Dear Parents,
Wasn’t the concert wonderful, we have a lot of natural actors in our group! Thank you to all the people that went above and beyond to make it happen at the new venue.
Swimming at Greenwich baths has been just perfect with this hot weather. Thank you to all the parents who are driving us and supervising which makes it such a successful event each week.
Please send a hat every day or even send a hat named and we can keep it here so they are on hand when needed. We are persisting with our reminders each day around noon to be putting sunblock on and hats. The plan for next year is to get some shade cloth outside our class so it will be a better space for working and eating lunch.
This week we are looking at blends and vowels; we are learning library skills. In Maths we are investigating area. We continue to read and write daily – come and read some of the wonderful stories on display.
We need to make a very special thank you to David who has been with us for 10 weeks and finishes on Friday. He has really become an important part of our class taking on everything we throw at him with enthusiasm and really getting into our philosophy. We will miss you David. All the very best for your future as a teacher.
Our end of year social is going to be next Thursday the 26th at 6pm. It will be a performance night with an opportunity for all the different talents at the school to perform. It is also and opportunity to farewell our year Six children. Please bring a plate to share.
Take care
Fran, Jo and Sarah and for the last time David.
Posted November 19th, 2009
in Fran & Jo's Class
by franm
Hi everyone
We had a brilliant time at Greenwich Baths and the cool water was much enjoyed as we got our first real taste of summer. Thanks to all the drivers who make this important event possible. With our large class it really does take some doing and the help is greatly appreciated.
The concert has taken over our week and the rehearsals are flying thick and fast. We have added in some extra features that will hopefully help you to decipher the multitude of characters and locations in which our play takes place. Hopefully! We are planning to walk to Tambourine Bay on Thursday morning (the 12th) with Olivia’s Class for a dress rehearsal. The concert is next Friday night, the 13th of November, and the kids need to be with us at Tambourine Bay at 5:30pm for a 6:00pm sharp start. Bring your chairs or rugs, a picnic dinner and please remember that you will need to take all rubbish home with you. After our class performance, your Aussie Kids will rejoin you in the audience and we end our supervision. As we have a change of location and the proximity of the water - vigilance is essential.
Please respect the other performances that are taking place, by minimising noise and making sure that no extra players join the show. The children have worked hard at creating this event and this will help to ensure that their performance meets their expectations. Thanks in advance for your help with this. In terms of safety, there is of course a lot of water around the park. We will be erecting a visual barrier to help you to keep your children away from the water that is closest to our performance area. Please have a look at the map in this newsletter.
The Currambena calendar for 2010 has arrived and is available from Julianna. This year the pictures included span 40 years of Currambena history. It is again a gorgeous production that attests to the great care and many hours spent in compiling it. The calendar costs $18 each or 2 for $30.
Have a good week!
Fran, Jo, Sarah, David and Sisse
Posted November 5th, 2009
in Fran & Jo's Class
by franm
Hi Everyone
We have been very busy over the past week as our preparations for the Concert continue. We are consolidating our ideas and beginning to act out our chosen scenarios. We will be making all our own costumes over the next few weeks in craft, we will also be making our own props and back drops. As the concert is going to be at Tambourine Bay we will be visiting again for practises and preparations.
We had a visit on Monday from the bug man who brought many fascinating creatures with him and David set up some experiments around insects on Tuesday so will continue to investigate what we find. This is a busy term for us, with many exciting events, and in between we are consolidating and extending our knowledge of the alphabet, spelling words and reading strategies. We are also revising and extending concepts of whole numbers.
We have taken our ideas for next year to Council. We spoke about the use of the spaces available to us and our ideas for structuring the classes. Given that the numbers will most likely continue to fluctuate until the end of the year and beyond, we will be continuing to look at how best to suit the diverse needs of the children and will continue to discuss options with Council as the year progresses.
We will try again to go swimming next Tuesday; fingers crossed that the weather will be clement. Please sign up on the door if you can drive us.
Cheers,
Fran, Jo, Sarah, David and Sisse
Posted October 28th, 2009
in Fran & Jo's Class
by franm
Hi everyone
We are very busy planning our performance for the concert at Tambourine Bay, and have just three and a half weeks to come up with a thrilling spectacular. Rest assured that the ideas are flying thick and fast (and numerous and varied- it’s going to be interesting putting them all together).
We had an important discussion this week about lock down procedures. We have discussed what we will do if a person we are concerned about comes into the school. We talked about the importance of having a plan to be safe, just as we do for fire and evacuation situations. We will be discussing this as a whole school at school meeting on Friday.
We plan to start swimming again next Tuesday, leaving the school at 12pm to drive to Greenwich Baths. If you can drive us there and/or stay while we are at the baths please let us know.
We are thrilled to welcome four new people to our class. Welcome to Ewan and family and Philip and Christian and their family. We are also lucky to have Sisse with us for three weeks. Sisse has been in preschool last term as part of her internship and now joins us before she will move into the other classes.
Have a good week,
Jo
Posted October 22nd, 2009
in Fran & Jo's Class
by franm
Hello Everyone
We are in the wonderful position of possibly having waiting lists for each class next year, thanks to extraordinary efforts in marketing and magnificent community support.
We are always mindful of Currambena’s core value of small classes, and think carefully before going over 22 children per class. We will only do so if all of the existing children’s needs are being catered for, and this decision must be passed by Council. The Articles of Association stipulate that the maximum for each class is 25 students.
The teachers are continuing to have regular discussion about the needs of all the children for 2010. It looks as if we might have 84 students in Primary next year and we are looking at the best possible ways to organise these children into groups with their teachers and class assistants wherever possible. We know that things still change for families as the end of the year approaches, so please make sure you let us know if your intentions for your child in 2010 change.
With the exciting prospect of a new classroom, which will be completed next year, we are having a lot of discussions about the logistics of how to best use our existing spaces until Fran can move into the new space. We have developed a number of ideas for how to do so and will be investigating these ideas with council on Monday night. If you have any ideas, concerns or issues please talk to us before then so we can consider these in our discussion.
Posted October 22nd, 2009
in General
by franm
Dear Parents,
We have had a few changes in our plans this week so yesterday we went to the secret garden instead of Tambourine Bay. We also voted that we want to have an end of term party and a farewell for Jesse on Friday after we finish our clean up in the class. So it would be nice for the children to bring some treats to share at the park.
We are continuing to discuss and devise plans for next year with the new building being complete at the end of the first term so to help us to have a more definite idea of numbers can you please came and talk to us if you are planning to leave Currambena next year.
The holidays are a wonderful time to get a hold of the nits – so if everyone is vigilent we could have a nit free term!
The first adventure for next term is preparations for the concert which is on Friday the 13th of November. So we will be keeping you all informed about the plans when we have some idea.
We will be swimming again at the Greenwich Baths for our physical education so we will have more information about days and times next term.
Thank you to Robin for doing such a wonderful job in our storeroom. Thank you so much to Blair, Stuart, Jason and Stuart for coming to Coney Island with us. It was a fantastic day. Thank you to everyone who has come and read with the children and for washing the towels.
It has been a fantastic term and we are looking forward to the next one!
Take care
FRAN
Posted October 1st, 2009
in Fran & Jo's Class
by franm
Hello everyone!
First point of business- THE LUNA PARK EXCURSION IS NOW THIS MONDAY. We discovered (thanks to Amanda!) that the park is closed on the day we had planned and so we have moved it to this Monday the 28th so that everyone can come. We need help getting to the Greenwich ferry for 10am and back from it at 2pm. If you can drive some of the kids, please sign up on the list on our door.
The dust storm was fascinating for us yesterday. David led research and discussion about the phenomena and we all wrote about what the experience was like for us. It was an action packed day as we also saw a performance based on the Commedia Dell’Arte. The actors were very accomplished and were able to draw the children into interactions with each of the traditional characters the moment they put on the mask. There was great hilarity and we learned a lot about the tradition and its modern derivations.
This week we have also explored water pollution through a fascinating demonstration that David did with the kids, and have been exploring the letters x and y and past tense. We have looked at volume and strategies for mental addition.
If you get a chance, have a look at the record of the treasure hunt we did on International Talk Like a Pirate Day, which is on the wall of our room. It was such fun, and an interesting way to explore many maths concepts, including position, direction, area and distance. Make sure you put on your best pirate drawl when reading the clues!
Finally, we have a couple of old computers that we don’t need anymore. Please see Jo if you could use them.
Have a great week!
Fran, Jo, Sarah and David
Posted September 24th, 2009
in Fran & Jo's Class
by franm
Dear Parents,
We are having a wonderful time going to Tambourine Bay. Thank you to Valerie for driving down the bags, it made things much easier. We have a few experiments on the go at the moment with Monster Grass heads and beans in bags. David has been leading our science project on Our Environment.
We still plan to go to Coney Island at Luna Park on the Thursday of the last week of term. We will take the ferry from Greenwich and back so we will need help with drivers to and from the ferry.
On Friday we are having ‘talk like a pirate day” so we are making costumes and masks today. We are making a pirate ship tomorrow and today we are making treasure maps and burying treasure.
On Monday we have planed ‘Peace day’ so we will be singing some songs, making biscuits and would like everyone to wear a white T shirt.
On Wednesday we are watching an Italian performance. So a busy few weeks!!!
We are working on our plans for next year so we would like to know everyone’s plans for next year, so we can work out numbers and what is best for each child.
Take care
FRAN
Posted September 17th, 2009
in Fran & Jo's Class
by franm
Hi everyone,
Spring is here and we are all enjoying the beautiful weather. We will be taking full advantage of it with our weekly visits to Tambourine Bay. We have started this week and will continue to spend each Wednesday morning there, returning to Currambena around lunch time. We will be exploring various environmental, natural and sustainability issues and concepts. David will be extending these ideas in the classroom.
Monday the 21st September is Peace Day, which we will celebrate with a variety of activities across the school. We are hoping that everyone will be able to wear a white T-shirt that day so that we can make and photograph a giant peace sign as part of our involvement with the wider community that supports and celebrates this day. We’ll remind you again next week.
Next week we have the High School Evening on Monday from 7-9pm, which is a wonderful opportunity to hear from past students about their transition to, and experience at, high school. On Wednesday there will also be an information morning for new parents and students.
In our increased efforts to reduce the rubbish in our school, we have noticed that many of the items scattered about are reusable plastic containers. Please name them so that we can send them home and ensure that they help to reduce rubbish and costs rather than adding to them. It would also be great if you could label clothing, as our lost property piles are reaching astonishing heights once more. Also, please come and have a look through the basket outside our room so that you can reclaim some of the clothes, socks, socks and socks.
Cheers,
Jo
Posted September 10th, 2009
in Fran & Jo's Class
by franm
Dear Parents,
We have completed most of the interviews. Thank you for all coming in and spending time with us talking about your gorgeous children.
NITS ARE BACK. We would like everyone to make a concentrated effort to do some nit treatment this weekend. It is the only way we can get rid of them.
This week we have a student teacher called David, he is from Bathhurst and is with us for 10 weeks, so welcome David.
We are studying ‘u’ and ‘v’ this week, and writing for an audience. The older children are working on personal projects. In Maths we are continuing to explore numbers to 20 and the older children have been investigating time.
For the rest of the term we would like to study “Sustaining our environment” and particularly Tambourine Bay. We would like to go down each Wednesday morning for the next few weeks and collect rubbish. We will contact the Lane Cove Council to see if we can be involved in some bush regeneration. David has some fun projects to investigate on Tuesday afternoons. We need old stockings if you have any for our experiment. Please send hats each day and also walking shoes for Wednesdays.
We plan to go to Coney Island at Luna Park on the 1st of October. We will go on the ferry from Greenwich and back.
Remember the Meeting: Your child and High School is on the 14th of September from 7pm til 9pm.
Take care
FRAN
Posted September 3rd, 2009
in Fran & Jo's Class
by franm
