Sacred Heart Philotimo

Classroom Happenings

YEARS 5 AND 6

Can you believe we are already in term 3?! And what an exciting start to term for our grade 5/6 class! Melbourne Camp last week was such a wonderful experience for our students, allowing them to experience so much of what the city has to offer, from a private nighttime zoo tour, to exploring the Vic Markets, to an extensive tour of the MCG including the player-only areas and getting to walk down to the grounds! It was an absolutely action packed 3 days, and the class did an amazing job of keeping on time so that we could really see everything. 

 

 

Literacy and Writing

In Literacy this term we have been studying the novel 'Dirrarn' by Carl Merrison and Hakea Hustler. This is the sequel to our last novel we studied, 'Black Cockatoo', and follows Mia as she starts a new journey at boarding school in Perth, away from family, friends, and everything she knows. It explores topics like bullying, racism, homesickness, and finding family wherever you are. As we study this book we are also looking at the story of Jandamarra, an Aboriginal legend from the Kimberley region in Western Australia, and writing factual recounts about his life.

 

Maths

This term we have been focusing on the topic of Decimals, and how to name, round, and order numbers with over 2 decimal places. This is a great base for when we start our unit on percentages, fractions, and money later in the year.

 

Inquiry

Our Inquiry focus for this term is History, where we are focusing on the 1800s in Australia. This Inquiry topic is perfect this term as it has clear links to our Literacy and Writing topics. This is allowing our 5/6 students to have a rich, deep understanding of our country and its history from many different perspectives and viewpoints.

 

Religion

We have been exploring Creation and Our Responsibility. This unit focuses on the revelation of God through all of creation. In it students will explore how God’s creative act invites us to shape our lives, relationships and world by reaching out and actively responding to the call to be co-creators.

 

It has been such an exciting term so far, and with so many more fun events coming up, I look forward to the rest of the term in the 5/6 classroom!

 

Miss Charlotte Meares

Grade 5/6 Teacher

 

 

YEARS 2/3/4

📚 Literacy

SuffixesLast term, students worked hard on suffixes—ending parts of words such as –ful, –less, or –ing. We practiced understanding how these change the meaning of base words. For example, adding –ful to “help” gives “helpful,” meaning full of help.

Prefixes – New focus this term This term we’re moving on to prefixes—the beginnings of words like un–, re–, pre–. A prefix is added at the start of a word to modify its meaning: “happy” becomes “unhappy” (not happy), “do” becomes “undo” (reverse doing). We’re also breaking longer words into syllables (chunks like “hap‑py”) to make spelling easier and more confident.

Reading & writing: Exploring Finding Our Heart

We read Finding Our Heart by Thomas Mayo (also known as Thomas Mayor), with illustrations by Blak Douglas. This beautiful book shares the story of Australia’s Uluru Statement from the Heart in a way children can understand. It emphasises that First Nations voices and culture are gifts, showing the importance of listening to and learning from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 

Students have practiced writing personal responses to the book—reflecting on what they thought and felt and deciding whether they’d recommend it to a friend. This has helped develop empathy and thoughtful reflection.

 

🏛️ History & Social Studies

  • We started by learning about Australia as a nation, and what defines a community.
  • Now we're zooming in on Corryong’s history, exploring how the town has changed over 150 years: why and how it evolved, and the significant events that shaped it.
  • Students have investigated key local events and how the local community has grown and adapted over time.

 

➗ Mathematics

Bar models for multiplication and division

Students have been learning to use bar models—a pictorial method that uses drawn rectangular bars to represent known and unknown parts in word problems. This visual tool helps them understand the structure behind multiplication and division before doing the calculation.  By drawing equal‑sized segments or separating bars, children visualise how the numbers relate, making complex word problems easier to solve.

Using bar models, the class has gained a strong sense of how multiplication and division are linked and used these strategies confidently with more challenging problems.

Angles unitAlongside this, students have been exploring different kinds of angles: acute (smaller than 90°), right (exactly 90°), obtuse (between 90° and 180°), straight (180°), and reflex (over 180°). Hands‑on and visual angle activities support their emerging geometry skills.

 

🌿 Religion: For Creation, Praise

  • We launched a new Religious Education unit called For Creation, Praise, inviting students to recognise God’s presence in nature.
  • Students explored the five senses—sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell—to experience the wonder of creation.
  • A highlight lesson included optical illusions, listening to different sounds, tasting sweet and salty foods, feeling natural materials, and smelling essential oils—a wonderfully sensory way to appreciate God’s gifts.
  • We’re also learning about creation from a First Nations perspective, studying Dreamtime stories and then creating dot‑painting style artworks inspired by traditional methods.

 

💗 Social & Emotional Learning

  • Our SEL focus this term is on empathy—understanding others’ feelings—and practicing calming strategies to support each other during times of stress.
  • Students are learning tools like deep breathing, naming their feelings, and drawing or journalling to manage emotions in a healthy way.

 

Students have embraced our literacy and growing vocabulary challenges with enthusiasm, especially using prefixes and syllable‑breaking techniques. 

Bar modelling has really strengthened their conceptual understanding of multiplication and division, and angle work is sparking geometry interest! 

We’re all looking forward to continuing this journey together—exploring Corryong’s local history, growing as respectful learners. 

 

 

Mrs Stephens and 2/3/4

FOUNDATION AND YEAR 1

The Gruffalo's Child

What an exciting adventure F/1 students had on their excursion to The Gruffalo’s Child! For many, it was their very first time on a bus. This brought just as much excitement as the destination itself.! There were wide eyes, big smiles and even a few well-earned naps along the way.

The live performance was full of energy and fun, with the actors involving the audience through songs, movement and laughter. Our students represented Sacred Heart beautifully, showing excellent behaviour and enthusiasm throughout the experience.

After the show, the rain held off and the sun came out just in time for us to enjoy lunch and a big play at the park.

Back in the classroom, the excitement continued as students wrote recounts of their excursion, sharing their favourite parts of the day. They took time to edit their work to make sure it made sense, showing how much their writing skills are developing. Many of these recounts are now proudly displayed on our new “Wall of Fame,” celebrating each student’s progress as a writer. I am so proud of their efforts and can’t wait to see what they create next.

 

100 Days of School 

Last week we celebrated a very special milestone - 100 Days of School. It was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate 100 days filled with learning, laughter and growing confidence.

To mark the day, students created their very own crowns to wear with pride. They then teamed up with their Year 5 and 6 buddies to design colourful monsters made up of 100 parts, including 10 legs, 10 horns, 10 eyes and more.

The classroom was buzzing with excitement as students joined in all sorts of fun counting games and activities, all focused on the number 100.

Mrs Marie Nagy

Foundation & Year 1 Teacher