Newsletter Term 4 Week 5
Principals Report
Well, wasn't that a drop of rain yesterday! 45mm at my house. Poor Mr Whatnall almost didnt get home last night. Let's hope there isn't too much more over the next week. I think the farmers are hoping it will stop now... until after harvest, but our gardens are grateful!
I hope you had a lovely break over the Melbourne Cup weekend, and I hope you all picked a winner. I picked the trifecta so I might have to go on a shopping spree.
Just a reminder, sports day is now on Friday until further notice. No sports clothes on Wednesday any more.
As Victoria begins to open up, there will be some changes to school restrictions. I am waiting for the most recent School Operations Guide to come out. It looks like parents will be allowed back onsite but must be fully vaccinated if they are to have any contact with the children. We will be able to have assembly again on Monday mornings and Orientation days will be able to go ahead. I will share more details as they come in.
Graduation Mass will take place on Tuesday 14th December at 6:00p.m. I have asked the Grade 6 students to bring in approximately 10 photos each ASAP so I can get started on the PowerPoint. They can also start thinking about their speeches as well.
Orientation Days will start next Friday. The foundation students of 2022 will come to school on Friday 12th November from 9:00a.m. to 11:30a.m., Friday 19th November from 11:00a.m. to 1:30p.m. and Friday 26th November from 9:00a.m. to 1:30p.m. They will need to bring a hat, a drinker and morning tea on these days and they will need lunch week 2 and 3.
We have been lucky enough to source a swimming teacher for 2022. As Jess is having a baby, she won't be available next year but we will have the staff from Sloan Swim School in Bendigo come up the highway for the 8 day program. We look forward to working with Ash and his team.
Have a great week
Important Information
Reconciliation Program
The reconciliation Program will be held on Thursday 9th December. Mrs Bernadette Zagame will facilitate the program from 10:00a.m. to 3:00p.m. for Yr 5, 6, and 7 students who are eligible. They will then receive the sacrament at 6:00p.m. that evening in the Church with Fr Gerry. Bernadette will contact you with details.
Graduation Mass
Graduation Mass will be held on Tuesday 14th December at 6:00p.m. Followed by a BBQ tea and celebration in the quadrangle. At this stage it would be a requirement that all of those in attendance would need to be double vaccinated although these rules are changing all the time so we will keep you updated.
End of Year
The children will finish school on Wednesday 15th December. This will be followed by a staff planning day on Thursday 16th and Friday 17th.
Sports Uniform
We will now be having sport on a Friday afternoon so can everyone please wear sports uniform on Friday each week (no longer Wednesday). Please remember sports uniform is yellow shirts (or Grade 6 shirts) and sports shorts. Sports shorts are available from the office in all sizes for $10 each.
Transition Days
Transition Days for the 2022 foundation students are Friday 12th November, Friday 19th November and Friday 26th November. The students have received their invitations. The grade 2 students will move up into the senior room for these sessions.
Foundation, 1, 2 Class News
In Prep/1/2 this last week, the students have been busy working away on an array of learning experiences. We've continued working on our 'Information Reports' where the students have now described their animal's features, they've explored the dynamics of their animal (what it can do) and have now been exploring the habitat/environment of the animal. The students have really enjoyed researching their animal, taking notes and then using their 'dot point notes' to construct excellent informative sentences about their topic. In addition to the written components of this information report, the students have been given the opportunity to create a diorama of their animal's habitat. This has been a very popular activity and it's been great to see the students putting what they've learnt into place as they've begun creating the aspects of their animal's habitat. Pictured is Ruby who is working on an Arctic environment for her Polar Bear, Toby who is working on a Savannah environment for his speedy Cheetah and Patrick who is working on a Forest environment for the Moose.
Also, we've explored the origins of the annual celebration of Halloween. The students learnt that Halloween is also known traditionally as 'All Hallows Eve' which was originally started to recognise and remember the wonderful work of the Saints who have passed on before us. We spent some time talking about the Saints that the students were familiar with and offered up some prayers to honour them. Also to commemorate the event and finish the day in a fun way, the students combined with the senior group to participate in a range of spooktacular, Halloween game based activities including: a ghoulish scavenger hunt, the witches hats hula hoop roll, pumpkin bowling, design a jack 'o' lantern and a mummy wrapping relay race. The afternoon was lots of fun and it was great to see the senior students supporting and encouraging their younger peers as they worked alongside one another.
My New Gallery
Grade 3,4,5,6 Class News
Literacy: Students are continuing with our bushranger theme in their shared reading this week, reading about bushranger John Gilbert. They are consolidating their reading skills of accuracy, fluency, monitoring and self correction, with a comprehension focus on summarising important information within the text. Writing continues to be a focus on the bushrangers theme, with an emphasis on improving handwriting skills, use of appropriate spelling strategies and descriptive language in students’ writing.
Maths: Students have been working on individual goals in Maths to strengthen their understanding of different concepts, such as division, time and problem solving. Students are continuing to work on recalling their multiplication tables with increasing speed and accuracy and applying them to other areas in Maths.
Religion: Students are looking at the concept of perseverance. What is perseverance? How does it look? When do we use it? Why is it important in our spiritual and everyday lives?
My New Gallery
Humour
An Irishman finds a Genie lamp and rubs it. Out comes the Genie and says, “Master you have released me from the lamp and I grant you three wishes – what would you like?”
The Irishman scratches his head, then answers, “A bottle of Guinness that never gets empty.”
“Granted, master” replies the Genie and produces the bottle.
The man is delighted and gets drunk on this one magic Guinness bottle for weeks. Finally he remembers that he has two other wishes. He rubs the lamp again and the Genie appears.
“Yes master, you have two more wishes, what would you like?”
“You know that magic, never ending Guinness bottle?” he asks the Genie. “Well, for my final two wishes, I’d like another two of them…”
Mass Times
