Hi Everyone!
Well, the end of the term is nigh and what a term it has been. Student teachers, excursions, visitors and the school concert. The concert seemed to be a huge success last night and the children were fabulous. It endlessly amazes me the extent of their ability to produce a play from start to finish with very little input from adults. It felt rather strange not to come back to school for the social after the concert, don’t forget that it is now on Friday night starting at 6pm. Please bring a plate of food (enough for your family and for 2 others) to share. The school social is also where other performances will take place including guitar groups and a dance learned this term in PE time.
I am sending off all money raised from the MS Readathon and Jump Rope for heart on Friday so please make sure all money is in to me before then. Wendy is collecting money for the 40 hour famine and will also be sending that off on Friday.
Lastly, tomorrow (Thursday) is our moving day! We are moving everything in our classroom next door so that our room can be renovated in the holidays. If you have some time between 1.30 and 2.30 Thursday arvo to help with this, please come in and help. I am also desperate for helpers on co-ordination day to help move everything back into our classroom and setting up. If you could spare some time from midday onwards that day, I would be forever grateful.
That’s all from me today, I hope you all have a relaxing, lovely break.
See you all next term!
From Olivia
Posted September 24th, 2008
in Olivia's Class
by oliviam
Hi Everyone!
Our class play has been the main focus this week and costumes, scenery and memorising lines are almost done. It is going to be a very busy last two weeks for this term starting with this Thursday (18th) when we are going to see the new “Whale Dreamers” movie at Cremorne Orpheum at 12.30. We will be getting a bus there with Fran and Wendy’s classes. Next Tuesday we will be doing dress rehearsals in Longueville so that we will be ready for the concert that night. The concert starts at 6pm sharp and our class needs to be there dressed and ready to go at 5.50pm please. Usually our school social is after the concert however, this year the social will be held on Friday (26th) at 6pm. Please check elsewhere in the newsletter for more details. Speaking of this there are also details (somewhere in this newsletter) of a new Conflict Resolution course that Fran, Wendy and Chris are putting on. If you haven’t already done it, this course is beneficial for all people and for all areas of life not to mention showing the skills that your children are learning at Currambena.
The spare room renovations will be finished by next week and I am looking for anyone who could possibly help for an hour or as many as needed to pack and move our classroom on Thursday (25th)next door so our classroom can be done in the holidays. The more helpers the easier the job. If you can’t help next Thursday, we will also need helpers on co-ordination day to move all the equipment back into our classroom ready for the new term. Bring children, siblings, neighbours or anyone that owe you favours that can possibly help and hopefully it’ll be done in no time.
That’s all for now. Have a great week!
Olivia
Posted September 17th, 2008
in Olivia's Class
by oliviam
Hi Everyone!
Well, our preparation for the school concert is going beautifully, the children are busily making their costumes and designing props and scenery. The children discussed the need for Reverse Garbage and they decided that we wouldn’t need anything so no need for drivers anymore. Thank you to the parents who offered though. Only 13 more days to go… (23rd September @6pm)
We are wrapping up our measurement focus in maths. By now we are all able to measure length, perimeter, area and some of us even volume (cm3). Maths mentals are a regular weekly activity in the class along with multiplication tables practice.
That’s all for now, have a good week.
From Olivia
Posted September 10th, 2008
in Olivia's Class
by oliviam
Hi Everyone!
Short and sweet this week:
Firstly, a big welcome to Amelia (Milly) and her family to the Currambena community.
We are getting closer to being ready for a trip to Reverse Garbage. Can anyone help us drive out there this Friday? The children are so excited about the class play and have some wonderful ideas for props, scenery and costumes.
Lastly, I would like to send a gentle reminder of our “no nuts” policy. This includes all types of tree nuts. Please read the food packages if in doubt, “may contain traces” is ok - but definitely nothing that actually contains any type of nuts in the “ingredients” section.
That’s all for this week.
Cheers, Olivia
Posted September 3rd, 2008
in Casp, Olivia's Class
by oliviam
Hi all, what lovely warm weather we are having this week, we couldn’t have asked for better weather for Kinma’s visit this Thursday (28th Aug). We have planned loads of fun activities for both Currambena and Kinma to share in. We will be having a sausage sizzle for lunch but please send some food for morning tea. We are in the midst of writing our script for our class play at the moment which is turning into a very interesting story. Our school concert has been confirmed for Tuesday 23rd September (last week of term), more details closer to the date.
Our personal interest projects are coming along beautifully. We have written a time line for finishing particular parts of the project. The purpose of this is to get the children used getting work done by a specific date so that there are no late nights the day before the projects are due.
A visit to Reverse Garbage (Marrickville) might be on the cards depending on our costume and prop requirements, maybe next week. If you can spare a few hours possibly next Thursday morning to drive, please let me know.
That’s all for now!
From Olivia
Posted August 27th, 2008
in Olivia's Class
by oliviam
Hi everyone, lets start with a thank you to Wayne and Andrew for driving us to and from Centennial Park last Thursday. The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves with all the activities and the free play in the trees at the end of the day also. A huge thank you to Kerrie Kiem for donating the couch to our class.
I would like to ask for donations of material to recover our class cushions. We will be making the covers in the class time.
We have been discussing the use of multiplication in other areas of mathematics and how knowing their times tables ‘off by heart’ helps them to decipher other maths problems such as division and area. Most of the children will be starting to take one lot of multiplication tables each week to learn so that these other process become simpler. In science we are continuing with our study on animals and habitats and will link this up to looking at the environment later on in the term. We will be watching some parts of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” as part of this subject and also conducting some simple experiments on pollution.
That’s all folks! Have a great week.
-Olivia
Posted August 20th, 2008
in Olivia's Class
by oliviam
Hi Everyone!
Firstly, thank you to Pat Price who came in and took the class alongside Danielle (our wonderful student teacher) yesterday when I was sick. Secondly, this is Danielle’s last week at Currambena. Just a note to say thank you for her amazing energy and her hard work in the classroom. We will all miss having her in the class. BUT… before she goes, Danielle has organised this excursion to Centennial Parklands tomorrow (Thursday, 14th). A reminder for all children to wear appropriate clothes and shoes for dip-netting (warm clothes, HAT and non-slip shoes) and maybe a change of clothes in case of extreme wetness. Please pack enough lunch for the day and lots of drinks.
I would like to remind all parents and children that there is no expectation of homework at Currambena, however, I would like to request that all children are spending some time most days reading or being read to. There are a couple of reasons for this request: Firstly, “practice makes perfect”; secondly, reading for joy and relaxation independently and/or with an adult gives the children clear ideas on the purpose of reading. For most children 20 minutes is enough, dependent on abilities, please remember the main purpose is for joy, relaxation and imagination.
That’s all for now.
From Olivia
Posted August 13th, 2008
in Olivia's Class
by oliviam
Hi Everyone!
Our student teacher Danielle has been doing some great learning experiences with the class including starting a class ecosystem with lots of different insects and worms already appearing in it. As part of a science-based Living Things: Ecosystems, Food Chains and Adaptions, Danielle has organised an excursion to Centennial Parklands for next week. She has asked for this note to be put in the newsletter:
Olivia’s class is studying “Living Things: Ecosystems, Food Chains and Adaptions”. We have booked an excursion to Centennial Parklands for Thursday 14th August to look at the ecosystems and living things in the Lily Pond and Lachlan Swamp. One of the Centennial Park Rangers will discuss and do dip-netting (to find species) from 10.30-12.30. We will then stay for lunch for an hour and need some drivers to get us there and back leaving school at 10.00 and and leaving the park at 1.30. Please let Olivia know if you can drive there and back.
We are also carrying this theme into English and project work and each child has chosen an animal to study. We will also be looking at making models for our projects in craft.
We are looking at division and measuring volume in maths and as part of a volume strand we have been doing some cooking. The children made a delicious vegetable soup on Monday and it was a great success. We all shared some for lunch and most asked for seconds.
Lastly (but not least) a big thank you to Ros who took my class with Danielle last Wednesday when I was at a seminar.
Have a good week- Olivia
Posted August 6th, 2008
in Olivia's Class
by oliviam
Welcome back to school everyone!
I hope that you all had a restful and peaceful holiday. So much is happening at the beginning of this term, we have welcomed our student teacher from Sydney University. Danielle will be with us for the first four weeks of our term and already she has planned some fantastic activities for the class.
Our theme for this first half of the term is animals and ecosystems. Personal interest projects will be based on this theme as well. In Maths, we will continue on with measurement and move into volume and capacity. We will also begin to learn division concepts and for the older group, long division.
A reminder to sign up for interviews as soon as possible. The timetable is on the classroom door. I have set aside the first 3 weeks for these interviews and would like them all done before this time.
That’s all for now. More next week!
From Olivia
Posted July 23rd, 2008
in Olivia's Class
by oliviam
Hi Everyone!
Well, let’s start with the thank you’s and appreciation…
Thank you to Rebecca Firth for coming to the Australian Museum and helping with our class.
Thank you thank you thank you to all the drivers, and parents who stayed on the boat with us last week. I hope you all have recovered! The excursion would not have been possible without all the parent help.
And finally, a big thank you to all the drivers to and from Kinma last Monday.
Now, onto mid-year interviews… I will be putting a roster up for all parents to organise a time to come and see me in the first few weeks of next term. Please make sure you write yourselves up if you do want to meet with me.
That’s all for this week folks. Have a lovely break, see you all back at school on Tuesday 22nd July.
Olivia
Posted July 2nd, 2008
in Olivia's Class
by oliviam