St John’s Primary Riverstone, Early Stage One (Kindergarten) teachers are utilising imaginative play as a way to engage their students in oral literacy.
With talk being the foundation for thought and understanding in reading and writing, students are participating in puppet play and fancy dress to develop their talking, listening and cooperative skills.
“We know that ‘reading and writing floats on a sea of talk’,” teacher Charlene Saliba said. “We have been doing some professional learning to engage our students and develop their skills in this area moving from imagining, to inner speech, to inner speaking, to speech.”
“Students use the puppets to create a story with their group and then share it with an audience,” she said. “They also love using the Chatterpix app on the iPads to take photos and record their voices, pretending they are the characters in the photo.”
Ms Saliba said that is a whole school focus in the development of oral literacy at St John’s where we have created a specific learning intent and success criteria based on curriculum outcomes to ensure students understand and are aware of the skills they are developing through play.
St John's Primary School Riverstone
www.stjohnsriverstone.catholic.edu.au
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28 Apr 2025
From Facebook
Today our staff joined with all CSPD schools for an encountering Jesus formation day, where we reflected on the beauty of our Catholic school and community through prayer, hymns and discussion. Here’s a pic of some of our staff after such an enriching day! 🙏✝️ We look forward to welcoming you all back on Wednesday! ❤️![746041150857862_1219606270168012-1]()
25 Apr 2025
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This morning our students represented St John’s at the Riverstone Dawn service. We are very proud of them. However you spend ANZAC day we encourage you to remember those who have served and are currently serving. Lest we forget. 🇦🇺
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28 Apr 2025
From Facebook
Today our staff joined with all CSPD schools for an encountering Jesus formation day, where we reflected on the beauty of our Catholic school and community through prayer, hymns and discussion. Here’s a pic of some of our staff after such an enriching day! 🙏✝️ We look forward to welcoming you all back on Wednesday! ❤️
25 Apr 2025
Photos from St John's Primary, Riverstone's post
This morning our students represented St John’s at the Riverstone Dawn service. We are very proud of them. However you spend ANZAC day we encourage you to remember those who have served and are currently serving. Lest we forget. 🇦🇺
21 Apr 2025
From Facebook
RIP Pope Francis. With great sadness, we share that Pope Francis passed away today - Easter Monday🕊️ He has been a great leader for our Church - devoted to caring for creation, the marginalised and dialogue with other faiths. He focused on a Church for everyone.
18 Apr 2025
From Facebook
Wishing all our families a Happy and Holy Easter weekend! ✝️🐰 Today we reflect on Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and on Sunday we celebrate the resurrection of our saviour. 🙏 1 Peter 1:3: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
11 Apr 2025
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Year 5 are becoming symmetrical superstars! 🤩 This term, they used rotational symmetry to create effective images. They also Used coordinates when enlarging images on a grid. Take a look at some of our year 5 artists! ✍️🎨
10 Apr 2025
Photos from St John's Primary, Riverstone's post
This term in Geography, Stage One completed a special project where they found out information about a place they feel connected to. 🌏🗺️ They worked hard this term researching and designing and making posters to share with their family. This week, families were invited in so that the students could present their projects! We are blown away at how detailed and creative these posters are! 🩵
09 Apr 2025
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On Monday 7th April, seven of our Year 6 students attended the inaugural Diocesean Big Walk for Water💧to raise awareness and funds to support communities in developing countries that do not have access to clean water. 💦 They experienced what it was like to have to walk for several kilometers carrying a bucket of water and as they did this they reflected on the experiences of children their age, who walk for kilometres every day to collect water for their whole family.🚿🪣💧 The Year 6 students that remained at school also participated in a shorter Water Walk around the school grounds. They used the opportunity as a prayer experience to reflect on the hardships of others and to appreciate how blessed they are. Thank you to all of our sponsors who have helped us raise $115 so far! 💵💵💵 If you would like to show your support and Unite Against Poverty,💪🏼 it’s not too late! Please use the link to make your donation to Caritas and help our Year 6 students reach their goal of raising $300 for Project Compassion - Walk for Water https://fundraise.projectcompassion.org.au/s-johns-primary-school-riverstone
08 Apr 2025
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The Easter Hat Parade and Easter Raffle is always a memorable event at St John’s! Well done to our talented students and families for making such egg-cellent hats! 🎩👒 Thank you for your generous donations to our Easter raffle- 56 prizes and over $1300 raised is a great achievement for a small community! 💜🐣🐰 A special thank you to April for our wonderful balloons and decorations- we are so lucky and grateful to you! 🎈
04 Apr 2025
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Congratulations to this weeks award recipients! 🏆 We also congratulate our year 6 students for their hard work raising money for project compassion with the big water walk! 💧
03 Apr 2025
From Facebook
Don’t forget to buy your raffle tickets before Tuesday - here are just a few of our raffle prizes. 10 percent of money raised goes towards Cartitas. We are close to reaching our goal of $1000 for project compassion.
02 Apr 2025
Photos from St John's Primary, Riverstone's post
What an exciting day Stage 2 have had today in the city! 🌆 Lots of tired legs after walking around the city and exploring old buildings from the early days of European Settlement. They got to sketch the Harbour Bridge, dress up like European settlers and convicts and learn about the different perspectives of with British Colonisation. 🤩 We are sure they will sleep well tonight! 😴
01 Apr 2025
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Our Easter Hat Parade is next Tuesday at 9am. Time to get creative with your hat making and decorating skills. All welcome.