St Joseph's School Newsletter

News from F/1/2

Lilydale Historic Excursion

Last week, the F/1/2 students went on an excursion to Lilydale, where they learnt all about the area's history. The students learnt a lot about Dame Nellie Melba, exploring the Melba Park and the Lilydale Antheanum where she performed. They also explored the Lilydale Museum, where we saw an exhibition about Dame Nellie Melba and her support for the soldiers in the war. They also saw some displays about Indigenous people and the history of  Healesville Sanctuary. The students had a wonderful time learning many new things, including how buildings and technology have changed.

 

Toy Museum

In Inquiry this week, the F/1/2 students explored many old toys over time. We had a special box from the Melbourne Museum that came with many old toys, including a Rubik's cube, spinning tops, quarts, marbles and more. The students explored and learned about these old toys and got to play with some of them. Next week we will be researching facts about the toys!

Car Making

Last week in Inquiry, the F/1/2 students were excited to expand their thinking skills and create a car using recycled materials. This activity aimed to look at and learn how materials can be repurposed and made into something new. The students had to work with a partner and determine what materials they needed to use and how they could use them. It was amazing to see so many beautiful creations! Some of the cars still need to be painted.

Inquiry Presentation Afternoon

We have made a lot and learned a lot this term in Inquiry, and we were hoping you could come and see all the awesome things we have done!! We want to invite parents and family to come along on Wednesday, June 26th, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. The presentation will happen in the grade 1/2 classroom. As parents and other visitors are just viewing the children’s work, a Working With Children Card is not required. Parents and families will need to sign in via the office. Please arrive early to avoid the queue. 

 

The F/1/2 students are not required to stay past 3 pm. We want to keep everything out until 3:30 pm for any family members who cannot make it before school pick-up. We hope to see you there!

Grade 1/2 Handwriting

The grade 1/2 students have been working so hard at producing neat handwriting! Here are some great photos of how focused they are!!

 

They have also been excitedly sharing their adventures to Lilydale by writing about their recent excursion. Check out their writing below.

Foundation- Maths 

This week, the Foundations have been learning about numbers 0-20, mainly how the numbers can be represented on a tens frame. (A tens frame looks like a table with ten squares.) Here are some examples of students representing numbers on a tens frame.

Religion - Exploring the story of Noah's Ark

Here are some beautiful stories of the F/1/2 students engaging with the story Noah's Ark! The F/1/2 students enjoy listening to the Bible stories in the form of a 'Godly Play'. A 'Godly Play' is a bible story told using unique materials. It is like acting out a story. The kids love it, and it gives them a chance to wonder about and think about the message behind the story. After the story, the students created their own Noah's Ark artwork. 

Homework

A big thank you to you all for your continued support with homework at home. We are grateful for your patience, continued engagement with readers, and the tricky words sent home. The collaboration between school and home is really beneficial for students' overall learning and development. 

 

Each Monday, we ask that the students bring their homework folders and place them in the tubs for teachers and LSOs to change their readers. Students will receive three books for the week. This is because students develop reading fluency by reading the same texts. Students only need to read one book a night. 

 

Simone Traynor, our Literacy Leader, shared some helpful tips for reading with your child in a newsletter last term: How to read Decodable Readers  with your child:

  1. Practise sounds.  Most books have letter sounds to practise at the beginning or at the back of the book.  Practise reading these ‘with speed’.Children need to know these sounds to read the book.
  2. Practise ‘tricky words’ There will also be some irregular words which might be called ‘heart words’ or ‘tricky words’. These words cannot be sounded out yet, and need to be learned ‘by heart’.  Practise these before starting.
  3. When your child is stuck, pause.  They may need time to say the sounds and blend them together. After about 3 seconds, you may need to use a prompt:
  4. Some prompts you can use:
    1. Say the sounds (pointing to each of the spellings in the word) and read the word
    2. Slide your finger along, under the whole word
    3. “Did that sentence make sense? Let’s read it again”.

And for longer words:

  1. Read one syllable at a time eg pic nic
  2. Find  the base first and then add prefixes and suffixes  eg un comfort able
  3. When your child is finished reading the book, you can ask them questions.  These are usually found at the back of the book.
  4. Your child should read this book 3-4 times over the week to build their fluency.  The first read might be quite laboured as they take time to decode the words but each subsequent read should become quicker until they are reading their text with pace and expression.
  5. If you child is reluctant to read, try doing a Buddy Read where you take turns to read a page each.

Watch this video to see an example of Home Reading

 

Tricky words are sent home for students to practice recognising. Tricky words are words that cannot be sounded out when they are; they don't sound right. Grade 1/2 students will have these words to practice writing in a little book.