Learning & Teaching 

LITERACY NEWS - Bernadette Parnis

SMART Spelling

The SMART Spelling approach to teaching spelling has been introduced at St. Fidelis for students in Years 1 to 6. Students are beginning to learn spelling patterns that build their spelling knowledge, with an emphasis on meaning and vocabulary development. Each week, teachers will ensure that students can read their spelling words, understand their meaning, and use them in context. A variety of spelling rules will be taught within the context of the words, building on prior learning to support the acquisition of spelling patterns and new vocabulary.

Take Home Readers - Foundation Students 

This week, Foundation students will commence borrowing readers. This is an integral part of our school reading program. All students are expected to read every night at home and to record reading in their journals. Students will borrow books from the school’s ‘Take Home Collection’ (as well as from the classroom library).

Participating in reading 

Your child does not have to always be the reader to participate in reading. Reading activities could be: 

• Reading with your child (either taking turns or together), 
• reading to your child, 
• or the reading could be done by the child, where the child reads independently aloud.

Also, there is great value in a child reading the same book on a number of occasions; it may be a favourite book or a book the child can read independently. Learning to read is not a race to tick off as many different books as possible.

The following points may be helpful:

The 3 Ps: pause, prompt & praise

Pause: Give your child time to: think of and try a suitable word; identify and self-correct errors in their reading.

Prompt: 

Provide suggestions on where to find help, for example, picture, initial sound, reread etc.. Ask:

·  Does the picture help?

·  What would make sense?

·  What does it look like?

·  What does it start with?

Praise: 

 ·  Any efforts and attempts made

 ·  Offer encouragement to try again

 ·  Always be positive 

Introducing a new book:

Before Reading:

·  Read the title;

·  Predict what the book might be about;

·  Have a picture chat. link the story to familiar events/people.

During reading: 

·  Ask your child to read the book to you;

·  Use pause, praise, and prompt approach to assist.

After reading:

talk about the book;

-Ask students to recount what happened;

-Talk about the characters;

-Discuss what you liked/disliked etc.

Reading skills & strategies:

Whilst reading, you can assist your child to:

-Identify parts of the book (front and back cover, title, pages, pictures, text/writing);

-Identify the direction of the text and develop word-by-word matching; encourage your child to point at the words as they read.

-Use the pictures to assist in predicting what the text may be (never cover the picture, pictures are there to help the child with understanding the meaning).

-Use initial sounds to predict words.

More Helpful Hints

Modelling reading is very important. Whenever possible, read and discuss books with your child. Never criticise their choice of book. Children that are learning to read can benefit from reading a familiar text. If your child is reluctant to read, share the reading, take it in turns to read a page.

Remember: Reading should be ENJOYABLE!

Literacy Intervention 

Shortly, we will implement MiniLit as a Tier 2 intervention in the early years. What is MiniLit?MiniLit stands for 'Meeting Initial Needs In Literacy' and is an early literacy intervention program that aims at improving five literacy skills of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. It is an evidence-based, explicit, and effective program designed to teach reading skills specifically for Year 1 and 2 students who require additional support in reading and writing. 

Students are screened using assessments specifically designed to identify those needing additional support to develop literacy skills. The students who are selected to participate in the MiniLit program are withdrawn from class. Parents/caregivers are advised prior to commencement. 

The program is designed to be delivered daily, for 40-45 minutes, 4 times a week to small groups of four students working with the MiniLit instructor.

MiniLit consists of 100 carefully structured lessons and is divided into two levels, Levels 1 and 2, with 50 lessons at each level.

• Level 1 focuses on teaching the basics of letter/sound knowledge and decoding skills for CVC words.
• Level 2 extends word attack knowledge by teaching commonly used digraphs and longer words.

A Placement Test helps determine the ideal starting point for each student, and students are grouped according to the results. Regular assessments throughout the program monitor their progress.

Each lesson comprises three main components:

1. Sounds and Words Activities
2. Text Reading
3. Story Book Reading

The length of the program can vary depending on where the student starts and their rate of progress. Most students will need at least two to three terms of intensive intervention.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Bernadette Parnis

bparnis@sfmoreleand.catholic.edu.au 

NUMERACY NEWS - Colleen Monaghan

Reminder to Foundation Parents:

 Maths Parent workshop “How to help your child at home with Maths “ 

(Foundation Parents) 

Tuesday 18th February 9am -10 am 

Repeated Thursday 20th February 2:30pm

Test your skills with this Game 24 card.

How to play: Make the number 24 using the 4  numbers on a game card. You can use any or all of the 4 operations, but use each number only once. There are more than one solution to each card. You would be surprised at how good our students are at finding multiple solutions!

The importance of Counting

 Cath Pearn cpearn@unimelb.edu.au 

Children start by rote counting. They learn the “song” and sometimes they say words in the wrong order. 

• Children then recite numeral names in order. 

• As the child gets older, s/he attaches a numeral name to a number of things. 

• Children learn that each number symbol represents an amount, gradually putting recognition of numerals together with counting. 

• Expert counting requires the coordination of several different ideas

Possible Counting Mistakes

• Fail to correspond their pointing to individual objects. 

• Fail to correspond the sound with the pointing action.

• Miss an object or miss a number name

• Count an object more than once or apply the same name twice 

• Confusing the order of names. 

• Lose track of what has been counted & what remains to be counted.

• Don't stop the verbal sequence at the last object, keep on because of the rhythm. 

• Don't realise the last number is cardinal. 

• Choose to miss some objects because they don't think they should be included in the count because of their colour, shape, position etc

Many children can recite numbers in sequence without being able to count.

Rational counting 

• In rational counting (meaningful counting), the child gives a correct number name as objects are counted in succession. 

• In rational counting, the child not only uses one-to-one correspondence but also is able to answer the question about the number of objects being counted. 

• Rational counters exhibit all the counting principles.

One-to-one principle 

Every object to be counted is associated with EXACTLY one of the number names — not more than one and not less than one.

There is one number tag for each object 

The difficulty for most students is to coordinate the recitation of the verbal sequence with checking off the objects.  The coordination of two actions becomes more difficult as the number of objects in the group gets larger, or when the child has to think about what number name comes next.  Students struggle with counting steps because they have trouble co-ordinating stepping from one step to another while saying the number sequence.

Stable-order principle 

• The number names are in a fixed order and must always be used in this fixed order (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 …)

• Must use the number names in the same order every time

 Cardinal Principle 

• If you are counting a set of objects, then the number of objects present is the last number that has been said. For example

 “There are … 1, 2 ,3 , 4, 5, 6 dots. Yes, there are 6 dots altogether.” 

• The purpose of counting is to find “how many” and this is given by the last number stated. 

• Fully grasping the cardinal principle depends on understanding the previous two principles (one-to-one & stable order)

There are three phases in the development of cardinality (Fuson & Hall, 1983). 

1. Reciting the last number with no clear idea that it relates to the quantity, but because they realise it is the response the adult expects. 

2. Understanding that the last number of the count relates to the quantity. 

3. Understanding the progressive nature of cardinality, i.e. if they are stopped in the middle of a count, they can say how many they have counted so far, then carry on is necessary for the child to grasp the cardinal principle before they can: 

• Understand that the next number in the sequence represents a larger quantity. 

• Use the strategy of “counting on”. 

• Use counting to determine and compare the equivalence of sets.

Abstraction Principle 

• We can count any specified set of "objects", real or imagined, similar or disparate (different). 

• Different types of collections can be counted - not just collections of the same type. 

• The arrangement of the objects to be counted does not affect how many there are. 

• Some children will only count red counters because red is their favourite colour

Order-irrelevance Principle 

• The order in which the objects in a set are counted does not affect the number in the set (e.g. counting a string of objects can start at the beginning, although it may be unwise for other reasons) 

• It doesn’t matter in which order the objects in a collection are counted. Can start in the middle of a row – doesn’t always have to be counted left to right

Students who can count quite well will have difficulty with this until counting is well established. For example, put five objects of different colours in a row, with the yellow one in the middle. 

• Ask children to count all the objects, starting with the yellow object as '1'. 

• For a greater challenge, ask the children to count all the objects, making the yellow one '5'.

This principle requires knowledge of the previous four principles and entails understanding that:  

-Each counted item is still a "thing" not a "one" or "two" etc.  

-The name tags were temporarily given and do not necessarily adhere to the objects once the counting is finished.  

-Whatever order the objects are counted in the same cardinal result occurs.  

-Need to grasp principle of abstraction in order to be able to generalise the use of counting as a tool

-helps us confirm the consistency of the quantity of a set, and it is confidence in that consistency that enables us to be sure about making comparisons. 

- this confidence helps us to override perception when spatial changes make things appear bigger, and it may therefore underlie our ability to recognise the conservation of number.

SPORT & PE NEWS - Michael Jennings

SCHOOL SPORT VICTORIA

St. Fidelis Primary School is an affiliated member of School Sport Victoria and competes in various sports within the Coburg District. The Coburg District aims to provide the children with the opportunity to participate in well-organised and enjoyable sporting events that are an extension of school based Sport & Physical Education programs. It is our school’s belief that children benefit greatly from visiting and competing with other schools within the Coburg District.

TERM 1 EVENTS

SSV Coburg District Summer Sport Competitions

Friday, February 21 - Frida,y March 28

ELIGIBILITY

Grade 6 (priority) and Grade 5 students

SPORTS:

Boys/Mixed Softball, 

Girls Softball, 

Boys/Mixed Bat Tennis, 

Girls Bat Tennis, 

Boys/Mixed Basketball & 

Girls Basketball.

Good luck to our teams playing their first round of matches on Friday, 21 February, against St Bernards. Bat tennis & basketball will be held at the Benny Courts, and softball will be held at Shore Reserve.

SSV Coburg District Swimming Trials

The SSV Coburg District Swimming Trials will be held on Tuesday, 18 February, at Elite Swimming, Brunswick. Nominations have closed. Good luck to those St. Fidelis students who have been nominated for this event.

Hockey Victoria Roadshow

It was a fantastic experience having Hockey Victoria recently attend our school as part of their roadshow program. Our Years 1-4 students learnt the skills of hockey through exciting game-based activities in an engaging, fun and safe environment. While the roadshow is over, students can continue their hockey journey by joining a local Hookin2Hockey program at www.hookin2hockey.com.au. With programs starting soon, now is the perfect chance to get out on the pitch. Hookin2Hockey will allow children to expand on the skills they recently learnt at school and develop fundamental motor skills while making friends and having fun!

Years 3/4 Life Saving Victoria Excursion

To educate our students on the importance of water safety, the Year 3-4 students will participate in a practical MEGA water safety lesson conducted by Life Saving Victoria at Sandridge Beach on Monday, 24 February, from 10.00 am-12.00 pm. The program includes activities in and out of the water. 

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION

Be Aware and Be Prepared:

Participants will gain knowledge about keeping safe when in and around water, particularly open water environments. Practical strategies such as identifying dangers (i.e. rip currents) and reading key safety signs will be delivered and will ensure they have the tools to ‘be aware and be prepared’ before visiting their local waterway.

Everyday Lifesaver:

Our students will be given the skills and opportunity to be ‘Everyday Lifesavers’. They’ll learn the emergency response sequence, DRSABCD, by following a variety of age-appropriate and engaging real-life scenarios.

Survival Strategies:

Wearing a lifejacket and practising important survival techniques -including the huddle, the HELP position, and safely entering and exiting the water- are vital survival strategies your students can use if they find themselves in trouble in the water.

Rescue Strategies:

Rescue tubes, towels, ropes and even bike helmets are all examples of rescue items our students will have an opportunity to practice using. This will enable them to make informed decisions if ever they are required to perform a rescue.

Safe Boarding:

Body Boards are a popular activity enjoyed by many children in open waterways. Our students will learn key skills needed to stay safe, including safety equipment, how to paddle effectively, and strategies to escape LSV’s own ‘The Gauntlet’ (simulation of a wave channel)!

PHYSICAL EDUCATION TIMETABLE

TUESDAY

1/2NA, 1/2VS, 1/2CW 

WEDNESDAY

5/5NT, 5/6ZK, 5/6MC

3/4BP, 3/4SH

1/2VB 

THURSDAY

FAM, FLW, FOS

SPORT TIMETABLE

FRIDAY (WEEKLY INTERSCHOOL SPORT)

YEAR 5/6 

FRIDAY (END OF EACH TERM GALA SPORT DAY)

YEAR 3/4

STEM NEWS - Joe Frazzetto

Foundation Students Shine in STEM!

Our youngest St. Fidelis learners have been incredible collaborators in STEM! The Foundation students were introduced to the meaning of STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics - and explored coding using Bee Bots.

Working in pairs, they programmed their Bee-Bots to collect nectar and pollen from flowers and return them to the hive. Seeing them problem-solve, collaborate, and apply their coding skills to complete the task was terrific.

Here are some photos of our Foundation students working alongside their Year 5/6 buddies, coding their Bee Bots and engaging in STEM learning together!

ITALIAN NEWS - Rosa Fokianos

BUONGIORNO! 

 Salve a tutti! (Hello, everyone!). 

Firstly, to all the new parents at St Fidelis Primary School…Benvenuti, (welcome) to our school community. Let me introduce myself…mi chiamo signora Rosa. You may have already met me at school drop off or pick up. I have the pleasure of teaching your child/ren italiano for an hour weekly here at St. Fidelis Primary School. 

My goal as the Italian language teacher, is to create a foundation for the students to become confident, lifelong learners that demonstrate an enjoyment and appreciation of the Italian language and culture, eventually becoming well rounded global citizens of the future.

From Foundation to Year 6, your child/ren will be engaged in Italian language learning through songs, games, stories, scaffolded language activities, Italian conversations, as well as cultural awareness sessions, throughout the year.

I will be at the school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. I have included my timetable below so you will know when your child has Italian for the week.

This year for most of the grades, I will mainly teach Italian in my own learning space located upstairs in the main building, opposite the Visual Arts room. This space allows me to not only display Italian language all around the room but also display children’s work that they have completed during their Italian sessions. You may also notice that there are various places around the school that have been labelled in Italian. This year I will be teaching grade 5/6 ‘s Italian over in the SLA building.

Throughout the year, I will include items in the school’s newsletter, informing parents what each year level is/has been learning about in Italiano each term, as well as any extra news in relation to Italian happenings at the school or in and around the world. 

If there are any parents that would like to be a parent helper (and have already done the parent helper course), please feel free to contact me via email, you’d be more than welcome to come in whilst I’m teaching your child's class. My email address is: rfokianos@sfmoreland.catholic.edu.au

Until next time…buona settimana! (Have a good week).

Signora Rosa 🌹