Specialists News
St. Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Somerville Road, Yarraville
Italian Semester 2
Benvenuti! Welcome back to another exciting semester of Italian!
This term, students across the school will continue to develop their Italian language skills through engaging and interactive learning experiences.
Our Semester 2 units include:
- Prep: La Mia Famiglia (My Family): Students will learn the names of family members, describe their families, and build their confidence using simple Italian words and phrases through songs, stories, games, and craft activities.
- Years 1 & 2: Gli Animali della Fattoria (Farm Animals): Students will explore the names of farm animals, practise descriptive language, and use simple sentence structures while developing their speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills.
- Years 3 & 4: I Passatempi e Lo Sport (Hobbies and Sport): Students will learn vocabulary related to hobbies and sports, express their likes and dislikes, and participate in conversations using increasingly complex Italian language structures.
- Years 5 & 6: Progetto di Ricerca – ITALIA (Italy Research Project): Students will investigate different regions and aspects of Italian culture, geography, history, famous landmarks, food, traditions, and festivals. They will present their findings using a variety of digital and creative formats while continuing to strengthen their Italian language skills.
Semester 2 is also an exciting and busy time as students begin preparing the Italian performance for our upcoming School Concert.
Arrivederci!
We look forward to another wonderful semester of learning Italian together.
Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program Term 3 commences!
Grandparents Day
Year 1/2 began the term by preparing a special sweet treat for our wonderful grandparents and special loved ones to enjoy on Grandparents Day.
Our raspberry and coconut tea cake was the perfect choice! Across both Year 1/2 classes, the children proudly baked eight delicious loaves. Of course, quality control was essential, so we couldn't resist enjoying a couple of loaves ourselves, just to make sure they were delicious! We are happy to report they certainly passed the test!
The children were so excited to be back in the Kitchen Garden, measuring ingredients, mixing, baking and working together as a team.
In addition to our busy baking schedule, we also won two lovely big boxes of Jazz apples from Montague Farm and Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program. Whilst our cakes were baking, we sliced and spiralled many, many delicious sweet juicy apples. Some students devoured 4! It is always a joy to see children enjoying fresh wholesome foods.
We also managed time in week 1 to visit our garden, and review what needs to be worked on this term. We were so blessed with the amazing weather - such beautiful winter sunshine for our first garden experience this term.
Week 2's recipe was 'Snakes Alive'. Using fresh fruit and chocolate brownie, everyone created their own snake by threading the pieces onto skewers and adding a strawberry head, apple tongue and passionfruit eyes. The snakes were a huge hit!
National Tree Planting Day
On Friday of Week 2, our Year 1/2 students participated in National Tree Planting Day by planting ten Australian native plants in our developing Kitchen Garden.
We were fortunate to enjoy beautiful winter weather, allowing the children to work together outdoors as they coordinated the tools and resources needed to prepare the garden beds and carefully plant each native species. The students showed wonderful teamwork and enthusiasm as they helped improve an area that will continue to grow for years to come.
Unfortunately, we lost a number of plants earlier this year due to irrigation issues. We are hopeful these new native plants will thrive and help bring our vision to life—a vibrant, green space where children can explore, play and enjoy spending time outdoors during recess and lunchtime in the senior yard.
Providing children with access to natural green spaces offers many benefits for their physical, emotional and mental wellbeing. Time spent outdoors encourages active play, supports positive mental health, fosters curiosity and creativity, and helps children develop an appreciation for caring for our environment.
For families interested in learning more about the importance of children's access to nature, the Australian Institute of Family Studies published an insightful article in 2024 exploring why children are spending more time indoors and the benefits of increasing opportunities to connect with the natural environment. If you would like to read this article please find it at https://aifs.gov.au/resources/policy-and-practice-papers/why-are-children-spending-more-time-indoors
We have many more exciting cooking and gardening activities planned throughout the term, so watch this space to see what Year 1/2 gets up to next!
When in season!
Week 3 in the kitchen saw Year 1/2 utilising a winter fruit favourite, pears. The children prepared delivious pear and cinnamon muffins and even shared these with the kindergarden children and their families who came in for playgroup.
Sport:
House Sports:
The Year 6 Sport Captains recently ran a fun game of Limbo for all students! Everyone had a fantastic time, whilst engaging Limbo music was played in the background.
It's been great having the Sport Captains continue to put on fun activities and everyone's enthusiastic participation whilst in their house colours!
Interschool Sports:
We have the District Athletics Day coming up on Tuesday August 11. Congratulations to all students who made it through to this level and best of luck!
Students in Years 5 and 6 have the Summer Gala Day later this term - Thursday September 3.