Senior

On Monday the building phase of our Inquiry unit came to a conclusion with special guests. These guests were people in different life stages from infant to elderly. The students had the opportunity to listen, ask questions and delve deeper into their learning. It also gave them a chance to bring together all their learning from the various life stages. The students will begin working on their personalising projects this week and will involve them researching a deep question and developing an app for their age group.

In Mathematics the students have been enjoying problem solving lessons. We have looked closely at working collaboratively, sharing our thinking and persevering when they feel stuck. The students really enjoyed the cup tower challenge and learning how to solve sudoku puzzles. Please ask them about their experience with these activities.

Last week the year 6 students attended the St Patrick’s Day Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral. They had an enjoyable day and represented the school with pride.

The Senior Team

Stephanie, Anne-Marie, Stephen and Sally

Junior

Hello Families,

A big thank you to everyone who came to the special morning tea last Wednesday as part of our Inquiry Unit on Families. The number in attendance was more than we could have hoped for and the food shared was enjoyed by all. We hope you liked the family cookies the students made for you!

Another big thank you to all the parents who have put their names down to assist in the homerooms. We really appreciate the assistance and your child/ren will also love having you in the room. If you are unable to make it during your scheduled time please let your classroom teacher know via email.

Congratulations to the students in 1/2JR and 1/2C who did a fantastic job leading the assembly last week with a focus on families. The readers read beautifully and everyone did a great job singing the song. Well done!

There is exciting news in 1/2NT with new carpet being laid. Hopefully it will look brand new for a long time to come!

We also welcome back Yuvraj Suri who is in 1/2C.

In English, the students have been enjoying learning about our brain and how it can be stretched. They have also been working on recounts and identifying different types of words in a sentence, especially nouns, adjectives and verbs.

In Maths, we have completed our unit on Place Value with a Post-Assessment and our new unit will be on Time - specifically days, weeks and months. We are wondering if you have any blank calendars, diaries, schedules or planners that you could donate as a resource for us in Weeks 8 and 9. Even from a past year. Anything you think would be relevant and that you don’t need back would be appreciated. Next term we'll be looking at clock time, and we would also love items the students could handle and learn from, for example: egg timers, stopwatches, etc. Nothing sentimental. Thanks in advance! It has been great to see so many students logging on to Maths Online and doing the different assigned tasks. We hope everyone is enjoying this valuable resource.

In Inquiry, we have been learning about different types of families and comparing them to our own. Thank you to everyone who completed the family tree task. We have also been looking at the different stages in life, from baby to elderly, and what happens at each stage.

In Religion, we have been studying Jesus’ family, noticing the similarities and differences to our own. We have also been learning about Lent and how we can dig deeper by taking up, giving up and through prayer. Well done to the students in 1/2NT and 1/2C for their involvement in the Parish Mass last Sunday. This Sunday the 10:30 Mass will be celebrated for 1/2B and 1/2JR.

Middles

Hi families,

The past fortnight has been another busy one in 3/4!

We have been working hard in preparing many of the Grade 3 students for the upcoming Sacrament of Reconciliation. We have been focussing on the story of the ‘Lost Sheep.’ Students participated in a Godly Play and reflected on the meaning of this story for us in our lives.

In Art, we enjoyed taking a walk through nature, outside near our school, to practise our sketching skills. We used pencils and charcoal to try to sketch outlines of the different types of trees we could see.

In Literacy, we have been exploring different text types in small focus groups. We have particularly focussed on looking at the structure of persuasive texts and how authors are able to write convincing arguments. We have drafted, written and published our own persuasive letters that we then gave to Mr D!

In Maths, we have finished our unit on Place Value (for now) and have begun focussing on creating and interpreting data sets and different ways we can display these. We have worked on using various charts and graphs to collect and find out information on a variety of topics. A will look deeper into the different ways we can share this information effectively with others.

Lastly, in Inquiry we have been focussing on our brain and all the different parts. We have looked closely at which part of the brain controls our emotions and how our emotions change from person to person. We enjoyed having our school psychologist (Tracey Bentin) come in and talk to us about controlling our emotions and answering some of our wonderings.

Have a lovely weekend,

Tania, Jarrod, Carla, Vicki and Sophia

Preps

Hi families,

It has been a very productive fortnight in Prep. We have been getting to know each other and have worked together to ensure that all preps can find a prep buddy to play with out on the yard.

During our Literacy learning, we have been focusing on identifying and naming words that rhyme. Students have enjoyed reading different text and looking for rhyming words within those text. In our small focus groups students have been involved in shared reading activities where we have focused on tracking words as we read and using our Eagle Eye to look at the pictures to help us identify words within the text. In Writing, students have continued to have a go at Writing down sounds that they hear in words to create and finish a simple sentence.

In Maths, we have been continuing our learning about numbers. We have been focussing on writing numbers with correct formation and using our knowledge of 1-1 correspondence to help us write, read and match numbers to 20. We have also began learning about Patterns. We have used a variety of learning tools such as unifix blocks, shapes and other objects to create patterns.

In Inquiry, we have continued our new unit ‘Healthy Bodies and Healthy Minds’. Students took part in a variety of activities that helped them to understand the emotions that we are feeling and how we can regulate ourselves to have a happy and healthy mindset.

In Religion, we have been learning about Lent and the events of Holy Week. We listened to the Story of the Lost Sheep and discussed that this was a story told by Jesus. The Preps reflected on how this story is relevant to their own lives and shared stories of who shows love to them, just like the shepherd showed love to the lost sheep.

Have a lovely week,

Hayley and Amanda

St Mary's School

Issue 4 · 21 Mar 2019

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