Learning & Teaching 

TERM 3 TEACHING AND LEARNING 

As we end another term, we must stop and reflect on the wonderful learning experiences. I am very grateful for each moment we spent together learning and celebrating. The dedication and commitment of teachers, families, and students have made this term a genuinely enriching experience.

This past term was filled with fun, curiosity, discovery, and countless learning opportunities and community events. Look at all the learning opportunities we have had this term. 

• Foundation Zoo Excursion 
• Year 3 to 6 Scienceworks Excursion 
• 100 Days of Foundation
• Year 1/2 and 3/4 Engineers Without Borders Incursion
• Year 1/2 CERES Incursion  
• Year 5/6 Fire Education Session  
• Year 3 to Year 6 CyberSafety sessions
• Experience Music Recital 
• STEM MAD
• Father’s Day activities 
• Science Week experiments 
• Book Week Author Visit and Parade 
• Spelling Bee Competition
• National Week Against Bullying activities 

These excursions, incursions, and celebrations were part of the more extensive teaching and learning programs teachers planned each week for our core subject areas of Literacy, Numeracy, STEM, Sport, Italian, Visual Arts, The Resilience Project, Inquiry, Discovery, and Religious Education. 

Our celebration of learning sessions allowed you to see our students' work; they were excited to share and reflect on their knowledge with an authentic audience. I hope you saw some of our fantastic learning at the celebration of learning sessions. 

Wishing you a wonderful and safe holiday.

LITERACY NEWS - Bernadette Parnis

Book Fair Update

Thank you for supporting the Book Fair last month! Your generosity has earned St. Fidelis $650 in Scholastic reward dollars. This invaluable contribution will benefit our students as we continue enhancing our literacy resources.

Tips for weekly spellings

Struggling to make learning those tricky spelling words fun? Try turning spelling practice into engaging activities to help your child master their words. Following are some simple but effective ways to learn spelling words at home that are fun and engaging.

Spelling Tips

Hidden Words

Write the words from your child's spelling list hidden within a jumble of letters. For example:

• sfhplayknc – play
• qrubitpdh – bit
• nvbikejfa – bike

Ask your child to find and highlight each hidden word. As their vocabulary grows, you can make it more challenging by splitting the words into parts.

Hangman

Play Hangman with your child's weekly spelling words, mixing in a few from previous weeks to keep things interesting. It’s a great way to reinforce spelling while having fun.

Silly Sentences

Create a silly sentence using as many words from the spelling list as possible. For example: "The boy took his book across the room but got his foot stuck in a hoop." Challenge your child to write the sentence.

Over-Pronunciation

Help your child with tricky spellings by over-pronouncing parts of the word. Emphasise unusual parts like:

• Wed-nes-day
• bus-i-ness
• hopp-ed
• diff-er-ent
• lib-r-ary

Spelling Bingo

Revamp the classic Bingo game by using your child’s spelling words. Write some of the words on bingo boards, draw words from a bag, and cover the corresponding boxes. When someone gets Bingo, review the spelling words and have fun.

Write the Words

Encourage your child to write their spelling words several times. The physical act of writing helps reinforce memory and letter recognition more effectively than typing. Add to the challenge by having your child alphabetise the words. Alternatively, use alphabet magnets or Scrabble tiles to spell out each word. 

Use a Highlighter

Make use of a highlighter to spotlight tricky parts of words. For example, highlight the 'ei' in "receive" to help your child remember the spelling. This visual aid can be very supportive.

Spelling Pairs

Create a matching game with pairs of spelling words. Shuffle the cards and place them face down. Players take turns finding pairs, and if they can spell a word correctly, they keep the pair.

Mnemonic Magic

Invent silly mnemonics to remember tricky spellings. For example, use "Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants" to remember "because."

Play It Back

Record your child spelling out each word on a smartphone or tablet. When practising, have them listen to their own recording and write down the words. 

Race Against the Clock

Introduce a competitive edge by timing your child as they write their spelling words. Keep track of their scores and challenge them to beat their personal best each day.

Online Games

Explore online spelling games. Some games allow you to input and record your own. I completed an online search and found a number listed below. These are simply suggestions, so please check which one is suitable for your child. 

https://www.homespellingwords.com/spelling-games

https://www.spellingcity.com/spelling-games-vocabulary-games.html

https://www.turtlediary.com/games/spelling.html

https://www.spellingtraining.com/

https://www.education.com/games/spelling/

https://freetech4teach.teachermade.com/2010/03/wacky-web-tales-fun-tales-for-kids/

These strategies not only make learning spellings more engaging but also help solidify your child’s spelling skills. Happy spelling!

Reading and writing during the holidays

Reading

Last but not least, a reminder that the holidays are a great time to get into the local library and borrow books to read at home. Often various activities are scheduled over the school holiday period.

Writing 

A great way to get children to write during the holidays is to make it purposeful. Encourage your child to write a letter to friends and extended family members, or keep a journal of activities of day to day. Enjoy reading and writing during the holidays.

Wishing you all a safe and restful break. 

Bernadette 

NUMERACY NEWS - Colleen Monaghan

As the term comes to a close, I am outlining the time skills from the Victorian Curriculum that your children will be assessed on. While some classes have already covered time, others will begin exploring it next term. If you're looking for ways to support your child over the break, these ideas may be helpful.

Reading an analog clock can be challenging for many students, as digital time is more commonly seen in everyday life. By focusing on the listed skills and engaging in the suggested activities, you can help your children improve their understanding of time in line with the Victorian Curriculum.

Foundation (Prep)

• Skills to Focus On:
  • Naming the days of the week in order.
  • Connecting specific activities to the time of day (morning, afternoon, night).
  • Using language such as "yesterday," "today," and "tomorrow."

Activities:

• Practice saying the days of the week and discuss what happens on each day.
• Talk about daily routines and relate them to morning, afternoon, and evening (e.g., "We have breakfast in the morning").

Year 1

• Skills to Focus On:
  • Telling time to the half-hour on both analog and digital clocks.
  • Reading and writing the time for o’clock and half-past times.

Activities:

• Help children read digital and analog clocks when it’s an o’clock or half-past.
• Play time-matching games (e.g., matching a clock's face to a digital time).

Year 2

• Skills to Focus On:
  • Telling time to the quarter-hour, including 'quarter past' and 'quarter to.'
  • Understanding the duration of activities (e.g., how long a TV show lasts).

Activities:

• Set challenges where the child must find "quarter past" or "quarter to" on an analog clock.
• Talk about how long things take, such as the length of a game or trip.

Year 3

• Skills to Focus On:
  • Telling time to the nearest minute on analog and digital clocks.
  • Converting between units of time (e.g., minutes to hours, hours to days).
  • Understanding time durations and calculating how long events last.

Activities:

• Practice telling time down to the minute on both analog and digital clocks.
• Solve time problems like “If we leave at 10:15 AM and arrive at 10:45 AM, how long was the journey?”

Year 4

• Skills to Focus On:
  • Reading clocks and calendars, including converting between 12-hour and 24-hour time.
  • Calculating elapsed time (how much time has passed from one event to another).

Activities:

• Practice converting 12-hour times into 24-hour time (e.g., 1:00 PM = 13:00).
• Set time problems like “How much time has passed from 9:15 AM to 2:45 PM?”

Year 5 & 6

• Skills to Focus On:
  • Solving complex problems involving time, including calculating duration, starting and finishing times, and reading timetables.
  • Understanding the relationship between different units of time (seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks).

Activities:

• Use public transport timetables to solve real-world problems like “What time do we need to leave to catch the 3:45 PM train?”
• Create word problems involving calculating durations and start/finish times.

I hope you find these helpful. 

Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday.

See you in Term 4.

Colleen Monaghan 

PE & SPORTS NEWS - Michael Jennings

Interschool Sport: Softball

The St Fidelis girls' and boys' Softball Teams played their Coburg District Finals against Pascoe Vale and Pascoe Vale South, respectively, on Friday, September 13.

Our teams performed extremely well against very tough opposition. Our players made many highlights during the matches, but unfortunately, both teams were defeated.

The players should feel very proud of their efforts. Congratulations on successful seasons.

INM Division Athletics Carnival

The following students qualified to represent the Coburg District at the INM Division Athletics Carnival held at the Meadowglen Athletics Track on Wednesday, 11 September 2024:

Congratulations to all our representatives who performed remarkably well at this level of competition. Our relay team did their best time and had great changeovers. Savannah had a personal best, improving on her previous best jump by over 30cm. Christian narrowly missed 3rd place. Violet beat her best 800m run by over 1 minute.

Special mention to Zita and Mia on qualifying in 1st and 2nd positions in their events to compete at the forthcoming Northern Metropolitan Athletics Championships, which will be held in Term 4 on Wednesday, October 16, 2024, at Meadowglen Athletics Track.

AFL Clinics

YEAR 3/4

Our Year 3/4 students participated in their 3rd Australian Rules clinics conducted by a qualified coach on Friday. Funding for these programs is provided through the Sporting Schools Funding Program.

Final clinic date: Friday, 20 September

Times: 10.00am & 11.40am

Once again, in Term 4, St Fidelis was fortunate to receive funding to conduct cricket clinics for our Year 3/4 students. Dates to be advised.

STEM NEWS - Joe Frazzetto

St. Fidelis Shines at the STEM MAD Showcase

On Tuesday, September 10th, 2024, fifteen St. Fidelis students had the incredible opportunity to showcase their talents as innovators and designers at the STEM MAD Showcase. They did an outstanding job presenting their ideas to the judges and even became radio stars during the event!

The day was a huge success, and I couldn't be prouder of each student. The 15 students who pitched and presented their prototypes were indeed in their element. You could see their learning in action, and many of you probably heard them explaining their projects live on the radio - a memorable experience for all of us! 

The best part was seeing the students beaming with pride, knowing they had created something unique and innovative. The excitement peaked when the winners were announced, and once again, St. Fidelis was in the spotlight! 

Two out of our four groups took home awards. Congratulations to Zara, Gemma, Anthony T, and Alexander H for winning with their EaziPour prototype and pitch. For the first time, we had another winning group as well! Congratulations to Zita, Estelle, and Poppy for their winning prototype and pitch, The HomeFloat*. What a fantastic achievement for our students! Check out some photos, including a feature with Allan Raskall from Channel 9.

Foundation Students Explore Mars with Tale-Bots in STEM

Our Foundation students have been busy using the new Tale-Bots to explore the mysteries of Mars! Through coding and creative problem-solving, they designed their own missions, including navigating the planet and collecting rock samples. One of their key challenges was to rescue two Mars astronauts whose oxygen was about to run out—an exciting mission that required precise coding to guide the Tale-Bots to success. Check out this video clip of our young coders in action!

ITALIAN NEWS - Rosa Fokianos

BUONGIORNO!    

Salve a tutti! (Hello to everyone!)  Wow! We have finally reached the final week of Term 3! As usual, it certainly has been a busy one. I thought it would be nice to include in today’s article, a brief overview of what the children have covered in Italian this term.

Foundation have been learning about le parti del corpo - body parts through the story of Pinocchio as well as revising colori, numeri, (0-10) and introducing some aggettivi,  (adjectives), related to size, eg. grande, piccolo, e lungo.

Year 1/2 have been learning about Cosa fai a scuola? (What do you do at school?), with a verbi, (verbs) focus. As well as revision of l'alfabeto, e numeri (0-21). They also learnt about bullismo (anti bullying) and of course discussed and made a Festa del Papà (Father’s day) card for all the father’s and father figures, (as did all my F-6 Italian classes). 

Grade 3/4 has been introduced to an updated Victorian DET online language programme called Languages Online. This programme has already been used to revise concepts being taught in the classroom, e.g., saluti e numeri (greetings, introductions, and numbers 0-31). They have also learnt i giorni della settimana e i mesi dell’anno (days of the week and the months of the year) and have used the information in past, present, and future tenses.  

Grade5/6 have continued learning about Italia, its regions, and compass bearings. Each child chose a region to research. By the end of the term, the children were asked to present their regional research including, its capoluogo (capital city), neighbouring regions or countries, regional map, flag, famous landmarks, famous people, dialects, food, festivals and any other interesting facts. 

Bravissimi ragazzi! Well done to all the children from F-6 this term for their great learning in italiano. I hope whatever you have learnt, you will keep revising or store your newfound knowledge for perhaps a trip to Italy one day! 😀

Speaking about Italy, I mentioned last week that I will be including in today’s article information about something that is happening in Melbourne that has an Italian theme. Well…  during the last weekend of the coming term holidays (october 5th and 6th), the Annual Melbourne Italian Festa (MIF24) is being held at the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton. This is the second year that this is happening here at its new location, (it used to be down in Lygon Street). There will be lots of things to see and do at the festa including, face painting, Italian language activities, participating in soccer games, dance workshops, magic shows, eating some buonissimo Italian food, as well as dancing and listening to various performers. 

This year, for the first time ever, there will be an Italian children's concert titled "Zecchino d'Oro" in Australia. For 65 years in Italy, "Zecchino d'Oro" has united generations and celebrated Italy's rich culture through songs and music. You can watch over 400 primary school children from throughout Victoria, singing at this concert on the indoor stage:  sabato (Saturday) at 4:00pm e domenica (Sunday) at 11:30am. Perhaps next year if the Festa organisers decide to have a concert again, our school could send our choir to sing as well?

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone buone vacanze, (happy holidays) and look forward to seeing you all rested and ready for our last term of the year!

Fino al prossimo trimestre … Until next term!

Saluti da signora Rosa 🌹

ITALIAN SCHOOL HOLIDAY WORKSHOPS…

Date: Thursday, 26 September

Time: (Ages 3-6) 10am-11:30am

(Ages 7-12) 12 pm-3 pm

Price:  (Ages 3-6) $30

 (Ages 7-12) $55

Location: CO.AS.IT. 199 Faraday Street Carlton

Spring has sprung, so come and immerse your child in the enchanting world of spring-themed Italian art and language with our exciting workshops inspired by Sandro Botticelli’s "La Primavera." Each workshop will be conducted in both English and Italian and teach children a variety of different art techniques they can then use at home.

The Italian vocabulary used will teach children words and phrases themed around Spring, Flowers, Animals, and Art. Each workshop will introduce children to Botticelli and his famous artworks. Don’t miss this unique opportunity for your child to explore Italian art and language in a fun and engaging environment. Spaces are limited, so secure your child's spot today!

AGES 3-6

Spring Painting with Vegetables

$30

Thursday 26 September | 10am -11:30am

In this session, children will paint vibrant spring landscapes using vegetables as stamps, all while being introduced to basic Italian language. They’ll also learn about Botticelli and his artwork La Primavera and enjoy storybook readings and additional activities. All art materials are provided. Children will also receive an activity booklet to take home.

We ask that children bring along an art smock or apron.

AGES 7-12

Recreate ‘La Primavera’ by Botticelli

$55

Thursday 26 September | 12 pm-3:00 pm

Children aged 7-12 will learn about the history and significance of Botticelli and ‘La Primavera’, then dive into hands-on activities. They’ll create their own version of "La Primavera" using multiple techniques including the spolvero technique used to paint frescoes, as well as oil pastels, and fine markers. They’ll then get creative by making vibrant flowers with crepe paper, which can be used to decorate their artwork or made into a wearable flower necklace. All art materials are provided. Children will also receive an activity booklet to take home. We ask that children bring along an art smock or apron

CONTACT CO.AS.IT ASAP FOR REGISTRATION  

(03) 9349 9000