Class News

Kindergarten News
The Kindergarten children are continuing to develop positive relationships with their teachers and peers. Each day they are learning to use independence and social skills in their interactions with others. This was evident in the preparation of our Mother’s Day Picnic Afternoon Tea. The children enjoyed themselves and shared the time with their Mums. The mothers and children had a beautiful afternoon.

This term we have been learning about how God created the world and the universe. We have read The Creation Story from the Bible, viewed it on the interactive board and talked about how amazing God is to create this world and everything in it. The children were asked to identify their favourite part of the Creation story and make a prayer of thanks to God. From class discussions about the Creation Story we identified areas that we wanted to explore more deeply. These areas included; the solar system, Australian animals, farm animals and sea creatures. We have developed inquiry questions to explore what we would like to learn about within these themes. The inquiry questions are; Why did God create the world for us? – What do we need to live in our world? – What is in our sky? – What is in the sky that we cannot see? – Why did God create people and animals?

In the area of English the children are continuing to have-a-go at writing for different purposes. For example, labelling their drawings and paintings, recounting events and writing letters to their friends. Any attempt to write is praised and cherished, as we want the children to feel relaxed and confident in their efforts to write.

In Mathematics, we have been focusing on counting and number recognition to ten. We have continued to develop and find shapes in the environment to explore and copy simple patterns. We have been using technology such as the iPads to take photos of each other and our work.

During the term we have used and explored several different apps to consolidate learning in English, Mathematics and fine motor development. We look forward to exploring sea creatures in the coming weeks to complete the Creation Story.

It has been an amazing term full of fun and excitement.

Pre-Primary News
The Pre-Primary students have had a very productive term filled with many new and exciting learning experiences.

This term, we attended assemblies in the school hall for the very first time, where we had the opportunity to watch different classes perform an item. Some of the Pre-Primary students received a merit certificate, for all the effort they put into their learning. Another first was walking to Church to participate in our school Masses.

Earlier in the term we celebrated Mother’s Day and shared stories about all the wonderful qualities that they have and how much we love them. We put a great deal of effort into the card and the beautiful heart necklace that we made for our precious Mums.

We have started our final Religious Education unit for the term, which is “Celebrate!” We discussed how people gather to celebrate special occasions, such as birthdays and weddings. We will also learn how the Eucharist is a way of remembering the special meal Jesus celebrated with his friends. At the end of this unit, we hope to have our own special celebration with our friends at school.

As part of Geography, we explored special places that are of significance to us and others and why they are important. These special places may be familiar to the children and included parks, schools and churches that are part of our local community. We discussed ways we can look after these special places and made posters to remind our community of how to do this.

We focused on our mapping skills and devised pictorial maps of the path taken to arrive at destinations in our local communities.

The Pre-Primary children were very upset to hear that our class bear named Monty, decided to run away to have his own adventures at Infant Jesus School. Luckily there were sightings of Monty around our school by some of the teachers. We retraced Monty Bears path around the school and came to the conclusion that Monty was somewhere in the Early Childhood area. The Pre-Primary children mapped the route taken by Monty Bear then designed and created a bear trap. Monty Bear was finally caught by a well designed bear trap that was cleverly camouflaged.

Last Friday we welcomed our amazing grandparents to school. They took part in the beautiful liturgy in the school hall and then participated in some of the different activities organised by their grandchild’s class. The children were so very excited to be able to spend the morning with their grandparents and were disappointed when it was time for them to go.

Last Monday, the Pre-Primary children went to Cuddly Farm in Henley Brook. They couldn’t wait to travel on a bus to get there. When we arrived, we quickly ate our yummy morning tea, so that we would have lots of time to see all the animals. We loved cuddling the rabbits and guinea pigs, but they were a little tricky to catch. Bottle feeding the cute little lambs was great fun and we were amazed at how large the bull was. We especially enjoyed the endless rides on the Merry-Go-Round and the Tractor. What a fantastic day!

Year One Class News
In Religious Education, the Year Ones have been focusing on our wonderful world and how they can enjoy God’s creation in their daily lives. They have explored making choices and discovered how, like Jesus, they can make choices that show love for themselves and others. To conclude the term, the children will explore the concept of growing and changing. During this unit, the children explore the furnishings and vessels people see during a Eucharistic celebration.

During English, the children have continued to develop their reading, writing and spelling skills. Throughout the term, the Year One students have developed their reading skills of comprehension, accuracy, fluency and vocabulary. They have explored what makes a good reader by focussing on reading and comprehension strategies including decoding unknown words, inferring the feelings and motives of the characters and making predictions from looking at the cover, the illustrations and the text of a book. The Year Ones have been creating a variety of imaginative and informative texts including weekend recounts and retells of our favourite stories. The children have continued to explore the patterns in words and have learnt new sounds to assist them with their spelling.

In Mathematics, the children have enjoyed exploring numbers to one hundred. They have become experts at representing numbers in a variety of ways including ten frames, number lines, place value, tally marks and numbers before and after. Students have learnt to solve simple addition and subtraction questions by counting on and counting back using number lines and ten frames. To conclude the term, the children will explore the features of two-dimensional shapes.

In Humanities and Social Sciences, the children have been exploring the question – ‘I wonder what makes a place special?’ They have learnt how to identify the natural, managed and constructed features in our local area. The children have located the key features in the local community and learnt how to care for these features. We have also learnt about Nyoongar Culture and Wadjuk history. The children have participated in many learning experiences that explored language, art and the Indigenous people’s spiritual connection to the land. This term we had an incursion with Indigenous Tours WA. Greg Nannup, the tour guide, brought many interesting artifacts for the children to explore and discuss.                                         

In Health with Mrs Limerick the children have been developing strategies to use when help is needed such as listing people they can trust, recognising safety houses and learning how to call the Kids Helpline. They have developed the ability to identify situations that require the help of emergency services and have begun to rehearse strategies they can use when they require assistance. The children have been exploring their feelings and emotions and those of their peers. They have learned strategies to deal with these in a variety of situations and identified how others may be feeling by observing their body language and facial expressions.

This term in Science with Mrs Limerick the children have been studying Earth and Space Sciences and the observable changes that occur in the sky and landscape.  They have been recording short and longer patterns of events that occur on earth and in the sky, such as the sun appearing during the day, the appearance of the moon and stars at night, the weather and the seasons. The children also discussed how the weather and seasons affect every aspect of their lives on a daily basis. Finally, the they  observed and identified both man-made and natural  landscapes.

This Term in Music, Miss Condipodero has continued to work with the students on developing their intonation, pitch and melodic recognition through singing and learning a wide variety of songs, using solfa and solfa hand signs and identifying simple solfa intervals within known repertoire. The students have listened and responded to music through movement and play and have begun to share their music ideas. They have continued to establish their understanding of beat and rhythm through the a variety of Kodàly based rhythm activities, rhythmic dictations, improvisation and songs. The students have also been developing their knowledge of some of the other elements of music including, tempo, dynamics, form and timbre.

We have had a fantastic term of learning in Year One and we are eagerly awaiting to learn more.

Year Five Fremantle Excursion
By Lucia Cugola

On Tuesday 11 June 2019, Year 5B and Year 5W went to Fremantle Prison in Fremantle. The day started when we hopped on the bus and were on our way to Fremantle Prison. The bus ride took ages and we couldn’t wait any longer, as we were excited to arrive. As soon as we got there, we went and ate recess in the freezing cold. We were all very hungry after the bus ride because it took a while!

When we finished, we were split into two groups. The tour guide of the group that I was in was named Sarah. First, she showed us a ghost in the glass called Martha Rendell. Martha Rendell was the first and only women to be hung at Fremantle Prison, as she was a murderer. I thought that it wasn’t real and that it was just a coincidence that it looked like Martha Rendell. Then, we saw a timeline of all of the different prison cells. At the start (I think from 1859-1870) they had hammocks for beds and buckets for toilets. The prison cells developed after time and in the 1880s and 1890s they had real beds and toilets.

After that, we went to where they exercised. I learned that they exercised for eight hours of the day! Then, we went to the flogging post. It is when convicts get whipped with a cat O’nine tails. They got whipped one hundred times before the doctors said to stop and salt was put in the cuts to heal.

Next, we went where the really bad convicts went, called the ‘chokey’. It was a dark room that was pitch black and only had a mattress on the floor with cockroaches and rats in it. The light was turned off for 23 hours of the day! Imagine that happening to you! It wouldn’t be nice would it? After the ‘chokey’, we went into a room where we acted out what happened to a convict called Moondyne Joe, who always found a way to escape the prison. After that, we went to a Catholic Church where convicts prayed.

Lastly, we hopped back on the bus and went back to school. Fremantle Prison was so much fun and I’d love to visit there again. We learned so much and I hope I will return soon!

The Winner of the Year Four Grandparents Day Poster Competition 

Sport News

Faction Cross Country Carnival
As you are aware our Faction Cross Country Carnival is on Friday, 28 June (Week 9). The children are starting to get excited and are working hard on their fitness during Physical Education and Cross-Country training.                                                                                           

Cross Country Carnival Details:
Venue:                        Lightning Park
Date:                           Friday 28 June 2019

On the day, a bus will shuttle each year level to and from Lightning Park. The timetable for the day is below; however, please note that these times are a guide and we may be running ahead or behind time. The children need to bring their hat and drink bottle with them on the bus and a jacket if they need it. The children are allowed to wear their coloured faction shirt to school. If they are unable to find a shirt then we will provide coloured bibs. Our Year Six Wellness Ministry will be providing support throughout the day.

Parents are welcome to attend and cheer on their children. There is plenty of parking and I ask that parents use the steps/pavilion for watching the children race and avoid going near the track.

We still require parent help, if any parents are able to assist on the day please email me or leave a message at the office.

Please note the presentation ceremony will occur back at school at 2:30pm in the school hall, immediately after the the carnival. The winning Faction will be announced and First, Second and Third place and Girls and Boys in each year level will be presented with medals.

Year Six Winter Lightning Carnival
This carnival will be held on Friday 21 June 2019, netball at Noranda Netball  Courts and Soccer at Yokine Reserve.  We wish all our Year Six students the very best of luck!

Venue:                  Noranda Netball Courts (netball), Yokine Reserve (soccer)
Date:                   Friday 21 June 2019
Year Levels:         Year Six students
Departure Time: 9:15am
Return Time:      2:45pm

Mrs Jenkins
Physical Education Teacher

Children’s Day Celebration
On the 1 July (Monday of Week 10) our school will be celebrating ‘Children’s Day’ in honour of our sister school, Chiang Jiang Experimental School Sports Park Campus in China.

The Chinese government established Children’s Day as a half day off school in 1949. They later extended it to a full day off school in 1956. It’s a day celebrating the joys of being a child, encouraging the recognition of children’s rights, along with their health and happiness.

China puts children at the centre of its world on Children’s Day. Schools hold performances, have camping trips and show movies. Public attractions offer free admission to parents and children or parents may cook a child’s favourite meal for dinner.

Children’s Day isn’t celebrated as widely in any other place. In China, Children’s Day is celebrated on the first of June, but other dates can be used. The easiest way to celebrate Children’s Day is to simply celebrate children.

At our school, there will be a special Monday morning assembly to begin the day where a movie from our sister school will be played. There will be a Chinese lantern display in the Piazza and all students will be allowed to wear red, or an item of red clothing, as it is a celebratory colour in China.