We hope you have all had a great weekend.

REMINDER

4/5/6 have Sport on Tuesday and Friday.

These are the only days they are required to wear their runners. Please ensure students are wearing the correct St Joseph’s uniform.

Reading diaries are due at school:

4 Shaw on Monday
5/6 Butters on Friday

Literacy

Last Friday we both attended a spelling PD which consolidated what and how we teach spelling. The daily dictation using words that contain the spelling focus for the week is highly productive in retaining the focus of words whilst using them in daily sentences.

Daily writing has produced some interesting stories and retells. Our focus genre is writing narratives. This week there will be a strong focus on how and when to use paragraphs in our writing.

Reading continues to be a huge focus throughout the 4/5/6 area and the students practise different forms of reading each day. Reading rotations, Buddy reading and quiet reading happen daily.

Numeracy

This week we look at Volume and how we find out the volume of different containers. We also continue with daily fluency tasks which continue to involve Place Value. We continue a daily focus on times tables and addition fluency.

Inquiry

Last week we discussed elections and voting. Our “Free Time” election used preferential voting and the results frustrated some of our classroom citizens. They may look more closely at how they list their preferences next time! This week we are looking at leadership and may even have a scripted, mock parliament sitting.

The Year 4 students are investigating the unit, ' First Contact'. You would have received the ‘love token’ or artefact your child made and hopefully they have filled you in on why they made it.

This week we have looked at persistence and what the people in the past would’ve had to do in times of hardship. Students have thought and discussed a time in their lives when they have practised the habit of persistence.

Religion

The 5/6 class focused on Project Compassion late last week. This will be a weekly focus through Lent. We will also complete a survey for the Catholic Education Office which will give our school some direction in regards to Catholic Identity.

Last week, the children attended an Ash Wednesday liturgy in the church. We discussed the season of Lent and what that may mean for different people.

Some people choose to give something up during Lent or others may think more about how they can ‘change their heart’ and help others more in their everyday life.

This week, the Year 4 students have continued learning about the unit, ‘The Circle of Life’. They have responded to picture storybooks and the clip, ‘The Fall of Freddie the Leaf’ through discussion and art.

We have also discussed Project Compassion and how we can help others. This is where we can put the meaning of Lent into tangible acts of kindness towards others.

Hope you have a fabulous week,

Mrs Shaw & Mr Butters

mbutters@sjbeechworth.catholic.edu.au

tshaw@sjbeechworth.catholic.edu.au

Diary Notes