Dear Families,

Welcome to our final blog for 2023.

What an incredible semester we have had with our mid-year Receptions. We have celebrated many great achievements and watched each individual student grow in their social, emotional and academic learning. We have enjoyed the journey as a class community and have made many wonderful memories. Next week it we be our final week together and we will enjoy some more  fun Christmas celebrations.

We hope you enjoy our students performing their carols- ‘Every Little Angel’ & ‘Santa Clause is Coming’

We hope you all have a wonderful weekend

See you all next week!

Mrs A., Mrs McGlone & Ms. Yeend 🙂

Niina marni mid year children and families and welcome to the end of week 7!

Only two more weeks until the Christmas holidays! We are so proud of how far they have all come and look forward to spending the last three weeks together, and get ready to enjoy some fun Christmas celebrations.

This week we have taken the time to re-visit  learning  covered this semester as a way of supporting our students and helping them to consolidate and develop a deeper understanding. This included culmination of all phonemes and graphemes from this term, exploring rhyme and syllables and continuing on with our book making in which we have added characters, borders and movement lines, inspired through our Pamela Allen author study.

For mathematics we re-visited subitising, counting collections using 1:1 correspondence, exploring numbers and quantifying using a variety of concrete materials.

During our play investigations the children have thoroughly enjoyed using their creativity whilst painting, drawing and making using different manipulatives.  We have also started making Christmas decorations for our beautiful class Christmas tree this week. Over the next two weeks we are looking forward to engaging in more Christmas craft, music and stories.

This week was our last borrowing week. Students will return their library books on  Friday week 8. There will be no library lessons during week 8 and 9.

Just a quick reminder that we eat fruit at 9.40am, recess at 10.40am and lunch at 12.30pm each day. The children are also welcome to eat yoghurt during fruit time so please feel free to pack this. Also, there are no toys allowed in the classroom or at school. We know it can be tricky to ensure none have made their way into backpacks but please be mindful that if they are brought in they will be put away and returned to parents at the end of the day.  This helps to stop issues that arise when they are brought in and others may want to play with them or they get lost. We thank you for your cooperation with this :).

Nature Play!

On Friday we had Nature Play SA come for an incursion! We built cubbies, mixed potions and enjoyed our time in nature!

See you all next week,

Ms. Yeend, Mrs. McGlone and Mrs. A.

Christmas Carols Friday the 8th of December

6:3opm-8pm on Oval- RLY & RIA will be performing together.

Dear Families,

Welcome to our week 6 blog!

As the term quickly races towards the end of the year we are able to celebrate the achievements of all our mid-year Reception students. We are so proud of how far they have all come and look forward to spending the last three weeks together, and get ready to enjoy some  fun Christmas celebrations.

This week we have taken the time to re-visit  learning  covered this semester as a way of supporting our students and helping them to consolidate and develop a deeper understanding. This included culmination of all phonemes and graphemes from this term, exploring rhyme and syllables and continuing on with our book making in which we have added characters, borders and movement lines, inspired through out Pamela Allen author study.

For mathematics we re-visited subitising, counting collections using 1:1 correspondence, exploring numbers and quantifying using a variety of concrete materials.

During our play investigations the children have thoroughly enjoyed using their creativity whilst painting, drawing and making using different manipulatives.  We have also started making Christmas decorations for our beautiful class Christmas tree this week. Over the next few weeks we are looking forward to engaging in more  Christmas craft, music and stories.

Next week will be our last borrowing week. Students will return their library books on  Friday week 8. There will be no library lessons during week 8 and 9.

Just a quick reminder that we eat fruit at 9.40am, recess at 10.40am and lunch at 12.30pm each day. The children are also welcome to eat yoghurt during fruit time so please feel free to pack this. Also, there are no toys allowed in the classroom or at school. We know it can be tricky to ensure none have made their way into backpacks but please be mindful that if they are brought in they will be put away and returned to parents at the end of the day.  This helps to stop issues that arise when they are brought in and others may want to play with them or they get lost. We thank you for your cooperation with this :).

See you all next week,

Mrs. A, Mrs McGlone and Ms. Yeend 🙂

Christmas Carols Friday the 8th of December

6:3opm-8pm on Oval- RIA & RLY will be performing together.

Niina Marni mid year children and families and welcome to the end of week 5! Can you believe we only have four weeks left of school?? With this in mind, we will be finalising all units of work by the end of next week so that we have the last three weeks of school to bring everything together, consolidate our learning, and celebrate the end of our first journey at school (and Christmas of course!)!

This week we are finishing assessments for maths as we conclude our unit of shapes. We are working through our understanding of adding movement lines to our books, just like Pamela Allen! We have our new poem ‘A needle and a thread’, where we are focusing on the grapheme ‘n’. We have also commenced reading workshop to start off our literacy block each day which has been a huge hit!

This week we also celebrated Diwali! The children engaged in storytelling and craft where we painted diya’s.

Congratulations to RIA for their amazing assembly on Friday! We were all so proud watching you up there on the stage! You should all be very proud.

We can’t wait to wrap up our units and celebrate for the rest of our time together!

Ms. Yeend, Mrs. A and Mrs. McGlone.

Dear Families,

Welcome to our Week 4 blog!

What an exciting week it has been for both classes! The children have been diligently rehearsing for their assemblies with their buddies.

A heartfelt CONGRATULATIONS to RLY for delivering a fantastic first assembly today. RLY children, you should be very proud of yourselves, as we certainly are!

We hope you can join us for RIA’s assembly next Friday, the 17th of November (Week 5) at 9:00 am.

WHAT’S ON AT HOLY FAMILY?

Book Fair: The Book Fair will commence after school on Tuesday, 21/11/23 (Week 6) and conclude after school the following Tuesday, 28/11/23 (Week 7). The fair will be open before school from 8:30 am – 8:50 am and after school from 3:00 pm – 3:30 pm, excluding Monday within these dates.

This year, Holy Family will be hosting a competition where students are invited to design a crazy hat for a chance to win a $20 voucher to spend at the fair. Forms are available from the library, and entries are due by Friday, Week 5. Winners will be announced on Monday of Week 6. Flyers with more details have been placed in the children’s reader pouches.

Nature Play Incursion: The Nature Play SA Education Team is excited to host an end-of-year celebration for learners at Holy Family Catholic School on Thursday, the 23rd of November. This immersive free-play experience aims to develop a connection to nature through exploring local flora and fauna, storytelling, and sensory play. Students will use their agency to manage their time and move between activities of interest.

SESSION PROGRAM:

• Magic Potion Making
• Cubby Building
• Clay Creatures
• Loose Parts Play
• Watercolor Painting
• Water Runs

Holy Family Catholic School Mini-Fest Nov 23

What did learning look like this week?

This week, we shared our new poem ‘Pat-a-cake, Pat-a-cake.’ The children were encouraged to write the letter ‘P’ and practice its sound, exploring letter formation and developing an understanding of letter-sound relationships.

In our author study on Pamela Allen’s books, the children delved into the features in the illustrations, focusing on movement lines and how they indicate that the character is in motion.

In Design and Technologies, the children discussed the design process, drawing their designs before bringing them to life. They were introduced to twisting techniques with pipe cleaners, drawing and then joining and twisting them to form their creations.

In Humanities and Social Sciences, we’ve been investigating global wonders—cultures, countries, and celebrations, with a focus on next week’s Diwali celebrations.

We had a productive week and look forward to another week of play-based investigations and learning.

A few friendly reminders:

• Hats are to be worn outside. If your child has special sunscreen, please provide it to the class teacher.
• Summer uniforms are to be worn as we transition into warmer weather.
• Remember to bring reading bags each day with library books and the Learning Journal. Our children have their library days on Friday, returning books and borrowing new ones for the week.

From RIA & RLY 🙂

Dear Families,

Welcome to our week 3 blog!

It has been another tremendous  week of  fun and learning. The children have been busy engaging in a variety learning experiences  and preparing for our upcoming assemblies. It has been a wonderful experience for the children to connect and collaborate with their buddies as they get ready to take the stage! We hope you can join us for this special time.

• RLY Assembly will be held on Friday the 10th November (Week 4) at 9:00am
• RIA: Friday the 17th of November (Week 5) at 9:00am

What did learning look like this week?

Mathematics- We continued to explore basic 2D shapes and their properties through a variety of  shape investigations. This included sorting shapes, learning the names  of basic shapes and exploring how many sides.

Book Making- The children have been intrigued with our author study on Pamela Allen. We are currently focusing on characters in books, and this week introduced movement lines and how it shows the reader that the character is moving. Our little authors have been very inspired and have come up with some wonderful ideas for their own books.

Word Study- This week we shared our new poem ‘Tiny Tim’. The children were encouraged to write  the letter ‘t’  and practise its sound, as we explore letter formation and develop an understanding of letter- sound relationships.  These have been pasted in your child’s learning journal for you to enjoy reading together at home. We have also focused on rhyme through stories, songs and literacy experiences. The children had particularly enjoyed our ‘peg the rhyming’ words by looking at the pictures.

On Tuesday whilst RLY were practising their assembly, RIA had  tendered our herb garden bed, with the children helping to water from our rain water tank. We took the time to observe and discuss our noticings, and what our herbs have needed to help them grow.

On Wednesday the children had attended a  whole school Mass to celebrate All Saints Day which is a day for commemorating all the Saints.

Overall, we had a fabulous week and look forward to another week of play and learning.

A few friendly reminders:

• A reminder that hats are to be worn outside. If your child has special sunscreen please give this to your class teacher. Also summer uniforms are to be worn as we move into warmer weather.
• Please remember to bring reading bags each day with library books and Learning Journal. Our children have their library days on Friday so they will return books and borrow new ones for the week.

From RIA & RLY 🙂

Ninna Marni mid-year reception children and families and welcome to the end of week 2!

We hope everyone enjoyed the Spring Fair on the weekend, we were so happy to see of our families come by our self portrait painting stall in the hall! We had a great time exploring what was on offer (especially the potatoes on a stick)!

This week we have started our new units of learning for the term!

For bookmaking and word study we have an author study (Pamela Allen) and a focus this week on the nursery rhyme Indy Wincy Spider – with a spotlight on the letter i. These have been pasted in your child’s learning journal so this is a great reminder to be bringing those in each day!

For maths we have started our unit on 2D shapes! We have explored how Aboriginal peoples use shapes in their artwork and the different aspects of different basic shapes.

We have also spent time outside this week on the days that the weather has been good! Exploring our garden beds (linking to science and religious education), experimenting in the sandpits, exploring in log park and playing on the playground!

We would also like to advise that our class assembly’s will be on the following dates:

RLY: Friday week 4 (10th November)

RIA: Friday week 5 (17th November)

Assembly commences at 9am each Friday and runs for approximately 30-40 minutes.

We can’t wait to see what the rest of the term brings for us!

Ms. Yeend, Mrs. A and Mrs. McGlone.

Welcome back everyone!

It’s great to be back together, we hope you all had a wonderful break. The children have certainly enjoyed sharing  about all the fun and exciting adventures they got up to. We are really excited and ready for a big term of learning and growing!

This week we have supported the students to ease back into their learning environment  and re-connect, supporting their emotional well being. We have also re-visted learning from last term to enable the students to reflect and demonstrate their understanding of learning concepts. This included our Word Study focus on letter-letter sounds for ‘ b, a, s, r’  through our poems and literacy stations,  completing our final books for book making, and sharing Pamela Allen stories  which will lead us into our author study next week. We also re-visted our learning on patterns for mathematics. It has been great to see their progress, we are absolutely  proud of all their learning achievements.

Our students have also enjoyed new play spaces in our classrooms. This has included a ‘Fairy garden’ and ‘  Construction Site’ bringing friends together to engage  in role play, cooperative play, problem solve and use creativity.

Next week we will begin our new and exciting learning units across the curriculum. Our focus on learning will include:

Mathematics:  Learning about 2D shapes. This will include sorting shapes based on their attributes, name and recognise familiar shapes identify shapes within the environment and create shapes.

English-  Author study on Pamela Allen to identify  crafting techniques such as movement, character, layout, images and build phonological awareness through rhyme. We will explore how we can add some of Pamela Allen’s techniques such as layout, movement and characters to add to our own books.

Word Study-  We will continue to support phonological awareness including phonemic awareness, aliteration, syllabification and rhyme.

HASS- Will continue study on  cultures and our world through stories and maps. They will have the opportunity to discuss and share personal observations and perspectives on their histories and special places, contributing to their sense of identity and belonging.

Religion- Creation is God’s gift for all to love and enjoy, connecting with our natural world and developing an appreciation for all God’s creations.

Science- Biological Science- We will explore living things deepen their engagement as they notice, observe and record their observations of the external features of different plants, animals and humans.

Arts- Both classes will be doing their first assembly this term and so lessons in the arts will provide the time to rehearse and prepare for their assembly as it encompasses all areas of the arts in a meaningful way.

Technology- Design-  Explore working with materials such as cardboard, fabric and other common household items and using equipment such as scissors and glue for design.

New Information & a Few Friendly Reminders:

• LIbrary for RLY & RIA is on Fridays. RIA will be lesson 6 and RLY lesson 7. Please ensure all books 3 readers and 2 picture books are returned so that children can borrow new ones.
• As we are now moving into warm weather  it is compulsory that the children wear hats outside. Please ensure all hats are labelled with names. Also summer uniforms can be worn. We provide sunscreen for the children but if your child has a special sunscreen please feel free to bring it in.
• Our annual Spring Fair is on this Sunday and we hope to see you all there!

We are looking forward to a fun filled term! Please don’t ever hesitate  email should you have  question or need assistance with anything.

From RIA & RLY 🙂

Niina Marni reception children and families!

Our very first sports day and colour run! What a wild, fun, busy, hot, crazy, amazing (any other adjectives?) day!

Massive…MASSIVE thanks goes to Amanda (parent volunteer) and Mounika (ESO) for their support. We could not have done this without you, your support with scoring and cheering on the children was greatly appreciated!

Another thank you goes to Talia (parent) for the ice blocks – the children thought it was Christmas! And went down well on such a warm day.

Because it was so warm this is a great opportunity to remind everyone that next term is Summer uniform weather. This als0 means children must wear hats during play times and we will support them to apply sunscreen before recess and lunch times.

On a personal note:

I (Laura/Ms. Yeend) was terrified about moving from preschool to school but this has been the most enjoyable couple of months 0f my career. Your support has meant the world to all of us and we could not be more proud of how everyone has settled in. Seeing everyone’s smiling faces every day fills our hearts with joy and we couldn’t do it without you.

We hope you enjoy the photos and the break together and look forward to welcoming you back in Term 4!

Ms. Yeend, Mrs. A and Mrs. McGlone.

Welcome to our last blog for term 3!

It is hard to believe that we have already reached week 10. We have have had such an amazing term and would like to congratulate our mid- year Receptions on their achievements and settling in so well into school. We have certainly seen them grow confident and thrive!

This week we have completed our units of learning across our curriculum for  term 3. We have spent time with individual children to reflect on their learning through our assessments and will continue to re-visit learning to support learning needs.

On Wednesday the children had visited the library to return books and borrow new books to enjoy over the holidays. We then ventured out to the oval to enjoy Soccer Clinics provided by SEDA College. This provided the students with an opportunity to practise using gross motor skills and build co-ordination via basic skill activities and games.

On Friday we have Sports Day which the children are very excited about. Children are welcome to dress in their house colours or wear correct sports uniform. There will also be our Colour Run on the day.

Just a Few Friendly Reminders:

• As the weather is warming up please ensure that children bring hats to school.
• Reading folders and brought daily and will be sent home with library books and Learning Journals. Please ensure all of these contents are brought in as the children will work in their Learning Journals.
• Please ensure all your child’s belongings are labelled with their name.
• We hope you all have a wonderful and safe break over the holidays and look forward to seeing you all in term 4

( Monday the 16th of October).

Mrs. A, Ms. Yeend & Mrs. McGlone 🙂