Photo of the week – Term 3 Week 5

Posted on August 19, 2022 by Newsletter Ed

photo_of_the_week

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Preschool News: Week 5 Term 3

Posted on August 18, 2022 by katrinaa

Hello everyone,

We’ve all been enjoying the sunny days and warmer weather at school. It’s lending itself to lots of play outdoors involving water. There’s been lots of impromptu experiments in the sandpit involving a range of different mediums, perfectly aligned to science week and our focus on science this week at Currambena. Preschool is looking forward to taking part in the whole school science day to end the science week on Friday.

The preschool children were really inspired by the Jump Rope for Heart afternoon led by Wendy’s class on Tuesday. We’re seeing some very determined preschool children who are quickly mastering the very tricky art of skipping. A big thank you to Wendy’s class for running this event.

We’ve started to get really involved in our astronomy unit in preschool. This week we are learning about nuclear fusion and how our solar system was formed. We’re amazed to hear how much knowledge the children already have in regards to astronomy. We all have so much to learn from each other! We’ve enjoyed spending time in Emma & Vinnie’s class sharing this unit of work with them. Learning about the Sun and  UV radiation has been a timely reminder for us all to remember to wear a hat and put on sunscreen throughout the day to protect our skin as the UV levels are now about 3 during the day which can cause damage to our skin.

We’re reintroducing the fruit & veggie platter in preschool, so please bring in a piece of fruit or vegetable that we can cut up and share. The fruit bowl will once again be placed at the sign-in table, so please pop your fruit or vegetable in it when you arrive in the morning. It’s great to be bringing it back as the children have really missed it.

That’s it for this week!

Love

Lisa, Katrina & Michael

 

Posted in Preschool news | Comments Off

Emma and Vinnie’s class Term 3 Week 5

Posted on August 18, 2022 by Emma

Week 5 already can you believe it!

The group of students in our class play together so beautifully. They’re always enjoying exploring different spaces around Currambena. Loving these sunny days.

We’ve had lots of birthdays this week, happy birthday to our August Leos. Birthdays are pretty exciting when you’ve only had 6 of them! Many students have lovely toothless smiles, all signs of growing and becoming more mature every day.

In reading this week we’ve been practising “skippy the frog” – skipping an unknown word and coming back to it after you get to the end of the sentence. Thanks Sarah D, for joining us for reading groups. In writing we’ve been writing 4 factual sentences about the Pterodactyl which, although alive at the time of the dinosaurs, was actually a reptile, not a dinosaur! In maths we’ve been practising reading and writing teen numbers and 2 digit numbers and making teen numbers on 20 frames. We also had another look at money, recognising and ordering coins and notes of different values.

Jump Rope for Heart was good fun – always great to see students persevering and staying at something for longer than 5 minutes. Skipping is a hard skill and requires coordination and practise! The joint unit with preschool was great fun as well, and we had some very keen preschoolers stay on in the classroom afterwards to join us for our reading lesson. Our class members were so proud to be able to be role models and show the preschoolers what they were able to do now, after 100 days of learning!

Preview: we’ll try in our newsletter entry to remember to give a general idea of what we plan to learn the following week so you can make connections at home if you wish!

Next week, week 6 our aim is to:

practise handwriting ‘n’ and ‘k’
learn about the difference between facts and opinions
continue to read and spell with new phonemes (sounds) – v, w, y, z, j, n, k, e and camera words – all, is, me, no, they, said
research and write about the Pteranodon
move onto adding in maths – extending some with different strategies like counting on, and using higher numbers where appropriate.

Have a lovely weekend :)

Emma and Vinnie

Posted in Emma & Vinnie's Class | Comments Off

From Jess week 5 term 3

Posted on August 18, 2022 by jessk

This week, we have been focussing on writing narratives and we have continued to explore how adjectives make a sentence interesting. We’ve talked about the 5W’s of reading and writing (what, where, why, who and when) and examined the book “Harry by the Sea” in this context.

In our study related to “The Ground”, we have learnt about the force that keeps us all firmly planted on it -  gravity! We learnt that gravity is different in other places in our solar system and beyond, and that there is none on the International Space Station. Watching a bunch of astronauts wash their hair and make breakfast in space was certainly a highlight this week. We’ve learnt that the Earth has four layers – The Crust, the Mantle, the Outer Core and the Inner Core and we’ve made plasticine models, that we cut in half to see the beautiful layers reveal themselves.

To practice handwriting this week, we watched a video about the naked mole rat and challenged our memory to recall as many facts as possible. We measured out 10cm on a ruler and were very surprised how small these funny little creatures are.

In maths we’ve continued with our work related to measuring mass, using equal arm balance scales, and utilising informal units of measurement such as blocks and counters.

Tomorrow will be a fun filled day of science with the children having an opportunity to engage in a range of experiments on offer around the school. Thank you to Emma and Meg for organising this for my class.

It‘s Book Week next week and our first adventure for this will be on Monday afternoon when we join the big kids for an excursion to Lane Cove Library.

Jess x

Posted in Jess's Class | Comments Off

Sarah’s Class week 5 Term 3

Posted on August 18, 2022 by sarahm

Hello!

What gorgeous days we are having at the moment prompting lots of outdoor play! Speaking of PLAY we had a discussion first thing Monday morning about this concept. I posed 3 questions to the group: What is play? Is play important? What can we learn from play? This idea came from an invitation to attend a Digital workshop – presented from the Sydney Opera House – marking the 90th anniversary of LEGO. So after our discussion we began watching this presentation. It covered topics such as: Playful Ideas; Playful Relationships; Playful Spaces and Playful Problems. In between each chapter we engaged in playful tasks which included things from storytelling to word association and physically becoming something. The workshop was designed as a reminder to everyone of the value and importance of PLAY – building confidence and resilience, bringing about mindfulness and joy, and developing connection and skills in creativity and collaboration. After this, we continued to PLAY and learn more through Scratch and our ability to code. And in the afternoon we PLAYED with our cardboard constructions. If you haven’t visited the classroom of late then let this be a reason. Some of these designs are so grand, showcasing intricate pieces of furniture, playground equipment and vehicles. There is some really impressive stuff going on.

We continued with our focus on 3D shapes and PLAYED with their Nets. We are becoming quite adept and skilled at cutting, folding, naming and putting together a variety of these shapes, all the while recognising the differences between prisms and pyramids. Not sure what we will create from these little constructions but guess I’ll pose this as another question for discussion???

Given this week is Science week: we listened to a story about Microbes and embarked on an experiment to watch mould grow! After the story, and a bit more information, we were able to make a Hypothesis and Prediction on the changes we foresee occurring to slices of bread, and will record our findings and discoveries over the coming week. Hoping it will be a good example and reminder on the importance of ‘washing and sanitising our hands’!!!  Other activities we will be doing this week will include measuring the flight path of a paper plane and the chemical reaction between water, oil and food colouring.

Thankyou, to Wendy’s group for organising a fabulous afternoon of skipping on Tuesday. We had gorgeous weather to get out there and skip for a great cause and charity. If you haven’t signed your child up to raise money then please go to Jump Rope for Heart. There are some cool prizes and incentives not to mention the physical fitness aspect.

And that’s us for another one. Have a gorgeous weekend.

Love, Sarah

Posted in Sarah's Class | Comments Off

Leesa’s Class Term 3 Week 5

Posted on August 18, 2022 by leesaj

This week we have continued practicing our skipping skills, reading, writing, problem solving and being curious about how friction and patterns of motion work. Magical builders are still a hit and plasticine creations are making a comeback. During Personal Development and Health sessions we have discussed our bodies warning signals and safe and unsafe situations.

Our sound for this week was ‘s, ss, se, ce, x, c’ as in “seal, kiss, mouse, juice, fox and pencil”. The children completed activities that involved the suffix ‘ous’ and the prefix ‘sub’. As a class we also revised homophones and discussed what homonyms are. The children completed a range of questions on these two grammar concepts and utilised dictionaries when needed.

During Mathematics we discussed what denominators and numerators are in fractions, how to write and draw mixed number fractions and the trick to round decimals to the nearest whole number.

On Tuesday, the children participated in Jump Rope for Heart. The children completed various skipping skills with the support of Wendy’s class. A fun afternoon of learning new skills, skipping to music, eating fruit and being active. Thank you to Wendy’s group for organising such a wonderful experience for everyone.

On Monday we are off to the Lane Cove Library for an illustrator session. All children need to bring a hat to wear for our walk. We are all looking forward to the book week activities planned for next week. Our book parade is on the Friday, for all the children who would like to dress up as a book character.

That is it for this week. Have a wonderful weekend!

Leesa x

Posted in Leesa's Class | Comments Off

Wendy’ Group Week 5 Term 3

Posted on August 18, 2022 by wendyp

It has been such a pleasure to speak with you in our interviews about your child and how they are going. It’s always useful to hear feedback and to broaden my perspective on the children’s lives. Please remember how important these open communication lines are! We have had such disruption to our usual parent-teacher communication with COVID… and it is just wonderful to be able to have interviews in person again!

Our Year 6/7 Night last Friday was a lovely event, very well attended and a fun reunion, really. Terrific to see so many children and parents there. The main advice from the Year 7s was to keep on top of schoolwork, be friendly towards everyone, and know that friendship groups change over time. They all sound as if they are doing really well, finding friends, adjusting well to to new routines and making positive relationships with their teachers. They are at a wide range of schools in both the public and private sectors, and all sound happy with their choices.

Back in the classroom this week, we are having a great time. Spontaneous games of chess are a feature at the moment, as is a very generous giving of time to help others with work when needed. What a gorgeous bunch of children!

In English this week we are focusing on nouns of different types. I hope we will have some stories to read to others next week for our Book Week celebrations. In Maths we are revising angles, how to categorise, construct and measure them. In Geography, we are continuing with our world view of countries where children have relatives living… we named all the capital cities yesterday (and revised using capital letters for proper nouns!). We will be starting our mini PIPs on countries next week.

Our Jump Rope event was a great success on Tuesday afternoon. Congratulations to everyone who participated. Our whole school fundraising is going really well too, with our school total currently almost being at $2000 for the Heart Foundation. Children can still sign up and raise money from family and friends. Check out the website… and enjoy the photos in this Newsletter!

Skipping continues to be very popular, and next week our group will be playing games at school for PE. In Week 9, on Tuesday 13th September, we have a booking to go Trampolining at Ultimate in Alexandria. Please email me if you might be able to drive us there at 9:30 and bring us back again at 12. I only have one driver volunteer so far.

After our visit to Lillypilly Falls last week, some of the children went back there with their families at the weekend and collected 10 bags of rubbish from the creek. What a wonderful thing to do! They were all very pleased with their efforts and we should all be very proud of them!

Have a great week.

Love,
Wendy

Posted in Wendy's Class | Comments Off

School MeetingTerm 3 Week 4

Posted on August 12, 2022 by Emma

School Meeting Term 3 Week 4 12.8.22

Chaired by Cobi and Alana in Jess’s class

  1. Chook by Sarah

Sarah informed everyone that one of the chickens has a lump and isn’t very well. She took it to the vet this morning and will keep everyone posted but she doesn’t want it to be suffering.

2. Visitor by Sarah

Sarah welcomed a visitor to her classroom, here for the day to do her Honours research.

3. Disco by Mabel and Carrie

Mabel and Carrie told everyone that their class will have a disco at 1.30pm today after icebooks. They voted for everyone from all classes to be allowed to join in if they want to.

4. Welcome Daniel by Wendy

Wendy welcomed Daniel, our new Business Manager, to the students, as this is his first School Meeting. We all sung the Currambena song to welcome him.

5. Spooky stories by Evie

Evie said there is a spooky story in the library. Some of the students shared ideas such as don’t read it if you find it scary. Some said it might have been from the seniors room. Wendy reminded students if any books seem too scary that we don’t think they should be in the library, we need to show the book to a teacher.

6. Lost property by Meg

There was not much to display as some items were donated last week.

Posted in School Meeting | Comments Off

Photo of the week – Term 3 Week 4

Posted on August 11, 2022 by Newsletter Ed

Resized_20220810_100758

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Preschool News Week 4 Term 3

Posted on August 11, 2022 by katrinaa

Hello everyone,

It’s been a great week in preschool, everyone has now recovered from COVID and returned healthy, happy, and raring to play. It’s been lovely having Michael and Lisa back, too, we all really missed them!

We’ve had a wonderful time with adventures around Currambena and the wider community. On Wednesday we headed up to Lane Cove Library to have librarian Sue read us many stories about Pandas. We also joined Vinnie and Emma’s class this week for a collaborative unit on astronomy. Each day throughout this term we’ll be holding an astronomy lesson, and once or twice a week this will be in Emma and Vinnie’s Kindergarten/Year 1 class. We had Buddies on Tuesday with Wendy’s class, first we had a meeting to make sure everyone was comfortable with their buddy. Some of the preschool children who have been reluctant in the past to take part have now joined in with peers. Wendy’s class has also been kindly running a few skipping games for the preschool children to take part in.

The new Octonauts equipment is leading to lots of collaborative play in the construction corner. It’s so lovely to see the preschool community being so inclusive in their play.

There’s been some great successes involving risky play and challenging gross motor experiences on the climbing equipment at Currambena. We’ve got some very keen and astute preschool children who are very determined to make it to the top of the tree cubby house and across the monkey bars.

We’ve continued to focus on health and hygiene in preschool, practicing how to wash and dry your hands effectively. A friendly reminder to all families that with the UV index now 3 or above for part of the day every day we need families to pack a hat for their child, we’ll also be asking children to apply sunscreen.

That’s it for this week!

Love

Michael, Lisa and Katrina

Posted in Preschool news | Comments Off