PREP

Week 2 and 3 in Prep have been super busy and super duper fun.

We have almost finished our learning of Stage 3 for Little Learners Love Literacy. Next week we move into stage 4, where we will be learning another set of sounds to add to what we have already learnt. This means fun new sentences, new words and exciting new books to read as a whole class.

We have had a big focus on our handwriting, in particular, how we are forming our letters from the correct starting points. This makes our writing tasks easier as we complete them.

In numeracy, we have been learning about days of the week and had a little look into months of the year. We have been talking about what we do each day at school and at home.

A reminder that next week Wheels on Wednesday commences. Every student must have a helmet and a scooter to participate. No bikes allowed. This will occur at first break, each Wednesday, for the remainder of Term 3.

Last Thursday, we had our first swimming lesson at Blue Water. This was a great success and we can’t wait to keep going back each Thursday.

Last Friday, we said goodbye to Dani. We wish her all the best on her new adventure as she becomes a mother.

We have been so lucky to have Paula in our space this week and have had so much fun.

Next week, we are so excited to welcome Adam into our Prep team, as the new Prep teacher. He will be such a great addition and we know the kids will all just love him.

Friendly reminder that next Monday the 31st of July is a PUPIL FREE DAY. No students are to attend school, as it’s a learning day for staff.

Gemma Blake gblake@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Dani Conheady dconheady@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 1/2

Can you believe that we are at the end of Week 3 already? Term 3 has been flying by and we are thrilled with the progress and efforts made by all students. We loved our first visits to the pool and are excited for the remainder of our swimming lessons this Term.

On Monday 31st July our staff have a Professional Development day. Students are not permitted at school on this day.

Tomorrow morning we have Year 1 Leah/Miriam sharing their Prayer Gathering. As always, we welcome our St Mary's family and friends to gather with us at 9am.

Our swimming program will continue for the next 5 weeks. We encourage students to be organised with their belongings and to check their swimming bags each Thursday morning to ensure they have what they need.

Year 2 have been so excited to kick off Term 3 Clubs. We have lots of amazing volunteers helping out with our fishing and our knitting groups and we are so thankful for their help. Our Clubs program runs each week on a Friday in the last possible face-to-face session with our students. This means that on weeks when we have an assembly, Clubs will begin at 12:30pm. Assemblies generally run fortnightly. This week, Clubs will be at 12:30pm. Our fishing group will only head off if the weather is looking clear. In the case of wet weather, they will work on setting up their fishing gear here at school. See our ClassDojo for updates.

We have had lots of students away from school this week due to illness. This is a friendly reminder to keep your children home from school if they are feeling unwell.

Kascha Popping kpopping@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Leah Martin lmartin@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Miriam Collins mcollins@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Matt Absalom mabsalom@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Emma Roberts eroberts@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Kerryn Williams kwilliams@smcolac.cathlolic.edu.au

GRADE 3/4

We are very proud of how hard our Year 3 and 4 children have been working and how interested and eager they have been to learn about our new topics this term.

During Literacy, we are reading the story, ‘Fox,’ by Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks. We have been building our background knowledge of bushfires, flora and fauna of the Australian Bush and introduced species to help us understand the text. Vocabulary words we have been developing our understanding of include persuade, clinging, charred, swiftly, scarcely, envy, triumph and despair.

In Writing this term, we are learning how to compile information reports. This week the children have been eagerly collecting information about a chosen animal. These facts we have collected under subheadings which we will then write into an information report during our ‘Big Write’ session this week.

This term we have introduced Times Tables. Children are completing activities, games, songs and learning strategies to help them recall the tables automatically. Children are learning the 2’s, 5’s, 10’s and 3’s and once these are mastered will begin to learn the 4’s, 6’s, 7’s, 8’s and 9’s times tables. We encourage children to practise these at home as being able to recall times table facts helps children to confidently apply these to many mathematical concepts.

A reminder that next Monday 31st July is a Pupil Free Day.

Elissa Rodger erodger@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Deb Holland dholland@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Lauren Ryan lryan@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Meg Knight mknight@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Judy Carr jcarr@smcolac.catholic.edu

Jodie Hassett jhassett@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 5/6

Week 3 already. Time flies when you are working hard.

In Literacy the Grade 6 students have begun to write their own poetry, applying the elements of poetry and skills they have been building in our unit so far. We will be writing various forms of fixed verse poetry and trying our hand at free verse as well. Students are showing amazing creativity and skill with their poem writing! Our Jabberwocky unit is well underway, this week we explored Portmanteaus; a word made by joining two or more words together that also joins their meaning. We came up with the word “flimserible” by joining flimsy and miserable, it means to be so sad you feel like you could fall apart at any moment.

The Grade 5 students are continuing their work on information reports, students will be doing Big Writes on their chosen animal on Thursday after spending time in the lead up researching the animal. They have been introduced to the four Reciprocal Reading roles and will soon begin applying them.

Both year levels are continuing their work on fractions, the Yr 6 students have been focused on ordering and placing on a number line, the Yr 5s are looking at equivalent fractions and fraction families.

Grade 5s have had a busy start to the term. The Barking Spider Sessions they have been participating in is a positive experience. They have been learning improvisation games, team building, cooperation skills and how to speak in front of audiences; all while using their creativity.

Last week the Grade 5 students had the opportunity to participate in some science and music workshops at Trinity. In the science workshop, students experimented with different chemicals and observed reactions with each other, while getting used to the Science Lab environment. In the Music workshop they listened to some solo acts before a performance by The Eliminations featuring an ex St Mary's Student - Charlie Gaylard (Millie’s brother).

Also students will be doing winter sports this week and next week before a 2 week break.

Rachel Downard rdownard@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Paula Parish pparish@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Jade LoRicco jloricco@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Dan Cannon dcannon@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Susie Scott sscott@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Maegen Potter mpotter@smcolac.catholic.edu.au.

Miscellanous