St John's Choir

Every Friday at 8.20am, students are encouraged to come for a sing-a-long with St John's Choir. Now that we are allowed to be back together and can sing in a classroom environment, I invite students to join us however it is important that they come every week. Students will finish choir and be back to class in time to start their school day. The choir is a great opportunity to enjoy yourself, sing songs from many different cultures and styles and meet up with other year levels.

Benefits of Singing in a School Choir:

No instrument's needed
It's free!
Kids love to sing
Contributes to student wellbeing. In the moment when you are singing you forget all your problems and worries
Singing in school choirs improves self-esteem and gives kids a sense of identity and pride
There is evidence to suggest that singing in a choir helps children to be more calm and focused, and increases engagement in class
Give students a chance to work together as a team with kids they might not otherwise work with

Any questions or issues please email ldevoy@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au

Thanks,

Ms Lou Devoy

Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge

The Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge is now open for all of our students and St John’s Mitcham is excited to be participating. The PRC application offers a range of exciting features including:

access to a library catalogue (including book images and blurbs)
a modern user-friendly interface
rewarding students with badges as challenge milestones are achieved
the option for students to mark books as a favourite, give them a star rating or complete a book review

The Challenge is open to all St John’s students from Prep to Year 6 in recognition of the importance of reading for literacy development. It is not a competition; but a personal challenge for children to read a set number of books by 2 September 2022.

Children from Prep – Year 2 are challenged to read 30 books, including 20 or more from the Challenge book list. Year 3 to Year 6 are challenged to read at least 15 books, including at least 10 from the Challenge book list.

They have each been given a personal login and are encouraged to update their reading on the website as they go! All children who meet the Challenge will receive a certificate of achievement signed by the Victorian Premier and former Premiers.

To read the Premier’s letter to parents, view the booklist and for more information about the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge, visit: https://www.vic.gov.au/premiers-reading-challenge

Let's get reading St John's!!!

Scholastic Book Fair

A huge thank you to all the students and their families who were able to visit our Scholastic Book Fair. It was a great opportunity for our students to purchase new books and stationary, with all profits going towards funding new books in the library.

Grandparent and Special Friend Day

Student Reflections

Isaac 3/4

I felt excited to interview Mel Kerwin, our Learning Support Officer, who stepped in as our pretend grandma because Ethan and I didn't have any grandparents that came. But Mel was very happy to be our fake grandparent. Also Kim took photos of us on an app that aged us and it looked so funny. When it was lunch I really wanted to have some of the food that was for the grandparents so Mrs Gridley said that I could have a wrap and a brownie.

It was very cool to see what Mel did in the olden days. One of the things that she used to do was swimming. She said that her house was very busy and she needed to do lots of jobs and chores to get pocket-money.

Eleonora 3/4

On Grandparents Day I heard some things about how my grandparents grew up in Italy! My nonno grew up on a farm where he fed chickens, sheep and he had a cat. My nonna only did house work. She wanted to be a hairdresser though. My nonna and nonno met in a village. I learnt those things because I interviewed them with an interviewing sheet. I even got to know about their mums and their names. After that we looked at the classwork that my sister and I did. Then we went to mass. Before we left mass we saw some pictures of us from last year, which was very special. After that my nonna and nonno went to morning tea. I LOVED GRANDPARENTS DAY and I felt really special.

Sheridan 3/4

On Grandparent's day my brother and I interviewed our nanna and we found out lots of different stories about her. For example, my nana read books to entertain herself then when she got older she worked in many different places such as a fish shop, a post office, a supermarket and a pharmacy. Then after the interview we went to mass where they showed some photos from last year's grandparents day. After the mass we went to the book fair and she bought me a poster. Then she went to the morning tea in the Mary Mackillop space. It was a great day!

Lucas 3/4

I enjoyed grandparents day because I got to see my grandma and I got to know more about her past. We went to the church for mass and everybody was there. I felt interested in learning about my grandma's past and family. I also felt anxious because my grandma was late and I was worried if she was not going to be there. But she ended up making it on time and I felt much better. I heard stories from people's history and past. My favourite story that she told me was when she used to walk to the milk bar to buy lollies and she was very lucky she got to do that.

Lachie 3/4

My nan and pa were in hospital on Grandparents Day and gran and pa lived in Mt Barker in Adelaide. So for grandparents day my mum came instead. So I called my nan and pa at the hospital and my mum came and told me what she knew about them too. Even my mum found out some things she didn’t even know about my grandparents. I had no idea that my nan played rounders and I also didn’t know that nan didn’t like school and that my pa did like school. I thought it was the other way around! HOW BIZARRE IS THAT!

Scarlett 3/4

A couple of days ago I had my grandad at school. I interviewed Grandad and we filled out a sheet that had questions such as 'How many siblings do you have?' After that we went to mass. After mass we went to the book fair and my grandad bought me a diary and then we had lunch. When I got my diary I was super excited because that was one of the only things that I really wanted.

Student Jokes

All students are invited to send in their favourite jokes to add to the newsletter.

Thanks Ben for your Joke this week!

Knock Knock! Who's there? Theodore! Theodore who? Theodore isn't open, that's why I'm knocking!

Calendar

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