Junior School News - 28 October 2022

Pre prep to Year 12 Co Ed Day & Boarding 30 Dr George Ellis Drive,

Towers Qld 4820 Phone: 4788 2242

JuniorSchoolNews

WELCOME BACK:

I hope everyone enjoyed a restful, relaxing and enjoyable holiday break. We are well and truly back into the swing of things and learning is happening in many shapes and sizes both inside and out of all of our Junior School classrooms. I love to see all the wonderful learning activities that teachers have planned and it is equally enjoyable to watch students engaging with many different learning experiences and picking up new skills and abilities. As we are approaching the halfway point already I am sure that this will be an enjoyable term which will just fly by.

PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS

In Week 2, Year 2 students welcomed Miss Lauren Tierney to their classroom. Miss T as she was affectionately known enjoyed her time learning many skills associated with primary school teaching. Thank you to Mrs Laura Heuir for opening her classroom to allow Miss T to undertake this important part of her learning with us.

In addition to Miss T, we have also enjoyed the company of Mrs Amy Sweeney in Pre prep. Mrs Sweeney is also a Pre Service teacher who has spent 3 weeks, from Weeks 2 to 4, refining her skills and being guided by Mrs Peagham. I know that the Pre prep students have enjoyed learning with Mrs Sweeney. I would like to thank both of these ladies for choosing All Souls St Gabriels School to assist them with their professional learning and wish them all the best in the completion of their studies.

BOOK FAIR

This week we have had our final Book Fair for the year setup in the Edna Eden Centre (German room). Students have had the opportunity to visit the fair before and after School. I would like to thank all our wonderful volunteers who have kindly donated their time to help run the Book Fair; Mrs Kaye Corcoran, Mrs Diana Slagmolen, Mrs Terri Hensler, Mrs Michelle Furber, Ms Tina Miller, Miss Trisha Machin, Mrs Jodie Cook and Miss Kym Lyon. These sort of events are not possible without the help of our valuable volunteers. Thank you.

LEGO COMPETITION:

On Thursday of last week, 20 October, a team of our Year 6 students consisting of Lilyarna Blanchard, Max Scanlan, Matilda Twine and Ethan Brunello travelled to Townsville to compete in the annual Lego competition held at the Townsville Grammar School. While they didn’t win these students represented our School with pride and a sense of fair and fierce competition which was duly noted by James Cook University judges. The students enjoyed the challenge of various tasks set for them throughout the day, along with the sausage sizzle lunch and the chance to mix with students from other schools. I would like to thank both Miss Clarke and Mrs Clark for transporting and supervising our students on the day. Well done to all involved!

YEAR 7 ORIENTATION

This week our Year 6 students spent a couple of days in the Secondary School taking part in the Year 7 Orientation Program. This program allowed students to become familiar with some of the routines of Secondary School while also meeting some of the key staff who will be assisting them in their transition to Senior School in 2023. The program also allowed students to meet some of their future classmates.

ActingHeadofJuniorSchoolCont.

MOVE UP’ DAY

As our Year 6 students experience some time in the Secondary School the remainder of our Junior School students also ‘moved up’ to the next year level to experience a new classroom, teacher and to get a taste of the learning and experiences that are ahead of them in 2023. I am sure that this was well enjoyed by all students. I have loved hearing the excitement that learning in a new environment with a new teacher has brought to our students and staff.

PRE-PREP ORIENTATION DAY

On Saturday, 22 October, Mrs Peagham, Mrs Limkin, Mrs Cragg and I met and welcomed new and potential new students at our annual Pre Prep orientation day. This was a great morning which was enjoyed by all and gave both students and parents the opportunity to become familiar with our Pre prep staff and facilities. I look forward to these students joining our School next year.

INTER-HOUSE SWIMMING

Next Friday our students will do battle in the pool at the annual Inter House Swimming Carnival to be held at the town pool. Mrs Dickson has been working hard to ensure that everything is ready, and that the day runs smoothly. I cannot wait to see our students giving their all to score points for their house. May the best house win!

Junior School Support Group Shopping Spree

The final fundraising event for the Junior School Support Group will be our annual Shopping Spree. This will be held on Thursday evening, 24 November in Gill Street. Tickets will be on sale soon. Please check the School’s Facebook page in the coming weeks for participating businesses and details about the event. Thank you to all parents who have volunteered to assist with running the Shopping Spree. We are still searching for a few more helpers. If you are willing to assist please contact the Junior School Office.

Karen Storey Acting Head of Junior School

Mrs Limkin and Mrs Cragg

In Literacy, we are learning the sounds that letters make and finding words that have this beginning sound. We are using our discoveries to build an imaginative story together using five elements including characters, setting, time, problem and solution.

In Numeracy, our focus has been time. We are thinking about the different things we seeand doat daytime and night time. We shared our knowledge about how some animals behave differently in the day and night too. We discovered that there are some things we see and do at both day and night. We have also been using our thinking to solve everyday problems including how to get a ball out of a tree, how to build a bridge from one tower to another and we have even been using our imaginations and pretending the big red mat is hot lava that we have to try and cross! We really had to think and find a variety of solutions to solve the problem.

In Health, we have been exploring gender bias. We are challenging our thinking around what boys and girls can do, be or wear. We love that girls can be the heroes of the story too! We thought about the characters in our TV shows and discovered that everyone can be a hero. We discussed the men and women in our lives that are police officers, nurses, stay at home parents and hairdressers.

In Geography, we did an experiment to see what would happen to our rubbish over the holidays when we placed it in the soil. We discovered that the scraps and the paper disappeared but the plastic, metal and wood did not. We did some research and discovered some very interesting information about how long it takes for plastics and metal to decompose. Did you know that it takes up to 450 years for a plastic bottle to decompose? We were shocked too! We thought about how important it is that we reduce the rubbish in our lunch boxes, that we reuse our containers when we can, that we recycle some of our rubbish to make other things, and that we place our food scraps back into the soil that helps us grow our food. We also explored how important trees are to our survival, animals and to the soil and air.

In The Arts, we have been enjoying learning ways to use our bodies to dance including learning some dances from different cultures from around the world. We have been learning to coordinate and cooperate to learn the Mexican Hat Dance and the Russian Polka. We are having a lot of fun and are very excited to share our learning and skills on Junior School Assembly. We are also exploring Drama and how we know when someone has changed into a role. Mrs Peagham uses a costume, changes her voice and holds her body differently when she changes into the role of Denki the Dream maker helper. Denki is a character that needs our help, we are helping her find the Dream maker who has gone missing. We are thinking about a variety of solutions to help and we too will participate in our roles as dream maker helpers.

In the School Readiness Program with Ms Shannon we have been building our fine motor skills through cutting with scissors and doing a variety of weaving activities that have challenged us. We have explored a variety of activities including paper mache, painting and gluing to create a Christmas bauble to take home at the end of the year; we are very excited to show our families.

In the SparkProgram with Bodyfix Physiotherapy, we have continued to build a variety of whole body movements, coordination, and skill as we participate in a variety of physical activities. We love showing how strong we have grown by holding our weight on the monkey bars, how we can hop on one leg and how we can throw and catch large and small balls while balancing! Our physical strength, coordination and balance has greatly improved which is helping us sit up with a strong posture and control our bodies in space (spatial awareness). We are loving the fun games and activities. We have loved having Pre Service teacher, Ms Amy, in our Pre prep classroom for the last three weeks. Through her thoughtful lessons and games we have not only learnt a lot, but had fun too. Thank you, Ms Amy, for playing and learning with us, we have loved having you. Good luck with the rest of your studies!

Mrs Osbaldiston and Mrs Fittock

In Geography, children have discussed how certain places can be important to people and how they need to be looked after. They have also started looking at features on a map as well. We even created our own map of the Junior School which the students enjoyed.

Students have enjoyed learning all about dance. We are loving getting ready for our End of Year Concert performance. They are all trying their very best in each practice session, and we have loved watching them improve as they move along. We can’t wait to share this with you at the end of term!

In English, independent writing has been a focus for this term. It has been great to see the progress of each child’s writing. We even had a picnic with our teddys after writing about what they look like, feel like and why their teddy is special to them. The children have also started writing letters in class and enjoyed receiving letters from book characters.

Reading groups and activities have also been a daily focus. Before reading we look at the front cover and predict what we think the text might be about and then we read. I am very proud of how we are all giving our readers a go and attempting those tricky words!

In Maths, we have been busy looking at 2D shapes and 3D objects. We have had fun finding everyday objects as well as turning our 2D shapes into a piece of art. We have also been continuing number recognition and counting daily as well as looking at the days of the week and what happens on each day.

During Digital Technology, we have been working hard at typing on our computers. I have been impressed at the improvement seen in this area. We have also been looking at algorithms and how to complete a task and the steps to be taken. We looked at the steps to make a milkshake, vegemite sandwich and getting ready in the morning. We were also excited to use a Beebot and give it instructions to move it.

I am looking forward to seeing how we continue to progress as the year finishes up. It has been enjoyable teaching your child this year and I have loved watching each of them grow and improve.

In Maths this term, we have been busy learning and practising our two digit numbers. We can make these numbers in many different ways, such as using MABs, ten frames, words and pictures. This week Year 1 are learning a new strategy called the part-part-whole. This means lots of addition and subtraction practise.

We have combined some of our Technology unit with our Maths Data work and are learning to use PowerPoint and Word to create tables and picture graphs.

In our English unit “Procedures”, we are learning how to write a procedure for a Disgusting Sandwich. Together we read a story called “Wombat Stew”. Then we gathered the information out of the story to come up with a procedure (recipe) to make Gooey-Brewy Wombat Stew for Dingo. Did you know Dingo wasn’t even going to taste test his stew? The best part was making our own gooey brewy stew and eating it!

We are coming to the end of our Science unit and are now starting to discuss sound and how it is made. Soon students will start making their own sound instrument. They will need to think about the sound their instrument makes and how they can change the sound.

A few weeks ago we completed our HASS unit by looking at a special place. This special place for us was the garden in front of our classroom. We looked at things that were natural, managed and constructed. We drew birds eye view maps and labelled what we could see in our garden. Part of the assessment was writing about how we could look after our garden and thinking of a feature that could improve it.

With the End of Year Concert on our mind, we are lucky to be working on a Dance unit with the Year 2s and Mrs Heuir. Our aim is to produce an action dance to match a season.

It is hard to believe the year is nearly over. These last couple of weeks are so essential to making sure we are ready for Year 2, this means attendance is very important.

CreativeandCaptivatingProceduresinYear2

Hero Headquarters has been a flurry of making and creating as the children have been learning about procedural texts. They loved meeting the main characters George and Granny when listening to the novel “George’s Marvellous Medicine” and were very surprised to learn that the book was about one huge crazy procedure made by George! The author, Roald Dahl, refers to Granny as agrizzlyoldgrunion,anoldhagandevenahorridold,wickedwitch . I will let you be the judge about what type of character she is, but the children think that it is very cool when they get to use these words in their writing.

The events in “Georges Marvellous Medicine” have lead the children to creating some wonderful written procedures as a class and with their friends. Written procedures we have constructed include titles like ‘Wicked Wiggly Worm Bread’, ‘Grannies Cranky Crunchy Creatures’ and ‘Mrs Heuir’s Shushing Potion’! The writing was fun but the making was even better! Many were amazed when a crazy Mrs Heuir put her magic to work while creating her teacher loved Shushing Potion. They were even more surprised when the potion boiled and bubbled in front of their very own eyes. (NO STOVE NEEDED!). The children have used what they have learnt about the characters in the story to inform their writing and have examined the structure of procedural texts.

Our Recipe for a Great Procedure

Goal: To create a well written

What you need:

sequenced

that the reader can follow and enjoy!

Nouns

Method:

Step

Step

to teach the audience to make or do.

The Year 3 Superstars have started off the term with a “Bang” by creating some entertaining poetry using onomatopoeia, alliteration, rhyme and adjectives. They have been studying some of the poetic devices and language features that poets use to create imagery and bring their poems to life. It has been rewarding to see them, not only enthusiastic about their writing, but able to innovate chosen poems so creatively. They have also learnt that poets draw on their own experiences to stimulate their writing ideas.

The students continue to love Science this term as they investigate two of the properties of matter; solids and liquids. Investigations have been fun, hands on and have taught the students much about the properties of different solids and liquids. Next, they will examine the effects of adding or taking heat to different types of matter and draw conclusions on their findings. What a bunch of mad but intelligent little scientists we have.

One of our favourite subjects so far has been History where we have been comparing the past and present; now we will be learning all about celebrations and commemorations. We began our term focusing on celebrations and we all participated in some party games where of course the correct attire was required, as can be seen with our remarkable party hats. Year 3 has been learning about a celebration called Diwali short for Deepawali, which is one of the most popular celebrations in India. The word translates to ‘row of lights’ in Sanskrit and celebrates the victory of good over evil or light over darkness, which is why it is also known as The Festival of Lights. We created some rangolis that are used as a symbol of welcome, happiness and positivity in households during this celebration. This also helped us with symmetry in maths as the colours and patterns chosen in a rangoli’s need to be symmetrical.

During Dance we are learning about different celebration dances from around the world! We watched some incredible Native American dancers perform different ceremonial dances and were very impressed by their incredible skills. As we continue to learn about the different dances from around the world we will be learning some traditional dances to try.

Welcome back to the final term of Year 4! We have been very busy already and will continue to work hard and have fun through our learning by experimenting and getting creative.

In English, students have been developing their ability to create an opinion and support this with evidence. We have been investigating the techniques advertisers use in their print advertisements. Students are busy analysing the language and visual features of ads of their choice. They use this information to create an opinion based on the effectiveness of the advertisement. Finally, they will compare their advertisement to another, expressing a preference with supporting reasons.

This term in Maths, the students have been learning about angles and symmetry. We have been categorising angles by size and looking at examples in the real world. In one lesson students were using mirrors to explore the reflection symmetry of 2D shapes and discover which shapes have lines of symmetry. Students were also using plastic shapes to draw examples of flip, slide and turn symmetry.

We enjoyed learning about sustainable cocoa farming in Africa. This is not only supporting the environment but also the local farming communities. Originally Kit Kat was the only chocolate made with 100% sustainable cocoa. We checked it out, they tasted great! After further investigation when shopping, students found many more products are now also supporting the use of 100% sustainable cocoa farming. Mrs Turner decided we couldn’t try all of them to test the quality, one chocolate treat was enough.

In Science, students investigated how friction affects the speed of a toy car as a part of our Forces unit. The class thoroughly enjoyed the chance to go to the Senior School Science Lab and use the equipment to conduct this investigation. The students explored how the speed of the car would change depending on the material (timber, felt or carpet) on the ramp surface. They then applied their scientific knowledge about friction to analyse and explain their results.

We look back at this time of the year, and even though we are still working hard and learning, it’s wonderful to see the journey we have been on throughout the year. The students are preparing to finish their final tasks in Year 4 and, with excitement, look forward to all the interesting learning and topics coming their way in the future. What a wonderful year we have had.

It’s the final countdown!

The learning in Year 5 cannot (and will not) be stopped anytime soon in Term 4. In English, students have loved studying the text and film versions of “The Lorax.” Students explored and identified many similarities and differences between the book and the film. They sequenced a written comparison of the two and were delighted to pick their own preference. Can you guess the favourite? The 2012 animated film of course! Original music, new characters and high quality animations brought the film to life and was a clear winner among the Year 5 students.

In Mathematics, students are making real world connections across all strands. Working with large calculations and understanding profit and loss has inspired some budding entrepreneurs in the class. Students are alarmed at how much they have enjoyed learning 24 hour time. In addition to this, we are investigating how to put our problem solving skills to the true test when it comes to working out how much time has passed. Cooking dinner? Try giving them a start and end time and students will be able to tell you how much time has elapsed. Hint: this could come in handy when negotiating household chores.

In Science, students have been asking, “what’s the matter?”. Chemical states of matter, that is! This term we have explored observable properties of solids, liquids and gases through several investigations. These investigations will culminate in our final assessment task.

To round off a stellar year, students are learning to code a dance and then teach it to a fellow classmate in real life. Warning: this unit will result in several dancing kings and queens.

We have had so much fun learning and laughing together in Year 5 in 2022.

Until next time, Miss Chloe Bassett

We have had an exciting term so far with lots of events happening throughout the weeks. With our Year 7 Orientation program starting this week, some of us are starting to get emotional about all of the changes that are just around the corner.

We started our term with Mrs Dickson and the Junior School House Captains organising dodgeball and ball games over our Friday lunch times to get everyone involved in some extra House events. These were a great way to work as a team and practice our team spirit for the upcoming Swimming Carnival.

In Week 2, the Student Council organised some relaxing colouring for the students to do at lunch time for Mental Health Week. It was a calming way to make some new friends and have some lovely conversations during lunch time. Thank you to the Student Council team who organised this for the Junior School students.

Our Science unit this term is based around changing states of matter. It has involved a lot of investigations and learning by doing and observing. Our class favourite so far has been watching the chemical reactions as we mixed Coke and Mentos together and vinegar and bi carbonate soda. Our big investigation will take place in the coming weeks as we head up to the Secondary School Science Lab to use the secondary equipment to further investigate how heat can change matter.

In Week 3, Lilyarna, Matilda, Ethan and Max spent the day at Townsville Grammar School competing in the Lego Robotics Competition. This was another great day that we were lucky to be a part of and we placed 6th this year. We were quicker and smoother with our vehicle design and we learnt some tips and tricks about how axles and cogs make a difference to the overall speed of robotic vehicles. Thank you to Townsville Grammar School for hosting us and to Mrs Clark for coming along for the day.

We are on the final stretch of Junior School and have experienced Secondary School as we participated in the Orientation program this week. The last few weeks are going to fly by and we can

t wait to enjoy the last few special moments of being Junior School students. We will see you soon at the End or Year Concert and the Year 6 Graduation luncheon.

Miss Clarke and Year 6.

Around the traps

Term 4 began with a big deep breath as we dived into the Health and Physical Education units that we began last term. Each class is working hard to finish the theory component of learning safety, responsibilities, health messages in the media, developmental changes and transitions. Our practical sessions are in the swimming pool. All the students have been challenged to swim further and to practice as much as possible.

Inter-School Sport

We were very fortunate to be invited to play Rugby League at the Legends of League event on 8 October at Bill Lewis oval. It was a great honour to be the curtain raiser for the Senior game. I shared with the students the pride I felt for being a part of their magnificent game. It was an entertaining and nail biting match as we played hard to level the score with Columba. Danny Clark scored many tries and Braith Foot and Jack Power were also able to get over the line. The final score was a draw which would not have been possible if it was not for Nate Carroll Major’s little kick that got the ball in the right place for our last try. It was fantastic to watch the sportsmanship and trust the players had in each other. They were confident in each other’s ability and able to use everyone’s skills to play hard and well as a team. Our success can also be attributed to the amazing coaching skills of Mrs Jo Butler. Mrs Butler encouraged the students while demanding the best of them and each of the players rose to her expectations. It was inspiring. Well done to all players and thank you to everyone who came to support our team.

Inter-House Sport

We have engaged in two lunch time Inter House sporting competitions which have done well to raise House spirit and sportsmanship in the Junior School. On the first Friday back we played ball games and in the second competition we played dodge ball. Congratulations to the House Captains who organised their teams and thank you to the Year 6’s for setting up and refereeing the games. Everyone had a great time.

Looking ahead…

In the later part of the term, we have our Inter House and Inter School Swimming Carnivals. These will be great opportunities for our students to show their sportsmanship and House spirit. Swimming training in the morning has a good following with students improving their skills and water fitness over the past few weeks.

Kicking off Term 4 in Library as a School, we celebrated ‘Mental Health Week’ with our School counsellor Miss Olivia. Miss Olivia joined us in our Library time where she completed an escape the classroom activity with the students. Students had to find clues and in each clue was an activity which related to mental health. Using the clues, students worked out a code which was placed into our lock which cracked the code. Students from Pre prep to Year 6 thoroughly enjoyed this activity.

As we get into the swing of the term, can I please remind students and parents to make sure they are bringing their library bags and books in on their library day? Thank you.

Music with Miss Richards

In Music, we have moved straight back into the swing of things and dived into our assessment tasks. Throughout all the classes, students have been working to finish off any bits and pieces left of their assessments. When assessments are finished a range of music games like “Doggie Doggie”, “Detective Rhythm”, “Musical Chairs” and so much more have been played. Students are also excited to start some Christmas related music games and activities later in the term.

German News from Mrs Dunn

On Monday, 12 September, 20 Students participated in the Charters Towers Languages competition. Students from schools in the district competed in 3 divisions, speaking Chinese, Japanese and German. Our speakers did an amazing job and walked away with many prizes. Lilah Plant & Nyssa Bowley 1st, Ava Crane 2nd, Olivia Wallis 3rd, Hugh Heading Encouragement Award. A huge congratulations to all who participated and to Mrs Diana Rosad who assisted with the judging.

Neir