News

In Year 3 we have been learning about the history of Australia Day.  We created posters of Australia Day facts to display around the room.
 

Australia Day:  Did You Know?

• Australia Day commemorates the day the First Fleet arrived from England in 1788.
• There were seven babies born on the voyage to Australia.
•  Australia did not start celebrating the day as a nation with fireworks until 1994.
• This year we celebrated 230 years since the arrival of the First Fleet.

We have also been revising three digit numbers, how to read them, write them, round them to the nearest ten/hundred and placing them on a number line. 

Welcome to Year 5 news.  We have a had a very busy, exciting start to the year.  Later in the term we will be participating in the Whadjuk Gift.  This is a new initiative by Mater Dei.  It involves Year 5 students from five schools in the area.  St Anthony’s was given four areas from down south. We were put into nations and each of us designed a t-shirt.  One design from each nation was chosen and will be printed for all children in that nation to wear on the day.  All the children had outstanding designs.  Our job was made very difficult. However, we managed to choose one design from each nation. 

Congratulations to:
Wardandi - Ben Surur
Minang –Lesay Asefa
Wilman – Panita Huynh
Kaneang –Zaide Stampalia

As part of the Pre Primary Religious Education program the students have been learning how to set up the prayer focus each day for morning prayer. This involves using the correct coloured prayer cloth according to the Church season, adding appropriate religious icons, candles (electronic!) and sometimes flowers. The students who are the “Helping Hands “for the day are responsible for setting the focus up each morning.

Our RE unit of work Is currently “Special Me” which looks at the uniqueness of each person. Students have completed some beautiful art works and participated in KAGAN cooperative sharing games to assist in developing an awareness of each person’s specialness.

This week in Mathematics we have learned about subtilizing and talked about how we use this to work bigger numbers out.

We wrote all about our holidays and shared with our friends all the fun things we did over Christmas.

Special thanks also to all of our guests who attended the Opening of our Prayer Garden Space, during this Advent season of our 'Laudato Si', on Tuesday. It was a lovely occasion celebrated by Fr John. Thanks to all of our special guests, especially Mr Nicoletti and Mr Moroney, the designers of the prayer space.

Wow! We can’t believe how fast this year has gone and now we are all ready to go to Pre Primary.  We have had a fabulous few weeks in Kindy. Last week, we spent some time in the Pre Primary classrooms getting ourselves familiar with our new classroom environment. Christmas activities have been our main focus over the last few weeks.  We have made some special presents for our families and have been learning about the time when Jesus was born. We also had an amazing time on Friday with our Kindy Christmas Concert, morning tea and Waterslide Day.

All the teachers and assistants in Kindy thank the families for a rewarding year and wish you a safe Christmas and New Year.

This week, the Year Three students have been making their First Reconciliation.  Here are some thoughts on the experience.
 
“I was nervous but it felt really easy.”  - Lochlan
 
“I was nervous at first but then I realised it was quite easy and really short.” – Sam
 
“It was a bit nerve wracking but it was really easy to get through it.  After I felt pleased with myself because I did it.” – Keefe
 
“It was nerve wracking at first and then I got used to it and it wasn’t so bad.  After I felt happy that I was able to do it and had made my Reconciliation” – Sophie
 
“It was good.  I was a little bit nervous because I wasn’t sure what was going to happen” – Savannah
 
“When I was making my reconciliation I felt nervous and I didn’t really know what to say.  After I felt it was really quick and I was happy.” – Sahara
 
“I felt like I didn’t want to do it.  After it I felt happy.” - Lucas

In Year 2, we have been recapping Narratives and Persuasive Writing. We have really impressed our teachers with our improved use of punctuation and more detailed sentences. We have focused on Mapping in Geography and have been learning to draw Bird’s Eye View Maps. We had our Year 2 Class Liturgy and impressed our family members with our beautiful singing.

At the beginning of this term, we began our unit on Restoring Our Relationship. We learnt about our conscience, read bible stories, and discussed the elements of the Rite of Reconciliation. As the Year 3 students are making their First Reconciliation this week, we wish them all of God’s graces during this special time.

Our new unit of work is “Helped by the Word”. We began this unit, by discussing the differences between physical and inner strength. Once we had an understanding of these two types of strengths, we watched a short video about Nick Vijicic. This video gave us a real understanding of inner strength, how Nick grew his inner strength, the battles he faced and how he overcame adversity.

We also read “The Tortoise and The Hare”. This story deepened our understanding of both inner strength and physical strength. The moral of the story was to never give up, believe in yourself and even though you think you can’t win, always try your best until the end.  We are looking forward to the remainder of the unit.

Last Friday, the Year 6 classes coordinated the beautiful Remembrance Day service. On Tuesday of next week, both Year 6G and 6B classes will have  completed their exciting transition to High School Science program with Mrs Lombardo from Mater Dei College over the course of the semester. Tomorrow, our Year 6 students have prepared and auditioned students for the Talent Assembly and we congratulate the following students who have made it through to the Final:

Act 1.  Year 4: Tayana, Emily and Hayley - Dancing (Gimme that Swing)
Act 2. Year 6: Nick, Sean & Rylan - Magic
Act 3. Year 1 Kaylee, Michelle and Zahli - Gym
Act 4. Year 2 Dylan “Lush Life” - Singing
Act 5   Year 5  Maddie and Molly - Dancing
Act 6   Year 5  Ava - Singing
Act 7   Year 3 Lyla and Gracie - Musical
Next Monday, the new Principal of Mater Dei College Mrs Annette Morey, will present Ian Vincent o(Year 6) with his Academic Scholarship for 2018.

We are all busily still collecting  for the St Vincent de Paul Christmas and Clothing Appeal so please help the Great work of the Mini-Vinnies and donate to this great Charity and look for the Vinnies Clothing Bin in our school grounds near the Year 1 Rooms!