Term 1 we welcomed back students, parents, and families to St Bridget’s. In JLC, we also gave a special welcome to Jaden who joined our class.

During class time we have been learning about classroom rules, routines, where to find resources and equipment and looking after our belongings. We talked about our holidays in our writing and we shared exciting places we visited and activities we did.

We enjoyed learning about Chinese New Year and the customs and traditions associated with this special time of year. The children learnt that the celebrations among other traditions is to celebrate and usher out the old year and bring forth the luck and prosperity of the new one. This year is the Year of the Rabbit and the children made paper lanterns depicting the rabbit. Traditionally the lanterns signify a wish for a better and brighter future. The children coloured in the rabbits and carefully followed instructions on how to construct their paper lanterns.

Students have been learning about measurement and measuring objects with informal units. They learned about hand and feet spans and used these to measure items in the classroom. Students also used a picture or a cat that they cut out and used to measure objects like their pencils, tables and themselves.

We have been reading and writing recounts. We watched a video called ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ which is a story about the life of a young, hungry caterpillar who is in search of food to eat before he turns into a beautiful butterfly. The children were given picture prompts from the story to help them retell the story following the journey of the caterpillar before it becomes a butterfly. The children did excellent work and were very eager to share their writing with the rest of the class.

JLC students have been investigating efficient ways of counting large quantities of objects. During class discussions, the students decided that the best way would be to count by 10s. They were then given a challenge to count a large number of objects as efficiently as possible. One group had coloured matchsticks, another had teddy counters and the last group were given a tub of mini counting cubes. Using bowls, cups and grouping, students worked as a team to organise and count their objects to arrive at a total number. It was fascinating to see the children apply different strategies to count and how they arranged their objects to make their counting easier.

During Religious Education, the children in the Junior Learning Community were learning about the different images of God. From the stories in the bible, the children learnt about what God is like. They made a bookmark that they could later use and keep. The children were asked to choose and illustrate a person from their everyday lives whose love and care reminds them of God. They wrote on the bookmark ‘ God is like…’ and completed the sentence with a description of the image they drew on their bookmark. The children did amazing work.

During Literacy lessons, students have been learning about procedures. They have been reading them and learning about the different parts including:

Aim - what is to be done/made/achieved?
Ingredients - what is needed? (food items)
Materials - what is needed? (paper, glue, sticky tape, textas etc)
Equipment - what is needed? (Mixing bowl, spoon, rolling pin, grater etc)
Steps - what is the order of things to be done in?

Students made hot chocolate following a recipe and wrote about their experience.

In the Bounce Back Program, our unit was all about ‘Being Safe’ and how to deal with Bullying, in particular what to do if you or someone you know is being bullied. Our topic coincided with the National Day Against Bullying which was held nationwide on the 18th March. The children dressed up as superheroes and participated in a number of activities. They watched a video called Daisy Chain that dealt with bullying and how to overcome bullying issues. The children organised themselves into small groups and discussed ‘What would you do if?’ cards that dealt with various bullying scenarios. The children took turns at presenting their discussions and answers to the class.

Tara Watson from the Boroondara Council came and talked to us about Road Safety. She discussed crossing the road safely and all the different places where it is safe to cross the road. She taught us about the different lights, signs and speed/traffic humps. The important steps to remember before crossing the road are:

Stop
Look
Listen
Think

The students were very engaged and had lots of questions to ask of Tara.

On Wednesday of Holy Week, the whole school re-enacted the Story Of Easter. Easter is the most important liturgical celebration for all Christians. The Easter Story starts with Palm Sunday which is a feast commemorating Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The children in the Junior School acted out the Story of Palm Sunday. Some took turns at reading parts of the story while others waved the palm leaves which they made to honour Jesus. They all sang the song ‘Shout Hosanna’ beautifully and it was worth all the practice that went into making the performance a great success.

Kind regards

Signora Gina Michieli & Miss Carly Wills

JLC Classroom Teachers

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