Newsletter #15 June 3
Principal's Report
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's news.
We had a great start last week with the Foundation and Junior Unit children returning to school and we are excited to welcome back the Middle and Senior children next Tuesday 9th June. It's been a long journey for everyone involved, however, there is light at the end of the tunnel. There have been many examples of positivity and growth in each and everyone of us. We really want this positive energy to continue for the remainder of the term.
When the Middle and Senior Unit children return to school fulltime on Tuesday 9th June, all remote learning will stop. Any child who is not at school will be recorded as absent unless notified by parents. Don't forget that next Monday 8th June is the Queen's Birthday public holiday.
This Friday 5th June is a pupil free day. Staff are engaged in Curriculum assessment planning for Semester One. Therefore there will be no children at school and no remote learning for Years 3-6.
At this stage our morning and afternoon routine for Drop Off and Pick up will continue for the remainder of Term Two. Gates will open at 8.30am and all children will go straight to their classes. Parents will still be expected to follow the current physical distancing guidelines in place. As new information becomes available, we will notify as soon as possible.
Congratulations to this week's Gotcha Winners. It's wonderful to see so many children being acknowledged for their positive behaviour.
25 Gotcha Award Winners: Ofa Ahotaeiloa, Liam Brown, Emilia Capp Harper Caristo Tanveer Cheema, Sofia Echanes, Sophie Freeth, Lily Jamieson, Mila Pascale, Darcy Silcox, Vanessa Trajceski, Holly Welke, Sylvia jade Simmons, Cooper Chapple, Zale Le Poidevin, Minhky Le, Reyon Shermin, Hannah Davies, Jessica Ram, Natasha Cavallo, Harshveer Khangura, Xander Dingwall, Mike Hogan, Janelle Tran, Lainesia Toutai, Leslieli Toto, Daniel Sunna, Rosy Senior, Claudia Schilling, Aaysha Ram, Tuan Nguyen, James Nadalo, Jontae Moraitis, Ryan Moir, Riley Freeth, Finn Droffelaar, Gabriel Collins, Rocco Circosta, Mia Campbell, Daniel Robin, Harry Burns
50 Gotcha Award Winners: Sarah Richmond, Harriet Gibson, Alan Jessil, Ava Gemits and Jensen Mitchell
A special welcome to Fr Matthew Thomas who has begun in his role as parish priest for our community. Hopefully, in the not too distant future,there will be an opportunity to meet Fr Matt in person.
It is Winter now and we have certainly experienced a cold snap this week. It is important that all children are wearing the correct winter uniform to school and more importantly have their clothing and apparel clearly marked.
Once again, thank you for your continued support during this most difficult time.
As always
Keep the Faith
Vince Muscatello
Principal
Foundation Unit News
This week in maths the Foundation Unit have been learning about subtraction. They have been learning how to take an amount away from a group. They have been using concrete materials to assist them with the process as well as learning how to write simple subtraction sentences.
SPORT DAYS are Tuesday and Friday. Please remember to come to school in your Sport uniform.
This Thursday is our special PJ Day where the children will come to school dressed in their pyjamas (don't forget to wear your runners) and have a fun day to celebrate our successful return to school for the Foundation and Junior Units. A reminder that the Foundation Unit will be watching the Lion King. If you do not want your child to take part in this, please see their teacher.
Junior Unit News
Hello everyone and welcome to our Week 8 Junior Unit news! This week, we are continuing to learn and complete an author study of Julia Donaldson. We have read a range of stories and completed some interesting activities related to the stories.
Look at the photos of our creative Zog puppets and a lovely teddy bear artwork that will be given to someone special!
We have also begun learning all about addition and strategies to use when adding numbers. You might like to ask your child about what they have learned and have a fun quiz all about addition at home!
Don’t forget that tomorrow, Thursday 4th June is Pyjama Day. Students can come dressed in their pyjamas and sport shoes ready for a fun day of learning.
Middle Unit News
Happy week 8 everyone! We have finally reached the end of our remote learning and we couldn't be more excited! Upon everyone's return next week, students are going to be playing some awesome team games, creating 3D monsters, writing funny and witty poems, and reconnecting with peers and teachers. All with the appropriate social distancing of course! If anyone has questions about the return to school then please get in contact with your classroom teacher. This week in learning students have been researching and creating slides about lego, bikes, and computers. As always some people are creating absolute masterpieces! The hard work being put in makes the teachers here at school very excited to see what kind of work we will be able to complete when we all return! Finally, just as a friendly reminder, there will be no canteen next week.
Senior Unit News
Welcome Back!
We are all looking forward to seeing you next week as we resume our classroom learning. We would like to congratulate everyone on the way you have engaged in the remote learning over the past 8 weeks! It has certainly had its ups and downs, however we are very proud of the way in which it was embraced.
This week, some of the Senior students attending school ran our very first PLAY session for the junior students. Congratrulations to Lyla, Alissa, Darcy and Russell for organising the events and braving the freezing weather to make recess a little more exciting for our F-2 students. Thankyou to Mrs Kennedy for her help in organising the events too!
Haiku Poetry Competition
In week 10, beginning 15th June, the Senior students will be learning about haiku poems and writing their own along with artwork to accompany their poem. A haiku is a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, written in 3 lines. We will be inviting all students to enter their poems in the ABC 2020 Haiku Poem Competition. Teachers will ensure those students who wish to enter have their work upoaded to the competition and ensure that all competition rules are adhered to. As part of the entry we are required to include a parent/guardian e-mail address. If have any questions or concerns regarding this competition please contact your classroom teacher. We look forward to sharing the students haiku poems in future editions of our newsletter.
If you would like further information please click on this link https://education.abc.net.au/home#!/competition/3538992/haiku-competition-2020
Library News
Hello from our library. Last wednesday the Junior unit enjoyed reading our fantastic picture book 'Whitney and Britney Chicken Divas' for National simultaneous Storytime. We also had fun making Diva crowns or fox masks.
Our first Book fair for this year has been cancelled, but we have our second Book fair booked in for October. We will also be celebrating Children's Book Week in October this year. The theme for this year is 'Curious Creatures, Wild Minds'.
It is great to see students using the libray again, remember library books can be borrowed for 2 weeks. Have a look around at home for any boks that may have been forgotten.
Sports Update
It's been so nice to have the F-2 children back at school these past 2 weeks! It's much more fun to teach children face to face than while talking to a computer screen! This week we are continuing to practice our catching skills.
For those still at home, here are my final active resource tips. I hope you have been enjoying these and have been able to find ways to keep active during the past few months. 'Just dance' is another fun dance resource that children really enjoy. Similar to 'gonoodle', they are simple and easy to follow along with. Simply google search 'just dance' and many options will be available for you to choose from.
For adults, Kim Beach is another fitness trainer that has been uploading daily at home workout videos to her facebook page. She is now up to 72 days! Also, Glen Eira Leisure is a gym based in Melbourne that has been hosting and saving daily live sessions on their facebook page (they also have saved workouts on their website). These include Les Mills classes as well as other cardio, strength and yoga classes. They also have been including family fitness classes that you can do together with your children!
Looking forward to seeing everyone back at school next week. We did it!.
Kyra Mitchell (PE teacher/Sports Coordinator)
TECHNOLOGY NEWS
It was so exciting to finally have students back in the technology classroom last week with Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 returning to school. It will be even better next week when all students in Years 3-6 will be back too.
With students relying on the use of technology to access their learning while at home, we took a break from devices in the Technology room last week! The focus of our lessons shifted from Digital Technologies to Design and Technology.
Students in Foundation have begun exploring the area of Food Technology with a particular focus on planning and preparing food by thinking about what makes a healthy diet. In our last week of remote learning, after reading the book 'Spaghetti with the Yeti' by Adam Guillain, we drew pictures, created collages or made models of our favourite food. Thank you to everyone who sent in pictures of their yummy favourite foods, they looked good enough to eat! Then last week, we explored foods and played games like, Healthy Food Bingo, Feed Alan the Alien and Lunchbox Sort, to group them according to whether they were healthy or unhealthy.
Students in Years 1 and 2, in their last week of remote learning, started exploring Engineering Principles and discovered the difference between push and pull forces. Then last week, we explored a variety of toys that use push and pull forces to create movement. We spent a lot of time examining and playing with a range of push and pull toys to work out exactly how they move before designing our very own push or pull toy.
Until next week remember...
Technology is cool, but you've GOT to use it as OPPOSED to letting it use YOU!
Mrs Narelle Simms
Arts News
It is so great to be back at school and to teach all of the Foundation, Grade One and Grade Two children again in the classroom. The juniors had lots of fun last week drawing "Chicken Divas" after participating in the National Simultaneous Storytime with Ms Marg. Stay tuned for some wonderful, colourful and blingy chickens in the upcoming weeks!
Monday saw the last online Arts lesson for the children in grades 3-6. A massive thank you to those who have sent me photos of your wonderful creations over the 8 weeks of remote learning, receiving artwork each week has LITERALLY brightened my days!
This week the children were given some drawing prompts and could choose one or more to draw. Check out the gallery for some of the fantastic drawings I have received so far.
See you all next week!
Jess Freeman
Student Gallery
