News
ATHLETICS DAY 2022
Grade 5/6 Gold Rush Making Day
Our Grade 5/6 students finished up their enquiry about the Australian Gold Rush by participating in a making day where they created some fabulous models showcasing their learning. It was a fun day!
Sportsmanship a highlight at Athletics Carnival 2021
Athletes were greeted with perfect conditions when St. Michael’s School recently held its annual
Athletics Carnival at Harold Preston Park.
The day began with all the children enthusiastically participating in House Teams for the Aerobics
competition at school before the senior students headed off to Harold Preston Park. The senior
students enjoyed a number of events including 800m, Discus, Long Jump and Triple Jump.
Foundation and grade 1/2s arrived later in the morning after participating in Tabloid Sports activities at
school. They enjoyed competing in their 100m sprints, followed by the sprints for grade 3/4s and 5/6s.
Baton relays and tug-of-wars were hard-fought between the house colours. Each student then
competed in different ball games according to their year level.
The trophy presentation was held back at the school at the end of the day where Blue House were
named the overall Athletics winners with Gold House taking out the Aerobics. Many students qualified
to represent St. Michael’s at the District Sports.
Principal, Mrs. Jodie Ware said, “It was lovely for the whole school to be able to come together for a
whole school event such as this one. Our children displayed great sportsmanship towards each other,
and competed with enthusiasm all day. They certainly made the St Michael's school community very
proud."
03.12.2020
St Michael's Artists
In Visual Arts classes the Grade 5/6 students were introduced to the 'Archibald Prize' and 'Young Archies' portrait competitions. The students were given the task to create their own entry for a St Michael's exhibition that was to be displayed in the hall. The subject they selected had to be someone they knew personally who they admired. They wrote a brief explanation about why they selected that particular person that was displayed beside their portrait.
22.10.2020
Footy Day
On Thursday 22nd of October St Michael's celebrated Footy Day by coming to school wearing their team colours. The Grade 5/6 students spent the morning making team banners for our annual parade in the afternoon. Each level completed their longest kick throughout the day. During the parade the Grade 5/6 students walked around the netball court with the team banners whilst the footy songs were played. The other students stood up to cheer and clap when their team banner did a lap of the court. It was a great day for all.
Congratulations to the winners for the longest kick:
Foundation: Liam Thomas & Isabella Constantinou
Grade 1: Chad Di dio & Aubrey Ross
Grade 2: Braith Mc Neill & Harper Kite
Grade 3: Hugo Mc Pherson & Isla Hollands
Grade 4: Wil Walker & Makayla Price
Grade 5: Quinn Ross & Mia Hollands
Grade 6: Jett Koppen & Mica Nightingale
16.10.2020
Crazy Sock Day
On Friday 16th October, the children at St Michaels answered Pope Francis’s call to “Rise up from the couch - with your boots laced - and turn your hands into signs of love ….” The school community, teachers and children alike, put on their crazy socks to raise money to support the work that the Catholic Mission. At school, the children had the opportunity to learn about different communities around the world and some of the fantastic things that Catholic Mission are doing to help people who don’t have the same privileges as we do. During 2020 the focus, for Catholic Mission, is on empowering the children and young adults with disabilities at the Arrupe Centre in Cambodia.
The school was a hive of excitement and activity throughout the day. The children have watched videos of children in Cambodia and other countries that are supported by Catholic Mission. They have discussed how fortunate that we are at St Michael’s, designed crazy socks or made their own sockball from recycled materials.
Congratulations to our school community for your generosity and enthusiasm. Together we have raised $710. Fabulous effort!
16.10.2020
Super Science Experiments
On Friday the16th of October, the Grade 5/6 students observed a liquid nitrogen demonstration in the classroom performed by Mrs Berends. The students have been learning about solids, liquids and gases in our Inquiry Unit on chemical science. As part of the demonstration students learnt about the properties of gases when they saw a balloon deflate after it was submerged in liquid nitrogen and then inflate again as the gases warmed up. Students also saw the impact of liquid nitrogen on living tissue when a leaf and a flower were submerged in the liquid nitrogen. We then used the liquid nitrogen to make chocolate ice cream which the students were able to have a taste of!
Please click on photos to see full size image
15.10.2020
Foundation Fairy-tale Fun
St. Michael’s Foundation students have been investigating Fairy-tales. The focus has been on the different types of fairy-tales, what common features they contain as well the different ways that familiar stories are retold.
The children have been looking at the criteria of fairy-tales; it must start with ‘Once upon a time’, it has a problem and a solution and usually ends with ‘happily ever after’. Together they have read fairy-tales and individually composed their own fairy-tale.
To showcase their learning the Foundation students held a Fairy-tale Fun Day. The children and staff came dressed up in something relating to fairy-tales and brought plates of ‘Fairy-tale Food’ such as toadstool cupcakes, treasure chest treats and fruit wands to share for morning tea. As part of their day, the students had a parade, which the parents were able to view live via Google Meet. The children had a virtual incursion on a mixture of fairy tales, where actors performed several fairy tales that the children studied in Term 3, such as The Gingerbread Man and Little Red Riding Hood.
When asked about the day, Yianni replied, “I loved being Prince Charming so I could be in charge of the kids.” Zahlie said, “I don’t want the day to end.”
Foundation Leader, Mrs Sharon Scholtes said, “In the new COVID norm it was great to still be able to include parents and to celebrate all the hard work the children have put in this year.”
07.09.2020
Future Designers!
Construction Artwork. Here are some of the playgrounds the Foundation students made for a visual arts activity during remote schooling. They had to think of a plan and all the things they would like to include in their playground. They used paper skills such as cutting, fringing, tearing, twisting and two types of folding styles; concertina and accordion. There were many creative and imaginative designs!
Here are a few examples! (Cadence, Indee, Yannis)
04.09.2020
Permorning Arts Remote Learning
In Performing Arts, 5/6 students were asked to create a series of freeze frames that told a story. To start they had to sketch a plan of each frame to think about what pictures they would need to tell their stories. They then took photos of themselves (and in some cases their family members) acting out each frame. They were asked to include clear body language and big facial expressions to tell their story. The above piece was submitted by Sam. As you can see, he did an excellent job and it is easy to tell what is happening.
Please click on photos to see full size image
01.09.2020
Remote Learning in 5/6 Term Three
Remote learning during Term Three has been very busy in the 5/6 area. In Inquiry students have been learning about migration and are now focusing on Refugees. Students have explored, via an interactive website, Camp Zaatari, which is one of the worlds largest refugee camps. The camp is in Jordan and is where many Syrian refugees flee. The Google Meet app has been used daily so that students experience class meetings, where the kids have had the chance to introduce their pet to the class, something special or something they are proud of. In addition, Google Meet has been used for daily Maths classes and ‘Afternoon Tea’ with teachers, where small groups meet with their teacher to have a catch up with their friends and talk about what they have been doing. Friday’s have been extra fun with activities such as Crazy Hair and Crazy Hat Day.
28.08.2020
Italian Remote Learning
During remote schooling our Italian lessons have continued. There has been some fabulous work sent in by the children. The Foundation class have recently been learning about some emotion and feeling words triste/sad and felice/happy (Oliver photo). The 1/2s have been talking about things they like and don’t like mi piace/piacciono and non mi piace/piacciono (Aria photo). The 3/4s and 5/6s have been exploring new vocabulary on Kahoot and Quizlet and most recently were asked to create Father’s day cards (Sam W photo).
27.08.2020
Clever Coding Kids
Throughout Term Three remote learning, Grade 3/4 and 5/6 students, as part of their Digitech classes, have created a range of stories using code in the coding program Scratch. They have used code to make their characters and objects talk, think and move and to change locations/backgrounds within their stories. To enhance their projects further they have coded their stories to include sound and sound effects, they have even created their own characters through the costume option within Scratch. Through their coding and problem solving skills and creativity they have created some outstanding projects.
Below are just a few examples of their extraordinary work:
THEO
HAMISH G
GRACE R
DAISY
HARPER
TYSON
13.08.2020
100 Days of School Disco
17.7.2020
Thank you letter from residents of Dalkeith Gardens.
As part of the remote learning program in Term 2, students at St Michael’s Traralgon wrote letters to residents in aged care facilities. The task served two important goals in giving students an authentic reason for writing and keeping the connection with the community for those residents unable to have visitors. Below is a copy of the thank you letter and photos we received from the residents at Dalkeith Gardens.
Hello to Students at St Michaels Primary School,
Residents from Dalkeith Gardens Aged Care apartments have received many letters over the past few months and would like to say a big thankyou to each and every student at St Michaels Primary School for their kind letters. The residents were very impressed with the effort and detail students put into their letters, the letters were very comforting which made the residents smile. They commented on how lovely it was to hear from the younger generation, especially hearing about students experiences during remote learning and how they were coping during this time. They enjoyed hearing about students being active outdoors, the things they like to do and how much they love their families and animals and spending time with them.
This was a very kind gesture from all of the students. We have attached some photos of some of our very happy residents receiving your letters.We hope you can all come and visit us in the near future.
Thank you
From Dalkeith Gardens Aged Care apartment residents.
26.06.2020
St Vincent de Paul food donations
Traditionally at St. Michaels at this time of year we would have our Giving Mass which aligns with the Sacred Heart of Jesus Feast Day. Unfortunately, due to COVID we were unable to gather and celebrate with a Mass however St Michael's families still managed to collect 1729 food items! Thank you to our school community for the tremendous effort.
25.6.2020
Grade 3/4 Letters to Aged Care Residents
Term 2 was a new and interesting experience for students around the state as they were learning from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
As part of their learning program, students at St Michael’s Traralgon wrote letters to residents in aged care facilities. The task served two important goals in giving students an authentic reason for writing and keeping the connection with the community for those residents unable to have visitors.
Students’ letters included details of life learning at home, questions for the residents and kind comments of encouragement.
An added bonus for the students were the responses sent from the aged care facilities. The children were able to read responses to questions from residents at Mitchell House in Morwell. They were interested to find out about activities that residents did when they were at school. Children were especially interested in the delicious meals provided for those living at Mitchell House.
Latrobe Valley Village in Moe also responded with an enormous thank you card to students to show their appreciation of the communication during the time of isolation.
The experience was a very rewarding one for both the students and residents during such difficult and unusual circumstances.
25.6.2020
Design Tasks in 3/4
During remote learning, children in grade 3/4 worked on several off screen tasks which were designed to develop creativity and innovative thinking. This has continued since school has returned with the addition of a team aspect.
Each week children have been given a task to plan, design and test with specific equipment and guidelines to follow.
One task included designing and creating 4 different animals from a limited set of materials. It was wonderful to see the teamwork and interesting to notice how different teams tackled the task. Children were required to create a labelled diagram before beginning making their models.They then reflected on the teamwork and changes in design they had to make.
Another team task involved designing a bridge to meet specific criteria using a set of materials. Children worked well in their teams to come up with interesting designs which had varying degrees of success.
25.6.2020
Natural Disasters Making Day
The 5/6 students have been learning about Natural Disasters throughout Term 2, both remotely and in the classroom.
They learnt how to prepare for disasters and how communities can respond to a disaster once it has occurred. In partners students chose a Natural Disaster and created a poster on how to be prepared for this disaster. Then with the same partner students had to create 2 separate models, one that is prepared for the disaster and one that is not prepared.
Students had a great time making their models. Mica said, “I had such a great time building the model with my partner.” Josh commented, “It was very fun and got everyone to be creative”. Lachie thought, “It was really fun to work with and help my partner”. Brilee remarked, “It was important to refer back to your plan to make sure you were making your model correctly”.
Grade 5/6 teacher Ms Fenech stated, “The children did a fabulous job working in teams to plan and create their masterpieces.
19.6.2020
Grade 1/2 Animal Brochures
During the remote learning 1/2 children spent time looking at non fiction text. When we returned to school we looked at the way non fiction text is presented, one of which is through a brochure. Together we researched about gorillas and we used this topic to model how to present information in the form of a brochure. After this the children researched their own animal and used this information to make their own brochure using the skills they had learnt when making the brochure on gorillas.
18.6.2020
Lego Fun in Foundation
In Foundation Inquiry the students have been investigating the history of toys. In their investigation the children have enjoyed constructing their own design out of 20 pieces of lego. Some examples of toys made were submarines, helicopters and cities. The children really enjoyed this hands-on activity.
Please click on photos to see full size image
4.6.2020
Science Experiment Fun
On the 4th of June the 5/6 students completed some fun science experiments. The first was seeing what would happen if they put oil, dishwashing liquid and rubbing alcohol together as they wanted to determine if these liquids would mix or stay separate. The student found that they stayed separate.
In the second experiment students made a pattern of m&ms on a plate and then added water. They watched to see what would happen. Some colours blended while others stayed separate.
The students had a great time completing these experiments.
Please click on photos to see full size image
20.5.2020
5/6 Fun Making Bark Canoes
The students BTN watched an episode of BTN about the indigenous Kuarna people making bark canoes. They answered some questions about the episode and then were given the task of building their own small raft using things from inside and outside such as sticks, bark, grasses, twine, string, rubber bands etc.
Bun said making the canoes was fun. Kennedy remarked he enjoyed going outside and constructing something out of not many materials.
Please click on photos to see full size image
ANZAC DAY 2020
Anzac Day was celebrated at home in many different ways for our St Michael's families this year. Here are some examples of the fantastic work received by our teachers.
20.03.2020
Bushfire Fundraiser
On Friday 20th March, St Michael’s Grade 5/6 students held a special market day to raise funds for those affected by the recent bushfires.
The students were given time to design and create items to sell or games to play. Some of the games included: guess the lolly, a colouring competition, sweet pongo and ping pong toss. Some of the stalls sold the following items: loom bands, scrunches, lolly bags and bracelets.
The total amount of money raised was over $800.00 and the students will choose how to distribute the money they raised to the various bush fire relief organisations.
Grade 5/6 Teacher, Mrs. Sue Shaw said, “It was amazing to see the way the children organised the activities, stalls and prizes and the excitement and support from the rest of the school community.”
17.03.2020
CAMP COOLAMATONG INSPIRES TEAMWORK
The St Michael’s Grade 5 students attended Camp Coolamatong for four days of teamwork, fun and learning.
Camp Coolamatong is located on the Banksia Peninsula near Paynesville. The goals for the camp were;
- To spend quality time with classmates and teachers in a setting that is natural and uncluttered.
- To promote unselfishness and consideration for others through cooperation and teamwork.
- To experience new activities in an unfamiliar environment.
- To develop independence and self-reliance through spending time in situations different to everyday life.
There were many activities for the students to experience such as canoeing, abseiling, a night hike, low ropes, archery, feeding the farm animals, a boat cruise, cycling and games at the beach.
When asked what their camp highlight was; Kennedy replied, “Canoeing was my favourite because I have never canoed before and we got to splash each other.” Archer answered, “My highlight was orienteering while bike riding as we had to work in a team of three to locate numbers around the camp and this was a big challenge.” Aine said, “Low ropes was the best because we had to work as a team to keep everyone safe and get them through the course.” Aleksandra responded, “I enjoyed archery because I have never done it before and it was fun.” Mia remarked, “I liked the night walk because of the nice sunset and the interesting story that was told about the camp land owners.” Will stated, “I liked the talent show because everyone did a good job and it was lots of fun.”
The boat trip was a popular activity. The first stop was Grange Beach where the students played games on the beach and enjoyed a lovely lunch together. They then sailed to Raymond Island to participate in a koala walk, with the winning group siting 25 koalas. Canoeing was also a favourite with some children choosing to capsize their vessels under supervision.
Two of the highlights of the camp were the Disco which had a ‘80s and Neon’ theme and ‘St Michael’s Got Talent’, where everyone was entertained by some very impressive singing, dancing and comedy routines.
School Principal, Jodie Ware said, “It was a lovely camp, everyone had a great time and the children thoroughly enjoyed this experience.”
12.03.2020
Regional Swimming Carnival
On Thursday 12th March, a team of students represented St. Michael’s School at the Regional Swimming Carnival. This event was held at the Warragul Pool.
The team was very successful, with one student, Max, going on to compete in the State Swimming Carnival later in the year. Grade 3/4 teacher, Sharon Dortmans commented on the athletes’ great sportsmanship, enthusiasm and camaraderie with all other swimmers.
02.03.2020
Participation and Encouragement Shines Bright at Athletics Carnival 2020
Athletes were greeted with cool Autumn weather when St. Michael’s School recently held its annual Athletics Carnival at Harold Preston Park.
The senior students took part earlier in the morning in a number of field events including 800m, Discus, Long Jump and Triple Jump. Preps and grade 1/2s arrived later in the morning to compete in their 100m sprints, followed by the grade 3/4s and 5/6s. Baton relays and tug-of-wars were hard-fought between the house colours. Each student then competed in different ball games according to their year level. The day concluded with all the children enthusiastically participating in Aerobics followed by trophy presentations.
Blue House were the overall Athletics winners with Gold House taking out the Aerobics. Many students qualified to represent St. Michael’s at the District Sports.
Vice Principal, Ms. DiCorleto said, “Congratulations to our students for the way in which they participated at our Athletics Carnival. Our children showed persistence and resilience, and despite the weather conditions, competed with enthusiasm all day. They certainly made the St Michael's school community very proud.”
