19 October 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal's Report

Dear Parents

I would like to extend a special welcome to all our new families and welcome back all our current families and students.

Term 4 is always notoriously busy. Please see below some dates that you may need to add to your calendar:-

18th November - Family picnic /Lapathon
23rd November - Kindergarten (2017) Parent Meeting 9.00am
2nd December - Parent Helper Morning Tea – 10.30am
9th December - Whole school Book Award Ceremony
14th December - Year 6 Graduation and Excursion
15th December - Last day of school

Mayor's Christmas Appeal

Once again, we will be participating in the Mayor's Christmas Appeal; all donations will be distributed to those that are less fortunate throughout the community.

Non-perishable food items can be placed in the donation bin, which is located in the front office. We will be accepting donations until Friday 18th November.

Friday Assembly

A reminder that our fortnightly assembly will return to being held at 9:00am on Friday mornings. Our first assembly for term 4 will be hosted by our Italian teacher Mrs McCulloch on Friday 21st October.

Principal's Lunch

On the last Thursday of term 3 I had the pleasure of serving lunch to 40 students who had displayed exemplary behaviour throughout the term. The students enjoyed a yummy lunch of chicken and salad kebabs along with an ice-cream.

Pots and Pans

We are in need of some pots and pans for the junior play area, any donations will be greatly received at the front office.

Tracey Renton
Principal

Somerly Stars!

Behaviour Focus

Our behaviour focus for weeks 2 and 3 is:

• Climb on equipment not trees.
• Help others.
• Wear shoes.
• Use equipment safely.
• Keep sand in the sandpit.

Merit Certificates

Room 2: Dylan, Amber and Herewini; Room 3: Felix and Emily; Room 7: Rocco and Elizabeth; Room 8: Zeinia and Ashton; Room 11: Franz, Cody and Ena; Room 12: Makayla and Kai; Room 13: Katy, Jackie and Alischa; Room 14: Curtis and Steven; Room 15: Emilia and Aaleyah; Room 16: Dylan and Lilly; Room 17: Rumaysa, Aaran, Ella-Rose and Jayden; Room 18: Marco and Tayliah; Room 19: Julio, Jay and Hayley; LOTE: Darshan – Room 8, Zoe - Room 20, Room 7, Jesse – Room 13.

Kapahaka

Last term the Somerly Kapahaka Group was able to display the songs and dance they have been learning all year at their assembly. The students have shown dedication and commitment to learning about the Maori culture, and were very proud to present it to the school community.

EFTPOS Facilities

EFTPOS Facilities are now available at the school office for payment of voluntary contributions, excursions etc for amounts of $10 and above.

2017 Enrolments

To assist our planning for 2017 please let the school office know if your children will not be attending Somerly Primary School next year. As you can appreciate with the opening of Catalina, the school will be under pressure to accommodate the growing population and we need as much advanced notification of enrolments as we can to plan for additional classrooms and staff. If you know anyone in the community with school aged children please encourage them to come to the school and enrol early.

Lost Property

We have a large amount of lost property located in the green buckets outside the medical room. If you have misplaced an item at school, please check the buckets. Any unclaimed items will be disposed of after 11th November 2016.

Learning Focus

ICT

The school has been working towards building the students ICT skills and knowledge. Laptops, computers and iPads are now being utilised in most classrooms. Part of the Technology Curriculum is learning how to code - providing a computer program or robot with a set of instructions, an algorithm. The students from Years 2, 3 and 4 have learnt that when providing instructions you need to be specific, otherwise the robot does not do what you expect it to do. Part of coding is learning the specific coding language that each robot uses. To support students in their learning, check out the following apps and computer based robot games.

The Foos - an awesome game that allows you to link the codes together to help the main avatars find their missing equipment.

Angry Bird Maze - help the bird capture the pigs by linking the codes together. Learn how to loop (repeat) and add parameters (a set amount of times to repeat the action).

Miss Dyan Mundy

Room 14

Room 14 have been looking at different language features in poetry. We have studied similes, metaphors, alliteration, spoonerisms and colloquial language. We have enjoyed listening to and discussing humorous poems.

We have written poems on colours. We included similes to make our poems more descriptive, imaginative and expressive.

Ms Hutchison

Room 8's Project

For the last few days of the term our class were working on an advertising and maths project. We were sorted into groups and were given a maths board game.

Our games came with no instructions and we were told to make new instructions for junior, middle and senior years of primary school.

Every once in a while we would get a twist. Our last twist was the one that really surprised us!

Room 13 were coming to play our games! So we practised our game and got everything organised for the next day.

We organised our stations and we were each given a group of students to teach our game to. We learnt a lot of leadership skills and had fun along the way.

Written by Sonia Sewpal

Pat the Dog visits Somerly Primary!

School Banking is now in the Library every Tuesday morning from 8.15am and to kick start the new location, Pat the Dog visited last Tuesday to say "Hi" to all the students. Pat the Dog and Addy will be visiting again on Thursday 20th October to make a special visit to the Kindy students, so keep a look out for them there. A representative from the Commonwealth Bank will be with them to answer any questions you may have.

The School Banking program provides children with an opportunity to deposit money into their Commonwealth Bank Youthsaver account at school each week. The program is about how often your child makes deposits, not how much they deposit, so as little as 5 cents can be deposited each week.

To encourage regular savings behaviour the program offers an exciting Rewards Program. Every deposit earns your child a silver Dollarmites token, and once they've collected 10 tokens they can redeem them for a reward. The rewards for this Term are:

• Bush Fly Fan &
• Wriggly Glow Worm

TODDLER READING

Did you know that we have a Toddler Reading session in the library on Wednesday mornings? Parents and carers are invited to bring their young children to the library at 9.00am to read some lovely picture books together. We also have a fun activity for those children who want to join in and the children can borrow a book to read at home during the week. Because the session is run on Wednesdays, parents are welcome to bring their Kindy students along on their "off week" to join in.

If you have any questions please feel free to call in to the library at any time.

Natalie Hughes – Library Officer

Meet our P & C President

Hi, I'm Trudy Orduna, your P&C President.

I have two children at Somerly Primary School in Year 1 and Year 3 and we have been at the school since 2011.

I'm passionate about the school, the community and all the students and am committed to working hard to give our children the best in both resources offered and learning experiences.

Being part of the P&C helps you to know what is going on and how we can grow Somerly Primary School. I endeavour to welcome all new members and give you all the support that you need.

Our next meeting is Monday 7th November at 9am in the Staffroom. We would love to see you there!

Community Notices

Kurlangas Aboriginal Playgroup

Welcome to term 4! For the first half of this term, the older children will be practicing their scissor skills, recognising their name and even trying to write their names.

We will be making and painting box constructions, and having a go at using hand drills and hammers!

For our babies, there will be tummy time (to strengthen their back and neck muscles), push and pull toys, some wonderful books to look at and songs to sing.

Playgroup is FREE, and held every Wednesday at Somerly Primary School during term times between 10.00-12.00pm, for Aboriginal children up to 5yrs of age and their carers.

A morning tea of fresh fruit is provided for the children, and tea, coffee and biscuits for the adults. You do not need to have a child attending this school to attend.

Hope to see you there!

Aboriginal Early Years Team