Term 1 Week 4
Key Information
Term 1 Important Dates
- Week 5
- Monday 19th February - Spirit in Action, 3-4:30pm MacKillop Room
- Tuesday 20th February - FACE Meeting - 5:30pm Library
- Week 6
- Monday 26th February - School Photos
- Week 7
- Friday 1st March - Assembly, 8:30am
- Week 9
- Monday & Tuesday 18-19th March - Parent Teacher Interviews
- Friday 22nd March - Assembly, 8:30am
- Week 10
- Wednesday 27th March - Last Day of Term 1
Tuckshop News
For anyone having any tech issues with their app please see the attached directions from MSC. If you are having issues please try an order earlier in the week so if you are still have issues I can try and help get them sorted in time.
Thank you
Miss Jamie
Please email Jamie-Lea at jmcconachy@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au or call the office to let us know if you're available to volunteer!
Our special for Week 5 is: Caesar Pasta Salad & Fluffy Soda Slice
Please have your orders in by WEDNESDAY 8:30 am.
To order: https://myschoolconnect.com.au/
Uniform Shop
Our Uniform Shop is now located in the new office space (old library). We are open to orders being placed via the app, https://myschoolconnect.com.au/
Please give us 24 hours to organise collection for your order, we generally contact you when your order is ready to collect.
If you are needing students to try on sizes we are available on Monday from 2:30-3pm and Wednesday from 8:10-8:30am.
As this is a new system for us, please be kind and considerate while we find our feet in the new office space.
Miss Heather
School Photo Day
Principal's News
Dear Parents and Carers
We entered the Lenten period this week preceded with our pancake breakfast on Shrove Tuesday and the beginning of the period of prayer, fasting and almsgiving on Ash Wednesday. My own childhood experience of this period predominantly meant that I had to give up something that I enjoyed. I remember trying to convince my mother that I really loved vegetables, and that I would make the sacrifice and not have vegetables for the 40 day fasting season. Suffice to say, I was unsuccessful in this endeavor! Now, as a grown-up, I now have a fuller understanding of the significance of this period that commemorates the 40 days Jesus Christ spent fasting in the desert and resisting the temptations of Satan. Jesus was preparing himself for his ultimate sacrifice for forgiveness of our sins.
As a Catholic school, we strive to keep an explicit Christ-centered focus within our practices, policies and processes within school and in the wider community. In determining how well we do this, our community will be participating in a diocesan wide survey. This survey, titled Enhancing Catholic School Identity (ECSI), will begin next week with staff. It is designed to capture a snapshot of the attitudes among our students, teachers, staff, leaders, families and other constituencies towards the foundations of our Catholic school identity. I cannot stress enough the importance of your input in this survey. Your input will help us to reflect on our mission to be a community of faith, centered on Christ. Therefore, in the coming weeks, parents and carers will be sent a link to this survey, with instructions on how to complete it. Please take the time to complete the survey.
I will finish my news this week with a reminder that we are still looking for parent volunteers to assist staff to coordinate the school fete this year. This popular event is at risk of being canceled at present, so I urge you to consider volunteering some time towards supporting this event. Please register your interest with the school office and attend our upcoming FACE meeting at 5.30pm on Tuesday 20 February.
Blessings
Mrs Karen Good
Acting Principal
Deputy's News
Last week in my newsletter, I wrote about the changing Australian Curriculum and the rationale behind the change. Today, I hope to give you some additional insight into the National Assessment Program -Literacy and Numeracy — or as it is better known NAPLAN.
NAPLAN is an annual assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9 in Australia. It assesses students' literacy and numeracy skills and provides valuable data to schools, teachers, and parents to help support student learning.
The testing window for our school will be Week 8 - Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Students will participate in four tests - Writing, Reading, The Conventions of Language (spelling and grammar), and finally Numeracy. Although NAPLAN is not the "be-all-end-all", it does provide our school with valuable data to help inform our teaching practices.
Our students are always well-prepared for these exams, however, I do acknowledge that this can cause some unwanted anxiety. While NAPLAN provides our school and parents with valuable data we don't want it to be at the expense of a student's well-being. If at any stage, you believe that NAPLAN is causing your child/children too much anxiety or stress, please chat with your classroom teacher and they will be able to advise you on the next steps, should you want to remove your child/children from NAPLAN.
How Parents can support their child/children during NAPLAN
- Encourage your child/children to do their best without putting too much pressure on them.
- Ensure your child/children get plenty of rest and eat a healthy breakfast on the days of the tests.
- Remind your child/children that NAPLAN is just one measure of their learning and does not define their abilities or potential.
- After the tests, discuss the results with your child's teacher to understand areas of strength and areas for improvement.
Mr Dean Kelley
Deputy Principal - Teaching and Learning
APRE
Welcome to Week 4!
It’s lovely to be back and just in time for Lent. We started our Lenten preparation with a pancake breakfast on Tuesday followed by Ash Wednesday Liturgies. A big thank you to Mr Delaney and the students who assisted in cooking the pancakes; they were delicious! We raised over $60 for Project Compassion - thank you!
During the season of Lent we are called to pray, fast and give. At St Joseph’s we discuss how we are the hands, eyes, ears and voice of God and we need to act as people of love to reach out and support those in need. Whenever students are asked what was St Mary MacKillop's motto? Hands go up straight away to answer… “Never see and need without doing something about it.” This is exactly why we support Project Compassion and raise awareness of the needs of communities around the world. By giving small gold coin donations, we can help ensure the provision of basic needs of housing, clothing, food and water are provided. Through the project compassion stories the children learn how they can be a part of the change to create a better world.
The theme of Project Compassion this year is For All Future Generations, with Caritas Australia highlighting the inspiring journeys of three resilient women from the Philippines, Malawi, and Samoa.
Each of these stories demonstrates the powerful impact that each one of us can have For All Future Generations. Together, we can create lasting change for people living in some of the most vulnerable and low-income regions in the world.
Below, I have linked the first focus story.
Ronita's story (Philippines) - After the birth of her children, 22-year-old Ronita was at risk of having to leave school permanently. But with the support of Caritas Australia’s partners in the Philippines, she resumed her studies and now has a job to support her family.
Notices:
- Next sacramental meetings:
- Sunday 25th February after mass
- Monday 26th February 3pm in St Mary MacKillop Room.
Have a blessed week!
Therese Curley
APRE
Pastoral Care
SOCIAL MEDIA & DIGITAL REPUTATION
Social media has become such an integral part of a teenager’s life. However, many miss out on some critical social skills with most communicating whilst looking at a screen instead of another person! Statistics show that 60 per cent of 10-11 year olds are using at least one social media site, with the majority using age-restricted platforms. What kids do, post and say online is permanent and most are not mature enough to manage their own digital footprint. Friendships, relationships and even future job prospects are all put at risk.
Parents need to be aware of what picture their children are painting of themselves online. Unfortunately, many parents do not see the dangers inherent of these sites, as they form opinions based on their own experience. But predators are usually not interested in grooming adults. Over the years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of primary schoolers owning mobile phones, highlighting the importance to teach kids about the dangers of social media and the implications it can have.
In this edition of SchoolTV, parents will learn how to talk to their children about the inherent dangers of social media and how to educate their kids to be responsible users in the online world we live in.
We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition of SchoolTV and we always welcome your feedback. If you have any concerns about your child, please contact Toni Schneekloth, Pastoral Care Leader, or Marissa Madigan, our Guidance Counsellor, for further information or seek medical or professional help.
Here is the link to the Social Media & Digital Reputation edition of SchoolTV
Toni Schneekloth
Pastoral Leader
Prep
I cannot believe next week is Week 5 already! Half way through the term.
Next week the Preps will focus on how to write the letter “m” and “s” and also the sounds that these letters make. They will identify these letter sounds in words and also things that begin with these sounds. In math the Preps will explore numbers and amounts between 10 and 20. During HASS, the class will explore their personal history, how they know about the past and how they have changed over time.
We have not finished Early Years Testing with all of the students yet. This will continue next week.
Thank you to the people who helped with our literacy group activities this week!
Reminders:
Tuesday - Sport
Wednesday - house uniform
Thursday - tuckshop and library
Yours in fun and learning,
Mrs McLauchlan, Miss Tamara and Miss Kylie
Year 1
Hello Parents and Carers
The students have had a busy week!
In Math, we continued to identify our teen and ty numbers. The students are getting very good at identifying the different numbers. The students have been busy looking at numbers that come before and after certain numbers to 50.
In English, the students have been practicing writing correctly in the red and blue lines. The students have written a wonderful recount of their weekend and drawn a lovely corresponding picture. We are starting to look at our focus book for this term which is ‘Brother Moon’ by Maree McCarthy Yoelu and Samantha Fry. The students have been looking at the characters and events in the story. They have drawn a lovely picture of a memory/ story that their Grandfather/ special figure has shared with them.
This week in Religion, the students drew their favorite thing that God created. We spoke about Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. Last week we came up with a Lent promise and burnt the promises to use as the Ashes for our liturgy.
Here are some photos from the burning of the Ashes and the Liturgy.
Reminders
Art: Tuesday
House Shirts: Wednesday
Library: Thursday
Sport: Thursday (sport uniform)
Technology: Friday
Have a wonderful week,
Miss Haley and the always fun Year 1s!
Year 2
Hi all
This week we have continued our InitiaLit lessons. We have been looking at different text types and their features in comprehension and are looking at 'bossy e' during spelling. We have also continued our Character Preferences based on ‘The Lizard Gang’ and have been typing our texts up on Writer’s Toolbox. We are super speedy at logging into computers now! It has been wonderful to see the student’s digital literacy improve over the past two weeks!
In Math, we have been continuing to look at 3 digit numbers in order to create a really strong foundational knowledge of place value to prepare us for other concepts throughout the year.
We also covered our other subject areas which include:
Religion - Looking at God’s Nature and his relationship with his people
Science - Looking at mixtures and their different purposes
HASS - Looking at Past and Present
Next Week
- Homework is due on Mondays
Kind regards
Miss Ansel
Year 3
Hello all
Here’s what we learnt in Week 4:
Mathematics
This week we learnt two addition strategies: “break it up” and “change and fix”.
When we use the ‘break it up’ strategy, we partition numbers. For example, if the problem was 46 + 38, we could “break up” 46 into 40 + 6. This creates a “new” equation: 40 + 6 + 38. Then, students can add 40 and 38, giving them 78. Finally, students complete the equation by adding 78 and 6 (78 + 6 = 84).
When we use the ‘change and fix’ strategy, we change numbers to make them a multiple of 10. For example, for the equation 46 + 38, we could change 38 to 40. Now our equation is 46 + 40 = 86. Then, because we made a change, we have to ‘fix it’. We added 2 to make 38 become 40, so now we need to take 2 away from the answer (86 - 2 = 84).
Practicing these two strategies (“break it up” and “change and fix”) empower students with a range of strategies to choose and use when presented with addition problems!
English
Our persuasive projects have begun! The students have chosen the toy character that they think is the best fit for our class mascot and completed a plan for their persuasive writing.
In reading groups, we have been practicing our questioning skills when reading, as well as practicing our handwriting skills, and completing spelling tasks focusing on the ‘k’ sound which is represented by the letters c,k, ck, q, x, and ch.
Religion
This week we explored how prayers from saints help people see God and understand God’s presence in their daily life.
Science
This week we made predictions about our upcoming outdoor exploration of living and non-living things in the school environment. We also planned how we will be safe during this task.
HASS
We researched community groups in Australia and discussed their purpose as well as how such groups are funded.
NAPLAN Preparation
We completed a practice NAPLAN reading test.
Reminders for next week:
Next week I will be away for professional development and personal reasons on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Nevertheless, the students' routine will remain the same and they will have extensive learning experiences and tasks to complete. I will be looking forward to being in the classroom Wednesday to check in with the students’ learning on Monday and Tuesday, and ensure they are prepared for Thursday and Friday.
- Homework - Homework will be handed out Monday and is due Friday.
- PE uniform Tuesday
- Chaplain’s Breakfast - Tuesday & Thursday at 7:45am in MMS
- Tuckshop order due before Wednesday 8:30am
Thank you
Laura Cook
Year 4
Hi all
After our morning Writers Toolbox time, we have been sitting together and sharing our work. We talk about things that the writer has done well, identify sentence types we know, different parts of speech, and share something we think the writer could improve. Have a look at this amazing piece of writing that we shared this week:
We ran through the long desert grass over to the Jeep and jumped in. As Dad started the engine we buckled up. We drove along the dirt road as the Jeep went over rocks and sticks. After a little while we heard a roar. I looked out the window and saw a pack of lions chasing a gazelle. I closed my eyes ready for the kill. We drove off through the savanna. Looking around each corner for danger. We turned the next corner and saw...
MONKEYS! We watched them fight over bananas for a while and then keep driving. We turned the corner and saw a charging rhino heading straight for us! Mum, Flo and I screamed as Dad turned the Jeep around at full speed. Ru held onto the seat in front of him as Dad sped down gullies and around corners. When we got back to camp wwe had seemed to lose the rhino. I was glad that safari was over.
By Vivienne Moore
We are continuing our W-Start Sentence focus next week. The W-Start Sentence is a sentence that begins with a W-word. That doesn’t mean every W-word, like William, Weird, and Wallowing. No, it means these W-words: While, When, Whereas, and With.
Check these out:
- With a massive boom, the alien spacecraft burst through the clouds.
- While Dad made pizza for dinner, Suzie built a castle in Minecraft.
- When Fred Perkins walked through his front door, everyone yelled: “Surprise!"
Our spelling sound this week is ‘e’ as in egg. This sound can be represented by the following graphemes (letter combinations): e & ea. Here are some rules for this spelling sound:
- The ‘e’ sound in egg is used at the start and in the middle of words, but never at the end of words (e.g. effort, lettuce).
- The grapheme ea for the ‘e’ sound in egg is used in a small percentage of words (e.g head, ready, weather).
- The grapheme ai is an unusual way to represent the ‘e’ sound in egg (e.g. said, again).
- The grapheme ie in the word friend is an unusual way to represent the ‘e’ sound in egg.
Reminders:
- Chaplaincy breakfast is on Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning at 7:45am.
- Library is on Friday
- PE is on Thursday
Have a great week
Mairin Borlase
Year 5
Wow, I cannot believe that next week we are already half way through our Term!
Positive Rewards System
Year 5 has been working diligently, striving to complete their work to the best of their ability. We have seen some outstanding behaviours presented in our classroom.
In Year 5, we operate a positive rewards system - acknowledging and rewarding the positives. Every day is a fresh start, certificates and Dojo Points are distributed for displaying positive attitudes to learning and having a good Work Ethic. We discussed, as a class, the rewards for our positive behaviours. This may include an icy pole, free time, extra Art activities, extra Technologies time etc.
UR Strong Program:
Although we have had a very positive start to the year, we have started to notice some friendship issues occurring in Year 5. This year students from Years 3-5 will be participating in the UR Strong program. URSTRONG provides teachers with a friendship skills curriculum, Friendology 101, that help kids establish and maintain healthy relationships, manage conflict with kindness, and increase their overall resilience.
This week we have had a large focus around our school’s catholic mission of Strive, Love, Serve and Lead. As this week is also the beginning of Lent, each student has created an Ash Wednesday promise with a focus around either Strive, Love, Serve and Lead. Please ask your child what their lent promise is.
Website Update:
Our Year Website is live! On Monday, each student was sent home with a QR code that you can use to access the website. You may access this website to find general classroom information, termly overviews for learning as well as a Home Learning page with links and or information about what students may do at home.
Have a lovely Week Five.
Kind regards
Mae-Louise Brock
Year 6
LEADING THE WAY!
Our Leadership Legends continues with a huge focus on engaging with our St Joseph's Community - supporting opportunities for developing physically active, healthy and resilient learners within our school. Lego Masters continues to be popular with our younger learners at lunch breaks. We have dedicated one lesson per week for Y6 Leaders to consider how they can make a positive difference. It has been so refreshing to see and hear their thoughts and ideas.
We have James, Chelsea and Grace completing Super Swim for Starlight, which is amazing! Other leaders are already planning for additional charitable events and how they will make their difference. Tom is currently setting the ball in motion to plan for the WORLD'S GREATEST SHAVE - please check out his advertisement and poster for our event on the final day of Term 1 - WEDNESDAY 27th MARCH. If your child is interested in participating in The Greatest Shave, please get in touch! The event will most likely have an old toy sale, bake stall and Crazy Hair Day with gold coin donations, so even if they don't want to lose their hair, they can still feel part of the team.
Developing these events throughout the year should be seen as amazing opportunities to demonstrate their care for other people, their organisational skills, collaboration, communication and confidence. There is terrific desire and passion to make a difference and you should all be very proud of these young people.
In English, we have continued our narrative text discussions - the most challenging aspect for many is generating ideas quickly. We have used the HAMMER PARAGRAPH structure in WRITER'S TOOLBOX to think about how we can answer the WHERE question (setting) in narrative texts. The six sentences - three facts and three about the impact. This programme is available for use at home too. Writer's Toolbox gives learners instant feedback about the quality of their sentence styles, precision (use of details like names and ages etc), and following a recent update, gives them the opportunity to improve sentences before sharing their writing with peers and adults. They can continually edit their writing to try to improve their quality and Writing Strength.
Our spelling continues to investigate parts of speech - noun, verb, adjective and adverbs initially. We are examining the prefix ex- (meaning out) and the suffix -ion (action, state or result of). Before adding -ion suffix, we usually drop the -e. The words that we are investigating are focus and extension words with q, c, ck, k, x and ch, which are the most common graphemes (letters) to make the phoneme [k as in kite].
In Science, we are investigating energy as part of our Physical Sciences learning. There may be some conversations about electricity bills, energy costs, solar panels, which devices in the home use the most power etc. If you have any solar panels and can explain how much that creates a saving on bills, that would be awesome!
In Mathematics, we have continued to discuss strategies for solving addition and subtraction of decimals including money amounts. We began our work on Fractions, Decimals and Percentages (FDP) with a recap on unit fractions and their equivalence before moving into discussions about the decimal connections. We will be investigating strategies to support the addition of fractions with same and similar denominators (number of the bottom). Initially all addition of fractions commence with the same denominators, before moving into Mixed Number fractions like those shown where some denominators are 'connected' and we must consider equivalence. We regularly make connections between fractions, decimals, multiplication and division to ensure deep learning. The children loved playing MULTIPLE WARS with a pack of cards and this would be excellent practise of multiplication facts for home learning.
In HASS, we will commence our discussions about democracy and parliament. our discussions cannot be about which political party they will vote for in 7-8 years time! Initially we will focus on who our Prime Minister is and the three levels of government within Australia - Federal, State and Local. We are organising a visit from the Queensland Parliament Education Team on Tuesday 26th March, which will be their first visit to Cloncurry for four years!
Have a brilliant week.
Kindest regards
Mike Tarleton
Subject Spotlight
Year 7 Science with Mrs Toni Schneekloth
Year 7 Science - it’s all about water!
This term, the Year 7 students will commence with an introduction to science - revisiting the scientific method, laboratory safety and obtaining their Bunsen Burner licence. From there, they will investigate how water is a renewable resource and how water is treated using various separation techniques to ensure its safety for humans to consume.
Year 8 Design with Miss Shara Humes
This term our Year 9 students are exploring robotics, a branch of engineering and computer sciences that fits nicely under the technologies bracket. We spent the first few weeks developing an understanding of what robotics is and how it is used in various industries, and now students are beginning to design and build their own using our Lego Mindstorms kits. This is definitely an exercise in patience, but so far all are doing a phenomenal job in the designs they have chosen.
As we begin to finish with the construction, students will turn their attention to programming their robot. We will begin by completing some challenges that will help familiarise students with some of the different blocks available, and later move into choreographing a dance for each of our robots against a 30 second snippet of music. At times it will no doubt be frustrating, having to test and retest until it works as we intend, but I’m sure the outcome will be worth it.
Year 9 Religion with Mr James Delaney
We kicked off the term in a peaceful and contemplative way by participating in different types of prayer and meditation. Amongst others, we focused on visio divina and labyrinths. This is a great opportunity to set prayer expectations in the classroom for 2024.
The students have just begun learning about the mystery of the Trinity. We will be analysing how different representations of the Trinity show a connection between God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit.
