Learning & Teaching 

LITERACY NEWS - Bernadette Parnis

Library 

It has been wonderful to see the excitement and enthusiasm from students as they visit the library each week to enjoy the collection of books at St Fidelis. I'm sure they have truly appreciated this fantastic privilege. As we approach Week 10, please note that borrowing books from the school library will now cease. Please remind your child/children to return all borrowed books. We encourage you to check around the house to ensure that any library books are returned, so they are ready for everyone to enjoy in the new year.

Take-Home Readers

Borrowing of Take-Home Readers will also conclude. It has been fantastic seeing students engage with these books, reading at their level from home. Just like the library books, please remind your child/children to return any Take-Home Readers they have. This will help us sort and prepare our resources for the 2026 school year. Thank you for your support!

Share the joy of reading this Christmas 🎄

Reading together, especially reading aloud, supports children’s language development, builds confidence, and helps them understand new ideas. It also creates great moments where adults and children can connect and enjoy a shared experience. Christmas provides a great opportunity to spend time together, and enjoy a good story. 

Looking for some Christmas reading? 

Prep – Year 2

• Wombat Divine by Mem Fox
• Christmas Wombat by Jackie French & Bruce Whatley
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr Seuss
• The Christmas Pine by Julia Donaldson
• Room for a Little One by Martin Waddell
• Spot’s First Christmas by Eric Hill
• Peter Rabbit: Happy Christmas Peter by Beatrix Potter

Years 3 – 4

• The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
• An Aussie Night Before Christmas by Yvonne Morrison
• Little Puggle’s Christmas by Vikki Conley
• Santa’s Secret by Mike Dumbleton & Tom Jellett
• The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher

Years 5 – 6

• A Boy Called Christmas by Matt Haig
• The Girl Who Saved Christmas by Matt Haig
• The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski

Creative corner: write a letter to Santa 🎅

Here’s a festive optional writing challenge for children. 

Have some fun practising your letter writing skills by sending a letter to Santa. You can be creative, polite, and descriptive, tell Santa about your year, share your wishes, or ask him questions about life at the North Pole.

Tips for a great letter:

• Start with a greeting: “Dear Santa,”
• Introduce yourself and explain why you’re writing
• Add details or stories in the main part of your letter
• Finish with a polite closing: “Yours sincerely,” or “With love,”

What makes a well written letter?

1. Address and date

Children learn to set out their writing correctly by adding the address and date at the top of the page. This helps Santa know exactly where to send any replies.

2. Greeting 

Letters begin with a friendly opening such as “Dear Santa,”.

3. Introduction

The opening paragraph explains the purpose of the letter. Children might tell Santa how their year has been or why they’re writing.

4. Main paragraphs 

Here the writer gives more detail, perhaps thanking Santa for last year’s gifts, sharing achievements they’re proud of, or politely mentioning a few Christmas wishes.

5. Closing and sign off

 A polite ending is important. Children are encouraged to use sign offs such as “Yours sincerely,” or “With love,” followed by their name.

Language features 

• Using clear, complete sentences
• Choosing descriptive vocabulary to explain ideas
• Maintaining a polite and respectful tone
• Including questions to engage the reader (e.g., “How are the reindeer?”)
• Organising writing into neat paragraphs

Australia Post Santa Mail

Every year, Australia Post gives children the chance to hand-deliver their letters to Santa at their local Post Office and receive Santa’s reply on the spot, no need to post it and no stamp is required.

Santa Mail dates: From Monday 3 November to Tuesday 24 December, children can drop in their letters to receive Santa’s letter and a gift, while stocks last.

It’s a wonderful way for students to see their writing come to life and experience the joy of communicating with Santa all while practising their letter writing skills.  For further information check out this link Santa Mail - Australia Post 

Keep reading, keep writing, and let stories open new doors every day.

Bernadette Parnis

Literacy Leader

bparnis@sfmoreland.catholic.edu.au 

NUMERACY NEWS - Colleen Monaghan 

Congratulations to Sienna  and Thiago for winning the maths ward last week, well deserved guys!

Keeping Maths Skills Active Over the Holidays

With the holidays approaching, there are lots of simple and enjoyable ways to keep your child thinking mathematically at home. Everyday activities can help build confidence and strengthen important skills:

• Count everywhere – in the car, in the bath, or while walking. Counting forwards, backwards and in skip-patterns is great practice.
• Give them a budget – for example, $30 to cover their holiday ice creams or a small amount of spending money. This helps children learn to plan, budget and make decisions about how to use their money.
• Add up real costs – ask your child to total the price of items you are buying, such as two ice creams, five ice creams, or items from an older sibling’s booklist. They could also compare movie ticket prices for the family or work out change they should receive.
• Play board games – games are wonderful for building strategy, problem-solving, turn-taking and teamwork.

Here are some excellent websites families can explore together:

• Mathematics & Numeracy at Home (Vic Dept. of Education) – everyday ideas for counting, cooking, shopping and budgeting.
• MAV Parent Support – simple games and activities you can do at home to build maths confidence.
• Topmarks – a huge range of high-quality maths games for all ages.
• NRICH – problem-solving challenges and puzzles to stretch thinking (great for Years 3–6).
• ABC Mathseeds – fun, interactive maths lessons for younger students (Foundation–Year 2).
• Khan Academy – free videos and practice tasks for reinforcing primary maths skills.
• Math Playground – engaging games and logic puzzles children can play independently.

These sites are fun, free (or have free sections), and easy for families to use. They’re a great way to keep your child practising maths in an enjoyable, low-pressure way throughout the holidays!

Small moments like these help children see maths as useful, fun and part of everyday life. Enjoy exploring maths together these holidays!

ITALIAN NEWS - Rosa Fokianos

BUONGIORNO! 

Ciao a tutti! (Hi everyone!) 

Mamma mia! This term has certainly flown. It seems like only yesterday that I was welcoming new families to the St Fidelis community via the school newsletter and with a blink of an eye, we are now fast approaching la fine dell'anno scolastico, (the end of the school year)!

There certainly has been some fantastico learning going on throughout la scuola, (the school), including italiano, of which I will cover in next week’s final newsletter for the year.

Today, I would like to bring to your attention the upcoming Carols Night which, as you all know by now, will be held at Mercy College, il giovedì 11 dicembre alle ore 19:00 (Thursday 11th December at 7pm). 

As I have taught in previous years, there will also be an Italian Christmas song or carol sung at the concert. This year the grade 1/2 ‘s will be singing a fun canzone di Natale, (Christmas song) but without giving too much away, I’m sure many families will be able to join in once they hear it. In saying this, last week, I sent home the lyrics to the canzone (song), with the children in grade 1/2, so they can practice a casa (at home). If anyone missed out for various reasons, I’ll make sure they get their copy this week. Could you please make sure they are practising their canzone at home, it just makes it easier for everyone, considering I only see them once a week, mille grazie! 

Looking forward to hearing i bambini che cantano la loro canzone sul palcoscenico, (the children singing their song on stage) next week. 😃 

Alla prossima. Buona settimana! (Until next time. Have a good week).

Signora Rosa 🌹