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Foundation News

As we come to the end of another week and begin a new one, we have been reflecting on our journey so far in Foundation. We have been fortunate to have a student, Sarah from ACU join Foundation LW for her teaching round until the end of this term.

We have been at school for 64 days, and it is amazing to see the growth and progress we have all made. We are taking the time to look back over our learning, such as our first pieces of writing, and acknowledge how far we have come. We have not only grown academically, but socially and emotionally. Many of us began our school journey shy, nervous and unsure, and today we are confident, happy and excited about each day. 

We began our week as writers, reflecting on the skills of a good writer. As communicators, we shared our weekend adventures and experiences with each other, and focused on applying one, some or all of these skills. As thinkers, some of us ensured we began our sentence with a capital letter and ended it with a full stop, while some of us listened for and recorded the initial sound of a word, or stretched out our words to record the beginning, middle and end sounds. As writers, this week we have been learning to re-read our sentence, pointing to each word, checking for our sounds and listening to see if it makes sense. 

As readers, we are continuing to explore verbs and identify them in the texts that we read. As thinkers, we have been using those verbs to construct our own sentences and will continue to focus on this in the coming weeks. We are also continuing to make text to self connections by considering what the story reminds us of. In addition to some of the sight words we have explored previously this week the students in Foundation AM are exploring the words ‘not’, ‘of’, ‘we’re’, ‘going’ and ‘scared’, and the students in Foundation LW are exploring the words ‘they’, ‘an’, ‘too’, ‘was’ and ‘him’. As researchers, we  are continuing to explore the /d/ sound,  and will begin to find out about the /v/ sound. Please continue to assist your child in identifying these sounds, and reading, writing and spelling these words when engaging in literacy learning at home. 

As mathematicians, we are continuing to explore Measurement. As researchers, we found out about the concept of Capacity. We collaborated in small groups and used containers of different shapes and sizes to investigate which containers held more or less. We estimated and made predictions, then filled up one container with beans or blocks and poured it into another to compare. As thinkers, we discovered that the container that looked bigger did not always hold the most. Some containers were taller and some were shorter, but some were also skinnier or wider, and sometimes the shorter but wider one held more.

In our Discovery Time workshops, we had time and opportunity to be scientists and researchers this week, as we looked closely at posters, x-rays, photos and 3D models and read different texts to find out about the Human Body! Hunter discovered that “an eye has 3 layers” and Thomas found out that “when you are born your head is soft but then it gets harder”.  We were also curious researchers as we investigated farm animals. We used magnifying glasses to look closely at them, and made new discoveries by looking at books and pictures. As communicators, we shared our thinking, discoveries and wonderings. Hannah and Ariana discovered that “chickens can give us eggs, a mum/girl chicken is called a hen, a daddy/boy chicken is called a rooster and older chickens lay bigger eggs.”

As collaborators, we worked together and came up with a plan to build bridges. We faced many challenges...our bridges kept falling down and there was no way for cars or people to get to the bridge, but as thinkers and communicators, we talked to each other and shared our ideas to problem solve! We designed lifts to get people to the top of the walking bridge, and created ramps for the cars. As creative thinkers, we came up with lots of ideas and added water under our bridge, designed car washes and mechanics as cars entered the bridge and built farms, cinemas and zoos around it. 

Thank you to all the parents who assisted us this week with mathematical thinking, sight words, Discovery Time, reading and writing. We cannot wait for the week ahead! Foundation Team,

Alycia Marsico and Leanne Wenckowski. 

Year 1/2

We can’t believe that we are already halfway through Term 2! 

As researchers, during our Discovery sessions, we’ve had many opportunities to explore, investigate, design and devise learning plans.  Some students have written scripts for a puppet play, written stories, developed skills in design and construction, planned plastic free lunch days and much more. We’re loving the active hands-on learning through our investigations and play, and the opportunities to work alongside each other. Come along to our learning spaces and see our amazing learning stories!

The Discovery Garden students are really enjoying working in the outside garden space. 

The learning story so far…

• We weeded the garden beds
• Dug and moved the soil around
• Addi and Maddie took action by bringing NO plastic in their lunch boxes
• Sam wrote a letter to Bunnings asking for seasonal donated plants
• We have researched the herbs and vegetables that we can grow in our winter garden
• We researched the role of worms, worm farms and composting in our journey towards sustainability at St Fidelis
• We researched how plastic can pollute our environment
• Sam’s Dad Harry, is going to donate some plants
• Sorted the Discovery seeds
• Addi and Maddie are planning a whole school ‘No Plastic for 2 Days’ on June 3rd and June 4th
• Designed posters for the Plastic Not Fantastic/Nude Food Day

As mathematicians, we are having fun learning about length using non formal units paper clips, pencils, unifix blocks to measure different objects in our learning space. In pairs we worked together to discuss, write sentences, and draw pictures related to the following questions: 

Why is one measurement a greater number than the other? 

Why are the measurements different? 

Why might it be important to label the unit that you used to measure? 

Guest speaker Lisa, the microbiologist, returns with our germs! 

Shared Inquiry

Lisa, the microbiologist returned with our agar plates and colonies of bacteria and fungi. We shared our predictions about the number, shape, colour of the microorganisms. As scientists, we observed the results of the swabs and wrote and drew what we saw. 

Have a wonderful week with your families!

Kindest Regards,

Belinda Filippone, Stefanie Carriera and Maria Delaney

Year 3/4

This week has been a short one, however a very busy one. The students have continued to work well in class and enjoy one another's company on the playground. 

As writers, we have continued working on our persuasive writing. The students have completed a writing piece looking at the structure, content, reasons and evidence and have had a chance to edit. The students have looked at a variety of texts this week and applied a range of comprehension strategies to assist them to fully understand what they have read.

As mathematicians, we have continued to look at the concept of subtraction. The students have applied the bar model, number line and algorithm strategies to help them to solve subtraction equations.

The students have continued to work with the You Can Do It social skills program. They have looked at overcoming obstacles we face in our own lives. They discussed how they could do this and created posters to show their understanding.

As people of Faith,the students have continued to learn about the Sacrament of the Eucharist. We have learnt about the different parts of the Mass, the significance of each part, the symbols of the Eucharist. We also learnt more about the ascension of Jesus.

During STEM classes,  the students worked enthusiastically to build a frog which they used to race against one another. Their thinking, reflecting and problem solving was very evident to see.

Some of the Year 3/4 students also competed in the district cross country competition. Their resilience and determination to complete the course was wonderful to see.

Year 3/4 teachers

Mark MacGregor, Katarina Davidson and Graham Troy.

Year 5/6

What an exciting week it was last week for the Year 5/6 students! 

Last Monday the students went on an excursion to Scienceworks, as part of our inquiry onto “What is energy and why does it matter?”. The students were able to visit the various exhibitions around Scienceworks as well as attend a show called “Lights, Energy, Action”. 

Within the show we witnessed a tesla coil create lightning and play us a tune, explored how sound waves work (and tested our hearing!) and fried a pickled onion using electricity (this was a smelly surprise!).

The students also had the opportunity to race Cathy Freeman, design their own futuristic cars and explore what our world might look like in the years to come, all within the exhibits. 

The 5/6 teachers would like to sincerely thank the parent helpers who came along  to support us on our excursion as well as the 5/6 students who represented our school exceptionally. We were extremely proud of the way the students conducted themselves on the trip and participated in the day. 

In Literacy, the students have been reading various texts to locate and explain the main idea and supporting details. They have also been further exploring what inferred meaning is, and have been writing detailed responses about what they have found. 

In Inquiry, the 5/6 students have been designing and building their own water turbines, as part of our exploration into sustainable energy. The teachers have been blown away with the designs and construction of the students' water turbines. They have demonstrated excellent problem solving skills and collaboration in order to build these excellent models. This week the students will test their water turbines and write a scientific report about the process. 

In STEM, the students have been testing their prototypes for a prosthetic hand. It has been incredible to witness the creativity and ingenuity of the students as they build a functioning hand using materials from SPIKE in our STEM space. This week the students tested the grip of their prosthetic hands by picking up different items. Some were even able to throw and catch a tennis ball!! We cannot wait to see what else the students can create and what their final products will be able to do. 

We hope all the students have had an enjoyable rest over the long weekend and look forward to another fantastic week of learning ahead. 

Michelle Casamento, Olivia Sargent, Viviana Clarke and Tania Fragopoulos. 

5/6 Teachers.