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TERM 2, WEEK 6

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

This week, Hollie Kinning from St Paul’s, Anna-Marie Bothe and I travelled to QLD to participate in a Lutheran Education Australia Contemporary Learning Tour.

What are Contemporary Learning Tours?

High impact schools provide supportive, creative and inspiring learning environments for students to have opportunities to highly develop contemporary skills so that they can be positive contributors in the world they live. The research and success stories around the world show that the focus should not just be on content-driven schooling, but on more experiential based pedagogies supporting the growth of skills such as critical thinking, natural curiosity, collaboration, deep empathy, entrepreneurship, innovation, resilience and grit.

Contemporary learning methods emphasise active student participation, engagement and collaboration. This approach encourages students to take ownership of their learning, explore topics of interest and develop critical thinking skills. Contemporary learning recognises that each student has unique strengths, weaknesses and learning styles.

Contemporary learning encourages creativity and innovation by providing students with opportunities to think outside the box, express their ideas and engage in open-ended tasks. It nurtures imagination, problem-solving and entrepreneurial skills, enabling students to develop a mindset that embraces innovation and adaptability.

Over three days, we were able to immerse ourselves in a range of schools who are basing their learning styles in a contemporary model. We were challenged, inspired and were in constant discussion with peers about inspiring students to connect to their learning.

It was a powerful few days of reflection, curiosity and learning!

Yours in Christian service,

Brad Moss
Principal

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AROUND THE GROUNDS

St John’s has been a hive of activity again this fortnight! We celebrated our Athletics Champions at a whole school assembly, farewelled Year 5/6 students on their camp to Ballarat and are currently engaging in National Reconciliation Week activities. Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures and achievements and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia. This year’s theme, “Be a Voice for Generations”, encourages all of us to be a voice for reconciliation in our every day lives. We are urged to use our words and actions to create a better, more just Australia. Students have been immersed in indigenous culture through a performance called “Googabinj”. The Googabinj (Australian Bush Turkey) is Craig Kemp’s spirit animal. Craig presented an amazing show to our whole school, teaching us about Indigenous culture and law through stories, demonstrating how to use different traditional tools and weapons and quizzing us on our knowledge of animals through playing the didgeridoo!  

 

Soft toys and Items from home:
We are starting to see an increase in soft toys and items being brought from home. While we understand that these things can be a comfort for some children, we request that these remain at home. When playing in the playground, these items can become lost, broken or cause accidents. We have a wide range of toys at school that students can play with and encourage them to use the resources we have available at school. If children use a soft toy as company on the bus or in TheirCare, it needs to remain in their bag or be placed on the teacher’s desk until the end of the day.

 

LOST PROPERTY

Our lost property is located out the front of the Administration Building.
The box is very full - a reminder to please label all of your child's clothing with a permanent marker or clothing labels. We have encouraged students who are missing items to check the lost property box and ask parents to encourage them to do so too.

Sometimes students accidentally pick up other students' items, so please check your child's bag.

IMPORTANT DATES

Friday Night Chapel - All families welcome
Free Sausage Sizzle!
School Hall
Friday 2 June 6.00-7.30pm
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St Paul's College - Year 5 Discovery Day
See advert below for more information
Thursday 8 June
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King's Birthday Public Holiday
Monday 12 June
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Year 1 & 2 Excursion - Aladdin Production
The Cude, Wodonga
Friday 16 June

TEAM APPRECIATION

To our Financial Administrator, you’ve kept our School on track with ‘everything finance’ for 16 years – Happy work anniversary for this month!!  

Your breadth and depth of knowledge of St John’s is so incredibly useful, we’d be lost without your expertise, and much appreciate receiving our pay 😉.

Mrs Kilo enjoys making the most of a relaxing weekend in her spare time and is always putting her family first! Thank you for greeting us with a smile when we walk into your office.  😊

Mrs Kilo – THANK YOU

TEAM APPRECIATION

Our St John's team is an amazing group of individuals who contribute to our wonderful school, and the lives of your children!

To our Financial Administrator, you’ve kept our School on track with ‘everything finance’ for 16 years – Happy work anniversary for this month!!  

Your breadth and depth of knowledge of St John’s is so incredibly useful; we’d be lost without your expertise and much appreciate receiving our pay 😉.  

Mrs Kilo enjoys making the most of a relaxing weekend and is always putting her family first! Thank you for greeting us with a smile when we walk into your office.  😊

Mrs Kilo – THANK YOU

YEAR 2 PBL

Exciting News!

Our Year 2 students are building a beautiful little interactive garden on our school grounds for their Project Based Learning (PBL) this term.

Their driving question is: “How can we make a space in our school garden relaxing and safe for others to explore?

Students will create interactive games or features and choose a special spot to demonstrate their ideas to create this space for others to relax and be entertained. Before making their items, they first practised making them out of play doh – what a fun class activity! We can’t wait to present our year 2 PBL showcase garden at the end term – watch this space 😊

 

 

BOOK CLUB

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LEARNER PROFILE IN ACTION WITH YEAR 5/6

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ST PAUL'S COLLEGE - YEAR 5 DISCOVERY DAY

GOOGABINJ CULTURAL PERFORMANCE

Reconciliation Week

We stand proudly on Wiradjuri land, celebrating Reconciliation Week. We were lucky enough to welcome Googabinj to our School! On Tuesday afternoon, we journeyed on a culturally enlightening performance that was engaging, interactive and funny – the students had so many laughs.

Thanks Googabinj for travelling from Queensland to share your stories and traditional culture with us!

CREATIVE ARTS

Dance:

The last fortnight has been so nice and busy in dance that I have forgotten to take as many photos as possible! The students are continuing to do amazing things, and all get involved in the dancing. I am so proud of them all.

Kinder students have been learning about movements in the circus! They clowned around, performing tricks, such as juggling scarves, balancing beanbags, tumbling on a mat and performing on a very low balance beam.

Year 1 and 2 finished up their storytelling dance lesson with a performance of a nursery rhyme as a dance only. The rest of the students had to guess what nursery rhyme they were performing. This showed students how the actions we use can tell a story, they loved it!

Year 3 and 4 added a new dance to their bush dance list. The last 2 weeks focused on the Queensland Backstep. This has been a great dance, as the whole class did it as a whole group. It is showing them that they need to work together and stay in time to participate and complete the dance.

Year 5 and 6 looked at salsa as a new dance form, and I am impressed with all the students who gave it a go; it was a tricky one to learn. We just looked at the simple footwork and then tried to do it in pairs.

DESIGN LAB

This last fortnight saw the K-2 students completing their jungle shelters. Year 1 were tasked with building theirs outside and have been very invigorated by this challenge. The children often continue their work in Design Lab over their lunch breaks. It has been so wonderful to see them developing capacities in creativity, symbolic play, problem solving and collaboration.

The 3-6 students tested their shelters against the weather elements and had the opportunity to make changes to their design to improve it. They then began creating a fishing rod or trap to catch their food. Their designs have been very impressive, with some students being able to create pulleys to reel in their fish. We are still collecting various boxes, containers, paper rolls etc for our Maker Space. Thank you to those who often drop these into the office.  Mrs Jessica Cottrell
Design Lab Teacher

ATHLETICS CARNIVAL
2023 AGE CHAMPIONS

GIRLS RESULTS 

8/9 Years
1st Indi Knight
2nd Pippa Groenewald
=3rd Thea Kinning
=3rd Audrey Sarroff

10 Years
1st Scarlett Barber
2nd Eloise Schilg
3rd Emma Sumbler

11 Years
1st Maddison Baker
2nd Hannah Code
3rd Lara Male

12/13 Years
1st Vivienne Jarick
2nd Zoe Podubinski
3rd Alannah Van De Linde

BOYS RESULTS 

8/9 Years
1st Lincoln Heinrich
2nd Harrison Connelly
3rd Joel James

10 Years
1st Johan Klsassen
2nd Jett Smith
3rd Cyrus Jafari

11 Years
1st Levi Wilson
2nd Ryder Reid
3rd Jaxon Fraser

12/13 Years
1st Axel Podubinski
2nd Noah Pitman
3rd Joel Proos

Congratulations to LUTHER who placed 1st in the Athletics Carnival

STUDENT INFORMATION
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN CLASS

KINDERGARTEN

In PBL this term, the Kinders are becoming Historians and learning about how stories are told. We had a classroom museum of old objects and photos and the students had to use white gloves, being very careful of the items and had to be curious about what the object was, what it was used for, and who they think would have owned it. We had some great discussions about how these objects and photos can tell us important stories about the past. We are now discovering our own stories and what makes our story unique and special. This started with our name and we are now discovering our unique and special features and drawing a self-portrait to show this. On Fridays, we have been exploring different Maths concepts through play-based learning. It is a great opportunity for us to investigate and look at different ways we can use and see shapes, smaller numbers, patterns, dot patterns for numbers, mass and halving. We love talking about what we are learning, as these conversations help us learn how we discover an answer and different ways of thinking about Maths.

YEAR 1

What a busy fortnight in year 1!

Miss Mel had a special birthday and we had the best fun celebrating her! We are so thankful to have such an amazing learning coach and friend in our Year 1 team. All the students made sure she was spoilt with kind messages on the day.

Sorry Day / Reconciliation Week

Last week on Friday, was Sorry Day. As a class we looked at a video about the stolen generation and spoke about how Sorry Day is day for Healing and making up for past mistakes - a great lead into Reconciliation Week this week. Afterwards, we had a share circle where we spoke about things we were sorry for, or how it feels to say sorry / have someone say sorry to you. It was interesting to hear the students' perspectives on what being sorry means to them.

For Reconciliation Week, we have been looking at different dreamtime stories and how they are a way of sharing knowledge and history. We have looked at the meaning behind the colours and symbols on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flags and that ‘Connection to Country' is part of who they are. We have been exploring the meaning of different Indigenous art symbols and using these symbols to create our own Indigenous art.

Christian Studies
In Christian Studies, we have been looking at the Old Testament. So far, the Bible Stories we have covered are the creation of the world and Adam and Eve. The year 1’s have done an amazing job at remembering the stories told the week before and love to share their thoughts and ideas. We are putting all the Bible Stories we cover into our Christian Studies book so the students can look over them at any time.

 

Maths
In Maths, the students have been learning about what equality means. We have been using the concept of balance to explore and check the various ways numbers are combined to work out the total. The students have been identifying number bonds up to 20, as well as the purpose of the equals sign. We have been using visual strategies, such as number lines, ten frames and connector blocks to help us solve real world questions.

YEAR 2

Year 2 took advantage of the last of the nice weather and read with reading friends outside. In Mathematics, the students explored data by creating their own vehicle with superpowers. They choose exactly 40 blocks, and they designed their model. The students predicted which blocks would have the most and least and then checked their predictions by taking their models apart and creating a data display.

Nate and Benji responded by saying they re-organised their blocks using 3 different categories. They also thought that you could measure and weigh the blocks.

PBL (Project Based Learning) – last week the students cleaned up the school garden ready for their interactive garden to be made. They also explored the plants in the school garden so see what plants are suitable for their display. The students found leaves and created a beautiful leave tree in Art. We are really enjoying our PBL unit; please ask your child what they have been doing.

If you have any old gumboots or succulent plants, we would really appreciate them for our interactive garden. Thank you in advance!

YEAR 3/4 PV

The Year 3/4s went to St Paul’s College, Walla Walla, to see a production of Peter Pan. We were surprised to see so many familiar faces on stage - ex St John’s students! It was a great experience to watch a live musical performance on stage. The costumes, props, lighting, music and the sets were amazing.

Afterwards, we walked down to the Zion Lutheran Church. As part of our Christian studies unit, we explored the parts of the church, symbols and learnt about the church seasons with our guide, Pastor John.

For our PBL unit this term on local food/fibre, students have been bringing in and sharing some local home produce. Jethro’s family has a beehive, and it was interesting hearing all about the process from bees to honey. Cruz’s dad made relish from home-grown tomatoes. Sarah said, “It was the first time I’ve had relish. I thought it was okay.”

YEAR 3/4 LK

Over the last few weeks, students have been involved in lots of hands-on and very engaging learning. In English, our learning has been based around a story called 'The Cheese Platter Matter'. Of course, the students needed to sample one or two foods firsthand! There has been much opportunity to expand their vocabulary and investigate what authors do to engage the reader by using adjectives, alliteration and idioms. It also tied nicely to our focus on persuasive writing and how authors use high modality words to convince readers.

In PBL, students are enjoying sharing the foods and fibres their families produce at home. What a variety the students have brought in. See how many you can count in the photo!

For Maths, the students had to keep the learning applicable to real life by enjoying a chocolate platter! Students were asked to come up with a question they could solve, using the chocolates on the platter. They came up with a wide range of questions and are developing their skills in showing more than one way to solve a question.

On top of this, they also did a fantastic job of presenting Chapel last Friday. What terrific learners they are!

YEAR 5/6

Read some camp reflections from the students:

"What was/were your favourite moments?"

Meeting new people (Mitch and John from St Paul’s, Henty) and going 61 metres underground and seeing what the unique gold mines look like. Another highlight was buying my harmonica because it has a very soothing sound. I also enjoyed seeing the very satisfying gold bars being crafted and seeing John Curtain’s portrait on a granite pedestal during the Prime Minister's walk. He was a former prime minister of Australia and I’m related to him.
By Gan Ney

My favourite moments were going down both the gold mines, the gold pouring and the gold panning. The gold panning was where you had a metal bowl and you put in some gravel and start swishing the bowl side-to-side so that the gold would go to the bottom of the pan.
By James Connelly

Playing the game how some people were gold buyers and some people were troopers. The rest were miners. The miners mined in a little hole for gold. If the miners found some gold, they would sell it for money from the gold buyers. The gold buyers were a bit sketchy, and they cheated for money. The troopers would catch people and put them in the jail if they did the wrong thing.
By Levi Wilson

My favourite moment was spending time with my friends. 😊We got to do all the activities together like gold panning. By Vivienne Jarick

I loved the AURA show, it was about the gold rush and the Eureka Stockade. I loved how it was 3D and we got to sit in little vehicles that were so bumpy. I also loved the lolly shop at Sovereign Hill. There were so many different lollies and I bought some sour grape drops that I would highly recommend. The gold pouring was amazing. We watched the gold melt at 1200 degrees so the person would have time to pour it into the mould to make a 24 kt gold bar. I liked the bowling because we all tried our best and I didn’t win but it was only my second time. I liked gold panning and even found some gold although I think that the gold in the Bendigo mine was fool's gold.
By Victor Wang

My favourite moment was ten pin bowling. It was my favourite because everyone in my group encouraged everyone, even if they're losing or it was a bad bowl.
By Hudson Piltz

 

"What did you find surprising"

How big the Eureka flag is. That I held REAL gold.
By Zoe Podubinski

How hard it was to be a miner in the olden days, because they went to jail if they didn’t have a license and when they had to use the drill in the mines it was really, loud and it makes you get bad headaches (most of the miners ended up being deaf because of it).
By Darcy Smith

That I found a flake of gold and I was the one of the few people who found a piece of gold. Then I bought a small bottle for the flake - it was one dollar.
By Xavier Saroff

I found it surprising that after a war the Eureka flag was taken home by someone, and the person that took it home showed it off to everyone at parties, ceremonies and stuff like that. The people that saw it cut pieces off the flag so it was very broken but finally it was sent to the museum because the art gallery didn’t want it and it’s still in the museum now.
By Ella Mighalls

Going 61 metres underground because I have never done anything like that before.
By Darcy Wright

 

 

 

CAMP - BALLARAT 2023

YEAR 5/6 GC

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MERIT AWARDS

Year 3/4 LK
Ivy Tervet & Ian Wang
Year 3/4 PV
Lincoln Heinrich & Lily Ross
Year 5/6 GC
Gan Ney Cole & Isabel McGrath
Year 5/6 FS
Matthew Kalina, Eva Barclay,
Charlie Schilg
& Will Frohling

Little Saints
Layla Smith & Indigo Sutcliffe
Kinder
Piper Barber & Lola Armstrong
Year 1
Benji Keen & Ashylnn Deegan
Year 2
Connor Strauss, Chad McPherson
& George Shipp

Little Saints
Soraya Valente & Piper Tyrrell
Kinder
Lachlan Paris & Morgan Mason
Year 1
Evie Wright, Sophie Chang & Sophie Wenke
Year 2
Nathaniel Pallett, Evelyn Tyyrell & Evie Noordam

Year 3/4 LK
Thea Kinning, Tennyson Deegan & Jett Smith
Year 3/4 PV
Ayeva Walters & Jethro Harper
Year 5/6 FS
Beau McWaters

Week 5

Week 6

Last Week: We travelled around the world exploring food this week. There is no better way to explore culture and ethnicity then through eating dishes from other countries. We tried fried rice, ate pasta, and cooked nachos. The rice wasn’t as well received as the other dishes, but the kids still gave it go. Of course, there was no waste when it came to eating pasta, and some of the older kids loved helping when we cooked nachos. We tried to do some different craft, but it was hard to pull the attention away from the café that was in service each afternoon. They enjoyed playing with the new set I got last week; we may have some future baristas among us here!

 

This Week: We turned our space into a winter wonderland! It was time to say goodbye to the suns and sunflowers on our window and welcome snowflakes and snowmen. As temperatures drop and mornings become icy and cold, we get ready for the fast-approaching Winter. If we look at the positives, its always warm and cosy inside the class and nothing beats a hot milo on Friday mornings. With most of the 5’s and 6’s off on school camp it was a fun time with the littlies, we made chocolate snowballs on Wednesday and have been very busy all week making lots of craft that is now on display.  

THEIRCARE
BEFORE & AFTER SCHOOL CARE

FORTNIGHTLY RE-CAP!

PRAYING FOR YOU

At St John's, we pray for our students and their families and staff members.
This week, we are praying for:

Week 5
Evie and Jonti Noordam
Coby Miller
Annabel & Eli Johnston
Stella Benke
Ellena Murtagh
Shelley Murtagh

Week 6
Isabel & Jack McGrath
Hannah Mitchell – Neal
Frankie, George & Andy Tuohey
Beau Armstrong
Jenny Kilo

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