Photo Of The Week

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Newsletter Editor

Carrie drawing

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Julianna Term 1 Week 10

Posted on April 9, 2020 by juliannam

Hello Everyone,

Just a week of trying to wrap up the usual paperwork to finish the term, preparing last minute requests from the auditor and fielding the day-to-day glitches that continue to pop up with the constant changes.

Hope you all have a lovely Easter, relaxing at home!

Take care, stay safe

Julianna xx

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Preschool News Term 1 Week 10

Posted on April 9, 2020 by katrinaa

Hi everyone,

Well, here we are at the end of term one and what a crazy roller coaster ride we’ve all been on! Whilst preschool is still open and operating, most children are at home! We would never have imagined we’d be offering preschool classes virtually through Zoom this term! It has however been a lovely way for us all to stay connected during these unusual times.

This week we’ve been trialing Zoom meetings 3 times a day. The first is a morning meeting and a story time, the second is a music session and the third is a group time. The times that we’ve set this week clash with some of the Zoom times in primary, some of the preschool children have older brothers or sisters in these classes so we know it’s made it difficult if not impossible for families to supervise both children as well as in many instances working from home as well. We’ll be reviewing this today at our whole school planning meeting and hopefully coming up with a timetable that suits everyone for the start of next term. We have however been delighted in the fact that we’ve been able to connect with many of the preschool children that we miss dearly.

It’s been great to see how respectful children have been during Zoom meetings, putting their hands up with they want to say something. It’s also fantastic to see how children have become increasingly confident in speaking during Zoom meetings, we’ve also been impressed by how tech savvy the children are, unmuting themselves when they’ve been muted, fixing the audio and video when it’s not working, I’m sure many of them could teach the teachers a thing or two!

In preschool we’ve been scrubbing, cleaning, washing and organising in preparation for when everyone returns. As we’re sure you already know, the Government strongly recommends that children remain at home during the COVID-19 pandemic at the moment, Preschool however continues to remain open and operating for any family that requires it. We’re here if you need us!

Wishing everyone a safe and quiet school holidays. Hopefully by staying home we can flatten the curve sooner rather than later so we can return back to our normal bustling preschool days shortly!

Look after yourselves everyone and stay safe.

Love

Katrina, Michael and Hannah

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Jess’s Class Term 1 Week 10

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Newsletter Editor

Dear Parents,

I want to say a huge thank you for the support and enthusiasm that you have provided over the last few weeks. We’ve all been tested in ways that could not have anticipated. I feel so lucky to be navigating this remote leaning journey with such engaged parents. Together, I feel like we’ve made the very best of a difficult situation.

I miss all the children so much and the school feels so eerily empty without them. I know
this situation is not forever and that the efforts and sacrifices we have all made are
testament to our sense of community.

This week, it’s been so much fun exploring fungi and mushrooms together. I’ve also loved to see your children’s creative craft projects and their work with numbers and letters. I hope the online activities that I am posting help you engage in the world with the sense of
wonder that young children need and thrive on. I hope you can keep this joy through the
holidays and enjoy the time you have together as a family.

Keep positive and stay well.
Jess xxx
(I hope the Easter Bunny find you all!)

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Charles’s Class Term 1 Week 10

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Newsletter Editor

Hello everyone

As we finish the term I want to extend my gratitude for all the support and enthusiasm the children and parents have shown throughout this wild term. It has certainly made the transition online a lot less stressful, and although it is not the most ideal situation, a sense of community and understanding has been paramount for the future success of Currambena.

In Literacy this past week we have been continuing with our literacy choice in the mornings, as well as reading a book at the end of our Zoom meetings. This week we read Tacky the Penguin and The Juggling Pug.

In Numeracy, the children have been collecting pets and fighting wizards on Prodigy. For maths activities we have been completing a hundreds chart mystery picture.

On Thursdays, Crafty and Carolina have been catching up with the children via zoom to teach their Spanish and Craft lessons.

I hope you all have a restful break, it has been a wonderful term and I am looking forward to the future.

Charles

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Sarah’s Class Week 10 Term 1

Posted on April 9, 2020 by sarahm

Hello everyone!

I hope you’re all managing to keep well and sane during this interesting time? I am sure there will be much to learn and take away from the experience – once we are out the other side! Thankyou, to those who have sent feedback and messages of support and encouragement. I am forwarding this back to you all. Whatever you are doing, however much or little it’s all okay! I am continuing to practice, learn and get my head around using new platforms and researching online resources and materials for the children to engage with. I will never get used to looking at a screen all day! But it is so lovely seeing the children’s faces in the morning and now that I have set up, and keep open – Google Meet – some children are popping up on screen throughout the day. This will be a wonderful way for us to keep connected and for me to start engaging with individuals and what they are doing, at home.

We managed to get some project presentations through this week and will continue with the remainder in the first week back after the holidays. It is tricky to manage this (on screen) but I thought the children who have done this already did a great job!

The children had a terrific drawing class with Crafty this week where they learned about ‘contour’ and line drawing. Some children are starting to pick up on how to post their work on the Classroom Google stream which is a fabulous way for them to be able to share what they are doing and for others to see. If this is something you were unaware of, or found the whole thing too daunting to learn, I will email some instructions and maybe you could show your child some time, so they could manage this and not have to rely on you. I understand your time is stretched and most of you are managing workloads at home, as well. But I am hoping that the more the children are practising the more control they will have and the less they will need from you. Easier said than done, I know. They are still at the age where some explicit instruction and support is needed.

As you know the teachers are going to take Thursday (our last day) as an in-service day, to discuss the last 2 weeks and talk more about how Term 2 will look. We will also be sharing things with each other: timetables, links, uploads and some things which have worked and not! My feeling is, now that we have set up Classroom Google and whatever platform it is to ‘meet’ there will not be huge changes to how the children receive things. Mostly, I feel it is working – maybe not for everybody and maybe not all the time. But there will constantly be glitches and amendments to be made along the way. We are dealing with technology after all which is constantly changing. And it is not something that is always reliable. But of course, by the time we become really savvy with all of this – we’ll be released and back at school. Can’t wait for that day!

I do hope you can take some time over the holidays to have a break from the screen and do something nice together – however, wherever, whenever. We need to keep ourselves well fueled and filled with things that bring us joy. As small as this may be.

Stay sane, stay safe and see you ‘on-line’ for Term 2.

Thanks again,

Sarahx

 

 

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Leesa’s Class Term 1 Week 10

Posted on April 9, 2020 by leesaj

Hi Everyone,

What an end to Term 1! We have all been learning so many new skills and everyone has done a fantastic job! Thank you for your continued support throughout this time.

This week we have continued to explore the living world through plants and revising what reptiles, fish, birds, amphibians and mammals are. Lots of Mathematics has occurred using our worksheets, Think Mentals textbook and Prodigy, mostly focussed on addition and subtraction. Reading, writing and PE opportunities throughout the day and definitely up-skilling on how to share through the Google Classroom and Google Drive. We began Personal Interest Project presentations and these will continue next term.

I love seeing the different activities occurring at home and being able to be connected with the children. Thank you for helping the children to be able to connect through Zoom, Google Meet and on the phone.

The sea monkeys are well and have made the journey to my house where Lily (my dog) is quite intrigued by the little things that move. She has finally realised that they won’t touch her toys, steal her sleeping spots or eat her food. Maybe this is a friendship blossoming?

At the beginning of the term I planted some bonsai seeds at home. These are growing strong and they take roughly 10-15 years to grow fully. These will be interesting to watch grow for the remainder of the year and years to come. I will take some photos to show their journey for next term.

I hope you all have a safe and healthy holiday, and I can’t wait to connect again in term 2!

Leesa x

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Wendy’s Group Week 10 Term 1

Posted on April 9, 2020 by wendyp

Well, we certainly didn’t expect to be ending Term 1 like this but I think we have all managed extremely well and have definitely learned a great deal… though possibly not what we expected to learn!!

Some things have been very much as hoped! This past week, we were able to have all our PIP presentations and they have been fabulous! Congratulations to all the children! Topics ranged from Hedgehogs and Snakes to The Elements, Events that Changed the World and How to Create a Website! A fabulous range of presentations demonstrating some very strong research skills and a glorious curiosity about the world.

We have been keeping up with our textbooks and daily activities. We have continued our Friday folders routine, with 1:1 chats about activities over the week. Everyone has engaged with meetings as much as possible and has risen to the challenges, doing their best. I feel so proud of them all.

Yesterday morning, we had a wonderful discussion on Google Meet, with everyone present and participating. We talked about singing Happy Birthday to all the children with birthdays in April … and we did this in the afternoon. We had practising singing happy birthday to Lucas the previous day but it was still very funny! Over this time, when the technology has worked well, we have all enjoyed the connections and it has been lovely to have Isla with us on-line in our Google Classroom too.

Even though we are officially on holidays today (Thursday) for a teacher meeting and training day, I will open a meeting early this morning and try to catch up with a couple of the children whom I didn’t manage to speak to yesterday about their progress over this week. I hope to do their folders early before our teachers’ meeting begins!

Overall, it has been an incredible few weeks of learning for all of us, on many levels. The technology has sometimes been wonderful and at other times unbelievably frustrating. Thank you so much to all parents for your help and patience with our efforts! Thank you for marking all those textbook pages and for your emails of support and suggestions. It’s such a joy to be part of this Currambena community and to be facing this extraordinary time working together to make the best of it for all our children.

Before Term 2 begins, we will email about how we hope to manage next term. It seems likely that we will still have the current restrictions in place and will be teaching/learning online.

Remember that the children can access their Google Classrooms over the break! There are many really interesting suggestions for things to do… Chris Rochester will continue to post ideas in the Art Classroom and the Free Friday grids in our classroom have a multitude of suggestions for those “I’m bored” moments during a stay-at-home holiday!

I hope you all stay safe and well over the break. Let’s hope things start to improve very soon for everyone.

With love, Wendy

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PhD Research

Posted on April 9, 2020 by wendyp

Here is a message from Eleni Smyrnis, PhD candidate at Sydney University, who has worked with some of our Currambena students over the past few years.

I’d like to say another huge thank you for your time, interest and support on my Ph.D. project – Improving Mathematics Learning with Drama Inspired Exercises.

Currambena Primary School, including you, your staff members, parents and students, radiates a beautiful tight-knit community that has been most welcoming and pleasant to work with. Your school is a place where every student is intimately known and well cared for. A place where your teachers care and work to make things happen and strive for ongoing success. A place where students may develop into all rounded individuals intellectually, physically, creatively, spiritually, emotionally, socially and communicatively. The nature of this Ph.D. study is fascinating and most compatible with the essence of your school’s environment, purposes and affiliations.

This unique partnership has allowed me to work with your students in Year 2, Year 5, and Year 6 over several years. This longstanding alliance has been incremental in allowing me to gather substantial information across all three studies for this Ph.D. Although the final component was cut short due to COVID-19, the many years of collaboration with your school will allow me to move forward and complete my Ph.D.

If you would like to put some information about the project in your school newsletter etc., please see this short excerpt in below in PURPLE:

The current PhD study under the supervision of Associate Professor Paul Ginns and Professor Janette Bobis in the Sydney School of Education and Social Work at The University of Sydney, aims to investigate the impact of a drama inspired mirroring and gesturing – based pedagogy on mathematical learning in primary aged children.

The study investigates students’ concentration, cognitive load, intrinsic motivation and problem solving performance through gesturing in a short mathematics lesson. The purpose of the study is to offer other avenues of drama pedagogies to be adopted in classrooms to address stable and declining mathematical achievement and engagement.

This study will be highly beneficial to students as they learn mathematics in new and innovative ways and teachers who can be encouraged to engage new and effective teaching strategies in their future classrooms. School communities will be kept up to date with current literature and research in the field of education. This project’s findings will also have theoretical significance for Cognitive Load Theory, Self-Determination Theory, and gesturing literature. These studies have received Human Ethics Clearance from the University of Sydney – HEApp2017-804 and HEApp2019-175.

I look forward to keeping you updated about how this research optimistically progresses.

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Photo of the Week

Posted on April 2, 2020 by Newsletter Editor

IMG_3608

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