PRIMARY (F-6)

School Leader Report - Kara

Welcome back!! 

Term 4 is here and is already jam packed! 

Years 3-6 have competed at Interschool Athletics and Year 1 and 2 are getting ready for their excursion to the Melbourne Zoo. The Year 5 and 6 staff are working hard to plan and organise their camp later in the term. 

Term 4 is for hats! Please encourage your child to locate their hat, and check they have a name on it.  

The cooler mornings and warmer days can mean our jumpers and jackets are on and off, please help your child to clearly name their jumper or jacket so we can be sure it finds its way back to them. 

On that note, please check your child’s drink bottle for their name – there are many drink bottles at St Anne’s College and they move around a lot! 

As always, assemblies are Weeks 3, 6, and 9 of Term 4. Please check PAM regularly for other information and college communication. The Year 1/2 excursion and Year 5/6 camp permission forms have been shared - these contain all relevant information, and require you to give consent for these school activities coming up soon. 

Class Reports

Foundation

This week we have been reading Jack and the Beanstalk and retelling the beginning, middle and end of the story. The words we are working on are growled, crept and thundering. The children should be able to put these words into a sentence.

Our focus in R.E. is about how we are special and unique. The students are learning how we can celebrate our differences. They were proud of the hanging mobile they created to demonstrate their uniqueness.

Home reading is a great way for students to practise what they have learned at school. Listening to your child read for just 5-10 minutes, four times a week, will help them become a happy and confident reader. Our new Term 4 reading diaries have been given out, and our tricky words are in the back of the book.

Year 1 

In Literacy, students have enjoyed exploring the story Creatures and Features, and Little Dog and the Summer Holiday. We’ve delved deeper into the texts through a range of fun and creative activities. 

In Mathematics, we have been learning about data, collecting information, organising it and representing it using graphs. 

During our Year 1/2 Knowledge and Connection sessions, students have been exploring different animals and their features. We are all very excited for our upcoming excursion to the Melbourne Zoo! 

In Religion, our Call to Mission focus has been inspired by The Rainbow Fish, helping students reflect on the importance of kindness, sharing, and community. We are also looking forward to sharing a special song we’ve been learning as a Year 1 team at assembly on Monday.

Year 2

In Literacy, students have been working on spelling rules for plurals by adding ‘s’ and ‘es’. They also revised their understanding of morphemes, looking closely at base words, prefixes and suffixes. In addition, we explored the different spellings of the /j/ sound using ‘ge’ and ‘dge’. For comprehension, we focused on monitoring meaning while reading by following three steps: READ a section of the text, STOP and RETELL what happened, CHECK - does this make sense? And finally, FIX - find out where meaning was lost.

In Writing, our text study of Tiddler has helped us learn about fables and their purpose. We practised using subject–verb agreement to make sure the verb to be (was, were, are, is) matched the tense of the sentence. Students also extended their sentence writing by combining ideas with subordinating conjunctions and identifying dependent and independent clauses.

In Maths, we have begun our new Multiplication and Division unit. Students revised doubles and halves to 20, represented these using arrays, and linked them to addition and subtraction equations. We also made arrays out of river rocks to practise skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s to find the total number of objects. 

In Religious Education, we started our new unit Our Call to Mission. Through the story The Rainbow Fish, we explored the importance of sharing, discussing both the ways we can share and the reasons why it matters.

In Knowledge and Connections, we have been learning about living and nonliving things and the features that help us classify different types of animals. This knowledge will support us during our excursion to the Melbourne Zoo in Week 4.

Year 3/4 

Literacy:  

This term, we have started reading our new class novel Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. Students will explore the story to build their vocabulary, develop their understanding of narrative structure and learn how to write their own engaging narratives. We have also begun small writing groups twice a week to provide more targeted support and extension for students as they develop their writing skills. 

Exploration:  

We have begun our new unit on Exploration! To launch our learning, students were presented with a big question - “what does it mean to explore?” 

A box of mystery objects, including items such as a compass, old map, telescope, and journal, sparked curiosity and discussion as students examined each one and guessed who might have used them and why. Through a class brainstorm and mind map, we investigated the different meanings of “exploration”, from discovering new places to learning new ideas. 

Students then reflected on a time they explored something new, whether it was a place, hobby, or idea, and shared their reflections.  

Mathematics:   

In Maths, we have started exploring data. Students have been learning new vocabulary related to data collection and interpretation. We are focusing on how to collect and record categorical data, make observations to inform data collection, and pose meaningful questions to gather relevant information.  

Religious Education:  

In Religious Education, we have been learning about how people reach out and serve others in their communities. Students discussed what it means to reach out and serve, and explored examples of kindness through the Kindness Boomerang video. Together, we identified how one act of kindness can lead to another, creating a ripple effect of positivity. Students then drew and wrote about examples of reaching out and serving others, before extending their learning to explore how we can show kindness and service in different areas of life including at home, at school, in our community, and in the wider world. 

Year 6

This week in connections the Year 6 students watched a mocumentary about a plastic bag. A mocumentary is a fake documentary about an object like it was an animal. After we watched it, we were told to make one with the same aim of it going to the ocean or the great specific garbage patch. This is an imaginary story to show one of the many ways of it getting to the ocean. 

Jeff brings party bags to school and Jim took out his food and toys and left out his bag. The bag got blown by the air conditioning out the doors. The wind pushed it over the side gate, and it hit a truck. It got stuck in the door. When it finally came out it flew into McDonald’s and got picked up by a customer. The customer grabbed their order then accidentally dropped the bag it blew out the door by the air conditioner. It went high in the sky then landed in the Goulburn River and got swept away by the currents. Until he met his worst enemy community service. Gregory spotted him and ran to the river. He got picked up. He thought he was a goner until he saw a can. When he was distracted, the bag broke out and flew into the East Goulburn Main Channel and got swept away. He knows he has done the easy part, but he still needs to go into Melbourne. After carefully dodging the threats in the water he got knocked out of the river by a soccer ball at Murchison-Longwood Rd Wahring. He flew up and flew through a forest. Deanes Rd Wahring and got stuck in the back on a ute under a water jug. He got out when the man picked up the jug. He flew up then after 3 hours he landed at Wimble St Seymour when he got lockup by women then call bag control for wild bags. Bag control picked him up and brings him into Melbourne. He slipped between the bars and went to the ocean. Finally, the made his way to the ocean where they belong. I wrote this story showing how the air water and people will move rubbish and there are infinite ways for the route in can take from anywhere.  

By Henry 

Specialist

Foundation

Our Foundation students have been exploring the amazing world of ants! They have been busy creating their own ants and will soon be working together to build a large paper ant nest. We went for a walk around the college gardens to see if we could spot some real ants in action. The students showed wonderful patience and curiosity as they observed where the ants were going and what they were doing. It was a fantastic hands-on learning experience full of excitement and discovery!

Year 1 and 2

Our talented students have been exploring forced perspective photography - a fun and creative way to make optical illusions by playing with distance and camera angles.

Using their iPads, they’ve been experimenting with how to position objects and people to create clever effects, like making someone look tiny, gigantic, or even as if they’re sitting inside a shoe! 

It’s been wonderful to see their creativity shine as they learn how to frame a shot, move the camera, and bring their imaginative ideas to life. The results have been both entertaining and impressive!

We’re so proud of their efforts and we reckon we've got some future photographers in the making! 

Check out some of their amazing trick shots!

Term 4 in Performing Arts is all about preparing for our end of year Christmas Concert!  

Students will focus on rehearsing and performing Christmas songs they will learn over the term. Each year level will perform two songs, as well as a whole school song! The students are already incredibly excited to learn the lyrics, melodies and actions to their songs, and I’m sure you’ll hear your children humming and singing around the house. We look forward to welcoming you to the Christmas Concert at the end of the year. Get ready for a fun and heartwarming evening celebrating Christmas together. 

Reminders:

Parents/carers are reminded there is a very important process to follow if your student must leave the college at any time throughout school hours. Please ensure you follow these steps:

Parents/carers MUST provide a note to the front office, at the start of the school day, stating the following:

- Student Name

- Date of leave required

- The time the student must present to reception to take their leave

- If they will return to the college the same day, and if so what time they will return

- The reason for the leave being requested

- The parent/carer’s name and signature

Please note, students will only be permitted to be collected by their parent/carer unexpectedly and without a note if it is an emergency.

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 refer to the calendar on PAM for upcoming dates for activities and events.