What's happening in our learning spaces? 

Students of the Week

Foundation

What an exciting week it has been in Foundation AM and Foundation LW as we celebrated the return to on site learning after a very long eight weeks of remote learning! It was amazing to see everyone’s smiling faces as we walked through the gates Monday morning and into the learning space as if we have been here the whole time! Excitement filled the air as we reconnected with each other. 

We began the day as communicators, where we shared how we were feeling about being back at school, and what we were worried about, excited about and curious about. This week, as readers, we continued to find out about Narratives and their features by reading and listening to Fairy Tales. We listened to the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and explored the characters and setting. As thinkers, we identified the problem and solution and made our thinking visible using a Story Map. 

As inquirers, we began exploring our big question ‘How do we design and make for a purpose?’ by engaging in a design challenge. As collaborators, we worked in small groups to plan, design and make a bed for Goldilocks. As communicators and collaborators, we had to share our ideas and listen respectfully to one another, help each other, take turns and share materials. We had to consider the problem and what she needed, which was a bed that was not too big, not too small, not too hard and not too soft. It needed to have a pillow and blanket to keep her comfortable and warm, and some legs so that she was not on the ground. As thinkers, we had to reflect on our design and consider what worked well by testing it, and what changes could be made to make it even better! 

As mathematicians, we tuned in to the concept of Time, by exploring clocks. As thinkers, we activated our prior knowledge about clocks and we considered the different types of clocks. As collaborators, we constructed a large clock with rope, numbers and paper and then made our own mini clocks with paper plates and split pins. We loved making our clocks, and even made some at home with our parents and siblings during remote learning. 

During remote learning, some of us played Bingo and some of us practised matching numbers and number names with collections. On Friday, we engaged in lots of Fun Friday tasks, which included paper towel art, building towers, directed drawing and leaf rubbing.

We are excited for another week of learning ahead, both on-site and remotely. 

Foundation Team, Leanne Wenckowski and Alycia Marsico 

Year 1/2

There were smiles all round on Thursday morning and unanimous feelings of excitement and happiness. The Year 1/2 students voiced their delight to be back at school to learn with their friends and teachers. The students eased back into the routine by engaging in wellbeing experiences and opportunities to interact with each other.  

As Remote Learning is coming to an end, the Year 1/2 students should feel very proud of their achievements.  They respectfully participated in Google Meets by listening to each other, sharing their learning, contributing ideas, asking questions and recognising the contributions of others. 

As readers and writers, the students have been reading and responding to literature such as ‘The Tiny Seed’ and ‘Yucky Worms’. They have written recounts about their experiences focusing on language features such as time words e.g. first, then, after that, finally, next, and text structure title, orientation, events in order. As writers, they have also written texts to inform by using procedures about ‘How to Grow Lettuce’  and ‘How to Make a Bird Feeder’. It’s wonderful to see all the different, creative presentations and  confident communicators and elearners!

Our Shared Inquiry big question is: What Makes a Great Garden Design? 

The students shared their ‘Dream Garden’ designs and walked around the school to have a look at 3 different garden spaces.  They recorded their observations and wonderings. 

The students participated in ‘The Aussie Bird Count Project’ They described their observations and will present them on a bar graph during the week. 

As Mathematicians, we are beginning to explore the relationship between multiplication and division.  In Year 1, division is usually called sharing and it’s done using concrete items like counters and blocks. This helps the students to understand division as sharing between groups. 

Year 2: Skip counting by 2’s, 5’s,10’s and 3’s is good to practise with their corresponding division facts. For example 2 x 5 = 10, 10 ÷ 2 = 5

In Religious Education we have been unpacking subsidiarity.  Through Caritas, we are learning that all people have the right to participate in decisions that affect their lives.  

Have an amazing week with your beautiful families!

Kindest regards

Stephanie Carriera, Belinda Filippone and Maria Delaney

Year 3/4

As we await the return to onsite learning on Tuesday for our Year 3/4 students we are filled with excitement. At St.Fidelis we are all so happy to be able to welcome the children back to school.  We are sure that our students are also looking forward to reconnecting with their friends, each other and with our school community.

Remote Learning  will continue for our 3/4 students on Monday, Thursday and Friday and we will still be running our Google Meetings on these days. The students will need to wear their sports uniform to school on Wednesday, as they will be having Sport on this day.

In Literacy, we are continuing with Poetry where we wrote poems with a twist and explored the use of figurative language features such as similies, metaphors, personification and rhyme. Have a look at some of our wonderful poems!

This week we will focus on alliteration and onomatopoeia, of which we will read poems and write our own poems using these language features.

As mathematicians, we have been learning about time by reading calendars and timetables. We even created our own calendars where we scheduled events. Upon our return to school we will commence learning about Division. 

As people of faith, we have been exploring the work of the Catholic Mission, the Pope’s international mission agency. We have viewed videos and read stories to discover more about the work that is being done to help people in need right around the world. We have thought about what we can do to look after one another  and one way we can do this is to make sure no one goes hungry. Some of our ideas around preventing food wastage were: 

• Eating and cooking smaller portions of food (Thomas)
• Packing your lunch with only what you will eat (Emily)
• Anything you don't like eating offer to someone who likes it or try to eat it yourself (Ethan)
• Get less take away and cook with more things in the fridge (Alana)
• We can compost food we don’t eat (Jake)
• Try to use food even if it is a bit old, for example, if some apples aren't sweet anymore you could make them into an apple pie. (Penelope)
• Pick out any fruit from the shop. Any colour or shape is okay (Xavier)

Looking forward to welcoming the 3/4 students onsite on Tuesday and Wednesday and seeing everyone back at school and together again!

3/4 Team, Katarina Davidson, Mark MacGregor, Graham Troy 

Year 5/6

It was fantastic to welcome the Year 5/6  students back to school last Friday! Both the students and teachers were excited to be back together onsite. There was lots of chatting and laughing. It was obvious that everyone was enjoying being in each other’s company again! 

Friday was a busy day in which the students participated in many varied activities. There were inside games to get reacquainted with one another, meditation and mindfulness activities. The students continued reading the next exciting chapters of ‘The 39 Clues’, and explored the Mathematical concept of Transformation by designing a poster in which their initials were drawn as a reflection, rotation, translation and dilation. They also had the opportunity to go outside into the sunshine and play a game. As you are aware, we are Remote Learning this Monday to Wednesday, however, we look forward to seeing the Year 5/6 students back at school on Thursday and Friday!

In Literacy, the focus has been on identifying objective and subjective language in various texts. The students explored words in a text which signal an objective or subjective statement, and practised identifying objective and subjective language in texts including information texts and advertisements. Students had the opportunity to use their objective and subjective skills to create persuasive and engaging advertisements. They also used these skills to write a review of a short Pixar film. 

In Numeracy, the students have continued to develop their understanding of financial mathematics - exploring budgets, costs, profit and loss. They have designed budgets, worked within specific budgets and calculated income and expenses. Our financial mathematics unit was also integrated into the Literacy program where students had the challenge of creating a travel itinerary for the characters in ‘The 39 Steps’, so that they could travel from Philadelphia to Paris. Working within the budget of $5,100 per character, the Year 5/6 students had the opportunity to be creative and use the financial skills they have learnt so far!

As we navigate through the challenges of continuing our learning both remotely and onsite, the teachers would like to congratulate the students on their resilience and positive outlook. Thank you also, to the parents and carers, for your continued support. Please remember to keep checking the SkoolBag App for updates from the school.

Stay safe and well. Enjoy the upcoming long weekend!

Michelle Casamento, Cherrie Arnold, Viviana Clarke and Olivia Sargent