School of Foundations
What’s Happening in the School of Foundations
We are fastly approaching the end of the term. There have been many interesting learning activities occurring throughout the School of Foundations. Below the teachers have added a snapshot of the learning.
Just a reminder if you can please return all library books by Monday 12 December at the latest. All students with overdue books have received a reminder with the names of the books that are overdue. If the books are damaged I would ask you still to return them as the librarians may be able to repair them.
There are many uniform items which have not been collected. We would like to recycle these items, so if you would like to take any unclaimed uniforms it would be greatly appreciated.
Last week, you would have received your child’s Semester 2 report. This would have provided you with an overview of their achievement of the syllabus outcomes for the past two terms. At St Luke’s the students learn in stages. The teachers, through their assessments throughout the past two terms, gather data which informs their allocation of grades.
At the end of term the students will be bringing home their books. This is a great opportunity for parents to have a discussion with their child/ren about the learning they have engaged in across the year. You may like to speak about some goals that your child may like to set for the coming school year.
Next week, all parents will have the opportunity to attend the ‘Student Led Conferences’. The students have been provided time over the past few weeks to prepare to share their learning achievements. In Kindergarten and Stage 1, the teachers will support the students during their presentations. Our Stage 2 students will lead their presentations more independently with their teachers there to support them if needed. All students will reflect on the pillars and a range of key learning areas. We encourage parents to offer their child feedback on their achievements, effort and goals moving forward.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our parents for your partnership with our teaching staff this year. The relationships between parents and teachers are important to ensure the wellbeing and learning success of your child/ren. Thank you to our parents who have shown their appreciation through gifts for the teaching staff. I know that this is not expected but very much appreciated.
I wish all of our families a Merry Christmas, a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. I hope all of our families have a safe and fun holiday. I will be looking forward to seeing our students return to school in 2023.
Miss Pecnik
Head of School of Foundations: K-4
ES1
Mathematics
In the past two weeks, students have been learning about Volume and 3D Space. In Volume, students have been learning about what full and half full looks like as well as constructing towers to identify how much space an object takes up. In 3D space, students went on a walk around the school to find 3D objects.
Religion
Students have started to learn about the season of Advent and the birth of Jesus. They have been learning about the Advent wreath and how each Sunday a candle is lit as well as what each candle represents. As a class, the students completed an Advent wreath craft consisting of their hands and is displayed on our prayer table.
Geography
In Geography, students have been learning about special places and our connection to places throughout the term. They have identified what a special place is, why it is special to them and how they can care for it. Students have been learning to appreciate that everyone’s special place may be different. They have also learnt about the connection of Aboriginal people to their land.
English
In English students have been completing recount writing where they have been retelling a familiar event. Students wrote about Investigation and Inquiry time, their Stage 1 visit and what they did on the weekend. Students used words from around the room as well as their sounding out strategies to write both familiar and unfamiliar words. The ‘Bump it Up’ wall was used regularly to assist students in reflecting on their writing to identify their next steps in writing.
Creative Arts
In Creative Arts students have been exploring colour mixing and using different equipment to create artworks. Students have been learning about the artist Van Gogh and completed Van Gogh inspired artworks like Sunflowers and Starry Night. Students have enjoyed using paint, pencils, crayons, oil pastels and other equipment to create their artwork.
Stage 1
Incursion
Last week Stage 1 had the opportunity to be involved in the Drama Toolbox Incursion for Tiddalik the Frog. The students loved dressing up as the different animals and watching the story come to life.
English
This term students have been focusing on how to compose a narrative that consists of an orientation, complication and resolution. Students have learnt the different language features throughout the unit being onomatopoeia, adjectives and dialogue. This week students published their drafted edited version of their narrative. Through their publishing their were able to focus on letter formation and presenting their work neatly. Students have completed a well constructed narrative and should be very proud of their work!
Maths
In maths we have been learning different strategies to add and subtract numbers. We have been working with 2-digit numbers to learn and practise the Jump Strategy, Split Strategy, money concepts and bridging to ten. Our students have been working hard to use their knowledge of place value to assist them with adding and subtracting their numbers.
Religion
In Religion this term, we have been exploring the driving question “What is prayer?”. Our learning has focused on the prayer Our Father and the students in Stage One Tinman’s had an opportunity to display some of our learning at the liturgy in Week 7. In the liturgy, students shared the meaning of the Our Father and created their own prayers for others in our community.
Deacon Tony visited Stage 1 to guide them in exploring “ What is prayer’.
For the last few weeks of this term, students have been learning about the events leading up to Christmas time in preparation for Jesus’ birth.
Stage 2
Creative Arts - O Christmas tree!
The Christmas spirit has certainly arrived upstairs in our Stage 2 classrooms with the creation of Christmas trees. Students put their artistic hats on to paint and decorate their very own Christmas tree using gems, glitter stars, ribbons and other self-made materials.
Classic pine green or white-Christmas inspired our Christmas trees look oh so lovely’ and are sure to brighten any room this festive season.
English - Haiku Poetry
Over the past 2 weeks, Stage 2 has been studying traditional Haiku poetry. Originating from Japan, Haiku poetry consists of 3 lines with an allocated number of syllables. As well as learning about the structure of Haiku, the students have learnt that it is considered to be more than just an ordinary poem, but moreover a way of looking at the physical world and seeing something deeper. The students were asked to keep with tradition when composing their own Haiku, leaving the reader with colourful imagery of the simple pleasures in our natural world.
Maths
Stage 2 this week in Mathematics have worked on designing and creating possible presents that Santa could bring. They explored with different 3D objects that they know, identifying the vertices, edges and the faces as well as identifying that 3D objects are made from nets that use 2D shapes.
Religion
In Religious Education, Stage 2 answered their inquiry question where students created a game or an activity that would help create a sense of community. In small groups, they planned and created activities to help build an intentional faith community. They then had an opportunity to showcase their work to another group. A self reflection also allowed them to think deeper into how and what they can do and how their actions can help build an intentional and faith community.
