Issue 8 - 23 May 2018

Newsletter Articles

MISSION STATEMENT

St Rita’s School mission is to create a community which inspires a love of holistic, life-long learning grounded in the Catholic Christian faith. Childhood is celebrated and nurtured by caring adults. A student’s capacity for their best future is realised in the context of our small rural community. We provide a safe and supportive environment, characterised by strong, life-giving and respectful relationships with students, staff, families, parish and the wider community. The school strives to ensure we are living out the Mercy values.

PRINCIPAL’S PEN

Dear Parents and Carers,

Once again, St Rita’s celebrated Mother’s Day with great gusto, with the annual Mother’s Day Pampering Afternoon being such a vibrant and happy event for our school community. It was heartening to see the children excitedly “pampering” and spending fun times with their precious mothers, grandmothers, aunties and special family friends. To all our special guests, thank you for coming along and being part of our Pampering Afternoon. It is one of my favourite days on our school calendar!

Last Friday, staff and students met at the Showgrounds before school to participate in the annual ‘Walk Safely to School Day’ event. After the wet day we had for last year’s walk, we were prepared with umbrellas and coats. However, the morning was perfect and most of our students joined us for the walk to school. When we arrived, a healthy breakfast of fresh fruit, toast and milk was enjoyed by the children. The slogan of the day, ‘Active kids are smarter kids’, was later discussed on Assembly to further promote the benefits of having an active lifestyle.

By the way, many wonderful photos of these special days at St Rita’s can be viewed on our school’s facebook page. We encourage you to ‘like’ our facebook posts and make comments about our school activities if you wish. Facebook is a wonderful way to share the happenings at St Rita’s with the local community.

This week we have two additional significant school events that we wish to share with you. On Tuesday, St Rita’s Feast Day will be celebrated with a whole school Mass and fun activities in the afternoon. In the Catholic school tradition, a school Feast Day is a celebration of its patron saint and a noteworthy event on our religious/liturgical calendar. Our patron is St Rita of Cascia, who was born in 1381 at Roccaporena in Italy. She died on 22nd May, 1457 in Cascia, after a life dedicated in the service of God, so we celebrate St Rita’s Feast Day on this day each year.

On Thursday 24th May, the Queensland Branch of Early Childhood Australia promotes Under 8s’ Day events to celebrate early childhood education. We will see our Prep - Year 2 students join in with other early years children at Babinda State School to celebrate Under 8s’ Day 2018. Mrs Masina, Miss Dewis and I will accompany the children for their Under 8s’ Day of fun this year. While we’re at Under 8s’, the Year 3 – 6 children will travel to Cairns to participate in a learning adventure to the new Cairns Aquarium. Mrs Harbour, Mrs Jago, Mrs Calcagno and Mrs Stone will be supervising this excursion. What a busy and exciting week we will have at St Rita’s!

As the term has progressed, I have needed to give a gentle reminder to several children regarding school uniform. The predominant conversation has been concerning the rule of having a school hat for wearing at play, sports and P.E. lessons. As we are a ‘sun smart school’, and proudly so, it is our policy that children are not permitted to play without a hat. ‘No hat, no play!’ encompasses all outdoor activities, not simply free play during the two lunch breaks. I ask parents to please encourage children to check hats are in school bags each day, as we are saddened to see children missing their play.

I hope to see you around the classrooms this fortnight. Enjoy the glorious weather!

Kind regards,
Judy Billiau

APRE THOUGHTS

St Rita Our Patron Saint

Have you ever felt despair and confusion when dealing with seemingly insurmountable difficulties in life? Praying to St Rita may help, as many miracles have been attributed to her. St Rita of Cascia, our school’s Patron Saint, holds the title in the Catholic Church of ‘Saint of the Impossible”. Her story reveals that she too lived much of her life in miserable circumstances, yet she was able to find peace and joy through her commitment to her faith.

During Tuesday’s mass celebration in honour of the Feast of St Rita, Father Kerry shared with us the meaning of our School Logo and Motto, which clearly state what we believe in and what we try to live by. Our school crest shows: The Book to signify the academic excellence that we strive for at St Rita’s; The Rose to represent God’s love for St Rita, and her ability to intercede on behalf of lost or impossible causes; and The Crosses to honour the years of dedicated service the Sisters of Mercy have given to the St Rita’s Community. Our St Rita’s School Motto ‘Under God’s Protection’ represents God’s protection and guidance which we ask for, as we each strive to fulfil our individual promise.

These symbols speak to us of the spirituality of our community and the qualities of our school’s Patron, Saint Rita, which we aspire to: peaceful, compassionate, merciful and loving, and above all gifted with faith in Jesus as her Lord and Saviour.

At our celebration, we gave thanks for the blessings of our community here at St Rita’s, and asked God to guide us to be people of peace and forgiveness. You may like to pray that we allow the grace of the Holy Spirit to be effective in us, so we can live with joy in the love of God, as St Rita did. The prayer to St. Rita, like her miracles, helps remind us indeed that “all things are possible with God,” as Jesus said in Mark’s gospel (10:27).

The Prayer to St Rita

Holy Patroness of those in need, Saint Rita, so humble, pure and patient, whose pleadings with thy Divine Spouse are irresistible, obtain for me from thy Crucified Christ my request (mention it here).
Be kind to me, for the greater glory of God, and I promise to honour thee and to sing thy praises forever.

Oh glorious St. Rita, who didst miraculously participate in the sorrowful Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, obtain for me the grace to suffer with resignation the troubles of this life, and protect me in all my needs.
Amen

Pentecost

Last Sunday in the Catholic Church, the glorious Feast of Pentecost was celebrated, bringing Eastertide to a close. Pentecost is celebrated fifty days after Christ’s resurrection, whereby the Holy Spirit was bestowed upon the apostles. To the ancient Jewish people, fifty days after Passover was originally a pilgrimage feast to give thanks to God for bountiful produce, and held in Jerusalem. This may explain how the disciples, empowered by the Holy Spirit, were able to begin their ministry and tell of the mission of the Church to the many from foreign lands. It was on this day that Peter – the first pope of the Catholic Church – called all present to be baptised, and so Pentecost also marks the birth of the Catholic Church.

National Reconciliation Week

The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2018 is “Don’t Keep History a Mystery”. This year, Australians are invited to Learn, Share, and Grow by exploring our past, learning more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, and developing a deeper understanding of our national story. National Reconciliation Weekend is ‘bookended’ by two important dates – the anniversary of the 1967 referendum on 27 May, and the anniversary of the historic High Court Mabo judgement on 3 June.

Reconciliation must live in the hearts, minds and actions of all Australians. To heal our nation, we must all contribute to achieving Reconciliation. To develop greater knowledge about our shared history, further information and resources can be found below.

Blessings,

Maureen Gaul
Assistant Principal (Religious Education)

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING

Building better family relationships

Caring and commitment are the basis of strong family relationships. This means making the wellbeing of family members a first priority and offering support when needed. Some families seem to pull together easily, while for others it takes greater effort. To build strong family relationships, start by identifying the strengths you do have and appreciating them. Paying attention to the things that work well and building on them will help to strengthen your relationships. The following suggestions may be useful reminders.

There are lots of ways to show you care even in busy families:

Tune in

One way to show you care is by listening to what other family members have to say with interest and enthusiasm. Other ideas include doing things for one another, helping (without complaining!), celebrating birthdays and achievements and taking the time to understand how other family members are feeling. Hugs are another favourite. Have fun together, spend time doing things you enjoy. Doing simple things that allow you to relax and play together is very important for building positive feelings and connections amongst family members. Playing games or sports, going to the park, having picnics, visiting with friends or just relaxing together are examples of family activities that help to build relationships.

Family rituals

Family rituals can help to build a sense of connection and belonging. These may include family celebrations that happen once a year, as well as everyday activities like bedtime stories, morning cuddles or cooking a special meal together once a week. Having family rituals and routines that you enjoy together helps to create strong family bonds.

Make time to talk

Regular time for talking and listening to one another helps families to plan and set priorities, strengthen relationships and build mutual understanding. Taking a few minutes to talk with children after school or before bedtime, and making time for adults to ‘check in’ with each other, is important for building connections and cooperation. Family discussions are often very helpful ways of resolving conflicts and maintaining positive relationships. Make sure that everyone gets a turn to share feelings and thoughts and contribute to finding solutions that can work for the whole family.

Share values

Sharing common values strengthens belonging and helps families work together when challenges arise. Discuss your beliefs and values or tell stories about your own family and cultural history. Demonstrate through your behaviour values like respect, care, compassion and responsibility. Remember that children are influenced by what you do even more than by what you say.

Appreciate differences

Family togetherness doesn’t mean everybody has to be the same or always do the same things. It helps to appreciate that everyone is different, and to value and respect each family member’s unique needs, wants and talents. Avoiding negative comparisons, and affirming what each individual has to offer, creates strong family bonds.

Share the load

Family life can get out of balance when one person feels they have the burden of responsibilities, or when one person makes all the decisions. Supporting each other includes sharing the chores and making sure that everyone gets to have a say in the decisions that affect them.

Get support

Family life has many challenges as well as rewards. Getting support when you need it – from extended family, friends, or professionals – is important for managing the challenges. Professional counselling is a particularly valuable strategy for helping many families who experience relationship problems.

CASTING THE NET

Mary, our help

The first Catholic Cathedral in Australia was built on a rubbish dump. In the early colony, giving that land to the Catholics was intended as an insult. Not that you would notice it today. St Mary’s Cathedral looks, to the tourist and casual observer today, like it is on prime real estate while the Churches of the other denominations who received land in that early distribution are crowded beneath the skyscrapers of the city. A similar thing happened in Melbourne.

Catholics had a hard time in the early colony. Their faith was illegal. For the first forty years they rarely saw a priest and then only under strict supervision of the authorities. But many did ‘keep their faith’. They kept alive in their hearts the belief that God was with them even in those difficult circumstances. Love of Mary expressed though praying the rosary sustained and supported this belief so when they were finally allowed to publicly practise their faith they expressed their thanks to her by dedicating the first Cathedral in her honour and then later making her the patron of Australia under the title Mary, Help of Christians. They knew that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was their support in the hard and difficult times they faced.

This Thursday, the 24th May, is the Feast of Mary, Help of Christians. Just as she helped the early Australian Church, she helps us as well…so what type of help do you want? We all have times and situations so difficult we feel we are in the rubbish dump – both personally and as a community. Most likely, with God’s help and with Mary’s, we will not be taken out of our rubbish dumps but will be given the grace and opportunity to turn them into prime real estate. This week offer your difficult challenges to Mary and imagine what she, with her mother’s heart, could do for you.

Loving God, thank you for the gift of Mary, Help of Christians.
You know I could do with all the help I could get,
so let your Spirit guide me in turning to her and receiving what I need.
I ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear me.

Sr Kym Harris osb

CURRICULUM CORNER

Reading is a huge part of the English curriculum and it is much more than decoding the written word. Classroom teachers often explain to parents that although decoding skills are solid, the child is not necessarily comprehending the text adequately. “The process of comprehending texts involves much more than the ability to decode words”. In the classroom, teachers specifically plan to develop effective comprehension skills in readers. How do they do this?

Why Teach Strategies?

Effective teachers have an understanding of how reading occurs and are able to plan learning experiences and instruction that support students to become more successful readers. Teachers play an important role in ensuring that all students build up a bank of knowledge that can be accessed during the reading process. Teachers often work tirelessly to ensure that students have knowledge of:

• a growing list of high frequency words
• graphophonic elements
• grammatical features of the English language
• text structures and organisation
• topics and concepts
• cultural and world matters

One of the most crucial elements of supporting reading development is the explicit teaching of reading strategies so readers are able to access their prior knowledge during reading. The process of comprehending texts involves much more than the ability to decode words. A reader must actively integrate a range of strategies, including both word identification and comprehension strategies to draw upon all available knowledge in the form of cues. Efficient readers have often automated many of these reading strategies so many occur subconsciously.

The teaching of comprehension and word identification strategies is essential. Explicit demonstrations, on-going scaffolding and opportunities to practise and apply reading strategies will support all readers to identify unknown words, prepare for, monitor and adjust their reading.

What Are the Strategies?

Many teachers have attempted to catalogue a list of the strategies that readers use as they comprehend text. This is a challenging task as the reading process is silent and motionless and involves cognitive strategies that are often not observable.

Reading research over the past two decades has provided insights into the identification of the processes most commonly used by skilled or efficient readers. Although educators will list and categorise strategies in different ways, most lists contain similar elements. The common element in all work is the focus on what ‘good readers’ do as they identify words and comprehend text. This focus provides a valid framework for determining the strategies to introduce to students.

Efficient readers are active as they read, simultaneously using a range of processes to identify unknown words and comprehend text. These may include a combination of any of the following processes.

• Clarifying the goal of reading the text (purpose)
• Skimming or looking through a text before reading
• Making predictions about what might be presented next in the text
• Refining predictions as the text is read
• Making connections to what is already known
• Determining which information is the most important in the text
• Re-reading any information considered important or difficult to understand
• Reading on when searching for some specific information
• Making inferences about information not explicitly stated in the text
• Synthesising information in the text to summarise and monitor understanding
• Generating questions about the text
• Creating images from what is read
• Paraphrasing the information read
• Seeking clarification when meaning is lost.

The list of behaviours is not an exhaustive one, but certainly provides useful information about what is important in reading. As a result of the analysis of these behaviours, a list of reading strategies has been compiled. The following strategies are not hierarchical or phase specific. In any reading event a number of reading strategies will be used simultaneously to aid comprehension and/or to identify unknown words.

A List of Reading Strategies

• Predicting
• Connecting
• Comparing
• Inferring
• Synthesising
• Creating Images
• Self-questioning
• Skimming
• Scanning
• Determining Importance
• Summarising and Paraphrasing
• Re-reading • Reading On
• Adjusting Reading Rate
• Sounding Out
• Chunking
• Using Analogy
• Consulting a Reference

Source: (‘First Steps’ Reading Resource Book, Department of Education, Western Australia, 2013, pp 112 - 114)

‘STEPHANIE ALEXANDER KITCHEN GARDEN’ PROGRAM

The beautiful weather in the past fortnight has been perfect for Mrs Stone to begin the term’s gardening program with the SAKG children. This term, preparing the garden beds and planting the crops of vegetables and herbs are the highlight of Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program. A variety of seedlings have been planted; lettuce, cabbage, capsicum, snow peas, long beans, basil, zucchini, shallots, tomatoes, spinach and parsley.

We once again thank the Panebianco family, of Cairns Mulch, for their kind donation of garden soil to re-fill the beds for this season’s planting. We are also grateful to local gardener, Roger Castlehouse, for providing some of the seedlings we planted. The Babinda community shines on St Rita’s once again!

LESSONS IN THE LIBRARY

The 2018 Premier’s Reading Challenge is underway! Letters have been sent home last week with details on how to participate. It would be fabulous to see as many students as possible participating in this reading initiative. School reader record forms are due back to the library by Friday 24 August. Happy reading St Rita’s!

Photographers and Designers in the Making!

The Prep/Year 1 students have been enjoying creating multimedia collages using the PicCollage app. Using a combination of text and online images, as well as their own photographs and drawings, the students have been designing beautiful posters to display their understanding of the various symbols relating to birthday celebrations.

Michelle van Dugteren
District Librarian & Resource Teacher

AROUND THE CLASSROOMS

‘Made with Love’

Whack, clunk, echo! The noise was so intense, the classroom next door had to evacuate to the upper level!

No, the building hadn’t collapsed; our senior class was busy building our Sugar Glider Nesting Boxes. All you could hear was the sound of hammers of every variety striking long, silver nails into pieces of hardwood timber. There were sugar gliders on the Atherton Tablelands counting on us, and we weren’t going to let them down!

Our class was inspired following two special wildlife visits to our school. Wildlife Carer, Tanya Tuttle, visited and brought with her an injured wallaby, explaining the many threats that native animals have to face each day. ‘Zoo to You’ brought a variety of native animals for their visit and alerted us to the fact that our beautiful sugar gliders are losing many of their homes due to deforestation. We made up our minds to help them by building Sugar Glider Nesting Boxes, so they can nest and keep their babies safe.

Our senior class designed the Nesting Boxes as part of our Design and Technology unit, using recycled materials. Hallie’s dad cut the pieces of wood to the correct sizes and we assembled the boxes using hammers, nails, drills and hinges. Each person in our class constructed a box and as we laid down our hammers, we were so proud to have been able to build them in one afternoon.

Our teacher, Mrs Harbour, will be making a special delivery to the wildlife carers from the Tree Kangaroo and Mammal Group on the Atherton Tablelands. We hope the sugar gliders enjoy their new nesting boxes. They were made with lots of love!

Written by Max Schep and Jamie Brose
Year 5/6

LIBRARY LINKS

The Gift of Reading

I read an interesting article recently where the author, Sven Birkerts, shared his memory of when he first realised he could read. For me, his memories summed up everything that is so wonderful about receiving the gift of reading. I’d like to share a little of it with you:

Though it happened more than 50 years ago, I keep the sensation of that moment. It’s every bit as vivid as the memory of pedalling my bike down the sidewalk and suddenly realizing I was alone, that my father was no longer there steadying and guiding me. I was in first grade, though I don’t think I was in school when it happened. Most of the specifics of the event have fallen away. I’m sitting somewhere with Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book in my lap, and it happens. Happens after who knows how many times of it not happening. Something has changed between the last time I looked at the book and now, a kind of ripening or opening out. That’s how it feels. The look of letters turns into words with sounds. I feel my eyes and ears come together as I move, slowly, wobblingly, and the sense suddenly comes. In big rough jerks, but then faster, so that in a sentence or two I’ve moved from not riding to riding: It was seven o’clock on a very warm evening…. I romanticize, I compress, I dramatize—I’m sure I do. But that’s how it lives in me, the moment that changed my life forever, by breaking me out of what had been just my thoughts, my imagination, and opening the door on thoughts and imaginings that were, and remain, past counting. I had learned to read.

Learned to read: I had learned that I could do it. This was something very different than hearing stories from my mother at bedtime or from Miss Carnahan when we made a circle. This was suddenly power and control, and I knew, maybe for the first time, that I had something that couldn’t be undone or taken away. It was as if I had all at once, in the space of a long breath, doubled what I was. I could read.

And I read. Once I started, I never stopped. A book was to me, then, as now, a token of possibility, of privacy and self-containment. My greatest joy, then, as now, was to find a place away from others, to be alone and have it happen again, the renewable miracle: to feel the world I live in start to slowly recede while at the same time another, different world builds itself more and more distinctly around me.

National Simultaneous Story Time

In the Library on Wednesday, the whole school will celebrate National Simultaneous Story Time with a reading of Hickory Dickory Dash written by Tony Wilson & illustrated by Laura Wood.

Share a story with someone you love today.

Till next time, happy reading!

Lisa Calcagno
Library Officer

DATE CLAIMERS

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

St Rita’s School congratulates those students who were awarded ‘Student of the Week’ at Assembly on Friday 18th May 2018.

ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

We congratulate Jack Clarke (Year 3) who successfully contributed to the Cairns Post ‘Inspire’ on Tuesday 15th May 2018. Jack wrote an informative article on his participation in the Babinda ANZAC Day Parade and ceremony. Well done Jack!

P & F NEWS

Raffle thank you and winners!

Thank you so much for all the beautiful donations we received by the wonderful families and staff of St Rita's. We were overwhelmed by your support and surprised that we could put together not only one but four gift baskets to raffle on Mother’s Day Pampering afternoon.

The winners of our beautiful gift baskets were:

1st prize: Jacinta Lansdown
2nd prize: Wendy Johnson
3rd prize: Lisa Calcagno
4th prize: Vicki Jago

We have fundraised close to $200 and as you know, all money raised goes towards our camp/excursion fund. During our meeting, held on Monday 21st May at 3:00 pm, we discussed where the money will be allocated this year. Our aim is that all children benefit from this fund, so making excursions and camps more affordable for families. For further information, you are welcome to access the Meeting Minutes in the office.

We encourage all parents to join us for our short general meetings which are scheduled twice per term. If you have an hour spare, you can contribute to the valuable discussions we have at these meetings and be informed on the happenings at our school.

Thank you again for your support,

St Rita’s School P & F Committee

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

COMMUNITY NEWS

CAIRNS REGIONAL COUNCIL

Well Women’s Clinic – Babinda Hospital

(This clinic is available to Medicare eligible clients)

Wednesday 6th June 2018
All services are provided by a specially-trained Women’s Health Nurse.
For appointments phone 4067 8200

GOOD COUNSEL COLLEGE

SECOND ROUND OF ENROLMENT INTERVIEWS FOR YEAR 7 2019 AND THE OPPORTUNITY TO MEET THE NEW PRINCIPAL OF GCC WILL BE HELD ON **SATURDAY 16TH JUNE**.

IF YOU ARE INTENDING TO APPLY FOR A PLACE IN 2019 PLEASE CONTACT ENROLMENTS (4063 5300) FOR AN APPLICATION PACKAGE.

PARENTS & STUDENTS ARE ALSO INVITED TO ATTEND THE PROSPECTIVE PARENTS MORNING (INCLUDING COLLEGE TOUR) ON TUESDAY 12TH JUNE.