GRAPEVINE
“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”
― A.A.
Once kitted out and into their groups, the students began (or continued) the journey to becoming competent cross-country skiers. Usually, this involves a fair amount of falling, getting up…..and then falling again. It was so good to see them exercising determination and to watch their rapid improvement. Most importantly, there was just so much joy and magic for them playing in the snow-covered forest.
Our Year 7 & 8 Classes departed Monday morning for a different type of snow experience. They are off to Mount Buller for 3 days of downhill skiing. Fortunately, they have fresh snow and some clear days ahead of them so the conditions will be close to perfect.
We are incredibly lucky that our children can enjoy this winter experience. We live in a beautiful place that allows us to experience and appreciate the distinct and changing seasons. Thank you
Milne
again to the parents and staff whose time and effort make the ski program possible.
All parents are welcome to attend our next P&F meeting: 5th August at 7.00 pm in Melliodora Hall. Thank you to the class representatives for your attendance.
Glenn Hood
MORNING STAR Sandi Valerio
Morning Star children have welcomed King Winter as they came back to Kinder from their holidays. Our morning circle brings songs of the falling snow using gestures and movement to help warm our bodies each morning. We are painting with the colours we see in the Winter skies and modelling beeswax by the fireside to awaken our fine motor skills using clever fingers. On nature day the Echidnas and Prep children enjoyed a story together for Naidoc week, ‘How the Kangaroo got his pouch’. Our activity for Naidoc week was silk scarf nature dyeing.The children enjoyed collecting pieces of nature and exploring different textures to use on the silk. We will begin sewing our felt gnomes this week, using diver dolphin stitch. When we have all sewn them we will have a gnome tea party before they go to their new homes.
ROSA MUNDI Jack Finegan
The start of Term 3 has been all about listening to our bodies, keeping warm and dry in the mornings and ensuring we take them back outside regardless of the weather to move and play in nature throughout the day. Our circles and stories have been focused on the chill in the air and the falling snow on the mountains. For Naidoc week we learnt how the Kangaroo got her pouch and gathered with the Kinder children to dye silk scarfs using natural colours from the land that we gather each day. With the appearance of mushrooms throughout our yard we have also begun creating some of our own by whittling sticks and sculpting mushroom caps from clay, keeping our hands busy and warm.
CLASS 1 Liz Morrell
Class 1 have been very busy with new experiences for Term 3. We began week 2 with our first day trip to the snow. The students persevered and showed great determination to stay on the skis and to master the skill of getting up after falling. Another exciting event was when the class discovered clues left by the gnomes in a note to lead the way to all their new recorders which were found hanging in the Mulberry tree. The students have already learned several songs from the ongoing Fairy Fae story. Literacy practise has brought a new phonics game allowing review of three- lettered words. Numeracy practise has been all about number patterns and skip-counting using the large cloth hundreds board. Whole body learning, problem-solving and collaboration are embedded within the activities.
CLASS 2 Amy Burns
Class Two have spent the first weeks of term working with Celtic forms and symmetry in a Form Drawing Main Lesson. This week, they have begun the Magic Numbers Main Lesson, in which they will follow the story of a traveller named Annie who sees the magic in patterns and numbers everywhere she goes. They’ll explore Magic Squares, square numbers, patterns of odds and evens in addition and shared patterns between the times tables. We have started rehearsing songs and dances for our play later in the term and have so far enjoyed incredible conditions and the chance to play and extend our skills on skis as we journey further up Mt Stirling this year.
CLASS 3 Ariel Stava
Class 3 have been very busy learning about different styles of shelters from around the world and how they fit the climate and environment of the people who live in them. Last week the students presented their House Building Project, not once, but 3 times to their peers, Class 4 and 2 who were very impressed with their efforts. They grew in confidence and spoke from the heart about their experiences collecting materials, struggling with old and new processes to replicate building techniques and seeking advice from their parents when choosing and constructing their houses. The students made cob and lime render, thatched roofs and tied bamboo together, worked with tiny bricks of clay as well as cut tin, hides, timber, canvas, hessian and made many layers of papier mâché. To support this journey, they began to learn the art of drafting before writing in their Main Lesson books. A draft gives them time to practice their beautiful cursive writing with the help of lined coloured thirds before deciding how to space it out in their Main Lesson book. Constructing their own sentences using the scaffold of who, what, where, when, why and how to describe the Gunya, Tipi and Pueplo they have transitioned well to this process. This will be a good segway moving forward to our next Main Lesson which is to look at the Land of Grammar.
CLASS 4 Lou Pullar
Class 4 have begun work on their play, Loki and Sif’s hair. They are learning their lines and battle cries for the giants as well as bothmer stave work and some special Norse songs to share. Last week at Mt Stirling they showed tremendous energy and perseverance as we skied up to King Saddle and back down the trail. It’s been a few years since we’ve had that kind of snow and it was magical. Thanks to our parent helpers for making it happen.
CLASS 5 Clare Bennetts
Class 5 have made some interesting and impressive projects over the holidays to immerse themselves into Ancient Egypt. We have received pyramids, mummies, mosaics, Pharaoh headpieces and Egyptian bread! In class, we have magnified a map of the Nile and learnt how important this river system was in establishing this ancient civilisation. We have learnt to sing, play recorder and recite poetry about Egypt and its gods and goddesses. Next week we are going to learn how to communicate using hieroglyphics. In contrast, Wednesday was our first ski day. It was fantastic to ski from TBJ and see each and every student try so hard to maintain balance on the narrow cross-country skis! Sam continues to work on Botany studies at the end of each week and is ensuring that students are familiar with the use of decimals when working with the four processes.
CLASS 6 Jacinta Walker
Class 6 started the term with their play, Pythagoras, about - you guessed it - the life of Pythagoras. Interestingly it also touched on India and Egypt, two other countries apart from Greece that we have studied over the last few years. We have now moved on to start our study of Ancient Rome, starting with Anaeus’ flight from Troy and the founding of Rome by Romulus. This week we will be looking at the various kings of Rome and their legacies. We have been cooking soup in the classroom to much acclaim by the students, and we enjoyed our day at the snow last week. In our garden we planted some radish plants that we grew from some older seeds. Unfortunately the parsnips and asparagus seeds did not germinate but it was a lesson to learn - the older the seeds the less chance they have, but it is always worth a try. We had some sprouting garlic as well that we have planted so we shall see what eventuates. Students are learning about the joys of gardeningnot everything works as you would like; there are unpleasant surprises (something has eaten all our lettuces) but sometimes you get some pleasant surprises like a flowers blossoming.
YEAR 7 Dion Hall
In Year 7 Main Lesson we have explored algebra through a range of ways that are meaningful, fun and can make clear things that are sometimes too hard to understand through an intuitive way of knowing. We have multiplied cake recipes, explored algebra through board games and most importantly, sunk our teeth into learning the language of algebra: simplifying, collecting and substituting, working studiously with our minds to seek a deeper understanding of how we can know ‘something for sure’.
YEAR 8 Nicholas Koschitzke
Year 8 are well underway with their Shakespeare play, rehearsing hard to bring the playwrights words to life. Not only are they bringing their skills to the stage but also using their talents to create and build our beautiful sets and props. We can’t wait to show you what we’ve got!
YEAR 9 Seamus Kavanagh
The Year9’s have been continuing their exploration of the Modern World and the influences that have shaped it. Focusing on WWI, the Russian Revolution, and WWII over the past few weeks. Within these topics students have been drawing parallels between some of the events of the early 1900s and today, particularly the economic instability, and the rise of fascism. Students have shown a keen interest on the human stories that have been told within this period, from the lived experiences of holocaust survivors to the biography of Lenin. This Main Lesson continues with Australian History in the Modern Era, later in the year.
YEAR 10 Oliver Raymond
Language acquisition often proceeds in a non-linear fashion, with students’ perceptions of their own ability ebbing and flowing as they encounter new vocabulary and grammatical concepts. The receptive skills (Listening and Reading) are generally more strongly developed amongst language learners in Secondary School, while the productive skills (Speaking and Writing) often progress more slowly. This Main Lesson has seen students leap into their speaking through a range of communicative activities based on functional language, in advance of the upcoming French exchange. Students have developed their ability to discuss and compare families, creating family trees and reflecting on family traditions. They have also created and performed a range of scripts detailing social scenarios, proposing social activities, as well as accepting and refusing invitations. The Main Lesson will conclude with a suite of roleplay scenarios designed to provide students with language and communication skills to assist with navigating restaurants and cafes, directions and transportation, and finally, schools in France.
MUSIC Celeste Cleason
Our extracurricular orchestras and choirs have been braving the cold, dark mornings to warm themselves by making beautiful music. It was especially wonderful this week to see a string orchestra rehearsing in ski gear which could only happen in Mansfield! It is a busy term for the Music Faculty and there are important dates (four solo concerts!) on the Sentral calendar for you to note. Little Yarra Steiner School are bringing their secondary junior ensemble to visit us on Tuesday the 13th of August. Our Year 7 & 8 string players will participate in a music workshop during the day followed by a concert in Melliodora Hall at 7pm. This concert will feature MSPO, the Lunchtime and Celtic String Groups, Little Yarra and our combined ensemble. All are welcome to attend.
Open to Year 9 - 12
Steiner School Students & their school age friends
This is an alcohol, vape & drug free event!!
SAT AUG 10 6 - 10 PM
