Newsletter 75- November 4th 2022

This week is the feast of All Saints and All Souls Day, when Catholics  remember all the people who have lived their lives well and who have died and gone to heaven. 

God of life, we give thanks for all the holy men and women who have lived throughout the world. Help us too, to live as you would like us to by showing love to all, bringing peace, and always trying to do what is right

God of wisdom, help us as we try to follow the right path, as we do all that we can to share your peace and love with others, and as we try to make the world a fairer place for all to live.

“It is also an important day for reflecting on society. All Souls Day reminds us that each human being, no matter how insignificant or reviled, is precious in God’s sight – valued and loved so much that the Son of God died with and for them.  All Souls Day is ultimately about celebrating life.”

“In Australia today when we think of saints we are likely to think of Mary MacKillop. She is already called Blessed Mary MacKillop. Each year, too, the Feast of All Saints reminds us that we are all called to be saints. When we think of saints, we often picture priests, bishops, nuns or other members of the clergy. While many canonised saints were professed religious, anyone can be called to holiness.”

https://www.australiancatholics.com.au/article/parish-life-blog

Friendships & Conflict

Video link - Peaceful Kids

During primary school children go through many stages of making friends and along the way will experience conflict at some stage. It is very normal for children to experience conflict from time to time as this is a way of children discovering what works with friends and what doesn’t – put simply children are developing their social and emotional skills. Some children may get confused when they have a disagreement or conflict with another person and may call this bullying. There is a great difference between conflict and bullying and here is a simple way to differentiate between them:

Misunderstanding – usually problems around communication.

Disagreement – do not agree on something and both want their own way.

Conflict – people usually want to solve the problem. Can be over a period of time if not sorted properly.

Bullying – threatening, repetitive, targeted, deliberating wanting to harm, abusive, no attempt to resolve issues.

If your child does experience conflict, this is a wonderful teaching moment to guide them and help them learn about how to get along with others. Sometimes children can resolve conflict themselves, particularly as they grow into the upper years of primary school, but when they are young they may need guidance, and most importantly emotional support.

The best way to give emotional support is to use ‘reflective listening’. When we practice this type of listening, we listen to the content of what your child is saying and listen for the emotion and then we reflect back what they are saying e.g. “it sounds as though that really frustrated you when you did not get to play your game”. We can then try to help them solve the situation by giving them lots of opportunities to brainstorm a solution without stepping in too early to solve it for them.

Assembly:

It is fantastic to once again have our Friday school assemblies happening. Assembly starts at 2:50pm every Friday afternoon in the hall. All family and community members are welcome. 

Assembly roster for term 4:

Week 5- Middle B

Week 6 - Foundation

Week 7 - Junior R

Week 8 - Senior M

Week 9 - Middle B

Week 10 - Middle H

Week 11 - Buddy & Foundation

Professional Development:

At St Patrick’s Primary School we are committed to the Professional Development of our team.  At various times staff members will be working off-site or online which may result in classroom teachers being out of the classroom.

Term 4 Week 6:

2/11/22 Ms M Comitti, Miss L Comitti, Mrs Harney 8-10am    The Writing Revolutionary 

3/11/22 Mrs Cox-Hayward      Offsite 

4/11/22 Ms M Comitti  8-10am    The Writing Revolutionary 

4/11/2022 Miss Ryan                 Offsite

7/11/2022 Miss Ryan                 Offsite

7/11/2022 Miss L Comitti        Offsite  

Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT)  

Over the last two weeks all year levels have taken part in their PAT Reading and Maths tests.  Progressive Achievement Tests, commonly known as PATs, are one of the main sets of tests schools use. PATs are multiple-choice tests designed to help teachers determine achievement levels of students in Mathematics and  Reading Comprehension.  Year 1-6 students completed PAT Reading and Maths  tests online using Chromebooks and iPads. Foundation completed their assessments on a  paper test.  Data gathered will inform teachers of students’ current strengths and areas for improvement which can be used for planning teaching and learning, and monitoring progress over time with PAT. 

Cold write

All year levels will also participate in a “Cold Write” at some stage over the next couple of weeks.   Students are presented with a stimulus picture or a topic to write a narrative or a persuasive text.  This will differ depending on year levels. Teachers will then gather together to analyse the writing using “I can statements” aligned to the Victorian Curriculum standards. This will assist teachers in identifying achievements and areas for future learning. 

End of year celebration - Save the date

Wednesday 14th December, 2022.  

Our next community celebration where we can come together will be to celebrate our end of year and Grade 6 Graduation.  It will be an evening to celebrate learning, strive for personal excellence and celebrate our achievements. It will also be a chance to say goodbye to our grade 6 students and families that will be leaving at the end of 2022.  

Students will begin working on a classroom Christmas presentation that they will perform on the night.  We hope you can join us in celebrating a terrific year of learning and teaching and growing together as a community of learners. More details to come. 

We’ve been busy as bees in our classroom over the past few weeks learning many new concepts. 

Reading

We have been learning about figurative language such as similes, metaphors and idioms and how to identify them in texts and transfer our knowledge of them into our writing. We have also just finished our class novel Matilda.

Writing

After much enthusiasm and excitement we have finished our persuasive letters to the chairs and we have now started our next unit of writing which is narrative.

Maths

In Maths, the Grade 4s have been working on division concepts while the Grade 3s have been working on their 4 digit Place Value.

Religion

We have been learning about Gifts. We have read the Creation story from the Old Testament and the story of The Three Wise Men from the New Testament. We listened to each of the stories and discussed why they were written and what we can learn from them. We then responded to each story.

Wellbeing 

In Wellbeing, we have been learning about empathy & perspective and how we can care for our community.

Digi Tech

In Digi Tech, we have been learning about Binary Numbers and how computers use them to turn data into information we can read.

We are also very excited for our upcoming camp and can’t wait to go.

Fundraising: Every Friday our Social Justice group will be selling Zooper Doopers for $1.00 each at lunch time.

October is World Mission Month, a month dedicated to the life-giving work of missionaries around the world.  This year Catholic Mission is raising money for local communities in Ethiopia to help provide life-changing opportunities to those most in need.  

If you would like more information or wish to make a donation please visit:

https://www.catholicmission.org.au/worldmissionmonth

Below is an extract from Catholic Mission and their current work in Ethiopia. 

We are currently supporting a range of mission development programs in Ethiopia addressing malnutrition, the lack of access to education for young children, and the vulnerable position of women in society.

In the rural region of Emdibir, where 70 percent of families struggle to put food on their tables, we are working towards providing them with a sustainable source of nutrition by building a goat rearing centre. The resources produced through the Centre will help fight malnutrition, a phenomenon that contributes to 50 percent of child deaths. 

In the capital, Addis Ababa, the life-giving work carried out by our local partners is helping children access education.

We are also supporting women in the town of Meki to learn skills and gain financial independence by providing access to vocational training, which can help them secure employment or start their own businesses. 

As always we thank our St Patrick’s community for your support. 

Maryanne Comitti    Religious Education Leader 

Evie Field - For your fantastic efforts in all areas of your reading and using lots of expression in your voice when reading to others. Keep up the beautiful reading Evie!

Saviero Di Pietro - For the wonderful persistence and determination you are giving to all areas of your learning. Keep up the brilliant work Saviero!

Isaac O'Callaghan - For your persistence and skills in solving problems involving equality, one half and one quarter.  Keep up the great work!

Daniella Parkin Alamo - For using excellent strategies to spell words, especially when finding the 'tricky part' when spelling Tricky Words. You are a superstar!

Ollie Sutherland - For your amazing contributions to classroom discussions and for displaying such enjoyment towards every learning opportunity that arises. Well done Ollie!

Brooke Lin - For your excellent results in recent reading assessments - thanks for all your hard work at school and at home. Well done Brooke!

Luke Fulton - For the excellent progress you have made in your reading assessments. You should be very proud of yourself. Well Done Luke!

Greta Thomas - For your fantastic teamwork skills during our recent story activities. Your patience, empathy, listening and co-operative manner make you an asset to any group. Well done!

Serena Daniel - For your fabulous work writing your persuasive letter. You have shown the attributes of an excellent learner. Keep it up!

Milla Woolley - For your thoughtful reading responses to our class novel, Edward Tulane. You have shown the attributes of a great learner. Keep up the terrific work!   

Zarah Job - For the amazing way you have been talking about and recognising you’re emotions. I am very proud of you.

Ryder Sullivan - For the sportsmanship and skill you showed during the cricket blast. You’re a superstar.

Nate Thomas - For demonstrating excellent growth in your module 11 Maths Stepping Stones check-up. Well done Nate!

Isabelle Thomas - For the skill you showed in the Woolworths Cricket Blast on Wednesday by taking 3 wickets in the one over.  

Congratulations to these students who are having their birthday this week:

Archer Crouch

Mason Whitfield

This time it will be held on a Sunday

27 November   North Park     Families welcome

Better weather!!! fingers crossed

A big thanks to Shev at Stawell and Ararat Cross Country for guiding the new group of GYE’ers with planning for this event.

We look forward to seeing many of you there.