Welcome to our final curriculum newsletter for term 2022. Can you believe it??? This newsletter provides our parent community with a twice termly snapshot into the classrooms of STM. We are so proud of our children and all they have achieved throughout 2022. We are excited to welcome you to our final celebrations of learning in the final weeks of school. Thank you for all the support you have provided to our children and our teachers this year. After two challenging years it has been wonderful to see the growth in our children in their first full year onsite at school in three years. So much to be thankful for!

This term for Inquiry, our focus is 'Our Natural World'. All life on earth is interconnected. For life to continue, humans are called to be stewards of creation, managing resources, protecting and sustaining the natural environment.

Our students will observe, investigate, analyse and compare the differences and uniqueness of systems and phenomena.

We seek to stimulate wonder and awe, curiosity and an appreciation of our natural world which leads to active citizenship where people are compelled for action for the common good of our environment.

Last week was National Recycling Week with the theme 'Waste isn't Waste until it's Wasted.' Check out our Instagtam reel below to see some of the learnings that happened during the week! We also had 20 entries into our community recycling challenge! Congratulations to all who entered. Stay tuned next week for an update about the winner once our children have voted.

The Prep inquiry unit this term is ‘Our Natural World’. We have been exploring different animal groups, their features, habitats and diets. As a part of this unit we have received chicks to look after from the ‘Henny Penny Hatching’ program. We received 17 chicks! When they arrived, some were in an incubator as eggs and some were alive/little fluffy chicks. We have watched them hatch and grow into healthy and happy little chicks. We have made sure that we are quiet and gentle when around them/ holding them. Everyday we feed the chicks and give them clean water. We will have them for 2 weeks, this week being our last, and then they will go home with some STM families. We are also going to be keeping some at school in the chicken pen!

RELIGION

In religion, the year 1’s have been learning about Advent. Advent is a time of preparation for Christmas. It begins four Sundays before Christmas day and ends on Christmas day.

The year 1 children made beautiful Advent wreaths. The wreaths are a circle to represent God’s never ending love for the world. The wreath has 3 purple candles, 1 pink candle, and 1 white candle. The purple candles represent hope, peace and love. The pink candle represents joy and the white candle is lit for Jesus on Christmas Day.

Advent is a time for prayer and reflection and acts of kindness. The Year 1 children have thought about ways they might show hope, love, joy and peace and created a kindness calendar. Each day, the children turn over the bauble and ensure they demonstrate that act of kindness.

These past few weeks in Grade 2 we have been learning about Advent and how we prepare for this special time of the year. The children explored what things they do to get ready for Advent at home and at school. We discussed the importance of the Advent wreath, the significance of each of the candles and that we are waiting for the birth of Jesus. Through scripture and the joyful mysteries we learned about the Nativity Story, the 3 three wise men and the gifts which they brought to the Manger.

This term the year 1/2 children have been exploring the importance of bugs, beetles and insects in our world. Recently, each class was lucky enough to take care of their own Monarch Butterfly Chrysalis. For two weeks, our children watched intently and cared for the chrysalis by spraying it with water light each day. We observed and took note of the changes to the coocoon until one day, the incredible butterfly emerged. It was a wonderful moment of learning captured below....

In Grade 3 we have been looking at the different types of poetry. We began our unit by looking at an alliteration poem that describes silly ice cream flavours. We then started creating our own silly flavours ensuring that they included alliteration, 6-8 syllables per line and rhyme. We are going to be using this knowledge to create our own pizza flavour poem.

Here’s a combination of our 3 poems.

The Grade 5s have been extraordinarily busy this term! We were lucky enough to attend the Remembrance Day Service at the Shrine of Remembrance. During the service the students were extremely reverant and respectful at such a prestigious event. After the service the Grade 5s toured the newly renovated Shrine Museum and explored the many artefacts that it holds. Did you know that Australian school children were the largest financial contributor to build the Shrine?

In Mathematics the students have been brushing up on their Measurement skills and exploring units of measurement to measure length, perimeter, area, mass, volume and capacity. They have been connecting their knowledge to where we might see and use this in their everyday lives.

In Writing and Inquiry the Grade 5s have been researching, paraphrasing and writing their own information reports about an unknown endangered ocean animal. They have been investigating these animals' appearance, diet, life cycle, predators and threats. The students are hoping to raise awareness of the trouble these animals are in and how close they are to becoming extinct.

In Religion the students have been linking their knowledge of Mary Our Mother to the Nativity story and her responsibilities as Jesus’ mother. The Grade 5s have been connecting their understanding of how Jesus is a gift to us, that we celebrate at Christmas time and as we prepare during Advent to how they are a gift to their own families.

In Reading the Grade 5s have been reading and exploring the many types of poetry and have enjoyed reading poetry out loud with expression. They have been discussing the poet's purposes when writing poetry and the messages that we can find within them.

On Friday the 11th of November, the Grade 6 students were lucky enough to attend the Shrine for a very special Remembrance Day memorial service. It was a truly moving experience for all and a day to remember forever.

The day started off with a welcome from Uncle Mick, an elder who addressed the crowd with a sacred Welcome to Country.

We then heard speeches from some people who had an affiliation to a service which was very moving.

We were also lucky enough to have some of our SAT leaders lay a special wreath to honour the soldiers.

The day was finished off with a guided tour in the Shrine where the students were able to learn all about the different wars. The students were so engaged and really loved hearing all the interesting facts about our great country's history.

We hope you enjoyed reading about the amazing learning that has been happening in our classrooms this term and throughout 2022!

Kate Korber

Learning & Teaching Leader