What's happening in our learning spaces?
FOUNDATION
There is great excitement in the Foundation area this week. Monday 31st July is Day 99 and Tuesday 1st August will mark the 100th Day of School! It is hard to believe that 99 days ago, 43 delightful students began their educational journey at St Fidelis. In such a short time, they have become such clever little individuals and their teachers are so incredibly proud of their efforts both inside and outside of the classroom!
Last Friday, there were many grandparents who joined their grandchildren at the 9:15 am whole school Mass, and then came over to the Foundation area to help their grandchildren make cards. For those who didn’t have a grandparent present, beautiful cards are on their way overseas and interstate to mark Grandparent’s Day 2023. During the week, we had time and opportunity to reflect on the importance of Grandparents and all that they do for our families.
We made connections with the fact that Jesus had special grandparents too, -St Anne and St Joachim whose Feast Day was celebrated on Wednesday 26th July, such an important day in the Catholic Church’s calendar. The Foundation students used the following prayer on Wednesday to mark Grandparent’s Day:
God of love, We thank you for our wonderful grandparents.
They bring such joy and happiness into our lives.
Thank you for all the special times that we share with them.
Please watch over them, protect them and care for them.
May they know your goodness and love always.
AMEN
As inquirers, we are exploring different materials and what they are used for. We went on a scavenger hunt around the school to find the variety of materials St Fidelis is made out of! Some of us found that the playground is made from metal and plastic, others discovered that the stairs are made from wood and metal and St Fidelis is a combination of bricks and concrete! As collaborators, we worked together to find the different materials around the school and discuss what their purpose is for the school. As a Foundation team, we found out that materials such as bricks and concrete, are used so that the school can be strong. Imagine if the school was built from paper, it would blow right over! We then drew some of the materials we found in our environment and recorded what they were with our fantastic writing skills.
We would also like to remind you of a few dates coming up this term:
- 100 Days of School Tuesday 1st August 2023
- 101 Days of School Dress Up Wednesday 2nd August 2023
- Excursion to the NGV Wednesday 9th August
- Dance Performance Night Thursday 17th August 2023
- Book Week Parade Friday 25th August 2023
Happy 100 Days of School!
Leanne Wenckowski & Alex Phillips
Foundation Team
YEAR 1/2
There has been a palpable buzz in the air this week within the 1/2 learning spaces. The excitement of having our parent experts share their expertise, spending time with our grandparents and special people and having begun our Discovery Time has left us energised.
We began our week with new Discovery Time stations for the Term and had the opportunity to apply the learning assets, communicator, collaborator and thinker. We were provided with opportunities to engage in play and explore how to work together, share materials, take turns, plan and design our creations with our groups and talk about what we were doing. Some of the workshops were Puppet/Theatre Production, Shop, Box Construction and Space Exploration. Through dialogue, we had the opportunity to consider how to implement the Design Process within our Discovery Time, attending to the specific process of the planning and asking phases.
As people of faith, and in connection to the Feast Day of Saint Anne and Joachim, the Grandparents of Jesus, we invited our grandparents and special people into our learning spaces after gathering for Mass. Together, we created portraits of our Grandparents and special people. We made cards, acrostic poems and spent time reading stories together. Here are some pictures of our wonderful morning!
As part of our inquiry into Design and Creativity , it was time to invite the experts into our learning spaces to come and speak to us. Thank you to Agatha Ioannou, Giorgio’s Mum, and Jasmina Zuccarelli, Zara’s Mum, for coming in to share their expertise. Agatha shared her knowledge of marketing and product and packaging design, which allowed students to explore the concepts of testing products before launch, client-business relationships and all the things she considers when designing and creating products and packaging. Jasmina shared her knowledge of photography, the process, elements and the demands of photography and the considerations when taking photographs. As thinkers and researchers, we had many questions for both of our parent experts and engaged in seeing the Design Process come to life with different disciplines. We are excited to continue our learning journey and to engage further with more experts in the coming weeks.
We are excited for another busy week of learning!
1/2 Team,
Alycia Marsico, Vania Sparano and Vicky Karalis
YEAR 3/4
As members of a faith community, we are learning to analyse artwork related to scripture passages. We viewed an image related to the Pentecost story (Coming of the Holy Spirit). Students engaged in a 'See Think Wonder' to gather their first thinking. We collaborated as a year level to view the image again, and students engaged in a 'Colour/ Symbol/ Image' thinking routine.
Students chose one colour, symbol or image that resonated with them when viewing the artwork.
As writers, we are learning to paint a picture in our reader’s heads by writing poems. We have explored various types of poems such as Colour Poems, Never Poems, Animal Cinquain Poems and Haiku Poems.
On Friday we were very excited to welcome our beautiful Grandparents into our learning spaces. With the help of our Grandparents, we engaged in a word find and colouring in. Thank you to the lovely Grandparents who joined us!
Home Learning will be provided this week, please remind your child that Home Learning is due once a fortnight and diaries need to be signed every day and brought in on Fridays.
If you would like to volunteer in the learning spaces, please write your name on the weekly times tables up at the top of the stairs in the 3/4 learning spaces.
Year 3/4 Teachers
Belinda Panzarino & Bianka Zorzut
YEAR 5/6
Last Friday, we celebrated ‘Grandparents Day’ and it was a fantastic morning in the SLA. It was great to see so many grandparents take part in the whole school mass with their grandchildren. Everyone had a fun morning in the SLA playing games and sitting and talking together. It was also great to see students whose grandparents were unable to attend being “adopted” for the morning.
In Maths, we have completed our unit on multiplication. It was great to see the growth and improvement made by students. We now move on to Geometry looking at Area. This is an opportunity for students to put the skills and strategies they have developed into action.
As we move closer to Confirmation, students will be writing reports on Spirit-filled people. Year 6 will focus on the saint they have chosen in Confirmation and Year 5 will focus on a spirit-filled person who demonstrates the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in their actions. A reminder for Year 6 students to return the information required for their Confirmation which was given out last week.
Students continue to improve in their performance in ‘Footsteps’. As we get closer we see that their movements are more animated and in time. It is great to see the students support each other in this.
Our Inquiry moves forward as students develop their ideas for their movie. On Friday we will have an incursion to help the students understand more about the movie-making process. The incursion is called ‘The News Room’.
Year 5/6 Team,
Graham Troy, Olivia Sargent, Aifoe O'Flynn