Prep

Hi families,

Wow! We can’t believe we are almost at the end of another school year. And what a brilliant year it has been! As we prepare for Grade One we’d like to thank all families for their constant support and generosity throughout this year.

The past fortnight has been very busy in Prep (as usual). In Literacy, we have been focussing on poetry. We looked at the book series. ‘There was an Old Lady…’ and used these texts as prompts for our writing. We also looked at different kinds of poems such as, rhyming poems and acrostic poems.

In Maths, we have been learning about the Months and Seasons in the year and weather. We have made ‘Seasons’ books and talked about what Month, Season and date our birthdays are on. We have also been practising skip counting by 3s and practising counting backwards from different starting points.

In Religion, we are beginning to talk about the season of Advent and how it is a time of preparing and waiting. We have talked about the significance of the Advent candles and wreath and have begun making an Advent display for our classrooms. We have also been spending time practising for our Prep Mass which is coming up this Sunday.

In Inquiry we have been learning about different celebrations. We participated in a mock wedding, a New Year’s Eve celebration, we planned an ultimate birthday and we have been practising singing Christmas carols, which we will be singing to the residents of St Paul’s Hostel next Wednesday. If you have not yet returned your child’s permission slip for this excursion please do so by the end of the week.

We are so excited for our excursion to the Palace Theatre, Westgarth on Friday. We have been counting down the days and the day is almost here!! Thank you to all parents who put their name down to help.

Have a lovely weekend and we look forward to seeing as many Prep families as possible attend the Prep Mass this Sunday.

Emilie and Carla :)

Middles - Term 4, Week 8

Thank you to the families who attended the ‘Pray For Us Mass’ last Sunday. It was so lovely to see so many families attending and celebrating together. We value your support. We were very fortunate to witness and share in the Baptism of Ben, one of our newest parishioners.

Religion

Next week we will prepare ourselves for the Season of Advent. A time of hope, welcome and joy.

In our social, emotional learning (SEL) last week students began a short unit of work called, ‘We all have a voice’. We began by exploring the difference between being a passive bystander and an active bystander. What is an ‘upstander’? This week we will begin thinking about how we want to be remembered - what kind of person are we?

Inquiry

On Monday our students were joined by the Year 4’s from 4/5A for a STEM Challenge Day. Using an Engineering Problem Solving Process - ASK, IMAGINE, PLAN, CREATE, IMPROVE, SHARE to solve problems/challenges. Working in groups each student took on a role - Challenge Captain, Materials Master, Testing Coordinator, Construction Worker, Chief Architect, Reporter, and Safety Officer and worked as a Team to solve their problems/challenges. Please ask your child what their role was and what the challenge was. On Tuesday students attended an Incursion -Simple Machines. They experienced a ‘hands on’ session learning about the six simple machines. Students were able to use mini motors to move cogs, looked at how pulleys work and explored a range of devices that use the simple mechanics we have been talking about.

Maths

Students have begun our end of year testing in Maths. They will complete the SINE and Westwood tests as well as online Essential Assessments testing. Students have been working on creating a balanced lunch and working out its cost as well as completing a post test on Mass (measurement). We are currently working on volume (measurement). Please continue to encourage your child to learn and practise their multiplication tables, these are so useful in all areas of Maths.

English

In our work on Poetry we will be learning about alliteration and onomatopoeia and how they contribute to making a poem powerful when we are reading it. We will examine the etymology of both words explore how both alliteration and onomatopoeia appeals to the sense of hearing and how writers use it to bring a story or poem to life in the reader's head. Students have completed a reflection of Friday nights Peter Pan Jr performance experience, look out for it on SeeSaw. We will also learn about ‘diamante poems’ and how to use nouns, adjectives and verbs to complete them.

Have a great week

Naomi, Jarrod, Tracey and Irma.

Juniors

Hello Parents,

What a busy time of year this is!

We would firstly like to congratulate all the students for the amazing job they did at the school concert. We are all very proud of their efforts. Thanks again to all the parent helpers who worked tirelessly on the crocodile costumes.

On Monday we were fortunate to have a visit from Thornbury Veterinary Hospital staff who brought a special canine visitor with them! They spoke about the benefits of pets and how to look after them. As part of our Inquiry unit ‘One Place, Many Faces’, on Tuesday we had a visit from Rosemine who taught the students about Bollywood dancing. Thank you to Fr Shabin for organising this. Well done to all the students who participated so well at the Sports Carnival today. All the Prep-Two students are looking forward to going to the Westgarth Palace Theatre on Friday to watch a special Christmas movie.

In English we have been learning how to write book reviews on books we have read or listened to and movie reviews on videos we have watched. These have included a variety of areas such as what it was about, what we liked, what we didn’t like and a rating.

In Maths we have been learning about time using analogue and digital clocks. Students have been engaged in different activities reading and making a variety of times.

In Religious Education we have finished our unit on celebrations. We studied the different Sacraments with a focus on Baptism, Reconciliation, Holy Communion and Confirmation. We have now started our final unit on Advent with the students knowing that it is a time of waiting for the birth of Jesus.

In Inquiry the students have chosen a country to research and prepare a poster on. These will include such areas as the flag, languages spoken, religions practised, a map, the continent and interesting facts about that country.

Have a great week,

Hayley, Tania, Amanda and Jason

Senior

In Religion, the Senior students have continued to explore the parts of the Bible. We have started looking at the New Testament focusing on the Gospels. Students have discussed the differences between the Gospels and the audience for each of the four Gospels. In the coming weeks the Seniors will begin exploring Advent and Christmas.

In Literacy, students have analysed storybook themes, character, illustration and layout. Grade 6 students have created a storybook their buddies, while Grade 5 have created fables. We have focussed upon figurative and descriptive language features to enhance their writing and emphasise the importance of revision and editing within the writing process. Students have continued with reading circles in reading, discussing themes, character development and making personal connections to text.

In Maths, students have been provided with some independent learning opportunity within the unit on transformation and tessellation. The intention has been to enable students to learn with specific focus upon challenging concepts within this unit. Some students have worked in small focus groups to further develop their understanding of the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). This past week we have completed all post testing for the critical areas of Literacy and Numeracy to enable students to be prepared for learning in 2019.

The year 5 students did a wonderful job on Wednesday presenting their leadership applications. Good luck to everyone who applied! And remember that all year 6s are leaders in our school. Our year 6 students are busy preparing for graduation and enjoying planning their special celebrations.

Have a great week,

Stephanie, Anne-Marie, Sally, Stephen and Gae.

St Mary's School

Issue 20 · 29 Nov 2018

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