2 November 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal's Report

Dear Parents

Swimming

As we near completion of our annual swimming lessons I would like to congratulate all students on their terrific behaviour over the past 2 weeks. Staff at the pool have noted that all students have been extremely well behaved and a pleasure to teach.

2017 Term Dates

To assist you with any forward planning for holidays in 2017 please see below the 2017 term dates:

Term 1 Wednesday 1st February - Friday 7th April
Term 2 Wednesday 26th April – Friday 30th June
Term 3 Tuesday 18th July – Friday 22nd September
Term 4 Tuesday 10th October – Thursday 14th December

Facts about Attendance

• Research confirms that to maximize your child's learning successes; they need to attend school 95% of the time. (This equates to an absence of 2½ days per month.)
• Regular attendance enables children to build upon their knowledge and skills every day.
• Children who miss out on the basic skills may experience difficulties later on due to gaps in their learning.
• Regular attendance helps students to develop confidence in areas such as social skills, organisation and teamwork.

The law requires students to attend Primary School from Pre-primary to Year 6.

Tracey Renton
Principal

Merit Certificates

Room 7: Mieke, Sarvesh and Kylie; Room 10: Marlee and Tamika; Room 12: Makayla, Alfie and Isaac; Room 14: Steven and Curtis; Room 15: Laken and Jasper; Room 16: Kavan and Hunta; Room 18: Tayliah, Dalia and Lucy; LOTE Abbey – Room 13, Room 12 and John – Room 7

Somerly Stars!

The Schoolzine App update is now available

The update will automatically install on your Phone.

All app features and settings will remain the same.

Once you have updated the app, the following icon will appear on your Phone.

Depending on your devices settings you may need to visit the App Store/Play Store and search for Schoolzine to manually update.

If you are downloading the app for the first time, you will automatically receive the updated version.

The update features a new design and layout, with improved functionality and features. For more information about SZapp or for help installing SZapp, please see the instructions below.

If you have any questions regarding the release or experience any issues, contact us at szapp@schoolzine.com.au. Please include as much information as you can, including what device you are using, so we can assist you as quickly as possible.

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.

Uniform Stock

We have a small amount of new uniform to be disposed of. The items include:

Girls – skirts: Size 8, 10, 12 and 14
Girls – skorts: Size 14 and 16
Leggings: Assorted sizes
Boys – shorts: 12, 14 and 16

Polo shirts – size 12: Yellow (Centaur)
Polo shirts – size 14: Yellow (Centaur) and orange (Villalta)
Polo shirts - size 16: Orange (Villalta) and school uniform

Adult sizes S – L: Red, orange and school uniform

The above can be purchased from the school office for a gold coin donation from 2pm – 3pm Monday 7th November.

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.

We have some lost property accumulating from swimming lessons. Please check the labelled box for any items that may have been misplaced during the lessons.

Room 11 LOTE Assembly

Room 11 did a LOTE assembly and sung the Italian song 'Volevo Un Gatto Nero' which in English means 'I wanted a Black Cat' and it was about two boys who were trading toy animals and one of the boys asked for a black cat, but he got a white one so he said to his friend that he was a liar and he wasn't going to play with him anymore. The animals did a little dance at the end.

Ena and Abigail - Room 11

Learning Focus

Maths

Do You Suffer With Maths Anxiety?

Many students and adults find the thought of doing maths really, really, scary! The pressure you feel and the stress of getting maths wrong, especially in public situations, including at school, is a very real thing! Researchers have taken the time to explore why so many of us feel so bad about doing maths and have found that these feelings are justified and have identified the condition as something known as "Maths Anxiety".

Maths Anxiety is a condition that can prevent sufferers from achieving at maths. Just like anxiety, Maths Anxiety has symptoms, the main one being that it blocks working memory, which is the key to being good at maths. The working memory is the system in our brain that allows us to keep several things in our mind's eye at once. It allows us to manipulate numbers, hold onto answers, perform a calculation then find the previous number to complete and solve the calculation. So you can see that if you have maths anxiety then being good at maths is going to be difficult!

Researchers have found that how well you do at maths is linked to the levels of anxiety you feel about maths. So if you have high levels of anxiety about maths, your levels of achievement will be lower and if you have low levels of maths anxiety then your levels of achievement will be higher, if of course you are doing your best and working hard in your maths class.

BUT… All is not lost if you have Maths Anxiety! Being nervous, scared and anxious about maths is not an excuse not to do your homework, daydream, be unfocused or to give up! In fact it is easy to overcome Maths Anxiety if you want to… it's up to you!

Teachers at our school know about this condition and in fact many of us have suffered ourselves (myself included) from a level of Maths Anxiety. As a school we have been working hard to help students overcome their fear and anxiety of maths, and they may not even know it! Researchers found that levels of maths anxiety can be reduced with a positive mindset to learning maths. Children often decide that they like or dislike something based on how others react. If they see their parents, family or friends being negative, worried and upset about maths, they are more likely to feel that way themselves. So it is important that we make an effort to focus on being positive about maths. Here are some things to talk about with your children:

1. Everyone can learn maths – encourage your child to believe in themselves. We do this for anything sport related, so why not maths!
2. Mistakes are valuable- we can't learn without them and everyone makes them - it's how we learn!
3. Questions are really important – you don't need to be able to answer them, just help your child to find the answer- check out youtube - Kahn Academy - Mahalo Maths

4. Maths is about creativity and making sense – we make sense by talking and doing

So maths may be looking and sounding very different to the way you were taught maths at school! Your child may come home and tell you they have been playing games, watching videos and even making things in maths. We have been taking a look at how we are teaching maths and trying to promote a positive mindset about maths. We are trying out more innovative ways of 'doing maths' and you may see or hear about more 'FUN' maths from your children. As well as traditional worksheets we are trying out lots of new things including alternative seating, learning zones, exploration tables and hands-on activities, videos, songs and group work. All these strategies as well as staff development or 'good teaching' are proven to help students improve levels of achievement.

Remember maths is FUN!

Mrs Vikki Longthorn
Level 3 teacher & Numeracy Coordinator

Science – Block 1

Hello everyone,

In Pre-Primary Science this term we are exploring Chemical Sciences. Our topic title is 'What's it made of?' which means we are looking at different materials and their composition. The students are comparing materials, observing their properties and explaining how each material is suitable for a particular purpose. We have constructed a map of the Kindergarten/Pre-Primary outside area for each class and investigated objects in this environment. The children have used their senses to explore how objects feel and named the materials used.

The students have complemented their Science learning with several additional activities. They have made some incredible self-portraits from a variety of materials; here are a few samples.

Our links to Art continue this term with each room contributing to a class collage from a wide range of materials. The collage is based on the painting by Russian artist Kandinsky, titled, 'Squares with Concentric Rings', as seen below.

Room 1

These activities have demonstrated an impressive development in the students' scientific oral language in relation to materials and their properties.

We have constructed a materials display board in the Science room. We have six headings; plastic, metal, wood, glass, rubber and fabric and welcome any contribution to our exhibition.

In the latter part of the term we will be learning about how different materials are suitable for particular purposes and will be investigating the properties of waterproof materials.

Mrs Jackie Cannon
Science Teacher

Art

Senior students have been working hard lately to research and give written responses to our annual Sculptures By The Sea artworks. We have been looking at finding information about who the artists are, their possible motivations for making different sculptures and how to use our Elements of Art vocabulary to describe features of the work.

It has been a team effort to put together some of our own sculptures to brighten up our Waste Wise garden. They are coming together nicely!

Some students have created thoughtful designs for a public sculpture, to promote a message of personal importance.

Miss Rhiannon Bartley
Art Teacher

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

P & C NEWS

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Kurlangas Aboriginal Playgroup

Our 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