SCHOOL OF WONDER

Goodness me, is it seriously week 8 already? This speaks volumes to how busy it has been in the SOW space. It was the term for dress-ups, great times for our little ones as well as our staff. 

Upcoming dates for our SOW families:

• SOW assembly - Monday, Week 9 
• Learning conversations - Monday and Tuesday, Week 9 
• End of Term 4 - Thursday 19 September, Week 10
• Pupil Free Day - Friday 20 September, Week 10

Kara and I have noticed how well our students are self-managing their morning routine; arriving into class before the music ends, entering the learning space safely and quietly, and starting their reading without an adult having to prompt them. Well done everybody, keep up the great work. 

The School of Wonder would like to wish good luck to our wonderful staff members Kara, Ellie, Nicole and Ryleigh in their netball and football grand finals this Saturday and Sunday. Good luck to the Katandra Kats! 

-Emma

St Anne’s College’s youngest students made a difference last week – helping the environment’s sustainability by planting native trees and shrubs in Waterbird Park in the Sanctuary Drive Estate. 

The children in Foundation to Year 5 participated in the One Tree Per Child initiative, ran by Greater Shepparton City Council – they learned lots about how to plant a tree as well as the importance of native species. 

A huge thank you to Greater Shepparton City Council and RiverConnect for having us and sharing your knowledge with our students. 

Good luck for the grand final!

Four of our staff members are gearing up for an important weekend of sport! Ryleigh, Nicole, Kara and Ellie are all representing the Katandra Football Netball Club in the Picola & District Grand Final this weekend.

Our youngest students ensured the learning mentors felt well supported this week by putting their craft skills to the test and making them signs to be displayed around the College. All the best to Ryleigh, Nicole and Ellie!! 

Click on the link below to enjoy a video of the fantastic celebration the SOW students put on for their staff to wish them well.

PJ Day

On Thursday we wore pyjamas to school. We looked different in our PJs. We had a happy day doing our learning and feeling relaxed. We played Get Out Of My House and measured different containers using unifix to see which holds the most and which one holds the least. We counted how many small containers to fill a bigger one.

Inquiry

We have been reading and writing about many fairy tales. This week we wrote about Rapunzel. We thought about the setting and the characters in the story and tried to use interesting words. We made a tower for Rapunzel and twisted wool to make her long plait. We worked hard on our projects.

Buddies

On Friday last week our buddies helped us make a poster for our Dads. We were proud of our work. We like spending time with our buddies. Our buddies also helped us during the One Tree Per Child planting day.

STEM

The Year 1/2 children were entranced during a STEM session with Learning Mentor Ellie, using our new incredible Lego sets. The children were able to control their sets using a program on their iPads, creating different lighting and movement. Working in groups, it was a great example of the learner asset ‘collaboration’ as well.

On Thursday 29 August students wore their pyjamas to school. We also walked down to Waterbird park to participate in One Tree Per Child where each student worked with a partner to plant trees. In Inquiry students have been exploring messages without words. On Wednesday 28 August we celebrated Beaut Blokes BBQ and Bingo which was a fantastic night for all involved. We look forward to hearing updates from LBB at our upcoming assembly! 

One Tree Per Child

On Thursday last week Year 3/4 children participated in the One Tree Per Child initiative run by Greater Shepparton City Council. We learnt that much of the land has been cleared in Victoria and Shepparton only has 2% of its native vegetation left and this is mostly around our two rivers. This initiative allows children to put plants back into the ground to replace what has been taken. This year, children planted Indigenous plants including different types of wattle. (See above for photos).

PJ Day

On Thursday Children wore their PJs to school as part of the Vinnies Winter Appeal Fundraiser. 

For some of the day, children relaxed and watched the movie The Lorax. 

This linked to our inquiry unit on how the use of resources impacts the natural environment.

Literacy

Children used their collaboration skills to create a mind map of all different features that non-fiction text have. These included a contents page, a title, real photographs and more.

Inquiry

To begin Term 3, the inquiry focus for Year 3/4 was focused on “Sharing the Planet”. This concept enabled children to explore the use of resources and the impact on our natural environment. Children practiced the learner asset of being a “researcher” and began to explore the effect of pollution on our environment. This inquiry focus linked to the students' reading and writing as children investigated non-fiction texts in order to write their own informative piece on pollution and the impact on our natural environment. This also linked to their RE topic, where children were learning to demonstrate an awareness of the need to care for and take responsibility for God’s creation. Some children chose to show their understanding by creating projects highlighting types of pollution or possible solutions to help our environment. 

Volunteers needed: simple machines in action!

Next term, our class will be exploring different types of forces and simple machines. We would love to invite any parents or family members who use simple machines in their workplace to come in and share their experiences with our children. Whether you work with levers, pulleys, inclined planes, or any other simple machine, your real-world insights would greatly enhance our learning.

If you're interested in participating or would like more information, please contact Amy on awheeler@sackialla.catholic.edu.au. We look forward to hearing from you and appreciate your support in enriching our children's education!

Bringing stories to life with colour and patterns

Our SOW artists have been having so much fun exploring colour and patterns in our recent art sessions. Inspired by the short-listed children's books of the year, they've been creating artworks that reflect the stories they've been reading.

The children have been busy bringing these stories to life, using different materials and techniques to express what they've learned. Each piece of art is unique and shows how they've understood and connected with the stories in their own special way.

It's been amazing to see their creativity shine! 

Please support our staff, and remember that drop off for children is from 8:30am. This is when staff are on duty. Prior to this any staff onsite are preparing for the day ahead, duty of care requirements mean children onsite require supervision and doing this takes staff away from their important preparation time.

Kara McCann & Emma O’Keeffe - School of Wonder Leaders

kmccann@sackialla.catholic.edu.au

eokeeffe@sackialla.catholic.edu.au

We are committed & dedicated educators

Teaching and Learning:

Our aim as Educators is always to improve student learning outcomes for all our learners. We continue to strive to improve our professional practice to ensure that our learners get the very best learning opportunities and outcomes. Our SOW team works collaboratively to provide thought provoking learning experiences to our learners. Our learner assets (collaboration, communication, self-management, thinking and researching) are life long skills that set our young people up to life long learners and to continually question, explore and challenge their thinking. Please direct any teaching and learning inquiries to Kara McCann kmccann@sackialla.catholic.edu.au

Wellbeing:

Wellbeing is a holistic term that encompasses all aspects of a student's life, including their physical, social, mental and emotional state. It is often defined as a sustainable state of positive mood and attitude, resilience, and satisfaction with self, relationships and experiences at school.

Wellbeing at St Anne’s is driven by the themes of doing our best, allowing everyone to succeed. Please direct any wellbeing inquiries to Emma O'Keeffe eokeeffe@sackialla.catholic.edu.au