School of Foundations
What’s Happening in the School of Foundations
Our term started with the celebration of St Luke’s Feast Day on 18 October. The community came together for a Liturgy celebrated by Deacon Tony. This was followed by a Talent Quest which showcased a number of students from K-4.
Congratulations to the following students for their outstanding performances.
Abigail Hocothee - Stage 1 - Dance - Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
Isla Farallo - Stage 1 - Fight Song by Rachel Platten
Miel Camerino - Stage 2 - Song - On My Own - by Samantha Barks
Angelina Cassar - Kindergarten - Let’s go Crazy from the movie Sing
Lacey Butler - Kindergarten -Let’s go Crazy from the movie Sing
Mackenzie Waddell - Kindergarten - Let’s go Crazy from the movie Sing
Lynette Patiag - Stage 1 - Do You Want to Build a Snowman?
Joaquin Frijas - Stage 2 - Break Free by Ariana Grande and Zedd
Parent Learning Walk
On 25 October, I had the pleasure of hosting a parent learning walk with Mr Bennett the Acting Assistant Principal. At the beginning of our session, I was able to share with our parents the St Luke’s vision of nurturing faith-filled, curious children to become creative contributors and innovative problem solvers for a changing world. This is achieved through teaching and assessing the six pillars of learning, Witness, Manage, Relate, Inquire, Think and Create.
Following this the parents had the opportunity to visit a Stage 1 Mathematics lesson. The students were engaged in a Maths warm up activity. The parents then moved upstairs to a Stage 2 learning space and observed the students participating in a Shared Reading lesson.
I look forward to our Parent Learning Walks continuing next year.
Wellbeing Matters @ St Luke’s
SOF Parent Workshop - Helping my child to manage conflict in friendships
One of the many challenging aspects of parenting is supporting our children through conflicts they may be having with their friends. We will be holding a workshop to address topics such as: conflict resolution, effective communication skills, the difference between conflict and bullying and how to support our children during friendship ‘wobbles’.
When: Thursday 10th November
Time: 1:30 - 2:30pm
Where: At St Luke’s (please sign in at the Welcome Centre - front office)
If you are planning to attend, please complete this form by Tuesday 8th November.
We look forward to seeing our parents joining us for our Stage 2 Liturgy at 2pm on Wednesday 2 November.
On Sunday 13 November, Stage 2 Gringott parents and students are invited to a Mass at St Luke’s which is held in the Marketplace at 10am
Enjoy your weekend.
Miss Pecnik
Head of School of Foundations: K-4
ES1
English - Writing
This term in Writing, students are learning how to persuade. Students are developing skills of sharing their opinion through the sentence starter “I believe…”, as well as providing reasons for their opinion, using the conjunction “because…”. While creating written, persuasive texts, students are also learning to compare their opinions with the opinions of their peers. So far this term, students have created persuasive texts around stories and books they have read in class. For example, after reading the picture book Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, students had to give their opinion and reasons as to why the pigeon should or shouldn’t drive the bus.
Mathematics
In Mathematics, we have been continuing to learn about addition and subtraction. Students are given open ended questions such as ‘I have 15 counters. I have more red than green. Draw what this might look like’. Open ended questions allow students to explore all possibilities and problem solve.
We have also been learning about position. Students have been learning about positional language such as over and under as well as learning their left from right. Students participated in partner activities such as playing the barrier game and drawing Mr Potato Head. Students had to give instructions on where and what to draw to a partner. Here are a few photos of students engaging in the activities.
Religion
In Religion, students started to inquire about how God is present in our world. Students are developing their understanding of being unique and the gifts they have to share with the world. Kindergarten also celebrated St Luke’s Feast Day and learnt about the Rosary as October is the month of the Rosary.
Inquiry
In Geography, students are inquiring about the importance of places to people. Students have read ‘The Farm’ by Alison Lester and we learnt the importance of places to people based on their needs. Kindergarten investigated the needs of a farmer and his animals compared to the needs of people that live in a city. As an activity, students thought of their own special place and how it is important to their needs. Students designed their own bedroom and included all of their special things.
Stage 1
English
This term in Writing, students are learning how to write a Narrative. Stage 1 is looking into the different aspects of a narrative: setting, characters, problem and solution. We have looked at the mentor text, Stellarphant and discussed how the characters and setting play a big role in telling the story.
You can assist your child at home with writing by:
- Discussing inside and outside traits of characters;
- Asking your child to draw a character based off someone or something they are familiar with; and
- Planning a story map about how a story might unfold.
Mathematics
In Mathematics, students are learning about ‘Time’. They are learning how to read a calendar, identify how many days are in each month, name and order the months in a year and tell the time using the terminology: o’clock, half past, quarter past and quarter to. Here are some pictures of our students engaged in their learning.
To continue building upon this encourage your child to read and draw times on the clock (o’clock, half past, quarter past and quarter to)
Science
In Science, students have been developing their understanding of forces and motion and how these can be used for specific purposes in products. Students have been given the opportunity to observe questions and collect data around forces. In week 5 students will be creating their own push and pull object (a car). We are asking if students from now can please bring in materials such as: cereal boxes, water bottles, lids, etc, so they can make their project.
Stage 2
A small group of Stage 2 students have been working with Mrs Kirby, Leader New Metrics on an intensive writing project, focusing on fractured fairy tales. The students have led the learning by unpacking syllabus outcomes, co-constructing success criteria and co-designing anchor charts which help them with clarity of learning expectations.
The students have utilised feedback protocols such as TAG, Critical Friends and writing conferences to ensure that their writing continues to improve as they progress through the first draft of their fractured fairytale. We are very excited to adapt our fairy tales into a script and then perform them later in the term.
English
This term, in writing, Stage 2 students are learning to write a fractured fairy tale and present it in a script. Students have explored familiar fairy tales that they can fracture to create their own version. They used the SCAMPER model to help them fracture an aspect in their writing. In order to help them write their story they participated in a writing workshop that is aimed to help them explore whacky characters and settings and create plots that are action packed and entertaining.
Science
In Science this term, Stage 2 students are learning about the effects that the Sun has on the Earth and how the Sun is the Earth's main heat and light energy source. Students have also been exploring how night and day occur using new vocabulary such as orbit, rotation and revolution.
They were able to use an interactive website on light and shadows to demonstrate the Sun’s movement throughout the day and recognise what happens to the length of the shadows at different points in the day.
Religion
In Week 1 of Term 4, Students in Stage 2 held a showcase of their ‘Sacred Spaces’ that they have been working on since Term 3. The showcase allowed the students to show their appreciation and understanding of the sacraments, as well as demonstrate how we can live the teachings of Jesus through the sacraments every day.
The students engaged themselves diligently throughout the unit, working together in groups and displayed impressive presentation skills. The students in Stage 3 were invited to come and have a look at the showcase and were inspired by the quality and effort from their Stage 2 peers.
Home tasks to support maths learned at school
“To be truly numerate is to be able to apply the mathematical understanding and skills learned at school to solve problems that arise in our day-to-day lives.” Ann Gervasoni
One way to apply skills learned at school is to create a Numeracy Treasure Chest with task cards of activities that will raise awareness of the mathematics encountered in our day-to-day lives. Here are some suggestions to get you started:
- Find some things in your house or garden that are less/more than one metre long.
- How much liquid did my family drink at dinnertime?
- Trace on a map the route my dad/mum took to the office?
- What things did people do today that took more than 10 minutes?
- How many square metres of carpet/tile are in the house?
- How much milk do you drink a day? How long will it take to finish a litre? How many litres will we need for the week? How many bottles is that?
- You can spend up to $5 when we do groceries. What could you buy? How many things can you buy?
As your child learns new concepts at school, the treasure chest can grow using real life experiences.