St Brendan's Primary School

Learning and Teaching

Hello, St Brendan’s community. I hope you are all keeping well and enjoying the last warm days before autumn sets in. 

 

In my previous newsletter piece, I discussed the new approaches to Literacy we are undertaking at St Brendan’s, by following a Structured Literacy approach, as we encompass our new school theme of ' Learning and Teaching the St Brendan’s Way’. With structured literacy, teachers introduce new concepts and skills logically. They teach in an explicit way that fully explains concepts and skills. Teachers also continually check in on students’ understanding.

 

All students, each day will participate in:

  • Daily Review 
  • Spelling (either phonics, MSL or Spelling Mastery)
  • Phonemic Awareness
  • Fluency Reading
  • Explicit Writing
  • Comprehension through rich texts.

Daily Reviews

In the classroom, Daily Reviews occur at the beginning of Literacy and Mathematics blocks. It is a 15-minute routine involving fast-paced learning where students give choral responses or written responses on a mini-whiteboard to previously learned material. Daily review strengthens previous learning and can lead to a fluent recall. Reviewing previously learned content daily strengthens the neural connections over time that are necessary for developing expertise, and supporting retention in Short-term and Long-term Memories.

Home Reading

Last newsletter, I discussed the importance of home reading and the expectations at St Brendan’s regarding home reading. Another change you may have noticed this year is the checking of reader wallets. This year, for students in Years 1-6, reader diaries will be checked once weekly, on a day specified by your classroom teacher. This decision was made as it means Learning Support Officers can spend more time supporting learning in the classroom. However, if you have an urgent note in your child’s diary or a reading question that needs to be answered imminently, please encourage your child to give their reader diary to their teacher in the morning. The Foundation student’s reader diary will continue to be checked daily.

 

As always, If you need any support regarding literacy or have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out and I will do my best to guide you in the right direction. Wishing you all a beautiful Easter and school holiday break.

 

Erica Hudson

Science 

Foundation looking at light and heavy, fast and slow in Science

 

The Year 1/2s have been looking at sound and light  in Science.  The focus of their lesson last week was, ways to create sound.  There were different objects around the room and the students rotated to each one and found a way to make a sound using each object. There was certainly plenty of sound that was created!  Mrs Street and Mrs Ziino could hear them from the office. 

STEM

The Year 5/6 students were hard at work this week in STEM building the Gaga Pit designs they had planned previously. They were able to use different tools to build this first stage like: glue guns and tin snips.  They had to show that they were able to use the equipment safely as we didn’t want any third degree burns or missing fingers! The students worked well in their pairs to create the 8 sides of their Gaga Pit. Next week we will put them together. 

Isea Icare - Moonraker Boat Trip

Last Thursday, the Isea Icare Marine Ambassadors participated in their first workshop; the Moonraker boat trip on Port Phillip Bay.

All the students met Mrs Coggin at Sorrento pier, along with the teachers and students from three other schools. The weather was fine but not warm, so jumpers and jackets were needed. 

 

The day began with a talk from the Dolphin Research Institute Education leader, Jacqui, telling us about the marine life we could possibly see when snorkeling. It was then time to put on our wetsuits and try on some flippers. Once on the Moonraker boat, we were given a mask and snorkel and started motoring out to sea. Within a few minutes the boat slowed down and much to our amazement there were dolphins swimming alongside the boat. Everyone was so excited, especially when some of the dolphins were diving out of the water. There were so many dolphins swimming in pods and some of them had calves (babies) which was even more exciting. When the dolphins have calves, people are not allowed in the water, so we just had to observe them from the deck.

 

The next highlight of the boat trip was snorkeling at Pope’s Eye. This is a man made semi-circle ring of rocks, located 5km north east of Portsea. It was a little scary getting into the deep, cold water, but before long we were used to it and enjoyed the amazing marine life. The variety of fish was incredible and we never knew Port Phillip Bay had so many coloured fish. On the rocks were lots of seals of various sizes. Most of them were sleeping, however every now and then one would wake up and make a lot of noise. We snorkeled for about 20 minutes, loving the unique experience.

 

Once back on the boat we could have a hot chocolate and something to eat. Amelia and Indi had made some delicious cup cakes decorated with a marine theme and Mrs Coggin had made some caramel slice to share, so we enjoyed all our sweet treats as we cruised to our final spot to snorkel near the Portsea pier. The area around the Portsea pier is known as the home of leafy sea dragons. Before we knew it we were back in the water and sure enough, there was a leafy sea dragon. After ten minutes it was time to get back on the boat and head back to the Sorrento pier. 

 

The students all agreed it was the most enjoyable day of learning they had ever had and can’t wait to participate in the next workshop in Second Term.

Thanks to Sam (Eirene’s dad), Toni (Hope’s dad) and Kris (Claire’s dad) who joined us on the boat and to all the other parents who drove the ambassadors to and from Sorrento, we could not have done it without you!