Photo Gallery & Classroom Learning

o Kindergarten

Religion

We are learning to respond to Bible stories through prayer and meditation.

English

We are learning to:

• Read and write tricky words
• Write our new letters: m and s
• Make predictions in our reading

Maths

We are learning to:

• Count objects one at a time
• Count in order
• Recognise groups of objects with the same number
• Say, read and write numbers up to 20

Science

We are learning to:

• Identify what living things need
• Design a solution that helps a living thing

CAPA 

In visual art, we have been creating our artwork for The Armidale Show. We’re very excited for you all to see the final piece this week!

We are learning to:

• Use painting tools including paint, brushes, and water cups.
• Take time with our art work

NRMA Bus Safety Excursion

Year 1 

CAPA - Self-portraits. Ask your child to show you theirs.

MATHS - Whole Number - ordering 2- & 3-digit numbers, identifying odd and even numbers, learning new Maths games

SPORT - Year 1 participated in their first golf session this week. They enjoyed having the Armidale Golf Club Pro here to run the lesson. All students participated eagerly and look forward to their second session in Week 8.

Year 2

Religion

Response to the Images of God in the Bible.

Response to the story of 'Zacchaeus'.

 Students lead prayer, which is a part of our daily routine.

English

Learning in their rotation groups. 

Maths

Learning through Math games.

Science

Students worked in pairs to create their 'Reduce, Reuse and Recycle' posters.

Creative Arts

Students begin their piece for the St Mary's Art Show. Watch this space.

Sports

Awards

I am Safe, I am a Learner, and I am Valued, Respected and Cared for

Year 3 

Sport

Year 3 had a fantastic time during their recent golf lesson at the paddock. The kids were full of energy and enthusiasm as they practiced their swings and learned new skills. During the session, they focused on holding the club correctly and building a strong foundation with proper grip technique. It was wonderful to see their confidence growing as they developed their skills and, most importantly, had lots of fun learning the game of golf!

We’re so proud of their hard work and can’t wait to see their continued progress in the next lesson in Week 9. 🏌️‍♂️⛳

Art

If you are heading to the Armidale Show this weekend keep an eye out for your childs portrait with their past and future sunnies on.

Year 4 

Time’s flown — we’re halfway through the term already. We have been very busy in Year 4.

We sincerely thank all parents and carers who joined us for the Parent Information Night on Monday 23rd February. We greatly appreciated your attendance.

Year 4 Quesacon Visit

Year 5

Thank you to all parents and carers that attended the Parent Information night on Wednesday 25th February, it was wonderful to see you there!

Commendation Recipients

Each week, class teachers select students who have consistently demonstrated the Living Well, Learning Well framework of St. Mary's. Students are selected for being a Learner, being Safe, or showing Respect and kindness toward others. 

English 

Have you noticed your Year 5 student becoming suspiciously good at negotiating for an extra ten minutes of screen time or a second helping of dessert? Don’t worry, it’s not a coincidence—it’s the curriculum!

Over the last few weeks, we’ve shifted gears from Narrative writing to focus on the art of Persuasion. Our classrooms have basically turned into training grounds for future lawyers and expert negotiators. If they’re winning more arguments at home, at least you know they’re paying attention in class!

Mathematics

Below are some photos from our unit on 3-Dimensional objects. 

More recently, Year 5 students are developing critical "number sense" by learning to round numbers and use estimation. These skills allow them to predict answers and verify that their solutions to addition and subtraction problems are reasonable. The core of this unit is place value. Understanding the position of a digit—whether it represents tens, hundreds, or thousands—is essential for spotting errors. If a student understands place value, they can instantly recognise that adding 400 and 300 should not result in 7,000. 

How to Help at Home:

You can support your child’s learning with these quick activities:

• Grocery Estimates: Ask your child to round the price of a few items to the nearest dollar and estimate the total cost.
• Reality Checks: When they finish a calculation, ask "Does that answer make sense?" and have them explain why based on the original numbers.
• Number Talk: Discuss large numbers found in the news or sports, asking how many "hundreds" or "thousands" make up that figure.

Religion

This week in Religion, Year 5 have been exploring how we navigate the trickier moments in life, such as facing difficulty or rejection. Through classroom discussion, students identified the special people in their lives who often them get through tough times.

We link these discussions back to our Catholic Principles and Values—specifically, the Love of God and Love of Neighbour. For Christians, this is beautifully summed up by the words of Jesus: "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind... and you must love your neighbour as yourself." (Matt 22:37-38). 

At St. Mary's Primary School, our teachers practice the art of storytelling to bring the Bible to life. In Religious Education, stories do more than just share information; they connect with hearts and minds, turning abstract concepts into memorable life lessons. Most recently, Year 5 listened to a retelling of Jesus in the Desert, helping them see how these ancient stories still speak to us today.

CAPA - Creative Arts

We are proud to announce that Year 5 has completed a collaborative 1m x 1m canvas for entry into the Armidale Show. The project required each student to contribute an individual piece reflecting the contrast between "Old" and "New" and has resulted in a vibrant collaborative artwork.

The piece will be showcased alongside works from various local schools as well other grades from St Mary's. We invite all families to visit the exhibition and get a glimpse of it!

Mini Vinnies

Earlier this term, several of our Year 5 students stepped forward to join the St Mary’s Mini Vinnies team. By embracing the mission to "See, Think, and Do," these student leaders will help guide our school in vital community service and fundraising efforts. At morning assembly earlier this week, the group was officially recognised with a special badge presentation. We congratulate them on taking this meaningful step in their faith journey and look forward to the impact they will make.

Golf Clinics

Students are enjoying themselves with the Golf Clinics that have started this week at St Mary's. This program will run over a duration of four weeks. 

Watch this space for more action shots!

Questacon Visit

This week, St Mary’s welcomed the Questacon Science Circus -  a renowned traveling outreach program from the National Science and Technology Centre. By bringing interactive science and technology exhibits directly to regional and remote schools, Questacon provides our students with invaluable exposure to STEM concepts through practical, engaging exploration. 

Year 6

MATHS

Tips for parents:

Parents should be aware of the following misconceptions and discuss them in the real life context when they are identified: 

• Child misapplies knowledge of whole numbers when reading decimals and ignores the decimal point. For example, student reads the number 45.7 as, “four fifty-seven” or “four hundred fifty-seven.” 
• Child misapplies procedure for rounding whole numbers when rounding decimals and rounds to the nearest ten instead of the nearest tenth, etc. For example,  Round 3045.26 to the nearest tenth. Student responds, “3050” or “3050.26”
• Child misapplies rules for comparing whole numbers in decimal situations. For example, 0.058 > 0.21 because 58 > 21 OR 2.04 > 2.5 because it has more digits
• Child adds or subtracts without considering place value, or starting at the right as with whole numbers. For example, 4.15 + 0.1 = 34.16 or 12 – 0.1 = 11
• Child misunderstands the use of zero as a placeholder. For example, 1.5 is the same as 1.05
• Child thinks that decimals with more digits are smaller because tenths are bigger than hundredths and thousandths. For example, .845 is smaller than .5

ARMIDALE SHOW ARTWORK

This year’s Armidale Show art theme is Looking Forward, Looking Back.

We have depicted this by making separate sections of handmade illustrations of things from the Past, the Present and the Future. In the images of the Past, everything is old fashioned and black and white, like an old telephone, a church. In the pictures of the Present, we have taken pictures of things around Armidale and glued them to the Present section. In Future, we have drawn pictures of things that are futuristic, like a robot, a magic sword. 

By Elise.

QUESTACON SCIENCE FAIR

Wednesday the 4th of March Year Six went to the hall we learnt about forces with Perry and Frances from Questacon!

The Paper Airplanes-

One of the things we learnt about was how you make changes to your experiences. For example we made paper planes, Frances cut 1 line at the end to be able to fold the paper in different ways at the back. First folded both up, and it flew about a metre before plummeting to the ground! Then we folded one up and one down, it worked great! The paper airplane went flying!

The building blocks-

We learnt about compression and tension. 

 Perry got blocks and was testing how he could pick up five while only holding two of the blocks in his hands. He first picked them straight up but he was using tension so only two came up. He quickly realised that that obviously wouldn't work. Since that didn't work Perry tried using compression which made him able to pick up all the five blocks using two hands. 

After the building blocks in that same building blocks session we used a rope and a milk bottle full of water to try and make the bottle stay in the air while on the rope. They had two volunteers go up and hold the rope. They had Juliet from year six and Sienna from year 5. They went up and held the rope but the rope wasn't held tight. So Juliet and Sienna had to move apart to make the rope stronger but when that happened the rope fell so they made it stronger. That's all from the building blocks session. 

Brain Break-

Questacon had set up a brain break. Frances told us the scientific names for your head, knees, shoulders and toes. So we could play head, shoulders, knees, and toes. We started off slow then we got faster! Then to challenge us they did all the wrong actions! We were all left confused not knowing what to do next. That was the end of our brain break.

The balloons-

Last we did an experiment with balloons. What they did was get a lot of balloons and put a table on top of them and got five children to stand on the table. There were four from Year Six and one from Year Five. From Year Six there was Leo, Nasharee, Lincoln and Korbin and from Year Five was Harriet. After all of them standing on the table, none of the balloons popped.  That's all we did in the Balloons.

Thank you Questacon for coming, we all enjoyed your visit. We all hope that you come and visit us again.

By Hailey and Soren!

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING DAY

Launch it!

Launch it is an activity where the students would have to  work with their fellow peers from their individual school as they would be in a bigger group with students from 

other  schools.

The activity would consist of building a plane  out of the materials listed below

The materials needed to build the plane are soft wood,wood cutter or scissors, bluetack, office paperclips and 1 meter of tape.

The body of the plane would be made out of the soft wood as the wings would be made out of the same material, the instructors would give the students little knives that have plastic tips to cut through the wood, 1 meter of tape, the actual base of the plane, the office paperclips and then the students would have to start building their planes out of their limited resources.

Each of the teams would have to test and tweak their planes then make it more usable. That is because each plane from every team has to go through 3 different tests. Distance and 2 different accuracy tests, one to see which plane got the closest to the landing pad. The other one is to see if the volunteer student from each group has the most accuracy when launching the plane from this machine that has spinning wheels (that the students can adjust to either go faster or slower) that spin at the speed set by the volunteer student and the individual can also adjust the angle the plane is going to launch to.

In the first test the planes would be tested by distance, each plane would have three attempts to get the furthest distance. Only the furthest distance will be counted.

In the second test, if it is in the distance of 1 meter that will give the students group points.

In the third test the plane would get aimed at a giant dart board that have the points on every section of the board so whichever section the plane hits the number on the section would be the amount of points the group gets.

I would be able to write about the colour coding activity but I have ran out of time to write maybe I can do it another time.

Made by Nasharee

Science And Engineering Day

The science and engineering day was a great day. We arrived at the University excited for what would await us. We received our wristbands to show what group we were in and waited until they opened the doors into the hall. Lots of tables with materials and instructions were all around the theater and even behind the stage. We sat on the floor and they told us about what they were doing and what we were about to do. 

I was in a group of three with Augusto, Hemi and I and our wristband colour was a greyish silver. Our first challenge was to make a bridge that could withstand a little train with weights placed on the top of it. It could even go up to the weight of 10 kilograms! We had very little materials like 6 straws, 4 popsicle sticks, a small piece of cardboard and 4 metres of tape. We also had some scissors, a saw and some pen and paper to do some planning. We began to design trying to use as many triangles as you can because they are the strongest shape. Eventually we were finished with the building part and now it was time for the testing…

We were the fourth group to do our testing. The other 3 groups before us had done decently. When it was our turn we nervously put the bridge in the slot. We crossed our fingers and hoped for the best. The train made it safely over with no weights. They added the first weight  and when it went over disaster struck! It had fallen off. We were disappointed with ourselves.

Lunchtime went by in a flash. I played handball and ate my snacks. We packed up and entered the building. They were going to show us a little lesson on motion. In the lesson they taught us about Newton's laws and gave us examples using balls, balloons and ping pong ball launchers. Then they told us our second activity.

Our second activity was to make a fan that works when getting blown by another fan.  If you’d like to know more about this one you’ll have to catch me after school because I have to take the school flags down (It’s already 3 o’clock).

By Luke