From the bottom of my heart thank you for a beautiful term with team RCC. Every child has made an incredible impact on me, may you all continue to grow and shine!

Ngaityalya 🙂

Hi Families!

I can’t believe it is the last week of term 1! I have attached below the sports day agenda:

PROGRAM

-School will commence at the normal time of 8.50am and finish at 3pm.  Students will need to wear their sports uniform but may wear a coloured shirt for their sports house.

-If you are a registered volunteer and able to assist the class teacher with the Sports Day activities, please advise your child’s teacher.

Sports Day activities will finish at 2.10pm with all students returning to their classroom until the end of the school day at 3pm.  If you are attending and would like to take your child home early, please ensure that you see teacher before leaving to sign out your child.

FRIENDLY REMINDERS:

-The school day begins at 8:50am. Literacy inquiry play is set up in the morning to support the transition into the classroom environment. Our morning learning begins at 9:00am. In order to support a successful transition for your child please ensure you are on time.

-Please return library books back tomorrow to ensure your child can borrow.

-Sports Day is in week 11 (Wednesday, 10th April). Attached is your Childs sports day colours!

I look forward to seeing many of you across the week for parent-teacher interviews 🙂

Welcome to another week! Here’s what we got up to:

LITERACY

We are continuing to build our phonemic awareness and skills whilst we explore Heggerty and build our knowledge of letter phonemes and graphemes. This week we started putting our heart words into sentences, clapping when we heard the heart word. We also searched for these words in books throughout reading workshop times. We are building our literacy knowledge through rhyming songs and books, blending words, and spelling words!

MATHS

This week we started to explore position and location, using the school environment to hide objects in and describe the position and location. We are building our positional language vocabulary, learning on top of, under, behind, between, through, left, and right. We have loved reading Rosie’s Walk to explore these words and acted out the story together.

SCIENCE

At our MUDLA visit this week we shared in observations, discussions, and questioning, developing inquiry skills. We noticed the new baby turtle because the tank was filled with less water! We gathered our questions and engaged in research when we returned to the classroom using technology and books.

Connection to Country

We have been learning about animals and connecting Kaurna language to our science vocabulary. We have learnt about special Australian animals, and how to say these animals in Kaurna.

TECHNOLOGY

We crafted the cutest easter bunnies EVER!! We are working on cutting and gluing skills to creatively craft things, developing our fine motor skills.

HEALTH

We started learning and discussing about emergencies, and how we can stay safe in these scenarios! We discussed the phone number to call and the different types of emergency services we have to help us. We drew pictures of emergencies that would require adult help, and problem, solved how we can find help and support.

RELIGION

We celebrated Holy Week every morning, learning about the events for each day that Jesus went through. We engaged in the stations of the cross learning, where we went around the school to learn about the 12 stations of Jesus’ journey when carrying the cross. At the end of the week we reflected on Jesus’ sacrifice of dying on the cross for our sins, holding this significant event close in our hearts.

ART

We learnt about the amazing art style of CUBISM! Children created their very own cubism artworks, using new techniques.

Thank you for a great week, enjoy the long weekend!

We have had a fun and busy week in RCC! Here’s what we got up to!

LITERACY

Children have been working on building skills for phonemic awareness, focusing primarily on segmenting, adding, deleting, and subitising syllables in words. We are applying phonemic understanding and knowledge to practice new skills for working with words and syllables. Across our word study we have focused on the phoneme and graphemes of letters, and worked with letter sounds to blend and spell words.

In book making we have begun exploring illustrations and the use of characters in our stories. We have learnt about the fun and diverse characters that we can use in our stories, continuing to add detail and expression.

MATHEMATICS

CIRCLE, TRIANGLE, SQUARE! We started a new unit this week exploring shapes. We have learnt about the properties of shapes/non shapes and discussed the describing properties of shapes. We have explored grouping activities, shape creating experiences, and drawing shapes. The children have loved exploring shapes and developed upon their pre-existing knowledge.

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY

Over the term we have watched our grass heads grow and explored the things that living things need to grow. We discussed the growth of our grass heads and compared the different growth rates of plants. We discussed ways in which we could support the growth of living things, and documented the growth through drawings, observations, and photos.

HEALTH

This week we focused on staying safe at school learning about safe hands and feet. We discussed how we can stay safe and help our friends in the classroom and school year. The children brainstormed and discussed how they can stay safe and drew pictures of themselves being safe.

HASS / ART

We have a special week in HASS celebrating diversity and inclusivity! Throughout the week we have learnt about Harmony Week and celebrate the amazing diversity in Australia and HFCS. On Thursday we celebrated world Down syndrome day and learnt about disabilities and Down syndrome. We seek to create an inclusive and diverse classroom where everybody belongs. We explored many art experiences, creating hands prints, harmony day people, and silly socks!

CONNECTION TO COUNTRY

Within the focus of Harmony Week we have celebrate the oldest continuous cultures of the Aboriginal People. We have shared in the amazing special culture and significance that Aboriginal people hold to the land, and recognise the important connection to Kaurna Land upon which we live and meet on every day.

ALWAYS WAS ALWAYS WILL BE

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Children are growing in their spirituality and Catholic identity through the exploration of prayer, scripture, and bible stories. This week we continued to look at religious songs and how music can provide us with special experiences with God. We are continuing to reflect on how we can be reflections of Jesus, showing love and kindness to people.

PALM SUNDAY – As we prepare to enter Holy Week, we learnt about Palm Sunday, and the importance of Jesus’ arrival into Jerusalem. We created a special door display to celebrate Palm Sunday HOASANNA! The children will continue to explore the important events of Holy Week next week!

Scripture

John 12:12-16: The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord – the King of Israel!”

Have a lovely weekend, can’t wait to see you all next week 🙂

REMINDER: Friday 29^th & Monday 1^st – Public Holiday (Easter Long Weekend)

This week we are celebrating a very special week – HARMONY WEEK!

What is Harmony Week?

Harmony Day is celebrated by Australia and during schools within Harmony Week. It is a day surrounding the awareness and celebration of our country’s diverse multiculturalism. The ongoing slogan ‘Everybody Belongs’ highlights the importance of promoting inclusion of all people within our community.

Why Orange?

Orange is the colour of choice because it symbolises communication, meaningful conversation and mutual respect between all people

WORLD DOWN SYNDROME DAY – 21st of March

World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD) , 21 March, is a global awareness day which has been officially observed by the United Nations since 2012. The date for WDSD being the 21st day of the 3rd month, was selected to signify the uniqueness of the triplication (trisomy) of the 21st chromosome which causes Down syndrome. As a class we will be celebrating and learning about WDSD, I invite you to participate in the lot’s of socks campaign.

THURSDAY – Choose some socks that are going to get noticed! They might be mismatched socks or your craziest and most colourful socks, whatever takes your fancy! The idea is to start a conversation, so when people ask you about your socks you can tell them, “I’m wearing them to raise awareness of Down syndrome”.

FRIDAY -Cultural dress: Children are invited to wear their cultural dress or orange or school uniform to celebrate harmony week.

RCC have had a big a busy week this week! We have been actively involved in new learning areas and further our skills and knowledge. Here’s a glimpse into RCC:

LITERACY

Team RCC are phonology superstars! We have working our way through the phonemes and graphemes of the alphabet, then using these skills to write words, create sentences, and blend CVC words. The children’s phonemic awareness and skills are flourishing, they are building skills for blending, segmenting, rhyming awareness, and changing syllables in word. In book making we are continuing to learn about text conventions which can be used to elevate an author’s story. The children have used these conventions in their book making this week and developed identities as authors and illustrators.

MATHEMATICS

This week we began a new unit exploring shapes! We have specifically looked at the number of sides, corners, and curved/straight lines. We have focused on identifying the properties of a shape and determining what doesn’t make a shape. We explored shapes through group games and discussions, then engaged in maths play inquiry.

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY

We are learning about habitat’s and focusing on what animals need to survive. The children integrated technology skills and took photos of the animals in their habitats. We were so lucky to read a special book by Mr McCarthy which described a Gungeon fish’s habitat and food intake. This opened up lots of discussion and exploration of different animals’ habitat and living needs.

HEALTH

Over this term we have focused on safe/unsafe, and this week we explored warning signs in the body which relate to certain emotions. We shared and collaborated in discussion of the ways our bodies respond to different emotions. The children chose an emotion and then drew the body’s response and reaction.

HASS

We have loved celebrating our unique identities this term! This week we drew an identity map representing us as a person, including names, drawings of ourselves, cultural identity, likes, and attributes that make us unique. We have such a unique, diverse, and special team in RCC – we all share special attributes and seek to promote inclusivity.

ART

We continued working on Abstract Art (a modern form of art that doesn’t look exactly like other things around us). It might make you think, or laugh, or feel something new. It might look like something to you, and something completely different to someone else. Abstract art can be anything that you imagine! We used different sensory tools to create unique abstract artworks.

RELIGION

We are entering prayer each morning with the children using the sign of the cross and thinking about what they are grateful for or thinking about someone they wish to pray for. People can pray in different ways: singing, dancing, saying a prayer, meditating, experiencing moments of being quiet and being alone.  We have been exploring this through singing and dancing, and mediating different ways that we can pray and be connected to God. Prayer is special, powerful, and personal with God.

PHILIPPIANS 4:6 – Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.

BUDDIES

We spent our Friday afternoon with our year 5 buddies – reading and venturing into the big classrooms! We are so lucky to be building special and caring relationships with our buddies.

Friendly Reminders:

-Library bags only need to be returned Monday and/or Tuesday, library borrowing is on a Tuesday. Please keep your library bags at home during the week and weekend so you can enjoy reading and sharing books!

-Arriving to school on time is extremely important, as the morning period and transition is used for connection and settling into the classroom environment.

Here’s what we got up to this week

LITERACY

The children are eagerly continuing to learn letters and their corresponding graphemes and phonemes. This week began focusing on heart words, blending CVC words, dictation, morphology rules, and learnt about vowels and constantans. We have deepened our book making process and learnt about different text conventions using familiar texts. These conventions can be explored through bookmaking to explore author and illustrator conventions used in books.

NUMERACY

We have been focusing on putting together our skills in counting, highlighting all the principles of counting we can use. We explored cardinality and conservation of number through hands-on learning and exploration. We have been practicing subitising and played games with dice to practice these skills.

HEALTH

Continuing on from exploring things that keep us safe, we took the time to talk about signs. Signs can be found everywhere, in the school, classroom, home, and community. Signs can tell us information and keep us safe! We went on a school adventure to find different signs around the school. The children then got very creative and painted these signs, explaining what they mean.

HASS

We learnt about the map of the world this week! Within this marvellous map we found where Australia was and shared some familiar countries with each other. We had some special stories shared about India, and found that Australia and India are so close to each other.

CONNECTION TO COUNTRY – We discussed all the amazing cultures and Aboriginal tribes in Australia, the children knew and spotted Kaurna country. We explored more of Kaurna culture, immersing in language and cultural traditions through videos and books. The children’s connection to country is always deepening, as we share in a journey of reconciliation, starting with rich learning and love for Aboriginal culture and awareness.

RELIGION

We have been learning about the importance of prayer, and how this is a special time between you and God. This week we learnt about the significance of The Sign of the Cross and what this symbol represents. The actions represent the symbol of the Cross, and the prayer involves our head, heart and body. Children shared what they would like to pray about, and have been sharing during morning prayer times.

Don’t worry about anything: instead, pray about everything. Tell god what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Philippians 4:6 NLT

SCIENCE

This week we explored habitat and focused particularly on predators! We learnt that many different animals live in different habitat and need different things too survive. We then applied this knowledge when exploring the MUDLA and children drew an animal in their habitat, focusing on recognising the different things animals have/need.

TECHNOLOGIES

We explored technologies on the iPads, and venture into exploring new games! Children were required to be critical thinkers to begin exploring these apps and familiarise with different software.

ART

We are continuing to explore abstract art! This week we used oil pastels to create a collaborative art piece using abstract art features.

INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY – 8^th March

International Women’s Day is a globally recognised day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. It also serves as a call to action for accelerating gender parity and promoting women’s rights worldwide. Today we took the time to celebrate the amazing women in our lives and share the things that we love most about them!

Happy week 5! Have a look at what we got up to this week in RCC 🙂

LITEARCY

Team RCC are doing an amazing job with their phonemic awareness and understanding! With the development of these skills, the children have started to blend CVC words together, create sentences, and learn about ‘heart words’. We are developing a love for literacy and literature, which is transferring to amazing book making authors/illustrators. We have really homed in on the creation of a book and focused on different text conventions which children can explore in their books. We discussed the impact that an eye-catching front cover can have, and highlighted the importance of outlining who the author and illustrator is! The children have developed in their creativity and independence in book making, and have confidently shared their books with friends, teachers, and the class.

CONNECTION TO COUNTRY

We have been focusing on a book titled ‘Welcome to Country’, written by Aunty Joy Murphy and Lisa Kennedy. Aunty Joy is an Elder of the Wurundjeri People of Melbourne, and Lisa is a descendant of the Trawlwoolway People on the north-east coast of Tasmania. Through the teaching of the importance of including the name of authors and illustrators on books, we have explored the importance of Aboriginal people’s names and tribes – highlighting the special connections to country and community aboriginal tribes hold.

MATHEMATICS

In strengthening our counting we have explored cardinality and conservation. Developing rich counting skills supports further mathematics learning and development, building foundational skills. The children have explored counting using a range of materials, and created their own number lines with natural materials.

SCIENCE

We have continued watching our grass heads grow (slowly) and discussed the ways in which we can help them grow. As a class we decided that the plants need more sunlight and water – we will assess next week if this was the right decision! We were so lucky to see some real-life caterpillars and cocoons, learning about the life cycle of a butterfly. We connected this learning to The Very Hungry Caterpillar – wondering, inquiring, and investigating living things.

HASS

Students identified places that make them feel safe! It is important for each individual to have areas and places where they identify they are safe. We discussed why and how these places make them feel safe. Children shared their safe places with others, and drew a picture of their own unique safe place.

HEALTH

Following on from highlighting all of our unique identities, we read a beautiful book titled ‘The Best You Can Be’.  Students identified their individual strength or something that makes them special.
I AM IMPORTANT
I AM UNIQUE
I HAVE MANY TALENTS
I HAVE MANY STRENGTHS
We have a strong team of unique individuals in RCC – and every person is valued and loved.

RELIGION

This week we explored the practice of gratitude with the teachings of project compassion. The theme for project compassion this year is For All Generations, and we are looking at how we can care for this beautiful world to ensure God’s beautiful creations are cared for. When we take care of each other and the NOW, the future is hopeful for everyone: for us and for all future generations. We discussed how we can best look after the world and each other every day.

Colossians 3:16

Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. NLT

ART / TECHNOLOGY

We are exploring abstract art!! Abstract art is unique, fascinating, and super creative! This week children looked at abstract art and discussed the elements of these art works that make them unique and ABSTRACT. We then created our own abstract artwork, the process was marvellous and inquired children’s creativity and imagination. Across the rest of the term children will begin to acquire their own portfolio of artworks – we are all artists at heart!

The children then transferred their artistic knowledge to creating sketched and designs on the iPad’s, exploring sketch school to create digital art prints.

Thank you for an amazing and special week – enjoy the long weekend! Can’t wait to see RCC on Monday!

Blessings,

Miss Cam

An overview of Week 4 in RCC!

LITERACY – We are continuing to develop phonemic awareness skills, focusing on rhyme, phoneme isolation, segmenting words, adding, and deleting syllables/phonemes, and substituting syllables and phonemes. The children have been learning about the phonemes and graphemes of letters alongside morphology studies. As the children are growing into confident literacy learners, they are transferring their knowledge into skills and process to delve into bookmaking. We are working on cultivating a culture of enthusiastic and engaged authors and illustrators as they create their own books. We are currently working through a spotlight study of ‘building strong writing muscles’, encouraging the children to adventure into the world of book making.

MATHEMATICS – We are working towards counting from 0-20, encapsulating the principles of counting to ensure we are counting proficiently. We have focused on representing numbers using manipulatives, focusing on 1:1 correspondence. We have explored number lines and integrating counting principles and techniques.  We have continued to write and recognise numerals through play-based inquiry and games.

SCIENCE – We have continued to explore our living things unit through the integration of the MUDLA and our grass seeds.  The children are observing the changes of their grass heads and capturing the growth through drawings, pictures, and discussions. The MUDLA has been used to build discussion about the needs of living things, focusing on animals needing different things to survive. The children are active investigators in the MUDLA and develop inquiry skills such as questioning, predicting, and communicating.

HASS – With a focus on identity, this week we explored the origins and meanings of our names. We discussed how our name makes use unique and is a part of our individual identity. We engaged in mindfulness name colouring, and the children had the opportunity to discuss the elements of their name.

HEALTH – We are actively viewing ourselves as unique individuals. We appreciate and love the qualities and individuality of every member of RCC.  We have been focusing on and discussing our strengths, recognising that we all share talents and gifts in different things. Together we make a unite team in RCC and the children worked on identifying strengths and attributes of their classmates.

RELIGION – We have been learning about who Jesus is and how he is shown through caring relationships. RCC shared their own personal relationships such as family and friends, and how these relationships are a reflection of Jesus, highlighting the love they share. We then created pop stick houses to represent the valuable relationships we have in our life.

Ephesians 3:19 – May you experience the love of Christ, through it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. NLT

Connection to Country – Across curriculum areas we have been learning about the significant symbolic and spiritual connection of the Kaurna people, the traditional custodians of this land known as Kaurna Meyunna Yerta. We have been learning about Aboriginal culture, people, and country through picture books, dreamtime stories, Kaurna language, and Aboriginal artwork.

ART -We were so lucky to join our buddies this week in drawing Aboriginal artwork in the sandpit/dirt. Throughout this experience children learnt about Aboriginal art symbols which have a long history and connection to culture. The exploration of natural materials reinforced the teachings of the significance of connection to the land.

TECHNOLOGIES – Children have begun to integrate their technology skills across curriculum areas to document their own learning using the photo and video tools. This creates a culture of pride and ownership of their learning, valuing each child as a confident and capable learner.

Well done to all the amazing learning of the RCC team this week, see you next week for another amazing week!

Blessings,

Miss Cam