Wendy's Class

Wendy’s Class Week 5 Term 4

I have had so many people say to me how much they enjoyed the concert last Friday! It certainly was a great success. The weather was kind, thank goodness, and all the children played their parts and appeared to enjoy themselves thoroughly! I felt extremely proud of all of my group… they wrote the whole play themselves (including the part for me!!) and then practised and practised to get it to the final stage. I was quite delighted at how well it went. I especially want to thank all the BEHIND THE SCENES helpers (those I forgot to thank on the night) who had toiled away to get the backdrop, generator and sound system up and running for us. They all did such a great job and it certainly would not have been such a success without them. CONGRATULATIONS AND THANKS TO EVERYONE!

NOTES ABOUT CAMP AT JERVIS BAY HAVE GONE HOME THIS WEEK ALREADY.   IF YOU HAVEN’T RECEIVED THEM PLEASE ASK YOUR  CHILD!

Unfortunately I have made a couple of errors in the typing… of course the camp is 2009 (NOT 2008)and the cost will be $160 instead of $150 as mentioned on one of the pages. Last year we didn’t cover costs so I would like to ask for this amount and will give refunds if there is money over at the end. If you have already sent in a cheque, please just send in the extra $10. I am very sorry about that. Next week we will choose the menu and finalise shopping lists. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE WEEKEND REUNION/COMMUNITY CAMP IS FOR FAMILILES AND EX-STUDENTS BUT IS NOT PART OF THE SUPERVISED SCHOOL CAMP. Please let me know if you are thinking of coming down for that. Thanks to the people who came to the meeting after school on Tuesday.

Our student teacher Judith completes her prac with us this week. I was so grateful for her help during our play rehearsals and on the night. She has connected really well with the children and given some great lessons during her weeks at Currambena. We wish her all the very best for her teaching career.

Today we are visiting Synergy, the Lane Cove Youth Centre situated in rooms under the Olympic Pool seating. They will be telling the kids about their program of after school activities which are especially aimed at High School students with time to fill after school. They also run School Holiday programs which can be great fun. Information will come home about it.

As well as all this going on, the children are working very hard on their academic work… finishing the unit on Time in Maths, Exposition in English, completing text book pages in both Maths and Spelling and working on Mini Projects which are Explanation texts. (These are due next week… they are short and have a short time frame.) History of the Beatles in Music, Monet in French, looong class meeting… what a week!

Sorry for the confusion about the date and time of the Social! It is especially for the community to say goodbye to the Year 6 students and also for anybody who wishes to perform… guitarists and piano players… and the adult choir too. See more information elsewhere in this newsletter.

Have a great week.    Love,   Wendy

Posted November 19th, 2009 in Wendy's Class by wendyp

Wendy's Class

Wendy’s Class Week 4 Term 4

Concert practice is top of this week’s agenda and we are all hoping Friday 13th turns out to be lucky for all performers and plays! A warm and sunny evening, with a spectacular sunset would be great too, if anyone knows where to send the order! Special thanks to the parents who have offered to drive us down to Tambourine Bay today for a dress rehearsal on site.

REMEMBER: On Friday evening, be at the park by 5:45 in full costume with all props in hand. Bring picnic rugs, food and drinks and take ALL RUBBISH away with you. Better still, don’t make any!! Please be very quiet during performances and make sure all audience behaviour is appropriately respectful towards the performers who have been writing and practising the plays for weeks and weeks!

Yesterday we said goodbye to our two art students from UNSW, Emma and Vanessa. They have done some great lessons with the class and have been a great help with our props. They both said how very much they enjoyed their prac here and appreciated the friendliness and enthusiasm of the children. That’s always good to hear!

I would like to have a meeting about CAMP AT JERVIS BAY next Tuesday afternoon at 4pm. Please come along to discuss this adventure and help with planning. The weekend after the class camp, from Friday night 4th December til Sunday 6th, has been booked as usual for a Currambena Community/reunion camp and several families have expressed interest in this. It is open to anyone from Currambena and is a glorious way to spend a weekend! Some of our group may well stay on rather than drive back to Sydney on Friday and others will come down that day to stay for the weekend. Quite a few ex-students and families will also be there.

But first, the concert!! See you on Friday!                 

 Love,   Wendy

Posted November 12th, 2009 in Wendy's Class by wendyp

Wendy's Class

Wendy’s Class Week 3 Term 4

This week we welcome Emma and Vanessa, two student art teachers from UNSW who are spending two weeks with us. Great timing for us with all the play sets and costumes to create! Judith is also working hard to assist us so we are hoping it will all come together in time! Please help your child learn their lines if they ask… there is a lot of memorising needed from some of them. (Not to mention costumes and sets!…Detect a slightly panicky tone!??) Dress rehearsal here at school on Friday this week and then again at Tambourine Bay on Thursday next week.

The concert itself will start promptly at 6pm on Friday 13th November. All children should be at the park ready to perform at 5:45pm but, as parking will possibly be an issue, it would be a good idea to come early and enjoy your picnic dinner before the show. Each family will need to bring their own picnic food and things including rug or chairs (at the back please) and parents will need to be responsible for their own children while they are not actually engaged in a performance. Let’s hope for a fine, warm night… wet weather option is back here at school in Aussie Kids’ room. Please be mindful of issues of sustainability when packing your picnic! Bring food in containers which can be taken home and washed. Let’s leave no rubbish behind us at all! And please be respectful of performances in progress. The acoustics are going to be interesting outside (to say the least) so please make sure children (and adults!) not performing are a very quiet and attentive audience.

Last week at Class Meeting, our group voted to have News at 9am on Monday mornings from now on. This is to prevent it from taking up too much of our Inside Time! It worked quite well this week  for the first time.

From now on this term, swimming is an option on Monday afternoons for sport. Please help everyone remember this!

Please come and buy Currambena Calendars from the office. They cost $18 each or two for $30 and they are just gorgeous. Perfect presents.

Thank you to all the parents who have spoken to me about Jervis Bay. It looks as if we will have plenty of helpers and drivers. In a week or two, I will hold a meeting to discuss details with you all.

We are also, believe it or not, actually doing quite a lot of academic work along with our rehearsals! We are working on a Science unit about Living Things, a Maths one on Time and an English study of Exposition.. a couple of these might make it into this Newsletter. Maths and Spelling text books, times tables tests and reading are all continuing as usual, too.

We did enjoy walking up to Lane Cove Civic Centre last week to look at the entries in the Eve Vonwiller Youth Art Awards, proud to see Jody and Isla represented there!!

Have a great week.    

Love Wendy

 

AN EXPOSITION by Shannon.

RUBBISH FREE LUNCH EVERY WEDNESDAY

It’s a fantastic opportunity to challenge yourself in not producing as much rubbish. When we entered the original Rubbish Free Lunch competition, we won so now that we are having a rubbish free lunch every week, We will be unstoppable in reducing rubbish.

It’s important to reduce our rubbish because we are in a drought. Climate change is happening and trees are getting cut down as we speak and reducing our rubbish is a big step to help save us, the environment and the world.

By not using as much rubbish, we help the environment in not producing as many fumes and greenhouse gases. So in the end, by reducing our rubbish on Wednesdays, we help save the world, stop climate change and live on a healthy, clean planet.

Posted November 5th, 2009 in Wendy's Class by wendyp

Wendy's Class

Wendy’s Class Week 2 Term 4

Luckily one of our group remembered that we usually ask each of the Year 6 leavers to write a piece for the newsletter about their time at Currambena as a way of saying farewell to the community. Because this is a short term, only nine weeks, we only just have enough time to put one leaver on the cover each week before the end of term! I hope we manage to get the words ready on time, too, but if not, they will follow next week.

We had session three of our sex education program yesterday and, again, I was so impressed by the level of insight and understanding the children showed in their questions. There may well be more questions asked at home, especially about areas where a genetic factor might be involved. There were also some questions which would need a doctor to answer, I think! We will make a list of things requiring further investigation after the next (last) session.

Our student teacher, Judith, has begun her four week placement with us and we started a Maths unit on time yesterday, revising and learning about analog, digital and 24 hour clock time and converting between these. This could be good to practise at home or in the car… along with times tables which do still need constant revision for some of the children!!

Of course, our main effort at the moment is going into putting the finishing touches to our play for the concert on Friday 13th November. The plot is a secret, of course, but if you are able to assist with costumes that would be fantastic! Your child will know what they need. The script is almost complete and full rehearsals will begin today, I hope.

We enjoyed The Bug Man on Monday and it made a neat link with a Science unit we are starting on Living Things and their interrelatedness. We do still have some Chemistry experiments to do left over from last term!

Thank you to the people who have come and spoken to me about tents and/or helping with camp at Jervis Bay.  I still need a few more tents and drivers/helpers so please consider whether or not you might be able to come. Everyone in the wider community is welcome for the weekend reunion camp Friday 4th and Saturday 5th December... it will cost about $10 or $15 per person per night, take your own food, tents, sleeping bags etc and come and share this glorious site at Bristol Point in Booderee National Park. let me know if you are interested. It takes about 3 to 4 hours to drive down.

Lastly, I have received the application packages for entry to Selective High Schools in 2011 so if your child is interested in this please come and take ask me for the forms. they need to be completed and returned to me by 13th November.

Have a great week everyone!    Love,   Wendy

Posted October 28th, 2009 in Wendy's Class by wendyp

Wendy's Class

Wendy’s Class Week 1 Term 4

As someone said on Tuesday, it’s our Year 6’s last first week of term!

This is the term when we make the most of every minute and count down the days. It’s only nine weeks long and there is so much to fit into it!! We have the class play in a few weeks, three student teachers, spending time with us, Italian and French lessons starting, a couple of new classroom activities, Orientation for next year and, of course, our camp at Jervis Bay for a week! And all this is on top of our usual workload and completing curriculum content for the year! Wow!

It was wonderful to see the kids on Tuesday, many of them looking taller or browner or both!! Some had worked extremely well on their text books over the holidays!!! I am so impressed… except that there’s so much for me to mark!!!  This week our main aim is to get our play written… but we also have an Information Morning to run and sex education lessons to fit in!

The teachers have started planning classes for next year. I have eight children leaving this year for High School and we need to know asap if any other children will be leaving so that we can organise the best possible arrangement of children and classes for each individual who will be here for 2010. Please speak to me or email now if there are any changes to enrolments. We have so many enquiries coming in we may even have to start waiting lists for next year!

I have asked the children to start talking to you at home about camp… who wishes to come and what tents you might be willing to lend. The Jervis Bay site at Bristol Point is a well serviced group camping area in Booderee National Park and we will be in tents for the week using the showers and toilets on site. We cook on a portable gas BBQ and engage in activities such as swimming, canoeing, bushwalking, bush tucker walks, campfire story telling and all the joys of life in the Australian bush. On the last night there, we usually have a special ceremony down at the beach when we say our farewells to the Year 6 Leavers. Please let me know asap if you are willing and able to come with us leaving school on Monday 30th November and returning on Friday 4th… or staying for the REUNION WEEKEND 5th and 6th December.

I think that’s all for today!       Love,   Wendy

Posted October 22nd, 2009 in Wendy's Class by wendyp

Wendy's Class

Wendy’s Class Week 10 Term 3

Week 10? Where did all those weeks get to?

Our student teachers, Josh and Alyce, finish up this week and we wish them all the very best with the rest of their studies. They have both made important contributions to our learning and I am sure they will both be excellent teachers when they finish their course. We all hope they’ll come back and visit before the end of the year.

Our excursion to CSIRO on Monday was a great success. The Creative Chemistry workshop began with some seemingly magical demonstrations and then the children began working through a possible 11 different experiments set up around the room. They were all completely absorbed in this for almost 90 minutes. I did interrupt them at one stage to introduce Zac’s aunt, Emma, who is a scientist working in the Food and Nutrition branch of CSIRO. Emma told us about one of her current research projects into the effects of transportation on apples and eggs and other fresh foods. Emma is also an ex-student of Currambena and a wonderful role model for aspiring scientists in our group! ( Emma was in my first Currambena class so it was great treat for me to see her, too!)

On Tuesday, we had a performance from the Australian Theatre of the Deaf. The three actors used very entertaining mime  to tell the story of a traveller to other cultures. They were great to watch, as were the children’s faces! Fascinating to have two different theatre companies visit these two weeks.

We are now making some useful progress on our own play and, of course, rehearsal will start in earnest when we return from the holidays. Please ask your children about their costume ideas and help them if you can! The concert is just three weeks into next term.

This term I have been running a meditation group as one of the PDHPE options on Monday afternoons. It has been a very interesting time, with a range of ages of children learning and practising a variety of meditative techniques and usually including a feelings check-in and a guided visualisation at the end. Some of the children have been drawing their visualisation images… I hope one or two will make it into the Newsletter! Most of the participants have reported increased feelings of calmness and some have been using the techniques to assist them in sleeping at night.

REQUEST!!  Once again there is an ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF LOST PROPERTY  around the school. PLEASE  make sure you take it home or it might all go to St Vinnies over the break.

ANOTHER REQUEST!!  Is there anyone who would like two delightful pet rats for the holidays??? Let me know if you can help.

AND ANOTHER! Could EVERYONE please treat all hair for nits over the holidays so we can start next term nit-free!

Many thanks to Alex Golovin for doing slave duty with me this past two days! It has been fun to have his company!

And lastly, our group voted to have a party here at school on Friday afternoon. The idea is to bring a food offering themed by a time or place of your choosing. This will be after lunch, so small sized food platters would be good.

Have a great holiday everyone!   Love,   Wendy

Posted October 1st, 2009 in Wendy's Class by wendyp

Wendy's Class

Wendy’s Class Week 9 Term 3

I hope that some more of the wonderful poems my class has been writing will make their way into this newsletter. We have been having a wonderful time writing and reading them. Shannon suggested a definition of poetry which was poetic itself! “A passion of words that comes from the heart”. How wonderful is that?

The Commedia Dell’Arte performance yesterday was excellent. Thanks so much to Claudia for organising it. Those from my group who wish to, will have the chance to learn Italian again starting next term. That should be fun!

In last week’s newsletter, I wrote the wrong date for our excursion to CSIRO. Of course, it is next Monday 28th September and we do still need confirmed drivers, please. We will leave Currambena at about 9:30 and be back in time for lunch. Please send morning tea with the kids and please speak to me directly if you are able to drive.

We have the Theatre of the Deaf coming to perform for us next Tuesday, a program about different cultures which should also be fun. It will be a fun week for the last one of term. The group has also voted to have an end of term party on Friday 2nd which will involve dressing up (optional) and bringing a dish of food to share based on a  theme such as a country or a time in history. A few cleaning jobs will have to be done first!!!

Some children are working hard on their text books at the moment and others are working to complete their Personal Interest Projects. Project Presentations so far have been excellent!

Please remember that there is a Social this Friday night. Also remember the two fundraisers: Sock Drive and the Stuck on You labels.

Lastly, would anyone like to take the rats home for their two week holiday? They come complete with cage, food and paper pellets for the litter tray. The cage only needs cleaning once each week.

Have a good week. 

Love,   Wendy

Posted September 24th, 2009 in Wendy's Class by wendyp

Wendy's Class

Wendy’s Class Week 8 Term 3

This term is flying past and every week is very full!

Thank you so much to everyone who helped make the meeting on Monday night such a success. About 30 parents and students came along to hear about making the transition to High School and I especially want to thank our ex-students, Pat, Callum, Annabel, Ewan, Allend, Isobel and Alex who came along to share their experiences and answer questions about their various high schools. They made an impressive group, I thought.

We are delighted to welcome our two Macquarie Uni teaching students, Alyce and Josh, back with us over the next few weeks and they will be coming with us to CSIRO for a Chemistry workshop on Monday 21st September. We will need some drivers, please, who can help take us over to Ryde (Delhi Road) leaving school at 9:30 and returning in time for lunch. Please let me know if you can help.

We have been practising our Peace Songs for International Peace Day next Monday and everyone is asked to wear white t-shirts so we can make an impressive looking human peace sign. We are going to combine this with 350 Day raising awareness of global warming issues. Should be a good day.

Personal Interest Projects are actually due this week so these are getting quite a lot of attention during the day… applications for extensions must be in before Friday!! Some of the projects have already been handed in and they look great. Congratulations to those who completed them early!! Oral presentations will begin next week.

Also next week, we will be writing our play!!

We have a copy of the book “What’s Happening to Me?” in our class at the moment. It is all about puberty and is, of course, promoting some discussion! Please be warned that this will probably continue for a week or so and may provoke some questions at home. I will be reading it with the group and will answer any questions they might have honestly and directly. The book by the same authors “Where did I come from?” will also be in our room.

Next Wednesday we have the Italian performance, Comedia del Arte. This should be great fun. Thank you to Claudia for organising it. Next term there is an option for children to learn Italian again. Some suitable alternatives, including French, will be available for those who choose not to.

Have a great week. 

 Love, Wendy

Posted September 17th, 2009 in Wendy's Class by wendyp

Wendy's Class

Wendy’s Class Week 7 Term 3

Hi everyone. I hope you are all having a good week.

We are very busy this week (what’s new??). We are writing our play, working on PIPs, completing text book pages in spelling and maths, doing science experiments, reading some scary stories, writing and reading poetry, working on area and perimeter and volume, singing and playing…

Some of our singing is in preparation for Peace Day on Monday September 21st. We are practising songs for the whole school to sing together. We are thinking of combining this day with 350 Day… a suggestion from Rachel… which is a day to promote awareness of climate change. 350 is the number of parts per million pollution in the atmosphere that scientists think the planet can sustain. Lots of issues to research and discuss.

Please remember the HIGH SCHOOL meeting at 7pm next Monday 21st September. Everyone is welcome. We will be talking about how children make the transition to High School, how we go about preparing them and how they manage the challenges of the different schools they attend. Some of our ex-students have been invited to come along and share their stories and it promises to be a good night.

A couple of other practical things: firstly, please help us to deal with the enormous amount of lost property around the school. PLEASE NAME EVERYTHING so at least we can return it to your child if it is left lying around. A big problem at the  moment is plastic containers. It’s wonderful that people are trying to reduce the rubbish by sending re-usable containers but if they become lost property, it is even more rubbish. Naming these would be such a help. Permanent marker usually stays on for a while.

Secondly, my sister has offered to donate a rather good piano to the school so we would like to use it to replace the old one currently upstairs. The old one is not in especially good condition but might be fun for someone. If you would like it, or know someone who might, please let me know.

That’s all for now.

With love,  

Wendy

Posted September 10th, 2009 in Wendy's Class by wendyp

Wendy's Class

Wendy’s Class Week 6 Term 3

Now it really is Spring … or so we’re told! It has felt like it for a while now!

Last week’s Soiree for Moses Aaron’s farewell to story-telling was a great success. He was immensely impressed by the quality and enthusiasm of the children’s performances and we all had a great deal of fun, singing, reading stories and poetry and listening to Moses tell his last stories as a professional story-teller. The children who have heard him before had their old favourites to request and we all jumped in fright at the scary story of The Golden Arm. Thank you very much to Aarhon for filming the event. We will all look forward to watching ourselves!

This week we are writing stories again and poetry, practising handwriting, completing spelling and maths text book pages, revising area and volume, conducting more science experiments and working on our play writing and personal projects! The meditation group on Monday is working really well, enjoyable and impressive! The piano players were very impressive at School Meeting last week, too. We do have such a talented group of children at our school!! There will be more performances this week, too. Come along at 9:30 if you wish to be part of the audience… School Meeting is first, of course.

Unfortunately, nits seem to be around again in their hordes! If everyone could do a treatment this weekend we might have a chance to be nit free for a while.

Enjoy your week.

Love  Wendy

Posted September 3rd, 2009 in Wendy's Class by wendyp