. This ticket admits entry for two adults and siblings. 

As there is no seating available for extended family, e.g. grandparents, we have made seating available at our dress rehearsal on Thursday, 20th of October, free of charge. The rehearsal will run for 2 hours from 12 -2 pm. We ask that you are seated for the rehearsal by 11:45 am. Parents, if you are attending the evening performance, we ask that you not attend the dress rehearsal.  

The cost of the family ticket will cover the cost of hiring the staging, audio and lighting equipment.

Parents, please note the following for the evening's performance. 

Costumes 

• Students are provided with costumes for their performances.
• Students are required to wear all black, dark colours for the performance. 
• E.g. Black top with no logo, if possible. (t-shirt or long-sleeved top)
• E.g. Black pants (leggings/jeans or tracksuit pants)
• They can wear any footwear they like as they will perform in bare feet. 
• Long hair to be tied back for the performance

Performance Night 

• Students are to be at school by 6:30 pm at the Senior Learning Area (Hawthorn Street).
• Teachers will supervise students performing and will remain with them throughout the performance. 
• Students are to bring a snack and a drink bottle in a small backpack/lunch box.
• Doors for the performance will not open until 6:45 pm, for a 7pm start
• Please ensure you have your ticket to enter
• There is no allocated seating 
• A recording of the performance will be available for purchase after the evening.

We look forward to seeing you all at the performance.

NUMERACY - Colleen Monaghan

I read this blog recently and thought it was one to share. I hope you find it worthwhile too. We really need to praise our kids for persisting and having a go even if they make mistakes. It is through their mistakes that when they persist they learn, they work out where they went wrong and how they need to solve things in order to get it correct.

Learning to Walk

Dr Ange Rogers

I was looking through my phone this week, trying to erase some videos so I don't continue to receive the dreaded "There is not enough available storage to take the photo" message.

I came across an old video of my daughter taking her first steps.

This is always a BIG moment for parents... and every time I have watched (and filmed) this moment with my 4 children... it reminds me how amazing the human brain is…

For each of my children the process of learning to walk was exciting… they all tried over and over again until they achieved their goal. It was weeks of falling and getting back up... and even before that it was weeks of standing and holding onto furniture...and before that there was crawling...it is such a long journey!

But...not once did any of them throw their arms up in frustration and say “this is too hard” (not that they can talk at that age… but you get the idea)😉.

The ‘I can’t do it’ attitude is something that creeps in as we get older… we become afraid of failing, are averse to hard work and struggle... we want to do things that are easy, and feel safe…😌

Over the years I have loved sharing my "First Steps" videos with teachers and students because I think they are a perfect example of the learning process in action.

• Persisted and never gave up, and because of that, she learnt to walk. 🙌
• Made mistakes, but she brushed them off and learnt from them.💪

This is a process that each of our students has been through... so it is something they all can relate to...

Our children need to know how important persistence is…

That mistakes are to be celebrated, as they help you learn💪

So this week I encourage you to show your class a video of a child learning to walk (mine if you want)... and then have a chat about how hard they worked to learn that skill… encourage them to go home and ask their parents if they have a video of their own first steps.

This is a simple way you can reinforce the importance of persistence.

Because if you can help develop persistence in your students… this will hold them in good stead for life… particularly in maths class… where I think persistence is the number one skill students need to succeed…😉

SPORT & PE - Michael Jennings

Softball Finals

Getting to go to the softball finals as representatives of the small schools in our district was such a privilege. The team I was on was really talented and I knew we would make it to the finals. 

My team and I were playing against Pascoe Vale North Primary School for the finals, and I think I speak for my team when I say we were nervous. Even though it had just been the holidays and we hadn’t gotten much practice, we still tried to keep up a good spirit, which I think was what the other team was missing. 

In the first 2 innings of the game, the scores were close and we needed a lot of runs to put us high enough to win. So, we tried harder, and, in the end, we came out on top by 4 points - 21 to 17, which means we get to move on to the next round! All of the players on our team played extremely well, but some special mentions are Adelynn, who hit the ball the first time on all of her turns which gave us lots of runs, and Genevieve, who was a great catcher that got many people from the other team out. 

Overall, it was a great ( but nerve-racking!) experience and I can’t wait for the next game. Go, Saints!!!! By Catherine Francione 

STEM - Joe Frazzetto

ITALIAN - Rosa Fokianos

BUONGIORNO!

Benvenuti al quarto trimestre! (Welcome back to Term 4). This is my first newsletter article for the Term and I hope you have all had un buon riposo (a good break) and that your children are ready for some more great learning in italiano! 

In this week’s newsletter, I would like to firstly acknowledge the effort that the grade 5/6 children put into their Roman Empire research presentations. They have been researching various topics in relation to the Roman Empire, such as Roman gods, Roman architecture, Roman education, including learning about Roman numerals and Latin. Not only did the groups present slide presentations but some groups chose to make a Kahoot quiz, or a summary chart, or a task for their peers to complete after their presentation. One group even made a model Colosseum using the TinkerCad printing program! Bravissimi ragazzi! 

I have included some photos below, showing you part of their presentations. I’m sure that they have learnt something new and interesting about their chosen topic. I have also acknowledged each child with a certificate of participation, which you will probably see once they bring it home sometime this week. 😃

Secondly, unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the Pizza and Pasta night this Saturday that passed. I hope everyone that attended, had a great evening and enjoyed eating pasta e pizza with their famiglia ed amici. 😋🍕

La prossima settimana, (next week), I will include in my newsletter article, what the children will be learning during this busy Term 4.

Until then, stay safe, enjoy the sunshine and happy learning. 

Buona settimana! 

Signora Rosa 🌹