Welcome to Holy Week at Holy Family! The children were excited to be part of the Stations of the Cross and be part of hosting The Last Supper at the R-2 Liturgy this morning. Thank you to families who came to support us. The children showed great reverence. This had a profound impact on the way we all reflected on Jesus’ final moments with his disciples.

This is a very special week. On Thursday we celebrated the day that Jesus ate the Last Supper with His apostles. This was the first Mass, when He gave His Body and Blood to them in what still looked like bread and wine.

On Good Friday, we remember the suffering and death of Our Lord. He was beaten and made fun of, and had to carry the heavy cross. The He was nailed to the cross, where He hung for hours before He gave up His life to God for us.

On Holy Saturday, we remember the day that Mary and the apostles and Jesus’ other friends were very sad and upset by what had happened. Their best friend and leader had just been killed! Do you think they knew what was about to happen on Easter Sunday?

Easter is the time when we celebrate Jesus’ rising from the dead. Early in the morning the day after the Sabbath, the women went to the tomb and found it empty! They went and told the disciples, who went and saw it was true. Jesus’ body was gone! He had risen from the dead!

We have had many celebrations this week namely, Feast of St Joseph, World Down Syndrome Day and Harmony Day. St Joseph was a wonderful, patient man who was the earthly Father of Jesus and the loving husband of Mary. Many children wore their colourful odd socks for World Down Syndrome Day to raise awareness. Chromosomes are shaped like socks, so people wear colourful mismatched socks to support such a great cause. Harmony Week 2024’s theme is ‘Everyone Belongs’. It’s a celebration that recognises and embraces the country’s cultural diversity. It coincides with the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Next week is Holy Week (the week leading up to Easter). Our class, together with 2NP will be hosting. The liturgy will be held on Thursday 28^th March at 9am in the Hall. Families are invited to attend.

We spent time this week with our buddy class 5KH to decorate paper palm leaves to display on our classroom door for Palm Sunday. All classroom doors will have a similar display and families will be able to view these next Monday.

In Literacy, we have continued our work in Bookmaking focusing on our Illustration Study. In phonology, we are continuing to review our previous graphemes/phonemes taught and using these letters to blend sounds to make words. Our phonological awareness focus this week is on matching and producing rhyming words and identifying first sounds in familiar words.

In Numeracy, we have explored spotting shapes in familiar objects both inside and outside the classroom. The children are starting to create pictures using shapes and they enjoyed the ‘shape stations’ which encouraged them to create different shapes and think about each shape’s properties.

In Religion, we sang songs about Jesus and God to help us learn to pray and celebrate. We have also started looking at ‘The Last Supper’ story in preparation for our liturgy next week.

In Science, we have continued to look after our grass seed plans and discuss the different things that plants need to survive. Our key questions include; what makes a plant living, what do plants need to survive? And how can we care for plants?

In Technology, the children are continuing to familarise themselves with the different software on an IPAD (draw and tell, quick math jr and letter write).

In Art, we created a collaborative Harmony Day poster using children’s handprints. We used paint for children to create their handprint and we displayed all our individual handprints on one piece of card to unite us all and promote the message that ‘Everyone Belongs’.

We explored Harmony Day during HASS and discussed the many different cultures which make up our beautiful world. The message that ‘Everyone Belongs’ is reinforced with the importance of inclusiveness to all Australians.

In Health, we continued our work around safe/unsafe behaviours with a focus on risk taking. We walked around the school yard to explore what my constitute an unsafe situation versus a risky one.

In literacy this week, we have been focussing on blending sounds together to make words. After hearing the word, we have been working on hearing the different sounds that make up that word, focussing on the initial letter, vowel sound and finally the end sound. The children have been having a go at writing these words individually first and then together we do it as a group. We are continually to build our knowledge of some high frequency words namely; a, the, my, of, give and have.

In bookmaking we have started a new spotlight study focussing on ‘Illustrations’. We have been looking at what we notice in picture books, what can we try to use in our books, ways to show movement ie. movement lines, different sized people, making characters look different by adding specific details eg. hair colour, clothing etc., facial expressions, showing time of day or weather in background (setting) and consistent setting in background details so that pages are connected.

In Numeracy, we have started to explore shape. We have specifically looked at the number of sides, corners etc. and whether a shape is a curved shape or a straight shape. We used our knowledge of these properties to then sort shapes into different categories ie. size, colour, type etc.

In Health, we looked at warning signs in the body; understanding that our body sends messages to display feelings/emotions. The children drew what their bodies may look like when feeling different emotions.

In HASS, the children continued to explore their identity focusing on what their individual likes are. After much discussion as a group, they then drew all their own personal likes that make them unique and special.

In 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!

In Science, we continued to explore the different things specific animals need to survive. The children chose an animal from the MUDLA to draw together with its habitat and what it needs to survive and feel protected.

In 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.

In Literacy this week we have been focussing on learning the letter names and sounds of ‘Oo, Bb, Cc, Hh and Ee’. We are continuing to revise previous letters learnt and using these letter to form words and sentences. We are practising to write the correct formation of the letters and to practise writing words and sentences dictated by Mrs Anibaldi. Our high frequency words learnt this week include; I, is, a, the, my and of. We are starting to recognise these words in our take home readers.

In bookmaking, the children are continuing their work as Authors and Illustrators by using some of the taught crafting techniques that authors and illustrators use in picture books. We are adding more detail and colour to our illustrations, thinking about where we could use speech bubbles, ellipses and onomatopoeia. Please come and speak with me if you wish to know more about these crafting techniques.

In Numeracy, our focus has been on cardinality, conservation, 1:1 correspondence and subitising. The children thoroughly enjoyed playing dice games to strengthen their subitising skills.

In Art, we continued exploring mediums and concepts focusing on abstract art. Our class masterpiece is displayed in the classroom for anyone to view.

In Religion, we explored prayer and the significant importance of the sign of the cross.

In Health, we looked at Road Traffic Safety; what to look out for when walking or travelling in the car/bus.

In Science, we continued looking at different animal categories, in particular, their habitat and what each animal needs to survive. Our visit to the MUDLA was a perfect opportunity to continue these discussions and wonderings.

In HASS, we looked at the world map, specifically where each family originated from. We clearly mapped out each family’s cultural heritage and labelled it with each child’s name. The children enjoyed exploring each other’s heritage and how far each Country was from Australia. They then attempted to draw the map.

We are continuing to explore letter names and sounds of the alphabet. We looked at the letters Nn, Dd and Gg.  We are also looking at blending sounds together to make words and construct sentences. Our high frequency words learnt this week include ‘I’ and ‘The’. These words will come up frequently in the children’s readers. To help support your child’s reading at home, please listen to your child read everyday if possible. It is also important to read to your child. they are bringing home two picture books a week from the library. You may also have other books at home that they like to listen to.

In numeracy, we are focussing on counting on from any starting point, cardinality, conservation & subitising.

We enjoyed exploring our creative arts this week, looking at things that are safe or unsafe and ways we can care for our Earth.

Just a reminder that this Friday is a pupil free day.

Our highlight this week was our visit to the MUDLA room. Mr McCarthy was very kind to talk to us about the animals & we were fortunate enough for some of them to come out of their enclosures so we could have a closer look & a hold.

Literacy & numeracy activities relating to our weekly focus are set up on the tables when the children walk in. They are encouraged to independently unpack their bag & find a table top activity to engage with whilst I listen to children read. I have set up a weekly roster for listening to reading so I will at least listen to every child weekly. Please ensure your child brings their library bag in everyday.

We also welcome a new student, Aveer to our class. The children are being friendly & showing him around our school.

The children enjoyed making a house out of of sticks & drawing their family inside. They are so proud of their creations.

This week was a significant one on the Catholic liturgical calendar. On Tuesday we celebrated Shrove Tuesday (also known as “Carnevale”).  This means “goodbye to meat” and the removal of all flour, sugar and eggs from the kitchen. People in villages and towns would cook up a feast with the ingredients, adding to a festival and party feel. The children enjoyed eating their pancakes on Tuesday.

On Wednesday we celebrated Ash Wednesday. The leaves used on Palm Sunday (the year before) are burnt on Shrove Tuesday and brought to Mass to be blessed by the priest by sprinkling them with Holy Water. They are then distributed to the people just after the Gospel. As he makes a ‘Sign of the Cross’ on the forehead the priest says: “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.” He may also say: “Remember you are but dust and to dust you shall return.” This is a timely reminder to prepare ourselves for Lent (a season of 40 days where Catholics prepare themselves spiritually for Easter) which starts on Ash Wednesday. The children were very reverent sitting through the Mass.

In Science we have been learning about living versus non living things.  the children planted some grass seeds in their own cups which we will continue to look after and observe over the next few weeks.

Welcome to Term 1, Week 2. The children are becoming more familiar with classroom routines and structures. We are learning how to get our minds and bodies ready for learning and following instructions and directions as we transition throughout the day.

In literacy this week we are continuing to practise writing and representing our names in different ways. Our phonological awareness focus is on syllabification (breaking down the syllables in words), rhyme and recognising ‘what a word is’ and how many words can be in a sentence. In bookmaking, the children published and shared their books on ‘About Me’. In phonics, we are learning the names and sounds of the letters S, A, T. In Numeracy, we are continuing to practise the ‘principles of counting’. We counted small objects placed in cups and the children displayed their counting knowledge ie. ‘I can count each object only once and say one number name for each object’, ‘When I count, I say the numbers in order’, ‘When I count the objects in a group, the last number I say tells me the total for the group’, ‘It doesn’t matter which order I count a group of objects in, the total will be the same’.

We had our first visit to the MUDLA Room; the children were so excited! Our favourite animals included the beaded dragon, the yabbies, the fish, the turtles and the green tree frog. We will continue to visit the MUDLA weekly for the next few weeks.

Welcome RIA Families,

We have had a fantastic fun-filled week in RIA. The children are showing their bravery, confidence and resilience learning about our classroom routines and structures.

This week we are focussing on connecting with peers and educators, interacting with the environment through inquiry play, drawing, play dough, small world play, stories and songs.

We visited the library on Tuesday and the children each borrowed two books each. Please ensure your child’s library bag is returned every Tuesday morning. The children also attended their specialist subjects of PE, Spanish and Music. We have also been exploring our outside environment by visiting the MUDLA, the billabongs, the Fish Farm, vegetable gardens and log park.

Over the next few weeks, we will continue to familiarise ourselves with classroom routines, caring for school and each other.

Parent information night is scheduled for Monday 5th February at 6-7 pm in our classroom (you should receive information about this via admin).

Can you please return the parent survey that you received at the beginning of this week. Can you also ensure your child has a separately packed fruit snack for brain food. This is to be placed in the allocated baskets next to the drink bottles. Also, can you please bring in a printed family photo as I would like to display these in our classroom to create a sense of belonging for all of our families.

One of our main focusses is for the children to become independent. This can be encouraged by allowing the children to walk into the classroom with their own bag and be responsible for placing their drink bottle and brain food snack in the designated baskets, placing their lunch box in the fridge and their school bag in their locker. Please also ensure that your child’s hat stays in their school bag at all times.

Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Regards

Irene Anibaldi (RIA)

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