Class News
Future St James Students
Foundation children had a surprise visit with Audrey (Isabel's sister) and Delilah ( Alfie's sister) dressing up for Halloween.
Audrey dressed as a pirate girl with Wonder Woman accessories and Delilah was a beautiful pumpkin.
Both children were so excited to share their costumes with the Foundation class before they enjoyed their day at Kindergarten.
Don't they both look amazing!
We hope they both enjoyed the Halloween celebrations.
Prep Orientation
Yesterday we had another Prep Orientation session. Children read the story ‘Crew Stew’ by Lisa Thompson and discussed what they would put in their stew.
In the Prep stew would be….
Charlotte thought that Broccoli would be nice.
Jack wanted Chicken Wings.
Emily loves corn in her stew.
Lucinda wanted tomatoes.
Sophie thought of carrots.
Violet thought of beans.
Charlie loves pumpkin
Will thought of salmon
Jackson thought sausages would be great.
Aurelia wanted peas in the stew.
Zoe thought of noodles.
Patrick loves fish.
Harvey wanted to add chicken nuggets
Angus thought that socks would add flavour!
Nikki said a cheeseburger would by yummy.
Nieve added cheese.
Katie added meatballs.
Jenny thought of potato.
Talia added tuna
Lexie added salad.
Noah wanted pasta
Isabela added celery.
Cathy Busch
Prep Teacher
Year 5
Year 5 visited the future 2017 Preps at the North Brighton Kindergarten so that they would know some people here at St James. The ones who are going to St James will be our buddies next year. We taught them a bit about the differences between kinder and school, like the fact that you don’t just get to choose what you do all day. Then we did some activities. We really felt like kinder kids, playing around in the mud pit and dressing up in the home corner. Then, when we had tired them out, we sat down and read to them in the reading corner. After a story we all sat to talk about what we loved about the visit, then it was time to say goodbye. It was so sad when we had to leave them because no one wanted to go. On the way home we decided that the best thing for our school would definitely be a mud pit.
By Willow and Tilly
CAFE READING
Throughout the year the classes at St. James have implemented CAFE reading into their Literacy block. CAFE is an acronym for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Expanding Vocabulary; the four essential components of successful reading. The CAFE System is delivered through the structure and framework of The Daily 5, which builds behaviors of independence and stamina. During shared reading, guided reading or conferencing, the students are explicitly taught a reading strategy which develops one of the four components. The students have been able to taken ownership of their learning by identifying which strategy they need to develop with guidance from their teacher. As you visit the different classrooms around the school, you will notice ‘CAFE Menu’ boards displayed which serve as a visual reminder of whole class instruction and individual goals. Next time you talk with your child about their day, ask them about the CAFE reading strategies they have learnt at school. The way the students can articulate their learning has been nothing short of amazing. Happy Reading!
Jess Chapman
Literacy Leader
YEAR 4
In Year 4 this term, we have been connecting our Physical Science unit with Inquiry based learning. We were asked to get a partner and make a ‘Big Question’ to investigate about either forces, friction, magnetism etc, and then research all about it. For instance, Will and Mavi’s project question is, ‘How can we make a marble run go for 10 seconds?’ They researched about friction and gravity, they even researched about roller-coasters! Another question example is Nici and Chilli’s. Their question was ‘How does no gravity affect friction in outer space?” They researched about gravity, space and the different environments friction can be made in. Some other questions were:
“How does static electricity work?”
- Eva M and Sam J
“What is an electro magnet?”
- Ellie B and Tom W
“What can force do?” - Vaughn B and Issy S
“Can planets collide due to magnetism?”
- Lukas M and Minnie S
“What is potential energy?”
- Issy D and Bella V
Here are some quotes of what people thought of this inquiry project:
“I loved how we got to work with different people” - Ellie
“ I really enjoyed it, it was so fun” - Frankie
“I liked working with someone new” - Issy S
“It was so good that everyone was focused on their work and it looked like everyone loved it” - Lukas
“I liked how we got to choose to do static electricity” - Jade
“It is so good that the boys and the girls are working together.” - Will
By Nici and Will
A few weeks ago the Grade 4s participated in a physical science incursion ran by Taskworks. It was great fun and we learnt a lot about magnetism and forces. Taskworks brought in some amazing activities like the ‘Kid Lifter’. The Kid Lifter explains the forces involved in push and pull. Two kids sat on either side of two seats, while two others kids pushed and pulled levers in the opposite direction, which lifted the kids on the seats upwards. Another one of the great activities was the magnetic floor. In this activity you had to wear a pair of shoes with super magnets in the soles, and walk along a floor with magnets underneath a plate. We then had to guess how many magnets were under the plate. There were 4 magnets!! Another of the superb activities was the hammer. It was definitely one of the Year 4s favourites. There was a big hammer which we had to swing and hit the pad which was connected to a metal cylinder. The cylinder received the force from the hammer and went up a metal pole and hit a bell if you hit it hard enough. We loved this incursion and we learnt a lot and got to see forces, friction and magnetism in action.
By Ellie and Tom
Lucas Johnson and Meg Stewart
Year 4 Teachers