PRIMARY (F-6)

School Leaders Report - Kara and Emma

Happy end of week 4 families, what a start! We’re almost halfway through the term already - time does fly when you’re having fun!

Kara and I were incredibly impressed with our primary students and their skillful talents at our swimming sports and water play day. Thank you for helping our students be successful; dressed in their house colours, towels, shoes and attitudes to doing their best.

We welcome families to our next assembly on March 3 (Week 6), this will be led by some of our Year 6 leaders and Ivy’s Year 6 class. We will meet in the Black Box, beginning at approximately 9:05am after Pastoral Group.

A reminder that students are still required to wear hats for the remainder of Term 1 as we have still got some hot days com. Please help your child name their hat so it comes back to them if it momentarily disappears. It's also a good idea to check on drink bottles - these sometimes grow legs and run away too!

We are looking forward to another fabulous fortnight and will be excited to share with you in the next newsletter.

- Emma

WATER FANTASTIC DAY! 

While the Year 5-12 students had fun at the Swimming Carnival this week, the Foundation to Year 4 students didn’t miss out on the opportunity to cool down. The students were treated to a high-energy water play afternoon full of awesome water-themed activities. Smiling from ear to ear, the student’s joy was absolutely infectious as they participated in the various activities.

The Foundation to Year 6 students and staff gathered last week for the first ever Primary School Assembly. It was fantastic to see family members watching on as students shared what they have been learning during the first weeks of Term 1. 

Principal Mr Butts congratulated the students on sitting and listening so well. He also highlighted the importance of the Year 6 students who are the leaders of the Primary School and said they had begun the year as incredibly respectful and responsible leaders.

The assembly was also a great chance to welcome new students and congratulate all year levels on a fantastic start to the school year.

The Year 3-6 students excitedly asked lots of questions when four members of the North Melbourne AFL team came to visit St Anne’s College last week.

Roos players Aidan Corr, Finn O’Sullivan, Dylan Stephens and local lad Matt Whitlock spent a session answering the many and varied questions from the students.

Questions ranged from the player’s favourite shoe brands to how many goals they have kicked in one game.

The players shared lots of insights into their careers which for Finn and Matt, have only just begun.

Matt, and his twin brother Jack, were both successful in the recent AFL draft after starting their football career right here in Shepparton.

Thank you to the players for sharing their time with the students and potentially igniting the flame for some future football stars! 

The Year 6 students are getting to know their Foundation buddies. The Year 6 students will spend time guiding their buddies through their first year of school. 

Having buddies is a fantastic way to develop relationships and support the Foundation students and for our Year 6 students to develop their leadership skills and sense of responsibility. 

We look forward to showcasing the buddies sharing special moments together throughout the school year. 

Cricket Victoria - NE Country is offering students in Year 3,4 and 5 classes (girls) a free Cricket Program.

The clinic will run on Wednesday's from 3.30-4.30pm for 4 weeks in February.

(Wednesday Feb 5, Wednesday Feb 12, Wednesday Feb 19 and Wednesday Feb 26)

 Register here: https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/register/759fc5

The Foundation students have enjoyed going to STEAM, PE, Performing Arts and library. Students have been building houses for the 3 Little Pigs in STEAM and learning songs in Performing Arts. They have started borrowing books from the library. Nikea’s class borrow on Mondays and Glenice’s class borrows on Tuesdays. 

Students had a great time participating in the swimming activity day and enjoyed a few races to gain points for their houses.  

Year 1 students have been engaging with the texts Josephine Wants to Dance and Sam and Tom Dig a Hole in InitiaLit, while also learning about digraphs (“two letters making one sound”) and tricky words. 

In mathematics, they have been exploring data representation using tally marks and pictographs and are now beginning to focus on counting and place value, specifically ones and tens.

We have also loved collaborating with the Year 2 students in our inquiry unit, Who We Are – Making Healthy Choices for Ourselves and Our Environment. Last week, our focus was on "Leave No Trace," and this week, we have been exploring healthy habits.

Literacy:

Our Year 2 students have been diving into their InitiaLit lessons, building confidence with routines and expectations. In Spelling, they’ve been exploring different ways to spell the /ī/, /oo/ and /ū/ sounds, distinguishing between long and short vowels, and learning how the ‘bossy e’ transforms words. In Comprehension, they’ve been uncovering the features of informative texts while learning fascinating facts about kookaburras. Grammar lessons have focused on identifying common and proper nouns, and during our Storybook session, students have enjoyed reading Willy the Wimp, sparking discussions about resilience and confidence. It’s been fantastic to see their enthusiasm and growing skills!

Mathematics:

Over the past few weeks, our Year 2 students have been deepening their understanding of place value by exploring three-digit numbers through concrete, pictorial, and abstract representations. Using base ten blocks, ten-sided dice, number charts, number lines and place value charts, they have been learning to represent numbers, identify the value of each digit, compare and order numbers, and locate them on a number line. Students have also practised reading and writing three-digit numbers in words and numerals, recognising patterns in number charts and partitioning and regrouping numbers up to 1000. It has been fantastic to see their confidence grow as they apply these skills in different contexts. We look forward to starting our next topic 'Time' in the coming week!

Inquiry:

Our Year 2 students have been exploring Who We Are – Making Healthy Choices for Ourselves and Our Environment alongside the Year 1s. Last week, we discussed ‘leave no trace’, reflecting on how our actions impact our surroundings and others. This week, we explored how daily choices like sleep, healthy eating, exercise and hygiene contribute to wellbeing. It’s been great to see the Year 2 students making real-life connections to their learning while being positive role models and leaders for their Year 1 buddies!

Mathematics: 

In Year 3/4 Mathematics children have been exploring addition and subtraction fact families and learning how to extend their understanding of these number relationships.

Literacy: 

Children have continued their study of the novel Matilda and have begun writing their own narratives. They have designed a character and setting, using these elements to write a well-structured orientation for their stories.

Inquiry: 

Children have been exploring how identity can be expressed through the arts. Some students chose to create collages to represent their identity, while others choreographed a series of movements to convey their personal expression.

I included things that I like, like ice cream and pictures of my family. I also included some words that describe me like creativity and kindness - By Willow 

For my collage, I created a soccer pitch because I really enjoy playing and watching soccer - By Louis

I drew the stars in my favourite colours, I drew myself reading as it is my favourite thing to do and I also included a love heart to show the love I have for everyone - By Menley 

Year 5 students have settled into their new learning space and routines as a year cohort well. After lunch everyday we come in and have some mindful colouring time while listening to calming music. We have established job responsibilities in the classroom to help keep our learning space looking as good as it did on day one. As a class we decided on naming these occupations that they link with. Our responsibilities are; Timetabler, Electrician, Cleaner, Removalist, Gardener, Technician, Organiser and Prayer Monitor. If you ask your child they will be able to explain to you what each of these roles are responsible for.  

RE: Why is Prayer Important?

Our theme this term for RE is 'Why is Prayer Important?'. We have explored all the ways we each experience prayer in our own lives, what it looks like for the Jewish community and how we might interpret prayer. This week we looked at ‘Our Father’ and created illustrations of what the prayer meant to each of us. 

Maths: Factors and Multiples

This past week we have started to expand our maths vocabulary and have learnt the meaning of words like; factors, multiples, product. We are learning how to use arrays to explain what the multiples and factors of a product are. Today we explored this using a hundreds chart and with counters and blocks. 

Class Novel: War Horse

This term the Year 5 students are reading the novel War Horse by Michael in class. So far we have been introduced to the characters Joey, who is a horse that is telling the story, Albert, Captain Nichols and Topthorn. We have discovered and discussed that this story took place during World War I back in 1914, which we all think is a really long time ago as it is more than 100 years ago. We have also discovered that horses had a different role back then as there were not cars and trucks like today. 

We have begun planning and writing a narrative piece about an animal ourselves. Using the narrative story planning mountain and working on Tier 2 vocabulary which improves our writing for the reader. 

Year 6’s Learn About Safer Internet Day 

Last week on 11 February it was Safer Internet Day. Safer Internet Day is about learning how to be safer on the internet. We watched a video that was about how you shouldn’t have lots of time online and how you can be hacked. Near the start, it showed there was someone that was told they posted a bad photo of her friend on her page but she said she didn’t do it. Later she checks her page and she sees the insulting photo of her and her friends posted hurtful comments. Then her Dad knocks on the door and comes in to comfort her. Given that she has been hacked it showed that they needed to have a class session to learn more about online safely. They also showed 2 people called Joel and Dean that were playing games and they don’t know each other outside of the game, not even their real names. Dean leaves to help out around the house and Joel gets angry. He has to find something to do so he leaves his room. After he left he found his Mum in the kitchen and she asked him if he was playing. Then he lied and said he was doing his homework. Later they both play and it is 3am. Dean gets asked to get off the game and Joel gets disappointed and hits the desk. His Mum asked what happened and he said bad dream. The next day at school Dean falls asleep and his friends say he shouldn’t play so much. This shows the negative impact of too much screen time and playing at inappropriate times. We also discussed the potential dangers of playing with strangers online. 

By Henry Campanelli

Class Novel: A Ghost in my Suitcase

This year the Year 6’s will be studying lots of different novels. Our first novel we are reading this year is ‘A Ghost in My Suitcase’ by Gabrielle Wang. This story follows twelve-year-old Celeste, a half French, half Chinese girl on a visit to China to spread her mother's ashes on Mount Mystery. While in China, Celeste spends time with her grandmother Por Por. When Celeste first arrives in China she finds out that Por Por has adopted a girl Celeste’s age named Ting Ting. While with Por Por and Ting Ting, strange things keep happening and Celeste discovers an incredible family secret. Por Por teaches her how to use her rare and powerful gift. This story is interesting and thrilling and our Year 6 class is looking forward to reading more about Celeste’s adventures. This story is all about family history which we are learning about this term. This term we will be writing our own persuasive texts about why we think knowing your family history is important or not.

By Lucy Taylor

ITALIAN

Foundation

This term we have been having lots of fun learning how to say different greetings in Italian such as 'ciao', 'bongiorno' and how to introduce yourself with 'mi chiamo'. We have also been learning how to say our colours through songs and games.

Year 3/4 

We have been having lots of fun in Year 3/4 by getting into the spirit of Carnival. The students have been astounded by the amazing costumes, masks and traditions Italians participate in as part of their Carnival celebrations which are held before the beginning of  Lent. During this Term, we have also been learning how to describe ourselves - how long our hair is, our interests such as what games we like to play and our favourite colour and how to say this in Italian.

Year 5

This Term we have begun to learn the vocabulary needed to describe the features of a house such as the names for different rooms such as ‘camera del lotto/bedroom’  and 'il bagno/the bathroom' as well as the names for the types of abodes you can live in such as a ‘fattoria/farm’ or ‘villeta/villa’. We have explored the amazing variety of homes you can find in Italy and discussed the unique and beautiful architecture found from its coastlines through to the beautiful Palazzo's and smallest villages. Students have used this inspiration to begin designing their dream home which they will label and describe in the Italian language. 

Year 6

We have begun learning new vocabulary to describe our hobbies which will lead into students creating a video where they create a song and performance in Italian language, inspired by Gioca Jour by Claudio Cecchetto, a music video that is considered a cultural touchstone in Italy and became popular around the world.

VISUAL ART

The Year 3 /4 students have learned all about the artist Matisse and his approach to collage. Using nature as his inspiration, Matisse was at the forefront of using collage to reflect the world around him and sought to bring nature into his home, Matisse  said that he ‘painted with scissors’. Using both Matisse’s style and inspiration, we are learning to ‘paint with scissors’ by creating organic shapes and natural scenes using paper.

We remind all that the college opens at 8:30am. This enables educators time to prepare for their day ahead. We appreciate your support in helping our educators be successful. Yard duty staff begin at 8:30am to monitor play spaces before the school day begins at 8:55am.

Upcoming Dates:

Please ensure you monitor the calendar on PAM for up-to-date activities and events.

February 26 - Foundation Rest Day

February 28 - School Photos

March 4 - Bravehearts Ditto F-2

March 5 - Foundation Rest Day (final one)

March 7 - Student Free Day

March 10 - Public Holiday - no school

March 21 - Harmony Day 

April 4 - Last day of Term 1