Classroom News
PREP
Welcome to our Week 6 Newsletter!
We have so many exciting things happening over the coming weeks and are looking forward to a busy and rewarding end to the term.
The students have been SO excited to learn all of our initial alphabet sounds this week! Over the next few weeks, we will begin consolidating these sounds into words before introducing digraphs, where two letters work together to make one sound. We are incredibly proud of the progress all of our students have made so far and cannot wait to share their learning with you during our upcoming learning conversations.
In Numeracy, we have been exploring addition and subtraction with numbers to 10. In Semester 2, we will begin extending our number range to 20, so this may be something you would like to explore informally at home with your child through games, counting activities, or everyday conversations.
During Reconciliation Week, we have enjoyed sharing stories, learning about reconciliation, and spending time together as a whole school community through our “All In” activities to help make a positive change.
We also have our Prayer Gathering coming up at the end of Week 8 on Friday 12th June. The students have begun practising their reading parts in class, and we would greatly appreciate your support in practising these at home as well. Your child’s speaking part can be found in their large homework book. We would love to see as many families as possible at the church for our gathering. It will begin at 9:00am, followed by Open Classrooms afterwards.
We are absolutely loving watching the independence of our Prep students grow each day. Many students are now confidently walking into the classroom independently and completing their morning jobs with little to no assistance. You can continue supporting your child’s independence at home by encouraging them to pack and unpack their school bag each day, as this is still something some students find tricky at the end of the school day.
In the final week of term, we will also be holding a special Prep Dress-Up Day to celebrate meeting all of our Little Learners Love Literacy characters! Students are invited to dress up as any LLLL character we have met so far this year. More information will be shared on ClassDojo in the coming weeks.
Thank you, as always, for your continued support. We are so proud of the wonderful growth we are seeing in all of our Prep students each and every day!
Upcoming dates:
Public Holiday- 8th June
Prayer Gathering and Prep open classrooms -12th June
Little Learners Love Literacy Prep Dress Up Day - Week 10 (Date TBC)
Elissa Rodger erodger@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Emma Roberts eroberts@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Liza Alexander lalexander@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 1
Halfway through Term 2 already, and we are keeping very busy in Year 1! We have been working hard with our dance captains to learn our routine for next term's school production; the songs are incredibly fun, and the children have done a fantastic job mastering their moves. Alongside production prep, the students beautifully explored the significance of Reconciliation Week, participating in a prayer service and a whole-school nature walk on Wednesday. Looking ahead, excitement is building for our upcoming excursion, so please ensure you log into PAM to complete the necessary permission slip if you haven't already. Keep an eye out for a more detailed information note coming home later this week. Finally, our classroom learning remains in full swing as we kick off a new mathematics cycle focused on addition, subtraction, and "turnaround facts," while continuing to build reading fluency and accuracy during our whole-class and fluency pair literacy sessions.
Leah Martin lmartin@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Abbey Hayes ahayes@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 2
Wow, we are already halfway through Term 2! It is hard to believe how quickly the term is flying by. The students have been working incredibly hard and have been busy with lots of exciting learning across all curriculum areas.
In Numeracy, we have begun our new unit on Addition and Subtraction. Students have been developing their skills in adding multiples of ten to two- and three-digit numbers and are growing in confidence when working with larger numbers. We are excited to soon begin learning about fact families and exploring the important connections between addition and subtraction facts.
In Literacy, students have been using the Story Circle to identify the essential parts of narrative texts. This has supported their understanding of story structure and helped them develop their own narrative writing skills. We have also been learning about the suffix ‘-ion’ and exploring how adding this suffix can change the meaning of words and turn verbs in to nouns.
In Humanities, students have continued their learning about continents, oceans, and hemispheres. They have enjoyed building their understanding of the world around them and developing their geographical knowledge through engaging activities and discussions.
In Health, students have become “strength detectives”, identifying their own personal strengths and recognising the strengths they use each day at school. This learning has encouraged students to reflect on the positive qualities they bring to our classroom community. Our Grade 2 students have also been busy preparing for our Prayer Gathering this Friday. The theme of the gathering will be Reconciliation, which ties in beautifully with our school-wide participation in National Reconciliation Week. Throughout the week, students have been learning about what Reconciliation Week is, why it is important to reconcile relationships, and ways we can continue to strengthen relationships with First Nations Peoples. We look forward to sharing this important learning through our prayer gathering.
Matt O'Dowd modowd@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Deb Holland dholland@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 3
With only 4 weeks to go of Term 2, we are certainly flying towards the finish line! There is still so much learning to be done with some fun things along the way, and we know it will be a fantastic month ahead.
What a wonderful turnout we had for our “Walk to School” morning on Friday the 15th. It was lovely to see so many students and their families enjoying the opportunity to walk to school together and start the day in such a positive way.
Last Thursday we celebrated Catholic Education Week by attending Mass at St Mary’s Church. It was wonderful to come together with St Brendan’s, Sacred Heart and Trinity to acknowledge this important occasion within our Catholic school community.
Last Friday we held our annual Biggest Morning Tea fundraiser and Open Classrooms. A big thank you to all families and friends who came along to support the event and spend time sharing in our learning.
In Literacy, we have finished our novel study of Matilda and are beginning a new text, Off We Go Around Australia. This book explores different places and landscapes around Australia and will support our understanding of explanatory texts and how information can be presented clearly to a reader.
In Numeracy, we are continuing to explore a range of addition and subtraction strategies, building confidence in selecting efficient methods and explaining our mathematical thinking.
We are looking forward to another busy and exciting few weeks ahead in Year 3.
Matt Absalom mabsalom@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 4
Thank you to all the families who attended our open classroom. It was wonderful to see so many of you there. The students loved sharing their learning about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and retelling the story of Tiddalick, connecting it to Country.
This week, the students continued writing their factual recounts about the Gulidjan people and worked on their first body paragraph. In maths, they have been exploring decimals and using their understanding of decimals in measurement activities. With assessment time upon us, students are also working on personal projects, engaging deeply in research that they will showcase later this term. As part of our Religious Education learning, we have been exploring Pentecost and learning about how the Holy Spirit brought people together through courage, peace and unity. The students in Mandy and Paula's class will be leading the Prayer Gathering on Friday 19th June. Some readings will be sent home for practice. We warmly welcome all Year 4 families to attend.
Paula Parish pparish@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Amanda Delorenzo mdelorenzo@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Rebecca Gallagher rgallagher@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 5
Week 6 already! This term has flown by and we have certainly packed a lot in. Well done to all students who participated in Cross Country on Tuesday, and good luck to those taking part in the Lightning Premiership tomorrow.
Today we had a fantastic time at Sovereign Hill experiencing the Eureka Stockade story and exploring the Red Hill Mine. Students really enjoyed exploring Sovereign Hill and making real-life connections to our class novel and the key texts we have been studying throughout our History unit.
In Literacy, we are currently working on our information reports about the Victorian Goldfields and have been exploring the migration boom in depth and the impact it had during the Gold Rush period.
In Numeracy, we have finished our Fractions unit, with students making fantastic progress. We have now begun our Angles unit, and students have been highly engaged as they learn to identify angles. Next week, students will begin measuring and creating different angles using protractors.
Just a reminder to continue bringing diaries and homework in on Fridays. We are also continuing to reinforce the importance of using appropriate language at school and showing respect and kindness towards others in all situations.
Rachel Downard rdownard@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Rachael Cahill rcahill@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 6
Another week of hard work in Grade 6.
In Mathematics, we finished our work on Fractions in Week 5 and have now begun exploring Angles over the next few weeks. Students will be learning about complementary and supplementary angles, angles at a point, vertically opposite angles, and solving unknown angles throughout this unit. At the end of each week, we will also be spending time solving Probability problems.
In Literacy, the students have begun writing their migrant stories. We are using the Hero’s Journey Story Spiral to help scaffold our work and, this week, students introduced their characters and wrote descriptions of the beginning of their journey.
In History, we are culminating our learning with students creating a suitcase that demonstrates their understanding of migration to Australia in the 20th century. This suitcase will connect with their Migration Story in Literacy, as the contents will represent the belongings their character is bringing with them on their journey.
In Religion, we have been looking at the changes to Catholic church buildings before and after Vatican II by comparing St Mary’s and St Brendan’s churches. We are now exploring Peter as the rock upon which Jesus built His Church.
In Health, we have been learning about intense emotions and how emotions can increase in intensity, moving from unhappiness to sadness, misery, and despair, or from pleased to happy, joyful, and ecstatic. We have also explored how different events can cause varying levels of emotional intensity.
Last Thursday, the Grade 6 students participated in a Catholic Education Week celebration by attending Mass before walking down to One Movement for a session with Andre. Students then enjoyed something to eat at Memorial Square. It was a wonderful and positive way to celebrate alongside the other two Catholic schools in Colac.
Last Friday, our Social Justice Leaders organised and ran The Biggest Morning Tea, raising around $400. A huge congratulations to them for all of their efforts. It was a fantastic morning filled with fun and plenty of visitors to the school. Thank you to all the families who came in to visit our open classroom. We hope you enjoyed being superheroes for the morning.
Jess Downard jdownard@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Jodie Hassett jhassett@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Maegen Potter mpotter@smcolac.catholic.edu.au