Term 1 Week 6

Kaya (Noongar for hello),

What a stunning weekend, a touch on the humid side but as long as the sun is out I am not complaining!

This weekend we played a bit of a catch up in the Ricciardone household doing a bit of the boring stuff, but now that the house is clean, the gardens are done and washing is sorted I feel I am ready to tackle anything the week throws at me. On a side note: I've never been known for having a green thumb but to my astonishment I currently have 17 capsicums, copious chilli's and 2 watermelons growing in my veggie patch...watch out you all may receive a gift home very soon.

WARNING A BIT OF GUSHING AHEAD...I just want to share how proud and grateful I am to have your children in my class. Over the last couple of weeks, I have really noticed the students beginning to foster an important sense of maturity and responsibility. They have settled into their class routines incredibily well and are showing a real enthusiasm and drive for learning. Now that we have passed the halfway mark in Term 1, we have definitely sowed the most important seeds for strong growth in our learning for our final year at OLC. The proudest moment as a teacher is to be told by others how amazing your class is and I've already had it happen twice this term. This can only be possible with a good grounding and support at home. I am excited to see what these leaders bring to the rest of the year, after such an awesome start.

I want to congratulate the wonderful Max McClenaughan on receiving our first Star Citizen in 6R. He received it for his accepting, caring and compassionate nature. He is a gentle soul who shows a genuine interest in everyone he interacts with. He's one of the first to say a bright good morning and will often thank me for the day as he leaves. The empathy and concern he shows towards others is second to none! He is an excellent role model living out the OLC value of ‘Compassion’. Congratulations MAX!

WEEK 5 LEARNING

Eucharistic Adoration:

On Friday of last week, we had the priviledge of walking to the Church to participate in the Eucharistic Adoration that occurs each month within the church. It was a special opportunity where the students had the time to be still and reflect on themselves and their relationship with others, in particular God. The atmosphere created by Fr Francis was incredibly beautiful, however it was the golden Monstrance lit up in the centre of the altar holding the consecrated host (body of Christ, that captured the attention of the children. It was such a peaceful 30 minutes, everyone leaving with an extra bounce in their step on the way back to school. See the images below:

Six Seasons:

In the year ahead the Year 6 classes will be focusing on learning the Six Aboriginal Seasons. We will be working with Josh Whiteland from Koomal Dreaming who is the local custodian of the land for the Wadandi People. Together with other Aboriginal groups from an area that stretches from Kalbarri to Esperance, they are also known as Noongar. The Noongar culture is as rich and varied as the countryside itself, and their knowledge of the environment is incredible and fascinating. We will be learning from Josh, utilising beautiful resources drawing on his wealth of knowledge about the Six Seasons. 

Parents did you know that we are in the season of Bunuru?

Ask your child what animals would they see during the season of Bunuru? 

What will they see in the trees? 

What weather will they expect to see? 

Visual Art:

In Art, the students have been making contrasts between warm and cool colours on the colour pallette. Mrs Coltrnari has taught the children some clever ways to blend oil pastels and collage these blends together to form a mosaic effect. Currently the students are working on two collaborative art projects. The first being wave formations, where the students are using a 'cool' colour pallette to tint their own paper squares which are then arranged into a beautiful mosaic of a barrelling wave. These are still to be finished...but a picture will be posted as soon as they are completed!

The other project involves using the current season of Bunuru. We started working on a rhythmic quarter circle collaboration where each child had to design 1/4 circles using symbols and representations of the Bunuru season. A large focus was placed of the use of the warm colour pallette, as it depicts the dry season well. After making their own individual quarter circle, all of the completed artworks were arranged together in full circles to enhance the effect of visual rhythm in a collaborative display. This lesson also focused on showing the students that individually we are beautiful and unique however, together as a team we can also be beautiful and compliment each other with our differences. See some of the examples below...however be sure to pop your head into the classroom to see the full display.

Writing:

In writing, we have started our focus on Narratives. The students are very excited to get to showcase their imaginative and creative tales. We will be using the amazing Narnia tale - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe throughout this writing sequence. We will be listening to the audible book at the end of every day and building the students to create their own Narnia character to insert into the beautiful landscape that exists within The Wardrobe. If you remember this tale please share with your child. If you have not watched the movie version, I would recommend a beautiful family moment of watching the story together as a family sometime over the next few weeks. 

WEEK 6 REMINDERS

PAT Testing:
Firstly, I have to share a sincere apology. Unfortunately, we will need to re-test all the students again on all the PAT tests over the upcoming week. This is due to technical issues where they have completed the wrong year level tests. Whilst this is extremely disappointing we will be utilising our resilience techniques from the previous health lessons on a quest for the positives. 😎
PAT Tests:
Monday - Grammar and Punctuation

Tuesday - Spelling

Wednesday - Reading

Thursday - Maths

Friday - Vocabulary

Year 6 Camp Note: 

Your child should have brought a note home on Friday about Year 6 Camp. Camp will be held on the first week of Term 2. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch. Please return these sheets as soon as possible. I have attached a link of this document below, just incase yours has grown legs over the weekend.

Camp Medical Form...click here

Altar Server's Note:

Your child should have brought a note home last Wednesday asking for volunteers to altar serve at our Parish Masses. In volunteering, your child will display a terrific sense of community and leadership to help Father Francis in this way. ALL children must return a note to indicate if they are interested or not. If you did not find a copy of the note in your child's bag, please let me know and I will send another home.

First Aid: 

We have organised for theYear 5 and 6 students to complete a First Aid Response course by St John of God. This is a free incursion and each session will run for 45 minutes. The Year 6 classes will have their training on Friday 26th March from 11.15 - 1pm. 

Housekeeping:

1. Headphones - Can you please send the students headphones in with them this week? Can these headphones please remain in the school, as when they are needed for activities there are a few students without them, thank you. 
2. Charging Laptops - Can you also please ensure that the students laptops are on charge every night! We have had quite a few flat laptops this week, and it this causes issues at times with the students learning in class, thank you so much.
3. Library - there will be no library for the Year 6 students over the next two weeks due to swimming lessons. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

1.  Swimming Lessons commence at the beach on Monday 8th March. We will depart the school at 1pm for the beach and return at 2.30pm. Please ensure your child has all the items they need for swimming including: sunscreen, rashies, googles, bathers, thongs, towel, spare underwear and students can wear sports uniform every day. TODAY the students were starving after their lesson...it might be a good idea to put an extra piece of fruit in their bags for when we return to school.
2. Parent Teacher Interviews week 8 and 9 (timetable to be emailed for booking slots soon, please let me know if these weeks will not be suitable and we can organise a time sooner in the term.)

HOMEWORK WEEK 6

Due: Friday, 12th March
Our homework diaries having not arrived as yet. The students will continue using their homework books for now. Thank you to those parents that sign the students work, please ensure you do this especially on a Thursday night before they return to class on a Friday. 
Home Learning Grid includes:
1. Reading 20 minutes each night - write title and amount read into their homework book each night.
2. Spelling Activities - spelling grid to be completed in homework book. 
3. Mathematics - Times Tables - Activity sheet (x7 written and timed) 
4. Three well-being tasks from learning grid.

Enjoy the week ahead, please contact us at anytime if you have any questions or queries.

Mrs Ricciardone & Mrs Murphy