Currambena Primary and Preschool

Hi everyone!

This is a brief we’re-in-interviews-and-constantly-writing-evaluations newsletter entry:

• We’re really enjoying the opportunity presented by the interviews that allow us to speak to you all at greater length than the usual stolen moments. Please sign up for an interview if you haven’t already done so.
• On Monday the 24th August we will be holding the ‘Preparing for Kindergarten’ evening at 7pm. This is not just for anyone coming to our class next year but will also be useful for people going to kindergarten elsewhere, so let your friends know. Flyers are available outside our classroom.
• We have been working on the letter s, blends ‘tr’ and ’sp’, syllables and sentence starters (e.g. Once upon a time…). In maths we have gathered data and graphed several different variables in our classroom.

Back to the evaluations…

Cheers,

Fran, Jo and Sarah

Welcome back everyone!

We’ve heard lots of stories from the holidays and it seems they were a truly mixed bag of good fun, trips away, relaxation at home, chicken pox and flu. Perhaps another term of Aussie Kids will seem calm by comparison?! Not likely! We’re looking forward to the joy and madness that is working with 33 kids- we have grown with the addition of another Oliver to our classroom, who has chosen to be known as Oliver 2. He’s already discovered the joy of morning tea in the trees. Welcome to Oliver and family!

With the beginning of term 3 we will begin our interviews, which will be held between weeks 3 and 5. We will put a timetable up next week so that you can sign-up for a time that suits you.

After much negotiation in school meetings, we have changed the way in which Friday is run. Rather than having Sustaining Currambena on Thursday afternoon, Choices in middle session Friday and then Free Afternoon, we have rolled all these activities into one long block on Friday. We have found that this enables each task or activity to expand and contract as necessary, rather than having to fit within specific time slots. We are also glad to regain Thursday afternoon to enable us to meet other areas of the curriculum. Fridays now begin with school meeting, during which we discuss the various activities that will occur throughout the day, then everyone disperses to their chosen activities. We have also restructured Craft so that each class has a lesson with Chris on Thursday and then individual children are free to continue working in the craft room on Friday. The model has worked well over several trials though we will no doubt continue to modify the plan.

A new (in-class) addition to the week is the setting of Personal Goals in the areas of English and PE. Each Monday we will all sit down and individually figure out what we want to achieve by the end of the week. Some examples from this week are to write two sentences in story writing and to climb all the way across the monkey bars. Fran and I will work with the kids on Friday to look at how each goal is progressing.

And just for your information, on Monday 24 August we will be having a Preparing for Kindergarten night at 7pm.

Take care!!

Fran, Jo and Sarah

Hello everyone

Our visit to Berry Island last week was brilliant. It’s such a rich natural and cultural resource and we are so fortunate to have it so close to school. We look forward to visiting the island again later in the year as it would be gorgeous in summer. Thanks so much to all the parents who made the visit possible.

Next week we will be sending home portfolios. These are a snapshot of some of the work we have done so far this year and the kids have chosen the work that they think is most important to include. After you have had a chance to take it all in over the holidays, we will begin interviews early next term. You will be able to sign up when we get back after the holidays.

 Next Tuesday we will be holding a fundraising stall with preschool to raise money for the school in Nepal. We would appreciate donations of toys, games, books and music to sell at this big event. We will also be selling ice blocks on the day so make sure the wallets are well stocked!

We have taken the opportunity of hosting the stall to work on our understanding of money. Work also continues to reinforce numbers with the younger kids and addition with the older group. We are exploring the letter P and related blends and integrating a few known words into story writing.

Last but by no means least we are very excited about the reunion on Sunday and would love to see you there for a laugh… and maybe a boogie? Groovy.

Hope you have a wonderful week!

Fran, Jo and Sarah

Hi everybody! (Every time I write that I hear Dr. Nick form the Simpsons in my head, though if I replace it with ‘hi all’ I hear a strange southern accent. Hmm.)

How lovely to be enjoying yet another wet week. We are hoping to go to Berry Island tomorrow though we will of course make a weather-based decision in the morning. If we are able to go, we would like to leave the school at 10:00am and return from the island at 2:00pm. Any help with driving would be brilliant, though of course this is tricky given the high chance that we may not be able to go. If your day is flexible, though, please try and keep 10 and 2 open for us. Thanks so much!

 Fran has made the decision to go to Laura this weekend. It’s a huge commitment in terms of driving, effort, time and money and reflects how brilliant the experience was last time she was there. We are looking forward to the stories and photos which will be a rich addition to our Aboriginal studies which are continuing.

 In addition to our Aboriginal studies, we are continuing to work through the alphabet, and have also begun exploring a few common sight words. We are working on teen numbers and subtraction, in addition to fractions. Some of the older kids have begun work on Personal Interest Projects which are more self-directed work, and these will begin to appear instead of learning stories for a while. Eventually we will return to a combination of both.

Currambena’s 40 year reunion is looming and we have prepared an alternative version of ‘I’m a believer’ that we will perform together. We will be sending a copy home with the readers and it would be great if you could use this as a reading activity and practice together.

 We are still feeling wary about nits; please continue to check as often as possible.

 Cheers,

Jo

Dear Parents,

Thank you to all the parents who came on Monday night to listen to our ideas around our programme and our plans for the class.

We began the evening discussing our own experiences of learning and what effect they had on us. Jo explained about the conference we attended in New Zealand and we talked about the different elements that inspired us and the ideas that we are implementing in our class. We talked about: play based learning, self directed learning, responsive teaching, physical environment and creeping conservatism. We answered some questions about the Registration and our accountability to the Board of Studies. We explained  how we are using these new ideas to show how the learning is achieved and how we are also covering the requirements.

Please come in and read the “Learning Stories that Jo has done a wonderful job on. The children are really enjoying the process and regularly refer back to them and we often find the children at the wall talking to each other about what is happening. They are taking more ownership and directing the process themselves.

On Thursday it is Reconciliation up at the Lane Cove Plaza. The older children are going to do a performance and we are staying at school and preparing the Barbeque for everyone when they return as we have invited the Alexander Park Children for lunch.

Last Thursday we had a lovely time at Kinma, it is wonderful having this relationship with them and sharing ideas and experiences. The children get so much out of meeting other children and sharing their space.

Take care

FRAN