GRAPEVINE
connections at each stage of the K-12 journey. The depth of this connection is critical in Steiner Education and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program.
Three of the many ways connection is fostered at MRSSK and the link with our values:
1. Relationships (Goodness)
Imparting the feeling to our students that they are already enough and that we want them to work hard and strive is a paradoxical reality we work to instill. For the adults in our community, this means modeling this approach in our own striving to understand ourselves, listen, and engage with each other with honesty, respect, and good humour. It requires constant effort and care. The connection between students, teachers, and families is the foundation of our approach to education and well-being.
2. Connection to Nature (Beauty)
Building a connection to nature through our curriculum, festivals, gardens and grounds, camps, Outdoor Education program and First Nations knowledge is fundamental
Autumn is a time of conscious selfhood, a time when we celebrate the building and strengthening of our inner life.
KAREN RIVERS
to making a difference in the world. Positive human action on a global scale, and a meaningful sense of responsibility, are born of the knowledge and feeling that we are not separate from the world.
3. Storytelling (Truth)
One of the reasons storytelling is so important in our curriculum is because it is through the stories from the many different stages of human history that our students are exposed to the development of human thought and experience. We are connecting them with the human story over time, which has led us to where we are today. These stories help us to grasp, on a deeper level, who we are, where we come from, and how our understanding of the world, and ourselves within it, has developed over time. Our happiness is largely due to the story we tell ourselves about our experiences and we seek to sharpen the students’ sense of the breadth and power of narrative and their capacity to shape it.
Glenn Hood
MORNING STAR Sandi Valerio
The Morning Star children are enjoying the sunshine as it filters through out bare trees. Our fire place on Nature days has been a wonderful gathering space for families to sip on some warm Chai to start the day. Morning circle has been well received, we sing songs of gnomes and windy weather using our bodies to tramp, hammer and twirl as we sing with our friends. We are working with busy hands to finish our pom poms and will begin threading seeds and nuts to begin work on our nature windows. This week we enjoyed a story with the Preps, ‘The Autumn Bulb’. We are so lucky to have friendly neighbours that we can visit to sing, dance and have stories with. We look forward to this weeks Nature day to go walking and play ‘Farmer in the Dell’ in the big school.
ROSA MUNDI Jack Finegan
Autumn has set in here at Rosa Mundi. The children have been busy sewing their cushions and creating Library bags in craft. Learning songs of autumn leaves and watching the world of colour change all around us. Spending mornings by the fire and enjoying warm soup and bread to fill our hearts. And listening to each other tell stories through play. Jack Frost has visited us each morning and reminded us the importance of our warm clothing, whilst Father Sun still visits each afternoon to send us home and remind us of his warmth.
ALL SCHOOL EVENTS AND DATES: WWW. MANSFIELDSTEINER.VIC.EDU.AU/CALENDAR
CLASS 1 Liz Morrell
Class One have been busy with a Main Lesson called Letters to Text where we have been putting our knowledge of alphabet letter sounds into words and sentences. Alongside this we are bringing together our ideas for the class play; choosing Australian animals, working on speech and learning new songs. We look forward to presenting our play at the end of term. Our numeracy work involves skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s using beanbags, handballs and a large soft ball. Writing numbers and discovering the many forms a number can have, has brought alive the inquiring minds of the students.
CLASS 2 Amy Burns
This week, Class Two will be introduced to place value though the characters and misadventures of The King of Ireland’s Son. Having been immersed in his journeys in our previous Main Lesson, they’ll undertake the tasks of the characters and use Ones, Tens, Hundreds and Thousands to count mounds of ox horns and the fine threads of garments, developing skills in recording these new larger numbers using numerals and pictures to represent them. By the end of the Main Lesson, they will be ready to count the enormous collection of secret treasures of Gilly of the Goatskin and will have practiced adding and subtracting two- and three-digit numbers.
CLASS 3 Ariel Stava
Class Three have had a busy few weeks preparing for their Class Play Noah and the Flood which they will share with the school community at 12noon on Thursday this week. There have been lots of lines to learn, props to manage and the children have had fun discovering how to use backstage this year rather than all being on stage at the same time. Next week they will begin their final Main Lesson for the term which will be the introduction to measurement. Thank you to all families for attending and supporting the wonderful Autumn Festival. The children had a great time crafting their beautiful lanterns and singing around the fire.
CLASS 4 Lou Pullar
Class Four had an ‘awesome camp’ out to Wappan Station recently where they ran like mountain goats, and chased a fox to the top of the hill for a magnificent view of their local area. The Taungurung waterwells at Mt Wombat and fishing in Lake Eildon were highlights. Thanks to Jodie for bringing your outdoor education hat and golden coach captain, Al for making it all run smoothly. We have now begun the much-anticipated Norse myths which are renowned for their humour, cunning, magic powers and gigantic strength. The students are looking forward to writing and illustrating their own book of these dramatic stories.
CLASS 5 Clare Bennetts
Class Five have been learning about Australian History over the past couple of weeks and writing a diary entry each day from the perspective of nine-yearold John Hudson, the youngest male convict, or thirteen-year-old Elizabeth Haywood, the youngest female convict. They have written about the hulks, the voyage, landing on the East Coast and what life was like once they were released. This week they will listen to stories from the goldfields then write a diary entry from a gold digger before heading off to live this experience at Sovereign Hill on Wednesday until Friday as part of the live museum. Thank you to Sam, Lou J and Brad B for taking the class and for Sam for getting their spelling, handwriting and grammar skills fine tuned before Madam has them for two days at the Ragged School!
CLAS 6 Jacinta Walker
Class Six are getting back into juggling in the morning with many students now working out tricks and teaching them to their classmates. We have also started some work on Latin in preparation for our Rome Main Lesson to come.
YEAR 7 Seamus Kavanagh Year 7 have been learning about the Middle Ages. Starting off with the ‘great migration’ a period of instability post the Roman Empire, where we looked at the movement of peoples over Europe, and the impact this has on the next few hundreds of years. We have been introduced to the Feudal system, and heard of the remarkable story of Eleanor of Aquataine. Every day we are experiencing a different Medieval Game, to further immerse our experience in the life of a Middle Ages peasant.
YEAR 8 Anthony Jensen
Year 8 students have been studying perspective and enjoyed learning new drawing skills to represent perspective through one- and two-point perspective drawing. A highlight has been their creative input and detailed designs of inner rooms, city scapes and landscape panoramic vistas… After learning basic concepts and techniques students will now expand to larger formats and complete some finished works in colour and utilising mixed media materials and techniques.
YEAR 9 Kate Hood
Year 9s are studying the anatomy of the human form both in relation to the animal kingdom and its uniqueness with capacity for living with intention. The students study the skeleton in relation to their own bodies and other animals and learn that the life choices and experiences shape their skeleton. With the study of intentions comes an opportunity to teach consent laws, prosocial choices, and positive and safe interpersonal relationships.
YEAR 10 Andrew Raftery Year 10 have been exploring the scientific description of sound through their knowledge of music. Through weekly sound meditations we have felt the vibrations in the air around us and seen the impact of sound through a sub-woofer. We found an experimental value for the speed of sound using the theory of standing waves in tubes and will be further observing the link between standing waves musical chords. Next week our focus will shift to sound design, investigating constructive and destructive interference and diffraction in sound waves.
MUSIC Celeste Cleason
It has been wonderful to see so many children arriving early in the frosty mornings to participate in extra-curricular music ensembles. Our Junior Performing Orchestra continues to grow (34) and both our secondary school orchestras are busily honing their musical craft. Our senior vocal ensemble performed two stunning songs at the AGM and brought many to tears with their gorgeous singing. In recent weeks, a new primary school choir has begun to rehearse on Friday mornings. The choir is for students from Class 4 to Class 6 who share a passion for singing and so far, 39 students have chosen to participate. They sound like angels already and we are looking forward to sharing their beautiful sound in a performance in the future. In addition to early mornings, some secondary school students participate in contemporary bands on Monday and Tuesday afternoons which is a more rock’n’roll friendly timeslot!
REMINDER: At lunchtime Thursday and Friday the craft room is open, if students have project ideas from home this is a great time and space for them to work on these projects.
IB - EXCURSIONS Mackenzie
NB:
Please communicate with staff via EMAIL name+first letter of last name@ mrssk.vic.edu.au eg: glennh@mrssk.vic.edu.au
Henderson & Willow Matthews
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The IB cohort have been busy over recent weeks, engaging in two excursions to further their academic progress. The first was conducted a few weeks ago, when the Year 11 and 12 students met with senior students from the Sophia Mundi Steiner school in Melbourne. Students from both schools collaborated and shared stories on their comparable journeys through the IB program. The Mansfield students then participated in a French course at the Alliance Française school, aiding in advancing their French skills that are being refined thanks to the company of our French exchange students. The students also had an opportunity to independently explore Melbourne, Mackenzie and I can attest to the delicacy that is snail filled crepes. The second excursion was to the Milawa cheese company, connecting with even more French speakers there, finishing up the excursion with the students visiting the Wangaratta gallery, providing inspiration for use in the pursuit of further artworks.
PARENT BUSINESS
From the exhibition entitled “Joy” that the IB students had the opportunity to explore en route to their day of French intensive workshops in Melbourne. Images: Ella Crathern
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