Classroom News
PREP
Welcome to Our Week 8 Newsletter
We have been so busy celebrating Book Week, preparing for Father’s Day and our Prayer Gathering, and working hard on our school performance dances! We cannot wait to share all of these exciting things with you very soon!
Swimming
Today was our final swimming lesson! We have had so much fun and learnt so much at Bluewater. We are incredibly proud of the way our Preps have organised their belongings, learnt new skills and encouraged each other throughout our swimming program. What a wonderful job they have done!
Prayer Gathering
Our Prayer Gathering is tomorrow, and we cannot wait to welcome our Dads, father figures and special friends to the St Mary's Church at 8:55am and into our classroom afterwards.
We anticipate that our classroom visit will be between 9:30 and 9:45am.
We understand that not all Dads or father figures will be able to attend on Friday morning, so any special guest is very welcome to join us. We look forward to sharing this special morning together.
School Performance
Week 9 is our busy performance week, and the Preps are getting very excited!
For our school performance, the Preps will need to come to school dressed in black clothing on Wednesday and Thursday.
Shorts and T-shirts are our preference, but pants and long-sleeved tops are also absolutely fine. Please choose something comfortable that your child can move and dance in easily.
We are so proud of how hard the Preps have been working on their dances and cannot wait for you to see them perform!
Elissa Rodger erodger@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Emma Roberts eroberts@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Liza Alexander lalexander@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 1
We have had another busy few weeks in Year One!
In Literacy, we have been learning about the split digraph ‘a-e’ as in gate and ‘a’ as in apron. We also had a revision week where students had the chance to revisit and practise some of the sounds and skills we have learnt throughout the term.
In Writing, we have started looking at the Story Circle again to help us plan and create narratives. We have been exploring the different parts of a story, including the characters, setting, problem and solution, before using these ideas to plan our own stories.
In Numeracy, we have continued learning about multiplication and division. We have been practising sharing into equal groups, working out if there is a remainder and using skip counting to help us find the total. The students have been doing a great job using different strategies to solve problems.
We had lots of fun celebrating Book Week and Wellbeing Week! Throughout the week, we explored some wonderful books, including Derek and The Colours of Home, and enjoyed lots of different activities based around the stories and wellbeing.
We finished off the week with our Mr Fox’s Feast on Friday. This was also a special opportunity to celebrate Josh on his final day of placement and thank him for everything he has done with the Year Ones.
Production is getting closer, so we will continue practising our dance and getting ready for the big day!
With the beginning of spring, hats are back! Please make sure your child has their school hat at school so they are ready for outdoor play.
Leah Martin lmartin@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Abbey Hayes ahayes@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 2
It has been another busy and exciting time in Grade 2! Our students have been working hard across all areas of their learning and we are very proud of the enthusiasm, effort and perseverance they continue to demonstrate.
In Numeracy, students are wrapping up their learning about Multiplication and Division. We have been exploring how multiplication and division are connected and developing our understanding through practical activities, stories and arrays.
Students have been learning the difference between quotative and partitive division, have been learning how to make an array to represent a worded problem and have been learning how to write multiplication equations as well as how multiplication relates to repeated addition and how division relates to repeated subtraction.
It has been wonderful to see students using their mathematical thinking and explaining the strategies they use to solve problems.
In Literacy, students have been reviewing and consolidating our spelling rules. We have been revisiting the doubling rule when adding a suffix, the y to i rule, as well as other suffixes and less common spellings of sounds in words.
Students have also been using Single Paragraph Outlines (SPOs) to support them in learning how to write and structure paragraphs. SPOs are helping students organise their ideas, identify key information and develop paragraphs that are clear and well structured.
We have also continued to build students' reading fluency, accuracy and confidence through regular reading practice and discussion.
Swimming
Swimming has now finished! The students really enjoyed their time at the pool and have loved developing and practising their water skills. It has been fantastic to see their confidence grow throughout the program.
Production
Next week is a very exciting week for Grade 2 as we have our school production at Trinity! Our students are incredibly excited and have been practising very hard. We can't wait to see all of their hard work come together on the day.
If you haven't purchased your tickets yet, there are still some tickets available for the day show.
If you need any help with outfits/costumes for the production, please reach out as soon as possible and we will be more than happy to help.
We are looking forward to a wonderful week ahead and are so proud of our Grade 2 students!
Thank you for your continued support at home.
Matt O'Dowd modowd@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Deb Holland dholland@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 3
With only two weeks to go, Term 3 has certainly flown by! We still have plenty happening before the holidays and are looking forward to a jam-packed and exciting finish to the term.
Book Week was such a success! We had a fantastic week celebrating our love of books and reading, and it was wonderful to see all of the creative and colourful dress-ups at our annual Book Week Parade. A big thank you to our families for all of the effort that went into organising the dress ups, it is always greatly appreciated. Thank you to those who were able to come along and join us for the parade and help make the celebration so special.
A friendly reminder that hats are now required as we head into the warmer months. A clearly labelled hat is always recommended so they are easily found and returned to the right student.
In Literacy, we are reading The Velveteen Rabbit and using this beautiful story to explore the story spiral. Students are looking closely at how a narrative develops and how different events work together to create an engaging story.
In Numeracy, we are having our first look at proper fractions, building on the knowledge and understanding developed during our earlier unit on unit fractions. We are exploring how fractions can represent different parts of a whole and beginning to extend our thinking beyond unit fractions.
Next week is our much-anticipated whole school production, and we are very busy rehearsing and getting everything organised for the big day! Please check School Dojo for information regarding ticketing. Students will need to wear their black base to school for rehearsals on Wednesday and performance on Thursday. All other parts of their costumes will be provided by the school.
Our production performances will be held on Thursday 10th September at 12:15pm and 6:00pm. Further information regarding drop off and pick up times for the evening performance will be provided closer to the day.
We are looking forward to the remainder of Term 3!
Matt Absalom mabsalom@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 4
We have had a wonderfully busy and exciting couple of weeks in Grade 4! Last week we had Book Week, with daily writing and art pieces inspired by the Symphony of Stories collection, and capping it off with an incredible Book Parade showcasing so many creative costumes. We also enjoyed a very positive Wellbeing Week, engaging in meaningful conversations about how our actions affect others, practicing self-care, and identifying our Zones of Regulation to support our learning.
Across the curriculum in Maths we’ve been very busy finishing off our unit for multiplication and division and moving onto perimeter and area, taking advantage of the sunshine to head outside and measure different parts of the school. In Humanities students are busy finishing off their creative habitat dioramas, which they will present to other year levels during the final week of term. In Religious Education we are wrapping up our term focus on hospitality, reflecting on how we recognise and show hospitality in our everyday lives.
Our Whole School Concert is nearly here! The students have been working hard practicing their dance routines for next week's concert! We are so excited to perform in our two shows for friends and family. (Note: Check the main school post for tickets—there are still a few available for the Thursday midday matinee!) We recognise this can be a daunting task for some students, nerves are completely understandable so please reach out if your child needs some extra support.
Looking Ahead: Roald Dahl & Witch Day!
We are also wrapping up an exciting term investigating The Witches by Roald Dahl. To celebrate, we have a fun-filled Witch Day planned for Tuesday the 15th (fun fact Roald Dahl’s birthday is two days before on the 13th of September)! Students are welcome—though this is completely optional—to dress up as witches and wizards. We might even receive a visit from the Grand High Witch and her famous Formula 86 delayed-action mouse-maker. The big question is: can we create a counter-potion in time and save the students in school from turning into mice? More information will come through a dojo post next week.
What a term it has been! We are looking forward to another busy and exciting fortnight ahead in Year 4 and thank you for the support you have shown over the term.
Rebecca Gallagher rgallagher@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Amanda Delorenzo mdelorenzo@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Meg Knight mknight@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 5
We have certainly been busy in Year 5 over the last 2 weeks, with this only set to amp up leading into our last couple of weeks of term with Production next week and our camp in week 10!
Last week, it was really nice to have a change of scenery so to speak and a break from routine with Book Week and Wellbeing Week. Throughout this week, we explored 3 shortlisted Book Week books: ‘Tiwi in Paris’, ‘Dawn’ and ‘The Frog’s First Song’. If you haven’t already, come and check out the Book Week display that Beth has set up in the library - it looks brilliant and showcases the engagement and creativity our students displayed during these activities. Wellbeing Week was an awesome chance to slow down and go through really important concepts that are also important life skills for us all moving forward: spreading kindness wherever you go, anti-bullying skills and messages and stress management plans. All of the activities, lessons, techniques etc that we spoke and learnt about, will be things that will continue to resonate in our classrooms, schools and homes long after last week.
In saying that all that, unfortunately this week, we have needed to manage some unexpected and unsafe behaviours that have been simmering on the yard, particularly in the competitive games our grades 5s and 6s play together, namely Soccer. Yesterday, leadership spoke to all Grade 5 and 6 students who play Soccer and outlined the following:
Soccer Agreement
Play the ball, not the person.
No tripping, pushing, grabbing or kicking at another person’s legs.
Speak respectfully. No put-downs, comments about someone’s ability or gender, or jokes at someone else’s expense.
Stop immediately if someone is hurt or asks you to stop.
If any unsafe behaviours occur, this is the process that staff have been asked to follow:
First time: One clear warning.
Second time: Out of soccer for the rest of that break.
Unsafe behaviour: Straight out of soccer for the rest of the break.
Classroom teachers will then be alerted by teaching staff of anyone who is in breach of the Soccer agreement and we will then most likely notify parents. We have also put back to the students that it is their responsibility to alert staff to unsafe behaviours that may be happening that staff may not see/hear. Yard duty is an incredibly busy time for staff (particularly on the oval with several games and activities to cover including Nature Play, Gaga Pit, the playground area and often multiple games happening simultaneously on the oval space) and there are a lot of students and situations for them to be alert to, so alerting staff to things happening will be a really important part of reducing and hopefully eliminating these behaviours. We would appreciate you chatting to your child at home about this and reinforce this message please.
In Literacy, students have been developing their narrative writing skills using the Story Spiral planning template to help structure and develop their narrative ideas. As they have been writing, students have been working towards their individual writing goals, focusing on specific areas to strengthen and improve their writing.
In Maths, we have been exploring transformations of shapes, learning about translations (slides), reflections (flips) and rotations (turns). To finish our unit, students are putting their learning into practice by designing their own fish tanks, incorporating and demonstrating a range of different transformations in their designs.
In Integrated Studies, students have begun creating their European country brochures. They are researching a country in Europe and gathering interesting information to share in an engaging and informative way. We are looking forward to seeing their finished brochures!
In Religious Education, students have continued their learning about integrity and caring for our common home. This week, they explored Psalm 104 and the Canticles of Creation, considering how these Scripture readings reflect our responsibility to care for the world around us and connect with the messages of Laudato Si’. Next week, students will begin their assessment task, where they will choose a social or political issue and make connections to the different elements explored throughout the unit with an ‘Integrity’ lens.
Production week next week will be a very busy one. Hopefully everyone is sorted with costume pieces that they need: I’ll put a reminder here about what’s needed. We will have labelled bags for students who want to leave any of their costume pieces at Trinity on Wednesday after the dress rehearsal e.g. colourful shirts for Rachel D’s class, boots for Rachael C’s class. Any other things that students will be ‘wearing’ e.g. jeans for Rachael C’s class etc, we are comfortable for the students to wear back and forth, obviously they’ll just need to remember to wear them for each of the shows. If your child is in a lead role or a dance captain, they will need to have a full black base under costume (eg if in 5RD, black top under coloured top) for their time on stage or if dance captains need to help their dance class. If there are any queries, concerns or any issues (e.g. your child feeling a bit anxious/worried) please contact us via Dojo message so we can assist.
Finally, straight after Production week, we are straight into camp week! Such an exciting end to the term! Again, if there are any issues or concerns, please ensure you contact your child’s teacher beforehand with information we need to know or if we can help with any worries or questions you or your child might have. Here are a few general reminders that might be helpful:
If you have indicated that your child needs to have medication administered, this needs to be brought to Beth in a labelled container/bag with the prescription medication box and dosage information included before we leave on the Wednesday morning.
The bus will be leaving pretty much as soon as we are packed and ready to go (9ish would be the aim), so please be nice and early to ensure your child doesn’t miss the bus.
There are absolutely NO devices/phones etc to be brought to camp. If there are any found, they will be confiscated by staff until the end of camp. Staff will be available with their mobile phones at all times if any communication is required and regular updates of what’s happening will be posted on Class Dojo.
Students are permitted to bring one bag of lollies to keep in their luggage for camp. Again, if we feel what has been brought is excessive, we will also reserve the right to confiscate these (they may be helpful for extra teacher energy/motivation *jokes) also and return at the end of camp.
I think that just about covers it everyone - phew! Looking forward to a fun filled end to another successful term in Grade 5!
Rachel Downard rdownard@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Rachael Cahill rcahill@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 6
What a fantastic effort for Book Week!
We were incredibly impressed with the enthusiasm and involvement of all our Grade 6 students during Book Week. From their fantastic costumes and participation in the parade to all the fun activities throughout the week, it was wonderful to see everyone getting involved and embracing the celebrations!
We have also been very busy boogying our way through the weeks as we prepare for our school performance next Thursday. After a few whole-school rehearsals, our actors, choreographers and dancers have really started to shine. The effort, enthusiasm and participation from everyone have been fantastic, and we are thrilled to be performing Forward to the Past in just one short week.
While we have been busy perfecting our dance moves, there has still been plenty of in-depth learning happening in the classroom.
In Literacy, students have continued taking notes, developing paragraph outlines and bringing together their information reports on countries in Asia. We are looking forward to seeing all of their research and writing come to life as they transform their reports into Google Sites. This work also connects closely with our Humanities learning, giving students further opportunities to deepen their knowledge and create detailed, informative reports.
In Numeracy, we have been investigating visually growing patterns and developing our algebraic thinking. Students have also begun exploring data, including how to interpret different representations and recognise when graphs or statistics may be misleading. This learning will prepare students to plan and conduct their own statistical investigations, where they will collect, represent, analyse and draw conclusions from data.
It’s certainly a busy time in Grade 6, and we can’t wait to see everyone take the stage next week.
Jess Downard jdownard@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Jodie Hassett jhassett@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Maegen Potter mpotter@smcolac.catholic.edu.au