YEAR 1

In Religion this week we've started our new topic about Lent and Easter. Last week was the beginning of Lent with our Ash Wednesday Mass. The children received ashes on their forehead marked in the shape of a cross. In English we read the story 'Guji Guji' by Chih-Yuan Chen. We enjoyed the book, and it was interesting to note the similarities and differences between it and 'The Ugly Duckling' (which we've also looked at recently). In Maths last week we were learning about Mass. Year 1 hefted objects to find which objects were lighter, heavier or balanced. This week, they have been working on Multiplication and Division outcomes. We have been working in learning centres, group-based learning, doing a variety of hands on activities to develop our skills at skip counting. In Health we have been learning about our qualities on the inside and outside. Our outside qualities are the things we can see, like our appearance; our eye colour, hair colour, skin colour, whether we are tall or short. Our inside qualities are more about our personalities, whether we are shy, outgoing, friendly, brave, kind, creative and many others. In History we listened with great interest to Mrs Spencer share her memories of when she was a student at OLV in ‘the olden days’!! We wrote reflections of what our school was like back then...from stories of the cane, to going to get hot chips for lunch from the shop on Cobby St!

Monday was the beginning of Catholic Schools Week. We had such a great time Monday morning showing parents our books and allowing them to join in with a few of the educational games we have learnt. You can see pictures on our Facebook page.

We will complete our Religion unit Jesus the Teacher this week and start our Lent and Ester Unit. The children have listened to a number of parables during our first unit so please take the time to ask them to retell you a parable and explain the hidden message.

During English last week we wrote extra pages for the book We’re going on a Bear Hunt which I am hoping to scan and upload onto our compass page so you can all read in the next few days.

Last week in Mathematics we were looking at patterns and learnt two new words: ascending and descending and the children needed to use these words to describe each pattern. Please encourage your child to explain these words to you.

During Craft we have been working on some printing techniques. We are working on a turtle print. We used potatoes for the main body and wood for the black dots on the turtles back. Hopefully these pictures will be finished this week and displayed around our room so if you have the time please poke your head in the door and have a look. We have completed so beautiful art work of sharks, fish and penguins.

Religion: as part of the unit we have been working on, we have compared a child’s life in 2020 to a child’s life in the first century. We have also compared family life of today with that in the first century. English: we continue to enjoy reading the book ‘The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane’ by Kate DiCamillo. We are learning new vocabulary, and having opportunities to improve our comprehension skills. Mathematics: we have been learning about patterns and number sequences. This week we are doing some length activities. We have measured common items in centimetres and millimetres. Science: we have learnt about light. We found it travels in straight lines and if it is blocked by an opaque object, a shadow is created. We did some fun experiments to see what causes shadows to become smaller and larger. We also found out that objects can be transparent, translucent or opaque. We did some experiments about heat too and learnt about conductors and insulators. Physical Education (Wednesdays with Year 4): we have had a lot of fun over the last few weeks doing balancing, running, skipping, galloping and hopping activities. This week we worked in groups to make an obstacle course where we could put these skills to the test. We had a lovely time on Thursday visiting the residents of AVEO, Shortland. We exchanged stories and played some games with the residents. 

What a couple of weeks we have had!

In RE, we have completed activities to pinpoint the goals, challenges and outcomes of Jesus’ mission and we will now examine Jesus’ death and resurrection as the fulfilment of his mission.

In English, we have been working really hard with our spelling and applying the rules we have learnt. Our novel has got us on the edge of our seat and we have learnt a lot about the history of Cambodia, then called Kampuchea, through our characters. We are getting really good at summarising each chapter using only 10 words! Talk about succinct!

In Maths we have worked on various strategies to assist with solving multiplication problems and we now move on to creating, continuing and explaining different patterns.

Last week we had our first visit to AVEO for the year. We loved it – again! Some had the opportunity to go on to the putting green and ‘play’ golf, some had the opportunity to make beautiful creations with beads, and others had the upstairs games room where we could choose from quoits, carpet bowls or table tennis. All of the activities were enjoyed and it was lovely to meet up with our AVEO ‘friends’ again.

Five students had the opportunity to represent the school at the CSO Mass last Tuesday for the launch of Project Compassion and Catholic Schools Week. Sam, Deacon, Olivia , Bailey and Logan all donned their blazers and went to this event.

On Monday, the class opened our celbrations of Catholic Schools Week with a beautiful liturgy. Year 6 all had readings and Year 5 had the opportunity to process through the hall with different objects to place on the prayer table to help set the focus for our liturgy. Ms McGann was so proud of us all. It was a beautiful way to start a very important week in all Catholic Schools, but particularly ours!

LEARNING SUPPORT

We have many students at Our Lady of Victories who require and receive adjustments at school in different areas – such as curriculum, social skills, health, communication and various other areas of school life.

Collaboration with parents is a key aspect of providing the best possible supports for all our students.

The class teachers and I welcome open communication during the year with parents and with external providers (e.g. speech pathologists, doctors, occupational therapists) in order to plan and provide relevant adjustments for children.

We will continue to have Personal Planning meetings for in Term 1 and Term 4 for students who require substantial adjustments at school. These will be scheduled by the Learning Support Teacher.

Class teachers will maintain contact with parents of those students who require supplementary adjustments in different aspects of school life. These adjustments will be explained and reviewed at parent teacher meetings. Planning/ collaborative meetings can also be arranged at the request of teachers, parents or myself as required throughout the year.

Please contact me at school on a Tuesday or Friday if you have any questions about Learning Support or collaboration.

Jenny McCallum

Learning Support Teacher