Photo of the Week

Posted on September 17, 2020 by Newsletter Editor

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Julianna Term 4 Week 9

Posted on September 17, 2020 by juliannam

Hi Everyone,

STOP! Kids and parents please stop clogging the footpath at drop off and pick up times. Please do not give us the name of “That school down the road that has no consideration or respect  for other people wishing to safely access the footpath outside Currambena!”

Currambena Library book – If you are in the Lane Cove Library could you please collect this Currambena library book Dead Famous Inventors and Their Bright Ideas by Dr Mike Goldsmith

REMINDERS

Communication – please keep up to date with any communication received from the school and respond when asked. This applies to emails received from the preschool, primary teachers, the office and  requests in the newsletter. We really appreciate your attention to our communication as it saves a lot of individual chasing of people

Many thanks for everyone’s support, take care

Julianna xx

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Preschool News Term 3 Week 9

Posted on September 17, 2020 by katrinaa

Hello everyone,

For the last week it seems that just as we get into our day at preschool it’s time to get ready to go home for the day.  It is however lovely to see the collaboration and inclusiveness of the play that develops throughout the day, with some really innovative games being developed by the children.

I’m really pleased to announce that the COVID-19 free preschool has now been extended to term 4. This means that the first 3 days of preschool will continue to be “free” for all families until the end of the year. Additional days will be charged as per terms 2 and 3.

Many thanks to those families that replied to my emails and requests via the newsletter regarding their child returning to preschool next year or attending a primary school other than here. Thank you to the families that have let me know what school their child is attending if they are not staying on in primary at Currambena so I can provide a report to their school. If you haven’t let me know what school your child is attending I’m unable to provide a transition to school statement regarding your child. If I did not hear from you regarding days for next year I have assumed you are not returning, and your child’s position is being filled by a new family in 2021.

I neglected to mention last week how great the tennis lessons we had this term were. The children really enjoyed it with Coach Ben being a perfect fit for Currambena. We look forward to him returning for more tennis early next year. As mentioned previously we have learnt some great games during these lessons and have continued to play them in preschool.

This week for music we had Paul visit the school to perform on his guitar and banjo for us. Paul is part of a bush dance band that has previously taught us bush dancing and preformed at a bush dancing social at the school. The children were intrigued by his performance, being exposed to some interesting tunes and songs.

It would be very much appreciated if all families in preschool could send a text with your surname to 0491 750 108, this excludes any family that already uses this number. Please use this number instead of my personal number that some families may have been given prior to preschool acquiring its own phone. This is the preschool mobile number and it would be great if we add all parents’ mobile numbers stored on this phone.

Lastly the book week scheduled for this Friday has been postponed until next term!

That’s it for this week!

Love

Katrina, Michael, Hannah and Cee

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Jess’ Class Week 9 Term 3

Posted on September 17, 2020 by Jess

Dear Parents,
Many of the children have been taking advantage of the recent spring weather and have been spending a lot of time playing outside. There have been some fabulous multi-age games such as dodgeball, capture the flag and soccer happening across the school.

In the classroom, we have been investigating the two different sounds that a vowel can make (short and long) and in literacy stations we have learnt about the bossy (or silent) e rule. The children seem to have picked up this concept quickly and are beginning to apply it in a range of very creative ways in their independent writing time.

On Monday we made beautiful butterfly wings by painting on one half of a piece of paper before folding it to make a print on each side. It was a very fun way to explore the concept of half and the need for both pieces of a whole to be equal in size for them to be true halves.

On Tuesday, Susan came in and taught the children some basic skills and rules of hockey. The children picked it up quickly and it was awesome to see them work together and even manage a short game together at the end of the skills practice. Thank you, Susan.

Toys have continued to be a hot topic on the class meeting agenda. The rule of only 2 toys to be brought in from home stands and this week we have discussed a range of toys to see if they might be categorised as a single toy. The children voted:

Pokemon cards and trading cards – one card is one toy
Game cards like Uno, Sleeping Queens (not trading cards) – A pack is one toy
Ooshies – one Ooshie is one toy.
My Little Treehouse Books – These are books (not toys) so there is no limit.

Zander and Aurelia also clarified for the class that we have a current school rule that states that it is preferable not to bring toys into school that are worth more than $10. If a child chooses to bring a toy into school that is worth more than this, they do this at their own risk. If that toy is lost or damaged at school, the child needs to accept this and not ask for help from other children or adults (including at class and school meeting) to find it.

From my perspective, having fewer toys from home has been a welcome dynamic shift in the classroom. The children are finding more creative ways to play that involve creative thinking, negotiation, and the ability to share fairly.

The children have also decided to postpone book week from this Friday until next term. This will bring it in line with the official book week dates and allow everyone, including the teachers, a little bit more time to prepare.

Just a short reminder to please keep to the Currambena side of the footpath during drop off in the mornings and pick-ups in the afternoons. We’ve had a little bit of feedback from the broader Lane Cove community that it is difficult to pass our school and keep the required safe social distance of 1.5 metres. We’ve put some chalk lines on the ground as a reminder for everyone. Thank you!

Also – A gorgeous picture book arrived on my desk this week. Thank you to the mystery person who sent this – it made me feel very special.

That’s all for today, have a lovely weekend,
Jess xxx

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Charles’ Class Term 3 Week 9

Posted on September 17, 2020 by Newsletter Editor

Hello Everyone,

I hope you have all had a wonderful week.

Term 3 has flown past as we now approach its conclusion, and this week we are starting to wind down and finish our units.

This week the children have completed their interest projects which they will be presenting next week and early next term. Everyone, including myself, is very eager to show and listen to all the fascinating things they have researched about their topic!

In Literacy, we are finishing up our persuasive writing unit with the children writing a convincing text about a topic they are passionate about. There have been some great ideas, including why pollution is bad for the environment, why too much candy is unhealthy, and why dogs are the best pets.

In Maths, we have looked at the time and how we use it every day. This week the children were timed for 10 seconds, 1 minute, and 10 minutes to produce a drawing of their choosing. They learned a lot about the difference time makes when they are trying to complete a task!

A friendly reminder to please stay on the Currambena side of the walking path to maintain social distancing before and after school for parents and children from surrounding schools.

That’s all for now, have a wonderful weekend!
Charles

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Sarah’s Class Week 9 Term 3

Posted on September 17, 2020 by sarahm

Hello Everybody!

“Are we there yet?”……. almost!!!!!!

This week we started focusing on presentations, both the children’s personal projects and their chosen topics. I have been soooooo impressed with the group’s application to these learning areas this term and their ability to collaborate and get through the work load. The personal projects, especially, are really showcasing their understanding of what makes an interesting and good project. There was the additional criteria and inclusion of a word count and the use of palm cards and although this was challenging, for some, they have accepted this as part of their experience to learn, grow and develop new skills.

Also this week the group completed an assessment task on their understanding of 2D and 3D shapes and we have now moved on to fractions. We began this with paper folding and looking at the number of parts of a whole as being the ‘numerator’ and ‘denominator’. We will continue to explore more on this topic next week and for some weeks into Term 4.

I am hoping to have everyone’s Heroes and Villains stories complete by the end of next week. A majority have decided to type their stories and are slowly working on this. As time consuming as this process is – I need to remind myself it is also developing their keyboard skills. So, I just have to be patient and keep them moving.

Last Friday, the topic of Book Week came up and the school voted on having the parade this Friday. However, given the short amount of time we had to prepare costumes a re vote took place and the majority of children have now voted to celebrate it during the week it’s scheduled for, in October.

Just a reminder about drop offs and pick-ups: Please be mindful of not crowding the footpath and leaving a space for the public to walk through. We really do need to maintain keeping ‘social distancing’ happening at all times.

That’s a rap from us this week.

Stay safe! Stay well!

Love, Sarah

 

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Leesa’s Class Term 3 Week 9

Posted on September 17, 2020 by leesaj

Hi Everyone,

Personal Interest Project presentations began this week, full of interesting information, videos, pictures and we got to observe a gadget in action. The children have done a wonderful job at researching, writing information into their own words and preparing for their presentations.

During our Mathematics sessions we have continued with our topic on time. Some of the children completed polygon puzzles involving analog and written times, some completed worded problems on time that involved multiple steps and others revised the main times we deal with seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years. On Wednesday we made sundials to tie in with our topic for Science as well. We explored why sundials are different in the Southern Hemisphere and how old sundials are said to be.

On Tuesday afternoon we had our first session on puberty. We discussed the different physical changes that can occur in the body, feelings and emotions towards this, trusted people we can talk to about this topic and that puberty happens at different times for people and not all at once. Next week we’re going to revise what we spoke about this week and we are going to go deeper into how we can use a range of strategies to manage these changes.

Yesterday we started an artwork on an emotion of our choosing. We listed as a group all the emotions we can feel and where in our body we can feel them. Using a range of resources including water colours, oil pastels and pencils we represented our emotion. Next week we’re going to discuss strategies we can use to manage the wide range of emotions we can feel.

Last Friday during school meeting it was voted that we should have a book week parade this Friday, however, due to the short amount of time to prepare a costume a re-vote occurred and majority of the children have now voted to have it next term. I will keep you posted about the date.

Just a reminder to make sure the footpath is clear for people to walk past safely during afternoon pick up and morning drop off.

Have a great weekend!

Leesa x

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Wendy’s Group Week 9 Term 3

Posted on September 17, 2020 by wendyp

Hi everyone.

We’re having a good week in our group. We had a wonderful bushwalk on Tuesday for our PE this week, walking all the way to Gore Creek Reserve for lunch then back by 3pm after some fun play time down there. I hope you’ll enjoy seeing some photos of our day here in the Newsletter!

In class, we are taking great delight in our PIP presentations! They have been absolutely stunning so far in their detail and presentation and the range of fascinating topics from Spider Man and Nautica to Steam, Bridges and Famous Mathematicians! There has been such a great amount of effort put into these and the presentations are both interesting and entertaining! We are all learning so much from them! Everyone is recording the topics and one interesting fact they learn from each so you’ll be able to see these in portfolios when they come home at the end of the year.

We are tackling 3D space, naming shapes, making them and listing their properties in Maths, along with completing Unit 24 in our text books and practising times tables as usual.

In English, we are enjoying our shared book and we learned about prepositions and phrases for use in our stories. Most of our spelling words this week were mathematical ones! Perhaps your child can tell you what an octahedron is and how to spell it!

We enjoyed a music session with banjo and guitar player, Paul, on Monday which replaced the bush dancing we were expecting. The group heard some very old and well known songs and was a very respectful audience.

Last week, our second session on sex ed went well with some great questions and supportive discussion. We are continuing our discussions about life challenges and strategies for looking after ourselves.

Book Week has been moved to Term 4 this year so our planned character parade, mentioned at School Meeting last week, is being postponed to next term.

Next week we are planning our “alternative to camp” days and there will be a separate note home about this… Council has given us permission to do a sleep over at school next Thursday night and Shona (huge thank you!) has offered to stay with us. We will make ourselves dinner and watch a movie… and then all be very tired the next day, I have no doubt! Luckily, it will then be holidays and we can all recover!

Another reminder about the footpath outside school in the afternoon. Please keep to the Currambena side of the path… there is a clear line in the footpath… unless you are actually walking along. It becomes very congested and difficult to maintain social distance if we don’t spread ourselves out.

Have a good week.

Love,
Wendy

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My Time at Currambena by Noah

Posted on September 17, 2020 by wendyp

My Currambena

I’m finally in year 6… and I just realised that it is Term 3 2020 week 9!!! So I don’t have long to go.

My first day I came to Currambena, my mother took a photo of me and I thought “I’m a big boy now, Mum” and although it took a few weeks to adjust to my mother not being here, I made friends.
Years passed and although some of my preschool friends left, I found myself in a new class having to choose a new teacher and in the end we got the “great” Marius Cox from whom I would learn so much more than I ever thought I would in three years.
I then kept on moving and the whole world seemed to fly by.
In Sarah’s class, I became very sick every day and I would be VERY lucky to have a whole week at school but the culprit soon was known and, sadly, it was gluten but this was soon fixed.
In Louise’s class, I learnt how to keep pets (our beloved Honey and Muffin) and then Wendy’s class came rushing up to meet me. I had one of the most fun experiences of my life at Jervis Bay. I cried so hard at the Year 6 leavers ceremony and now I’ve suddenly realised that I am going to high school next year and I’m one of those leavers!

And although my time to say my tearful goodbyes has come, I am going to Newtown High School for the Performing Arts and I feel pleased to know my immediate future.

And so goodbye, my friends and teachers. I will miss you but also always remember you in my heart and my soul.

XOXO Noah

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Minutes of School Meeting, Friday 11th September 2020

Posted on September 17, 2020 by leesaj

Meeting chaired by Xavier and Maya

1. Time Capsule by Taal

Taal asked the meeting if we could do a time capsule, the meeting voted yes. Left with Taal to organise details.

2. Logging out of Chromebooks by Sophie

A reminder to log out of Chromebooks.

3. Blue Umbrella by Cee

Reminder to not go to Blue Umbrella until 3pm.

4. Plasticine bases by Amaya

Reminder to not touch other people’s bases.

5. Keepy Uppy by Rose and Emme

Rose and Emme asked the meeting when Keepy Uppy is coming down. The meeting voted to partially take down Keepy Uppy.

6. Eggs by Emme

Emme asked the meeting how many eggs can we have a term? The chicken agreement was read and confirmed one per term.

7. Book Week by Emme

Emme asked the meeting if we could have book week. The meeting voted yes and decided next friday was the day. A re-vote occurred and it has been voted that we have book week next term.

8. Books by Mabel

Reminder to put books away in the library.

9. Chromebooks by Noah

Reminder to return the Chromebooks for charging after use.

10. Eggs by Sarah

Reminder to take eggs home that are in the fridge.

11. Drama by Cee

Monday drama need to wait for Bec to let you out the front gate after your session.

12. Double Gates by Cee

Reminder to not open the gates or climb on them.

13. Flying fox by Chris

The flying fox will be taken down today at 12pm.

14. Bathrooms by Louie

Reminder to leave the toilets and bathrooms clean.

Meeting adjourned.

Sustaining Currambena.

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