Dear Parents and Carers,

We are now moving towards the last week of a very busy term.  It has been another busy time during Week 10.

Last week we enjoyed the QUESTACON science visit – it was a great opportunity to think about science in a different manner – although I don’t believe that we’ll be able to repeat the hovercraft activity… it was amazing!

We also travelled to the preschool for the Taronga Zoo-mobile visit, seeing and touching some of Australia’s native animals and listening to interesting stories was terrific.

During this week we have had opportunity to speak with parents during the parent teacher conferences.  This has been valuable means of connecting with parents and sharing with them the successes and challenges of Term 1.  As we all know, mastering new skills is not always easy and it is good to be able to celebrate with Mums and Dads.

This week our Yr. 3 and Yr. 5 students completed an online practice test for NAPLAN, the purpose of which included familiarisation with the online environment and double checking to ensure that our network is ready and capable.

It was interesting to learn that the children are able to complete the requirements, however, being online meant that each time students logged in and out this was recorded – meaning that we have an accurate picture of how they worked through the test.

The network assessment also proved very successful.

NAPLAN is set down for May 14-16.

Festival of Small Halls – this is shaping up to be a terrific family night for the community and it is very exciting to hear that we have Axl and Jesse from THLHS as the opening act for the night.

Remember to go online and purchase your tickets if you have not already done so.  Thank you to those families who have already indicated where and how they can help with the preparations.

Camp - We are still working on embedding the camp take away message - less haste more thought. 

Thank you to those children who are really making an effort to focus on the task at hand and not get caught up wanting to rush on to the next activity.

Well done to those who are also taking time to reflect on how they are approaching the many events during our school days – those words such as “please” and “thank you” are really useful and make everything flow more smoothly.

It is noticeable that as we move towards the last week of this term, that some of the children are very tired – sometimes an early night can be the best medicine for us all.

School Cross Country - our school cross country will be held this morning at the Grenfell Country Club – you are most welcome to join us for this event.  We look forward to seeing you there!

This year, the Western Region Cross Country Carnival will be held in Murrumburrah on Friday May 3 (Friday of the first week of term 2).

School fees - Thank you to those families who have finalised accounts for this term, your support with this is greatly appreciated.

Changes to routine - Thank you to those families who are keeping us informed when children are absent from school, or there are changes to the regular routine.  Please be aware that we are required to keep the rolls up to date and that thorough explanations for absences enable us to do so. 

Professional Learning for Staff - Term two will commence on Tuesday April 30 for all children. The whole school staff professional learning day will take place on Monday April 29. 

This term staff have also been preparing for our Registration Review Process.  This review process takes place every five years and allows us to review processes and procedures to ensure that we are compliant with current regulations and practices.  The review team comprising staff from our head office and principals/assistant principals/RECs will be visiting us in May (20-22).  We are looking forward to working with the team during their visit.

Thursday April 25 – ANZAC Day – this year, Anzac Day falls during the school holiday period.  Those families who are able to join us for the annual ANZAC March are requested to meet at the Chinese restaurant at 10:30am.  The children should wear their winter uniform, if it is hot, we will not wear jumpers during the march.  I understand that the march will commence at 10:45am so that everyone can be in place at the cenotaph for the beginning of the service at 11:00am.  We have also been invited to participate in the Dawn Service.  For those interested, the service begins at 5:30am on Anzac Day.

This week we’ve had a number of books returned which is terrific to see.  In terms of overdue books, our best result for this week, was an item that had been on loan for 1374 days.Library – It’s time to start looking around at home to find and return any extra library books that might be hiding around your home.  Check in those out of the way places such as under the bed, behind the couch, on the kitchen bench, school library books often turn up in some very unusual places… 

Please be reminded that all children borrow from our school library, and ALL children should be using a library bag.

2/3/4 visit the Library on Monday

5/6 visit the Library on Tuesday

K/1 visit the Library on Wednesday

Our school calendar is updated every week and can be accessed through our school website at: www.stjosephsgrenfell.nsw.edu.au Please let us know if you are not receiving the Schoolzine updates once you have installed the SZapp.

Additional dates include the regular P & F meetings that are traditionally held on the third Tuesday of the month during term time.

21/05/19          18/06/19          16/07/19?

20/08/19          17/09/19          15/10/19?

19/11/19          17/12/19

Holy Week Services

Palm Sunday 14/04 - 9am

Good Friday – 19/04 - Passion/Veneration - 3.00pm

Easter Sunday – 21/04 - 9.00am

Sincerely,

Therese Clancy

REC News

A reflection from Pope Francis as we get closer to Holy Week…

Do You Want to Fast this Lent?

Fast from hurting words and say kind words.

Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude.

Fast from anger and be filled with patience.

Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope.

Fast from worries and trust in God.

Fast from complaints and contemplate simplicity.

Fast from pressures and be prayerful.

Fast from bitterness and fill your heart with joy.

Fast from selfishness and be compassionate to others.

Fast from grudges and be reconciled.

Fast from words and be silent and listen.

Many blessings,

Leslie King

Classroom News – Year K/1

The students in K/1 have been involved in all kinds of interesting learning experiences in the last three weeks.

In Mathematics, the students are developing their understanding of numbers, patterns and data. They find it interesting when equipment and objects are used for different types of tasks. For instance, the geometric shapes have been used to create patterns and collect data as well as being able to help the students to develop their understanding of 2D shapes and their properties. It is really important for students to make connections with their learning.

In English, the students have continued to develop their knowledge of sounds for reading and writing. They are working hard on blending sounds in order to read phonetically-based texts.

Next term they will start to take home and learn sight words as well, so that the range of texts they will be able to read and write will become greater. Their collection of published texts is becoming larger and they are looking forward to sharing their work with the Preschool children next week.

In Geography, the students have continued to study places. They worked in pairs to create towns and then presented their ‘towns’ to the class, naming all of the things that they thought should be in a town.

The Questacon Science visit and the activities they presented were well-received by all of the students in the school. One of the Kinder students summed it up beautifully when he said, “That was so cool!”

The Taronga Zoo mobile visit was another enjoyable experience. The K/1 students were fascinated with how the animals felt and they enjoyed the singing as well.

In Religion, the students have been learning about Lent. They all contributed to a Lenten cross of ‘ways we can be try to be better people’ during Lent.

In Visual Art, Mr Briggs freely gave of his time to come and teach the K/1 students how to make pinch pots using clay. The students really enjoyed this experience and hope to have more art experiences with Mr Briggs later in the year. 

NUMERACY

Mathematics lessons in year 5/6 have focussed on Statistics and Probability. Students were given 20 coloured counters and they recorded the fraction, decimal and percentage value of each counter as well as the coloured collection. This was recorded on a 0 to 1 number line. Students also recorded the probability of choosing a counter from the collection and named using chance language, such as highly likely, 50/50, not likely. Then this data was graphed using a column graph. Students are quickly learning to closely check data results before giving a value to the Y axis to fit all the data into the graph.

Year 2/3/4 have also been collecting data and graphing results. They are learning about the non-negotiable features of a graph, such as title, X and Y axis and labelling the axis so the information is clear to the reader.

Kindergarten and year 1 students have finished their unit on Patterns. They quickly learned that a pattern is a repeated set of items ranging from using counters, pattern shapes and playing cards.

It is pleasing to see students beginning to make connections between 2 D shapes and how we can use the same resource in pattern making.