Our Lady of Victories Primary School Shortland eNewsletter

Class News

KINDER

In Kinder we are making progress in getting to know each other. We had great fun moving to some upbeat music, “Move and Freeze”, while interacting with our peers. Our Smart board is very engaging and we use it daily to sing counting and alphabet songs. We learnt the 6 L’s rule for sitting on the floor correctly – Look, Listen, Lips, Lap, Legs, Learn, and found a special spot for everyone to sit on the floor. We have had so much to learn about rules and routines and how to behave in the classroom, Library, Church and hall and how to line up and walk in lines. We are adjusting very well. Kinders are sitting with their class to eat while Year 5/6 have returned to their eating area. We have discussed playing with our class friends in Kinder and allowing our buddies to go and play with their own friends. We can still talk to our buddies and ask their help if needed. If your child cannot yet write their name, please help them to practice at home. We have learnt to write the numerals 1-5 and they may also need practice with these.

YEAR 1

In Religion last week we thought about and discussed the other names used to refer to Jesus....such as 'The Son of God', 'King' and "The Good Shepherd'. We listened to different Bible passages where we heard these names used for ‘Jesus’ and illustrated them beautifully in our Religion books. It has been wonderful to see how well Year 1 have adapted to working independently during reading groups and we have enjoyed listening to everyone read. We have worked on the phonics sounds: 'oo', 'ee' and this week 'll'. Everyone is slowly getting used to writing on lines and making a great effort! Year 1 have focused on using capital letters and full stops in their writing. In Maths, we have been learning a range of addition and subtraction strategies. These include: mental strategies, using pictures, blocks, dice and number lines. We played some games where we add two dice together to find the total and we were learning to count on from the highest number. In Science, we drew upon our knowledge of the five senses. We took our lesson outdoors and sat quietly to listen for sounds and also draw what we could see or feel. Everyone is excited about the return of PE rotations this week and will look forward to learning new skills!

YEAR 2

What a busy time already!

During Mathematics the children have been working with numbers up to 1000. We have learnt a few games using a deck of cards to help us with our friends of ten. This week we are working on addition and subtraction.

In Religion we have read a number of parables and liked at the hidden meaning behind these. We also prepared for our opening school mass. Next Monday we will be leading the Monday morning liturgy so please come along.

In English we have been identifying common nouns, proper nouns and adjectives and trying to use these in our own writing. I have been reading Paul Jennings Funniest Stories to the children which they are really enjoying.

YEAR 3

In Religion over the past two weeks, Yr 3 has been learning about the various groups that existed in Israel in the time of Jesus. Some of the groups Yr 3 has read about are: Pharisees, Sadducees, Levites, Zealots, Essenes, Men and Women. In Maths, the class has extended work for another week on addition and subtraction. This week Yr 3 has revised the ‘friends of 10’ and looked at the connection between addition and subtraction. Students have also focused on learning the multiplication tables – x2, x5, x10. In English, Yr 3 is reading the novel ‘The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane’ by Kate Di Camillo. After reading some chapters, the students complete activities relating to information they have read. In Science, Yr 3 join with Yr 4 every Friday to learn about ‘energy sources’. Over the last 2 lessons, the students have learnt about ‘heat’ and ‘light’ as sources of energy. Some great group work and discussions have made learning very successful. In Art, Year 3 has looked at various artworks of mythical creatures, particularly by Chinese artists, and have discussed the detail that is evident in each work. The students have also created their own image of a dragon, focusing on detail and colour.

YEAR 4

We have had a wonderful start to 2020! We have settled in well to Year 4 and are all working well on tasks and activities and trying our best. In Religion, we are studying a unit on Jesus, looking at his role as a teacher and how Jesus taught people through his words and deeds. We are also learning that he taught people about the Kingdom of God through special stories called parables. We have each written a comic strip about a parable, using our own words and illustrations. In English, we are learning a lot about the Dreamtime and how it is such an important part of Indigenous culture. We have worked in groups to write a Dreamtime type story about an echidna, explaining how it developed a particular feature, e.g. “How the Echidna Got its Spikes”. We are enjoying our Spelling activities, particularly our group tasks. In Maths, we’ve had fun working with 5-digit numbers, including ordering, sequencing and reading the numbers. We went on to add and subtract numbers up to 5-digits. This week we are working on length using centimetres and millimetres. We have played and enjoyed lots of games in our Maths sessions. In Science, we have started our unit called, Energy Makes Things Happen. We learnt about heat energy in Week 2 and light energy last week and in groups we discussed our understanding of these forms of energy. After viewing videos about various aspects of each form of energy, we performed experiments to test some of our theories and knowledge. We are working with Year 3 for Science each week and we are enjoying the group work and activities very much. For Physical Education, we are once again joining with Year 3. Our unit is titled, Movement Exploration, and we are practising Fundamental Movement Skills in a variety of activities and games.

Mrs Carroll is very impressed with our start to the year!

YEAR 5/6

What a wonderful celebration it was on Friday of last week when our leaders for 2020 were inducted at our Opening School Mass. I was, and am, very proud of the way they have thrown themselves into the role with enthusiasm and pride. They are certainly setting the benchmark for all future leadership groups at OLV.

I am also incredibly impressed with the way that Year 6 have led the school in assemblies, both in the hall and in the COLA. Whilst a new experience, and nerves are attached to this, they have done themselves proud. Every Year 6 student will have the opportunity to do this on numerous occasions throughout the year.

The first out-of-school leadership opportunity will come in the form of the a Mass for the Diocesan launch of Caritas and Catholic Schools Week at the Cathedral next week. More information to those who have expressed an interest in attending and representing OLV will go home later in the week.

We welcome Xanthie Atkinson who has blended beautifully into our group.

As the Compass message informed you, our parent session set down for last week, was cancelled. If you would like to make a time to see either Kate, myself, or both, please do not hesitate to send me an email or call the office to make mutually convenient arrangements.

In Religion, we have been investigating the terms ‘mission’, ‘Kingdom’ and Good News’ and have listened to what the Bible tells us about these.

In English we have been looking at the Declaration of Human Rights and from this we wrote a recipe for a ‘perfect’ world. We have since discussed the close bond we have with our families as this is the basis of the novel we are about to delve into. We have looked at the various covers of the novel and from these written predictions for the story.

In Maths, we have been reading, representing, writing and working with very large numbers. Place value is in integral part of mathematics. Without a sound understanding this can increase the difficulty of all maths. We have also looked at factors and multiples, which is also crucial. We are now working on strategies to assist with multiplication problems. By this stage in their learning, students should have a sound knowledge and rapid recall of the multiplication facts, but of course, this is not true for all students. If your child needs to learn their tables, please help them out with this. Choose a fact a day, or even a week, and ask them often – eventually it will stick! https://www.multiplication.com/games/all-games is a site on which they can practice their tables.

LEARNING SUPPORT

Accessing Lexia Core 5 at home

Many children at school are accessing the Lexia Core 5 reading program. It helps build reading and spelling skills as well as extend vocabulary and comprehension skills.

If you would like to use the program at home you can download it for FREE

There have been some recent updates to the Lexia reading program.

You do not need to download the program anymore on your computer but can use the link below

(just keep it in your Favourites)

https://www.lexiacore5.com/?SiteID=8838-3471-4343-3239

This is the best way as you will always be using the most recent updated version

You should use Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Microsoft Edge

If you do download just go tohttps://www.lexialearning.com/core5-downloads and download the UK version

If you are using an iPad then you need to remove any old version of Lexia and download the latest version and register the device using email address lady@victories.com.au

You can download the app from here:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lexia-core5-uk/id829281050?mt=8

If you have any difficulties, please contact me at school on a Tuesday or Friday.

Mrs McCallum