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We were very lucky to have illustrator, Craig Smith visiting our school in term 2. Craig did a workshop with students from years 1-3. All of the students and teachers enjoyed the experience and have been pouring over the many books in our library illustrated by Craig.
Our year five students all had a fantastic time at their Adventure Bound camp. Camps cannot happen without adults giving up their time to organise and attend them. Thank you to Mrs Ilic and Mr Dixon for organising the camps. Thank you to Rebecca, Peter, Maria, Tanya, Chelsea, Matt, Ms Phillips and Mr Dixon for attending the camps. Our camping champion, Mrs Kimm spent the whole week at camp and looked after students with illnesses or injuries as well as participating in all activities. Your stamina is both admired and appreciated, Mrs Kimm.
Our year 4 students went to the Batchelor Outdoor Education Centre and enjoyed their first school camp experience. They enjoyed the challenges and their time they spent together. Thank you Mrs Wahlqvist and Mrs Rust for giving the students the opportunity to attend camp, we appreciate that you have given up time with your families to make this happen. Thank you also to Sam, Brad, Josh and Joanne who are the parents and grandmother who attended this camp. We could not have camps without volunteers and we appreciate your support.
We had a wonderful 2 days with the school ablaze with colours for our Athletics Carnival. It was great to see the excellent sportsmanship and have a go attitude of the students. We had a day of field events and a day of track events. On Friday morning we will had a presentation assembly to conclude our Sports Carnival. A big thank you goes to Mrs Scanlan for all of her hard work preparing the students, planning the events and coordinating the teachers to ensure every child has a chance to participate and enjoy the day. Thank you also to all staff for their positive and proactive work with the students, the enthusiasm and support provided by staff help even the most reluctant child to ‘have a go.’
This year in Early Years Arts (Dance, Drama and Music), we are discovering a variety of communicative skills and strategies. Our focus is on using facial expressions, body language, sounds, movement, props and costumes to convey messages.
We observe the way other cultures and communities use sound and movement for self-expression and consider techniques used by movie makers, song writers, advertisers and dancers to influence our perceptions. Within our classes, we perform created and modified stories incorporating drumming and a range of other instruments and props.
In class, we usually work collaboratively, in small groups, larger groups and even on multi class projects for whole school audiences. We practice being creative and accepting individual differences. It’s very interactive, sometimes noisy and often surprising. I hope that children are taking their discoveries into the wider world of communication.
In Year3, students have been exploring the uniqueness and similarities of individuals and communities. They are on a journey of self-examination and have been developing their understanding of uniqueness along the way.
Students are using a range of new skills to help answer the classes’ key inquiry questions of……
– How do people see themselves?
– How do symbols, events, individuals and places in my community make it unique?
– How do people contribute to their communities, past and present?
Students have been exploring the many facets of communities through the lens of a ‘Market Place’ and beginning to categorise our understanding of different communities by looking at how symbols, events, individuals and places in each community make it unique.
Last week we had a local market stall holder come in to discuss her business with the class. She presented her business model, products and discussed how her business contributes the local community. ‘Twisted Pots’ was a great example of a small business operating in our local market space. The class were so excited to discuss their new findings with each other and relate these understandings to the learning that has been happening in the classroom.
Jump online and check out all the products that Twisted Pots has available.
https://twistedpots.com.au/
J1 – YEAR 4 / 5 HAMDAN
In our class we were discussing our right to go to the toilet during class time. Some students admitted that they were scared to ask a teacher to go, that they felt bad interrupting the lesson or had bad previous experiences and didn’t feel brave to ask. This led to asking some bigger questions about our rights as kids. Mr Hamdan shared the UN convention of the Rights of the Child, and we looked at the different articles that connected to the toilet discussion we were having. This made us wonder about ‘how we can raise our voice to make change?’ We started inquiring more into the importance of children being able to go to the toilet at any time and learnt that ‘holding on’ can impact on our health. We believe it should be a right for all children to go to the toilet when they need. This is very supported by our teachers. We connected this learning with the bigger questions of children’s rights and why they exist. We are now thinking deeper and going further in our learning on how we can raise our voice to make change. Next week we have parliamentary role playing to see how laws are made which will help us think about this further.
(Olivia Chambers, Alex Birkett and Mrs Rust)
In our class we have been discussing how we are all diverse. We found out that we originated from lots of different countries, making us very multicultural. This led us to ask our parents questions about where we originated from and why. This made us think about the different cultures around the world. We generated some open ended questions about a culture that interested us and are in the middle of researching those questions to find and sort out the information. We have learnt how to note take, summarise and work within word limits. We are making choices on how to present our information through word, power-point or SWAY.
"I have learnt that Australia is not made up of just one culture, that we all originate from different places. Our Government plays an important part in making sure that we are respectful of peoples’ cultures. I am researching India and looking into how their environment is different to Australia’s. I am learning that there are differences not just in people but environments."
In our class we were discussing diversity and how our genetics make us different. This made us think about many things like….
This led to some independent inquiries into different facets of genetics. Each student came up with 3-5 open ended questions about their concept to research. Now we are sorting out the information to answer the questions we had. We will be using digital technology such as SWAY and PREZZIE presentations to present and share our findings with the rest of the class.
(Addi Burke, Bella Tsangaris and Mrs Rust)
"Diversity is important because when someone has a different belief to you, you can’t push them to believe yours or judge them because they believe differently to you."
Thank you to all our staff, peer leaders, service people, students and parents for hosting and attending our ANZAC Day assembly. Our service reminded us all of the importance of our ANZAC history. Mrs Chatto read the story ‘Memorial’ where we learnt about the importance of memory and were reminded to always be kind to everyone.
Congratulations to our choirs and Mrs Wahlqvist and Ms Chaffey who represented our school so well at the ANZAC Day service in Humpty Doo. I really appreciate the extra time and effort our teachers put into community events which give our students great opportunities to shine and grow. Thank you Kris and Kay.
This year we celebrated Harmony Day with a whole school assembly.
Miki Sensei, year 5 Hamdan and year 5/6 Dixon led the school in singing a song in English and Japanese titled, Everyone Belongs. Mrs Chatto read, ‘I’m Australian too’ and some of our peer leaders added a few extra pages telling their stories. Each class presented a canvas they had prepared giving their class message on how we can all belong, the canvases are now displayed in ‘Harmony Lane’ which is in the walkway behind the stage.
After assembly we moved into our year group teams and participated in playground games. The aim of this session was to teach the students new games to play during recess and lunch, students were introduced to many old favourites: marbles, elastics, skipping, fly and many more engaging games. The concept of belonging and inclusivity prevailed throughout the games session with everyone having a positive and enjoyable morning.
