St James Learning and Teaching 

SPORT

On Thursday 1st August our senior girls Soccer Team competed at the Beachside Soccer competition. The team qualified for this competition in April when they won the Holt District Soccer Tournament. There were 6 teams in total. St James was in Pool B. We played Loreto and Galilee. We drew our first game and lost our second game 2-1. Both games were very well contested with the ball being in our attacking end for a majority of both games. 

A huge thank you to Susan and Gianni for doing a fabulous job of coaching the team. 

Friday 2nd August students took part in a mini olympics tabloid sports session. A huge thank you to our Sport Leaders- Nic, Ava N, Evie R, Cami and Ethan K for organising each of the sports, setting up and packing up, organising and handing out medals to each student. The students participated in basketball, tennis, skateboarding and potato sack races, soccer and relays. 

On Friday 9th August all of our senior students will take part in Hoop Time. Students during PE and sport sessions have been taking part in basketball skills and games to prepare them for this day as well as create the teams. Students are divided into 3 categories of teams -

All Stars -students who play representative basketball or a high level domestic team. 

Future Stars -who play domestic level basketball and Rookies -who do not play basketball. Good luck to all year 5 and 6 students. 

Mrs Georgia McNamara

Deputy Principal - Sport Co-Ordinator/ Senior Physical Education Teacher

MATHS  &  STEM

THE AUSTRALIAN MATHEMATICS COMPETITION  

This week, students in Years 3-6 had the opportunity to participate in the Australian Mathematics Competition. This competition allowed students to develop their problem solving skills and challenge their Mathematical thinking. Congratulations to all students who participated. Results and certificates will be shared soon.

All students will participate in the next round of the Bebras Group Challenge at the start of next term.

FAMILY MATHS AFTERNOON 

On Friday the 30th of August, we invite all families to come to our St James Family Maths Afternoon. This will be an opportunity for you to learn some new Maths games that you can play with your family to develop your child’s number and mathematical skills. Further information will be shared via Operoo soon.

To support you in playing these games at home, we have Dr Paul Swan’s Essential Maths Packs available. Thank you to all families who have already completed the Operoo indicating if they would like to purchase a Maths Pack. If you have yet to complete the Operoo, please do this by tomorrow, Friday the 9th of August, so that we can place the order. 

The Maths Packs will be available to collect at the Family Maths Afternoon and payment can be made by card on the day.

SCIENCE WEEK

Next week we will be celebrating Science Week. As mentioned in the previous newsletter, we will have lots of special events and activities where all students will have the opportunity to engage in Science and build their creativity, problem solving skills and teamwork. As well as tasks within the classroom we will also have lunchtime activities and incursions:

Monday - Guess the animal noise competition

Tuesday - Nudel Kart Incursion and Sphero race

Wednesday - STEM Club

Thursday - Reptile Encounters Incursion

Friday - Wear a touch of Science and Animal Design Expo

A reminder that on Friday all students are invited to wear something that relates to Science. This could be a lab coat and glasses, an astronaut or something space related, a fictional Science character, a doctor with a stethoscope, their favourite animal or anything else that your child may think of that relates to Science. This does not have to be a full costume but just a ‘touch of Science’ so please do not spend a lot of time or money on a costume. 

We look forward to sharing our experiences from Science Week with you.

Miss Bridie Slater

Maths & STEM Leader

LIBRARY

Book Week is fast approaching. We have lots of exciting activities planned. This year’s Author, the highly esteemed- Morris Gleitzman will be visiting Years 3-6 on Tuesday the 20th of August. He will be talking about his award-winning books and writing principles. Children are invited to bring along copies of his books for him to sign.

If you would like to purchase one of his books prior to the event, please see the link below on how and when to order.

The Younger Sun is excited to give the school community the opportunity to purchase books by this great writer.

How do I do this? Simply follow the links to our website as provided below, place your orders 2 weeks before the  event for which we have also noted the relevant dates as a reminder.

All of the books will be delivered to your school!

What Information do you need to provide? In the Notes section please provide the name of your School, the child’s name and the class number.

But what Method of delivery do I choose? Please choose Click and Collect. Do not worry, you will not be expected to Click and Collect. We will make sure your ordered books are delivered to the school as long as you  fill in the Notes section with the information requested above. 

My Book is not in stock? Relax we will get it.

For Morris Gleitzman 

(event on 20th August with orders due by 10th August )

See Morris Gleitzman books here: https://sunbookshop.com/search/~/search_morris%20gleitzman

See our website here: https://sunbookshop.com/

Friday 23rd August is our  Annual Book Week parade. This year the theme is Reading is Magic. So come dressed as your favourite magical character. Younger children, siblings and our Kinder friends are encouraged to join in the fun!

All St James children are now registered and have received a login and password from the class teacher. Children in the  junior school are encouraged to listen to their parents read books from the reading list and have conversations about the text. As the competition progresses parents are encouraged to help their children read together. 

The Victorian Government has carefully curated a long list of rich texts for young readers. Please see the booklist attached for books. 

Progress of the challenge will be celebrated in fortnightly assemblies and newsletters. 

The challenge runs all the way to September and is very attainable for all children. 

Children need to read:

Prep to Year 2

• Number of books: 30
• Number of books from the Challenge book list: 20 or more

Year 3 to Year 6

• Number of books: 15
• Number of books from the Challenge book list: 10 or more

Most of the books you read should be from the Challenge book lists. The rest can be any book you choose.

You can read books on the book list for your year level or a level above and they'll count towards your Challenge total. You should check with your teachers or parents if you're not in years 9 or 10 and want to read a book from that list. This list includes titles for mature readers.

You can read a book from a level below your year level if your teacher agrees. You still need to read the number of books for your year level to meet the Challenge.

Your teacher will give you a Challenge username and passcode. You should find this in your child’s diary or magic words book where other passwords are located. 

If you lose or forget your Challenge passcode,please  ask or email  Mrs joplin  at ajoplin@stjamesbrighton.catholic.edu.au to generate a new one for you.

1. Go to the Challenge application.
2. Select the School/Student button.
3. Select the VPRC login option.
4. Enter your username and password.
5. Select Login.

The dashboard is your main workspace as you progress through the Challenge.

At the top of the dashboard are gemstone badges. These are grey when you start your Challenge. They change to green as you progress through the Challenge.

Below the badges is a green bar. This shows you how many days are left until the end of the Challenge.

There are also two progress wheels that show:

• what your Challenge target is
• how many Challenge or Choice books you have finished or had verified.

Your reading list shows the books you have added and finished reading.

As you add more books to your reading list, the application will learn the kinds of books you like to read. It will recommend other books by:

• genre
• author
• series
• subject

Books other students at your school and across Victoria are reading appear on the Trending books list.

The side menu lets you:

• see your Profile Details and add an avatar
• see all the book reviews you have written
• search for books you would like to add to your reading list.

A big Congratulations to Olivia, Audrey, Lucia, Poppy and Elly who have been very busy over the past 2 weeks reading. A special shout out to Tia, Megan and Peyton who are hot on the tails of our leaders. Many students have been hard at work, reading an extraordinary number of books! Well Done to everyone! Don't forget to keep adding your books to the challenge. You still have 30 days left!

Let’s get reading!!

Mrs Mandi Joplin

Teacher Librarian

Year 2

Mrs Cathy Busch

Year 2 Teacher