Learning 

Learning & Teaching

We have started our year with a sense of curiosity and wonder! Our children were welcomed back into spaces that were thoughtfully created to offer multiple possibilities of exploration and investigation. Across our Hubs, the educators have been working with the children to familiarise themselves with the new spaces, and to collaboratively design habits and expectations for working together safely. 

Our Prep children are focussing on learning each other’s names and being brave when exploring new Discovery Spaces. 

Our children in the One Hub are continuing to build their stamina for Discovery, as they begin to work on mini-projects that evolve over several sessions. 

The Two Hub children are learning to apply processes to their Discovery creations, as they learn to strategically plan and iterate on their designs. 

Our children across the Three- Six Hubs are preparing to start their projects. 

Children in the Three Four Hub have been experimenting with their areas of interests and inspiration, and are beginning to develop these into possible project ideas. 

Our Five/Six Hub children have begun a short term shared project, where they are exploring what the world will be like in 2055, they have been invited to create an artefact that reflects their vision for what the world might look like, they have been encouraged to use perspectives that consider the environment, health system, infrastructure and migration and refugee policies.

Discovery and Community Projects

Our project for Term One is called ‘Who calls Footscray Home?’ Together, we will investigate the key concepts of tradition and identity. Some of the “deep” questions that we will explore together include:

Prep Hub

Who am I? What makes me special? Who is in my family home?

One Hub

Who is a part of our home, St.John’s? How do I contribute my strengths and talents to this home?

Two Hub

Who makes up our home, Footscray? Does Footscray feel like home to everyone?

Three/Four Hub

What makes our community, Footscray, feel like home? How does the local government create a space that feels like home for our community?

Five/Six Hub

What makes our country, Australia, feel like home? Does it feel like home to all of its residents (refugee and migrant experience)? How has government policy and decision making impacted who can call Australia home?

Numeracy

Across our Hubs of Prep to Four, children have jumped back into revising, strengthening and applying Number and Place Value concepts. To support learning opportunities at home, you might like to:

• Ask your child questions like, what are all the things you know about the number _? (Write, draw, make, find etc).
• Practise skip counting by 1s, 2s, 5s, 10s (then extend to 3s and 4s) from any starting point.
• Ask your child to choose a number then ask them questions like, “How many more do you need to get to _?” “What is 1 more?”  “What is 10 more?” “What is 1 less?” “What is 10 less?”
• Make and count collections of numbers and group these into 10s and 1s (extend place value to tens of thousands to those developmentally ready). (e.g. collections of 10 pencils, tied together with a rubber band).

Our 5/6 Hub has begun an investigation into Fractions and Decimals, where children will make, compare and order fractions in both shapes and within collections. 5/6 children are working on understanding number lines, like this one below and how fractions can be compared according to size.

To support learning opportunities at home, you might like to:

• Find fractions in everyday life (e.g. cutting food such as sandwiches/apples, dividing collections of pasta, shelving etc).
• Counting by unit fractions, such as halves (e.g. 0, ½, 1, 1 ½, 2, 2 ½, 3). What would come next? How do you know?
• Physically construct a Fractions Wall  to keep at home with strips of paper (see below):

All our Hubs are also focusing on the Metacognitive component of the Capabilities curriculum. This means:

• P-2 children will be exposed to the Blob Tree to help describe their feelings about learning Maths.
• 3-6 children will be broadening their understanding of thinking tools and processes to help label the thinking journey they are undertaking.

Lauren Davis

ldavis@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au

Co-Deputy Principal & Numeracy Leader

Literacy

Children in the P-2 space have started to bring home books to read as a bridge between learning at home and learning at school. Children in the 3-6 Hubs will also bring their Book Club texts home later this term.

Here are some ways you might support your child’s reading at home:

P-2: 

• Discuss the cover by labelling the picture, title and author (if relevant)
• Ask your child to make a prediction about the text, by drawing on what they might already know e.g. if the story is about a farm “remember that time we went to the farm, what animals did we see? What were they doing / eating?” this helps activate children’s prior knowledge and draw their attention to the vocab they might encounter in the text
• If you child is able to, encourage them to read the story to you OR read the story to them OR have a book chat using the pictures in the book to tell a story
• You can use prompts to support your child to read unknown words, such as:
  • Look at the picture
  • Let’s look at the sounds in the words e.g. b - ar - n (barn)
  • What word would make sense in the story?
• If children are able to decode an unknown word, ask them to explain the strategy they used
• Upon finishing the story, encourage your child to make connections to the story or to retell the story

3-6:

As children read through their Book Club text (chapter by chapter), you are invited to engage in discussion with them about their text, by asking questions such as:

• Are you enjoying the text so far? Why / why not?
• Have you had any surprises so far in the story? Why? 
• What are you thinking or wondering about as you read? 
• What connections have you made as you have read the text?
• What character do you most connect to / find interesting and why?

There are so many ways you can engage in dialogue about a text; quite often, when you start with one question, it can roll off into another. Remember, the aim is to promote a love of reading, and to support children in reading for meaning, so conversations don’t need to labour on or go for too long! 

If you have any further questions about how you can support your child’s reading at home, or any other Literacy-related questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Daniela De Luca

Literacy Leader

ddeluca@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au 

Wellbeing

We have started our year at St. John’s with our WOW weeks and establishing our Getting Ready To Learn routines. All Hubs have now set up their ‘Chill Out’ spaces where the students can go if they need to take a break, regulate their emotions or get ready to learn. 

In the Prep Hub, the children have been getting to know one another through games and they have been learning some ways that they can reach out to make a friend. 

In the One Hub, the children have been tuning back into the Ways of Working and they have been developing their language to describe emotions.

In the Two Hub, the children have been using their prior knowledge to describe what our Ways of Working look like at St. John’s.  They have been reviewing the Zones of Regulation and identifying their personal strengths. 

In the 3/4 Hub, the children have been unpacking the Ways of Working with a focus on relationship building and social awareness.  They have focused on the WOW to be kind and what that means for everyone working together in the Hub. 

The children in the 5/6 Hub have spent time reconnecting,  developing their Hub Habits and expectations for this year. They have and will continue to explore the concept of safety including physical, social, emotional and cyber safety and what that means for everyone working and learning together in the 5/6 Hub. 

Learning Diversity

Ashlee Owen is our 2022 Learning Diversity Leader. If you have any questions or concerns related to your child’s learning, their Personalised Learning Plan (PLP), their goals or adjustments to learning please get in touch. 

Ashlee’s email is aowen@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au

Faith

Our children have begun investigating the Parable of the Good Samaritan, a timeless parable of compassion, kindness and generosity to others. We’re using this parable to help support our understanding of ‘The Common Good’, reflecting on our actions and how they support upholding the good of others. This ties in beautifully as our school and each hub work towards building their Ways of Working within each space. 

Faith Events in Term one: 

We’re very excited to announce the upcoming events within our school: 

Reconciliation: 

On Friday the 25th of March, some of our year 3 children will be participating in their First Reconciliation at Our Lady’s Church in Maidstone. We wish all of the follow children the best as they prepare for the sacrament: 

Enzo Ceravolo, Willow Hayes, Amelia Mammoliti, Caitlin Wise, Alana Nguyen, Harry O’Leary, Elijah Tran, Violet Anderson, Jackson Bernardo, Eva De Pasquale, Isla Fowlie, Thomas Jeffries, Freya Morris, Liam Mota, Ruby Perri, Audrey McNamara King, and Gabriela Argibay.

A faith evening has been scheduled for Wednesday the 9th of March at 5:30pm for these families to further prepare our children for their First Reconciliation. 

Ash Wednesday Liturgy: 

Our school will also be holding our very own Ash Wednesday Liturgy in Joan’s Yard, to commence our Lent preparation on Wednesday the 2nd of March, at 10:00am. Weather permitting, families are welcome to join us for our outside liturgy.

Mitch Hayes

(Faith/REL Leader)

mitch.hayes@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au