5G Classroom News

We are all leaders

In Term 4 of Year 5, we started to learn about leadership. So far, we have participated in the y-Lead program, Burn Bright, written leadership reflections and voted for the student leadership team. A few weeks ago, we had a day dedicated to y-lead, where we learnt to lead with HEART. Burn bright is a website with modules about leadership, teamwork, diversity and service. There were videos, quizzes, and surveys. We have only just started voting for students to be on the leadership team, but we know in Year 6 we are all leaders and we’re really excited to become the student leaders of St. Joseph’s soon.  - Sasha and Leila

Kindergarten 2022 Orientation

A hundred smiling faces ran around, pulling on capes, serving meals, watching the fish dart around the pond, and peering through the tunnel upside down these were some of the unforgettable memories that Kindy kids and their big buddies enjoyed this November. Year Five were lucky enough to meet their little 2022 buddies recently, and everybody – big and small – loved this playful experience. We can’t wait to see them next year when they begin big school! - Eleonor

Kindy orientation was a day to remember filled with so much excitement and bright, bright faces. Nothing feels better than making a little kids face so happy. We loved seeing kids enjoying their time at Kindy orientation; it truly made our day, and playing with the kindergartens was so much fun, seeing their interests and finding more about them. It really was a shame that we could only spend a few hours with them those new Joey’s faces. We can’t wait to make a difference in a positive way. I know that all of Year 5 definitely loved it and we hope their journey through school is one to remember. -  Lukas, Christiaan and George

Both Year 5 classes were all patiently (or impatiently) waiting on the silver seats for our buddies to walk in school for the very first time. Slowly, one by one, we approached our potential buddies we took them to the kindy rooms. We spent one hour playing in the rooms. My buddy was so interested in the fish she stuck her hand in the pond! It was so cute watching everyone find friends and explore the amazing kindy play spaces. Then suddenly it was time for our buddies to go home! The time we’d had went faster than ever. For two weeks we waited until we got to see our new little friends again! Everyone was nonstop talking about how cute everyone’s buddies were. Nearly everyone had their same buddies at Orientation 2. This time we had a super exciting scavenger hunt around the school so we could be show them around! Again, it was then time to say goodbye to our buddies. We all miss our buddies already and cannot wait until next year so we can finally see our little buddies again. - Izzi, Milla and Addi

Virtual Academy

The Virtual Academy (or the V.A) has been an extraordinary experience. I have loved every minute of it. For those of you who don't know, the V.A is a selective program for gifted education. We have fortnightly video conferences with our amazing teachers, and we get a total of three hours a week to work on our modules. It runs online for all catholic schools in the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese, and I was lucky enough to have received a letter at the end of last year explaining that I had been one of the students chosen to participate. In Term 1, we explored and completed the discovery unit. It was so great because we completed fun activities, wrote letters to celebrities and experts, and reflected on ourselves. Then came our main project for the year, the Patterns Unit. This stretched from Term 2 to the end of Term 4 – just yesterday - when we presented to peers, teachers, and panel members. It has been an absolute blast and an overall spectacular experience!

On Thursday the 25th of November 2021, thirteen St Joseph’s students met each other at the back of the quadrangle. There, as a cohort between Year 5 and Year 6, Miss Slattery, explained what would be happening for the rest of our school day - Presentation Day. After journeying to the room I would be in, the meeting room, we joined the Teams meeting. Over one hundred children from Year 5-8 were in there from multiple schools across the Diocese! At 10:00, we were sorted into break-out rooms, and were then ready to share. Even with breaks, the overall time students were presenting was three hours, and that was just in our room! But what did we learn about? My room taught me about abandoned houses, coal mining, super blocks, electric scooters, dog parks, McDonald Jones Stadium and so much more! At 2:30 we were presented with certificates, and I think that participating in this day was worth more than anything. - Emma Shrewsbury

BECOME Year 5

Year 5 Gold has many interesting tasks but BECOME was definitely in the top few. As a part of our BECOME work, Year 5 Gold made business cards. It was the most enjoyable task for the term because we could link our personality now with our future ideas for a career. Here are a few examples: Angus the General Practitioner Doctor, Teddy the Robot Designer, Sasha the Veterinarian, Daisy the ER Doctor, Stella the wild life vet, and Joe’s mountain bike business.

We love BECOME because it opened up a variety of possible opportunities for our future. Finding out what job could suited us best and experimenting with the details of what we would like and dislike. It was amazing to learn that we really can create a career based on us!  - Teddy and Angus

Year 5 is out of this world!

I loved the year 5 planets it was my favourite science project I have ever done! Learning how to make papier mache was so much fun, and we learnt so much more about overcoming challenges! We all became experts on a particular planet and presented to the rest of the class with our model, poster and digital presentation. I learnt so much more than I would have if I was to just to look it up! There are so many interesting things about our solar system. It’s actually crazy how many moons there are and I learnt that Uranus is the coldest planet in the solar system, Mercury is shrinking and some dwarf planets take thousands of years to orbit the sun.

This Term we did a really fun science project on planets. First, we had to do the research and make our PowerPoints and posters. But then we got to the super fun part, the planets. We made the planets by blowing up a balloon and then we used papier maché! For the finish, we researched the colour of the planet and then started the mess, which is also known as painting! It was heaps of fun and we learnt so much! The only downside was the clean up. - Heath and Luke

Year 5 has had an awesome year! Grej of the Day was a highlight at the start of every day. Home learning calls at 9:30 were always fun. Home learning was the best because we could finish our work when we wanted! Unfortunately, we didn’t go to Great Aussie Bush Camp which we were looking forward to, but our leadership work and voting was exciting and so was getting our buddies. We have all loved 5 Gold.  -  Isaac

The first day back we started easy (it was very fun)! We made tons of art and I felt so tired because I was used to being on the lounge! It felt like forever since I had seen my friends! I mean Teams was good but that was virtual. The classroom was back and buzzing - we tried to not talk too much but there were a few moments when I wish I could mute or turn down the volume!

Even though other places in the world had it worse, lockdown never felt like it was ever normal. I finished school work quickly and then really, I was just lazy. Our class did more Zooms which was great, but it was never “school”. Friends were far away; work was all over the place and stress levels were HIGH!

I think the whole class felt like they were in a prison cell. But getting back to school was a relief for as finally we were FREE! Free to get away from the house, free to get away from the screen (But I think we all miss the redo button!) and free to get back to seeing our friends and teacher. Getting back to school was awesome and that I can't ever imagine that school could be locked down again.  - Hannah & Edie