The Ladybirds Week 10 Term 2

Posted on July 6, 2025 by megs

Hi Everyone,

We’re officially halfway through the year!

This week, we spent time wrapping up our learning from the term. In Maths, we began exploring the concept of time, focusing on learning to tell the time to the hour. We also shared our favourite times of the day and had lots of fun creating our own clocks!

This week it was the Ladybirds’ turn to run School Meeting. Reuben and Dash stepped up to chair and did a fantastic job!

It’s been a very busy and exciting term in the Ladybirds. We hope everyone enjoys a well earned break and returns refreshed and ready for another fantastic term of learning.

I would like to thank Sarah for working with me and the Ladybirds throughout Terms 1 and 2.

With love,
Meg (and Sarah D)

A message from Sarah:
Hi Parents,
You may have heard I had my last day with the Ladybirds on Thursday. We had a really fun day finishing our history unit, craft, playing games and dancing and I was surprised with a card signed from all the children. This was an unforeseen change of events and I am sad to lose the time with them in the classroom. I have loved beginning the year with them, learning and playing with them and being a part of the Ladybirds. However, I will still be in on Fridays and really look forward to spending time with them in the craft room.

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Jess & Susan’s Class Week 10 Term 2

Posted on July 6, 2025 by kirsteng

Dear parents,

This week, the children’s understanding of vertical addition was extended by moving into subtraction. Instead of carrying over the tens, children learnt to borrow from other columns. I was very happy to see all children demonstrate a level of understanding, with some children even working with numbers in the tens of thousands! Everyone agreed that silly mistakes were the most annoying – like forgetting if you are adding or subtracting half way through, or calculating addition/ subtraction of small numbers under 20 incorrectly.

We also consolidated our work on 3D objects and practised drawing prisms using isometric dot paper. The children discussed the differences between prisms and pyramids and revisited key vocabulary such as congruent, vertices, and curved boundaries and surfaces.

We finished reading our class novel “Leo and Ralph” on the very  last day of term and the children reflected on the parts they loved the most. By the end of the novel everyone could identify a variety of literary devices such as personification and simile and my hope is that with more practice they begin to transfer some of these techniques into their own writing.

A real highlight this week was seeing the culmination of the term’s work in the fabulous PIP presentations. The children are continuing to grow in their ability to organise information, create engaging slideshows, and present with eye contact and at a suitable pace. Some are already thinking about next term’s topics!

Next term, we will continue our work on Space for just one week so the children can present their solar system models to each other and, on the first Friday, engage in a pop up planetarium excursion that will be visiting the school. After this, we’ll be starting a new themed unit of work. The children have suggested a range of topics they’d like to explore including transportation, human evolution, vertebrates and rainforests. I’ve got a bit of thinking to do over the holidays to make it something coherent.

The children loved the movie Night at the Museum and Bodhi suggested we watch number 2 next term! My impression was that being a slightly older movie it had a slower pace than was refreshing.

Wishing everyone a restful break!

Jess and Susan

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Amelia’s Class Week 10 Term 2

Posted on July 6, 2025 by Amelia

Hi everyone,

Happy holidays! I hope you all have something nice planned for the break, even if it’s just resting and staying in!

We have had a lovely end to the term, and finalised a number of our units of work. Our elders presented their first PIPs created on Google Slides. It was absolutely fantastic to see their hard work come together and the enthusiasm with which they presented to their class groups. A huge congratulations to Archana, for running the PIPs this last semester and supporting the children wonderfully.

Amelia x

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Sarah’s Class Week 10 Term 2

Posted on July 6, 2025 by sarahm

Nothing much left to say on our final week.

We did some Self Managed Learning over a few days whereby the children had a list of tasks they needed to achieve and could do so in whatever order they wished and spend as long as they wished on each task, as long as they got everything done by the end of the week. All achieved some Story writing, completed their Soundwaves unit, did some Handwriting practice and Maths Mentals. All Solar Systems were done and dusted and the children were excited to be able to take them home. We listened to another episode from Grow Your Mind on Friendship and Conflict and ended our week going up the street buying our lunch and watching a movie.

Its been a lovely term full of rich and deep learning and I look forward to next terms adventures!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday.

Love, Sarah

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Wendy’s Class Week 10 Term 2

Posted on July 4, 2025 by wendyp

Such a full term now at a close and everyone is ready for a rest. I hope you all have safe and relaxing holidays planned and stay warm and well over the break.

This week has seen us finishing off our English topic with some final work on the book ‘Runt’ and some checking of spelling textbook units. In Maths we have been looking at graphs and data collection and have continued practising times tables as usual.

REQUESTS: Over the break, please encourage your children to read, every day if possible. Great to ask them to tell you about the story they’re reading to help develop their comprehension skills. I am a firm believer in reading aloud to children, too, right up to high school age. The shared enjoyment of a book is a wonderful connection between parents and children and sets children up for a lifetime of reading pleasure. This would be great to do over the holidays too.

Please also encourage children to practise times tables over the holidays… out loud in the car, for instance. When children have all the times tables in their long term memory, it makes many maths operations much quicker and easier. Repetition out loud in their own voices is the best way to achieve this and, of course, children vary enormously in the amount of time it takes to memorise these number facts.

PIP presentations have been fabulous and it has been a delight to see the work that has gone into the PIPs themselves and the art works that were also completed to support the PIP this term. All the children have received feedback about their PIP and have completed their own reflections as well. Great learning on many levels.

Our final PE session for the term was held indoors because of the awful weather and it was fun to play Murder in the Disco and Freeze and Scream with our mixed age group in Games at School! It was also fabulous to see the dance performance from the group who worked with Miss Rachel over four weeks! Terrific achievement in such a short time.

As always, thanks to everyone for their support and contributions this term. Thank you to Carolina for Spanish. Thank you to Gemma for music and best wishes as she moves to different work arrangements in order to manage her family commitments. Thanks to Crafty Chris for art each week and especially for the amazing Lantern Festival. Thank you to my dedicated colleagues with whom it is a delight to share my time, caring for the precious children we see every day.

Thank you to all those who work in TBU and who help with Play Group, Council or Maintenance or any other subcommittee. You are all valuable contributors to the Currambena community.

Congratulations to Meg who moves to a full five days a week from next term… and we’ll look forward to working with Sarah D in her new capacity as assistant art and library teacher. Very exciting!

I am attending the APDEC (Asia Pacific Democratic Education Community) conference this year in Indonesia and will miss the first week of term because of this. I’ll be back for the start of Week 2. Parent interviews will start in Week 3 for our group.

See you then.

Love,
Wendy

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Preschool News Week 10 Term 2

Posted on July 3, 2025 by katrinaa

Hello everyone,

As Term 2 comes to a close, we’ve spent this final week immersed in play, reflection, laughter, and connection. From the moment the preschool doors opened each day, our learning environment has been alive with curiosity and joy.

Throughout the week, Spot It proved to be a recurring favourite, with children inventing new variations and playing collaboratively at the games table and across the preschool. Outdoors, Michael led incredibly popular monster-chasing games that were requested again and again, while the sandpit became a site of gem hunting adventures. Our construction area was as busy as ever with complex builds using Magnet Tiles and cubby house creations continual to be a highlight of our preschool days.

This term ended much as it unfolded, rich with child led learning and creativity. Later in the week, we gathered for a group reflection, inviting children to share what they’ve loved and what they’d like to learn about next. Their suggestions included cooking, astronomy, personal boundaries, and more. We look forward to embedding these ideas into our Term 3 curriculum and continuing to support their investigations and interests.

Craft this week took us to the craft room with Chris, where we created stunning tile imprints using natural materials found around the preschool. The results were spectacular, each piece a little snapshot of our environment and the children’s creative process. Music with Michael and Abi continued to bring joy and energy, with lively renditions of The Rattling Bog and Rainbow Snake filling the room.

We also want to acknowledge the memorable fire experiences we shared on Friday of Week 9 and Monday of Week 10. These were powerful moments of storytelling, ritual, and community connection that brought children together in wonder and warmth around the fire pit not to mention that opportunity to eat a marshmallow!

Now, as we mark the halfway point in the year, we want to take a moment to offer our heartfelt thanks to you, our families. It is both a privilege and an honour to be entrusted with your children each day. These first six months have been filled with so much learning, growth, and delight. We look forward with great anticipation to sharing the remainder of the year with your children and continuing this rich journey together.

Wishing all our preschool families a restful and joyful holiday break.
Preschool resumes on Wednesday 25 July 2025.

Love

Katrina, Abi, Lisa and Michael.

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Preschool News Week 9 Term 3

Posted on June 29, 2025 by katrinaa

Dear Preschool Families,

This week has been full of fun and varied experiences. Children have immersed themselves in a wide range of play, from dramatic role-play games involving hyenas and doctors, to collaborative construction using Lego, Hot Wheels, and Magna Tiles. Our bamboo waterway in the sandpit inspired wonderful teamwork and problem-solving, while puzzles and games like Spot It offered opportunities for focus, cooperation and fun indoors. One of our highlights was making dippy candles, which tied in beautifully with the ongoing interest in fire. The children were deeply engaged in the process of dip, drip, water, repeating the steps with care and curiosity, and chatting about heat, transformation, and safety as they worked.

On Wednesday, we participated in a whole-school lockdown drill. The children responded calmly and positively, and it gave us an opportunity to gently revisit our safety practices together.

We’ve had a couple of reported cases of head lice this week. Please take a moment to check your child’s hair and treat as needed, we appreciate your help in keeping our community comfortable and healthy.

Currambena Preschool has been selected to take part in the Preschool Outcomes Measures National Applied Trial, coordinated by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). This initiative focuses on children who will be attending school next year and supports educators in reflecting meaningfully on each child’s development. An email has been sent to all families with more information. If you have any questions about this, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

On that note, if you would like to meet with me to discuss your child’s development or their readiness for school in 2026, feel free to email me or speak with me directly and I’ll be happy to arrange a time.

A quick clarification from last week’s newsletter: I mistakenly mentioned Lisa’s leave dates. Lisa will be on leave from Friday 27 June and will return to preschool on Monday 4 August. We thank Lisa for her wonderful work this term and wish her a restful and restorative break.

With just one week left of Term 2, we’re enjoying every moment together and continuing to support the children in their learning and play.

Love

Katrina, Lisa, Abi & Michael

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The Ladybirds Week 9 Term 2

Posted on June 29, 2025 by megs

Hello Everyone,

This week in Maths, we explored addition and subtraction. We were introduced to ‘Gus the Plus’ and followed the adventure of Zanok the Addition Alien, inspiring us to create our own Addition Aliens! We also met Mr. Minus, learning all about subtraction and the concept of “taking away.” To practice, we had a fun game of desk bowling, where we worked out how many pins we knocked over versus how many were left standing!

In our Integrated Investigation Unit, we focused on informative texts. Together, we researched dolphins, discovering what they look like, where they live, and what they eat.

On Tuesday evening, we had the Lantern Social at Tambourine Bay. It was wonderful to see so many people attending, and the lanterns, as well as the Dragon and Loch Ness Monster, were absolutely stunning! The children should be incredibly proud of all the effort that went into creating such amazing displays.

As you know, we love to get creative in The Ladybirds, and we’re always on the lookout for materials for our craft projects. If you have any recyclables (such as cardboard, plastic bottles, etc.) that could be used for art, please bring them in!

I’m also thrilled to announce that our class excursion to Sea Life is officially booked! On August 11th, we’ll be heading to the aquarium for an exciting day out. More details will follow soon.

The final week of term promises to be full of fun activities, so stay tuned for more updates!

With love,
Meg (and Sarah D)

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Jess and Susan’s Class Week 9 Term 2

Posted on June 29, 2025 by kirsteng

Dear Parents,

The highlight for this week was, of course, our beautiful lantern social on Tuesday night. The sight of such a majestic creature gliding through the water at Tambourine Bay was absolutely magical! A huge thank you to Chris and his team of artists for their work with the children and their determination to pull it all together on the night.

We enjoyed our last visit to the library for this term with many children returning books. If you find any books from Lane Cove library that are still at home, you may want to return these over the holidays to avoid any fines or terse letters.

This week we continued our studies of space by exploring cultural constellations and the relationship that First Nations people have with Sky Country. It was gorgeous to see the children gazing into the night sky during our lantern social with some of them pointing out the constellations we have been identifying in class.

In maths, we investigated 3D objects and have been practicing vertical addition with all the children showing a solid understanding of the strategy.  In English we have been focussing on writing reflections with a particular focus on topic and concluding sentences in a paragraph.

Next week will be our last week for the term and will include PIP presentations on Thursday and a movie on Friday. The children have voted that they would like to walk up to the shops to buy their lunch again on the last day. Please talk to them about what they will purchase for lunch on the last day so that they have enough money and they know which shops they will visit.

Warm wishes,

Jess and Susan

 

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Amelia’s Class Week 9 Term 2

Posted on June 29, 2025 by Amelia

Hello everyone,

I hope you were all able to come to the social on Tuesday, it was a magical night! It was fantastic to see all of the children’s efforts over only three days come together in such a beautiful display. A massive congratulations and thank you to Crafty for the successful night.

This week we completed our work on 2 Dimensional shapes and moved on to looking at area. The children explored the meaning of area and challenged themselves to measure different shapes drawn in chalk using dominoes, connecting cubes or playing cards. We discussed some of the difficulties the children faced when measuring area, particularly when measuring a shape with curved sides.

For Space Explorers this week we finished our summative task. The children designed their own planet that could be part of our solar system a few weeks ago, and put these ideas into creation on Thursday. We have hung up our solar system in the classroom so please come in and have a look! I am sure more planets will be contributed over the last week as well.

It is our turn to go to the Lane Cove Library, and it will be the final time for this term so please pack any library returns you find at home!

Amelia x

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