Foundation

100 DAYS!

What. A. Day! 

We had a wonderful time celebrating 100 days of Foundation, starting with a disco in the morning and finishing with Bluearth with Amalie in the afternoon (sincere apologies to Amalie who had a very tough gig teaching after all the excitement of the day...)

A big thank you to Com and Nita Cham for their very generous lunch treat of hot chips, the Buddies and Foundation students were very appreciative, and they really hit the spot after sitting so respectfully at Mass. Many thanks to those parents who joined us for Mass. It was a fabulous day, and one that the students will remember for a long time. Now I just have to placate the Yr 4 students who feel very hardly done by that they didn't have a day like this when they were in Foundation...

Literacy

It is traditionally the most exciting part of the Foundation year from now until December as huge growth in learning begins to occur. The hard work of the first six months is put into action as students become more confident with using the knowledge they have accumulated. The focus for the immediate future is leaving spaces between words. Whilst all students know these are necessary, it is more common to correct a long string of letters- which actually make perfect phonetic sense once it is deciphered. The explicit teaching term is " two finger space" between words, but I don't really mind how big the gap is, as long as there is one there.

Handwriting has also been a strong focus, with daily sessions conducted in the hope of sending 26 perfect handwriting styles into Year One for 2025. Correct pencil grip and letter formation is crucial in the early years, because once a bad style is developed, it is almost impossible to correct it later on.

Numeracy

We have been looking at numbers up to 20 for the start of Term 3, with numbers 11,12,13 causing grief for many children. Whilst the rest of the teen numbers follow a definite language pattern (eg four + teen, six+ teen), there is no such help with the first three numbers of the set. Constant repetition has been the order of the day, with lots of concrete materials used to reinforce understanding. We will continue to revisit these numbers throughout the term, but have now moved onto additive thinking. We have also been trying to master worded problems, identifying what the question is actually asking us to find out.

I have a big shed at home. It has 12 wheels in it. What is in my shed?

The problem first required a bit of a think about what has wheels that could be in a shed. Once this was decided, the options were endless.

Last night at dinner there was Brendan, Molly, Banjo and myself. Declan and Bede were still in Melbourne. How many legs were under the table?

The important learning in this problem is, as one student so perfectly pointed out, "We don't really care where Declan and Bede were, because their feet weren't under the table".  Whilst I myself am always interested in where those two boys are, in terms of the mathematical problem their whereabouts were not important. Students are learning to identify the key information in a written problem, and solve it in a variety of ways.

There has been plenty of shared learning as students explain how they got their answers. The ability to actually verbalise thought processes is so important when learning a new skill. It consolidates understanding for the person who solved the problem, and also exposes the other students to different ways to find an answer.

Religion

"God Knows and Loves Me" is the unit we are currently discussing, and it is a great unit for recognising the gifts and talents we have, as well as the talents of others. "Everyone is good at something" is a common phrase in our room, and most students now know what their special talent is.

We have also looked at "The Lost Sheep" scripture, a story Jesus told that clearly illustrates God's love, and depicts how well God knows us all. This scripture was the basis for our Class Mass in Week 2, and is one all students are now very familiar with.

THE RESILIENCE PROJECT

Empathy is the capacity to understand and feel what another person is feeling. We have been looking at different emotions and what they look like when someone is feeling them. We have also been looking at happiness, and how we can choose to be happy at school by ignoring the little things that don't really matter. 

Book Week

Week 5 is the next big event with 2024 Book Week celebrations happening across the week. Beginning with a whole school incursion on the Monday, and concluding with the annual Book Week Parade on Friday. I know a lot of parents love creating costumes for their children, and just as many don't. I use to fall in the latter category, and would dread the Book Week Parade! It was a blessed relief when the "Specky Magee" books were published and my boys just wore footy jumpers and shorts...

The good news is, it doesn't really matter! Anything will be fine, and the students will have a great day, regardless of what their costume looks like.

Book Week 2024

Each year across Australia, The CBCA brings children and books together to celebrate Children’s Book Week. This is a time to celebrate Australian children’s literature.

Book Week will be celebrated at St. John’s during week 5 (12th – 16th August). Students will participate in a number of events and activities during this week all focused on celebrating children’s literature.

The 2024 shortlisted books will be displayed in the library and during Book Week students will be reading a selection of these books and participating in related activities. In addition to this, other exciting activities have been planned for throughout Book Week:

Monday 12th August:

Incursion with Perform Education as they present a performance that celebrates many of the short-listed books.

Tuesday 13th August - Thursday 15th August: 

in-class activities focused on selected short-listed books

Class visits to Euroa Library

Friday 16th August: 

Book Week Dress-Up Parade: the theme for Book Week is Reading is Magic and we are encouraging students to create a costume inspired by this theme or related to any favourite book or book character. We are also encouraging students to use things they already have at home to create their costumes. The dress-up parade will begin in the Mercy Centre at 9:15am - parents and families are welcome to join us!

Book Week Rotation Activities: students will participate in activities based on the selected short-listed books and the theme Reading is Magic in multi-age groups from 10:00am until 1:40pm.

2025 Enrolments

We are now taking enrolments for 2025. Actually, we have a heap of students enrolled already, so if you know anyone who is still thinking of St. John's for their child next year, it would be a sensible idea for them to make up their minds quickly, and get their child's name onto the rapidly expanding list.

Timetable 

Monday

Tuesday         Art 

                         School newsletter online(odd weeks) 

Wednesday  Lunch Orders

Thursday       Specialist subjects (students to wear sports uniform and runners)

Friday             Library, Bluearth- wear sports uniform (even weeks)  Assembly (odd weeks)

Don't forget, any questions, problems or queries, please contact me. If it is during school hours, just leave a message and I will return it as soon as possible, or send me an email.

sredfern@sjeuroa.catholic.edu.au

Thank you,

Sally and Damien