Welcome to Week 6!

In English, we are practising reading and spelling CVCC and CCVC words and adding ‘s’ at the end of words to make plural words. We are also applying our phonics knowledge to accurately read words in isolation and in sentences using decodable texts.

We have continued working on our information books, specifically looking at how our animal moves. Furthermore, we practised writing a short narrative based on a picture of a family having a picnic with a woman in the background trying to control her three dogs. Do the dogs attack the family or does the girl control her dogs? There are so many possibilities!

 

In Maths, students have continued using a variety of strategies to solve addition problems. This week, they also learned how to apply these strategies to solve worded problems involving addition.

In Religion, we listened to a Gospel story of ‘Jesus Feeding the 5000’. One day, lots and lots of people came to listen to Jesus. They wanted to hear him talk and learn more about God. There were more than 5,000 people — that’s a huge crowd. But there was a problem… The people were hungry, and there wasn’t much food. A boy had five loaves of bread and two fish. That’s not enough for everyone! But Jesus took the little food, said a prayer, and shared it. The children thought about how they too have shared before and wrote a sentence and illustrated this in their learning journals.

In Technologies, students have been exploring how to generate and communicate ideas through hands-on making. This week, they designed and created their own snowmen, incorporating elements of a bird’s eye view into their designs.

In Science, we are learning how plants drink water to understand how it moves through the stem. Students made predictions, observed an experiment, and explained how the water travels through the plant. We also observed the growth of our own plants and wrote sentences about the changes we noticed. Many of our plants are now beginning to sprout and grow into seedlings.

In Health, we listened to the story ‘Don’t be a Bully!’ and we discussed what we think would be the best actions for someone to take to stop someone bullying them and others.

In Hass, we discussed how transport is different now compared to the past and the students showed the changes in transport through their drawings and writing.

 

 

In Health, students have been learning to understand what bullying is and how to respond safely. They are exploring protective behaviours and recording ways to help themselves or others who may be experiencing bullying.

In Arts, we revisited our geometric and organic shapes and used our imaginations to create a shape creature using different shapes – AMAZING!

 

 

AFL Clinic for Year 1 Students

Over the next four weeks, our Year 1 students will be participating in a free AFL clinic held at school on Wednesday mornings. We kindly ask that students wear their PE uniforms on these days for comfort and ease of movement.

As an added bonus, if you scan the QR code below, your child will receive a free football at the end of the four-week program!

 

 

Have a wonderful long weekend! We will see the students back on Tuesday the 10th of June. 

Welcome to Week 5! We are halfway through Term 2 already.

This week we celebrated Reconciliation Week. Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia. This year’s National Reconciliation Week theme, Bridging Now to Next, encourages all Australians to come together, look to the future, and keep moving forward, using the lessons of the past to guide us.

Each student created a handprint and decorated it with words and images that represented what reconciliation means to them. We then planted the handprints along the garden beds near Kiss and Drop, forming a vibrant and meaningful ‘Sea of Hands’.

 

In English, we practised reading and writing CVCC and CCVC words (consonant-vowel patterns). The students also continued developing their information books, focusing specifically on describing their chosen animal’s appearance. They began adding labels to their illustrations, identifying and naming different parts of the animal.

 

In Maths, we continued working on our addition strategies to solve problems using numbers within 20.

 

In Religion, we listened to the Gospel story, ‘The Poor Widow’s Offering’ and discussed how we too can be generous without necessary offering money to others. We can be generous be showing kindness, caring for others and helping others.

In Technologies, we explored the concept of a bird’s eye view and examined examples of simple maps. Students then applied their understanding by creating their own maps from a bird’s eye perspective.

In Science, we are learning about how a bean plant grows and changes. We discussed the different stages in its life cycle and the students arranged these using pictures and words.

In HASS, students are exploring how people communicated in the past compared to today. They are learning to explain what communication is, give examples, and show how it has changed over time using pictures and sentences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to a look at Week 4!

In Literacy, we have been reviewing the digraph sounds ‘wh’, ‘th’, ‘oo’ and ‘ay’. We are identifying, spelling and using words with these digraphs in our reading and writing.

We visited the the MUDLA this week so that students can choose an animal to research and write up an information text. The students were so excited to visit the MUDLA and view the many animals that reside there. We are looking forward to working on these information books in the coming weeks.

In Maths, the children have been exploring addition to 10, using helpful strategies like drawing pictures, counting on from the larger number, and learning rainbow facts to ten.

In Health, we have been describing strategies requires to develop respectful relationships. The children drew a picture to represent a positive relationship demonstrating at least one right and responsibility.

 

In Religion, the students viewed and discussed the story of Mary. They drew a picture of her and then wrote everything they know about her.

 

In Technologies, the children created the masks they designed last week of their favourite character or animal, using their designs to help guide their creations.

Visiting the MUDLA– for our Information Text writing.

National Simultaneous Story Time

National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) is an annual event in Australia and New Zealand where a children’s book is read simultaneously in various locations around the country. This year, marks the 25th year that this event is happening. This Wednesday we celebrated by reading “The Truck Cat” by Deborah Frenkel and illustrated by Danny Snell.

In Science, the children planted their own broad bean plant after discussing what plants need to survive. We will look after them and document their growth in a plant diary over the next few weeks.

Congratulations to Isabel for reading 25 nights!

In HASS, we are learning to identify the differences between the past and the present. This week, we explored how toys have changed over time. We learned that toys in the past were often handmade from materials like wood or metal. They were usually operated by hand, with wind-up or turn mechanisms. In contrast, toys today are generally made from plastic and are often electronic. This allows for mass production, making toys more widely available and less expensive.

In Art, the children created their own artwork using what they have learnt about Line Elements of Art. Their photo was was stuck on a piece of paper and they used black and coloured markers to draw ‘crazy’ hair using curly, wavy or zig-zaggy lines. They then filled in teh swirls and curls with different Line and pattern combinations.

Welcome to Week 3! We started off the week with a special Liturgy dedicated to our amazing mothers in our lives.

In English, we explored the ‘ng’ and ‘ay’ sounds and the children identified, spelled and used words with ‘ng’ and ‘ay’ in their reading and writing. In Bookmaking, we continued our learning in information texts; exploring the differences between imaginative stories and informative texts. We also compared different types of real and imaginary images and discussed when we would use each type when creating different texts.

This week in Maths, we introduced a new topic: addition and subtraction. We explored what both operations mean, what they look like, and practiced drawing their symbols (e.g., plus (+) and minus (–)).

We also learned an important concept — that a number stays the same when you add or subtract 0 (zero).

In addition, we began using bar models to help us explore the concept of number bonds to ten (also known as friends of ten — pairs of numbers that add up to 10). The children had a go at identifying different combinations, using the bar model to visualize how two parts come together to make a whole.

 

 

 

In Arts, we explored and experimented with the visual art elements of shape, colour, line, space and texture. The students filled each circle with different types of lines, using a fine black texta to draw the lines. They also drew line patterns on leaf shapes.

In Religion, we viewed The Visitation (Luke 1:39-56) and then discussed who Mary visited and what happened when Mary spoke. The students then drew a picture of what happened in the story together with some words to describe the experience.

In Technologies, we revisited the design process and the students were asked to design their own mask. They drew their mask design and labelled and listed materials needed to create their mask. They will make their mask next week.

In HASS this week, we continued exploring the differences between the past and the present. We focused on how life was different in the past and how people completed everyday tasks without modern technology.

To bring this concept to life, we made our own butter in class — just like people did in the past! The children enjoyed tasting their homemade butter.

In Art, we explored lines. We experimented with a variety of lines – using broken, jagged, dashed, vertical and horizontal.

Welcome to Week 2!

Happy Mother’s Day to all of our mothers. We hope you enjoy a relaxing day!

Next Monday, 12^th May, our school community will be celebrating Mother’s Day with a liturgy to be held in House teams. Our Year 6 House and Mission Leaders will host each liturgy, which begins at 9am. The liturgy locations include:

• St Pope John-Paul II House (Red) – Hall 
• St Vincent De Paul House (Cream) – Curiosity 
• St Mary MacKillop House (Black) – Mass Centre

From 8:00am until 9:00am on the Monday morning, a coffee cart will be supplying complimentary coffee, tea and other hot drinks for staff and families. We would love to see as many mothers, grandmothers, big sisters, aunts and cousins as possible.

In Literacy, we looked at reading and spelling words with ‘th’ and ‘oo’ as in ‘moon’. The students practised finding the sounds in words, reading and writing words that make that sound. In Bookmaking, we continued our learning around information texts, specifically around the use of facts versus opinions. We watched a video on ‘whales’, discussed the facts that we learnt about and the students needed to think about three facts that they could include on their information report.

Congratulations to Jason for reading 50 nights!

In Numeracy, the children continued their learning on skip counting by 2s. They practiced their counting skills in various ways and also worked on grouping collections by 2s to count more efficiently.

Next week we will start a new topic in Mathematics!

In Religion, we explored the Annunciation of Mary. The children listened to a story and song about the special moment when the Angel announced to Mary that she would be expecting Baby Jesus. They were then invited to draw their interpretation of the story.

In Technology, the children used their designs from last week to create their Emoji masks. We discussed the importance of using our design plans to guide us through the creation process, while also recognising that making changes or additions is a valuable part of being a great designer. Take a look at how they turned out!

 

Mother’s Day Craft

 

 

 

Welcome to Term 2. We hope that you all had a relaxing and joyful holiday break.

In English, we are revising the ‘ch’, ‘v’, ‘x’ and ‘y’ sounds and using these letters to read and spell words. We also looked at the sound/w/; linking to letters ‘wh’ and /th/; linking to letter ‘th’.

Our writing genre this term will be on information texts. The children will explore different information texts, its structure and the differences between story books (narratives) and information books.

Our home learning this week will include a tricky word list, a reading passage for children to practise their decoding and fluency together with a writing frame. The children are asked to look at the picture and write as much as they can about it, using correct sentence structure and punctuation. If you child cannot spell a word, they are asked to sound it out and have a go.

Congratulations to Oliver for reading 25 nights!

 

Last term in Numeracy, the students learnt how to skip count by 5s and 10s. This term we are exploring how to skip count by 2’s. The students explored when and why they would use skip counting, what a pair is, things that come in pairs and engaged in a variety of activities to practice their skip counting.

In Technology, the students were introduced to the design process by creating their own emoji mask. They draw their emoji mask design and labelled it with a list of materials needed to create it. Their masks will be created next week.

 

In HASS, we revisited the words past, present and future. We also asked the students if they know where their parents, grandparents, or other elderly family members were born and raised. We discussed how their experiences growing up might be very different to ours. The students developed two questions to ask their grandparent/parent about life growing up. They have stuck this sheet in their home learning books (or placed in their bag if they didn’t have their library bags) to complete at home. Please assist your child with this.

In Health, we discussed ‘what a relationship’ is and the many connections we have with other people. Furthermore, we looked at ‘what a family is’ and how the concept of family is so diverse. We watched a video, ‘My family, your family, our families’ and as a class brainstormed different types of relationships that were viewed in the story. The students then created a mind map specifically about themselves; identifying people in their lives who they have a relationship with.

In science, We started a new topic looking at the needs of living things. This week we discussed the 5 needs of plants being- light, air, nutrients, space and water. The children wrote the needs in each petal and then constructed their flower.

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

We are looking forward to another week full of learning, beginning Monday.

 

 

 

Welcome to Week 11! What a wonderful and busy week we have had to finish off our term.

In Literacy, we introduced /v/ (Vera Vulture), linking to letter ‘v’; /ks/ (Flexible Max), linking to letter ‘x’; and new sound /y/ (Yawning Yak), linking to letter ‘y’. We then consolidated our understanding through text reading and writing.

The children edited and finished off their narrative storybooks.

 

In Maths, the students consolidated their understanding of skip counting by 5’s. They continued to count, read and write the multiples of 5 and ensured each number ended in the correct pattern of 5 then 0. Next Term, we will begin our Maths learning around counting by 2’s.

 

SPORTS DAY!

 

 

Thankyou for a wonderful start to the year! We wish all the children and families a safe and Happy Easter!

 

Kind Regards,

Emily

Welcome to Week 10. What a fun-filled week we have had.

This week the children thoroughly enjoyed participating in Market Day held by the Year 5’s and 6’s.

In English, we revisited the sounds /z/ linking to letters ‘z’ and ‘zz’, /ch/, linking to letter ‘ch’ and revision of ‘sh’, ‘qu’, ‘ee’, ‘z’ and ‘zz’. The children have been practising their blending and segmenting of sounds for reading and writing. We have also introduced new tricky words this weeks; no, as, so, ball, call, this, then.

In Numeracy,

 

 

In Religion, we discussed the liturgical seasons which reflect the life of Jesus. We watched the story of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday and Good Friday. The children drew and wrote sentences about the different days together with linking the stories to their own life.

 

In Science, we have been continuing to look at weather. This week the students began creating their own ‘Weather Report Booklet’. They were asked to describe the weather, draw it as a symbol, as a sentence and color in the clothes that would be best depending on the weather outside.

 

 

 

Congratulations to Chimobi and Jason for reading 25 nights!

Welcome to Week 9!

In Literacy, we looked at the /kw/ sound linking to ‘qu’ and the /e/ sound linking to ‘ee’. We practised blending and segmenting sounds to form words with these sounds and used our knowledge to read passages of text to consolidate our learning.

In Small Group Learning, we are engaging in a shared reading task using our knowledge of our focus sounds /kw/ (qu) and /e/ (ee).

In Bookmaking, we looked at what a ‘blurb’ is and attempted to add one to our own storybook. There are a lot of Authors and Illustrators in the making!

In Numeracy, the children practised counting in larger collections of 10 and practised the concept of skip counting by 10 from a different number, eg. 3, 13, 23 etc.

In Technology, we shared some of our favourite cultural foods that we eat at home. The children drew a picture of their favourite cultural food and drew the Country’s flag next to it.

In Health, we listened to the story ‘Hattie and the Fox’ and discussed the early warning signs that Hattie would have felt ie. her body messages, her feelings and the clues around her. The children drew a picture of Hattie and wrote words about how she was feeling and what she was scared of.

In Science, we discussed the wind, how it moves and its effects on objects. The children made their own pinwheels to observe the changes in the wind.