From Olivia Week 6 Term 2

Posted on June 2, 2023 by Olivia

Spotlight on Mikee (School Administrator)

How did you find yourself at Currambena?

I discovered Currambena while searching for a school for my son some years ago. My husband and I were looking for a school that’s different from what we both had. We came to the info day and knew instantly this was the school we would have wanted for ourselves.

What is it about Currambena that you like?

At Currambena, learning goes beyond the classroom lessons. I love the focus on the holistic development of children- getting them equipped with the skills and language to be emotionally and socially ready to navigate the next stages of their life.

What do you do in your spare time?

I do a bit of everything when I get a chance- watch tv, read, cook/bake, walk and workout.

If you had a superpower, what would it be?

It would be to fly, at my own time and pace, and see the beauty of nature from a bird’s eye view. I also like the freedom that comes with the ability to fly like a bird.

What do you want the Currambena Families to know?

Like most of you, we took that leap of faith when we enrolled our son at Currambena. We’ve all enjoyed our time here, met wonderful people and made great friends, and we know our son has had eight happy years. The skills children learn here are lifelong and their time at Currambena, they will forever cherish.

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Preschool News: Week 6 Term 2

Posted on June 2, 2023 by katrinaa

Hello everyone,

We’ve had another very busy week in preschool. On Monday we were once again blessed with a perfect autumn day and headed off to Kimberley Playground. The children are loving the park, though as it’s taking us a long time to walk there and we need to get back to school by 11am for school canteen, we’ve decided to leave earlier so we have more time to play. From Monday we’ll be having morning meeting at around 9:15am so we can be ready to leave the school grounds at 9:30am. To assist us with this please try to arrive as close as possible to 9:00am so the children have time to get organised. The same thing will apply to this Wednesday as we head back to Lane Cove Library for our fortnightly library visit.

The Spanish puppet show on Wednesday was a big hit with the group and another opportunity for the preschool children to come together as part of our whole school community. Carolina did a fantastic job of teaching the children the events and characters in the show in Spanish beforehand enabling them to follow the storyline. Thank you to everyone for promptly paying for the incursion.

This week we focussed on Aboriginal astronomy with the children as part of Reconciliation Week. It’s been fascinating to learn that First Nations people were the first astronomers in the world and how they used the stars to guide them in their travels.

We couldn’t have been prouder of the children’s performance on Thursday at The Canopy, for Lane Cove Children’s Voices for Reconciliation. The group was so confident being on stage, loving every minute of it. We were thrilled that even those that were initially reluctant to perform ended up being proud of themselves for pushing through and giving it a go. We’re already missing our daily rehearsals with Vinnie’s class, though, luckily, we’ll still be collaborating with them on Thursdays for astronomy. We intend to now focus the children’s performance skills on Film week in week 8.

Thank you to everyone that has been assisting us with our routine excursions of late, and to Luna, Steph and Laura for coming up and back from The Canopy on Thursday. Thank you again to Laura for the donation of the new game. Thank you also to Lisa for spending last Sunday ironing many of the screen-printed t-shirts for Children’s Voices, thank you also to Meg in primary for the loan of the heat press to enable us to iron the rest of the t-shirts quickly.

We’re looking forward to another couple of busy weeks in preschool as we focus our attention on Film week.

Love,

Lisa, Michael and Katrina

 

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Vinnie’s group Week 6 Term 2

Posted on June 2, 2023 by Vincent

Hi everyone,

We had a jam-packed week with our Spanish Puppet Show on Wednesday and then going up to sing on Thursday. The children did a wonderful job singing, it was so nice to see all the children giving it their best go.

This week we looked at adjectives – words to describe nouns. We started with adjectives that were colours then moved onto adjectives about the size of a creature – brown dog with pink tongue, large elephant with a long trunk. We will continue with this next week as well. We also learned about surfaces and area and practiced measuring surfaces with different sizes of paper. We keep looking at this over the next week too. After writing a longer sentence last week we went with a short sentence for this week – “She sat.” Next week we will introduce our next set of sounds (phonemes) and camera words, you will be able to see them hanging up in the classroom.

The children enjoyed their new sport choices – we have some children going on bushwalks, dancing or playing tennis. We had an eventful class meeting reminding each other of our agreements – in particularly with using the bathroom. Our bathroom agreements are: One person at a time; Knock if you are not sure if it is occupied; Be patient; Use a different bathroom if you need to; We don’t play in the bathroom.

Now our rehearsals are finished we will miss seeing the preschool so much. We will still be joining them every Thursday until we finish our shared unit on Astronomy. Next week will add some more astronomy lessons for our group. Monday or Tuesday we will be making Pizza Planets with Meg. Wednesday the 7th of June will be Summerhill Day – Meg and I will help the children sign up for activities the day before.

Thank you to those parents helping with walking to and from the Canopy and big thanks to the ongoing support for our school film project.

All the best,

Vinnie

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From Jess Week 6 Term 2

Posted on June 2, 2023 by Newsletter Ed

This week, to mark Reconciliation Week, we read a book called ‘Sorry Sorry’ by Ann Kerr and discussed what the word ‘reconciliation’ means and how it relates to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The children were very insightful with their shared understandings and happy to engage in discussion. We also spent Thursday morning at The Canopy in Lane Cove to support Currambena and other local schools as they performed in ‘Children’s Voices for Reconciliation’. It was a wonderful community feeling.

In other news, we have been investigating arrays this week and how they can be used as a concrete illustration of repeated addition. I also introduced the children to the ‘x’ symbol as a representation of ‘groups of’ or ‘rows of’ when writing an equation.

We’ve also learned about contractions such as “I’m” and “don’t” in spoken and written English and we have a new reference chart about these on the classroom wall for the children to use when they are creating their own texts.

As we ticked over to June and winter on Thursday, there was fun with ‘pinches and punches’ and we sang our song to remember how many days in each month.

On Thursday afternoon I spent some time with the Swordfish learning more about octopuses and the children completed their own colourful diagrams with titles and labels. All the while we listened to some favourite ocean themed songs like “Octopus’s Garden” and “Cake by the Ocean”.

Class meeting was a mammoth effort this week with some very important topics being discussed including ‘physical violence’ in games and other general topics about respecting the things in our classroom. The children also voted to have  a trivia and pizza event for the class (sorry parents, this is for kids only!). It could take some planning, so stay tuned for more updates on this…

The craft room is abuzz with activity at the moment, with banana costumes, dancing and general film making business. Please reach out to Chris if you think you might be able to give him a hand.

Jess

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Sarah and Amelia Week 6 Term 2

Posted on June 2, 2023 by sarahm

Oh dear….. another virus and another lurgy!!! There is so much going around at the moment and unfortunately this week I was hit with a nasty head and chest cold. Thankyou, to all the teachers, for stepping in and supporting the children. There were times when the group needed to be split into other classes and the reports were that things ran smoothly. I had some lovely ideas for us this week to create a yarning stick. So on Monday, we started this by first learning what ‘yarning’ is: Understanding the impact of discussion and spoken stories through the study of ‘yarning’ as a meaningful form of communication in Aboriginal culture. The importance of sharing and hearing language. So we listened to a couple of episodes from the Podcast “Little Yarns” from ABC Kids and while listening the children drew what they heard. After this we gathered sticks and that’s as far as we got. So, tis something to look forward to this coming week! For Maths we looked at multiplying things creating equal groups.

It is our turn to return to Lane Cove Library on Monday, so please support your child to return all books. For some, there will be many!!! And next Wednesday is Summerhill Day!!!

Amelia here! This week we had Children’s Voices for Reconciliation up at the Canopy. Both preschool and Vinnie’s group, and Wendy’s group put on an amazing performance for Reconciliation Week. A huge congratulations to their commitment and enthusiasm in their performances!

We switched around a little bit on Thursday due to this change and did Year 2 PIPs in the afternoon. Most of the groups have finished writing their big questions and answers, and are starting to decorate their slides, as well as practice their presentations.

Hope to see you all at the social!

Amelia and Sarah

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Caetano’s Class in Week 6 Term 2

Posted on June 2, 2023 by caetanol

This week has been a very busy week in that there has been so many different activities that have taken place. For starters, we headed to the library on Monday afternoon to take a break from the routine. The students always enjoy the library and this week was no exception.

On Tuesday the Yoshi’s had a special meeting where we discussed some new agreements and discussed how we can make the classroom a place where we can all feel even more comfortable and supported. The students showed a lot of maturity when thinking of different agreements and as a result we are all feeling more relaxed.

Tuesday was also the first day where the new sports routine started. These new sports will run every Tuesday afternoon and will run for the next three weeks. I had the chance to do bushwalking with Meg where a few of our Yoshi’s joined me. Others enjoyed the likes of tennis, dance and games at school.

On Wednesday we started off our day with an amazing Spanish puppet show in Vinnie’s room. The students were extremely engaged as they learnt about a lost boy who was saved by a vegetarian tiger. Throughout the play, the students were exposed to lots of Spanish and were encouraged to join in with repeating Spanish words and phrases. We also continued with our work on data on Wednesday and the students were able to practise graphing, drafting up tables and surveying one another at their own level. Plus, a few students are starting to complete their Personal Interest Projects for the term. They are now at the stage where they are practising and soon an invite will come out informing parents when to join us in class, so your child can present to you as well.

Last but certainly not least was the Children’s Voices for Reconciliation which was held on Thursday. Our Yoshi’s, along with the rest of Currambena, had the chance to watch a range of schools (including our own) perform songs, speeches and dances which gave recognition to Indigenous Australians. The students also had a chance to stretch their legs after the concert by playing in the park. It was a wonderful day and the students showed extremely wonderful behaviour and respect.

Bring on Week 7!

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Wendy’s Group Week 6 Term 2

Posted on June 2, 2023 by wendyp

Hi everyone!

We had another great week in our group with lots going on.

The big event was the Children’s Voices for Reconciliation event in at The Canopy on Thursday morning. Preschool, Vinnie’s and our group all joined in the line-up of performers from local schools celebrating Reconciliation Week and its theme of “Be a Voice for Generations”. It was fabulous to see our Preschool and Vinnie’s children get up onto the stage so confidently and sing without a backing track (unlike earlier items in the program), and I was very proud of Kai and Ewan who gave short speeches before the whole class sang “Solid Rock” with Cooper, Ariel and Evie playing guitar with me. The performances from other schools were great to see and hear, too, and altogether it was another very successful event.

In class, we’ve been looking at grammar and writing skills as well as continuing to read our shared book each day. We’re looking at conjunctions and phrases and clauses at the moment and using these to make sentences more interesting.

On Monday, we had a session with our CSIRO IT specialist, Mark, who brought his son this time to show us a robot being used in his studies at Sydney University. It was pretty interesting to see how the robot is programmed using coding on the computer. Thank you so much to both Mark and Ze’ev. We are very lucky to have the opportunity to learn from them.

In Maths, we have been continuing our work on fractions, decimals and percentages and everyone is making great progress, understanding the concepts and using number operations in calculations and problem solving.

Rehearsing for the Reconciliation event took much of our time but we also managed to fit in some of our usual activities such as spelling lists, buddies, times tables practice, languages and textbooks.

We also had fun watching a Puppet Show in Spanish on Wednesday morning! Many thanks to Carolina for organising this!

Wednesday was Information Morning and Evie and Rhea volunteered to speak to the visitors. Many of the group also took visitors on tours around the school, explaining how the school operates as they went. This is a wonderful opportunity for the children and is very impressive for the visiting parents, who often comment on how confident and knowledgeable the tour guides are!

On Friday, we had Lucas visiting for the day. Lucas is Asher’s older brother and is currently in Year 9 at Hunters Hill High School. He was at Currambena for all his primary education. Lucas spoke to the group about his experiences so far at high school and said he found his teachers mostly young and helpful, more homework in Year 8 than Year 7, good groups of friends and his favourite subject is Maths. It was lovely to have his help for the day.

The AGM and social on Friday night was very well attended. So good to see so many people here. Many thanks to Council members for all their wonderful work for the school.

And lastly, a reminder to please make sure children pack enough lunch! I’ve been making sandwiches recently at lunchtime for hungry people who have run out of lunch!

Thanks!

Love,
Wendy

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Minutes of School Meeting 2nd June, 2023

Posted on June 2, 2023 by wendyp

CHAIRPEOPLE: TIL AND EITAN

1. Summerhill Day by Wendy.
A reminder that we have Summerhill Day next Wednesday. Please let your teacher know if you want to run a session. Sign up pages will be ready by Tuesday.

2. Soup day by Meg.
Meg told us soup day will be next term because this term is already crowded with events.

3. Ex-student by Asher.
Asher introduced his older brother Lucas who is spending the day here today. Lucas was at Currambena for primary school and is now in Year 9 at Hunters Hill High.

4. Sustaining by Ash.
A reminder that when you finish your job you need to go and find another one until School Meeting is called.

5. Treehouse by Amber.
A reminder to only go up into the treehouse using the tree or the rope.

6. Double Ds by Amber.
Amber asked the meeting to ban this game but the meeting voted not to. People who play it were reminded that violence is not ok, you can leave a game if you want to and always ask an adult to help if someone is not listening to you.

7. Congratulations by Vinnie.
Vinnie congratulated everyone who performed yesterday at the Lane Cove Children’s Voices for Reconciliation. They all did a fantastic job.

8. Film script by Crafty.
Chris told us that work will be done on the film script today after 11 in the art room.

9. Song and dance routine by Crafty.
We all practised the song and the dance moves.

10. Lost Property by Otto.
Otto asked why there is always so much lost property? Cooper commented that people can be irresponsible. Wendy reminded everyone to name all their clothes. (There was a lot of lost property held up at the meeting and some was claimed.)

MEETING ADJOURNED

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Preschool News: Week 5 Term 2

Posted on May 26, 2023 by katrinaa

Hello everyone,

It’s been a gorgeous week in preschool. On Monday we had our first routine excursion to Kimberley Playground. There was great excitement and anticipation in the lead up to our visit and we’re sure it didn’t disappoint the children. On Wednesday we headed up to Lane Cove Library for the first time this year. On both days the children did exceptionally well in walking safely up and back and sticking to the agreements they helped put together. Thank you to all the parents that helped on both occasions.

On Wednesday in Spanish Carolina continued teaching the children words that will be useful in next week’s Spanish puppet show. There is an additional charge of $10 for each child attending on the Wednesday. It would be most appreciated if you could hand the money to Lisa, Michael or myself next week.

On Thursday Crafty Chris came to preschool and spoke to the children about the whole school Currambena movie that he has been busy putting together with everyone. We also started to learn the dance moves that Nate has been choreographing with the children. We’ve finished screen printing the T-shirts everyone will be wearing when they perform next Thursday. Everyone is super excited about performing and, I’m sure, a little nervous. Lane Cove Council has let us know we’ll be performing at 10:43am.

Our new part-time educator Joanna resigned from her position as diploma trained assistant on Tuesday. Her last day was on Friday. We let all the children know last week and spent time drawing her pictures and signing a card. Joanna resigned due to health issues, we wish her all the best in the future.

Our astronomy lessons have been going well. This week we focused on nuclear fusion and the creation of stars and planets. We continue to enjoy heading down to Vinnie’s class on a Thursday to collaborate on our unit of work with them.

That’s it for this week!

Love

Katrina, Michael, Lisa and Joanna.

 

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Vinnie’s Group Week 5 Term 2

Posted on May 26, 2023 by Vincent

Hi everyone,

We have had a fun week at school, Wendy and Caetano’s classes went on an excursion to the writers’ festival on Tuesday. This meant we rearranged our sport for the afternoon; Sarah’s, Jess’s and our class all walked to the Secret Garden (the park behind the Diddy). The children had a great time playing Capture the Flag, swinging on the swing set, climbing the tree, and playing other games.

We continued with our Morning Routine from Monday to Thursday. We have been working on writing a sentence using our Camera words, and segmenting sounds from words like ‘mat’ : /m/a/t/. Our independent sentence this week was “The cat was on the mat.” You are more than welcome to come look at your child’s writing journal in our classroom.

The Rubies and the Hairy Toes are doing a great job with our singing rehearsals; the children are having a ball practising with preschool. As well as singing with preschool, we had our weekly Astronomy activities with them. Our performance is on this Thursday. If you would like to walk with us up to the Canopy, please send me an email – we will walk up in the morning.

Next week we will change to our next sport choice. In our class the children have either chosen Bushwalking, Tennis or Dance. If you are keen to come Bushwalking with us on a Tuesday around 1:30 – let me know.

We have lots of exciting things happening next week. Wednesday, we have a Spanish puppet show coming in. Thursday is the Voices for Reconciliation. On Friday after school we have our AGM and social, I look forward to seeing you there.

As the weather has been quite cold, please pack some spare warm clothes for the children, and if you notice your child has any cold or flu symptoms, please keep them home until they are feeling better.

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