St Joseph's Parish School Weipa eNewsletter

We respectfully acknowledge the past and present traditional owners of this land on which we are meeting – the Algnith people. We also acknowledge the contributions of First Nations peoples to the education of all children and people in our country Australia, in which we all live and share together.

Prayer

Our loving God, bless all our undertakings today. Grant all workers strength and good health so that they may carry out the best quality of their services so to give you glory. May they also spend time with you today to be nourished by you, partaking in the Eucharist.

All this we ask in Jesus’ Name. Amen. 

Hello families and Friends,

Thank you for the very warm welcome and wishes for my first week.  I am thoroughly looking forward to being a part of St Joseph's community and assisting any way I can in Megan's absence.

A little bit about myself, I am married to my beautiful wife Sharyn, and we have two amazing children.  Imogen who is 19 turning 20 this week and is in her third year of a law degree and Lachlan who is 23 and is finishing his carpentry apprenticeship. 

Sharyn and I both live for our weekends and love to frequent cafe's, trying to find the perfect coffee - I would love to hear any recommendations for Weipa.  

As we move forward, let us continue to support and uplift one another. Together, we can create an environment where each student feels valued, empowered, and encouraged to reach their full potential. I am excited about the next five weeks and the positive impact we can make when all working together.  

It was lovely to be a part of this week’s assembly, thank you to the families and friends who came and joined in with us.

Don't be a stranger, if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.  See you each morning at the gate and each afternoon at Stop, Drop and Go.

Wishing you all a fantastic weekend and week ahead.

God Bless

Brendon

Welcome to Week 6! Over halfway through the term and what a fabulous time we’ve been having in Prep.

This term in English, we’ve been focusing on procedural texts. We’ve been looking at all different kinds of these texts and our pick this week was recipes. We looked at the format of a fairy bread recipe and discussed the things we would need to include when writing one. Our favourite part of this learning this week was of course when we got to follow the steps of the recipe and make our very own fairy bread.

In Maths, it’s been all things measurement. We’ve been exploring using informal units such as blocks, paperclips, pegs and more to measure different objects and have been building on our estimating skills as well. We have loved our hands on activities this week creating with playdough, drawing, and building to provide different objects for us to practise estimating and measuring.

During Religion we have been learning all about ‘The Golden Rule’ where we are taught about how we need to treat others the way we would like to be treated. We’ve looked at several bible stories with important messages about compassion, love and respect and are conscious of integrating these teachings into our everyday lives.

We are looking forward to a few upcoming events in the next couple of weeks. This week we look forward to the annual ‘Weipa Rodeo’ and we wish our classmates who are participating good luck and can’t wait to spot them out there on the poddy calves. We also prepare for Book Week next week and our dress up parade on Friday. There has been lots of exciting conversations happening about all the different costume possibilities among the children.

A gentle reminder before signing off that our library and homework folders are required to be brought in each Friday and please ensure your child has a hat and water bottle each day.

Many thanks as always,

The Prep Team.

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome to Week 6 and what a very busy two weeks we have had in Year 1. The children have been working very hard and have been learning about Spiders, Melting and Freezing and measuring - Mass. We are looking forward to the following events: Weipa Bullride this weekend, Book Week and Father’s Day celebrations.

Religion

In Religion this week we have continued to look at prayers and have been learning the Hail Mary. They students are enjoying using song, actions and scripture to help with their understanding of the prayer. They have been using special intentions during morning prayer and have been showing reverence.

Health

This term in Health we have been continuing to learn about Emotions. The students have been identifying different Emotions and how they make us feel and how these feelings can be shown in our body language. This week the students participated in the Daniel Morcombe Program Lesson 3 recognising Body Clues.in the Prep – Year 2 Curriculum.

Reading Groups

The past few weeks we have introduced two new activities to our reading group rotations. The students have been using a word webs to record new words, the number of syllables and the meaning of the word. We have also been focusing on using these words to compose super sentences.

Science

In Science this week we investigated if white or dark chocolate melts faster. We discussed the concept of a ‘fair test’ and which things need to be kept the same (e.g size of the chocolate, time it is in the sun). We then discussed the definition of ‘hypothesis’, which means to make a prediction of what you think will happen.

The class then completed the ‘Prediction’ portion of the activity sheet, along with drawing the chocolate before it was heated. We then placed the 2 bars of chocolate in the sun for a 10-minute interval with regular checks.

After the chocolate melted, we put it back in the freezer to see what would happen. The students then drew. their prediction of what will happen next in the ‘after cooling’ section. We then had a class discussion about the results and if this change is reversible or irreversible.

Just a gentle reminder that:

Library - Wednesday
P.E. wear sports uniform - Friday
Assembly - Friday Morning
Mrs Gear teaching - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (am)
Mrs Turner teaching - Wednesday (pm), Thursday, Friday
Homework is sent out each Wednesday and collected and marked the following Tuesday.

If you have any questions, please feel free to make contact with us at a convenient time that suits

Our email addresses are:

Michelle Gear mgear@cns.catholic.edu.au

Melanie Turner mturner@cns.catholic.edu.au

Kind Regards,

Michelle Gear and Melanie Turner.

Congratulations all families – we are over the halfway mark for Term 3! We still have a few busy weeks ahead of us – so keep tuned for the upcoming dates for Book Week and Father’s Day events.

In Mathematics, Year 2 have been working hard learn everything there is to know about direction and coding. Students have started to master left, right, clockwise and anticlockwise turns. They have also been investigating quarter, turn, half turns and three-quarter turns. They have been coding BeeBots with their new direction skills, so they can complete the challenge of directing their BeeBot from one side of a map to another.

In reading groups, we have been focusing partner reading. Each student taking a turn to read to a partner. We have also been working on the skill of summarising. Students have had the challenge of choosing events and words that will accurately summarise the text with detail but not overload the audience with information.

Thank you for you continuing support this term.

Mrs Tapper, Mrs Barber & Mrs Dore

Hello families and friends of Year 3,

Moving towards the end of the term, we have been busy consolidating our learning and learning new topics along the way. We all looked fantastic in our Weipa Rodea dress up day today, thank you to all the families who helped with the donations towards ‘Talk about it Tuesday’.

In maths over the past few weeks, the students have been adding and subtracting large digit numbers and learning the art of trading. We have used different strategies to solve problems, such as jump strategy, split strategy, word problems or vertical problem solving.

Our Daniel Morcombe program commenced this week, and our lesson focused on the definition of ‘safe’ and students were able to gain an understanding of being aware of situations using environmental cues.

Parent-teacher conferences are to commence in Week 9, and I welcome you to book in at a time that suits you. For our Father’s Day science morning, the year 3 students are excited to share their procedure for a fun experiment with our dads. More information about this will be available soon.

Gentle Reminders:

Library borrowing is Friday
Homework is due Friday
Pupil free day is 1st September
Year 3 presenting on assembly in week 9

The Year 4’s are showing great growth and understanding these past two weeks in our Math Lessons. Students rapid recall and following of steps to work out addition, subtraction and division equations has been outstanding. A great deal of resilience with many mistakes along the way is really paying off. Using decimals in these equations is becoming easier each day.

In Religion we finished looking at St Paul’s Letters and the Decalogue. We discovered St Paul did a great deal for the Catholic communities even when there was turmoil. The next 4 weeks we will be exploring the trials and tribulations of what occurred in Australia upon settlement. Catholicism had a difficult path to where it is today. But dedication for a few important people helped pave the way it is today.

In English writing lessons we are still focusing on persuasive texts with students having a go at writing which season is the best. The were able to base it on Weipa weather and seasons or other places in the world. All students were able to create strong introductions that had 3 powerful reasons. Our use of rhetorical questions are packing a punch and make the readers think twice.

There is a lot happening in our school next week with students being able to buy from the school’s bookfair from Monday- Friday. Parents are more than welcome to come in and have a browse. We also have our Book Parade on Friday. Be sure to have costumes ready for some bookish fun.

Hello families,

Year five and six have been working extremely hard towards presenting their 'Shark Tank style shelter towards the Pannel of judgements, Miss McLeish, Mr Harrington, Mrs Gear Mr. Napier and Mr. Jason. What a panel to impress, Year 6 had to create a shelter to survive natural disasters like cyclones, bush fires and Volcanoes.

Year five tried to convince the Pannel of judges that their shelter would survive in space. Thick metal and bullet proof glass was a common choice of material involved in their creation. Both year levels did a fantastic job as you can see from the photos.

In Mathematics, both year five and year six have been exploring number, decimals, fractions and chance too. This week we used some hands -on materials to explore a bit further.

Happy week 6!

From the Senior Learning Hub Teachers.

This week out St Joey’s Way Assembly focus centred around transitions and moving around the school safety. Students who walked to and from the basketball court received extra Joey’s tokens, as well as those students who waited for their teacher before and after the bell. The MTSSE team will continue to review data and plan out some focuses for the next coming weeks. Parent input is always welcome, please feel free to contact the office with any ideas.

Week_6_Poster.pdf

Week_6_Poster _pdf 230.48 KB