Classroom & Curriculum News

1/2 Sleepover

At the end of Week 3, our Year 1/2 students enjoyed the much-anticipated annual sleepover! This special experience provides an introduction to camp life in the familiar surroundings of school. 

The children loved sleeping in their classrooms with their friends, playing until the sun went down, sharing dinner, watching a movie in bed and waking to a buffet breakfast followed by more play before heading home. Importantly, the sleepover helps the children develop confidence, independence and the skills they will need for longer camps away from home in Year 3 and beyond.

After the children prayed for things they are thankful for our 1/2s devoured pasta with sauce prepared in our school kitchen, accompanied by salad and garlic bread. Dessert was a delicious spread of meringues, whipped cream, fresh berries and a drizzle of jam! 

All the children eventually drifted off to sleep, with our latest little night owls settling at 11.30 pm, while most were happily dreaming between 9.30 and 10.00 pm.

The following morning, the children enjoyed creating their own breakfast plates, choosing from Greek yoghurt, fresh berries, seasonal fruits, granola, dried fruits and coconut. Some of our Year 2 boys even managed five serves!

We hope the children have come home with wonderful memories to treasure, and we were delighted that everyone stayed and embraced the experience.

A special thank you to Ms Sa and Mr Stead, who stayed overnight with us at school. That is dedication, and we truly appreciate your support! We also thank Ms Paglianiti for her help during the evening before heading home close to midnight. Perhaps a pumpkin ride  was waiting for her! We didn't find the glass slipper:)

Ms Mathewson and Mrs Re

1/2RS morning exercise

Now that the children are confident in finding their pulse, we check our pulse before and after our short morning exercise routine. This continues to help the children feel settled, focused and ready for a morning of learning.

We have been enjoying our alphabet stretches, sometimes working individually and other times with a partner. Some letters are trickier than others, which often leaves us all in giggles! It is a lovely way to start our day with movement, learning and a little laughter.

1/2RS Respectful relationships

This term, we are exploring different ways to develop positive relationships in our classroom. Through games and shared activities, students have opportunities to connect with different classmates, learn to navigate challenges and setbacks, and celebrate one another’s successes. These experiences help us build a classroom community where we can support, encourage and learn from each other.

Prep M Learning and Adventures

God's Creation

In Religion, the Prep students have been learning about God’s Great Creation. The children explored the Creation Story from the Book of Genesis through Godly Play, learning about the wonderful world God has created. 

They then ventured outside to explore and appreciate God’s creation in our playground and park areas, discovering the beauty of the natural world around them. 

As part of their learning, the students created beautiful artworks representing God’s creation of the sky, land and sea. They also wrote their own prayers of thanks to God, expressing gratitude for the wonderful world we live in and reflecting on how we can care for and appreciate His creation.

Data and Location 

In Mathematics, the Prep students have been learning about collecting data and asking questions. They explored how to ask simple yes-or-no questions, such as “Do you like popcorn?”, “Did you walk to school today?” and “Do you have a pet at home?”, before discussing how responses can be collected and organised. 

The students have also been developing their understanding of location and directional language, using words such as forwards, backwards, left and right to describe movement. Working in pairs, they put their skills into practice by navigating a grid, giving and following directions to help their partner reach a soft toy. These hands-on activities encouraged teamwork, problem-solving and the development of important mathematical language.

Excursion to Animal Land Farm

Old McDonald had a farm... and on that farm there was some Preppies!!

We had such an amazing time at Animal Land Farm in Diggers Rest. 

The Prep Children learnt about different animals found on a farm and all the hard work our farmers do to care for the animals and land. 

Tiny rabbit and guinea pig cuddles

Milking the cow Amber

Pony ride on Ralph

Feeding the animals and tractor ride

Year 3/4 News

This term in our Text Level writing lessons, we have been relooking at developing our narrative writing skills. We have explored how to create interesting characters and describe settings so that our readers can picture exactly what is happening in our stories. We have grasped a better understanding of how choosing descriptive words and using similes can bring our stories to life and help our readers feel as though they are part of the adventure.

In Maths we have been learning about 3D objects and their properties. It is funny to see how many real life objects actually have cubes, rectangular prisms and other 3D objects. For example, some pencils are hexagonal prisms and we have never noticed that before!

We also completed our final Inform & Empower session this week. These sessions over our inaugural year have really helped us grasp a better understanding of what it means to be digitally safe and how we need to be aware that red flags can appear in many ways - including unknown friend requests, inappropriate texts, posts or ads.

We really enjoyed our Mental Health Afternoon, as we got to explore ways to look after ourselves, recognise our feelings and understand what helps us feel calm, connected and ready to learn. We were reminded that everyone experiences different emotions and that it is ok to ask for help when we need it. We also learnt about the importance of kindness, positive relationships, taking breaks and talking to trusted adults. Looking after our mental health is just as important as looking after our physical health, and small actions can make a big difference to how we feel. 

The Year 4 High School experience days were extremely insightful and allowed the students to get a feel of what their future high school days may endure. Participating in Science, Dance, Food Technology & Sport sessions was extremely fun & it was great to see the students approach these days with enthusiasm, confidence to ask questions and even walk away with a possible new future  friendship.

We are extremely excited about our upcoming camp to Portsea towards the end of November. Many feel it is like a 3 day holiday from siblings (& parents!) - hahah! Stay tuned for our adventures…

Crazy Socks in Year 3/4L!!

Congratulations to those who received awards at our first assembly for Term 4!

Grade 6 incursions/excursions

Last week we were extremely busy with lots of interuptions. On Wednesday we had an important incursion based on metro trains. While preparing for highschool, and travel using trains we learnt about the dangers surrounding peer pressure, use of phones when walking on a platform, not respecting the yellow line (particularly during peak hour travel) and looking into the PTV app and timetables. Thankyou to PTV and Metro for running this incursion for us. 

On Friday the grade 6s went to Melbourne Museum to complete the 'Road to Zero' program. This has a grade 6 targetted program on how to stay safe on the Victorian roads. We had a VR experience on what our roads/cars will look like in the future and we were able to design our own tv advertisements, making them as persuasive as possible on road safety.