ST FIDELIS NEWSLETTER

What's happening in our learning spaces? 

FOUNDATION 

It has been another busy week in the Foundation learning spaces as we learned more about our friends through engaging experiences. It was wonderful to see so many of the Foundation families and Year 6 families at Mass yesterday to celebrate together. The Foundation students loved receiving their very own “Buddy Bear” complete with a message from their Year 6 Buddy. 

As inquirers, we are finding out about each other and share this information with our friends. The students were asked to fill their ‘ME Bags’ with items that are special to them and represent their interests and hobbies, as well as a family photo. As communicators, each student had the opportunity to take a seat in the special teacher's chair and share their ‘ME Bags’ with their classmates. This experience allowed us to grow our confidence in speaking to others and improve our listening skills as we engage with the speaker. Observing the students share their passions and families was profound and insightful for everyone to learn more about each other and how we can create an inclusive learning community. 

As mathematicians, we have been engaging in new and fun numeracy games that expand our number knowledge. We have been playing ‘1-10’ with a partner which involves taking turns to flip a card and place that card in order from 1-10 by thinking about the numbers we already have and the numbers we still need and strategising on how to place the card correctly. This game has been so much fun to learn at school, some of us have even been great self-managers by sharing this game with our loved ones at home. 

As a Catholic community, we are learning about the events of Holy Week, leading up to Easter. We have explored the stories of Palm Sunday and The Last Supper. We have engaged in thinking routines using picture prompts to help us think about what we can see, and what we think is happening and explore our wonderings about the image. As thinkers, we then use these initial thoughts to deepen our understanding of Holy Week by comparing stories that are age appropriate to those in the Bible. We explored two versions of Palm Sunday which we compared and contrasted and can now retell the story. We can also apply the story of The Last Supper to our personal lives by illustrating a time when we celebrated a special event with our loved ones. As storytellers, we will be re-enacting the story of Palm Sunday on  Monday 3rd April in the St Fidelis Church at 2:45 pm. We look forward to sharing this story with our friends and family. 

Please remember to bring back any library bags by Tuesday each week so that we can borrow a new book on Wednesday. 

 

Have a fabulous week. 

 

Leanne Wenckowski and Alex Phillips

Foundation Team

YEAR 1/2

It’s been another busy week in 1/2. Time flies by when you’re having fun!

 

This week, as part of The Resilience Project, we explored different emotions. We role-played what they would look like and sound like and had to guess the emotion. As collaborators, we engaged in small groups to create emojis for each of the feelings, and had time and opportunity to share these. In our next session, we will dialogue about how someone would look when feeling that emotion and when we might feel it, and document our thinking in our journals. 

As inquirers, we were excited for another Discovery Time workshop. We had time and opportunity to be collaborators, researchers, communicators, thinkers and self-managers. As researchers, we used the Merge Cubes and iPads to explore different topics, including plants, space, DNA and sharks. We listened carefully, watched videos and looked at 3D images, and documented all of our discoveries. We also began exploring Dinosaurs this week, something we have been very curious about since our excursion to Melbourne Museum. We used non-fiction books and fact sheets to help us find out about different types of dinosaurs, their interesting features and what they eat. 

 

Some of us engaged in Block Construction, where we demonstrated our skills as collaborators by coming up with a plan, sharing the materials, taking turns and working together to solve problems. We even used the toy cars to test ramps we built and see which car went faster, or if the direction affected the speed! At the Book Making station, we collaborated to make an informational text about Easter. We all had a job and contributed by cutting, pasting, designing, drawing, writing and editing. 

Here are some of our reflections from Discovery Time….

  • We discovered that Great White Sharks are very powerful, by listening to information on the iPad and Merge Cube. We are wondering why they are called Great White Sharks. (Sophie and Ava)
  • We were trying to build a mansion but it just kept falling down and getting knocked over. We needed to keep trying and rebuilding.(Damien)
  • I am being a researcher by reading a nonfiction book about Dinosaurs. I am finding out about a Spinosaurus. I learned that they are good at hunting for food.  (Orlando)
  • We are collaborating to make an Easter non-fiction book. We need to include information about Easter, what you do at Easter and pictures and headings. We might also need a contents page. (Hunter and Riley)
  • We are being collaborators and researchers by finding out about DNA on the Merge Cubes. We are looking at diagrams and listening to information. (Elliot and Sebastian S)

We wonder what other amazing learning will occur in the last two weeks of the term!  

 

This a reminder that next week, on Tuesday 4th April, we will be engaging in a paraliturgy. Our cohort will be sharing the events of Holy Thursday. This will be held at 2:45 in the Church and all families are welcome. 

 

1/2 Team, 

Alycia Marsico, Vania Sparano and Vicky Karalis 

YEAR3/4

Some of the Year 4 students were lucky enough to experience Intra School Sports last week with the Year 5/6 students. The Year 5/6 students and teachers were impressed with the sportsmanship and teamwork displayed by our year 4s. Well done!

Tuesday the 21st of March, was Harmony Day. Therefore, this week we have been finding out about Harmony Week. Students have had the opportunity to be researchers by listening to and reading books and fact files to find out about the significance of this yearly event. Books we viewed included Wide Big World by Maxine Beneba Clarke, Colour Me by Ezekiel Kwaymullina and Littlelight byKelly Canby. 

 

As mathematical thinkers, we continue to learn about the Place Value system. This week, we explored how to represent numbers using a variety of concrete materials. Take a look at our learning. 

Congratulations to our Year 3 Students who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Thursday night. 

Just a reminder that the Italian Museum Excursion will occur on Friday 31st of March. Students will need their brain food, recess and water bottles with them in a small backpack. The students will be dining at Tiamo in Carlton for a pizza lunch. Students who have dietary requirements are to bring their own lunch on the day. 

 

Please ensure students are wearing their sports uniform. Parents attending the excursion will need to be at school by 10 am. 

 

Enjoy your week!

 

Year 3/4 Teachers

Belinda Panzarino & Bianka Zorzut

 

YEAR 5/6

The culmination of last week came with the Yr 6 / Foundation Buddy Mass which was a great celebration with school and Parish community members in attendance to celebrate the Mass.

 

5/6 students had a great excursion into the city last Monday as part of our Inquiry unit.  They visited the Koorie Heritage Centre in Birrarung Marr, walked sections of the city looking for examples of cultural influence from different cultures and they also visited the Immigration Museum to gain insight into the experience of migrants and how they have contributed to the intercultural aspects of Australia.  

 

In Mathematics, we are investigating Addition and identifying and using strategies to solve problems. Strategies include vertical algorithm, compensation and bridging to ten. Students have multi-level opportunities to access the concepts and to then extend their understanding.

 

In Literacy, we focused on the Story ‘The Name Jar’ which linked to our Inquiry into the culture. They were very thoughtful and relevant discussions and students recorded their responses to the text using examples to support their responses. In Writing, students reflected on their excursion experience showing their understanding of the traditions and beliefs of different cultures and their influence on Australian culture.

 

In Religious Education, we are moving into the events of Holy Week leading to the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. We have been exploring the world of Jesus at the time to gain an understanding of the places Jesus visited in his life as well as the social and political hierarchy of the time which impacted the events of Holy Week. We will be examining the scripture in relation to Peter’s denial of Jesus after his arrest through 2 of the Gospels to compare and contrast their portrayal. 

 

We finished Summer Interschool sports.  Bat Tennis remained undefeated. Basketball boys and girls played with great spirit with the girls prevailing and the boys pushing back hard against their undefeated opponents. In Softball, both teams played well. The girls were only just beaten in the dying moments of the match. The boy's team were defeated by a strong opposition but gave their best as usual.

 

Have a great week!

Olivia Sargent, Graham Troy and Aoife O’Flynn  

5/6 Teachers