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Dear parents and carers,
This week has been another week full of learning in our classrooms.
This week we have been continuing to work on our ABC. We have been talking with the children about the importance of aspiring to be our best. We all know that at times it can be difficult to make right choices when our friends may not. However, making those difficult choices can prove to ourselves that we are able and willing to do what is right. These conversations will continue over the coming weeks.
We have also been talking about our understanding that whilst we have rights, this also means that we have a responsibility to ensure that we do not take those same rights away from others. Again, this is a challenging topic to have a clear understanding of, however, it has provided for some excellent conversations.
While in the 5/6 room it was noticeable that the amount of maths needed to determine the amount of carpet needed to carpet the hallway can be quite a lot. The additional challenge lay in being able to cut the carpet according to the shape of the hallway with no wastage.
Ask your children about this challenge; it is producing some interesting results.
K/1 have also been busy in preparation for our Publication Celebration next week. There are plenty of new stories to read when you visit next Friday.
2/3/4 have continued looking at how machines can be programed to complete certain tasks. The challenge lies in the accuracy of the programming.
I encourage you to talk with your children about the topics that they have been looking at in class. You never know, they might be able to share with you, a focus or understanding that you have not previously considered in relation to that topic.
Congratulations to our public speaking team – Emma, Genevieve and Hamish. All tree spoke very well at the Western Region public speaking competition will take place at Sacred Heart School in Cootamundra on Monday. Both Genevieve and Hamish have been selected to represent our region at the Archdiocesan Public Speaking finals to be held in Boorowa next Friday (Sept 20).
We have continued watching our ovals’ transformation this week. The new turf is coming along well. We are still in a waiting phase as the turf establishes itself. We are hopeful that the turf will be ready for the first mowing towards the end of next week. Once that job has been completed then we will be looking to start using the oval for lessons and during the breaks.
PUBLICATION CELEBRATION – please keep our publication celebration in mind for next Friday (September 20). This is an opportunity for you to join us at school at 1:00pm to read some of your child’s published pieces that have been crafted during this year. You are invited to bring some lunch and join us for our lunch on Friday.
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 you should be using the Skoolbag option or providing us with a note, so that our record keeping is accurate.
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.
Please be aware that we have a number of bugs around at present. Given that life is busy both at school and at home, we would like to thank those families who are mindful of people becoming run down during very busy times and taking action as needed.
Thank you, also to those families who are monitoring to ensure that illness is real as opposed to “maths is a bit hard… and I don’t feel like it today.”
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
Yesterday we celebrated our last school mass with Father Tom. Very shortly, he will take up his new position as the parish priest of Charnwood parish in Canberra. He says he has enjoyed his years here but he is happy that he will be doing a lot less travelling each week in his new parish.
Yesterday he thanked the K/1 class for the work that they did to prepare the readings and prayers and he paid us an impromptu visit after mass to say thank you. Besides using words, Father Tom always draws something for us. One of yesterday’s drawings was a Kenworth truck, which delighted many of the students.
Father Tom will be missed by all the students for his cheery smile, his sense of humour, his ability to deliver a homily that they can understand, and of course, for his artistic ability and the fact that he shared this gift with us on many occasions. We wish him well in his new parish.
Here is a prayer that was prayed by one of the K/1 students at yesterday’s school mass.
Dear God,
Thank you for the time that we have shared with Father Tom. We ask you to bless him as he moves on to his new parish in Canberra. Lord, hear us.
Lord, hear our prayer.
Special Event - Visit from our local Ambulance Service
Today we hosted Andrew and Beau from the Grenfell Ambulance Service. This was a terrific opportunity to learn some more about what we can do if there is an accident or we find ourselves needing medical help.
We would like to extend a special thanks to Andrew and Beau for coming to speak with us and show us through the ambulance.
The Year 5/6 students have been very busy and enjoying a variety of activities and events of late. This has included the Book Week Character Parade, Life Education Van visit, SRC Crazy Hair Day, P & F Father’s Day breakfast and Grenfell Show! The work the students entered into the art and handwriting competitions for the Grenfell Show looked fantastic on display. Well done to those students who received awards for their efforts! We were well represented by our students at the Archdiocesan Athletics Carnival in Canberra. Congratulations must also go to the students who participated in the Interschool and Western Region Public Speaking contests. You all did a great job!
This term, the students are continuing to relish their study of the Japanese language and culture. More recently, the students have been learning about how the ways people use language reflect where and how they live and what is important to them. In doing so, they had the opportunity to meet Japanese assistant Miharu Sensei, who showed the students pictures from her life in Japan. The students used this time to ask Miharu questions about these. They also had the opportunity to introduce themselves to Miharu and tell her about the things they like using the Japanese language. For example, a person may say ‘Watashi wa Ken desu’ (I am Ken) and ‘Inu ga suki desu’ (I like dogs).
In Human Society and Its Environment (HSIE) this term, the students have been focusing on Geography. In doing so, the students have identified Australian everyday global connections and marked these on a map. They discussed terms related to trade such as ‘imports’ and ‘exports’. The students were asked to identify the origins of different products in various categories. They made generalisations about Australia’s imports based on their findings. The students were given different brands of the same food type. They investigated the origins and compared them. They discussed the benefits of buying Australian made. The students will now research and present information about a specific Australian export. They will also identify successful Australian companies. In conclusion, the students will reflect on how their lives would differ if Australia was not globally connected by trade.
This term, in Personal Development and Health (PDH), the students have been participating in activities designed to develop their ability to act in ways that will keep themselves and others safe. The students were given the opportunity to analyse various situations and investigate ways of acting in these situations to deal with emergencies. We were fortunate to have Andrew Noble, our local paramedic, visit us at school, to provide the students with the opportunity to learn more about First Aid, and teach us how to perform CPR. More theory based sessions will involve the students identifying and analysing hazardous situations, and devising ways to protect themselves and others.
In Physical Education (PE) this term, the students have been focusing on the skills used in rugby league. Each session thus far has focused on a skill used in the game, such as passing and catching, playing the ball, being acting half, and evading skills. The students also participated in a number of games which involved applying these skills. Following on from this, the students will develop their understanding of the skills involved in the game of netball. They will focus on various types of passes used in netball, such as shoulder, chest, bounce and lob pass. They will also focus on goal shooting, defending, attacking, stepping, as well as pivoting. The aim is to apply these skills in various games.
On Thursday the 19th of September, our highly anticipated SRC Movie Night will be held. We look forward to seeing everyone there! On Friday the 20th of September, the Public Speaking Finals will be held at Boorowa. Best wishes to those students attending this. We hope you gain a lot from the experience! To wrap up the term, our final Mufti Day will be held on Friday the 27th of September. We hope you have appreciated our updates! We look forward to continuing to keep you up-to-date!
Please see below for some photographs taken in the Year 5/6 classroom during our school open day.
All classes have been challenged with a variety of mathematical experiences. Year 5/6 have designed a garden bed with a border. The design increased each time using tiles and patterns were recorded and graphed. Students discovered the formula to work out leager designs.
We also used an activity called Granny’s Rug. The rug had to be constructed first as a 1 square metre rug and then redesigned to fit a hallway, students created the size of the hallway and used different shapes and recalculate the area.
Designing different hallway configurations.
Year2/3/4 were introduced to some different warm up activities this week. We played Addo, Salute and Strike It Out. Engaging activities to brush up on quick addition facts. We also continued with our volume and capacity investigations. Students used estimation to discover how many cubes fit into a variety of containers. We also used large cubes to check how many cubes were in a variety of configurations.