Catholic Education Week
Last week we celebrated a wonderful Catholic Education Week where we reflected on our culture and history at Our Lady of the Visitation School.
In CESA, Catholic Parish Primary schools are amazing places of community and wonder. I started my journey at St James (now an Early Learning Centre, corner of Swan Tce and Bower Road) in the 60’s, where a Dominican Sister was the Principal of the school and kept me in on my first day of school (but that’s another story). Our school offers students the opportunity to learn and develop in a supportive atmosphere.
Next Friday we celebrate the Feast of the Visitation, after which our school is named, and how the actions of Mary can be applied to our lives today.
Explicit Teaching
Last Friday, Tina Ida (Leader of Learning) & I attended a conference where Dr Lorraine Hammond presented to all CESA Principals and Leaders of Learning about the mechanics of teaching in the classroom, and fundamentally around Explicit Instruction. It was motivating and supportive of the model that we are employing here at OLV (in Literacy). Our teachers & ESO’s have been trained in an Explicit approach, for our literacy instruction.
Many of our new initiatives in literacy are based in Explicit Instruction (Heggarty, Little Learners Love Literacy, Spelling for Success & the Kilpatrick activities.
Several of her quotes were:
- Our literacy program must possess phonemic awareness, phonics, and comprehension.
- By far, the most significant factor holding back young Australians is how reading is taught to children
- Unlike learning to talk, that is natural, learning how to read depends on how children are taught.
- A School’s literacy program must be structured and systematic with the approach to teaching the component skills of reading: phoneme awareness, letter-sound knowledge, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension is the most effective method.
What Tina & I heard was supportive of our approach to teaching Literacy and this approach is being introduced for Maths.
Pupil Free Day - Friday June 7 - Preschool & School
Friday June 7 will be a Pupil Free Day. This day was booked at the beginning of the year and set aside for staff professional learning. It is necessary for staff to access quality professional development, and continue to experience new learning to support better student outcomes. This date is the Friday before the June long weekend and it may be a really great opportunity for a short family getaway somewhere in country SA. I thank you in advance for your support with this.
We will be offering the OSHC program on this day for families who may need child care.
Hats
At OLV our Hat Policy for school is that students do not need to wear their school hat in the months of June, July & August (winter months).
Our last day to wear hats will be this coming Friday 31 May. I suggest that all students take them home, where they can be washed and stored safely until September 1.
Preschool students need to wear their hats all year round. They are subject to different regulations set by the ASEQA.
Dearest All,
WOW, Week 4 already done and dusted! Where does the time go?
Since Mother’s Day’s gathering, it has been celebration after celebration. Week 2 was our Mother’s Day celebration, Week 3 allowed us to showcase Catholic Education celebrating the week with a number of activities showcasing our school following the theme of ‘why we ‘love’ our Catholic school’, and this week, Week 4, we entered into Pentecost, a very poignant time within the Liturgical calendar celebrating the gifts of the Holy Spirit, our gifts and talents. And as we head towards Week 5, we celebrate our own story of the Visitation of the Blessed Mary with a Liturgy on Friday 31st May at 9.30am hosted by 4/5JN and National Reconciliation Week.
School celebrations are not merely Christian festive occasions alone but vital educational tools that shape the overall development of our students – spiritually, physically, emotionally, and academically. The celebrations embrace cultural awareness and assist in moulding our students into well-rounded individuals, and compassionate members of society. We pride ourselves on all our celebrations and believe such events contribute to a student’s growth, from academics and creativity to ethics and community involvement.
Matthew 25:
Lord, help students use their gifts and talents to serve, so that Your will is accomplished in their lives. Lord, fill their lives with trusted adults who can lead them toward goodness, guide them towards actions and nurture them towards developing compassionate personalities. Lord, help them acquire you as they learn and grow so they can lead fruitful and prosperous lives, and know that you are in front of them to guide, beside them to listen and behind to protect them.
Amen
Have a wonderful weekend.
God Bless.
Linda
This term in Year 1TB, we have focused on Place Value. We have learnt how to skip count by 2s, 5s, and 10s and have used base 10 blocks to manipulate numbers. We have played many games to support us in developing our mathematical knowledge such as Buzz, using the base 10 blocks to make two-digit numbers on our whiteboards and playing the popstick game with our peers.
We have really enjoyed learning about Place Value so far this term.
Lost Property
There are a number of items of unnamed clothing in Lost Property. Has your child lost anything, if so please come in to check if it is here.
These are the items I currently have:-
Size 4/6 Size 6
2 sport jackets 3 sports jackets
1 winter jacket 1 woollen jumper
Size 8 Size 10
1 sport jacket 3 sports jackets
Size 10/12 Size 12
1 Winter jacket 1 sport jacket
Size 14 Size 16
2 sport jackets 3 woollen jumpers
Size XS
1 sport jacket
World Environment Day
OLV is celebrating World Environment Day on the 6th of June (week 6)
Students are invited to dress in their favourite bin colour:
- Green – Carlos the Compost
- Blue – Larry Landfill
- Yellow – Rosie Recycling
- Grey – Timmy 10c
We ask that you please bring a gold coin donation that the Enviroclub will donate to a local environmental charity of their choice.
Students will participate in a normal school day that also includes some nature/environmental themed activities to be done in class.
Activities may include:
- Nature meditation (what can you see, hear, smell)
- Poem about the environment or bins
- Make a pledge to the environment (eg. I promise to bring my water bottle with me everywhere so that I don't need to buy bottled water)
- Watch a David Attenborough documentary
- Reflect on a time when the environment (nature) made you feel a deep sense of happiness (nature decreases anxiety and stress, our ecosystems are what keep us alive)
- Earth hour (no use of electricity in your classroom for an hour)
- Nature walk
- Nature themed mindful colouring in, word find, crossword, scavenger hunt
- Waste sorting activity
- Build something or create an art piece using repurposed materials
- Whole school clean up
Happy World Environment Day!
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