What's happening in our learning spaces? 

Students of the Week

Foundation - Year 1/2

We can’t believe it is already week 4. There have already been so many amazing learning opportunities this term, with many more to come!

Our week began with a visit from our Grandparents/Nonni, who joined us for mass in the St Fidelis Church in honour of Grandparent’s Day. This is the feast day of Jesus’ grandparents, St. Joachim and St. Anne. Afterwards, they were invited into our spaces for a story and we interviewed them and made some beautiful cards for them to take home. Here are some happy snaps of our wonderful morning! 

As part of our inquiry into movement, we had time and opportunity to go on an excursion to Essendon Traffic School to find out about our question ‘How does transport move?’ As researchers, we found out about road signs, crossings and traffic lights, and how they help us move around safely. We also explored the parts of a bike that make it work and practised moving around safely both on foot and on a bike. We even jumped onto the old W Class tram to see how that works. 

Here are some of our discoveries…

• Trams have a hook on top that connects to power lines to make them move- Hunter
• All the different parts of a bike are connected to make them move- Jasmine
• Bikes move because you push down on the pedals and this pulls the chain. Then the chain makes the wheels go - Orlando 
• The old trams had the bell on the ground - Alexander
• Bikes have a chain to make it move and if it breaks the bike won’t work - Ava
• A pedestrian crossing has yellow lights - Hannah 

As mathematicians, those of us in 1/2 tuned in to Measurement and Length. As thinkers, we activated our prior knowledge by comparing our hand spans and the length of our feet. We discovered that we all have similar hand spans, so we tried to find objects that were longer than our hand span and shorter than our feet. We then used different informal units, such as blocks and counters, to measure the length of different objects around the learning space. As thinkers, we made connections to Subtraction and compared them by finding the difference. Next week we will continue to explore Subtraction and Length. 

Those of us in Foundation tuned in to Chance and Data. As thinkers, we unpacked the language of possible, impossible, will happen, won’t happen and might happen and discussed what they mean. We had time and opportunity to engage in a coin toss and record our data using tally marks. We will continue to explore the likelihood of different scenarios next week and collect and record data. 

Those of us in Foundation will also have the chance to engage in the Fire Education Program this week and next week. Firefighters will visit us to teach us all about Fire Safety, and next week we will get to seethe firetruck! We can’t wait! 

This week, on Wednesday, 3rd August, those of us in Foundation celebrate the achievement of reaching 100 Days of School. This is a very important milestone in our lives as we celebrate all of the growth and learning that has occurred during this time. We have come so far, and our ability to be confident, courageous, curious, persistent and respectful learners, communicators, collaborators, researchers, thinkers and self-managers is something to celebrate and be proud of. Stay tuned for next week’s newsletter where you will get to see and hear about all of the exciting celebrations, activities and costumes! 

We are excited for another busy week of learning! 

Foundation to Year Two Team, 

Leanne Wenckowski, Alycia Marsico, Stefanie Carriera and Alex Phillips. 

Year  3/4

On Tuesday 26 July, we celebrated Grandparents Day. Our beautiful Grandparents were invited to our whole school Mass, followed by an activity with their grandchildren in the learning spaces. It was so lovely to see the Grandparents share special moments with their grandchildren. The year 3/4 students welcomed their Grandparents by viewing two picture story books written by Damon Young - My Nanna is a Ninja and My Pop is a Pirate. 

Next, we followed a YouTube video on how to draw a cartoon Grandma and Grandpa. We coloured our pictures and gave them to our Grandparents to take home. We enjoyed having our Grandparents with us and wish we could have them at school with us all the time!

As inquirers, we continue to investigate our big question “Who decides and how?”. This week, we imagined we were stranded on a desert island and could only bring 5 items with us. We had to choose from a list of 35 items. Our decisions were made based on the key information provided to us in our scenario. The thinking routine, Think Pair Share, was adapted to help us unpack the problem. 

• Think - After reading the scenario, we independently selected 5 items from the list and recorded reasons for our choices. 
• Pair - We paired up with a partner and compared our lists. We then collaboratively decided on 5 items, taking into account the opinions and ideas of our partner. 
• Share - We collaboratively shared our choices with the whole group and came to a collective decision on what we would bring with us to the island. Throughout the process the students have been looking into decision making processes and what influences our decisions.

Year 3/4 Teachers

Belinda Panzarino, Katarina Davidson & Graham Troy

Year 5/6

Our 5/6 learners have been reflecting and engaging in numerous learning opportunities throughout the week. 

As part of literacy our 5/6 learners were given the opportunity to select a spirit filled person that has had an impact on their lives. They engaged in identify various aspects of this person’s early life, family life, achievements throughout their work life and how in most cases they became a saint. Our learners documented there thinking by recording, creating and designing this information into a picture story book. In the coming weeks our year 5/6 children will be given the opportunity to share their book written with other children across the school. 

As Mathematicians our learner have been focusing on different ways of solving multiplication problems.  An interesting way that children engage and learn how to multiply is to provide fun learning opportunities for children to engage in. These multiplication games can assist with problem solving. These games not only allow the children to become confident learners in mathematics, but they also engage and create a great deal of rich dialogue amongst the children.  This rich dialogue enables the children to learn various timetables focusing on multiplication skills. Throughout the week our learners had the opportunity to engage in various math’s games.  We invite you to begin dialoguing with your children about these games and spend some time learning these fun games that can be played by all family members.  

As inquirers we have been unpacking our big question “How does science contribute to a healthy and active community” Our learners were given the opportunity to document their first thinking about the big question and to make connections as to how this plays an important role within their lives. Our big question: “How does science contribute to a healthy and active community”

Understandings:

• Scientific discoveries impact people’s lives 
• Scientific knowledge is used in decision making and develops from many people’s contributions

As people of faith our learners have had the opportunity to reflect on the gifts of the holy spirit and began by unpacking these gifts.  Our learners activated their prior knowledge to uncover their first thinking about “The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit’’.  As people of faith we discussed what these gifts may be and then made connections to how these gifts are important for Christians within our faith journey.  As communicators we dialogued with each other and shared our thinking about these gifts and the important role/s they have play within our lives. 

Last Friday our Year 6 children took part in a retreat day which prepared our candidates for the Sacrament of confirmation.  Throughout the day the candidates engaged in a mini workshop facilitated by Ian Vergel. Ian is a seminarian at St Fidelis parish. They unpacked and made connections with the following:

The definition of a Sacrament has hour parts.

Sacraments contain specific actions and words that allow a specific grace to be visible? 

What are the actions and words associated with the Sacrament of Confirmation?

Identify the 7 gifts of the holy spirit.

What are three features during the Sacrament of Confirmation?

Confirmation celebration. 

This Friday the 5th of August at 6.30 pm our children will be receiving the Sacrament of confirmation. The celebration will be celebrated by Bishop Terry Curtin, Father Greg Burke and Father Linh Pham. Maria Forde will be our vocalist for the evening. A photographer has been book to mark this memorable occasion.  Families wishing to take up this opportunity are asked to be in the hall by 5.00 pm for family photos.  The group photo will be taken at 6.00 pm and children will process into the church by 6.30. We ask that all parents and sponsors be seated by 6.15pm. We look forward seeing you all to celebrate this momentum occasion.

Thank you all from the 5/6 team

Annette Gasbarro, Michelle Casamento. Vivian Clarke and Olivia Sargent.