Classroom News
PREP
We have had a busy and fun start back to the term.
On Monday, we welcomed Kate who is completing her final teaching rounds at St Mary’s in the Prep space. She will be here for 3 weeks and will be returning for another 4 weeks at a later date.
We have been practicing our Prayer Gathering. A friendly reminder that this will be held in the Church next Thursday (the 22nd), beginning at 9am. All family and friends are welcome to attend.
In RE we have been exploring the creation story and all the wonderful things that God created. We have been reading stories, singing songs and drawing pictures to represent our understanding.
On Monday, we did Mother’s Day recounts. It was lovely to see all the beautiful things our Preps did to celebrate their wonderful Mums. We hope each and every one of you had a very special day.
Friendly reminder that there is a Pupil Free day on Friday the 23rd of May.
Winnie - ‘Going on the monkey bars and the slide. I like colouring in.’
Elsie - ‘Going on the monkey bars ,the swing things, reading and numbers.’
Matisse - ‘Playing in the playground and writing.’
Evelyn - ‘Playing with Phoebe and doing Auslan.’
Gemma Blake gblake@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Elissa Rodger erodger@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 1
In our current inquiry unit, Grade 1 and 2 students have been learning all about emergencies and how to respond safely. We’ve already had two fantastic visits from the Police and CFA, who have shared valuable insights and safety tips. Next Monday, we’re excited to welcome the Ambulance service for a special Q&A session with our curious students. The children have thoroughly enjoyed this unit so far and are developing a strong understanding of how to act in an emergency.
Leah Martin lmartin@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Rebecca Murray rmurray@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Judy Carr jcarr@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Paula Parish pparish@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 2
I can’t believe we’re heading into Week 5 of Term 2 already. The Term is certainly flying by!
Our class are very excited to be hosting our first Prayer Gathering of the year this Friday. Our prayer gathering, ‘It’s a Beautiful Day’ provides a fantastic opportunity for our students to share their learning from our R.E unit on Participation. We would love to see as many families, friends and loved ones as possible at the Church at 9am to share in this very special Prayer Gathering.
Literacy
This week we have been looking at adding the suffix -er to words and that we need to follow the rule of dropping the ‘e’ if the base word ends in an ‘e’. We have also introduced persuasive texts to our class so have been having fun debating what animal makes a better pet – are you team cats or team dogs?
Numeracy
This week our class have begun learning about 2D and 3D shapes after completing our Unit of learning on Place Value last week. Students have particularly enjoyed the strong hands-on focus to learning about shapes, including the use of Tangram puzzles to represent patterns and objects as well as learning about the characteristics and properties of 3D shapes by using playdough and toothpicks to create 3D models.
Inquiry
Our Inquiry Unit in Term 2 ‘Helping Hands’ has been a massive hit with our students. Following a visit from the Colac Police last week, this week we were lucky enough to have Heather, Andrew and Dean from the CFA visit our school to share their experiences and knowledge of working as Firefighters in the Colac and district community. This was a very insightful presentation capped off with the opportunity for students to walk through their Fire engine as well as hose down an imitation fire. Next week we are excited to be welcoming a Paramedic from Ambulance Victoria to speak to our students. As always, thank you for your continued support. We look forward to continuing to see the growth and development of our little learners as we progress through Term 2.
Emma Roberts eroberts@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Matt O'Dowd modowd@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Amanda Delorenzo mdelorenzo@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 3
We were so proud of the respectful, prayerful way our Year 3’s conducted themselves during their first Prayer Gathering of 2025 last Friday. It was such a pleasure to listen to how much they love and respect their mothers as we were preparing for the day. We hope all of our mothers and grandmothers had a beautiful Mother’s Day.
While Jade is away, we are very lucky to have Kate working with us in Year 3. Just a reminder that Jade’s parents are very welcome to contact Deb via ClassDojo during Jade’s absence.
In Maths this week we will be looking at 2D and 3D shapes. This is a great topic to discuss at home and out and about, as children will be surprised how many right angles, vertices, curved surfaces etc they can spot in their environment when they are looking.
We have begun a new novel study this week as well, concentrating on the factual recount Yirra and her deadly dog, Demon. In this unit, we will learn to write about real life events in an entertaining way, and also learn lots of new vocabulary.
Dates:
21/5 National Simultaneous Storytime
23/5 Pupil Free Day
Jade LoRicco jloricco@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Deb Holland dholland@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 4
Grade 4’s have come back to Term 2 ready to learn!
In Literacy we have started a unit on Narrative texts using a novel called Leo and Ralph as our mentor text. So far the students have been enjoying hearing the story and applying themselves well with the learning that comes alongside this.
In Numeracy we have revisited Place Value, focusing on renaming and placing numbers on number lines. This week we have been exploring a little bit of the concept of Shape focussing on symmetry before we start our work on Decimals next week.
Our Inquiry and Religion topics this term are Identity, so far we have been exploring what makes us who we are and what we recognise as our own identities.
Here is some feedback from our Grade 4s
Herb Geue -”We are drawing wedge tailed eagles in Numeracy to practise symmetry”
Maddi Hay - “I loved Meg’s baby party. It was very fun. We did lot’s of activities like trying baby, put the nappy on the baby and draw Meg’s baby”
Important Dates for Term 4
Friday 23rd May - Pupil Free Day
Thursday 29th May - Catholic Education Week Mass 10 am
Friday 27th June - Grade 4 Matt Prayer Gathering
Friday 4th July - Grade 4 Maegen and Susie Prayer Gathering
Matt Absalom mabsalom@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Maegen Potter mpotter@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Susie Scott sscott@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 5
In Literacy, our Year 5 students have been working hard on crafting information reports that tie into our inquiry unit. This learning will come to life during our exciting excursion to Sovereign Hill this Friday — the students are buzzing with anticipation!
In Numeracy, we’ve been diving into the world of fractions, with a particular focus on using linear models to support understanding. The students have shown great enthusiasm and are making progress.
To support this learning at home, families might like to involve students in real-life fraction activities such as baking, measuring ingredients, or sharing items equally — great ways to reinforce these concepts in everyday situations!
This term, students have also been thoroughly enjoying their specialist subjects, DDT and Art.
Reminders:
- Please return camp medical forms as soon as possible - we need to have all information in to camp by the middle of next week.
- Make sure homework folders are coming back to school each week normally on a Friday please - this week and next week, as we are losing our Fridays, can we please have them in on a Thursday please.
- Students need to have their diaries signed every Friday please.
- If your child experiences bus sickness or discomfort in small spaces (such as during the mine tour), please let us know before Friday so we can support them appropriately on the excursion.
We asked students this week what they love best about our school:
Nyabiech - The wonderful teachers and kids.
Matvey - There are lots of great people.
Jack - All the equipment we get to play with and the sport.
Alex - My friends.
Rachel Downard rdownard@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Rachael Cahill rcahill@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
GRADE 6
This past fortnight we have continued learning about ‘Human Migration’ across both our literacy and inquiry sessions. The students have been asking some great questions and engaging in good discussions about this topic. We have started ‘Fractions’ in Maths with lots of hands-on learning through games and activities. The students are enjoying the ‘Peaceful Classrooms’ program with Judy in GEM, and again having some great discussions during this time.
Last week we had 12 students from Year 6 go to Divisional Cross Country. They showed great sportsmanship on the day and put in their best effort.
Important Dates:
Friday 30th May - Lightning Premiership
Friday 6th June - Girls Footy/Boys Netball
Friday 13th June - Divisional Soccer Tournament
Wed 15th Oct - Fri 17th Oct - Melbourne Camp
Jess Downard jdownard@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Jodie Hassett jhassett@smcolac.catholic.edu.au
Katie Monaghan kmonaghan@smcolac.catholic.edu.au