What a week Week 3 was! We continue to live in uncertain and constantly changing times, but I could not be more proud of the OLV community for the way you have all adapted and adjusted to changes in such a calm and supportive manner.

The closure of two of our secondary schools for deep cleaning certainly added to the pressure last week, but thanks to an incredibly supportive staff and community, we made our way through unscathed. Our Director, Gerard Mowbray, reminds us that ‘these closures are a very sharp reminder to us all that COVID is still with us and we need to maintain great diligence in our protocols and activities.’

As you would have read by now, OLV has very clear protocols in place should we ever need to evacuate due to COVID. We hope and pray every day that this will be unnecessary, but we are prepared IF the time comes.

Attached is a resource from the School Counselling Team at the CSO, designed for parents who may need some assistance helping their child during times of certainty. There are actually some great tips for everyone, so please take a moment to read it.

Resource information during Covid

Resource information during Covid 1.00 MB

Week 4 started smoothly, yet incredibly wet! What a deluge we had! Despite that, a calm and productive day was had by all, beginning beautifully with Year 2 leading us in our Liturgy on Mary MacKillop, whose feast day was last Saturday, 8 August. Our liturgies will be placed on Facebook so that our community is able to share in these despite not being present at the time. Next week, 5/6 will lead us.

PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS

Thank you to the parents who participated in these last Friday. They are an important part of your child’s schooling and can provide valuable insights into their learning and progress. Of course, if you were unable to ‘attend’ on Friday, but would like an interview, an email to the class teacher regarding an appointment is still possible.

ATTENDING SCHOOL

Even though these are uncertain times, it is extremely important that students are attending school, unless they are unwell and then, the NSW Health directives should be followed. If this is the case, Compass needs to be utilised for attendance issues, but a phone call or email to the class teacher or to the office would be beneficial. I thank you in advance for your support with this.

A reminder that students should be at school BEFORE our first bell at 8:53am. This is an important time when the whole school gets together for morning assembly and important messages are given out to all students concerning the day’s routine. Another reason for this is that with our new protocols around the gates, they will be locked at this first bell. Entry to school after this will be via the main gate, in Lovell Parade. A reminder that parents/carers are not allowed inside the school gates and communication will need to be via phone or the intercom.

MASKS

We have noticed that more and more students are now wearing masks to school. NSW Health advises that it is not necessary for masks to be worn by those under the age of 12. However, if your preference is for your child to wear one, they must do so and comply with the conditions – that is, it is not to be touched and removed, as this undoes the health benefits of the mask.

Because of this, if students wear masks to school and then ‘play’ with them, they may be asked to put them in their bags. I hope that you understand this, but if you require any clarification, please email me.

SUPPLIES

Could you please look into the pencil case supplies of your child and re-stock when necessary? Glue sticks and lead pencils seem to be the items most in need of re-stocking. We appreciate your assistance with this matter.

News on MR V.

I have heard from Mr V, and he is on the mend. He is up and walking, albeit slowly, on his crutches but is missing OLV. He says hello to everyone.

YEAR 1

In Religion we’ve been learning about the Sacraments of the Church, with a special focus on Baptism. We viewed a short video clip of the special elements involved in a Catholic Baptism and discussed the significance of the white gown, oil, water and baptismal candle

We learnt a new song called ‘Welcome to God’s House’ and we’ve discussed how, through Baptism, we are welcomed into God’s family. 

In English we got started on our ‘Fractured Fairytales’ unit by comparing and contrasting the traditional tale of ‘Cinderella’ to a very different book called ‘Prince Cinders’ by Babette Cole. We’ve conducted a character comparison, where we identified the similarities and differences between the two main characters. We are also looking closely at the setting, characterisation and plot development in both texts, as well as other books over the term. 

For Maths across weeks three and four we are covering addition and subtraction strategies. We have used a variety of techniques to help us solve problems quicker. Some of these include building our knowledge of doubles, and adding numbers that are near doubles. Year 1 have used concrete materials to show how the commutative property works (3+4=7 is the same as 4+3=7). We have relied on our friends of ten knowledge to help us use the bridging to ten strategy as well. This week we have been focusing on counting back to subtract.

In Creative Arts we’ve covered painting and fabric art already. Firstly we painted some ‘Winter Wonderland’ landscapes that look really effective! And just this week we’ve created ‘God’s Eye’ craft by weaving several colours of wool around a wooden cross made from craft sticks - great fine motor development, coordination and lots of fun! 

In Religion over the last few weeks we have looked at sin and the different types of sin. We have discussed the meaning of the words sorry and forgiveness and ways we can show this. Over the next week we will be looking at the Sacrament of Reconciliation and what this means.

Last week Year 2 celebrated Aboriginal Children’s Day where Mrs Johnson did some wonderful art work with the students which are now displayed in the foyer of the school office.

Last week in Mathematics our focus was place value and money. We had to coin different amounts of money. We decided as a group that we all needed to practise counting money at home both notes and coins.

We have started working through our play which we hope to perform at the end of the term. We will need to learn our parts with our having to use our script so please make sure the children are revising their lines regularly.

In Science we have been looking at Hardware, software and peripheral devices related to technology. We have also started to learn how to code our Bee Bots. For the next few weeks we will be looking at different life cycles.

This week Year 2 led the school in our Monday Morning Liturgy able St Mary of the Cross. You can see this on our Facebook page. I am very proud of all of the students in Year 2 for the way they led this liturgy.

Our Religion unit is ‘Eucharist’. One of the most symbolic events during Jesus’ time on Earth was the Last Supper. At this meal, Jesus said to his disciples “Do this in memory of me”. As Catholics, we remember Jesus at the Last Supper every time we share in the Eucharist at Mass. The bread and wine are Jesus’ body and blood that he sacrificed for us when He died on the Cross.

In English, we are reading a selection of books set in Australia. This week we are reading ‘Are we there yet?’ by Alison Lester, about a family who go on a holiday around Australia. We have heard about some interesting places they visited such as Streaky Bay, Murphy’s Haystacks, the Pinnacles, Wave Rock, Rottnest Island and Monkey Mia. In Library with Mrs Spencer, we are researching Uluru and writing an information report and compiling a powerpoint.

In Maths, we have been completing addition and subtraction activities using money amounts. We have counted money amounts, rounded to the nearest 5 cents and worked out the change needed in a transaction. Tricky stuff!

In Geography, we are looking at the natural features of Australia. Last week we looked at the location of some of the major rivers of Australia, and this week we are looking at Australian deserts. We have learnt that the longest river in Australia is the Murray River, that rivers begin high in the mountains, that the place a river starts is called the Headwater and the place where a river ends and meets the ocean is called the Mouth.

In Science, our topic is ‘Earth’s Surface and Its Changes’. Over the past few weeks, we have been learning about erosion, weathering and deposition. We went for a walk around the school playground looking for evidence of erosion to photograph and observe over time. We have learnt the difference between erosion and weathering and have sorted examples of each into the correct group.

Wednesdays’ PE lessons are focusing on developing teamwork. Last week we played a game that was a combination of netball and soccer. With seven on each side, two sides played against each other defending their goal and attempting to pass the ball from one to team member to the next down the field to, hopefully, score a goal.

Over the last few weeks, in Visual Arts we have been making paper plate Australian animals. Some of the techniques we have used to create these animals have been sponge printing, paper chipping, paper tufting and cutting.

In Religion, we are learning about Eucharist. We have studied the four parts of the Mass, the Introductory Rite, the Liturgy of the Word, the Liturgy of the Eucharist and the Concluding Rite, and can outline what each part is about. We have talked about routines and rituals in our lives and how they help us join in and give us a sense of belonging. We had fun acting out Freeze Frames. We also recalled and sequenced the events of the Last Supper on a storyboard.

In English, we are really enjoying our novel for Term 3, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. It is helping us to study the structure of a narrative and the story is very exciting! We have been learning about descriptive language and our focus this week is adverbs. Our writing is becoming much more interesting as we use more descriptive vocabulary.

Our focus in Maths last week was Number Patterns and we are learning about measuring Temperature this week. We had lots of interesting patterns to determine and complete and we had fun solving some very challenging problems. This week, we are using thermometers to measure the temperature in various areas of the school. When we have recorded all the information, we will graph it and determine why temperatures varied in different places. It has been interesting to see how thermometers have different scales and can display increases of 1 degree, 2 degrees and 5 degrees in those we have studied.

We are really enjoying our Geography unit so far. As we lead into the study of climate, vegetation and native animals of Australia and an Asian country, we have been learning about our planet, Earth. It is very interesting and amazing!

In Science, our unit is Earth’s Surface and its Changes. We have learnt about weathering and erosion and how these processes affect the earth. We walked around the school in search of examples of erosion and recorded them in photographs.

In Visual Arts, we are learning about the many elements of art and how artists combine them to express thoughts or communicate a message. We have been using line, hatching and crosshatching to create some amazing pictures.

In Personal Development and Health, we are talking about Child Protection and we designed posters this week, outlining strategies children can use if they are experiencing bullying or abuse. We are having some very worthwhile conversations in our classroom.  

Mrs Carroll is very pleased with our efforts so far this term!

In Religion we have been looking at the definitions for community and identity and how our participation in liturgy is an expression of these. We watched a clip introducing us to the 4 parts of the Mass and, in groups, constructed a poster of our understanding of these.

In English, we continue to get to know our main character a little better and are in the midst of writing a persuasive text about the pros and cons of August going to school, rather than continuing to be home schooled as he has been for the entirety of his school life so far.

In Music students are learning to play the ukulele. The children have began by learning the names of the four strings and how to independently tune their instrument. Over the next few weeks students will learn four notes - C, G, F and Am and some basic strumming patterns. This will allow students to play to a range of songs that we will explore both in the classroom and that they can play at home.

In Science students are exploring the impact environmental factors such as wind, rain and heat has when building an appropriate shelter. They are also looking at the properties and purpose of different materials to see which materials would be most suitable when building their shelters later this term. Starting this week, students will be conducting an investigation in their science teams to explore which material is the best conductor of heat. They will use the results of this experiment later this term when considering heating/cooling in their designs. 

We will lead liturgy on Monday of next week, so stay tuned for the Facebook post.