School of Foundations

This week we hosted our first Parent Learning Walk for the year. I had the pleasure of sharing with our parent visitors our Stage 2 learning spaces. As we entered the learning spaces Miss Bowden and Mr Wilcox were teaching a shared reading lesson. The students were exploring the text features of an information text. We then moved into the Makerspace where the parents were welcomed into the classroom by three student hosts who explained a Mathematics lesson. The students spoke confidently about the structure of a Mathematics lesson. We were all very impressed!

Following this, I was able to take our parents on a short tour of the School of Foundation playground areas.

Our Playground Spaces

Open Night

Our open day was a great success. Many parents enjoyed visiting our Kindergarten and Stage 1 classrooms. It was lovely to see lots of children enjoying the activities set up in the Kindergarten learning spaces. Parents had the opportunity to speak with our teachers and myself about the learning and facilities offered to our families interested in enrolling their children to join the St Luke’s learning community.

Miss Pecnik

Head of School of Foundations: K-4

ES1

Phonics 

As a part of the English block, Kindergarten students have been learning about their letters and sounds. This week, we have been consolidating our understanding of the letters S, A, T, P, I, N and M. Having learnt the sounds of each of these letters in previous lessons, we have now begun to blend and manipulate them to create words. 

Writing 

In our writing sessions this week with Kindergarten, we have continued with the Draw, Talk, Write & Share concept. The students have explored different characters in story books and have begun to write about their own special character.  It was wonderful to see so many existing and imaginative characters come to life! We give the students time at the end of the lesson to showcase their writing to their peers which is a great way to support their speaking and listening skills

Mathematics 

In Mathematics this week, the students have been learning about patterns. They have learnt how to create, copy and continue a simple pattern using shapes, objects and images. The unit has enabled  the student to sharpen their prediction skills as they begin to understand what comes next in a pattern. Patterns are also great to learn as it supports students' logical thinking and reasoning. We have some clever Kindergarten students at St Luke’s as they have proved they can not only create a repeated pattern, but also a growing pattern.

Science  

In our science unit, Kindergarten students have been learning about the daily and seasonal changes in the environment. This week, our learning focus was around day and night, as well as the four seasons of the year - Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring. Students have been building their knowledge about the seasons by identifying different characteristics of each season and discussing how the weather changes at different times of the year.

St Luke’s Pillars

We have introduced this week to Kindergarten the St Luke’s six Pillars of Learning - Manage, Relate, Witness, Inquire, Create and Think. The students are developing their understanding around what each pillar represents and how they can demonstrate the pillar in school environments and settings. In each classroom space, there is a pillar wall display where students will have the opportunity to receive pillar bricks. Each brick that a student receives will be showcased on the wall as a recognition to the achievement of the pillar.   

STAGE ONE 

Writing

The students in Stage 1 have been focussing on writing to persuade. Persuasive writing allows the students to share their point of view and arguments in relation to a specific topic. The students have worked with their teachers to develop correct sentence structure, use powerful persuasive language and use information that supports their main idea.

Religion

This term the students have been looking at the gift of creation and how human beings have the responsibility to care for all of creation. This includes looking after our environment and each other. Students will learn that by doing this we are all able to flourish and grow. The students have been implementing this in their classroom by ensuring their environment is clean and tidy at all times for themself and others. Students are showing initiative by tidying up their own space, throwing their rubbish in the bin after eating time and leaving their space clean for others to use.

Pillars

Throughout the term there has been a strong focus on our school pillars and how the students can show this through their daily actions. As part of this initiative, students who 

are displaying positive behaviour, managing their actions, showing creativeness, or 

showing reverence, continuously, are encouraged to work towards receiving a pillar brick. The pillar bricks align as a wall display to form a brick wall of positive attitudes and actions in each classroom.

Stage 2

English - Fact File on the Principal 

This Term in Writing, Stage 2 are continuing to learn to write to inform. We are now looking at Biographies. The students have been researching, planning and writing texts to inform others about certain people. Mrs Bauer visited Stage 2 Diagon’s this week so the students could write a biography/ fact file about our Principal. The students prepared a range of questions based on her early life, career, family and interesting facts and were then able to interview Mrs Bauer to conduct their research. Students then wrote their fact file about Mrs Bauer. 

Mathematics - Magicians 

In Mathematics, students have been learning to select and use mental and written strategies for addition and subtraction involving 2- and 3-digit numbers. They have enjoyed exploring new additional and subtraction strategies involving place value, split strategy, number line and compensation. Teachers used explicit modelling of strategies with plenty of inquiry learning, in this lesson students used dice to make 2-3 digit numbers exploring the algorithm strategy. There were lots of A-ha moments when they recognised how to use their new knowledge of mathematical thinking and reasoning.

Religion - Hogwarts

In Religion, students this Term have been learning about prayer as a way of communicating with God, including the origin and meaning of certain prayers. Today, students created their own Prayers of the Faithful for our Stage 2 Liturgy coming up in Week 9. There were some wonderful prayers including Thanksgiving, Intercession among others. 

History - Indigenous Story Stones

During the last 7 weeks, Stage 2 have been exploring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, and how these communities use symbols to communicate. Stage 2 have been exploring different Dreamtime Stories, and have been asked to re-tell these stories using Aboriginal symbols found in traditional artworks. Stage 2 were asked to use their story stones to create or re-tell a Dreamtime Story. The students created a draft of their stories, and then used stones and chalk pens to create their Story Stones. Stage 2 have worked really hard on their Story Stones, and they look fantastic! 

Sport

The students in Stage 1 and 2 are working on their fundamental movement skills. These include:

• locomotor and non-locomotor skills — rolling, balancing, sliding, jogging, running, leaping, jumping, hopping, dodging, galloping and skipping.
• object control skills — bouncing, throwing, catching, kicking, striking.

Music

Early Stage 1 Music

In music class, Kindergarten students have learned simple songs to sing and perform with actions. This term Kindergarten students have also learned to recognise, sing and clap simple rhythms consisting of crotchet (Ta),pair of quavers (Ti-Ti) and crotchet rest (Shh).

Stage 2 Music

Students in Stage 2 have been working on extending their keyboard skills by moving on from using finger numbers to learn notated music to using note names and sheet music. It has been encouraging to see so many Stage 2 students confidently playing new music without needing to look at their fingers Video Sample

WELLBEING

New Student Program

In an effort to help new students feel more comfortable and excited about their first year at St Luke's, a catch up was held for students who began in stages 1 and 2. Our 2nd catch up provided an opportunity for students to meet one another and discuss things they were looking forward to about their new school. The meeting was led by Mr Bettiol our new Leader of Wellbeing, Growth and Development  and helped to break the ice for new students who may have been feeling anxious about starting at a new school.

During the catch up, students were encouraged to share what they liked about St Luke's so far, and many of them expressed excitement about the school's extracurricular activities, such as sports teams and music programs. The students also discussed their favourite classes and teachers, and many were pleased with the academic opportunities provided at St Luke's.

In addition to the discussion, the students participated in an activity that helped them become familiar with the school day schedule. The activity involved creating a schedule that reflected a typical school day at St Luke's, including class periods, lunch breaks, and extracurricular activities. This exercise helped students to understand the structure of the school day and feel more comfortable with the routine. Overall, the catch up was a success, and the new students left feeling excited and optimistic about their first year at St Luke's.

Mr Bettiol

Leader of Wellbeing, Growth & Development K-12