Classroom News
PREP
It’s hard to believe we’re already in Week 4! Our Preps are arriving each day with big smiles and plenty of enthusiasm, ready to dive into their learning and embrace new challenges.
In Maths, we’ve been exploring measurement. Last week, we focused on length, comparing objects that are tall, short, or long. We had lots of fun lining up items at the same starting point to compare their height and length. We’ve been learning about mass, investigating objects that are heavy or light and making predictions based on our knowledge of objects and their materials. The children enjoyed practicing hefting—using their hands to feel the weight of two objects—and using balance scales to find out which was heavier or lighter. This week we have explored capacity using different size containers to predict which containers have more than, less than or the same capacity.
It was heartwarming to see so many families come together to enjoy and appreciate the incredible learning journeys and creative talents on display across the school. Thank you to everyone who joined us—it was a true celebration of our vibrant school community.
There will be many special events to look forward to this term.
Monday 3rd November Pupil Free Day
Tuesday 4th November Melbourne Cup Day Holiday
Thursday 6th November Bravehearts Prep-Gr 2 11:35am-12:30pm
Friday 7th November Messy Patch Excursion
Friday 21st November P-5 Activity Day
Tuesday 2nd December Learning Conversations (all classes)
Wednesday 3rd December Learning Conversations
Friday 5th December Prep Prayer Gathering
Liza Alexander lalexander@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Elissa Rodger erodger@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 1
Thank you to all our families who were able to attend our Art and Learning Expo last night. The children were so excited and proud to showcase the wonderful work they have completed this year. They will bring their work home over the next couple of days so please check their bags for their precious creations.
We are continuing to work hard during our Literacy and Maths times, and this week have been focusing on naming and ordering the days of the week and months of the year. Any support with this at home would be greatly appreciated. We hope you all enjoy the extra long weekend and get to spend some lovely time together with your little ones.
Leah Martin lmartin@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Rebecca Murray rmurray@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Judy Carr jcarr@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Paula Parish pparish@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 2
In Numeracy, our students have been learning all about directional language — including right, left, clockwise, and anticlockwise. We’ve been putting our knowledge to the test by giving directions to our peers when navigating maps and even creating our own simple maps of our classroom and bedrooms. Students have also been exploring different types of maps we use in our everyday lives, such as theme park maps, wildlife park maps, sporting arena maps, school maps, and Google Maps. We’ve had some fantastic discussions about how these maps help us travel and find our way in the world.
In Literacy, we have been learning how to apply the suffixes ‘y’ and ‘ly’ to base words. Students have been practising spelling rules such as the 1-1-1 rule and the catchy “1, 2, double I do” rule! It’s been wonderful to see students recognising patterns in words and applying these new skills in their writing.
Our Inquiry unit has continued to focus on Earth and its natural resources. This week, we have explored how First Nations Peoples have long cared for and made use of the Earth’s resources in sustainable ways. Students have learned about the use of certain plants as medicines, recycling strategies, pest management practices to keep the land healthy, and the use of artwork and symbols to represent Earth’s resources. The class has shown great curiosity and respect while exploring these important topics.
In Religion, we are continuing our unit on ‘Celebration’. Last week, we explored the Biblical story of Jesus healing a blind man. It was wonderful to hear students share their own interpretations of this story and discuss the different ways we might be ‘blind’ to others and to the world around us. These thoughtful reflections have led to some lovely class conversations about kindness, awareness, and empathy.
A friendly reminder that this weekend is an extra-long weekend. There will be a student-free day on Monday and the Melbourne Cup public holiday on Tuesday. We look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Wednesday. We hope you all enjoy a well-deserved break and have a safe and happy long weekend.
We are also really enjoying our ‘Joke of the Week’ sessions. Thank you for your continued support — it’s been wonderful to see students building confidence each week as they share their jokes with the class and bring smiles to everyone’s faces.
Emma Roberts eroberts@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Matt O'Dowd modowd@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Amanda Delorenzo mdelorenzo@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 3
I was blessed to receive the most beautiful, warm welcome back from our Grade 3’s on Monday morning. What a lovely bunch they are. It’s not so hard to say goodbye to holidays when you have students like these!
We are all so excited to share our creative works with our families on Wednesday afternoon. Most of the pieces you will see were creative responses to our class novels: The Velveteen Rabbit and Charlotte’s Web. Both novels were written in more formal, traditional language than the children generally read, but both were thoroughly enjoyable.
We are currently reading The Butterfly Lion, a timeless tale of the friendship between a boy and an orphaned lion cub, and using this novel to work on our summarising skills.
All children are to be congratulated on their recent completion of PAT testing. PAT testing is one of the primary data sources used to make judgments on where the children sit with regard to the Victorian Curriculum.
Our school swimming program began last week for the Grade 3’s. All children were beautifully behaved, and showed a willingness to improve their swimming skills. A lot of children found that they did not have sufficient food for the day, as they were using lots of extra energy at swimming. Please consider packing an extra sandwich or a few extra snacks for Thursdays this term.
Important dates:
Weds 29/10- Art and Learning showcase 4-9pm
Mon 3/11- Pupil free day
Tues 4/11- Public Holiday
14/11- 3DH Prayer Gathering and Mission Day fete
Jade LoRicco jloricco@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Deb Holland dholland@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 4
It’s been a busy and exciting term in Grade 4!
In Inquiry, students have been learning all about habitats, exploring how environments support the lives of people and other living things. They’ve been using this learning to show off their literacy skills and deepen their understanding of the world around them.
In Maths, we’ve just wrapped up our fractions unit and will be diving into operations next week. Yesterday’s excursion to Red Rock was a highlight, students explored the history and geography of this beautiful place we’re so lucky to call home.
We also want to thank everyone who came along to our Learning Expo last night. The students worked so hard to share their learning, and your support means so much.
Finally, a reminder that Grade 4 Maegen/Susie will be hosting Prayer Gathering tomorrow morning, we hope to see you there and enjoy you long weekend. See you back at school Wednesday!
Matt Absalom mabsalom@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Maegen Potter mpotter@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Susie Scott sscott@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 5
The term is flying by and we have certainly been very busy in Grade 5! The swimming program started off ‘swimmingly’ last week with all students participating and engaging well in the lessons. A reminder that if your child is not participating, can you please inform their teacher before swimming so we can ensure that we have all students accounted for in terms of supervision and work for them to complete while they are at school. Apart from those who have not been given consent on PAM or those whereby the teachers have had contact from a parent about not swimming, it is an expectation that all students participate in the program. It might also be a good idea to ensure students have some extra food on swimming day as it generally makes them super hungry!
In R.E., students are busily planning and preparing for our Mission Day stalls in week 6. As part of this process, the groups are making a slide show to share with other classes that informs them about the organisation ‘Catholic Mission’ and what they do, some of the projects that they fund and stories of people living their mission in the world today. Well done to Rachael C’s class for leading us in a beautiful Prayer Gathering last week reminding us of the Catholic Social Teaching of Solidarity which ties in perfectly with all the work we are doing around Catholic Mission and Mission Day.
In Literacy, we are enjoying our work around the novel, ‘The Last Bear’ by Hannah Gold. The themes in this novel are really important in terms of global environmental issues and we are linking this in with our writing as we draft persuasive letters outlining the health crisis of polar bears in the Arctic.
We are revising decimals in Maths including renaming, ordering and locating on a number line, decimals to thousandths. We are also really encouraging and incentivising students to continue working on and trying to achieve their counting and times tables goals by the end of the year which will be really beneficial for them going into Grade 6. A big well done to all those students who have been diligently ticking these off and demonstrating great growth mindset and work ethic in the process.
In our Inquiry sessions, students have been learning about resources and consumer choices. In terms of resources, we have been learning about how we as humans have unlimited wants but we have limited resources as well as exploring the influence of emotional branding in advertising and the effect it has on consumer choices.
Thank you to all who attended our Learning Expo yesterday; the children were so proud to present and share their learning and what they have been working on this semester. Enjoy an extra, extra long weekend and we will see everyone back for the 2nd half of term on Wednesday the 5th of November.
Rachel Downard rdownard@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Rachael Cahill rcahill@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 6
Our last newsletter was released while we were away enjoying the excitement of Year 6 Melbourne Camp. Students had a fantastic time exploring some of the city’s highlights, including the MCG, Kingpin and arcade games at Crown, the Eureka Skydeck, and the Queen Victoria Market. Their behaviour throughout the camp was excellent, and we received wonderful feedback from both our accommodation hosts and the venues we visited.
Back in the classroom, students have been reflecting on their camp experiences by writing newspaper articles about their adventures. In Mathematics, we have begun exploring our new unit on decimals, and students have also completed a range of assessments over the past fortnight.
Our swimming program is off to a great start, and several students represented our school at the Hot Shots Tennis event today.
This week, we also welcomed a visit from Trinity College, who spoke with students about their transition to secondary school — an exciting next step in their learning journey.
Finally, a big thank you to everyone who attended our Learning & Art Showcase on Wednesday afternoon. It was wonderful to see so many families celebrating the students’ achievements and viewing the impressive collection of work produced throughout the year.
Important Dates:
Monday 3rd November - Student Free Day
Tuesday 4th November - Melbourne Cup Day
Thursdays - Swimming
Friday 14th November - Mission Day
Friday 21st November - P-4 Activity Day
Tuesday 9th December - Move up Day
Wednesday 10th November - Graduation Mass 6pm
Friday 12th December - Adventure Park
Jess Downard jdownard@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Jodie Hassett jhassett@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Katie Monaghan kmonaghan@smcolac.catholic.edu.au