Dear Grade 2 Families,

Welcome to our new school year. I hope you had a wonderful holiday and are looking forward to this year as much as I am. My holiday break was filled with Christmas festivities, children's sport, interstate visitors and a trip to Merimbula, all of which were most enjoyable. I also managed to fit in some planning for this year and Numeracy Professional Development which gave me some more ideas for assisting children in Maths.

Parent Liaisons are being re-introduced to our school. Their role is to answer any questions you may have about our grade, excursions, school books, uniforms etc. Anything they are unable to answer, they will redirect you to the appropriate person. Our Parent Liaison Representative is Deborah Dorward.

This term, our focus in Integrated Studies is on the various ways we learn. We call this unit "Learning to Learn" and we will look at goals for their learning, ways we learn best and how we can maximise our learning across all curriculum areas.

Literacy will include Reading, Writing and Speaking & Listening. We, as a staff, are attending a Reader's Workshop Professional Development Day on a Saturday in March which follows the Writer's Workshop we all attended in 2009. I look forward to passing my learning on to the children during Reading and Writing sessions.

I will still have "Show and Tell" once a week for each child but would like to have them bring, or speak about, only one item in more detail with more information. They could plan their "Show and Tell" by thinking about What they have, Where they got it, When they got it, How it works and in particular Why they chose to bring it. Some weeks I may give the children a theme for their "Show and Tell" otherwise, free choice.

Reading Parents are an important part of our Literacy block so if you could assist, please fill in the form below and return it by this Wednesday 3^rd February with your preferred day.

I will be taking the children for Art once a week in the Arts Centre (the portable classroom). We will go through the art smocks this week to see if anyone needs to bring one from home. The children will also be attending their Music lesson in the Arts Centre once a week with Mrs. Huggan. Mrs. Huggan will also be taking the children for Library each Thursday.

The children will have Miss Elliott twice a week - once for Physical Education and once for ICT (computer) skills. Our grade will also join with the Grade 1 children for a Sport session each week with Ms Wood and myself. The timetable is on the wall as you walk into the classroom.

I am really looking forward to continuing the learning journey with your children. Please come and see me before or after school any day if you have any comments, concerns or suggestions for your child or our classroom. 

Rebecca Bowen             

We are planning a magical term which will allow children to appreciate and enjoy the experiences of make believe creatures and imaginary places. Our theme for the term is ‘Fairytales and Fantasy’.  Children will encounter many characters who belong to the magical world of make believe. This unit aims to develop a sense of belonging through the sharing of fantasy and traditional stories and to create an enjoyment of reading. Students will discover how stories have changed through different cultures and over time. They will experience how technology has changed; the way audiences can be engaged in traditional stories, and how sharing stories develops a sense of inclusion. The unit will bring about an awareness of values portrayed in traditional stories and how these may or may not relate to their lives. We are planning an excursion during Cup Week to Anakie Fairy Park.  

We have commenced the term with an intensive two week swimming program starting in on Monday 12^th October and finishing on Friday 23^rd October. Parents are welcome to come and watch their children. This is an opportunity for children to develop some independence in being responsible for their own belongings and dressing themselves.

We will be concluding the year with celebrations of Christmas and lots of fun activities.

I wondered about if the bag was going to catch air or not. Mikayla

What a quick term that seemed to be. Term three began with a unit on Winter. We brainstormed "Winter" words, talked generally about seasons, reflected on our thoughts about Winter and wrote some Winter verses which are displayed on the cupboards outside our classroom in the corridor.

In Writing this term we have studied picture story books. We have read many and discussed their format. We have all completed two picture story books on "Flight". The children were to think about their audience and the genre (picture story) when drafting their story. They also had to choose their method of publishing, including text and illustrations.

In Maths we have just finished a 5 week unit on Multiplication. Some children have worked on this unit in Miss Hudson's 2/3 classroom while the rest of us have worked in our room learning about arrays and groups of which make up the foundation of Multiplication. Next term we ill be studying Division along with some Measurement areas.

Production was exciting and reading and listening to the children's reflections, they all seemed to enjoy it. The children learnt their lines and the songs well and the dance was very cute. The children were even singing the songs on the Friday after production was over.

Jamielee Black (our first year teaching student) has just completed her two week teaching round with us and will be back again for the first four Thursdays in term 4. It would be nice for her to see the ICT presentations as she has been here during the production of their powerpoints. Jamielee (or Miss Black) has an excellent rapport with the students, communicates well with both staff and students and displays a willingness to learn. She has definately been a welcome addition to our classroom.

Thank-you to all of our parent reading helpers. We are always appreciative of your time. If you have not been able to help in the past, but may be able to now, please come and see me. We are needing some assistance on Wednesdays this term if anyone is able to fill this spot.

Have a safe, relaxing and enjoyable break.

See you all again on Monday 5th October.

This term Grade 5/6 have been looking at inventions and inventing.  This week we showcased our own inventions.  There were a range of great ideas within the classroom and a range of models bought into school.  It was great to see all children create a slideshow on their netbooks to accompany their inventions and show enthusiasm and pride in presenting their inventions to the other students of the school. 

Well Done Grade 5/6. 

Term 3 is well under way, and we are flying toward our school production ‘Wingding Jamboree'.  Our chosen theme for the term is ‘Flying High' and we have been working through many activities to help the children find out about air, flight, and in particular birds. The children will have been participating in many activities designed to develop various scientific skills such as observing, questioning, predicting, and communicating their ideas and understandings to their peers.

In English children continue to participate in weekly activities involving reading, spelling, handwriting and diary writing. The process of TRIBES continues to be a positive basis of our learning with children participating in speaking and listening activities.   We started the term with setting up a shop for children to explore the concept of money through shopping.  We will continue this over the term as well as providing many hands-on activities in Maths to cover areas of Number, Measurement and Counting. The children are becoming very confident in their use of class laptop computers and the Interactive Whiteboard as they continue to research and play interactive games.  During our weekly Buddy sessions, the children have been exploring painting, drawing and using a variety of media to represent our theme of Flying High.

It was lovely to see parents making use of Parent/Teacher interviews.  It is a great opportunity for us to speak with you about your children.  We find this opportunity very helpful in guiding our teaching and the interviews help us to learn more about the children. The interviews also give us an opportunity to tell you what lovely children you have and how they have been progressing.

We are looking forward to the excitement of the Production and are working hard at the moment to learn all the Production songs and dances.  We can't wait to see parents and friends in the audience.

This Term the Preps explored Space and our place in it. We found that the Earth, Moon, Sun and stars affect our daily lives. We turned the Reading Room into our own observatory, and made different constellations out of ‘glow in the dark’ stickers. When we turned the lights off, it was like we were out in Space. We made Space ships, aliens, mobiles, and murals about all the things we have learned. We visited the Planetarium, IMAX Theatre and had a visit from the CSIRO Starlab so that we could experience Astronomy close up.

The Preps finished off the Term by building a rocket ship in the classroom which we used for reading, playing on the computer, or flying to outer space. We could see the Sun or the Moon from the windows, and stars, planets, and comets from the nose cone.

We also had a Space theme party where we all dressed up, brought ‘Space’party food, and did “spacey” activities.  We made aliens out of playdough, explored Space websites, drew pictures in 'alien Space-Goo', watched Wall-e,  and sang Space songs.

The children made a book about our day, and these are their thoughts:

I liked being the Alien Dragon. Every time when I goed “Roar” I scared people. Our Space Party was really, really, fun!   I liked doing the aliens on our table with shaving cream. It was fun!

By Coco                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

I had fun at our party. My Mum was there half way through the party. My best thing was that I have never seen any aliens before, but now I have been up to space in our rocket because I was an astronaut.                                                                                                                                                 By Ryder

I liked the party. I was the Sun. My Mum stayed because she did reading. I enjoyed eating the Space food. I liked the stars I made.                              

By Sam

I dressed up as the Universe. I had planets on my costume, and the Sun and Moon. I liked how the party was made. We had rocket cake, star biscuits and moon rocks.                                                   

By Leo

At School, we had a space party. I wore the World and I held the Sun. It was lots of fun.  In the classroom, we had a Space poster. We put the names of the planets on them.                                         

By Thomas

I was standing next to the star, and I loved the star, it was beautiful. We played with the shaving cream with our fingers. I drew a picture about rockets in Space.                                        

By Tahli

I dressed up as an alien. I had party food after I went outside to play. We had moon cakes and Annabelle brought in a rocket cake. It was my favourite thing.                                                                   By Ellinore

I put on my cloak, then I put on my clothes, then my Mum face painted my face green. Then I put in my antenna.                                                               By Rhys

I liked the party and I liked everyone else’s costumes. I was dressed up as Space Girl, and I was wearing a sparkly, silver dress, and I had Saturn on my costume.                                                      

By Isabella

I am an alien out of Space. I drawed some pictures of aliens, stars, planets, shooting stars and the Solar System. We ate space cakes and space biscuits and some space marshmallows. We had some fruit that I brought. I am standing next to the star.                     

By Mikayla

I liked the Space party. I dressed up as an astronaut.  I wore a helmet, red boots, and a costume.  I liked the party.  I brought a rocket cake.                                 By Annabelle                                     

I am a green three-eyed alien. I liked that we had a movie. We saw Wall-e. I liked doing the drawings with the green shaving cream. I drew an alien.                  By Daniel

I had fun at the party. Everyone looked very nice. There was nice food.  I dressed up as a shooting star.  I was shooting to school.                                                                       By Natasha

I liked being an alien. I liked playing with the shaving cream and I drew a rocket.                                

By Pierce

I like eating the Space food at the party. I dressed up as Princess Leia.  We played in soap and drew pictures.                                                                             

By Kate