19 May 2017

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Our congratulations go to the Year 3 and 5 students who participated so enthusiastically in the national testing last week to show their academic knowledge and understanding. Students were settled, prepared and determined to shine and the results, due late next term, will give us good information about where to take the learning next.

This week we have rehearsed our School Lockdown Procedure which is activated in the event of severe weather event, phone threat, terrorist act or dangerous animal in the playground. Over the school year your child will participate in Fire Evacuations, Lockdown Evacuations and Bushfire Safety shelter practises to ensure we know what to do during these events. Please contact me directly if you have any questions regarding these mandated procedures.

And finally…we are so excited about the playground development happening at the front of our school. Last year, our school won a Tasmanian Community Fund grant of almost $50,000 to upgrade our equipment . Students from 2016 Year 5 were asked to contribute their ideas about equipment that promotes active play and we have paired this with spaces that incorporate passive and creative play. Our new equipment incorporates swings for all abilities and ages and we hope our community uses and enjoys the space. The new equipment is stage one of the development which will incorporate natural themes of curiosity and connection to our land.

Here are some photos of the playground from across the years.

Bonnie Jeffrey
Principal

Kath’s Spot

Many of you will know I love to travel, and I have been fortunate to do a lot of it over the years. However, last week I flew to Melbourne and travelled home to Cobram Victoria, knowing I would be going to say goodbye to my father. For me, a whole different set of emotions came to the surface when I was about to board my flight, quite different to my usual sense of joy, excitement, and anticipation. Its funny isn't it how throughout life, moments which have generally brought one emotion, can sometimes swing the other way and change the emotions considerably.

In the same way, students can feel really happy about something one day, and the next day they dislike that same thing. Often though they don't have the words to be able to describe what for them is going on. A bit like when my boys were younger and they would love the spaghetti and the next day they would say that they dislike it. When the boys would say this, I would correct them saying "No, you just don't feel like it today".

It is ok for us to change our minds, or feel differently about it in the moment, but generally it is still important to carry out the task. I still had to get on the plane, even though I didn't have the same excitement. And likewise, I teach my boys they still have to do spelling, even if they used to enjoy it a lot more when they were younger. It is still important, even though it might not be easy. Teaching this to our children is an important task for them to learn, because the effort of pushing through will help serve them later on in life.

Many Blessings
Kath Dolliver
Chaplain

Assembly Awards

Class in Focus – Year 4A

Philosophy for Children

This is an exciting program conducted every fortnight on Thursday at 11.15 in 4A. Children use a picture book to stimulate a philosophical discussion. Students are developing their skills of active listening, respecting different ideas and improving their logical thinking and reasoning skills. All parents/friends are welcome to join our Philosophy Sessions either as an observer or participant. The next session will be Thursday 25th May at 11.15am. Come and be dazzled by your children’s high level thinking and communicating skills.

Wild Schools Program

4A are very fortunate to be able to participate in the Wildschool Program again this year. This is a Science-based program enabling us to work with Parks and Wildlife and other organisations on real life science based on Coningham Reserve. We recently had an expert on Feral Cats come into the class. It was a stimulating session that inspired some of the following work.

Stay tuned for information regarding our excursion to Coningham Reserve on Tuesday 30th May.

Narratives

Here are just a few of our fabulous narratives. Our class have been working solidly on these to bump up our spelling, punctuations, grammar and writing fluency. Enjoy!

CAT Competition

On Tuesday the 21 of March, The Australian Maths Trust held the CAT competition. CAT stands for Computational and Algorithmic Thinking. There was an hour to answer the ten questions. The competition included problem solving and a bit of maths. The ten questions ranged from easy to very challenging. The competition includes grade 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and Participants had the option of doing training before the competition. The competition is to find people that have programming potential. The Australian Maths Trust will also be holding the Australian maths competition soon.

This is an example of the types of questions in the competition:

Robot Instructions

A robot has 5 buttons A, B, C, D and E that are programmed to move it in a combination of moves. The list below shows what each button does. For instance, button A moves the robot up one unit and three units to the right.

A. , M M M
B. , , , M
C. , M M
D. . . .
E. .

Bob finds if he presses 4 buttons the robot arrives back at its starting position. Which button didn’t he press?

Toby and Makayla. Year 6

We recently received the results of this competition and had some great results.

Rachael Barrett, Ryan Turnbull, Finn Berkhout, Toby Reynolds and Makayla Atherton receiving Distinctions, while Dilana Stott, Callan Dahmes, Ryan Keating and Lili McKay received Credits.

Well done to all that participated

Ben McDermott

Drama News

Tickets available from office now for Grade 2A and 2B performance of “Rainbow Fish” and “Rainbow Fish Visits The Deep Blue Sea”. $5.00 for adult, $3.00 for child, $15.00 for family (2 adults and 2 children) and DVDs are $10.00 each (cash payments only please).

Kitchen-Garden News

Grade 6 Students designed and cooked a Bush walkers Menu.

During kitchen classes students have been working on fractions by making ‘Pizza of the Imagination’.

Grade 6B students designed, cooked and served food for a High Tea Menu.

Book Club

Being eSmart at Snug

2017/2018 Entertainment Book

Books available from the office now.

Registration to Work with Vulnerable People

If you volunteer at Snug, you are required to register for “Registration to Work with Vulnerable People”. Please see attached for more information and complete and submit the application form online at the Department of Justice website.

Facebook

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Coming Events

For more information please see our school calendar by clicking the link below:

Term Dates for 2017