Andrew Chinn

 Andrew Chinn -  2013

St Mary's was privilèged last week to welcome Australian Catholic Christian singer Andrew Chinn to our school for the day. Children are familiar with Andrew Chinn songs that we use regularly at St Mary's for class prayers, liturgies and masses. Some of the older children will remember Andrew from his last visit in 2010. Andrew spends the day working with the children to include as many as possible for the evening concert. He first works seperately with the junior, middle and senior schools in the morning and then the whole school together in the afternoon. Andrew is an 

ex-primary school teacher and is very patient and encouraging while working with the children.

 Joseph, Edward and Koby made great gophers during the Noah's Ark song.

Andrew performs with the children rather than performing to them.

 There were some great movers and shakers amongst the children during the songs.

 Willem poses with Andrew Chinn. Willem loves Andrew Chinn songs and is always asking for them for prayers during the year.

 Being cool during one of the performances.

Beautiful voices.

Willem boogies down the church aisle.

 Willem and Ryleah thank Andrew for coming and Willem presents him with the gift of a pen (but not in the case though!!!!)

Edward's Sustainability Book

 Book Creator App on iPads

Edward created the following book on Book Creator in one session during change-arounds in reading. The work still needs a little editing but it shows some of Edwards learning in our Concept - Sustainability!

Carbon Footprints

 How big is your footprint?

Room 6 have been learning about carbon footprints and how many of our practices in the West cannot be sustained. We must reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane we are producing through our daily activities and choices.

We looked at the ways we are all contributing to raising levels of greenhouse gases on Earth, which are helping to heat the planet. We asked, 'how big is your footprint?

We then discussed all the different ways and all the different things each of us can do to reduce our carbon footprints.
The children traced their own footprint and wrote all the ways they could help reduce their own carbon footprint onto their foot poster.

 The children used some of the class' ideas and some of the children came up with their own individual ideas.

The Fruits of the Holy Spirit

The Fruits of the Holy Spirit

In Religious Education in Term Two we have been learning about the Holy Spirit. In particular we have looked at the Fruits of the Holy Spirit. The children have learned that the fruits are not apples and oranges, but just as real fruit nourishes our bodies so The Fruits of the Spirit nourish our minds and souls. They help us to become better people.

The children have discussed the people around them who show some, or all, of the Fruits, such as kindness, generosity, peace, self control etc. We have talked about how these people can inspire us to use the Fruits to become better human beings. 

We played a board game that helped children remember the names of the Fruits of the Holy Spirit.


Some children got enthusiastically into the game.

 Some of the dice throwing was very dramatic.







Other children took the calm relaxed approach to playing the game.

Lucille enjoyed playing the game and naming people she thought showed the Fruits of the Spirit in her life.

 Some children preferred to play the game alone at their desks.

 The children learned also to cooperate and follow the rules together as a team.

The game showed how performing acts in the game, as in real life, that showed evidence of the Fruits of the Spirit, is a positive and rewarding thing in our daily and religious lives.

Sustainability -Term 2 Concept

 Our concept this term at St Mary's is ‘Sustainability’. Children will learn what difference they can make to their immediate environment. We will focus on sustainable gardens and recycling will also be part of the programme. Middle School children will be using the school gardens, looking after the chickens, recycling scraps, running a worm farm and trying very hard to persuade others to do the same.

 The middle school has exclusive access to the school garden's this term and room 6's day in the garden is Wednesday. In class we will be talking about sustainable practices and why sustainability is important but on Wednesday's we are allowed to get our hands dirty weeding the gardens, getting the scraps from the chickens and keeping an eye on the worm farm.

 The children enjoyed their first afternoon in the garden and found lots of fascinating things to talk about. Tae'o and Misty in particular seem really keen to share something with Mr. Bach.







The children were not scared to get stuck in weeding the gardens and looking for insect pests on the leaves.

 Some caterpillars were found on some of the cabbage leaves but with autumn upon us there should be no more butterflies laying eggs.

 This week Poppy also shared something very interesting for news. She brought a large abandoned nest from last summer, probably made by a larger bird like a blackbird or starling. Interestingly among the twigs and leaves used to build the nest was a piece of plastic rubbish.

Koby was also lucky enough this week to receive a special prize at assembly for his holiday reading. He won one of the main prizes - a book voucher. Well done Koby.

 Life Education

On Friday last week room 6 were lucky enough to have a second learning session with Bernie and Harold the Giraffe in the Life Education truck.

Children learned about the functions and locations of some of the organs in the human body and got to play doctors for the day. Bernie also talked to us about how to treat others around us and how to avoid and protect ourselves against bullying behaviour.

 The children had great fun identifying the organs in the human body and placing them on 'Suzie' in the right place and position. Everyone was keen to be chosen to play doctor. Only those on their absolute best behaviour got chosen, although as usual some children did miss out.

 Doctor Naina and Doctor Tyler try to work out what an organ is and where it goes on Suzie. If the doctors couldn't work it out then they asked the audience to put their hands up to answer.








Angelina is keen to be chosen as a doctor.

 Harold came out to talk to us at the end and to remind us of all the learning we had been doing. Harold tried to convince Bernie he had been behaving and not watching too much 'Sponge Bob Squarepants. Bernie wasn't too sure if she could believe him.









The children creep forward to get a better look at Harold.

 Bernie and Harold are amazed by all the stars on the ceiling of the truck.

Willem is lucky enough to get up close to Harold and meet him. He pats Harold and gives him a hug. Because they have been so well behaved during learning at Life Education, Harold agrees that everyone can come and greet him personally and give him a pat or a hug.

Reading in Room 6

 Reading in Room 6 

Children are told from the first day that after improving self management the most important thing they can do to help learning in all areas is to READ.

Children are encouraged to read whenever they have a spare moment during the day. Room 6 have silent reading time for 5-15 minutes straight after lunch. Mr Bach always has a chapter book (usually Roald Dahl at the beginning of the year) that he is reading to the class. He also uses Big Books to read to the class and to use during group work.

 During instructional reading time the children work in their groups and go through different activites on a rotational basis. Children read with Mr Bach on the mat at least every second day and discuss different word decoding or comprehension strategies. We also look at different words to build the children's vocabulary. On some days children are expected to demonstrate independence and either read their stories to a buddy or read silently at their desks, or on the mat.

 During other parts of the rotations children will complete worksheets, do an activity or play a literacy game on the i-Pads, read from a CD-ROM  or do a literacy activity online using the computer.

 Room 6 children seem to enjoy reading to their buddies. In this way we cooperate and help each other with our learning.

 Room 6 also now has two Mac laptop computers to go with our 6 computer workstation.

 There are plenty of areas around the room to work during reading. We make use of all our space.

 Children are sometimes allowed the privilege of completing worksheets on the mat rather than at their desks.

  

 On some days children will read their stories in their heads. As children become more able readers the best and most relaxed way for them to read is silently in their heads, as this allows the children to process information without having to consider pronunciation, or worry about unknown words.

Room 6 also has 45 minutes of library time each week. Our library TIME is Tuesday from 11:45-12:30. Mrs O'Leary has a fantastic library set up for us and is always doing exciting things. Children are encouraged to take a challenging book out each week, to take home, or to read during silent reading time.

Check out Mrs O'Leary's 'cool' promotional idea.