What's happening in our learning spaces? 

FOUNDATION 

Term 4 is definitely going by very quickly. This newsletter marks the beginning of Week 10! The Foundation students continue to enjoy learning and spending time with each other as their first year of school comes to an end.

As members of a Catholic Faith Community, we collected and recorded our thinking about a time when we had to wait for an event. What have we waited a long time for this year in Foundation? Perhaps it was the birth of a baby brother or sister, maybe it was waiting for our birthday to finally arrive, perhaps it was a holiday to somewhere special as a family or even waiting patiently for that wobbly first tooth to finally fall out. We discussed and linked our times of waiting to the Catholic calendar of Advent. Advent is the four weeks prior to Christmas Day. During Advent, it is a time to prepare for the birth of Jesus. Specific colours are associated with the time of Advent. Four candles represent the four weeks of Advent, and each week has an important message so that, as Catholics, we get ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day.

Last Thursday, there was great excitement as the Foundation students participated in their first Sports Day. Although the weather was unpredictable, we all were able to work in teams to have fun, exercise and enjoy the different games such as Tunnelball, Passball, Hungry Chickens, and Dot Bounce just to name a few in a modified schedule in the Hall.

Together, we cheered on our teams and each other. Thank you to the parents and grandparents who came to watch, and special thanks to Mr Jennings for all the effort he went to during our P.E. sessions to teach us many new skills. In the afternoon, we cheered on the teachers (especially Mrs Wenckowski) when they played volleyball against the Year 6 students.

Reminders for the Week:

• Wednesday is a School Closure Day- No school for students
• Please return all Library books as borrowing has finished for the year
• Foundation LW will lead us in Whole School Prayer this Friday 8th December at 9 am in the Hall. 

Have a great week, everyone! 

Thank you, 

Leanne and Alex 

FoundationTeam

YEAR 1/2

Our energy levels haven't dipped as the term continues to tick down. We are still just as excited and engaged with our learning. We are as busy as ever, although we are trying to find some stillness and moments of gratitude for the rest of our time together this year.

As researchers, we have been learning about Special Places. So far, we have learned about the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef, and now we are on to Uluru. As thinkers, we have made connections that all of these special places are Australian World Heritage sites and hold great significance in their own right. As collaborators, we had time and opportunity to tune into Uluru and build on our thinking. 

Here are some of our initial observations… 

• I notice Uluru is in different colours -Giorgio
• You can see the emu in the night sky at Uluru-Florence
• I can see the outback -Ava 
• I can see people walking up the rock -Eva D

Here are some of our wonderings… 

• Why was Uluru named that? Carlo
• Why is Uluru a World Heritage Site? Elliot 
• Is there a landmark bigger than Uluru? Riley
• I can see signs… I wonder what they say? Tess

As collaborators, we played various sports and battled it out for our Houses on our Annual Sports Day. We respectfully participated in games like Baton Relay, where we had to work as a team and pass the baton on to the next person. We also played Tunnelball and Hungry Birds, working together and showing patience and perseverance throughout the day as we engaged in the different games. Unfortunately, it rained, so we had a wet day version of Sports Day, but we still had such a fun time! 

Afterwards, as writers, we engaged in Language Experience, where we had the opportunity to reflect on our Sports Day and record our day's experience. We wrote about the different games we played, our houses, and watching the teachers take on the 5/6 students. We had such a wonderful time both on the day and the next day writing about it.

On Friday, we met as a whole school community and came together to celebrate the opening of our new STEM and Innovation Resource Centre. We engaged in a meaningful hymn and sang  Open Your Heart to celebrate this together. Thank you to our parent community for your help with all of the fundraising you have done over the years to help us create such a visionary space for us to continue to build, wonder and engage within. 

This Tuesday, 1/2VK engaged in their last Mass of the year. A big well done to the wonderful readers and helpers, too. 

We look forward to another fantastic week of learning in 1/2 as the countdown begins towards the end of the year! 

1/2 Team, 

Alycia Marsico, Vania Sparano and Vicky Karalis 

YEAR 3/4

Maths Games Day

What a wonderful day! Thank you to Mrs Monaghan for running such a successful, busy, fun day with us!

Physical Maths Games 

We started the day with physical games, we didn’t let the rain stop our fun! We played a time game, measurement estimation, shape, mass and capacity, bingo and a relay game. 

Thank you to Daniela Masini, Josie Servello, Rhonda Spyrou, and Phon Mazzarella for joining us on the morning block.

Group 8 ended the morning session with the most points; well done to Zac, Louis, Isaac, Chrysi & Gemma.

Strategy Games 

In the middle block, we engaged in some different two-player games. We played Connect Four, Extend a Line, Kappa, and Mills. We had a great time versing different people from different teams. Thank you to Lisa Francione and Phon Mazzarella for helping us in the middle block. Well done to group 3 with Max, Angelina, Olivia M and Harrison for winning the middle block!

Problem-Solving Games 

In the last hour as a group, we collaborated together to answer a range of different problems. We took turns when solving a range of different worded questions. Thank you to Josie Perri, Tara Soars, Lucy Leahy, and Phon Mazzarella for helping out in the final session! Well done to group 1 for winning this round, Xavier, Sam, Victor and Juliano. 

However, at the end of the day, we calculated the total points from each of the three challenges. A big congratulations to Group 8,  Zac, Louis, Isaac, Chrysi & Gemma. Their teamwork and problem-solving were amazing.

We also had a fantastic day on Thursday during our Sports Day. As collaborators, we worked together in groups to play different games. We played leader ball, circle the bases, crateball, crossball, court soccer and baton relay. 

Just a reminder of the important dates for Year 3/4 in Term 4

Year 3/4 Teachers

Belinda Panzarino & Bianka Zorzut

YEAR 5/6

Congratulations to the Daly Red Team, who got the most points on Sports Day last Thursday, and to the Year 6 Sports Leaders, who did a great job assisting Mr Jennings.

At the conclusion of our Sports Day, the Year 6 students played a match of ‘Volleystars’ match against the staff.

It was a busy week in the SLA as we headed toward the end of the school year. 

In Mathematics, we are finishing up our unit on reading and plotting cartesian coordinates on a coordinate plane. We will also be revising topics covered this semester to refresh students learning on these topics. 

In Literacy, students have been writing reflections on their school year. We will look at poems over the next week, with Christmas as the theme. 

In Religion, we are looking at the meaning of Advent and making connections to the scripture story of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. We are also busily practising for Christmas Carols next week. 

Added to this, Year 6 are also preparing for Graduation which is this coming Saturday. The Year 5 students will be delivering and listening to speeches for leadership positions for 2024.

We are all looking forward to celebrating Graduation with our students.

REMINDER: Wednesday is a School Closure Day.