St James Learning and Teaching 

SPORT

Hello Everyone, 

This term we have lots of wonderful sporting events. On Thursday 1st August our senior girls Soccer Team will compete at the Beachside Soccer competition. The girls qualified for this competition in April when they won the Holt District Soccer Tournament. The girls have been training each Thursday morning under the guidance of coach Gianni. They also  had a friendly match against Firbank last week. We wish the team all the best. 

This week is also the opening of the Olympics. There are lots of fun classroom activities planned within our classrooms but we will also have a Green and Gold Day on Friday 2nd August and students will take part in a mini olympics tabloid sports session. We would love it if all students could dress in Green And Gold to support our Aussie Olympians. This is a national event so get all of your Green and Gold ready!

On Friday 9th August all of our senior students will take part in Hoop Time. Students during PE and sport sessions have been taking part in basketball skills and games to prepare them for this day as well as create the teams. Students are divided into 3 categories of teams-All Stars-students who play representative basketball or a high level domestic team. Future Stars who play domestic level basketball and Rookies who do not play basketball. An Operoo has been sent to families, we would love some volunteers if possible. The Year 3/4 students will have their Hoop Time on Tuesday 17th September. 

Did you know St James now has a ski team! A huge thank you to Tony and Steffen(St James Dads) for creating the first St James Ski Team. The team will be competing at the SSV Snowsports competition on  Monday the 19th and Tuesday 20th August. More on that in our next newsletter. 

Mrs Georgia McNamara

Deputy Principal - Sport Co-Ordinator/ Senior Physical Education Teacher

MATHS  &  STEM

THE AUSTRALIAN MATHEMATICS COMPETITION  6-8th August 2024

We are excited to again offer the opportunity for our Year 3-6 students to participate in the Australian Mathematics Competition (AMC). This is another way we offer mathematical challenges to our students. 

The AMC is Australia’s longest running and most well-respected mathematics competition. The competition will run from Tuesday 6th to Thursday 8th August and it is a 60 minute individual, online problem-solving competition that the Year 3-6 students at St James are invited to participate in. This is an optional competition and the students have been invited to participate via Operoo.

At St James we also offer the Bebras Maths Competition twice a year. The students have already participated in this once this year and will complete it again later in the year. The Bebras Competition allows students to participate in groups to solve fun and engaging computational thinking challenges.

If you have any questions please contact Bridie Slater (bslater@stjamesbrighton.catholic.edu.au) or your child’s classroom teacher.

SCIENCE WEEK

From the 12th-16th of Augustwe will be celebrating Science Week. Throughout the week we will have lots of special events and activities where all students will have the opportunity to engage in Science and build their creativity, problem solving skills and teamwork. As well as tasks within the classroom we will also have lunchtime activities and incursions. To celebrate the end of Science Week, all students are invited to wear something that relates to Science. This could be a lab coat and glasses, an astronaut or something space related, a fictional Science character, a doctor with a stethoscope, their favourite animal or anything else that your child may think of that relates to Science. This does not have to be a full costume but just a ‘touch of Science’ so please do not spend a lot of time or money on a costume. 

Science Week Activities for the students

Monday - Guess the animal noise competition

Tuesday - Nudel Kart Incursion and Sphero race

Wednesday - STEM Club

Thursday - Reptile Encounters Incursion

Friday - Wear a touch of Science and Animal Design Expo

FAMILY MATHS AFTERNOON 

On Friday the 30th of August, we invite all families to our St James Family Maths Afternoon to be held from 2:20-3:30pm. This is an opportunity for families to learn new, simple Maths games that can be easily played at home with all children to support their learning in Maths and to challenge their thinking. All information about this event will be shared closer to the date.

To support you with playing Maths games at home, we have Dr Paul Swan’s Essential Maths Packs available for purchase for $13. We highly recommend purchasing this pack as it contains everything you need to engage in Maths activities at home including:

1x School Friendly Cards Pack

1x Spinner

2x 6-sided dice

3x 10-sided dice

10x two-colour counters 

20x transparent counters 

It also gives you access to online activity downloads with ideas on different games you can play at home. All items are contained in a small bag making it easy to use either at home or to take when you are away. These are items the students are all familiar with as they are used regularly in our teaching of Maths in the classroom.

An Operoo has been shared today for you to order a Maths Pack for your family. The packs will be available to collect at the Family Maths Afternoon and payment can be made by card on the day. You are welcome to purchase a Maths Pack even if you are unable to attend the Family Maths Afternoon.

We look forward to seeing as many families as possible for this engaging afternoon!

Miss Bridie Slater

Maths & STEM Leader

LIBRARY

This Year Book Week will be in Week 6, 19th-23rd of August. We have lots of exciting activities planned. We are very excited to announce that this year’s Author is none other than the highly esteemed - Morris Gleitzman.  Morris will be visiting Years 3-6 on Tuesday the 20th of August. He will be talking about his award-winning books and writing principles. Children are invited to bring along copies of his books for him to sign.  If you would like to purchase one of his books prior to the event, please see the link below on how and when to order.

Friday 23rd August is our  Annual Book Week parade. This year the theme is Reading is Magic. So come dressed as your favourite magical character. Younger children, siblings and our Kinder friends are encouraged to join in the fun!

The Younger Sun is excited to give the school community the opportunity to purchase books by this great writer.

How do I do this? Simply follow the links to our website as provided below, place your orders 2 weeks before the  event for which we have also noted the relevant dates as a reminder.

All of the books will be delivered to your school!

What Information do you need to provide? In the Notes section please provide the name of your School, the child’s name and the class number.

But what Method of delivery do I choose? Please choose Click and Collect. Do not worry, you will not be expected to Click and Collect. We will make sure your ordered books are delivered to the school as long as you  fill in the Notes section with the information requested above. 

My Book is not in stock? Relax we will get it.

For Morris Gleitzman 

(event on 20th August with orders due by 10th August )

See Morris Gleitzman books here: https://sunbookshop.com/search/~/search_morris%20gleitzman

See our website here: https://sunbookshop.com/

All St James children are now registered and have received a login and password from the class teacher. Children in the  junior school are encouraged to listen to their parents read books from the reading list and have conversations about the text. As the competition progresses parents are encouraged to help their children read together. 

The Victorian Government has carefully curated a long list of rich texts for young readers. Please see the booklist attached for books. 

Progress of the challenge will be celebrated in fortnightly assemblies and newsletters. 

The challenge runs all the way to September and is very attainable for all children. 

Children need to read:

Prep to Year 2

• Number of books: 30
• Number of books from the Challenge book list: 20 or more

Year 3 to Year 6

• Number of books: 15
• Number of books from the Challenge book list: 10 or more

Most of the books you read should be from the Challenge book lists. The rest can be any book you choose.

You can read books on the book list for your year level or a level above and they'll count towards your Challenge total. You should check with your teachers or parents if you're not in years 9 or 10 and want to read a book from that list. This list includes titles for mature readers.

You can read a book from a level below your year level if your teacher agrees. You still need to read the number of books for your year level to meet the Challenge.

Your teacher will give you a Challenge username and passcode. You should find this in your child’s diary or magic words book where other passwords are located. 

If you lose or forget your Challenge passcode,please  ask or email  Mrs joplin  at ajoplin@stjamesbrighton.catholic.edu.au to generate a new one for you.

1. Go to the Challenge application.
2. Select the School/Student button.
3. Select the VPRC login option.
4. Enter your username and password.
5. Select Login.

The dashboard is your main workspace as you progress through the Challenge.

At the top of the dashboard are gemstone badges. These are grey when you start your Challenge. They change to green as you progress through the Challenge.

Below the badges is a green bar. This shows you how many days are left until the end of the Challenge.

There are also two progress wheels that show:

• what your Challenge target is
• how many Challenge or Choice books you have finished or had verified.

Your reading list shows the books you have added and finished reading.

As you add more books to your reading list, the application will learn the kinds of books you like to read. It will recommend other books by:

• genre
• author
• series
• subject

Books other students at your school and across Victoria are reading appear on the Trending books list.

The side menu lets you:

• see your Profile Details and add an avatar
• see all the book reviews you have written
• search for books you would like to add to your reading list.

A big Congratulations to Olivia, Audrey, Lucia, Poppy and Gwen who have been very busy over the holidays reading. A special shout out to Elly, Tia, Megan and Peyton who are hot on the tails of our leaders. Many students have been hard at work, reading an extraordinary number of books! Well Done to everyone! Don't forget to keep adding your books to the challenge. You still have 46 days left!

Let’s get reading!!

Mrs Mandi Joplin

Teacher Librarian