From the Chaplain
Last week, the Junior School staff listened to a song in devotions that speaks about the way all of creation, the trees, the mountains, the oceans and the wind show just how wonderful God is. Spending time at Junior School, we get the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of children and the way they look at the world around them with such awe and wonder. God created all the beauty we are surrounded by, simply for us to enjoy.
Psalm 19:1 says “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” In other words, the beauty we see in the world around us, in the sunrises and sunsets, in the hills and the waves and the flowers, all tell us of how wonderful and thoughtful God is.
May we go into Week 6 taking notice of what God has created and be aware of the intricacy and detail God takes when creating things, including you and me.
Darcee Braun
What’s on at Junior School
Week 6, Monday May 30th:
Monday May 30th – Friday June 3 – Reconciliation Week activities
Monday May 30th – Year 1 Roaming Reptiles Incursion (please refer to Edsmart notification)
Monday May 30th – Healthy Heroes AFLW Player Visit
Thursday May 2nd – Bush Prep
Friday June 3rd – Assembly, 2B Class Item
Week 7, Monday June 6th:
Thursday June 9th – Bush Prep
Friday June 10th – Junior School Strings – Bellarine Campus Workshop (please refer to EdSmart notification)
Week 8, Monday June 13th
Monday June 13th – Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday
Wednesday June 15th – Year 3 & 4 Students visit to Senior Music House – Year 10 Drama Performance
Wednesday June 15th – JS Music Evening 1: 4pm RW Gibson Centre – Senior School
Wednesday June 15th – JS Music Evening 2: 5:30pm RW Gibson Centre – Senior School
Friday June 17th – 2G Assembly Item
Friday June 17th – Conclusion of Term 2, 3:30pm Finish
Prep
The Preps have been learning about living things and their needs for Integrated Studies this term. With farm animals being our focus and their need of grass being a food source has led us to think about how grass grows and what it needs to survive.
Prep G rolled up their sleeves to plant their very own grass over a week ago. After learning about how to go about this process and what plants need to survive, the children drew their predictions and we got planting. On day 4 we noticed that everyone’s grass was growing at many different rates, this led to great discussion.
I think mine isn’t growing because it has too much water in it – Octavia
That looks like the cup has flooded – Baxter
Why do some have more than others? – Neah
What do we need to do for the grass now? – Ella
We need to put them near the other window so that can get lots of sun – Carter
Children used their drink bottles to carefully give their grass a drink and after the sun on the weekend blades of grass have shot right up! The children took their grass outside to compare it with the grass in our school yard.
The grass outside is wider, shorter and darker – Domi
Why do you think the grass in the playground is different to the ones we’ve planted in our cups? –Miss Sharp
Because this grass is long and thin and delicate, and if the kids were running on it all the time it wouldn’t survive – Angus
Because this grass grows too long, and the kids would get lost – Kyrie
This week we have given one side of our grass cups a little haircut to see whether it will grow back or not and how quickly.
We could have a few green thumbs in Prep after the excitement and curiosity of this unit. Lots of fun!
Amber Sharp
Year 2
On Thursday in Week 5, the Year 2 cohort were very lucky to be visited by a range of Australian reptiles, birds and mammals. The students were able to be a part of some rich discussion on animal lifecycles and had some fabulous questions for our wildlife host – Jackson. The students had so much fun feeling the different textures of the animals’ skin all whilst learning about the diet, habitat, lifecycle and behaviours of each individual creature.
This incursion ties in beautifully with our Biological Science unit ‘Animal Lifecycles’ and gave the students a brilliant opportunity to have interactive experiences with a range of animals and in particular, the species we have been learning about in the classroom! The students were especially excited to learn that we would be having a visit from ‘Freddo’ the green tree frog as they have been writing their Information Reports and enjoyed consolidating their prior learning in this session.
The Year 2 students were absolutely fantastic and participated with great enthusiasm, excitement, braveness and respect in the session. We look forward to researching one of the reptiles that visited us today in our Integrated Studies session next week!
Rachael Whelan
Learning Together
Being a learner is a core part of being at school. Not only are our students learners but so are the teachers! Just like the students the teachers are using a growth mindset to be able to try new things, ask for help and support and practise these skills with others.
“In a growth mindset, challenges are exciting rather than threatening. So rather than thinking, oh, I’m going to reveal my weaknesses, you say, wow, here’s a chance to grow.” Carol Dweck
Thursday afternoon the Prep-Two Department shared with the Three-Four Department and specialist staff key aspects of our teaching pedagogy. A chance to share the challenges we have been exploring and enhancing and overcoming!
The Prep-Two Department have been developing and refining elements of the way we teach Literacy and Numeracy through professional discussions, watching webinars, listening to podcasts and developing processes together.
We looked at daily reviews, a process to support students to retain information and revise concepts previously taught in Literacy and Numeracy from the Prep and Year 2 staff. The Year 1s shared how a PowerPoint can be constructed to unpack rich texts and focus on key vocabulary, comprehension and writing features. Across Prep to Year 2 these processes are developing into core components of how we teach.
This meeting was an opportunity for the teachers to share their learning with other teachers. There was a lot of discussion, questioning and unpacking of ideas as well as looking at how these could be applied to other year levels and learning areas. Very exciting to be part of this pedagogical discussion.
Staff had a chance to reflect on their own practice and consider how these approaches were adding to the learning of their students and the impact it had been making on their growth.
We are a community of learners and we are very excited with what is to come.
Julie Shutie
Scholastic Book Club News
Issue 4 of Scholastic Book Club has been distributed to students and orders should be placed online or returned to school no later than Wednesday, 1st June.
Our preferred payment method is via LOOP either via the mobile app or the desktop site which can be found at https://mybookclubs.scholastic.com.au/Parent/Login.aspx
You may also return your order form and payment by cheque to school. Cheques should be payable to Scholastic Australia.
Please do not send cash as we are unable to process cash payments.
Thank you for your assistance and ongoing support of Book Club.
Anna Daley
Violet Novacevski
eSafety Parent and Carer Webinars
Parents and carers of our students have access to a range of eSafety webinars made available by the eSafety Commissioner throughout the year. eSafety's free webinars provide parents and carers with the knowledge, skills and tools to support children to have safe, positive online experiences.
The webinar focus by eSafety for May is on parental controls. This webinar promises to provide valuable information and support to parents. Christian College parents are also encouraged to read the article ‘Should I be using a parental control?’ available on our Online Safety Hub.
I encourage all parents and carers in our community to explore these webinar offerings by eSafety and register for events that are relevant to you. The link is below:
Brendan Vanderkley
COGG Needs Crossing Supervisors
The City of Greater Geelong is experiencing a shortage of school crossing supervisors due to illness, including COVID and influenza, meaning that a limited number of crossings around the municipality may not be supervised at certain times. In such instances, staffing busier crossings is prioritised over quieter ones. Sometimes this is achieved by deploying Parking, Local Laws and Animal Management teams to crossing supervision roles.
If you or someone you know is interested in becoming a crossing supervisor, COGG is recruiting via this link: Casual School Crossing Supervisor - City of Greater Geelong .
Golf Tournament
The Foundation Golf Tournament is set for Thursday, 27 October 2022. Join us at 13th Beach Golf Links from 8:00am for a shotgun start. Tickets are $190 each ($150 for members) or $750 for a group of four. RSVPs close on Thursday, 6 October 2022 at 5:00pm.
Funds raised from this event will be allocated to our Foundation Scholarship Fund, supporting current students who are in need of financial assistance.
Book online at: The Foundation Golf Tournament
A MYTERN Thought for This Week
If you are on a rough road, use the discomfort as your power to take control. See it providing fuel for your journey....expanding your map....adding to who you are....shaping who you are becoming 😊
Discover more about MYTERN here
