School of Foundations
What’s Happening in the School of Foundations
Dear Parents & carers,
This week the students have had many special activities to celebrate Book Week.
Surprise Storyteller
Book In A Jar
This week students have had their detective hats on! Students examined the jars, twisting, turning and shaking them in search of clues in each jar to solve the question - Which book is in the jar? The clues in the jars included snippets of text, place names, characters and some images. This also provoked excellent discussions about the books that students had read and about reading for enjoyment. What is your child reading at home? Talk to your child about books that you enjoyed reading at their age. This is an excellent way to bond, develop oral language and perhaps ignite a little bookworm at home!
Readers’ Theatre.
On Thursday, students were treated to a St Luke’s version of the classic ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’. In our version of this story, Mr Miller was tricked into buying an imaginary new suit by two sly tailors. The staff and students in the play would not admit that it was imaginary, preferring to say what they thought others wanted to hear. What a great lesson in honesty! It wasn't until an Early Stage 1 student was brave enough to tell the truth about Mr Miller’s new clothes. There were lots of giggles and laughs as the students enjoyed this performance.
Author Visit for Stage 2
The students in Stage 2 had the privilege of listening to John Larkin, a Sydney-based author/screenwriter. John was born in England but grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney. He has, at various stages of his writing career, supported himself by working as a supermarket trolley boy, shelf-stacker, factory hand, forklift driver, professional soccer player and computer programmer. He now writes and teaches writing full-time. John has a BA in English Literature and a MA in Creative Writing from Macquarie University. John’s The Shadow Girl won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards Prize for Writing for Young Adults 2012, and The Pause won the Queensland Literary Awards Griffith University Young Adult Book Award 2015.
The students were able to ask John many questions which enabled him to share stories about his life. This had the students in fits of laughter as some of the people he spoke about are now the funny characters in his books. John also spoke to the students about the writing process. He stated ‘Stories are not written, they are rewritten’. Noting the importance of editing and reediting your writing.
Don’t forget in two weeks time we have our Book Parade on Thursday 8 September which will also be the opening of our Book Fair.
Stellarphant - Meerkat Productions
Meerkat Productions presented a theatre adaptation of the picture book Stellarphant by James Foley to our ES1 and Stage 1 students today as part of our Book Week celebrations. The students made a mask, so they could be part of the show. Some students were selected to join in and become actors. What a great way to end Book Week 2022!
Don’t forget in two weeks time we have our Book Parade on Thursday 8 September which will also be the opening of our Book Fair.
Gymnastics
This week was the beginning of our Gymnastics PE unit. Students will participate in weekly gymnastics lessons taught by the company Dance Fever. Here are some photos and videos of Stage 2 learning some new skills.
Father’s Day
Next week we look forward to celebrating the father figures in our lives with a sausage sizzle at 7.30am to 8.15am on Thursday 1 September. Families are welcome to stay for our Father’s Day Liturgy at 8.45am in the Marketplace.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Miss Pecnik, Head of School: Foundations K-4 & Mrs Colburt Acting Assistant Principal K-4
ES1
English
This term in writing, students have been learning how to write a procedure. Students have been focusing on using sequencing words such as first, next, then and last as well as including detail in their writing. Students have been writing different topics such as how to plant a seed, how to make fairy bread, how to make popcorn and how to make a sandwich. Over the next few weeks, the students will be learning about narrative writing.
Mathematics
So far in Term 3, Kindergarten has continued to develop their understanding around whole numbers, particularly in addition and subtraction. As a part of their warm up, students have been focusing on number busting where they need to demonstrate a number in as many different ways as possible. During the addition and subtraction rich tasks, students have revisited the concept of ‘friends of ten’.
Religion
During Religion, students have continued to deepen their understanding around the inquiry question ‘What is church?’ Students have been reading and viewing the Bible passage The Last Supper ( Luke 22: 14-23). Students have gained an understanding of who was in the story and have been retelling the story. Students have also been discussing the significance of The Last Supper and how it relates to our own lives as people of God.
Science
Kindergarten students have continued exploring materials and their uses during their Science inquiry. Students have listened to the story ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ and discussed different types of chairs and their purpose. Students engaged in a design and make activity where they designed and made a chair for one of their toys. They needed to consider the purpose of the chair and the best materials needed to make the chair.
Music
Kinder Roos Music
During Term 3 Kinder Roos have been learning how to hold and handle the ukulele and will be learning how to play the C chord. In Week 5 Roos had a break from ukulele and played rhythms with various play-along songs. We used clapping and untuned percussion instruments to play our songs.
PE
Students in PE classes have been working on hand-eye coordination with balls of different sizes. Students have been asked to bounce basketballs in various rhythms or routines to increase their development of hand-eye coordination through the use of basketballs.
Stage 1
Music
Mr K’s Classes
Throughout Term 3, Stage 1 has been developing their ukulele skills. Year 1 is working to learn the chords C, Am and F on the ukulele while Year 2 is extending by learning to play G and D 7 chords.
Year 2 Video Sample
Religion
In Religion, students have been continuing to work on the inquiry question ‘Why do we belong to communities?”. We have started to look into a Bible story called Jesus Obeys His Heavenly Father and unpacked the message of the story and how the students can apply this to their own lives. Throughout this term, we have also discussed the term ‘Human Flourishment’ and students understand it as being supported in a community to become the best version of yourself. Students applied their understanding by creating the artwork shown.
English
This week, students have started a brand new topic of Carnivals with a focus being persuasion. Currently, students are building on their knowledge of Carnivals and have explored different types of advertisements. Before they construct their own advertisement, students are developing their vocabulary and understanding the different activities a Carnival has to offer.
Mathematics
This week, students have been exploring the new unit fractions. Students have been exposed to the terms whole, halves and quarters. Students have been challenged by discovering halves and quarters of different lengths.
History
In History this week, our inquiry question changed to our new focus on ‘How has technology changed our lives over time?’. In the Stage 1 makerspace, there is a museum set up that will allow students to explore the technology of the past as well as how people communicated in the past.
Stage 2
Reading
Stage 2 students are enjoying a wide range of texts during guided reading sessions. During reading groups, students are exploring character traits, developing their ability to retell and summarise and make inferences. These are just a few examples of the reading goals from some groups in Hogwarts.
Reading is an important part of learning across all learning areas. Reading can also be fun and exciting. It has been wonderful to see the enthusiasm of students when they find a book that interests them. Teachers have been speaking to students about the books that they read for pleasure and we encourage parents to support their children to read for enjoyment at home.
Writing
Stage 2 have been proud of their progress with writing to persuade. Over the past few weeks students have worked on their draft. They have build their knowledge around the topic that they were trying to persuade others that their special activity or club should be selected for St Luke’s. At the beginning of the term, students compared their own writing to the samples on the ‘Bump It Up ‘ wall to see what they were able to achieve and what they needed to do to enhance their writing. After our work over the past few weeks, students have reassessed their final text to identify areas of growth. Students have also shared their work with their peers from another class, celebrating the progress from their first draft to their final piece of text. Next week some students will have the opportunity to present their persuasive speeches to Ms Pecnik.
Mathematics
Stage 2 students have been exploring fractions and decimals as part of their numeracy work. We have been exploring how to represent and model fractions using pictures, words and materials. We have also been exploring how to compare fractions with different denominators to determine which is larger. Students have discovered the term ‘equivalent fractions’ and some of their work is shown below. Our next step will be to use a number line to represent different fractions and to count by fractions rather than whole numbers.
Music
Year 4 are extending and transferring their keyboard, ukulele and drum kit skills by learning how to play the song ‘I’m Yours’ as a class band. By working to play together we are also developing our listening skills. So far we have all learned the keyboard and ukulele parts. Week 4 video sample
From Week 6, we will be learning how to play the bass guitar part then moving onto learning how to play the drum beat. The goal is to have everyone master ‘I’m Yours’ on at least one instrument and be able to play it as a member of our class band.