Newsletter #32 October 28
Principal's News
Dear St Paul's Families, welcome to this week's news.
The Book Week Parade went well with lots of crazy, creative and funny costumes worn by the students. It was great to see the staff get into the spirit of the day. The Middle Unit Teachers stole the show this year deciding to dress up as Mrs McGlashan in her tennis gear. It was the ultimate complement right down to the red hair. Although Mr White didn't quite get the memo about the active wear. None the less it was an entertaining day.
The Book Fair started with a bang yesterday with lots of sales made. The children have really enjoyed the opportunity to purchase some new reading material for themselves. It's just a shame that we are not able to have any parents onsite.
For all the tragic die hard AFL fans out there, I hope you enjoyed the Grand final. Commiserations to the Geelong Supporters and congratulations to the Richmond fans. There can only be one winner, but in saying that, it was an incredible achievement for both teams to actually make it to the grand final given the year we have had.
Included in today's newsletter is a letter from Fr Matt outlining the dates and times for the Sacrament of First Eucharist to go ahead this year. It is obviously very different to what we have experienced in the past, however it is great that we are still able to celebrate the sacrament this year. Please contact the parish office for further details.
Congratulations to our weekly Gotcha winners.
25 GOTCHA AWARDS: Alice Blanchard, Faye Ratcliffe, Cooper Wilkens, Renay Akdemir,
50 GOTCHA AWARDS: Skylar Humphrey, Andrea Norton, Lucien Graham -O'Connor
At this stage, we do not know when we will be able to allow parents onsite. I know this has meant an increase in the number of vehicles using the drive through pick up /drop off area. A number of our families have also been parking in Plane Tree Drive across the road. Please remember to not block driveway entrances for the residents who live there and be respectful of their properties.
Also, if parents are using the crossing and collecting their children, please watch them as they cross the road. I have received a number of phone calls from residents, in Plane Tree Drive, who are concerned about the safety of our children who appear to be left unattended.
I am still very much disappointed by those parents who continually exit the drive through by doing a Right Hand Turn through the pedestrian crossing. This will congest traffic and unfortunately will result in an accident at some point in time. Please Do the Right Thing and exit with a Left Hand Turn only.
If you are collecting your children after school by foot, you are to wait at the front gate for your children to come to you. If your child does not know that you are collecting them by foot please ring the office so that we can notify them and avoid any confusion. Parents are not permitted to enter the school grounds without prior approval from the office.
I'm beginning to sound like a broken record at the moment but your child's safety is our number one priority.
We have been experiencing issues with ONE of our phone lines this week which will hopefully be rectified in the next few days. The office IS attended. Please keep ringing and you will eventually get through. Alternately, unless it is an emergency, you may wish to send an email to office@spmildura.catholic.edu.au We apologise for any inconvenience but it is beyond our control.
Next Week is a shortened, action packed week. Monday is a Pupil Free Day as the staff have a Curriculum Assessment Day planned. Tuesday is a public holiday for the Melbourne Cup. Hopefully you might be lucky enough to back a winner. Wednesday the Year 3 children have their excursion. Thursday the Junior Year 1 & 2 children have their "camp" day here at school and the Yr 4 children have their excursion. Friday the Year 4 children have their second excursion day as well as the Year 6 children participating in a Fun Sports Day with Sacred Heart's Year 6 students in the morning. What a week!!
I hope you all enjoy this week's assembly and have a great extra long weekend.
As always
Keep the Faith
Vince Muscatello
Religious Education News
Socktober
It's happening this Friday, 30th October! We are ready to 'Sock it to Poverty' by wearing colourful, odd, crazy, decorated, fun socks to school with your SCHOOL UNIFORM (NOT casual clothes) and bring a gold coin donation for Catholic Mission.
Students in year 3-6 will also engage in a holistic experience of mission – activating a learning mind, an open heart and hands for action - when they use the sockballs, created last week, in a 'Socker Penalty' shoot out against the staff. We will be literally kicking goals for kids in need around the world.
We are taking part in Socktober this year because we believe we are called to reach out to those less fortunate and give whatever we can to support them. Let’s sock it to poverty in 2020!
If you would like to donate or raise additional funds for Catholic Mission, you can register your child via our St Paul's Socktober page using the link below. Upon registering your child you will be forwarded more information.
Sacrament of First Eucharist
Library News
Thanks very much for the fantastic support so far for our Book Fair. Students have been very excited to come into the Book Fair and buy some great books. Congratulations to the winners of our colouring in competition, Hunter from Foundation, Harriet from the Junior unit, Nicola from the Middles and Alexis from the Seniors, well done these lucky students won $20.00 each to spend at the Book Fair. The Book Fair is open until Thursday, any students who have paid for books that we have run out with will receive their books in a couple of weeks when the reorders arrive. Once again thanks for your support all our profits are used to improve resources at St Paul's.
Marg Pongrac
Languages - Italian News
This week our Foundation, Year 1 & 2 students have continued with "La Famiglia ~ the Family" theme that we have been focusing on during our Italian classes this Term. Our Junior students have been busily engaged in simple language tasks including an Italian finger puppet play and also an Italian family song and dance activity.
Here are some photos of the Foundation students as they dressed up in different 'family' characters ... papa`, mamma, fratello, sorella & piccolo bambino ... to learn an Italian song called "La famiglia dito ~ The family finger" song. Included are also some photos of some beautiful work samples that the Foundation students completed as part of their Italian vocabulary task. Bravissimi !
Ciao - Signora Ghidinelli
Foundation work samples
Hands Up Mallee
We are still after some more of the recycling kitchen caddies, if you have one at home that you are not using or know of someone who doesn’t use it, we would love to have it school so our students can recycle green waste the same as you do at home. Thank-you for the caddies that we have already received.
A reminder that school hats are an important part of our school uniform and are now compulsory for all students to wear when outside. Even on cloudy days at this time of the year, the UV rays are very damaging. Students may also choose to apply sunscreen (they may bring this from home) before going outside. If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact me at nsimpson@spmildura.catholic.edu.au
Breakfast Club Roster | ||
Friday: Simote Vea Alan Jessil | Monday: School Closure Day | Wednesday: Siennah Brown Leylan Clifford |
Physical Education News
This week, the Senior children had a lot of fun learning my newly created PE game based on the currently popular online game 'Among Us'. Children had tasks to do that involved fitness and ball skills, all while trying to work out who the impostors were that were trying to sabotage everyone. The game ran very well and everyone had a lot of fun.
Here are some photos from last week's lessons, as well as some from Monday's 'Among Us' games.
My New Gallery
Arts News
Last term, just before we were thrown back into remote learning (again), our amazing senior students created some fantastic mixed media artwork. They drew and painted a cartoon version of themselves, then used their chromebooks to create a digital background, choosing their own patterns and colours, including their name in the design.
Mixed media self portraits
Keep an eye out for some fantastic middle unit artwork coming soon!
Jess Freeman
Technology News
It was all about writing CODE last week in the Technology Room. Students in the Junior Unit reviewed following and verbally describing a sequence of instructions before learning to write CODE, using symbols to represent different directions. Students then practised the skill of writing CODE and, of course, testing their CODE by programming their directions into our Code and Go Robot Mouse, Jack.
Until next week, remember...
TECHNOLOGY, like art, is a soaring EXERCISE of the human IMAGINATION ~Daniel Bell
Mrs Simms
Foundation Unit News
This term the Foundation students are completing a Health Unit. They are learning about the human body and how much they have grown and changed. We have been discussing how their life has changed from when they were a baby. Last week we were very lucky to have the opportunity to have a Google Meet with Katie Davies and her new baby Lucy. The children came up with a list of questions to ask Katie about Baby Lucy. Hannah read out the questions during the Google Meet and Katie answered the questions. She also sent some videos for us to watch of Lucy playing, sleeping and having a bath. It was a fantastic opportunity to be able to discuss the developmental stages and watch the videos. We would like to say a huge thank you to Katie for being so cooperative and being part of our Health unit and to Hannah for being such an enthusiastic reporter.
Could all parents please check jumpers, hats and school uniform to make sure it is named clearly. We have a lot of lost property at the moment.
My New Gallery
Junior Unit news
We are ready and roaring through our Week 4 learning this week. This week the Junior students have been focussing on Persuasive texts in both reading and writing. The students have been learning to express their opinion or point of view for different topics through sharing convincing reasons supporting their opinion. The students had begun using a persuasive planner to organise their thoughts and reasons for a particular topic in writing lessons and have started writing their own persuasive piece. We are so excited to read the students' convincing arguments or to be persuaded!
In Maths this week, the Juniors are learning about Time, where the students have been working hard to interpret time on both digital and analogue clocks.
The students have really enjoyed exploring our topic of "Growing Older and Wiser" in the Mappen unit and have done a wonderful job at recognising and identifying how all living things can grow and change. The students particularly enjoyed planting grass and alfalfa sprout seeds as a class and observing how quickly the plant grows and changes.
The students enjoyed attending this year's Book Fair on Monday and were very eager to create a wishlist of the different books and resources they would like to purchase.
We are doing so many wonderful and interesting things within our learning at the moment! We're also excited for St Paul's Socktober fundraiser on this Friday. Socktober invites us to engage with mission, encouraging a learning mind, an open heart and hands for action. We can learn about life in Cambodia and other developing countries, and help raise money to support their family and friends. So don't forget to wear your cool or crazy socks WITH YOUR SCHOOL UNIFORM this Friday and bring a gold coin donation.
JUNIOR UNIT CAMP DAY!
We are pleased to announce that the Junior Unit camp day will be held here at St Paul's on Thursday 5th November 2020!
Students will engage in a range of fun activities throughout the day including art & craft, lego building challenges, a movie (G rated), designing their own cupcake and afternoon tea!
All students will still need to bring their own drink bottle filled with water, lunch, brainfood, snacks and school hat. Please ensure your child wears their sport uniform and their sneakers.
Grade 1 students will be picked up at the regular school finish time of 3:25pm.
The Grade 2 students are invited to stay after school for water games on the oval and dinner of pizza and dessert (frozen yoghurt).
Grade 2 students will be required to bring IN A BAG - bathers, casual clothes and a towel for water games. They are required to be picked up from the school pick up area at 5:30pm.
Any questions, please contact your child’s classroom teacher.
Have a wonderful week!
From the Junior Unit
Middle Unit News
Hello Middle Unit Families!
Next week will be our excursion days and we are still waiting on a few permission notes AND online SIMON EVERYWHERE permissions to be completed. If you haven't yet sent the note back in AND also given consent on SIMON EVERYWHERE app then please do it before this Friday so we can all go and have an absolutely amazing 'camp' experience! If there are any questions or concerns about camp, please contact your child's classroom teacher.
In Religion, we are learning about the Sacrament of Reconciliation and why Catholics complete this process. We are also thinking about how these messages and symbols are important and influential in anyone's life, from any faith. Talk with your child about the importance of foriveness and reconciliation within their own lives and encourage them to think of ways they can show these qualities.
In Mathematics, we have moved onto Division but we don't want that times tables practice to stop! These quick facts are essential for helping students understand division. If you can, keep getting your child to practice the times tables they are not as efficient with. They should ideally be able to do up to 10 x 10.
Finally, in Reading and Writing, we are focusing on Mission Week by reading and writing texts from the point of view of someone who is experiencing a third world condition. Students are using adjectives to describe the emotions of someone who does not have acces to an education and writing a newspaper report on their 'volunteer trip' to another country.
Senior Unit News
CELEBRATING OUR WRITING
Over the past 4 weeks, students have been working hard on writing a memoir. This task required the students to think carefully about an important time in their lives that they could write about in detail. The students focused on using sensory language, descriptive words and rich vocabularly with the aim of making the reader feel like they were part of the experience too. We think they have done a wonderful job!
Here are just a few of the memoirs for you to enjoy.
Memoirs
