Preschool News Term 3 Week 9

Posted on September 19, 2019 by katrinaa

Hello everyone,

Thank you to everyone that came to school on Sunday primping and preening the grounds in preparation for the upcoming birthday celebrations.

It’s lovely to receive some much-needed and heavy rain, it’s obvious the children aren’t used to staying inside, cabin fever hit many of them after an hour on Tuesday!

This is our final week of the astronomy unit we started at the beginning of this term. We’ve been reflecting on what we’ve learnt and which parts the children would like to revisit. The layers of the earth, nebulae, molecular clouds and returning rock back to star dust rate highly on the list of activities the children would like to engage in. It’s great to see how much the children have gained from our session.

Many of the children have enjoyed joining the rest of the school for whole school singing in preparation for our birthday celebrations on Saturday. It’s great to see how comfortable children are with primary.

The end of term cleaning list is finished and now on display on the double doors next to the sign in/out sheets. There are jobs that can be taken home to complete as well as jobs that can be completed in preschool. If you’d like to complete a job in preschool, you’re welcome to do this while preschool is operating, even if it’s a day your child isn’t attending.

We’re looking forward to seeing everyone at Currambena’s 50th Birthday celebrations on Saturday. It’s gearing up to be a huge event! A huge thank you to everyone that has placed their names down to help look after preschool whilst it’s open for families and Alumni.

Thank you to Jana in Leesa’s class for the donation on baby doll toys and as always to everyone that has done washing for preschool.

As per Julianna’s email preschool will be open on Friday.

We look forward to seeing you all Saturday!

Preschool

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Jess’ Class Term 3 Week 9

Posted on September 19, 2019 by Jess

Dear Parents,
Despite the cold, it has been lovely to see some rain this week. I jut hope it’s falling in the dams and that the farmers are getting their share.

As the term winds down, the classroom remains a busy place. On Monday, the children continued to work with Susan on consolidating their deep knowledge of teen numbers. It was exciting to see them apply this with such success during our game playing session on Wednesday morning.

We had a very successful session with the Chrome books on Tuesday. The children are becoming more independent when logging into the computers and using the programmes. Thank you to Judy and Jo for your help with this. We also continued building our “Future World” which is beginning to involve a series of tunnels and caves!

It was way too wet for bush-walking on Wednesday so instead we had a very focused writing session. The children drew story maps of “The Ugly Ducking” and have now started the process of re-writing the story and making their own book. It may take us a few more session to complete, but so far the children have shown great engagement in the process.

Tomorrow is the alumni open day for Currambena’s 50th birthday. The day will function as a “Free” Thursday, beginning with school meeting and sustaining Currambena. Thank you to those people who have volunteered to help supervise the classroom for parts of the day.

On Saturday we have our party! I hope to see you all there for the celebrations beginning at 2pm.

Warm wishes,
Jess x

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Rosie’s Class Term 3 Week 9

Posted on September 19, 2019 by rosieh

Dear Parents,

I am back! Thank you for your warm welcome and well wishes.

On Monday, we continued our discussions around a child-led government which resulted in multiple political campaigns. First we decided to create parties, some children chose to work alone and others worked in small groups. We thought about the qualities we would like to see in a leader: kindness, generous, honesty and someone who made good decisions.

We created political parties and began writing our policies. The groups thought about what they loved about Australia (and our community), what they wanted to change and new rules that could be put in place. Next, we discussed persuasive techniques. The political parties created badges, posters, leaflets and speeches. The speeches were fantastic! Key themes included climate change, everyone being treated equally and Kai even stated if elected prime minister… he would get rid of the prime minister role altogether!

We all received a ballot paper and made our votes. These were placed into a ballot box and counted early Tuesday morning. The Mother Earth party were elected, Ira and Evie decided they would share this important role. After congratulating Mother Earth, we discussed how some parties would be feeling disappointed… and that’s ok! Over the week, they have given a thank you speech and had a few important meetings. They have elected Kai as their political advisor, written a few rules and have started their first project; building a fairy/troll garden.

It has been fascinating to watch the children be so engaged with the democratic system and relating it to their knowledge of the real world. We have had some brilliant discussions regarding real life issues and how these can be solved.

The children are working hard to finish their projects this week. We started presentations today and they were great! It’s always tricky going first and it was lovely to see the children more confident with the process. The children are in total control of the presentation timetable, you are of course welcome to come watch and I understand that for many of you the timings can be very tricky. If you would like to attend, please talk to your child about their time slot.

Next Tuesday afternoon we will be going bush walking with Jess’s class (weather permitting). Please ensure the children wear appropriate clothing and bring a water bottle.

This week, the children have loved putting the finishing touches on our Future World. It truly is spectacular with a tunnel system, lots of robots and out of this world inventions. Thank you for all of your donations of materials, I’m sure you will agree they’ve been put to good use. Come and check it out!

Tomorrow we are looking forward to welcoming visitors for our alumni open day (part of our 50th birthday celebrations). School meeting will begin at 9:45am, followed by a whole school sing-a-long and sustaining. I can’t wait to hear stories about what Currambena has been like over the years.

I’m looking forward to seeing lots of you on Friday evening at The Diddy (from 4pm onwards) and on Saturday at the 50th Birthday Celebrations. The festivities will start from 2pm, it’s sure to be a great day!

 

Other dates this term:

Thursday 19th – Open School

Saturday 21st – 50th Birthday Celebration

Monday 23rd, Tuesday 24th, Wednesday 25th – Personal interest project presentations

Tuesday 24th – Bush walking

Friday 27th – Rosie’s last day

 

Have a lovely weekend!

Love Rosie x

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Sarah’s Class Week 9 Term 3

Posted on September 19, 2019 by sarahm

Hi Everybody!

A sad thing happened this week: One of our chickens – Baby – was found dead in a nesting box in the coop. We think she was fairly old and had been showing signs, over the last few weeks, of confusion and some odd behaviour. Children from Jess’ class discovered her and it looked like she just curled up and went to sleep. So on Tuesday, in the rain, a group of children from different classes and myself dug a hole and buried her over near the veggie gardens. Some had written her cards and notes and painted rocks which we laid to rest with her. In our class, we talked about how she had had a good life and must have really enjoyed having so much freedom to scratch, peck & steal food. She also enjoyed lying in the sun and and having dust baths and the occasional pat and cuddle. We talked a bit about what will happen to her body after being buried and how over time, it will decompose, along with the cards and go back into the earth. Farewell Baby – you were a beautiful lady!

Project presentations began this week and the standard has been extremely high. We are now starting to see an increase in the word count, correct punctuation, words spelt and pronounced correctly and some children are starting to grasp the difficult process of putting information into their own words. The growth and development in this area (from Term 1) has been astounding.

We haven’t done anything outstanding or started anything new this week but we did do a couple of meditation sessions. We used visualisation and breathing to start the day and as a break between activities, to calm ourselves down. All this rain has meant socialising and play has moved indoors. This provoked a discussion about the need to be adjusting our noise levels and thinking about activities that are appropriate and safe to play whilst inside. The plasticine table continues to be a most popular hub and some others went rummaging through the construction cupboard and brought out a Marble Run. It’s been lovely listening to this group of children problem solve where best to join the tracks to create the longest run for the marble.

We also did some measuring using balance scales and kitchen scales and compared various different types of objects and materials. We looked at measuring in grams and kilograms and discovered 1000gm is = to 1kg. Once understanding this some children were then able to work out word problems associated with Mass and the different measurement.

I think that’s all for this week. I am hoping that you’ve been reading your emails and are up to date with what is now happening at school on Friday. There will be 3 teachers supervising: 2 from Preschool and 1 from Primary. They will provide a Friday program to the children whose parents responded, to their child’s individual class teacher.

I am looking forward to seeing most of you on Saturday for the school’s birthday. It’s going to be a large turnout and a lot of fun!

Next week on Monday, will be our last visit to Lane Cove Library. We also have more project presentations to get through and an end of term party to discuss.

Love, Sarah

 

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Leesa’s Class Term 3 Week 9

Posted on September 19, 2019 by leesaj

Hi Everyone,

The rain has kept us inside for some of this week, with new board games being created and various other card games occurring. We have continued learning about angles through a range of activities in inside time. We explored the angles in the different types of triangles and that all the angles in a triangle equal 180 degrees. We proved this by ripping the angles off a paper triangle and forming a straight line with them.

On Monday we began presenting personal interest projects . A range of topics including art and drawing, space, skiing, movie stars, colour and a video game. Lots of detailed information was presented and the rest of the presentations will continue next week.

We visited the Lane Cove Library on Monday which is always a pleasure. This also sparked interest in our new novel and after voting, the class decided we will continue on to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Today is our open school for alumni. We will have school meeting at 9:45am, followed by whole school singing, then sustaining and various activities will be available in different rooms throughout the day. Some children have volunteered to take visitors on tours around the school. Thank you to everyone who has volunteered their time in the classroom today and Saturday. If you’re available for half an hour on Saturday, please let me know.

On Thursday 26th September at 12:15pm our class will hold a stall to raise money for Save the Children charity specifically in Africa. The children voted on the charity and the products and services they would like to provide for this event. We will have a range of food (brownies etc), face painting, a raffle for three prizes, can drop and bath bombs and salts made by the class to sell on the day. Prices will range from 50c to $2 and all money raised will be donated to the charity. Thank you for your support and baking skills.

This Saturday is Currambena’s 50th Birthday Celebrations beginning at 2pm. There are a number of things occurring throughout the celebrations including face painting, photos and videos of Currambena through the decades and even an ice cream truck.

Hope to see many of you on Saturday. That’s it for this week. Have a great weekend.

Leesa

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Wendy’s Group Week 9 Term 3

Posted on September 19, 2019 by wendyp

We had a fabulous time in Canberra last week. Thank you very much to Vinnie for coming along with us and helping so much. I hope the children have told you all about the many places we visited and the things we learned. It’s a really great city to visit and so well set up for schools. Trent Zimmerman came to meet us at Parliament House and the children asked him some very pointed questions about the environment and the government’s actions. The children really engaged fully with all the people and venues and I think they all learned such a lot. Today we voted to follow up our trip with a role play parliament next term! Should be fun!

In class this week, we are completing thank you letters and journals after the Canberra trip. We had a lesson on Magna Carta with Vinnie and more about volume and displacement too. We are completing Unit 22 in our text books and we have begun our PIP presentations. The topics are varied, as usual, and so far have been very interesting indeed and beautifully presented.

Tomorrow, when we have our Open School, a couple of the children have volunteered to present their projects for the visitors! That will be fun! I hope many of you will be able to join us for part of the day and help us welcome the visitors! See the plan for the day in this newsletter.

Almost all of the children are going to the Climate Rally on Friday. The Currambena meeting place will be the Botanical Gardens steps. I am sure you will all have received the email about this yesterday. Mikee, Leesa, two Preschool staff and perhaps two assistant teachers will remain at school to supervise the children who are here.

Saturday is going to be so much fun! A huge thank you to everyone who has offered to help in any way. We will be here from 10 am setting up so please come and offer some time if you can. The general plan for the day is in this newsletter. 560 people have said they are coming!!! The children are playing a big part… helping on the welcome desk, taking visitors on tours and, of course, singing… Happy Birthday, The Currambena Song, Beds are Burning, Yellow Submarine and The Rattling Bog. The event opens at 2pm. The singing will be after the brief formal speeches which will start at about 2:30 outside Sarah’s room so please make sure they are here on time! If you have not already offered to help with anything, it would be fantastic if you could stay and help with cleaning up at the end of the evening. Many hands will make light work! Looking forward to seeing everyone there.

Next week is Week 10! How has that happened!! We still need one more driver for ice skating at Macquarie Ice Rink on Tuesday please. We will leave school at 10:30 and will be back by 1:30.********** Let me know if you can help. Thank you to Amanda, Bron and Shirley for offering their help already.

I think that’s all for today! Have a great week and enjoy the party!! Love, Wendy

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Plan for Saturday! Currambena’s 50th Birthday Party!

Posted on September 19, 2019 by wendyp

2pm Opening. Visitors arrive, children give tours of the school.

From 2pm Tea and coffee and merchandise for sale on Preschool deck.
Bar open.
Interviews and audio recording of Currambena history upstairs in the main building.
All classrooms open for visitors.
Memorabilia and photo screenings in various rooms.

2:30 Acknowledgement of Country, speeches, cutting the cake, singing by the children (outside Sarah’s).

3:30 pm Craft room open for bird mask making. Bird parades during the afternoon.

4:30 Caterers begin selling dinner.
Conversation with Currambena’s founding group upstairs in the main building.

5pm Band begins to play!

6pm Film for children in Rosie’s room.

Party on till 8pm!

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Plan for Thursday Open Day

Posted on September 19, 2019 by wendyp

Visitors arrive 9 to 9:30 and have tours around the school with children.

9:45 School Meeting chaired by Rosie’s kids

Singing practice outside Sarah’s room.

Sustaining Currambena.

Various activities in each classroom. Craft Room open for everyone. Cooking soup in Wendy’s room.

11am morning tea. Visitors join teachers for a cup of tea in the staff room.

11am: Astronomy in  preschool

11:30 Project Presentations in Wendy’s room.

12:30 lunchtime. Find a visitor to chat to over lunch.

Afternoon activities in each room.

2:45 Yarning Circle. Ex-students and visitors are invited to share funny Currambena stories in Rosie’s room.

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School Meeting minutes Week 8 Term 3

Posted on September 19, 2019 by sarahm

Chaired by Zariah and Ruth (Sarah’s class)

  • Elke’s owl purse by Sarah: Elke had a purse which she left on her desk in Wendy’s class. It had $5 in it and went missing. Elke found the purse outside Sarah’s classroom but without the money. Elke would very much like the person who took the money to return it.
  • Water by Preschool: A reminder about water play rules. Some people are not following the rules discussed at our last meeting.
  • Couch by Zavier, Puffin and Evie: Someone has been writing a swear word on Rosie’s class couch, we would like it to stop!
  • Blue Rocks by Zavier and Til: if anyone finds some blue rocks in a bag could you bring it to them please.
  • Fishing Wire by Peri, Soren, Imogen and Miro: We found fishing wire and an open safety pin lying around and tied like a trip wire please don’t do this. It is very dangerous and unsafe.
  • Climate Strike by Xavier and Ewan: Just a reminder that the strike for Climate Change is happening again next Friday, 20th in the Domain. There will be posters put up around the school. Please go!!!
  • Welcome by Sophie: Welcome to Alex and Eva Meakin who have started back at the school
  • Underglazing by Crafty: If you have any underglazing you need to get done then today is the day to do it.

End of school meeting.

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Julianna Term 3 Week 9

Posted on September 19, 2019 by juliannam

Hello everyone,

FRIDAY -

The meeting point for Currambena for the Global Climate Change rally  is the Woolloomooloo Gate for the Royal Botanical Gardens  at 11.45am. Please check your email from yesterday with the map attached

The Blue Umbrella will not be open Friday afternoon  so there will be no supervision after 3.30pm.

50th Birthday celebrations Update – 1 more day to go!

HELP needed please:

Sweepers Friday 20th the day before our celebrations or Saturday morning 21st

Our tea & cakes table – Many thanks for the offers we have had so far to bake cakes for our cake table. We have over 500 people coming so I don’t think we will have too many cakes /slices etc! Can you please make a little card to go with your baking to list the ingredients. Can all baking be delivered either Friday afternoon before 3.00pm or Saturday to The Blue Umbrella kitchen which will be open from 8.30am onwards

Maintenance Sunday 15th September – Many thanks to those trusty people who came in and did the big clean.

  UP COMING EVENTS!

Currambena 50th Birthday Weekend Celebrations – Open school Thursday 19th Sept,

Birthday festival Saturday 21st

TERM 4 Whole school Concert at Sydney Norths Leagues Club 14th Nov

End of year social Wednesday 18th December

Cheers Julianna

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