Photo Of The Week

Posted on August 13, 2020 by Newsletter Editor

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Julianna Term 3 Week 4

Posted on August 13, 2020 by juliannam

Hi Everyone,

Not sure if you got a chance to read my page last week so have put in a repeat about possibly ideas to foster community and to continue the care of our school!

How can we have community connection and continue to look after the school? Perhaps we could think about having small groups of people – teams, mini clubs signing up for designated jobs and they take on the responsibility for that task. We could also think of it as not just a weekend maintenance activity but as a small way we can keep our community connected. Some examples are:

Sweepers & blowers team – clearing up leaf litter, sticks and branches

Carers for your child’s classroom inside and out – sorting tidying, cleaning windows, washing out the lockers and brushing away the spider webs in the toilets

Garden club – caring and tending the raised garden beds, general care of all gardens

Library club – sorting, labelling, covering and returning books to the shelves

Gutters & drains team – checking & cleaning of all drains, clearing out all accessible gutters

Chicken team –repair & maintenance of the chook house, cleaning out the house & run

Perhaps we can have an agreement that there be no more than 2-3 families on the premises at any given time. Perhaps it can be coordinated through the Currambena Facebook or WhatsApp

Please email me your feedback or if you are willing to take ownership of any activity and organise a group

Let’s think creatively, taking care & staying safe

Julianna xx

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Preschool News Term 3 Week 4

Posted on August 13, 2020 by katrinaa

Hello everyone,

Another busy week in preschool. It’s lovely to see how comfortable the children are as a group in being part of the wider Currambena community. There’re so many connections between the primary  and preschool throughout the day. Some of our little people are joining the primary children during their outside times to be part of the whole school games such as capture the flag and hunger games. I’ve been observing the children while they’ve been engaged in these games and what strikes me is how wonderfully inclusive they are, with anyone who wants to join being able to do so, and how caring the primary children are of the preschool children.  I’m also amazed at how agile and nimble some of the preschool children are, out manoeuvring and out running children much older than them!

The interest in skipping has continued in preschool. Again, I’m amazed at some of the children’s determination and skills in this area. It’s gorgeous to see children raise their hands at morning meeting and announce to the group that they’ll be running lessons on skipping on the basketball court if anyone wants to learn how to do it! We’ve noticed that this confidence in teaching others is being extended into our group times with children now becoming teachers and offering their own group times for others to be a part of. I’ve started to run votes with the group in regards to making a group time roster in which a child can put their name down to run their own group each day, much like the end of day activity and chairing morning meeting. I’ll continue to talk to the group about this and run votes until all children have had the opportunity to take part in the voting process.

We’ve continued to enjoy our singing sessions with Jess’s class. It’s lovely to see how comfortable the preschool children are already in Jess’s room, with some of the preschool children regularly asking if they can go and play in her class during primary’s outside times.

A huge thank you to all the families that have sent in their family and baby photos. The children are really enjoying looking at them together. This is leading to lots of great discussions. If you haven’t sent any photos in it’s not too late. You can either email or send in hard copies. We’ll make copies and return them to you promptly.

Wishing everyone a relaxing weekend!

Love

Katrina, Michael, Hannah and Cee

 

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Jess’ Class Term 3 Week 4

Posted on August 13, 2020 by Jess

Dear Parents,
This week, we had a lot of fun exploring the pH scale. Using red cabbage water as a natural indicator the children added and mixed ingredients to turn the water shades of colour like bright red, pink, blue, green and even yellow. It was a lot of fun and the children enjoyed acting like scientists to see what colour their potions became. This lesson tied in nicely with our class book “George’s Marvellous Medicine” which we finished reading today!

As the turtles have now finished exploring the common sounds that single letters of the alphabet make, we have now moved on to some common digraphs, starting with sh. This is quite a timely sound, given that I am struggling with laryngitis at the moment. Unfortunately, it’s something that I get occasionally, particularly at the end of a cold or when I’m a bit run down. Its very frustrating as the only thing I can do to fix it is to rest my voice – something almost impossible in a class with young children!

Sarah M and I decided to cancel our bushwalk on Tuesday as there had been a lot of rain and we were a little bit worried that it would be unsafe, especially as it would have been our first bushwalk together. Hopefully the weather dries up this term and we can do some bushwalking at another time.

Thank you to everyone who has sent in their preferences for an interview time. If you have yet to contact me in relation to booking a time, please get in touch.

Nest week we have Summerhill day on Thursday. I’m sure this will be a huge amount of fun!

Sadly, tomorrow is Harry’s last day with the class, and I’d like to wish him and his whole family all the best of luck for their next adventure. Harry (and the whole Christian family) – we will miss you!

Have a lovely weekend,
Jess x

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Charles’ Class Term 3 Week 4

Posted on August 13, 2020 by Newsletter Editor

Hello everyone

I hope you have all had a good week.

This week the children have been busy socially playing and inventing lots of different games around the school and inside the classroom. In class, we have been focusing a lot on our writing, syllables, and volume, as well as keeping up with the news with squiz kids where the children have discovered a lot about pop culture, countries around the world, and sport.

On Monday, I was quite ill and Sarah D was able to take over for the day. The children worked very hard on their interest projects, with some deciding to go the digital route and present their projects using google slides, with most opting for the classic poster presentation.

In Numeracy, we have continued investigating volume and capacity and how we use it in our everyday lives. The children were very engaged using hands-on materials to experiment with different shapes and how to find the volume of the object they have created.

In Literacy, I have been astonished by the progress the children have made with their reading and writing. We are continuing with our persuasive writing topic, this week looking at what we need to include when writing a persuasive text, as well as dividing the class with a game of would you rather.

In science we have looked at brilliant bending and how different materials bend and how these materials are used in everyday objects such as why do we use metal wire which can bend instead of string which can also bend?

Thank you to everyone who has booked in for a parent/teacher interview. If you still need to book a time, please email me with two preferred days and times.

That’s it for this week, have a wonderful weekend.

Charles

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Sarah’s Class Week 4 Term 3

Posted on August 13, 2020 by sarahm

Hi Everyone,

I hope you have all had a good week.

I had a rather abrupt and disruptive end to my week last week, as I was suddenly called away to deal with a family issue. Thankyou so much to Susan (Kai’s mum) for stepping in at such short notice while I was gone. As we are looking at 2D and 3D shapes this term, Susan had them create a cube using the method of Origami. From the children’s feedback on Monday morning (and gorgeous looking boxes) they really enjoyed it. So we continued to look further at making more shapes this week. We created a Tripyramid and another cube, using a different folding method than before. Wendy mentioned that her class are also really engaged in Origami at the moment too and it might be nice to team up and share ideas and folding skills. As we proceed with the folding and making of our little creations, we will also discover and learn more about the properties of many different shapes, starting with their 2 Dimensional form and then it’s 3 Dimensions.

I am so happy to say that I now feel we are making headway with our Heroes and Villains stories, as more children have now moved onto the editing phase of their work. Some, are choosing to type their story into a document and others wish to re write it. I have been sitting with each child and proof reading their piece with them. We check for punctuation, grammar, spelling and how the story flows. And also if their ideas translate from the pictures, in their mind, to words on the page? It has been wonderful to read their heroes adventures and finally see them come to life.

At the beginning of our ‘Cloud Morning’ on Tuesday, we touched base very briefly, on why it might be important to be a self-managed and independent learner. There were 2 very insightful and mature responses to this question: So you don’t have to rely on someone else all the time to get things done. If we go back into ‘lock-down’ we have more skills to manage ourselves at home. Let’s hope this isn’t our reality again, however, I feel this group may be a lot better equipped, if it is something we are forced to do.

A very sad farewell to the Christian family: This week we lose the gorgeous – Kristie, Tim, Ryan, Benji, Harry & Harvey (the dog). You have been such an important part of the Currambena community and we thankyou for your input and contribution over the years. I hope the next chapter in your lives brings many exciting adventures. Safe travels!

An important message in regards to absences: With many children being away due to colds this is a reminder from the office – to please submit a Doctor’s certificate (to your child’s teacher) if your child is away for more than 3 days. Anything over three days we need evidence. Also, please send an email for every day they are away and stipulate the reason why your child is not attending. There are specific codes we need to record for the different reasons. This is all a legal requirement. Many Thanks!

A note that I will be away again this Friday and Susan will be with the class.

I think that’s us for the week….. except to say, thankyou to those who have contacted me in regards to parent/teacher interviews. I am very much looking forward to talking with you, I just wish it could be in person.

Stay safe! Stay well!

Love, Sarah

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Leesa’s Class Term 3 Week 4

Posted on August 13, 2020 by leesaj

Hi Everyone,

It has been lovely to begin parent/teacher interviews and talk through Zoom. Thank you to everyone who has signed up and I look forward to seeing you on the screen over the next few weeks.

On Monday we looked at the text ‘The Great Bear’ by Libby Gleeson. This text is about a circus bear who finally breaks free from villagers who make the bear stay in a cage and dance for them. The ending of the text is told through visuals which leaves the reader to determine how the text ends. After reading the text, we have been discussing the constellation The Great Bear (Ursa Major). The children are completing a mini project on a constellation of their own choosing over the next few weeks.

During Personal Development and Health lessons we have explored the effects of smoking on various parts of the body and discussed strategies for what we can do if someone is smoking around us. We also wrote down five people we could go to for help, support or advice and classed these people as our support network.

We started a new topic on three-dimensional objects for Mathematics. We have looked at various nets and the names of common three-dimensional objects. Some children have researched information about a given object and others have looked around their environment to determine what three-dimensional objects are around. Our next step is to practise drawing a range of objects using grid paper.

Personal Interest Projects are progressing well and these will need to be completed by the end of week 8 Friday 11th September.

We had fun out in the sun on Tuesday afternoon skipping, playing on the Keepy Uppy and various imaginative games that occurred. Enjoy some of the photos that are featured in the newsletter.

Next Thursday 20th August will be Summer Hill Day; the children are super excited for this.

That’s it for this week. Have a great weekend.

Leesa x

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Wendy’s Group Week 4 Term 3

Posted on August 13, 2020 by wendyp

Hi again everyone.

Not so cold this week, luckily…. but another wet weekend on the way apparently! And Warragamba almost full. Wouldn’t have seemed possible in January! What a year!

This week we have continued writing journals and we’ve revised adjectives along with continuing learning spelling and practising handwriting. In maths, we’ve begun to look at angles and have been creating meters of various types along the lines of Cathy Wilcox’s cartoon anxiety meter in the Herald last week. We’re using protractors and angles to create a dial with colours and words to indicate levels. Some have been very interesting indeed!

This week’s text book unit is Unit 19 and progress is good so far this week, with some children already comfortably finished these pages.

Tiredness has been a bit of a factor for some children this week and we’ve had a few emotional moments… of course, COVID anxiety and hormones are also playing their parts in this!

Our Geography topic has now been completed and we are embarking on some historical investigations. Quite a few children have expressed interest in learning about World War II. Another topic of interest is the history of pandemics. I have been answering questions about World War II as they arise and I’ve invited Suzie, Sean’s mum, to give us a Zoom talk about epidemics… since she is an epidemiologist! That will be interesting… and thank you so much to Suzie for offering her time. We will put together a list of questions for her and will look forward to the presentation.

In PE this week, we did some warm up exercises then had a whole class game of Capture the Flag. The new tags and belts have created a resurgence of interest in this game and it was quite a bit of fun. Sorry for my mistake in last week’s newsletter about the tennis sessions… they will be held on 25th August and 8th September. I had the wrong dates!

We are all very sad to be saying goodbye to Ryan this week… along with Benji and Harry, Kristie and Tim. We wish them all the very best of luck and fun in their adventures and hope we can stay in touch. We’ll have a small party to say goodbye on Friday.

Next week we have Summerhill Day on Thursday which should be lots of fun.

And lastly, parent interviews are going well so far, with only minimal tech problems. It’s lovely to have the chance to talk in detail about the children, even if it has to be on Zoom! If you haven’t yet booked a time, please email me with some possibilities and I’ll let you know what times/days are still available.

Have a great week.

Love,
Wendy

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Lost Property

Posted on August 13, 2020 by wendyp

There is an enormous mountain of lost property at the moment, the volume exacerbated, no doubt, by the fact that parents are not able to come in and check it themselves these days.

If items are named, we can easily hand them out but if they’re not, you will have to remind your children to look for things. We usually do a reminder on Friday at School Meeting but it’s not always effective as there’s so much more to do on Fridays than checking through a pile of lost property!

PLEASE NAME ALL CLOTHING THAT COMES TO SCHOOL!

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Photo Of The Week

Posted on August 6, 2020 by Newsletter Editor

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