3 July 2019

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents/Caregivers

As Term 2 concludes at the end of this week, I would like to wish all families a safe, enjoyable and relaxing break. Students recommence on Tuesday 23rd July for the start of Term 3.

Parent, Student and Teacher Three-way Conferences

I would like to extend a thank you to parents and carers for making our first parent meeting afternoon such a success. We had over 200 sessions booked by families to discuss the progress and achievements of their children. We will reflect on the afternoon and communicate our future direction in this.

Principal’s Lunch

Congratulations to all the students who were invited to the Term 2 Principal’s Lunch. It was fantastic to see how excited the students were to join us for lunch. I’m looking forward to Term 3, as we will be looking for our next group of students who consistently demonstrate the school values of Respect, Responsibility and Safety.

NAIDOC Week

Our whole school excursion to Kings Park commenced on Tuesday 2nd July. All students engaged in a hands-on inquiry based education program looking at the Noongar culture. Students also spent time in the Rio Tinto Naturescape exploring the outdoor educational resource. It was fantastic to see the joy and learning that occurred whilst engaging with the natural environment.

In collaboration with the Education Team at Kings Park, we have unfortunately needed to postpone the Kings Park Excursion for the classes attending on Thursday 4th July. This is due to the forecasted extreme weather conditions, which include a chance of a thunderstorm, gusty winds and heavy rain falls. We have rescheduled for the following classes to attend the Kings Park excursion on Thursday 15th August:

• Room 3
• Room 6b
• Room 7
• Room 9
• Room 10
• Room 15

Affected families will receive a new Consent Form with updated information. Please return the new Consent Form to your classroom teacher.

NAIDOC Week will conclude with an Assembly on Friday 5th July commencing at 10:00am. Students will be seated around the camp fire, adjacent to the Administration Block and Library.

Book Week and Science Week

This year, Book Week and Science Week overlap in August. Due to swimming lessons, we will be celebrating both Book Week and Science Week during the week beginning 12th August 2019. We will blend the two themes together – ‘Reading is my Secret Power’ and ‘Destination Moon’. The following key dates have been scheduled;

• Book Fair – Held in the Library from Tuesday 13th August to Friday 16th August.
• Grandparents Morning Tea – Grandparents are invited to join their grandchildren for morning tea on Tuesday 13th August at 10:00am. Please note, the date has changed due to rescheduling the Kings Park excursion.
• Free Dress Day – Friday 16th August, linked to the themes of ‘Reading is my Secret Power’ and ‘Destination Moon’. We will host a parade from 2pm. Please note, Kindy 5a and 6a will host a mini-parade for these students.
• Stargazing Night – Friday 16th August, 5:30pm to 7:30pm.

Andrew Britton
Principal

Stars

Behaviour Focus

Our behaviour focus for Week 10 is:-
SAFETY;
EXCURSIONS

• We always ask to go to the toilet with a buddy
• We stay with an adult / group
• We use our seatbelts
• We walk on designated walkways in lanes

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.

Stargazing Event

Chaplain’s Corner

Good day Parents

I can’t believe that we are in the last week of this term!!!

I would like to invite you to come and enjoy a cuppa with me on Friday, 26 July just after the assembly. (Please see attached flyer for more information)

Have a wonderful break!

Kind regards.
Marilize Basson – Chaplain

Resource for Parents

Learning Potential is a website and app provided by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training.

Learning Potential has hundreds of articles on all aspects of learning and development, from the early years to the end of high school, with more articles added all the time!

The content is also available on the free Learning Potential app - download it on the App Store or Google Play.

Swimming Lessons

In-term swimming is a component of our Health and Physical Education program. We strongly encourage all children to participate. Swimming is great fun and an integral part of life in Western Australia, so it is important our children can enjoy their aquatic recreational activities with confidence, whether it be in pools, in the river or at the beach.

Our Pre-Primary to Year 6 students will participate in the Department of Education swimming lessons at HBF Arena Joondalup.

Swimming lessons will take place from Monday 19th August to Friday 30th August 2019 (10 Lessons).

The cost of swimming lessons will be $50 per student. This includes pool entry and bus costs.

Permission slips will be sent home with students shortly.

Learning Focus

Year 1

Maths

During Maths this term, students have been learning about shapes and addition strategies. We have learnt how to sort shapes according to features such as colour, number of sides and whether the corners are pointy or not pointy. To sort shapes, we completed Stepping Stones activities where we sorted buttons, pictures, counters, shape cards and letters in the newspaper. Once we sorted them with our group, we had to say why we sorted them into these groups and then try to sort them in a different way.

For addition, we have participated in Stepping Stones lessons using dominos, dice and cards to create our own addition sentences. We have learnt how to use the strategies Counting On, Doubles, Doubles +1 and Doubles +2 to work out the answer to addition problems. We also created ‘monsters’ that show different addition sentences, focusing on doubles.

We have been having so much fun completing Stepping Stones Maths lessons in Year One. We are very excited about what we will be learning over the rest of the year!

Technology

In Year One the students have been learning about living and non-living things. In Technology the students planned, designed and created a home for a farm animal. The students needed to construct a building for their animal to live in using specific materials. We were all very impressed with the students’ construction skills and social skills when creating their farm animal shelters.

Tech

Year 2

What a busy term we have had in Year Two. This term we have all noticed a massive growth in learning from all students, which has been wonderful to see.

Literacy:

This term in writing we have mainly focused on Procedure and Persuasive Writing. Students learnt the structure of how to write a procedure and the importance of using action verbs to begin their instructions. The students then got to put their procedure writing into action making fruit kebabs. In persuasive writing, students have learnt how to form an argument and then to persuade someone to agree with what they think. We began this unit of work by using the ‘Don’t Let the Pigeon’ books, students thoroughly enjoyed these books and were able to persuade us to not let the pigeon drive the bus and to make the pigeon have a bath. We have also continued to focus on using VCOP in our writing. In Reading we have focused on the following comprehension strategies to assist us when reading, creating images, connecting texts to our self, other texts and the world.

Numeracy

This term in Maths we have covered a range of concepts and many students have been extending and challenging themselves further which has been great to see. We have looked at measuring length and volume. Students have worked hard to learn their doubles facts, near doubles and turn around facts. They have also looked at addition and subtraction using mental strategies, number lines and hundreds charts.

Digital Technology

As part of the Digital Technology program this Term, we have been lucky enough to have Ms Mundy in our rooms each Wednesday. She has taught the students how to create digital story maps on Microsoft Word, as well as how to use Scratch Jnr through coding. Students have thoroughly enjoyed learning how to use these programs.

Gymbaroo

All students are progressing through the Gymbaroo program well and we have noticed that they are showing a greater understanding of the Gymbaroo skills. Students have enjoyed learning the new movements and working on their skipping and balancing skills.

We have an exciting Week 10 planned for students with us attending the NAIDOC Excursion at Kings Park. We are also finishing our Mind Up Program and in our last lesson we will be going to Pre-Primary to perform an act of kindness, we are going to teach them how to play on the Junior Playground. The Year Two’s are very excited about being role models to the Pre-Primary’s.

Thank you to all parents and carers, for another fantastic term, we wish you all a relaxing and enjoyable break and hopefully there is not too much rain. School returns for an event filled Term 3 on Tuesday 23rd July.

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