Junior School News 26 February, 2021 - All Souls St Gabriels ...
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Pre-prep to Year 12
Co-Ed Day & Boarding
30 Dr George Ellis Drive,
PO Box 235, Charters Towers Qld 4820
Phone: 4788 2242
Email: juniorschool@allsouls.qld.edu.au
Junior School News 26 February, 2021
WELCOME TO ANOTHER YEAR OF LEARNING.
We have enjoyed a successful few weeks of learning
and are looking forward to a positive, safe and
healthy year ahead.
We have a strong team of professionals in the Junior
School. This year we extend a warm welcome to:
Miss Prue Clarke (Year 6) and Mr Stephen Price
(Music). Junior School Staff have high expectations
for every student to achieve their best and care
enough to expect more. We delight in watching each
child grow, as they share experiences, develop
friendships and celebrate their achievements. Each
day we take on the shared responsibility of the
academic and emotional development of our young LEADERSHIP DAY (MAGNETIC ISLAND)
students. The Year 6 class travelled to Magnetic Island last
week to participate in a number of activities designed
It was wonderful to see so many parents/guardians to develop their understanding of what it means to
attend the recent Junior School “Meet the Teacher” work together as a team to achieve a common goal.
parent information evening. The involvement of They participated in a variety of tasks that required
parents within our School community remains a key them to co-operate with their peers, show
aspect to the successes we will celebrate throughout commitment to a task, display empathy and
the year. understanding of others while celebrating personal
achievements and group success. The day also
In addition to celebrating the achievements of each
provided the opportunity for the students to
child, we appreciate the conversations we have with
demonstrate they are safe, respectful learners.
parents and guardians and value the feedback we
receive. This is one of the many ways to identify Thank you to Miss Clarke, Mrs Nicholls and Mrs
areas for improvement. The feedback can be as Weston and the staff at Apex Camps for organising
simple as a few spoken words at drop off or pick up this great experience. Our thanks are also extended
time, or a quick, direct email to the teacher or to the crew on the Sealink ferry.
administration at the end of the day. Working
together, our aim is to develop confident and
resilient students by providing a diverse range of
learning experiences and challenges which
encourage curiosity, excitement for learning, thirst
for knowledge and connectedness to our community.
Junior School Direct 07 4788 2242 Fax: 07 4787 3049 Email: juniorschool@allsouls.qld.edu.au
Junior School Leaders
Student leadership is an experience, which is highly valued by our School community. As leaders in the Junior
School, the Year 6 students will be given many opportunities to demonstrate their leadership and work together
at various School and community events.
There is a defined process for the selection and election of the Junior School Captains, Vice-Captains, House
Captains, Prefects and Student Council Student Representatives. It is a big learning experience for all our
students, as they explore the range of emotions that go along with nominating, preparing speeches, accepting
results and supporting their peers.
This year, Year 6 will present their Leadership Speeches to the students on Friday, 5 March. Installation of the
Junior School Captains, Prefects, and the Year 4 and Year 5 Student Representatives, will take place on Friday 12
March.
MAKING CONNECTIONS
The Junior School students will have many opportunities to make connections with the senior students
throughout the year. Senior students will attend the Junior School Assembly to congratulate the children
receiving their awards, engage with the Junior School students during Tuesday lunchtimes and provide additional
support during various sporting and other events during the year.
STUDENTS’ HEALTH AND SAFETY
We all share a duty of care for our students’ safety.
DROP OFF - NOT BEFORE 8AM PLEASE
As Junior School classes do not begin until 8.30am, we ask that you do not drop your child off at school before
8am. Although many of our staff arrive at school before 8am, they are diligently preparing for the day’s learning
activities.
We have staff on duty for supervision in the Junior School between 8.00am and 8.30am. Pre-prep and Prep
children are welcomed into the classrooms after 8.15am. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
RIDING TO SCHOOL
A number of the older Junior School students have started to ride their bikes to and
from school.
It is not recommended children under the age of 10 ride to and from school
unaccompanied. For older students please think carefully about the following when
judging their ability to ride on their own:
How safe is the travel route?
What are their riding skills like?
How aware are they of their surroundings in the traffic environment?
How well can they manage unexpected hazards?
Before leaving home, please ensure your child is wearing an approved helmet that is fitted correctly and your
child’s bike is in good working order. If your child is carrying a phone, please remind them to check it in for safe
keeping at the Junior School office when they arrive at school. Children can collect their device at the end of the
school day.
Thank you to Constable Donnelly (Traffic Police) and Constable Machin (School Liaison Officer) for speaking with
the students about bike and road safety, and reinforcing safe riding practices.
Students who ride their bikes to school are required to dismount when entering the school grounds and walk
their bike to the designated area where it will stay during school hours.
Junior School Direct 07 4788 2242 Fax: 07 4787 3049 Email: juniorschool@allsouls.qld.edu.au
CARPARK SAFETY
As our school continues to grow, we ask for your continued co-operation in making the car park and drop
off/pick up driveway safe for all our students and families.
Please take special care when driving into, and exiting the car park,
especially at peak times before and after school. All drivers must give way to
pedestrians at all times.
Before reversing your vehicle, please make sure you have a really good
look around.
Children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian when walking
through the car park.
We also ask that children are not left in a car unsupervised, particularly
on a warm day.
As we have staff on Gate Duty until 3.30pm each afternoon, parents and guardians may like to consider
staggering your pick up time to help relieve some of the car park congestion.
FOOD ALLERGIES
With food allergies on the rise in Australia we need to ensure we
can provide a safe school environment for all.
Please ensure that we are fully informed of any allergies (medical
conditions) that your child may experience, and that you provide
us with the appropriate Action Plan and required medication to
prevent any sudden allergic reaction.
We have children in our Junior School who are at risk of anaphylaxis.
Anaphylaxis is a severe and sudden allergic reaction when a person is exposed to an allergen. The most
common allergens in school-aged children are eggs, peanuts, tree nuts (e.g. cashews) cow’s milk, fish and
shellfish, wheat, soy and certain stings and medications.
I would like to remind parents/guardians that ASSG Junior School is a ‘Nut Free Zone’ and appreciate your
assistance to maintain this, by making sure your child’s lunch boxes, birthday cakes etc. are also ‘nut free’.
STAFF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
Prior to the students returning to start the academic year, Junior School Staff were busy taking part in
professional learning, as we embark on the implementation of a Literacy program for Pre-prep to Year 6.
The program written by Diana Rigg (who has extensive experience as a Classroom Teacher, Specialist
Literacy Teacher and Speech Pathologist) in collaboration with a team of Speech Pathologists and
Occupational Therapists, is designed to translate the latest research from around the world into classroom
best practice. We have been fortunate to have a follow up online session with Diana to ask specific
questions that relate to our student data. There will be some small, but highly significant changes to our
current Literacy teaching and learning practices and homework expectations. Please don’t hesitate to
contact your child’s teacher if you require more information as the term progresses.
GOING FORWARD
Our School has a rich history of collaboration that we will continue to respect and value as we move
forward. Working together, we will build upon the excellent reputation All Souls St Gabriels has within the
wider community.
We are all excited about the year ahead, and look forward to another great year of academic, cultural,
physical and spiritual growth for all our students, staff and community. We are confident that with your
continued support, we will be able to achieve great success and outcomes for all our students.
Please don’t hesitate to contact the Junior School Office (juniorschool@allsouls.qld.edu.au or phone: 4788
2242) if you would like to make an appointment to discuss any aspect of your child’s learning and
wellbeing.
Junior School Direct 07 4788 2242 Fax: 07 4787 3049 Email: juniorschool@allsouls.qld.edu.au
5 February, 2021 12 February, 2021 Junior School Direct 07 4788 2242 Fax: 07 4787 3049 Email: juniorschool@allsouls.qld.edu.au
19 February, 2021
Class Award 14 February
Junior School Direct 07 4788 2242 Fax: 07 4787 3049 Email: juniorschool@allsouls.qld.edu.au
News from the Pre-prep, In Health, we are really thinking about what we need
to do to stay safe at school especially around
Mrs Peagham, Mrs Limkin and Mrs Cragg cleanliness and hygiene. We have listened and
Our Pre-prep pirates have had an amazing start to the watched stories about invisible germs and how they
year. They have settled in beautifully to the routines make us sick, what we can do to avoid getting sick or
and transitions of big school life, and are keen and make others sick too. We are learning how to sneeze
curious to explore, discover and learn. and cough into our elbow, use tissues and wash our
hands correctly to keep our school environment safe
In Literacy, we have been building our print (word) for everyone. We have also practieed our emergency
knowledge by identifying the title of a book and the procedures in case there is something unsafe inside
words in the book. We have explored setting, our classroom or school (evacuate), and if there is
characters and doing words in our picture books and something unsafe outside our classroom or school
thought about them for ourselves. We are expressing (lockdown).
our ideas to our friends to build our oral language. We
Our full-time students are very much enjoying their
are using our bodies to identify the beats or syllables
in words including our names, it is quite tricky so wetime in Music with Mr Price including a wonderful visit
will need to keep practising. We are learning nursery from our Year 9 Drama students who took us on an
rhymes so we can sing and move our mouths to the adventure through story. Their extra lesson in Physical
different sounds and use different vocabulary. Education with Mrs Nicholls provides a wonderful
opportunity to practise and apply the gross-motor
In Numeracy, we are learning the attributes of things skills they are learning.
including our basic and advanced colours. We are
playing a variety of games and looking at how objects The 2021 Pre-preps are a wonderful group of children
are the same. We watched a story about when Mrs who have welcomed their new friends and school life
Peagham and Mrs Limkin discovered so many different with joy and curiosity and we look forward to the year
types of leaves in our Pre-prep playground. We chose ahead as they continue to grow and learn.
our favourite and we talked about them. We felt them
with our skin, we smelt them and looked at them
closely to describe what they looked like. We learn so
many numeracy principles spontaneously during play
as we talk about what we are creating while including
shape, colour and size.
In Science, we are exploring what it means to be
alive. We are sharing what our pets need to be alive
and have been able to connect this learning in sharing
time as our friends bring in pets from home. We are
thinking about how living things eat, drink, breath and
grow. We will explore what other things are alive
around us and what they need to live.
In History, we have been discovering the past. We
have been thinking about the special day called
Christmas, what we do at Christmas time and why we
celebrate it. Did you know Jesus was born on
Christmas Day! We have watched the Christian
Christmas story and our friends pretended to be
characters in our Christmas play. We watched as our
friends pretend to be Mary and Joseph way back in
the past before electricity, cars and running water.
Our friends looked very different in the clothes they
wore in the past too. We are now using the clothes
and items in our home corner to role-play life in the
past. The Queensland Kindergarten Guidelines state a
kindergarten child has a strong sense of identity when
they show pride and confidence in who they are, their
family and culture.
Junior School Direct 07 4788 2242 Fax: 07 4787 3049 Email: juniorschool@allsouls.qld.edu.au
News from Mrs Marshall’s Minions Mrs Marshall’s Minions have started the year with a bang. The children have transitioned easily into the Prep way of life and are beginning to see the fun in learning. The little Minions have been involved in a variety of activities so far. The Year 9/10 Drama students came down and lead some activities centred around Pirates. The children played pirate games, made pirate hats and listened to a pirate story. They loved interacting with the older students and had lots of pirate fun. In class we have been dancing our shoes off. This term the children are doing a Dance unit, and by the end of it should be able to choreograph their own superhero dance and perform it for their peers. Mrs Fittock and I have been impressed with the children’s skills and creativity. The Minions love this form of expression. I love it too. We have begun our new Phonics program and the children have caught on very quickly. We also use the interactive board to learn more about each sound. The Minions love having their turn to show us what they know. Outside play is one of the Minions favourite activities. They get to run around and play games, push trucks and dig, paint and make pretend cakes, and a lot more. I like it when they hop in the car and pretend to be bank robbers or drop off and pick up the kids from school. Some of them are pretty rough drivers. Hahaha. During Mathematics we have been concentrating on learning numbers from 1-10. Making groups of objects and counting them is important at this level. The children love it when I line them up and count them, shuffle them around and act surprised when I don’t get a different number. Recognising the numbers during games and play is fun. If you get the chance at home, play Bingo, Uno or other number recognition games to help your child along. Dress-ups and pretend play is popular in Prep. I love the role play and discussions we have with the children during this time. This also allows the children to take turns, share and talk nicely to others. Construction using Lego and larger items helps with their fine motor skills. Handling these materials makes their fingers and hands stronger, getting them ready for writing. As you can see the Minions have been involved in a lot of different types of activities this term. I can’t wait to see what they can do further down the track. If you have any concerns about your child’s learning, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Until next time….. Gru Junior School Direct 07 4788 2242 Fax: 07 4787 3049 Email: juniorschool@allsouls.qld.edu.au
News from the Kingdom of Learn-A-Lot Mrs Reardon In Kingdom Learn-a-lot we have started our journey, learning across the lands. The first day was so exciting. We had to look for our names on our desks and unpack all of our new school supplies. We got to put things into our tidy drawers and a new pencil cup to sit on top of our desk. Everyone looked so smart in their day uniforms. We were even lucky enough to have a returning student join us this year; Max Stuart. Reardon’s Royal Court have been busy learning the daily routine. This includes the Daily 5 with group work and rotations, listening to our weekly Master of Ceremonies and the day, date and weather, working in Mathematics counting and making teen numbers, writing in the Year 1 lines and studying living things. We are learning how to log onto the iPads for Literacy Planet and how to decode and write out our phonics words according to sounds. Plus we are also busy exploring the routines with HPE, German, Music and Library times. There are so many changes happening in Year 1. The Year 1s now join the Year 2s for phonics. Playtime is another challenging part of the day, where we make decisions on whether to play in the Prep playground or out in the big playground. Most importantly these are the goals that Year 1 are working on this term. Stamina – keeping our focus on an activity Learning the new PLD phonics program Copying work from the board Correctly writing in the red and blue lines We work hard every day practising these goals. They may sound easy to some, but for a Year 1 student they can be tricky. I am very proud to see the Year 1 students adjusting so well. They come in each morning with a smile and a greeting and they do their jobs to make sure they are ready to learn. Throughout the year, I look forward to sharing samples of our work. Junior School Direct 07 4788 2242 Fax: 07 4787 3049 Email: juniorschool@allsouls.qld.edu.au
News from Year 2: materials and looked at basic skip
counting patterns. They have
Mrs Heuir in the Hat and Seussville enjoyed learning movements to
help them remember the seasons
and months, and have investigated
calendar concepts. Soon we will
begin investigating mapping skills
to help support our work in HASS.
Science……………..Think Right
Did you know that not all materials
mix well together? Our little
scientists have had a great time
experimenting with different
mixtures and describing their
properties. They are learning how
to create an investigation question,
predict the outcome of their
“If your keep your eyes open enough, oh the stuff you investigations and reflect on their
will learn. The most wonderful stuff” – Dr. Seuss predictions. Many of the children
It has been a Seussical start to the year and ‘Things 1 - were very surprised to learn that oil
15’ have settled magically into their daily routine in and water do not mix…….. until
Seussville. Some of our favourite activities from the first detergent is added anyway! Here is
couple of weeks included mathematical board games, Cat one of the predictions that we created together as a
in the Hat art activities, hands on learning games and ex- class:
perimenting with some substances to investigate What will happen if I mix cocoa powder, icing sugar and
mixtures in Science. We also spent time getting to know rice bubbles together?
each other while practising the classroom rules, routines
We predict that the three substances will mix
and procedures. To top it all off, Seusville has been alive
together. The mixture will turn a light brown and
with four exciting birthday celebrations!
will be lumpy from the rice bubbles. The cocoa and
Our learning journey so far…………………………….. icing sugar will mix very well because they are
English………. This Way both powders.
In English, we have HASS………………Think left
started our Daily 5 Places are parts of our world, a location on the Earth’s
rotations that consist of surface. A place has features and features can be
reading, writing and word described at different scales by using the language of
work activities. We have position. Wow! Quite a lot to remember, but it is all
also begun investigating happening in HASS. The students will learn about ‘Aerial
characters in stories and Views’ and will use Google Earth to support their
have studied how understanding. They will represent features of a place
authors use words and using symbols and will begin some basic mapping skills.
images to portray There is so much to learn in HASS, but it is so interesting
character traits. The studying the world around us!
students loved reading the
Visual Arts……..Think Up
story of the ‘Stinky Cheese
Man’ and comparing him Seussville is transforming into an art gallery as our
to the more well known creative and talented little artists complete various self-
Gingerbread Boy. They portraits using different techniques. They have used their
discovered that while observational skills and drawing expertise to create a
characters have many series of directed portraits focusing on the shape and
differences, they also position of facial features. The students have discussed
share similarities. Students the differences between realistic and abstract portraits
have been encouraged to and have viewed artworks created by famous artists like
justify their decisions Picasso and Andy Warhol. They have carefully studied
about characters by photos with the goal of making their own drawings more
providing evidence from life-like. It is fabulous to observe both their enthusiasm
texts and have recorded and conscientious efforts during art sessions. Wow!
their ideas in character
profile charts.
Mathematics………. That way
Activities in Mathematics have focused on the revision of
number and place value concepts to 100. The students
have played games, represented numbers using different
Junior School Direct 07 4788 2242 Fax: 07 4787 3049 Email: juniorschool@allsouls.qld.edu.au
News from the Year 3 All Stars Miss Miliauskas The Year 3 All Stars have had a wonderful beginning to our year. We have begun to explore why we are stars, as we settle in to our classroom routines while continuously trying to grow into the very best version of ourselves. We welcomed a new student to our team, Lexie Leake. She has been a magnificent addition to our class community. We love working and exploring together in all our learning areas. However, two of our most favourite learning areas are Drama and Science. One of the best activities in drama so far has been our freeze frames, where we had to create a scene using only our bodies. The photo shows the whole class creating a freeze frame of Christmas morning. We are also beginning to apply the dramatic elements of role, character and movement to create our own short drama based on The True Story of The Three Little Pigs. The All Stars have become quite the biologists during Science as we have been exploring, documenting and classifying things that are living and non-living. Using our inquiry skills we have been identifying the observable features of various specimens, which have helped us to identify whether something is living or non-living. Throughout the term, we have been developing our own Mental Math Magic skills to become incredible math magicians. We have awed many individuals with our remarkable mind reading abilities. We will continue to develop our Mental Math Magic to grow and develop our mathematical skills. As our term develops, we are also developing our persuasive writing skills. We had our classroom chairs go on strike and we needed to persuade them to come back. Luckily we worked together to write some very convincing letters. Now we are preparing to persuade Mrs Akers to allow us to have our very own classroom pet. Our class has narrowed the choices down to either a fish, a bearded lizard or a snake. The All Stars are determined to convince Mrs Akers to agree to our point of view. During Technology, we have been working on our coding skills. We learnt that computers run off codes that tell it what to do and if the instructions are not exact, things can go terribly wrong. Later this term we will be creating a guessing game for a friend in the class using the visual coding program Scratch. We have had an incredible start to the year and am very proud of what Year 3 has achieved so far. I am very excited for the rest of the year ahead. Junior School Direct 07 4788 2242 Fax: 07 4787 3049 Email: juniorschool@allsouls.qld.edu.au
News from Year 4 and Mrs Turner Welcome back to 2021. We have had a great start to the year with Year 4 busily involved in many learning experiences across all subject areas. They have settled beautifully into classroom routines and expectations. I am also pleased to say that some children will reach their first destination in ‘Reading Around the World’ this week. The Reading Area in the classroom with the rainbow bookcases is a favourite place to be. They have also enjoyed working on puzzles before school and they are getting very fast at solving them, I will have to invest in more to get through the year. The class has been very involved in our History Unit – The First Fleet. They have shown a keen interest in finding out what life was like in the past and about the cause and effect of certain events during that time. They have been developing and answering inquiry questions and imagining what it would be like living during that time in history. I cannot wait to see how they merge this knowledge with their letter writing task in English later in the term. We have delved into a variety of Mathematics topics including reading and organising larger numbers, fractions and probability. There have been some hands on tasks, group investigations, games and skills tested. The students are making good connections to prior knowledge and adding new concepts every week. In Science, we have been investigating the structure of the Earth and weathering. To understand the concept of abrasion, we used sugar cubes and rocks and shook them in a container over 200 times! This fun activity showed how the rocks (sugar cubes) can be changed by consistent rubbing over time. We found the sugar cubes had rounded edges and had gotten smaller. There were particles left behind just as they would be in a real life example. We will soon start sharing ‘Something I made’ as part of our Speaking Tasks this term. Students are working on the delivery of their speeches as well as entertaining the audience with some of their creations they have made either individually or with a family member. I am looking forward to this speaking and sharing experience. Junior School Direct 07 4788 2242 Fax: 07 4787 3049 Email: juniorschool@allsouls.qld.edu.au
News from Year 5 and Mrs Dickson
We are on the Path!
It has been a great start to 2021. Everyone has adjusted to new routines and is striving hard
to remain on “The Path”. This means that we are all following our School and Classroom Used with Permission
Code to be the best person we can be. Copyright Way of Warri-
or Kid 2017
Up to this point, we have been busy establishing routines and becoming familiar with
expectations across all learning areas.
We have all written and begun preparing for our first assessment task; presenting a formal presentation to the
class to convince us who we should vote for as our Year 5 Student Council Representative. It has been
exciting to see the students reflect on their own characteristics and determine what it is about themselves that
would make them a good Class Representative. We have also begun looking at different forms of figurative
language to improve our descriptions when we are writing a narrative.
As a class, we have been working to reinforce our multiplication and division fact knowledge. We have revised
prime and composite numbers and used strategies to work out what a number is divisible by. We have
reviewed how to determine probability using fractions to identify the chance of this occurring, using the range
of 0-1.
Our Humanities and Social Science unit this term is History looking specifically at Colonial Australia in the
1800s. We have discovered the political, economic and social reasons that led to the development of
secondary settlements. This has involved creating timelines and tables to support our learning.
Everyone has been involved in AFL skill development, Basketball skill workshop,
Netball trials or Rugby League skill
development in preparation for Inter-
School Sport or Gala Days.
It has been fun to see the class explore
how to draw with chalk and create
texture with paint. Our wild cats will be
decorating our classroom. Students are
learning to respond to art and identify
visual conventions within different
pieces and explain what they like or do
not like about the artwork.
Junior School Direct 07 4788 2242 Fax: 07 4787 3049 Email: juniorschool@allsouls.qld.edu.auYear 6 News: Miss Clarke
It has been an exciting start to 2021. It is hard to
believe we are halfway through the term already. It is
that time in the term where we start to complete the
first round of assessments, so we have been spending
a lot of time talking about what the students need to
do to achieve the grades they are aiming for. Our
conversations have been very interesting, as we have
discussed the higher thinking skills that are needed to
move up in the achievement levels.
We have spent our English lessons this term planning
and writing our leadership speeches. We started by
looking at different examples of leadership speeches
and what language is important for a leadership
We then moved to the Radio Regaine activity, where
speech to be successful. We then looked at the
the students had to use their team-work skills to
position description for the different leadership
conduct a mini-amazing race and collect as many
positions in the ASSG Junior School and identified the
questions and answers as they could. The students
important vocabulary from these that we needed to
came up with some creative team names like Pringle
include in our speech. We spent time planning our
Pringle, Chucky Ducky, Yogi Dogs, Foxi Foxtrots and
speeches before writing them to make sure we were
Titanic Chickens, which made the activity full of
focused on the position descriptions and highlighting
giggles. It was easy to see which students have used
our positive qualities. This was a valuable life lesson
a radio at home before, as they were very clear and
that the students can use as they get older and start
precise with their codes and their communication. It
applying for jobs and leadership positions in the Senior
was good to see so many skills being used in this
School. We have spent time practising our speeches
activity.
and talking through good public speaking skills,
making sure we are ready to deliver our speeches at
the Junior School Assembly next week.
The best part of the term so far has been our
Leadership Day on Magnetic Island. What a great
adventure. The boat ride was a very bumpy
experience, but we all managed to survive the trips.
We started the day with building rafts and using some
new rope and knot-tying skills. This was exciting to
watch as we saw all of the students engaged in the
activity who showed some amazing leadership and
mentoring skills. I was so proud of how hard all of the
students worked with this activity. We had a lot of
giggles when the rafts were tested in the water, with
one losing a floating barrel and the other one partly
sinking. The activity was a great experience for all of
the students.
Junior School Direct 07 4788 2242 Fax: 07 4787 3049 Email: juniorschool@allsouls.qld.edu.auThroughout the day the students participated in a ready for the first assessment. We have been
number of other fun games and activities and all of learning about different kinds of graphs and looking
them showed just how wonderful they really are. at connections between the information and making
Their behaviour and leadership skills are an asset to conclusions with this information. Making these
ASSG and to all of their families. We are so proud of connections and conclusions has challenged our
them. thinking as we need to think about the information
in different ways, and ways that are not so obvious.
We have been practising our times tables every
week and we are quickly moving along the levels in
the Times Table Club program, which focuses on
fast recall of multiplication and division facts. There
is a buzz in the air about how fast the students can
move through the different levels.
We have been looking at Australia in a Diverse World
in HASS and we are starting to look at the connec-
tions we have with Asia. There has been a lot of
connections with Maths in this unit as we have been
looking at different types of graphs that give us
information about the diversity of Australia and Asia,
including population numbers and population growth
over time. We have found that understanding these
graphs and making conclusions from these needs a
lot of higher order thinking, so we have spent a lot
of time discussing how to think outside the box with
our answers. There are a lot of subject-specific
terms in HASS so we have spent time talking about
the HASS words and the ‘easy’ words so we can
make sure we are really understanding what these
subject words mean. HASS has been a lot of
thinking.
Science has involved a lot of thinking like a scientist.
We have been conducting investigations on the
impact of watering methods and soil types on plant
growth. We are about to start our assessment which
looks at the impact of salt levels in water on the
growth of plants. The focus of science has been
writing and developing investigations and scientific
enquiry skills, which is helping us understand what
we need to do to make sure our investigations are
fair. It will be very interesting to see the results of
our next investigation.
So far, our Friday afternoons have been filled with
AFL skills development sessions, Netball trials and
Rugby League training, as we wait for Inter-School
sports activities to begin. The AFL skills sessions
have really helped us prepare for the AFL Gala Day
on Friday and it has been wonderful to watch some
students make such big advances in their AFL skills
in such a short amount of time. We are looking
forward to the reports from the AFL Gala Day.
That is all from Year 6 for now. We still have a very
In Mathematics we have finished with the number busy term ahead of us and we know it is going to be
and fractions part of the unit and we have just full of more adventures and surprises.
started learning about data. We are also getting
Junior School Direct 07 4788 2242 Fax: 07 4787 3049 Email: juniorschool@allsouls.qld.edu.auJS HPE & SPORT NEWS: Mrs Nicholls
While it has been a busy start to the year, it has been one of excitement and opportunity for many of our students. The
Junior School students have had opportunities to participate in Swimming, Netball, Rugby League, AFL and Basketball
sessions so far this term. The first few weeks of school brought us some visitors from Auskick (AFL). Over the past few
weeks, Reiley and Penguin from Auskick, have spent some time working with our Pre-prep, Prep, Year 5 and Year 6
students. While our younger students spent some time playing games and learning some of the basic skills involved in
Australia Rules Football, our older students prepared themselves for the upcoming AFL Gala Day. Penguin and Reiley
were extremely impressed at the talent displayed by our students and admired how quickly they built on their skills,
especially considering many had never played AFL before. If your child was someone who really enjoyed participating in
these sessions, I encourage you to get in contact with either myself, Auskick or our local club, the Charters Towers
Demons, to hear about some of the opportunities coming up.
In addition to our AFL visitors, we were also lucky to have Lauren and Bree visit us from JCU Fire (Basketball). While the
rain tried its best to keep us from making it up to the MPC, our Year 1, 2, 4 and 5 students were lucky enough to take
part in some sessions with the JCU Fire representatives. Both Lauren and Bree are part of the Fire Academy and are
upcoming WNBL stars. We were extremely grateful to have them come and work with our students and to share some
of their knowledge with us all.
The first few weeks of school have also seen the Year 5 and 6 students working hard to prepare for the upcoming Inter-
School Sport season. This year we had a large number of students interested in participating in the School netball team.
It was so pleasing to see so many new faces to the world of netball, with all students trying their best and taking on
board feedback from the teachers. They sure made it difficult to select the team!
Our Rugby League team have also begun training and preparing for their first game. Recently they took part in some
training sessions with Mr Urquhart. The boys began learning how to tackle safely and were able to put it into practice.
They particularly enjoyed getting to tackle their teammates onto the mats during their first sessions. For some students,
this was their first opportunity to learn about Rugby League, which was exciting to watch. Thank you Mr Urquhart for
giving up your time to work with our students and helping them to improve their skills.
Good luck to both our Netball and Rugby League teams
as they head into their first games in the coming
weeks. We look forward to hearing the match report.
Upcoming events:
26 February AFL Gala Day
5 March Inter-School Sport, Round 1
31 March Inter-House Cross Country
and NQ AFL Trials
Music News: Mr Price
Greetings to the parents and families of our Junior School students. It is exciting to write my first Junior
School Music report in my new role as the Music Teacher. For those who have not met me my name is
Stephen Price and this is my 5th year teaching at ASSG. Up until this year, I have taught Music and English in
the Senior School, as well as previously teaching drums and bass guitar in our Instrumental Music program. I
have been prepared for the transition into Junior School teaching by my two young daughters aged 2 and 7
months who will hopefully be joining us at ASSG before too long.
Years 5 and 6 have been reviewing and refining their rhythm skills by both composing and practising
ostinatos in groups and by themselves. They are starting to use different types of percussion instruments
while learning important skills needed when playing in a band setting.
Years 3 and 4 have started, or continued ‘Keyboard Karate’ where they test their keyboard skills, levelling up
with different ‘belts’ when they successfully perform increasingly challenging pieces. When they level up, they
will receive an armband of the corresponding colour and a certificate to take home.
Years 1 and 2 are exploring some beginner rhythms, learning how to
keep the beat while marching and playing some music related games.
We are learning about good sportsmanship and how to be respectful of
others while learning some music fundamentals. ‘Freeze’ is a crowd
favourite so far!
Prep and Pre-prep are having lots of fun singing and performing actions
to some of our favourite songs like ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ and
‘Baby Shark’. We are also working on our active listening skills with
games such as ‘Doggy Doggy where’s your bone?’
Junior School Direct 07 4788 2242 Fax: 07 4787 3049 Email: juniorschool@allsouls.qld.edu.auLibrary News from Mrs Silverwood German: Frau Dunn
Term 1 is off to a great start and lots of learning is well
Welcome back to new and returning families. It is underway.
wonderful to have the students back in the library
The Prep class have spent the last couple of lessons
borrowing books. Please encourage your children to getting to know Felix and Franzi. Felix and Franzi only
remember their library bags and return their books speak German, so it has been very important that they
each week. Books borrowed by the Pre-preps and learn some words or phrases to be able to say hello and
Preps remain at school along with their library bags. introduce themselves to their new German friends.
At the end of the year, we had a bit of a change
around and the library is looking very fresh. We now
have a special area for story time and our latest addi-
tion is a colourful picture book cushion used with the
younger classes.
With the continuation of sanitising practices put in
place last year, book borrowing has been reduced to
2 books per week. Books are cleaned when they are
returned prior to being rehoused in the library.
In the library, students are encouraged to make their Year 1 and 2 have also done some revision of
introductions in German, now having moved on to the
own selections. While guidance is given, it is not al-
topic of ‘How we celebrate special occasions’. Some
ways accepted. At the moment Goosebumps, Mine- interesting discussions have been had on what some of
craft and Dog Man seem to be the popular ones. the similarities and differences might be on ‘how’ and
Also, whatever is on display. Unfortunately I was ‘what’ we celebrate compared to German children and
away for the first 2 weeks of the term and when I other cultures around the world. Birthdays are the most
returned the displays were decimated. They looked meaningful celebration and the first to be looked at.
particularly sad with few books remaining. I have to Being able to sing Happy Birthday in another language is
always a fun thing to learn.
remind myself it is the reading that is important, not
how pretty the books look. Year 3 are exploring the concept of fashion
for themselves and German children
I do hope the students have a wonderful year and through language used to describe clothing
enjoy their time in the library. and accessories. A Fashion parade to show
off ‘Dirndl’ and ‘Lederhosen’ (traditional
The Library days are as follows: German Alpine clothing) was always going
to be on the cards.
Pre-prep Wednesday Years 4, 5 and 6 are delving into a topic very relevant to
all of them – school. The first couple of weeks we were
Prep Thursday practising phrases for classroom instructions. A popular
game has been ‘Der Lehrer sagt’ (the teacher says),
Year 1 Tuesday
which is similar to ‘Simon Says’ where the class has to do
Year 2 Tuesday the instructions only if ‘der Lehrer sagt’.
New vocabulary is always a big part of learning a
Year 3 Friday language, and it is important that students get as much
practice as possible reading, writing, listening and
Year 4 Friday speaking the new words. Bingo and Memory games are
Year 5 Monday always popular and actually getting up and walking
around practising words and phrases and using simple
Year 6 Monday questions and answers for each other, helps develop
mastery.
Junior School Direct 07 4788 2242 Fax: 07 4787 3049 Email: juniorschool@allsouls.qld.edu.auYou can also read
