16th April 2013. Dear Parents, Welcome back to Term Two, we hope you had a relaxing holiday. The children were fantastic on camp and we are looking forward to their reflections. We would like to welcome two new students and their families to the Year 6 team – Tyler Woolley in 6S and Patrick Howell in 6W. These boys have adjusted well to their new school and we know that the Stella community will support them and their families as they settle in.

INQUIRY/RELGIOUS EDUCATION; Our unit for this term is ways we can nourish our world. This will explore science based activities with bread and micro organisms as well as incorporating the Resurrection stories and how they feed our faith as well as investigating scripture. The children will also research and explore different religions in Australia; focusing on how these faiths feed and nourish their followers through rituals, words and actions. The children will be attending mass every Thursday morning at 9:15am to enhance and feed their understanding of our Catholic faith. Please feel free to join us. LITERACY: Comprehension skills and strategies will be our focus in reading. During our Guided Reading session and small group activities, we will be reading, discussing and responding to either ‘Nips XI’ by Ruth Starke or ‘Onion Tears’ by Diana Kidd. These novels focus on the second generation of immigrants and their struggles settling into Australia. The children will be required to read one new novel of their choice that will challenge them this term. We ask that the novel NOT be one that has been made into a movie, as the focus is on reading and understanding what they have read, rather than watching and remembering a movie. They will then respond to this text, through weekly homework tasks.

Narratives, reports and persuasive arguments are our genres in writing and we will look at developing your child’s use of vocabulary, research skills and interpreting factual information into their own language for reports, and persuasive language and credible arguments in their argumentative writing. We will also be using bibliographies and further extending their oral language skills through formal and informal presentations, as well as co-operative group work. Students will also focus on prefixes and suffixes and how they change the meaning and spelling of the base word. They will also be revising the correct use of basic punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing and the use of tense, as well as focussing on editing skills.

Again, the fortnightly Library session will work in conjunction with our theme and support our classroom activities. The students will be encouraged to borrow library books for personal reading to use in the classroom and at home.

MATHS Our focus is on: - The four operations with a focus on division as an inverse operation of multiplication - Problem solving tasks using all four operations - Time – 24 hour, analogue and digital clocks, calendars - Space – angles, reflections, rotations and translations of shape

HOMEWORK Weekly homework will include levelled spelling, maths, as well as reading. There will be a variety of tasks, including both short and longer research projects which will be explained at length to students when handed out. Please encourage your child to read aloud each night. When your child has completed their work, please check their work for spelling and grammatical errors as well as encouraging their best work. Homework is a necessary habit Year 6 students need to develop in preparation for secondary school and we would appreciate you helping your child manage their time between extra-curricular activities. If your child cannot complete homework tasks before the due date, please inform Sharon or Tara prior, so their needs may be accommodated. The children have our email addresses and we encourage them to contact us via email or in person at school BEFORE work is due if they are experiencing difficulty, need help or further clarification.

Your child’s diary must be taken home each night to check important events, sport uniform, etc. and returned each day. Sharon and Tara will often communicate through your child via their diary.

PEER SUPPORT This term, the Year 6 children will be trained to lead, motivate and support a group of Year 3 and 4 students in activities involving co-operation, building friendships and self-esteem. The Year 6 children will receive their training during the first two weeks of term, to prepare them for the 45 minute weekly group sessions they will conduct from week 3.

SPORT Inter school sport continues in Term Two on a Friday, and your child will receive the necessary forms shortly. The children will be competing in netball, football, softball and soccer. Please let Sharon or Tara know if you are available to help out. We look forward to working with you and your children and thank you for your support in your child’s education. Yours in partnership, Sharon and Tara

IMPORTANT DATES FOR YEAR 6: Intensive Swimming Monday 13th April – Wednesday 24th April ANZAC Day – school closure Thursday 25th April ANZAC Day Liturgy Friday 26th April Swimming Carnival Friday April 26th Peer Support starts Wednesday 1st May Nazareth Day Thursday 2nd May House Cross Country Friday 10th May School Closure Days for Thursday 23rd May and Staff Conference Friday 24th May MJR Day Thursday 30th May Winter Lightning Premiership Friday 14th June Final Peer Support Session Wednesday 19th June Family Conferences Wednesday 26th June from 1:30pm Family Conferences Thursday 27th June from 3:30pm Confirmation Wednesday 4th September 7pm