10 April 2019

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents/Caregivers

As Term 1 comes to a close, I would like to wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday. The final day is Friday 12th April and school will recommence on Tuesday 30th April 2019.

A reminder that we will be hosting an Easter Hat Parade on Thursday 11th April from 2pm. I am looking forward to seeing all the creative designs from the students. We will also draw the winners of the P&C Easter raffle, good luck to everyone who has purchased a ticket.

ANZAC Service

Our ANZAC Service is on Friday 12th April 2019, commencing at 9:00am. Families and friends are more than welcome to attend the service.

Numeracy Open Morning

The Numeracy Open Morning was on the 28th March and was really well attended by families. It was a pleasure to see students and families engaging in a range of Mathematics activities in the classroom. Thank you to everyone who attended and for supporting this initiative.

We also held a Parent Workshop to provide information about our new whole-school mathematics program, ‘Stepping Stones’. If you would like to discuss the Mathematics program that your child is engaging in, please contact your classroom teacher.

Paint The Town REaD – Book Relay

We were excited to launch the ‘Paint The Town REaD’ community initiative at Somerly Primary School. The initiative aims to promote the importance of reading to children from birth. The book Relay travelled from WA’s Parliament House and will continue its journey across to the Pacific shores of Wollongong. This is the launch of an initiative that will spread throughout our community.

We were very thankful of the book donations that we received. All Kindergarten students will receive a reading book to keep at home. This was thanks to the sponsors of the program, Rotary Club of Mindarie, Satterley Estate and Tamala Park Regional Council.

Fathering Project – Taiko Drumming

Miss Olsen led our Fathering Project dads and children through a range of Taiko Drumming patterns. I was really impressed with the creativity that everyone displayed. The fathering project participants also decorated our drums, which will be used by all students during music lessons.

Please find below the advert for our Term 2 Fathering Project event. Please contact the front office on 6206 4200, if you want to participate.

New students

I would like to extend a warm welcome to Tan who recently commenced at Somerly Primary School.

Andrew Britton
A/Principal

Merit Certificates

Room 1: Myla and Shanique; Room 2: Jesiah and Ruby; Room 3: Oliver and Kalia; Room 7: Laiken and Tyran; Room 8: Dharshini and Patrick; Room 9: Isaac and Bruce; Room 10: Jayden and Cody; Room 11: Shah and Ava; Room 12: Lewis and Geoffrey; Room 13: Mwila and Tyson; Room 14: Lydia and Jenny; Room 15: Sienna and Lilly; Room 16: Maverick and Kiara; Room 18: Kingsen and Alia; Room 23: Annalisa and Emily; Music: Ifeoma – Room 7 and Chanda – Room 7; Art: Room 1 and Room 9; LOTE: Ifeoma – Room 7, Hailey – Room 10 and Ameer – Room 8

Stars

Behaviour Focus

Our behaviour focus for Week 10 is:-

RESPONSIBILITY;

CLASSROOM

• We try our best with all activities
• We have our equipment ready
• We ask and give help at the appropriate times

Students Late to School

If your child arrives late to school, they are missing critical morning routines and learning activities. The school day begins at 8:40am and students will be considered late if they do not arrive by this time. If your child arrives after 9:00am you are required to enter through the front office and provide us with a reason for the lateness. A late slip will be printed for you to give to the class teacher.

Not Feeling Well?

If your child is not feeling well before school, please keep them home and notify the office by phoning 6206 4200, sending an SMS to 0437 480 486 or emailing somerly.ps@education.wa.edu.au.

Late Collection of Students

Somerly Primary School has a student finish time of 2.45pm each day. If your child has not been picked up before 3pm, you will be required to come to the front office to sign them out.

Learning Focus

Year 1

Year One students in Rooms 3, 15, 16 and 23 have all had a fantastic start to the year!

SoundWaves

Students have been busy learning many sounds throughout the different SoundWaves units this term. We have enjoyed applying this knowledge into a craft based activity on the sound each week.

Maths

Students have been embracing the new Mathematics program Stepping Stones. We have been enjoying completing the extra activities as well as the book work. One of our main focuses has been to partition two-digit numbers into how many tens and ones there are.

Writing

We have been working very hard in Writing to write a recount. We have been writing recounts about the weekend as well as about experiences at school such as Music, Art, Phys Ed and the Life Ed Van Incursion.

Design and Technology

Students have been showing off their creative sides in Design and Technology. We have been building ramps to move a car without having to push it. It has been exciting watching what everyone has created independently.

With the start of the year being this good, we cannot wait for what the rest of the year has in store!

Katia Bue, Joanne Hill, Leanne Sneddon, Jessica Mann, Christina Davies and Mona Louise de Carvalho – Year 1 Teachers

Block 4, Year 2, Term 1

What a busy term we’ve had in Year 2, we cannot believe that it is week 10 already. The children have all settled in well and are working hard to achieve their learning goals.

Literacy

This term in writing we have focused on writing narratives, procedures and VCOP (Vinny Vocabulary, Connie Connective, Ollie Opener and Penny Punctuation). Our theme has been ‘dragons’. This led to the children using Vinny Vocabulary to absorb, find and use new higher-level vocabulary for describing images, character and setting. The children looked at the structure of a narrative including, openers, characters, setting, problem and solution and ending in the story. This then enabled the children to complete their first ‘Big Write’, the children wrote a narrative based on a dragon picture stimulus. We were very impressed with the Year 2’s first Big Write and narrative. After the Big Write the children then used VCOP to look at their work and highlight their vocabulary, connectives, opener and punctuation. They then self-evaluated their work, recording down two things they did well and then they set themselves a goal for their next Big Write narrative. For the remainder of the term we are focusing on procedures, the children have learnt the structure of a procedure and have been able to put their procedures into action. They had to write a procedure for making a jam sandwich and then the children made their jam sandwich, they thoroughly enjoyed this activity. This week the children will be making their ‘Rube Goldberg’ machine in Science and will then write a procedure on how to make their machine.

Reading Eggs

It has been wonderful to see so many children engaging in Reading Eggs this term and we have been blown away with the number of books the Year 2’s have read. Children have been working hard to achieve the goals for books read and reading and spelling lessons complete. We wonder how many books will be read next term. Thank you to all parents and carers who have supported their child with this program. Please continue to read during the holidays.

Maths

This year we are using Origio, Stepping Stones to teach Maths, the children have settled in well to the program and it has been great to hear them using new mathematical vocabulary. In the program children are given the opportunity to complete investigation tasks and problem-solving activities. The children have enjoyed the challenge of investigating and solving problems and it has been wonderful to hear the reasoning and mathematical explanations and understandings behind their working. Thank you to all family members who attended the Maths Open Morning in week 8, it was great to see so many families engaging in Maths with their child at school and we know that the children really enjoyed the morning.

Science and Design Technologies

Our focus in this learning area has been ‘machine makers’, the children have learnt about push and pull forces, gravity, force arrows, ramps, pulleys, how different equipment changes the speed and distance of objects and levers. The reason for looking at all of these areas, is that at the start of the term the children looked at ‘Rube Goldberg’ machines and the process of these machines. As a celebration of all that has been taught and learnt this term, the children will be creating their own ‘Rube Goldberg’ in teams. We cannot wait to see their final products. The children have also learnt how to use the robots we have at school and have been able to use push and pull forces to get them to move objects.

Gymbaroo

Each morning, we begin our day by completing Gymbaroo. The program really helps the children to focus and concentrate on tasks and gets them ready for a day of learning. We have already noticed an improvement in balance, posture, attention spans, concentration and the ability to complete Gymbaroo moves more effectively.

Mind Up

This semester the children in Year 2 are completing the MindUp program. The children have looked at the different parts of the brain and how the brain works. This then led onto the next sequence of lessons of mindful behaviour. Children learnt to think, see, smell, hear and taste in a mindful way. We look forward to continuing this program with the children next term.

Thank you to all parents and carers for your support this term it is greatly appreciated.

We wish all families a safe, relaxing and enjoyable holiday. We look forward to an exciting Term 2.

Zoe Hamand, Charlynne Reyneke, Christina Davies and Mona Louise-de Carvalho

We are Fundraising with the Entertainment Book!