Dear parents and carers,

This week has seen a wide range of activities taking place here at school. After an exceptionally cold weekend, it is nice to see the weather becoming a little warmer, and we trust that more rain is on the way in the next few days.

Thank you to Mr and Mrs Nealon for your efforts to bring our chicken coop to life. We now have some speckled chooks who are happily taking care of our lunch scraps each day.

Writing Project – last Friday Miss Schneider and I participated in the first session of the Writing Project led by Colleen Caddey-Murphy from CE. We completed a variety of writing activities across the day and these will be incorporated into the Yr. 5/6 routines over the coming weeks.

Yesterday and today, we have been hosting the Western Region Principal’s meeting. There are 13 schools in our region and all are represented in Grenfell this week. We are also hosting a number of staff from our central office in Canberra.

This has been a wonderful opportunity to showcase our school amongst our peers and it is exciting to note that the children, staff and myself have fielded a number of questions about the different activities available at break times and various activities/routines that are undertaken in the different classes.

The children in K/1 have continued to enjoy using the bikes – and their skills are coming on well! At present, a couple of bikes have flat tyres, if anyone is available to assist with repairs to punctures, your help will be greatly appreciated.

Open Day – our open day is coming tomorrow. We are looking forward to seeing you here at school. Come along and visit your child’s classroom to learn some more about the work that they are doing in their classes.

Feel free to bring some lunch along and stay for lunch with your children, and maybe join in a game or two during playtime.

Enrolments for 2020 – if you have a child beginning school in 2020, please take the time to collect an enrolment form, complete, and return to school. Completing this process early will help us with planning for 2020 and mean that there is one less job for you to worry about as the busy end of year period comes about.

In closing this week, I ask that you keep Alexander and his family in your prayers over the coming days as he recovers from his accident.

Sincerely,

Another busy week has flown past with so much to do and so little time to do it. However, other people and families have been dealing with a myriad of issues that make my week of challenges pale into insignificance. So, for this week, I offer a prayer of courage for whatever challenges you have faced this week and for the challenges that next week will bring.

As we go about our day, O, God

As we face life’s challenges, trials and tribulations

As we strive to walk with Christ

Remind us that we are the face of Christ,

Who is with us always.

In our thoughts, words, decisions and actions

In all that we do

Be with us

May Your grace, mercy and peace,

Bless us, protect us, give us courage

Guide and transform us all,

This day, now and forever.

Amen

Many blessings,

This prayer was retrieved and adapted from https://www.bne.catholic.edu.au/formationandleadership/prayer/Documents/Courage.pdf

Uniform orders – if you would like to order additional clothing for the coming spring term, please fill the attached uniform order and return to school by Friday, 23 August 2019.

Public Speaking – Tuesday will see us host our interschool public speaking competition with St Mary’s School, Young.

The day’s event will begin at 10am.

Book Week – Book week is coming…

The theme for 2019 is

Reading is my secret power…

Now is the time to start thinking about the Book Character parade and what characters we might be seeing on the day. Remember to bring a copy of the book that your character appears in to the parade. 

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 explanation for absences enable us to do so.

Crazy Hair Day for Cystic Fibrosis

After the success of last year, the SRC have registered our school to participate in Crazy Hair Day again this year. Crazy Hair Day is an annual fundraising event to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis Australia. Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is the most common inherited, life threatening condition affecting young Australians. For a child to be born with CF both parents must be genetic carriers for CF. Cystic Fibrosis is life shortening and there is no cure. At St Joseph’s School, Crazy Hair Day will be held on Thursday, the 29^th of August. On the day, all students are encouraged to go as CRAZY with their hair as they can and are requested to donate a gold coin. It is a fun day to be involved in and a great way to raise awareness and funds to assist those living with Cystic Fibrosis. Remember, anything goes on Crazy Hair Day: teased, coloured, gelled or twisted; wigs, punk or just plain messy! For further information related to Cystic Fibrosis, please visit their website: http://www.cysticfibrosis.org.au/

ST JOSEPH’S PRIMARY SCHOOL SRC MOVIE NIGHT

THURSDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER @ 5:30PM

COME AND SEE ‘PADDINGTON 2’

SWEETS AVAILABLE TO BUY DURING THE INTERVAL

The Year 5/6 students have been kept extremely busy with their new learning units this term. What’s more, we have just heard the speeches of all senior students for the upcoming public speaking competition. The selection of two students from each year group was made difficult by the high quality of the speeches. We wish all students chosen to represent our school the best of luck!

In Religious Education, the students are looking at some of the ways in which faith is shared and strengthened in communities of believers, past and present. They will describe the significance of personal and communal prayer and worship for communities of believers including the importance of the Sabbath for members of Jewish communities, as well as of prayer for Catholic communities.

In English, the students are focusing on the book “Way Home” written by Libby Hathorn. The set tasks in all content strands relate to the text. The students will both jointly and independently construct a written narrative, discussion and recount. They will complete tasks to develop their reading skills, and deepen their understanding of the text, by examining events and settings. The students will also engage in speaking and listening tasks to develop their listening skills and knowledge of oral narratives, discussions and expositions. As a class, we are also enjoying reading the book “Wonder” by R.J. Palacio. It portrays a community as it struggles with differences and challenges readers to wonder about the nature of empathy, compassion, acceptance and friendship.

The students are enjoying their study of the Japanese language and culture. So far, the students have learnt about Tanabata. Tanabata, or the Star Festival, is held on the evening of July 7. The festival traces its origins to a legend that the Cowherd Star (Altair) and Weaver Star (Vega), lovers separated by the Milky Way are allowed to meet just once a year - on the seventh day of the seventh month. On this day, children make wishes on strips of paper and hang these on display. They are also learning about words that relate to the ocean, such as nami (wave) and sakana (fish).

In Science, the students will deepen their understanding of the production of different types of foods, and how different products and services are designed to meet the needs of different people. They will be involved in doing research to discover more about the production of a specific type of food from its raw state to the final product. The students will also design a product or service that meets the needs of a specific type of person and describe how it can be produced on a larger scale.

The year is flying by, and shortly it will again be time for the highly anticipated Grenfell Show. The students have been exceptionally busy preparing handwriting and art, which will be judged and placed on display in Simpson Pavilion for all to view. The Grenfell Show is another wonderful community event that provides students with an opportunity to showcase their skills and talents.

Soon, we look forward to welcoming all visitors during our upcoming school open day. The Interschool Public Speaking contest, against students from St Mary’s in Young, will be held at our school on Tuesday the 20th of August. This will be followed by the Archdiocesan Athletics Carnival on Thursday, and our Book Week Parade on Friday. We are also looking forward to a visit from the Life Education Van on Monday the 26th of August. Mufti Day will be held on Friday the 30th of August. Thank you for continuing to take the time to keep up with the latest news from the Year 5/6 class!

Kindergarten and year 1 students are focussing on ordering and reading numbers to 100. One of our activities was to become number detectives. We looked through magazines and newspapers to find ten numbers, then we had to glue them on in order from smallest to largest.

Students in K/1 are looking at making numbers using MAB and a place value chart. Kindergarten made 2 digit numbers and year 1 made 3 digit numbers.

Year 2/3/4 continued with developing decimal understanding. A favourite activity is to use the decimat card sand match them to their decimal numbers.

We are also revising some whole number aspects such as rounding, place value, combining and partitioning.
Year 5/6 have been revising multiplication and division as inverse operations. The focus has been on division with remainders and using multiplication to check answers.