Olivia's Class

Olivia’s Class Week 10 Term 2

Hi Everyone!

 Welcome back to everyone who went to Laura. It has been wonderful to hear about the adventures and experiences. We also need to welcome Michael (and his family Polly, Ken and Michelle- in Wendy’s class) who started in my class yesterday.

On Monday, canteen was not on due to no parent volunteers. This means that the children who are depending on canteen do not get food for the day and then the teachers have to organise lunch. If you can help with canteen for a day please make sure you sign up on the noticeboard. Of course, this counts as maintenance hours. Also, it is important that all children bring something to eat even if they are supposed to get canteen just in case it is not on (maybe something that can be eaten the next day if canteen is on).

Our 40 year reunion is on this Sunday starting at midday. The whole school is performing and it would be great if you could all make it. It looks like it will be a fantastic day.

That’s all for this week, short and sweet!

From Olivia

Posted July 1st, 2009 in Olivia's Class by oliviam

Olivia's Class

Olivia’s Class Week 9 Term 2

Hi Everyone! We had the most gorgeous time at the zoo yesterday. We saw so many animals and had a lovely time together. Half of the group ran to the lion and tiger enclosure at the end of the day and was definitely a highlight. A huge thank you to Chelsea who spent the whole day with us.

Tomorrow we are planning on trying Berry Island again and will need drivers. If you can do it please let me know a.s.a.p. if you can do it. We are still focusing on the Aboriginal culture and have been looking at Aboriginal perspectives as well as art and symbols in their culture. We are going to start our own dreamtime stories and our own totems.

Have a good week!

Olivia

Posted June 24th, 2009 in Olivia's Class by oliviam

Olivia's Class

Olivia’s Class Week 8 Term 2

Hi Everyone!

Only one more sleep till the Laura trip. Have a wonderful time to all the people going. As for the rest of us, we have got some great activities planned back at school starting off with a whole school excursion to Berry Island Reserve in Wollstonecraft. We will need drivers to get us there and back so please write your name on the list on our front door if you can help. We plan to leave school at 10:00 and leave Berry Island at 2:00 pm. We will make a decision in the morning regarding the weather but please ensure your children have some wet weather gear or a change of clothes in their bags. They will also need non-heatable lunch and drinks too.

Next Tuesday, we will be going to the zoo for a session called ‘animals of the dreamtime’. We will be catching the bus there and back but please remember to pack drinks and food that doesn’t require heating.

At the moment in our classroom, we are moving out a lot of the ‘classroom’ furniture and replacing it with coffee tables and cushions. The children have decided that they would like a dining room table so that they can eat their lunch and use it is a more formal work table if needed. If anyone has a spare (good condition) table lying around at home please come and talk to me. Also, we are planning on decorating one of our tables and we are thinking of decoupage. If anyone has had any experiences with decoupage, I would really love some help with this.

Lastly, one of our fish died last week so we are down to two now. We thought we might like two more to keep the others company and need someone to go and get some for us. We also desperately need the filter cleaned and unblocked because at the moment it is not working properly. Of course this would count as maintenance.

That’s all for this week, have a good one!

From Olivia

Posted June 17th, 2009 in Olivia's Class by oliviam

Olivia's Class

Olivia’s Class Week 7 Term 2

Hi Everyone, I hope you all had a lovely long weekend!

We are beginning to discuss what we are going to do when Wendy and the kids go to Laura. Jo, Fran, Rowena and I will be organising some activities and excursions for the children who are staying in Sydney. We will be visiting the zoo and looking at all the animals that feature in Aboriginal Dreamtime stories.

Due to the public holiday on Monday, we missed out on sport so our next day for rock climbing and ice skating will be next Monday (15/6). Both Wendy and I need to know ahead of time who can help with driving. If you can help, please write your name on the list on our door before Friday so we organise.

I will be away tomorrow (Thursday) and possibly Friday as well this week. Our wonderful Rowena will be taking the class.

That’s all for this week, take care!

From Olivia

Posted June 10th, 2009 in Olivia's Class by oliviam

Olivia's Class

Olivia’s Class Week 6 Term 2

Hi Everyone,  well we went on our sports excursions on Monday and everyone seemed to have a great time. Some new skills were developed and for some, old skills were fine tuned. Thank you to all the parents who drove and assisted. We will be doing the same sport choices on Monday 15th and will be needing drivers from 11:00 to about 2:00. I would like to have drivers organised before the day so please let me know now if you can help.

We have been working on our theme: “Healthy bodies, Healthy Minds” and are discovering so many things that contribute to being healthy. I would like to show some snippets of the documentary “Supersize Me” as part of this theme. I plan to do this on Thursday this week so let me know in the morning if you have any questions regarding this.

Lastly, two quick reminders…

  • The AGM is being held tomorrow night starting at 6 pm. Please come and be part of the decision making process regarding Currambena Council. Please bring some soup and bread to share so we can make a nice dinner of it too.
  • Although inside time does not start until 9:30, school begins at 9:00. We leave the first half an hour free for the chilren to start the day off socialising with their peers and generally getting themselves sorted for the day.

That’s all for now!

From Olivia

Posted June 3rd, 2009 in Olivia's Class by oliviam

Olivia's Class

Olivia’s Class Week 5 Term 2

Hi Everyone!

What a lovely day we had on Friday, cooking, eating, playing together and especially washing up. It was a fantastic way of kicking off our new theme: “healthy bodies, healthy minds”. We have begun to talk about the healthy food pyramid and using it as a guideline for appropriate food to be putting in our bodies. We will be recording all the things that we eat and drink for the next week to see how much we eat of all the food groups. We will also begin to talk about other aspects of being healthy including safety, protective behaviours, self-concepts, relaxation, fitness, and relationship building.

Sport for the next two weeks will be rock climbing and ice-skating. We will split into two groups with Wendy’s class and do a week of each. We will be doing this at 11:00-1:30 and we will need drivers and helpers especially at rock climbing. These two sports can only be done if we have enough helpers so if you can help please let me know a.s.a.p. so I can confirm the bookings. There is also a permission form put out by Climb Fit that all children participating need to have filled out so please sign the form and give it back to me before next Monday.

Tomorrow, our class is going up to Lane Cove Plaza to participate in the Children’s Voices for Reconciliation, We will be singing a song with Wendy’s class. Afterwards the children from Alexandria Park School will be coming to Currambena and having lunch.

Lastly (but not least) welcome to Michael and Chelsea who have both become classroom assistants for this term in our class. Both Michael and Chelsea are ex-Currambena students and I am very excited at having them both be a part of the class for the term. Michael will be in the class on Monday mornings, and Chelsea will be here on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Hooray, lucky us!

That’s all for this week I think! Have a great week!

From Olivia

Posted May 27th, 2009 in Olivia's Class by oliviam

Olivia's Class

Olivia’s Class Week 4 Term 2

Hi Everyone!

Well, what a week this week has been!  Our class is busy planning and organising a class luncheon on Friday. We have decided upon menu, made shopping lists, made invitations and been shopping for all ingredients. We have decided to have a lunch party (kids and myself only, sorry families) on Friday 22nd May at 11.30. We will spend the morning cooking, setting tables, choosing music etc.

On Thursday, the primary classes are going up to Kinma School for the day. The school is in Terry Hills and is similar, philosophically to ours. We will be catching a bus from school at 9.45 and will be back at about 2.30. Lunch will be provided (usually a sausage sizzle or something similar). Kosher and vegetarians also catered for, but let me know if there are any other dietary requirements I have missed out.

A huge thank you to Rachel (Annabelle’s mum) who came in on Tuesday morning and showed us her lolly making skills. She made some toffee with the class and we learned about saturation and the importance of temperature when making different types of lollies (and don’t worry we are observing the Currambena agreement of no lollies at school). It might seem obvious now that we have embarked on a theme of food at school at the moment and you would be right. It all starts with the science of food (making lollies and such); social food situations (our class luncheon) and onto healthy eating; then finally onto healthy lifestyles in more general terms including safety, happiness, activities etc.

A big part of the cooking exercise is the delightful process of washing and clearing up. Because Currambena is community environment and we don’t have designated washer-uppers, we all need to do our own. We love that everyone in the community (kids, teachers and parents alike) are able to use the kitchen facilities and we love it even more when we all wash up our own cups and plates etc. Nuff said!  )

We are in need of some drivers and helpers for Monday afternoon sport for the next few weeks. We are planning to go ice-skating at Macquarie Ice Skating rink and rock climbing in St Leonards, if you can help, please let myself or Wendy know.

Chris Price came in yesterday afternoon and did relaxation with the class, a lot of the children have very fond memories of this when they were in preschool and it was expressed how lovely it was for them to participate now. Thank you Chris! This also ties into our healthy bodies theme and is so important for children to become familiar with strategies for themselves and find a range of ways to cope with such busy lives.

Lastly, but definitely not least, NITS NITS NITS have arisen again. Please check heads and treat accordingly. There are a number of natural treatments that work well, and also try a  good lice comb with hair that has been plastered with conditioner!

I think that really is enough for one week! Cheers, Olivia

Posted May 20th, 2009 in Olivia's Class by oliviam

Olivia's Class

Olivia’s Class Week 3 Term 2

Hi Everyone! I hope everyone had a lovely Mother’s Day.

Bastian and Michaela brought in our new fish over the weekend and have already become part of the classroom. Unfortunately one of the fish gave in to their curiosity and swam up the filter and got clogged. The children were very sad about this and led to an interesting discussion about other pets that have died. We are in the process of making a plaque for the fish. We have decided on names for the surviving fish, so ask your child for information on that.

We are still planning on going up to the plaza this Friday for “Walk to School Safely Day”. If you would like your child to walk down from the plaza with Jo and I, please make sure you put names on the list on our front door. We will be meeting at 8.30 and walking down at 8.45 where there will be a community breakfast put on by Fran and remaining children. If your child wants to be part of the Lane Cove community breakfast in the plaza, you will have to take your child there independently.

That’s all for now, have a good week!

From Olivia

P.S. Please don’t forget to order socks for our sock drive!

Posted May 13th, 2009 in Olivia's Class by oliviam

Olivia's Class

Olivia’s Class Week 2 Term 2

Hi Everyone.

Well we are getting onto the swing of things again and have picked up where we left off in maths. We have just finished 2D shapes and are beginning 3D shapes. We are just about to start our new topic of consumers which will link in nicely with our excursion to the sticky shop.

A big thank you to Rachel and David for letting us come to the sticky shop yesterday. Thank you also to Magda, Ron, Myung-Jin and Rachel who drove us to and from the wharf. Thank you also to Willem and Luuk for coming and hanging out with us too.

Friday 15th May is “walk to school safely day” and Jo and I are planning to meet up at Lane Cove with whoever would like to and all walk down to school together. We plan to meet up at 8.30 and walk down at 8.45. If your child decides to walk down with us, please drop them off at the plaza and make sure you let me know that they are there so I know how many I need to watch out for. If not, Fran and Wendy will be at school as usual for supervision there.

Just a reminder that the sock drive is on again. Pick up a catalogue from my classroom if you haven’t already got one. A percentage of everything ordered will go to our school.

That’s all for this week, hope you are all well!

From Olivia

Posted May 6th, 2009 in Olivia's Class by oliviam

Olivia's Class

Olivia’s Class Week 1 Term 2

Hi Everyone!

A big welcome to Blake and his family who has started in our class today. And of course, welcome back to everybody else. I hope you all had a great break.

We have decided upon a date for our excursion to sticky and it is tentatively next Tuesday. It would be wonderful if we had a few parents to come with us as we will hopefully be going on the ferry and will need some help to get to and back from the wharf at the very least. Please let me know if you can help, and keep an eye out for more details on our class noticeboard. Packed lunch, hats etc in one bag will be needed.

We are in the process of deciding new sport activities and suggestions have included tennis, ball games and even our own olympic games.

That’s all for this week, take care.

from Olivia

Posted April 29th, 2009 in Olivia's Class by oliviam