Junior School News

From the Head of Junior School

Last week I had the pleasure of being invited to be one of several guest storytellers to read a story to students in the Junior School Library. This was an initiative of our Junior School Literacy team as one of the features of our celebration of the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Book Week. As an avid reader through my school years, I was keen to share with our students some of the stories that I enjoyed when I was going through Primary School. I researched some of the books that I had loved, Catweazle by Richard Carpenter, Worzel Gummidge by Barbara Euphan Todd, The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall, unfortunately, all out of print. Fortunately, The Famous Five by Enid Blyton is still a very popular read and the full series was available in our Library. I found a copy of Five on a Treasure Island and sat down to reacquaint myself with Julian, Dick, Anne, George and my favourite character, Timmy. While I was re-reading the first chapter, I reflected on the power of books to transport us to exciting places, to allow us to feel that we are part of the adventure. 

When I shared my favourite stories with the students who attended our book reading at lunchtime, I was heartened to see that their love of books equalled mine. They were keen to hear about the adventures of the Famous Five and amazed to hear how old the stories were. (I did have to explain that an author today would not necessarily be advocating that 11 year old children jump in a horse-drawn caravan to go on a camping adventure by themselves!) After discussing what I enjoyed about reading The Famous Five as a child I took the opportunity to share the children a picture book that I discovered as a graduate teacher. It is Luke’s Way of Looking by Nadia Wheatley and Matt Ottley. I found it to be a wonderful book that explores how each of us can see things differently.  After reading the book and discussing why I thought it was a powerful story for children I was pleased to hear our students picking up on the themes, discussing how the language used in the books led the reader to form a view of the characters and how the art in the book complemented the story, sometimes in quite sophisticated ways.  My audience ranged from Preps to Year Six students and each had an observation that they were keen to share. 

Our literacy team and our classroom teachers generally have been working hard over the last few years to promote the benefits of reading and to strengthen our children’s reading skills. While Book Week is a specific week where we celebrate books and reading, anytime is a good time to share with our children what we love about reading, now and when we were young.  I encourage all of our parents to take ten minutes over the weekend to talk to their children about what their child is reading, what they themselves are reading at the moment and what books they loved as a child.

Mr Donald Thompson

Head of Junior School

Preparatory: Extended Stay at School 

With great excitement, armed with masks, sanitiser and lunch, our students embarked on the Prep Extended Stay for 2020. We travelled by bus to the White Hils Botanical Gardens where the children enjoyed a picnic lunch in groups of no more than 9. They then climbed the traditional tree, played on the playground and explored the park. It was wonderful to finally deliver a sense of normality to their lives. We returned to school and Mrs James conducted an Art activity where the children explored an Indigenous art form. This was followed by a delicious Pizza dinner, some more play time and then a movie. We delivered the children to their parents exhausted but happy to have enjoyed an adventure to a playground with their classmates. Possibly made even sweeter given the lockdowns we have endured this year.

Mrs Josie Beks

Prep Teacher 

Year Two

Retell of Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins

Retelling a story can be accomplished in many different ways.  The Year 2M students were given the challenge of retelling the story of Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins by creating a story map.  Their goal was to depict and describe the journey of Rosie the chicken and her follower, the fox.  The map needed to include all events in the order they occurred, and use adjectives to describe the nouns pictured.  How they did this, was up to them!

Mrs Kendra Burge

Year Two Teacher, Head of Early Learning

Year Three

Students in Year 3D created ‘Monsters’ as part of Book Week Celebrations. This week we wrote a narrative about our monsters. Some stories were spooky, some were scary and some were very funny! 

Mrs Erin Moss

Year Three Teacher

Year Four

Last week we celebrated the AFL Grand Final in Year 4. The room was filled with the colours of different teams but there was a lot of yellow and black…..who knew there were so many Richmond supporters? The students participated in footy maths activities, literacy activities and designed a new footy jersey. They predicted which team was going to win and the margin. Ruthie Meadows was the winner predicting Tigers (her team!) by 30 points She was so close.

Mrs Rachelle Fisher

Year Four Teacher

Year Five: 5M Literature Study

5M read, discussed and analysed the book, ‘One Step At A Time’ by Jane Jolly and Sally Heinrich. This is a notable picture storybook, (recognised by the Children’s Book Council of Australia). ‘One Step At A Time’ is set in South East Asia. It is an uplifting story that tells about a close relationship between a boy (Luk) and his elephant (Mali). The plot is set against the dark spectre of abandoned landmines, such as those still found across Laos, Cambodia and Thailand.

The students investigated the theme of the text to understand how we can apply lessons from the book to our own lives. 

Natasha Eldridge commented, “ I think the theme of this story is to not let a huge setback stop you from living your life- your emotional, social, physical or mental life. Also- there is always a friend nearby”. 

Jack Joynson-Baker, felt similarly. He said, “I think the theme of the story is to not let big impacts in your life hold you back from doing things you love- and from enjoying life”.

The Year 5M students also explored their own emotional responses to the story. They were conscious of their feelings changing and evolving,  in response to different unfolding events in the text. 

Laura Broom said, “ I felt sad and frightened when I saw that Mali and Luk lost their legs, but when I saw Luk helping Mali it made me feel excited and grateful that I have friends”. 

Wilf Mellor remarked, “I was shocked when the landmine blew, because one minute Mali was grabbing some bananas, the next minute her leg was no more. I was happy when Mali inhaled the air while walking with Luk”.

Finally, the students chose a motif from the text that they felt symbolised the story. These symbols were created in the style of the book’s illustrator, Sally Heinrich, who used dark outlines and rich textures.

Why not find “One Step At A Time” for yourself in the JS library?

Mrs Nicola Matthew

Year Five Teacher 

Year Six: Travel Brochures

Year Six students have been studying Asian countries and the relationships these countries have with Australia. The students were asked to produce a travel brochure on their designated country.  This activity helped to improve the students' use of Publisher as well as their understanding of Asian countries.

Junior School Radio Play Production - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Monday-Thursday 2-5 November 2020 

One of the biggest Drama pirouettes of the COVID pandemic is the move from a full Junior school production to a radio play. We went from preparing to perform Madagascar on stage to preparing to perform a radio play based on the much-loved children’s story, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, proudly brought to you by some of the eager Year Six Drama enthusiasts. The play was developed to provide Year Six students with an opportunity to have something special to look forward to in their final year in the Junior school. 

Students worked tirelessly throughout remote learning attending online rehearsals and submitting audio lines for feedback. Now back on-site students have been practising in front of microphones with live sound effects.

With only a few days to go until we go live, there is certainly much excitement not only from the cast but also the other students who are eagerly awaiting to hear the acoustic performance. There is certainly something quite magical about listening to a story and using a wild imagination to develop the story within the mind. 

Performances will be live-streamed to classrooms and parents and carers of the cast at the following times: 

Performances will be live-streamed to classrooms and parents and carers of the cast at the following times: 

Monday-Thursday 2-5 November - 1:00 - 1:30 pm

Main Characters              

Minor Lead Roles          

Narrators

Charli Hosking

Emma Smith

Imogen Stewart

Mia Harvey

Ashan Dhanapala

Frankie Fox

Alodie Thompson

Olivia Maher

Tadhg Hughan

Fraser Pollock

Lily Rohan

Georgia Mahony

Sound Effects Crew

Fraser Pollock

Lily Rohan

Sarah Crosby

Jack Jemmett

Georgia Mahony

Charli Hosking

We truly look forward to the performance days when the cast will finally experience the benefits from their hard work. They should feel proud of their grit and growth mindset in tackling a new experience and challenge. I believe that the vocal work will be an invaluable experience for future performances or public speaking. It has certainly helped me to understand the power of voice and a good story.

We can’t wait for you to hear the show!

Mrs Catherine Stagg

MiC Junior School Production 

Junior School Celebrated Bookweek in Style!

Monday: Launch Book Week in classrooms

Classrooms focused on the teachers' favourite picture storybook.  Discussions were held and activities around this storybook and others were all enjoyed in all Junior School classrooms. 

Tuesday: Book Week Dress Up Day and Parade/Activity Morning 

Students Dressed Up as their favourite book character. Classes paraded one a time expressing their favourite books to read. It was fantastic to see the thought and creativity put into the costumes this year.  Students also participated in various literacy activities throughout the morning. 

Wednesday: Outdoor Classroom Reading Day

All classes were encouraged to head outside to enjoy a story together. There is something magical about reading outside especially underneath a beautiful shady tree! 

Thursday: Chalk Boy Activity

‘Chalk Boy’ by Margaret Wild is a soulful and heart-warming story about what happens when a pavement artist’s drawing comes to life. Students listened to the story and then headed to the back playground to create this wonderful ‘Chalk Drawing’ Mural. 

Special Guest Reading

The students were surprised to see some Special Guest reading stories in the Library at lunchtime each day.  They were entertained by Dr Massey, our Head – Mr Thompson, our Head of Junior School – Mr Bowen, our Head of Maintenance and Mrs Mayor-Cox Founder and Lead Consultant Ecology of Learning=MC2.