Caboolture

Year Two has been busily preparing their Geography Models for the Learning Expo. 

They have thoroughly enjoyed finding out about how they are connected to different parts of the world and have enthusiastically researched and built models of special places they have discovered in the countries with which they have connections. Parents have happily donated time to assist with the building process for which we have greatly appreciated.

This week in Junior Japanese the Year 1 students have been learning weather vocabulary.  Our focus for the week was on the word ‘hare’ which means sunny.  We also learnt how to ask the question, “Tenki wa dou desu ka”, which means, “How is the weather?” Students enjoyed making a ‘hare’ craft to help remind them of their new vocabulary.

In Senior Japanese this term we have been focusing on learning ‘jiko shoukai’ which means how to introduce ourselves in Japanese. We practise having a conversation in Japanese with a partner every week. Here is an example of what we are practising to say currently:

*Hajimemashite (Hi. How do you do?) + Rei (Bow)

*Konnichiwa (Hello / Good afternoon)

*Watashi wa (name) desu – girls OR Boku wa (name) desu – boys

*(Grade) nensei desu (I am in grade _______ )

*(Item) ga suki desu (I like _______ )

*(Suburb) ni sunde imasu (I live in _______ )

*Douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu (Nice to meet you)

*Arigatou gozaimashita (Thank you very much) + Rei (bow)

We have also made tanuki (Japanese raccoon dogs) in Year 4 and koinobori (carp kite streamers) for the Children’s Day Festival in Years 5 and 6.

They look fabulous in the Japanese classroom!

Thank you to everyone who has entered the Japanese Festival’s Art competition too. Final entries are due this Thursday, 1^st August 2019. Ganbarou – Good luck!

Arigatou gozaimasu,

Walker Sensei and Miller Sensei

Sport at St Paul’s in Term 2 has focused heavily on Athletics: Track and Field Events.

For senior students, weekly PE lessons and Friday afternoon sessions were timetabled to give students the opportunity to experience and practices different Track and Field Events: 800m, 200m, 100m, Shot Put, High Jump, Long Jump & Team games. All working towards beating and being their personal best, as well as trying to qualify for the District and/or Inter Lutheran Athletics Team. 

Junior students also experienced the fun of particular Athletic and Team Game Events: Long Jump, High Jump, Target/Rainbow Throw, Tug of War, Ball Games, Egg and Spoon races, & Sprint races. The Juniors were very excited and enthused to practice these events, as they knew they had to perform them at the recent Junior School Sports Day Carnival.

Next term, Junior School classes get to explore the art and skill of Gymnastics – fundamental movements. Information of a performance showcase at the end of term will be highly likely. Senior students will be involved in a few units: Tradition Indigenous Games, Ultimate Frisbee & Touch Football. They can also look forward to representing St Paul’s at the annual Inter Lutheran Athletics Carnival, and being involved, once again, in the Sports Gala Days: Girls Netball or Touch Football & Boys Cricket, as well as nominating at Year 4-6 team for the Netball Primary School Cup mid-September.

St Paul’s has again been nominated as a finalist in the 2019 Australian Education Awards in the Primary School of the Year [non-government] category. Once again this is an affirmation of the incredible holistic living, learning and growing philosophy which happens across our school every day. This nomination isn’t about one person, one program or one particular group of students, but it is a reflection and affirmation of who we are as a learning community in Caboolture. The awards event will take place in Sydney later this year. 

2019 has seen a busy start for our RISE groups. Years 1 and 2 are honing their independent study skills while learning about islands and becoming citizens of the world.  Years 3 and 4 are becoming investigative superstars by immersing themselves in studies of Ancient Greece. Our Year 5 and 6 groups are building their arsenal of design thinking skills in preparation for high school. This term they are experiencing the “Ideation” stage while they prepare a prototype app or game to raise awareness of childhood obesity.

Year 2 have begun an exciting journey into exploring their capabilities in Digital Technologies. They are discovering how to program and control Blue Bots and Spheros to move around a variety of maps both 3 Dimensional and 2 Dimensional in nature.

They are also currently finding out if seeds can grow in a plastic bag and if so, why?

There have been some experiment woes with some seeds growing and some not growing so a change of seeds has been employed.

Last Friday, the Prep children were thoroughly excited to have their mothers visit in order to spoil them for Mother’s Day. They made their own flower arrangements, set up tables and served them afternoon tea.

This week in Junior Japanese we have been learning about the sakura (cherry blossom) festival, hanami. Cherry blossom festivals are an important custom and are held all over Japan during the spring. The students designed and decorated their own sakura trees. These are displayed in the Japanese classroom. I invite you to come and see our beautiful display.
Arigatou,
Walker Sensei

Last week in Senior Japanese class we learnt about the Hanami festival in Japan. We watched a very interesting video that taught us many Japanese keywords in which the Japanese people use to describe the sakura (cherry blossom) trees. We drew our own sakura tree and wrote the Japanese keywords on the branches of the tree. They look Sugoi (amazing)! We are also learning eight classroom instructions which help us to understand classroom directions from Miller Sensei.
These include: *Mou ichido kudasai (One more time please);
*Shizuki ni shite kudasai (Please be quiet);
*Mite kudasai (Please look);
*Kaite kudasai (Please write);
*Akete kudasai (Please open);
*Te o agete kudasai (Please raise your hand);
*Yonde kudasai (Please read);
*Kiite kudasai (Please listen).

We have also been studying an enquiry unit about the geography of Japan.
These are our key questions:
a) Where is Japan?
b) What does Japan look like?
c) What are some customs of Japan?
It would be great if you could please have a conversation with your child about the wonderful things that we are learning in Senior Japanese class each week. For example, ask them to sing for you the ‘Japanese Classroom Instruction song’ this Thursday, which is to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”
Arigatou Gozaimasu (thank you very much),
Miller Sensei.

In Year 1, we remembered ANZAC day. We talked about what ANZAC stands for and what sorts of traditions occur on ANZAC day. Reading the story, “Lest We Forget” helped us to understand why it is important for us to remember the people who fought for our freedom in Australia. We also spent some time thinking about what we are grateful for in our beautiful home country of Australia. We made lots of poppies out of patty pans so we could decorate two wreaths.

‘LEST WE FORGET’

Week 1 of Term 2 has been spent celebrating our ANZAC’s with the St Paul’s whole school Ceremony, the School Captains representing the school in Brisbane and on the 25th April 2019, Students represented the school in the Caboolture/Morayfield ANZAC Day Parade on the Public Holiday. Many thanks to everyone for their efforts in participating in these events.