PREP

We can’t quite believe we are over half way through our very first term of Prep.

Today we were lucky enough to have our Prep families come to the school for a very special ‘Prep picnic’. Thank you to all of those who came along, we know our friends loved having you here during the school day.

Last Thursday, we celebrated one of the most special times of our Prep year. This was our beautiful ‘Buddy Blessing’. We were so proud of the way our Preps stood up in front of the congregation at Church to receive their special blessing and how respectful they were for the entirety of the Mass. Again, thank you to all of our families for coming along to celebrate this with us.

We are currently learning stage one of our program ‘Little Learners Love Literacy’. We are so impressed at how well the Preps are picking up new sounds, words and improving with their handwriting all the time.

Please note - next week we have NO school on Monday (public holiday) and Tuesday (PD for staff). We look forward to welcoming you back next Wednesday for our very first Wednesday back at school. This means no more ‘Prep rest days’ on Wednesdays. This is such a big jump, so if your child requires a rest day here and there please don’t hesitate, and just let us know.

Next Friday the 14th is our School Sports Day. Preps are to represent their house by wearing that colour. This can be as simple as a plain coloured tshirt, ribbon, face paint, socks etc. Preps must wear runners as this is an active day. Preps will arrive with their class for the 11am welcome. More information will be posted on our DOJO.

Here is what our Preps had to say this week about what they like about school:

Sam - ‘Doing sport and numbers.’

Hazel - ‘Doing numbers and music class.’

Hannah - ‘Doing colourings and going to the playground.’

Jed - ‘Doing drawing and going to the playground.’

Gemma Blake gblake@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Elissa Rodger erodger@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 1

The children have been very busy and excited this week preparing for our Year 1 Prayer Gathering next Friday, 14th March. We look forward to seeing our lovely families who are able to come and celebrate with us. This week also marks the beginning of Lent. Students enjoyed some pancakes on Shrove Tuesday and attended a junior school liturgy on Ash Wednesday. We have begun learning about the season of Lent and discussing what we might ‘give up’ and ‘take up’ during the forty days before Easter.

Our new unit ‘What makes me amazing’ has also started this week. We read books and brainstormed our positive attributes. The children made a beautiful piece of art during this session.

A reminder to send through your child’s four photos (newborn, toddler, kinder, school) before our next session on 17th March. Thank you to those families who have already sent these through our class dojo app.

Take care and we hope you all have a lovely long weekend.

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

Welcome to our Week 6 Newsletter!

Wow — can you believe how fast the term is flying by? We are absolutely thrilled with the way our Year 2s are settling into classroom structures and routines. Let’s dive into all the exciting things happening!

What a night the BBQ was! It was fantastic to see so many Year 2 families at our school BBQ on Thursday. We loved meeting you all, sharing a meal, and watching the kids enjoy time with their classmates. It was great to follow that up with the start of year Liturgy on Friday morning.

Reminder, Monday is Labour Day, this is a public holiday so school will be closed. Enjoy the long weekend!

Tuesday, March 11th, is a student free day while staff dive into some literacy learning. That means an extra-long weekend for the kids — we hope it’s filled with fun and relaxation!

We’re still waiting on photos from a few families to complete our Inquiry projects. We need 4 pictures (newborn, toddler, age 4–5, and current) — these can be sent through ClassDojo or emailed directly to your class teacher.

Our class is deep into our Little Learners Love Literacy sessions! Right now, we’re exploring different spellings for the /i/ sound in both reading and writing. Next week, we’ll switch gears to the sounds /oe/ and /ow/ — we are so pleased with the progress made by all so far.

We’re cracking into place value like pros! The students are practising reading, writing, and ordering 2- and 3-digit numbers. Maybe they can challenge you to a number game at home?

It’s been a big week leading up to Easter! On Monday, we reflected on Lent and brainstormed things we could "fast" from (like complaining) and "feast" on (like kindness). On Tuesday, we investigated Shrove Tuesday.

On Wednesday, we joined the Year 1/2 cohort for a meaningful Ash Wednesday session.

Mark your calendars — Friday, March 14th is Sports Day! Students will need to wear their house colours, bring their hats, lunch boxes, drink bottles, and school bags. We’ll walk up to the Lake Oval together at mid-morning and enjoy a day full of fun and friendly competition!

We are LOVING all the student achievements coming in for our class "fridge" wall! Keep them coming — we can’t wait to fill every inch with your kids' amazing moments.

Thanks for your ongoing support — we are so proud of all the hard work and joy your children bring to the classroom every day!

Let us know if you have any questions or if there’s anything you’d like included in next week’s newsletter.

Have a fantastic weekend!The Year 2 Team

Emma Roberts eroberts@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Matt O'Dowd modowd@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Amanda Delorenzo mdelorenzo@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 3

This week we have been lucky to have Kascha in Grade 3 while Jade is away on family leave. In fact, we are extra lucky because it is Kascha’s last week of school before she leaves to have her baby! We really look forward to hearing the happy news of your baby’s arrival Kascha, and send our thoughts and prayers with you at this very special time.

In our Inquiry lessons we have begun to discuss the convict research projects we will be completing as part of our First Contacts unit. The convict projects are always a popular learning task for 3/4’s, which also seem to generate a lot of interesting conversation at home.

As the Lenten period approaches, we are having lots of conversations about what it means to ‘give things up’ and ‘take things on’ during Lent. In the past, the emphasis has been to sacrifice or ‘fast’ special things during the forty day period, but we can also choose to take up something good like encouraging others for those forty days. As a year level we have reflected on our ‘give ups’ and ‘take ups’ and how they help us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

We have been very excited to see the number of children having their counting goals checked off each week. Remember that home practice doesn’t need to be hard or long to help the children master these goals. It could be as easy as five minutes in the car!

Our thoughts on last week’s Beginning of Year Mass:

Indie P: “Father Andrew made people stand on the chairs and that’s not good.”

Levi H: “It was funny when Father Andrew played the banjo.”

Kariss W: “It was very cute when the Preps and Grade 6’s did the buddy blessing.”

Hugh L: “Everyone was confused when Father Andrew got out his banjo.”

Reminders:

Camp Kangaroobie information has now been sent home with your child.

Please keep these sheets handy, as they contain all that you need to know about our camp. PAM permission forms are now up too, so please complete these ASAP.

If your child’s medical details have changed at all, please let the office know or update your child’s medical form on PAM.

If you have any queries about camp, your child’s teacher is your best contact.

Some children still do not have headphones to use with their Chromebook. These are a required classroom material, and the children will need them for NAPLAN next week.

Jade LoRicco jloricco@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Deb Holland dholland@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 4

We have had a busy few weeks here in Grade 4!

We have been continuing our topics of Persuasive writing in Literacy and Place Value in Numeracy.

In Inquiry, we are beginning to look at the arrival of the First Fleet and the convicts that were aboard. Soon we will begin our research task where the students will create a poster about a chosen convict that arrived in Australia on the First Fleet. This is a really fun task for the children, so if you happen to have any family history connected to the convicts, have a chat with your child about this!

Our Grade 4 camp is coming around quickly! We have sent home forms for this so please make sure that these are returned ASAP. There is further information on PAM in regards to camp so please make sure to jump on and read this as well as give permission too! There will be more information coming soon in regards to dietary requirements, you will need to let us know if your child has any food allergies or intolerances that we can cater for.

Here are some things that our Grade 4s have had to say about school the last few weeks.

Harrison Casey: “I have enjoyed spending time with my friends and getting to play sport!“

Ollie Crabbe: “It’s been really fun being able to see my friends and also loved learning all about Place Value and Kensuke’s Kingdom! “

Important dates

March 10th - Labour Day Public Holiday

March 11th - Student free day

March 14th - School Sports

March 27th & 28th - Year 4 Camp to Warrnambool

April 1st - School Photos

April 4th - End of Term 1

Matt Absalom mabsalom@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Meg Knight mknight@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 5

It’s crazy to think that we are over the halfway point of the term this week. The Grade 5s have been working incredibly hard and I’m sure we’re all looking forward to a long weekend this weekend (and an extra long weekend for the students) to break up the term.

Next week is a much shorter week with our Student Free Day on Tuesday, Tabloid Sports on Friday and of course NAPLAN testing starting. We know that NAPLAN can be the source of a bit of stress and anxiety so please reiterate the message that we will be giving the students; whilst the testing is serious and important, doing your best on the day is all you can do and we will be proud of them no matter what happens. Please let us know if any issues arise so we can support students from school.

In Literacy, our Grade 5s have finished their narratives and we were so impressed with how well they wrote these over the course of our unit. We have started looking at some persuasive writing this week and we are using ‘War Horse’ as our stimulus deciding whether horses should have been used in the war or not.

In Maths, we have been practising our addition and subtraction skills through using the formal algorithm, estimating answers by rounding numbers, problem solving using money etc. Any practise of the formal algorithm, particularly using money examples and subtraction where you need to regroup/trade/borrow, at home would be handy.

We have started our unit on ‘Hope’ in R.E. which ties in beautifully with the celebration of the Jubilee Year and the theme, ‘Pilgrims of Hope’. We made hope (How can we spread hope to others?) goals for the year and have started talking about Lent as a time to prepare for Easter and what we are called to do as Christians during this time; Pray, Fast and Almsgive. We have our combined Grade 5 Prayer Gathering on Friday the 28/3/25.

In Inquiry we are starting our Civics and Citizenship unit; Roles, Responsibilities and Participation. This unit involves learning about Australia as a Democracy and the electoral process, which considering we will soon have a Federal election announced, is a timely topic.

We have been really impressed with those students who have been diligently bringing in their diaries and completing their homework counting or times table goals. It’s clear to see the students who are experiencing success with these goals are the ones who are taking the responsibility to practise these at home and move their name in the classroom for a check in. Some students may need some parent support to assist with this and with bringing their diary in each day. This may help encourage/motivate them to remember their diaries and to work towards these maths goals. We would like ALL students to bring their homework folders in on Mondays please (even if they are not ready for a check in) so that we can see how they are going with their goal, add in any further practise they can do etc. We would also like to see diaries signed by an adult at least once a week to ensure everything in the diary is ‘above board’.

With lots to look forward to over the last few weeks of term, including Kinder visits, it will be sure to fly by before we know it! Have a fantastic, fun and relaxing long, long weekend everyone!

Rachel Downard rdownard@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Rachael Cahill rcahill@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 6

The past two weeks have been full of exciting events and learning opportunities! The students did a wonderful job with their Prep buddies during the Buddy Blessing opening mass last week, showing kindness and support. Yesterday, we also attended the Ash Wednesday Liturgy along with students from Sacred Heart, reflecting on the season of Lent.

In Maths, we've been focusing on addition and subtraction, and students have been making great progress in these areas. In literacy, we're continuing our exploration of Rivet Boy, and the students have been doing a fantastic job with their persuasive writing so far.

Today, some of our Grade 6 students competed in the Divisional Athletics against other schools in the district. They gave it their all, and we are so proud of their efforts!

Tomorrow, we are looking forward to our very first Grade 6 prayer gathering. The students have been practising throughout the week and can’t wait to share it with you. During this special event, our SRC Representatives will also be presented with their leadership badges. Congratulations to our very worthy recipients, we are looking forward to seeing them lead by example in 2025.