Middles

Well Week 3 is almost done and Christmas trees will start appearing in the shops soon. The weather is starting to heat up and it’s great to see so many students with sunscreen and sunglasses to go along with their hats!

We congratulation Tyson who competed in the Regional Athletics last week. Well done on making it so far!

We are looking forward to our excursion to the IMAX cinema tomorrow (Friday). Thank you to all the parents who offered to help out, unfortunately we can't take you all. The excursion will be an exciting way to begin our new Inquiry topic which focuses on Geography.

Students have finished their Personalising of our Ecosystem unit by creating a new species of animal. Students used PixelArt to create an image of the animal and they created a fact file for their animals. These will be on display next week near the 3-4 area. Please feel free to come up and have a look.

In Literacy students have written their autobiographies and will now begin writing biographies.

Students really enjoyed writing their autobiography and including special memories and photos of themselves.

In Reading we are continuing to work on our author study of Oliver Jeffers. We were lucky enough in 3-4TM to have Jason Goldsmith (Henry’s dad) talk to us about being an author and what it entails.

In Maths, we are finishing our units on Fractions and Area. Students have enjoyed a range of activities, with some students working on ‘real life food fractions’. We will begin our new unit on 2D and 3D Shapes.

In Religion we have been exploring Jesus’ world via maps and photos. Students have used Google Earth to visit areas of Jerusalem. We will then look at Jewish culture and traditions which Jesus was a part of.

We encourage all students to walk to and from school during October, and look forward to celebrating ‘Walk to School Day’ next Wednesday 30th Oct.

Jarrod, Carla, Tania, Vicki and Sophia

Seniors

Congratulations to Tom, Hannah and Jennifer from the Senior school who participated in the Regional Athletics last week. We are very proud of your achievements and wish Tom good luck as he progresses to the next stage.

In Maths we have begun our unit on Angles, where the students have completed a pre-test and have set learning goals. Students will work to achieve their personal learning goals by engaging in a range of learning opportunities to better understand Angles. Students are encouraged to use the Google slides that have been provided for them to keep track of their learning and practise skills at home.

In Literacy the students will begin a unit on Poetry. The students have started exploring similes, metaphors and personification. Ask your children if they can give you an example.

In Inquiry the students are working on their personalising stage of our Sustainability and Science unit. They have been working in groups or independently to think about their big question that relates to an issue in our environment. Students are working on the research stage of the Inquiry process and aim to present their learning in the coming weeks.

Just a reminder that a notice went home with the students, asking for donations for the schools fete. Please have a look at the notice and if you are able to donate something, that would be much appreciated.

Have a lovely week,

The Senior Team,

Anne-Marie, Louise, Stephen and Sally

Juniors

Hello Families,

The term seems to have 'taken off'!

Inquiry

Last week 1/2 students made Passports and set off on a quick journey around the world as part of their immersion into their Inquiry Unit: Up, down and all around. They ‘visited’ Europe, The Americas, Australia, Asia and Africa experiencing cuisine, music, dance and geographical features. The next part of our learning process is building on the student’s wonderings. In Week 4 we begin workshops which build on their knowledge of Mapping, Landmarks, Climate- Weather Patterns and Climate - Impact of Life.

Religion

Students have been reading stories from the Old Testament such as: Jonah and the Whale, Noah’s Ark and Moses parting the Sea, summarising the stories and exploring the relationships the characters have with God.

Maths

We are continuing to explore Volume and Capacity, enjoying playing with water and sand whilst learning to estimate and measure. In our Money Workshops we are learning to identify and use Australian currency. When shopping if you are using cash please involve your child and talk about which coins and notes are being used and what change is involved. If using cards, ask what notes and coins could be used if you were to pay with cash.

English

Students have been listening to, reading and watching Fairy Tales and identifying features common to them. It has been interesting comparing different versions of the same Fairy Tale. Students have read Fairy Tale scripts and performed them to their peers. They have also begun creating characters, settings and plots ready for writing their own Fairy Tales. We look forward to reading and sharing their stories.

Excursion

We have sent home an Excursion Information and Permission Note on Tuesday afternoon for our Excursion to CERES Community Environment Park on Thursday 7th November. Please return the completed Permission Slip as soon as possible. The students will take part in an educational program called: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.

Show and Share Reminder

During weeks 4-9 students will have the opportunity to retell a story of their choice in a creative way eg. using puppets, acting out, dressing up or using lots of expressions when reading. One student will present to their class each day. Please refer to timetables distributed earlier .

CareMonkey

Families please note this will be the last time a paper Permission Form for an excursion is sent home. To avoid delays in the future, please sign up to CareMonkey so you can receive electronic Excursion Notices.

Here's to a great two weeks ahead of us!

Kind Regards

Renee and Tania, Bethany, Jason, Naomi and Tracey, Michelle and Poppy.

Preps

Hi Prep families,

We have had a busy fortnight in Prep filled with lots of wonderful learning experiences.

In English, we have been reading lots of different narratives to help inspire ideas for writing our own stories. The Preps have been working hard to identify the characters, setting and plot in the narratives we are reading as a class. Over the next fortnight the Preps will attempt to create their own characters, setting and plot for their own narrative. We have also explored using adjectives in our writing to help make our stories more interesting.

In Maths, this fortnight we have been learning about location and positional language. The Preps needed to use their visualisation and estimation skills in order to program the Beebots (a programmable floor robot) to move to a desired location. It has been pleasing to see the Preps working together to solve their maths problems. In the next coming weeks we will be revisiting different strategies we can use to help us solve addition problems as well as beginning work on measurement.

During Religion, we have been learning about Jesus’ Baptism and relating this back to stories of our own Baptism or the Baptism of people we know. The Preps have also been looking at the different symbols of Baptism and the meaning of them.

Thank you to all the parents who volunteered to come along on our excursion. The Preps had a wonderful day exploring food from the Vietnamese culture and enjoyed tasting some new traditional dishes. We have continued learning about different cultures around the world, as well as our Australian Indigenous culture.

Please remember that all children need to be wearing their hats at Recess and Lunch, as we have a “no hat, not play” policy. As we are encouraging independence, it is the responsibility of the Prep children to look after their own hats and make sure they keep them safe.

Have a great week.

Amanda, Hayley and Jane.

St Mary's School

Issue 17 · 24 Oct 2019

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