Preschool News Term 4 Week 1

Posted on October 17, 2019 by katrinaa

Hello everyone,

We hope you all had an enjoyable break over the holidays. This week in preschool we welcome two new little people, Sienna and Zara. Sienna and Zara are siblings of Alex in Sarah’s class and Eva in Jess’s class. The children in preschool have been really welcoming and nurturing towards our newest preschool community members, demonstrating what capable, empathetic and caring little people they are.

We’ve got a busy term ahead! Next Wednesday we have vision screening coming to preschool to conduct eye tests on children who are 4 or older, which is just about the entire preschool. If you’d like to have your child’s eyesight screened please make sure you complete a permission form and return it to preschool. Only original forms we be accepted, and we have just enough for everyone that needs, one so please don’t lose them. Please come and ask for one if we forget to hand one to you. If your child doesn’t come on that day and you’d like to take part you’re more than welcome to. Please let us know and we’ll arrange a suitable time for you.

With the introduction of daylight savings over the holidays comes changes to our sun safe policy. Sun smart. It would be greatly appreciated if you could check the SunSmart chart, on the door next to the sign in table and if required apply sunscreen on arrival at preschool. We also need you to pack a legionnaire or broad brimmed hat for your child each and every day they come to preschool. We’re also trialling different ways to encourage children to drink more water. One of our thoughts is that children could bring two water bottles to preschool. One would be kept with their lunch and another at the water station. If families would be able to pack two water bottles it would be greatly appreciated. Teaching children the importance of staying hydrated and ensuring they stay hydrated by drinking water is really important.

We’ve started to prepare for the whole school end of year concert. This will be held at North’s league club on Thursday 14th November. The children are coming up with some great ideas as to what we should include in our performance.

From this Thursday until Monday 28th November Michael will be absent from preschool attending a friend’s wedding in Japan, during his absence Cee will be working in preschool throughout the day and we’ll be having a new casual join us to cover breaks called Christine.

Many thanks to everyone that completed cleaning duties as part of our end of term cleaning. We’ve still got a big bag of washing in preschool that needs to be laundered so please come and speak to us if you’d like to complete some maintenance hours!

Love

Katrina, Michael and Hannah

 

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The Red Eagles Term 4 Week 1

Posted on October 17, 2019 by Jess

Dear Parents,
Welcome back to term 4. It’s been so gorgeous seeing how many of the children have grown and changed in only two weeks! Lots of missing teeth and fresh haircuts.

There was a lot of news to catch up on yesterday, so we spent the day making some ’My Holiday’ books as a way to share our most exciting stories. They are on display above the block shelf, so please come in and have a read if get the chance. In fact, following up from last term, book making continues to hold a lot of interest for the children. In addition, Susan has donated some beautiful silkworms to the class which are capturing the children’s interests. It was very exciting to discover the fattest one had began to spin a cocoon after the very first night in our classroom. Thank you, Susan.

There has already been a lot of creative and productive work on our concert piece in the two short days we’ve had at school. This year, I’ve approached the process differently to past years, in an attempt to make the process as child-led as possible. The children are highly engaged and they have a lot of big ideas. Hopefully we can pull it all together as a single cohesive piece. I’d tell you the details, except, I won’t, because it’s a secret!

Next week, we will begin literacy stations and swimming again. Thank you to those people who have put their name on the list to volunteer. There’s plenty more free spaces so please add your name if you can help out. With the extra exercise the children will be during Tuesday swimming sessions, I won’t continue with weekly bushwalking sessions this term unless the children tell me they really need the nature time.

This term, we will also have a number of fun whole school activities including another Summerhill Day, an excursion to Chinaman’s beach and an orientation morning. I’ll publish more information on these events soon.

Unfortunately, nits have returned to school with the children. Please check your child’s hair and treat if needed. Here’s that link again for your information:

https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/environment/headlice/Pages/treatment.aspx

Looking forward to a fun term,
Jess x

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Vinnie’s Class

Posted on October 17, 2019 by Newsletter Editor

Welcome back to term four everyone,

I had the pleasure of spending the last week of term three in Rosie’s room as well as spending the term with Wendy and Chris. This experience helped me to get to know and interact with the children and better understand the Currambena spirit.

From the week with Rosie, the class indicated an interest in Electricity and this will be our topic for this term.

In week five on the 15th of November we have our end of year concert. In class this week we spent some time brainstorming ideas, reviewing past concert performances and we are in the process of creating a storyboard. The class is very keen to intertwine different stories together, with a few popular choices standing out: Wizard of Oz, Star Wars and Harry Potter.

Next Tuesday we will begin to do swimming for the rest of the term. Please remember to send swimmers, a towel, a hat and a bag for wet swimmers. I am going to put up a sign up sheet for parent volunteers to help walking to and from the Lane Cove pool.

This week we have done some revision on 2D and 3D shapes with a shape hunt, we also explored symmetry of different shapes, including the letters from the alphabet. We will be getting back into the routine of our reading stations next week.

My email address is vincentb@currambena.nsw.edu.au in case you need to contact me.

Warmest regards,

Vincent

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Sarah’s Class Week 1 Term 4

Posted on October 17, 2019 by sarahm

Welcome back everyone!

I hope you all had a restful and recharging break? From the stories shared and written by the children it sounds like there were quite a few who managed to ‘get away’. So without further adieu……..

What’s happening this term?

  • Week 5 Thursday, 14th Nov: is the school concert. Again, this will be at North Sydney Leagues Club. It will most likely start at approx 6 pm and details will soon appear in the weekly newsletter.
  • Week 6 Friday, 22nd: is a day out at the beach. All the primary classes will spend the day hanging out together at Chinamans Beach.
  • Week 7 Wednesday, 27th: is Summer Hill Day. After the last Summer Hill Day the children all voted they wanted more days and for this to happen once a term.
  • Week 8 Monday, 2nd Dec: is Orientation Day. For the first inside time on this day, everybody will join the group and class they will be with next year.
  • Week 8 Wednesday, 4th – Friday, 6th: I will be taking my Year 3′s (elders) on camp with Leesa’s class. This year we will be going to Mowbray Park which is a farm stay. Details will be sent home in the coming weeks. There will be a casual teacher here for the younger group.
  • Week 10: Our last 3 days together will include tidying up, an end of term party and (hopefully) an end of year whole school social, on the last day.

Other things……..

On top of writing our script for the concert, practicing, practicing, practicing, designing and making costumes…..  my class would like to go on an excursion – just for fun! Luna Park, Ice Skating or SkyZone were the top 3 places suggested. I will be looking into our class excursion budget to see which one is possible.

Swimming will start from next Tuesday (in the morning). Lane Cove Library visits will start on Monday, 4th Nov.

My class would like to run a stall and raise money for a charity and do a science activity. Personal Projects will start this week with topics being chosen and ideas for inquiry questions being formulated and recorded. There will be no ‘formal’ music lessons this term but we hope to have a couple of incursions and will continue to sing each and every week.

Topics we are covering for Maths this term are: 2D and 3D shapes; Volume, Capacity and Time. This week, we looked at Tangram puzzles and the children named the shapes included and created a picture using all 7 pieces. We will continue with our weekly spelling quiz and we will be looking at poetry writing.

I will be talking to the younger group (in the next couple of weeks) about class groups for next year and where they will be. All the ‘elders’ will move to Leesa’s class and there will be some Year 2′s that will remain with me and become the ‘elders’ for next year. I queried the younger group, last term, about where they wanted to be and which of their friends/peers they wished to be with. Taking their thoughts and feelings into consideration they have made the decision an easy one, for me. I am sure once I have spoken to them a dialogue will open up at home. If you have any concerns, after the fact, please let me know.

That’s all for us this week.

Love, Sarah

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Leesa’s Class Term 4 Week 1

Posted on October 17, 2019 by leesaj

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to Term 4! This term we will have our school concert, camp and many other events. We will be very busy right to the end. From the writing the children did on Tuesday it sounds like a lot of travelling and adventures occurred throughout the holidays.

Over the last few days we have been writing the plot for our play which will occur on Thursday 14th November in the school concert. We are still figuring out the characters that will be involved and our lines. This will continue next week and hopefully costumes and props begin to take shape once this is completed.

We have continued with spelling, listening to our class novel, completed a table and graph on a chosen topic for Mathematics and read about The Great Barrier Reef and answered questions about this. The children have been very curious about my adventures to Cairns including the Daintree Rainforest and The Great Barrier Reef.

On Monday we will have our first visit to Lane Cove Library for the term. This will give the children the opportunity to get some books on their chosen topic for Personal Interest Projects and our play. If there are any library books at home, please remind your child to bring them in.

Swimming will begin next Tuesday morning and continue for the remainder of the term. Please make sure your child has swimmers, hat, towel, googles and a bag for these items.

We also have camp this term occurring in Week 8 from Wednesday 4th December to Friday 6th December at Mowbray Park. Sarah and the year 3’s in her class will be attending and more details will be sent home in the coming weeks.

Last term we were so busy on the last day that we completely forgot to donate the money we raised from our stall. We donated the $418 on Tuesday through the website Save the Children. Thank you again to everyone who baked, donated items and supported our stall. From all accounts the bath bombs were a hit and the children enjoyed making these from scratch. We are all very proud of what we achieved.

Lastly if anyone could wash our class towels, please let me know.

That’s it for this week. Have an amazing weekend.

Leesa

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Wendy’s Group Week 1 Term 4

Posted on October 17, 2019 by wendyp

Welcome to Term 4 everyone! Isn’t the year going quickly!

I hope you all had wonderful holidays and feel relaxed and ready for the journey of Term 4. For all of us, of course, the class play is going to be the focus for the first five weeks. I hope you all have the concert date THURSDAY 14TH NOVEMBER in your diaries! After that, we will be getting ready for camp at Jervis Bay from Monday, 9th to Friday, 13th December, a whole week.

We will be publishing our Year 6 students’ “My Time at Currambena” pieces each week this term. We hope you’ll enjoy them! Rory is first with his in today’s Newsletter.

We’re off and running quickly this term with a couple of important things next week.

MONDAY 21ST 6:30PM JERVIS BAY MEETING If you are interested in coming along as an assistant to this camp, or hoping to visit and spend some time with us there, you must come to this meeting. There is a lot to discuss and decide. Susan will be coming with us as the second teacher and we will need at least four or five other adults with us the whole week. Some parents might like to come just for part of the week and can change places with others. I’ll send home more information about it via email.

WEDNESDAY 23RD OCTOBER We have all been invited to spend the day at Kinma for their annual Friendship Day event. There will be a program of activities including making friendship bands and both morning tea and lunch will be provided. Several other schools will join us and it is always a lovely day. We do need drivers to get us there and back so please let me know if you can help. Thank you to Shirley and Priyanka who have already offered. Parents are welcome to stay for the day or just drive us … leave school at 9:30 and pickup at 1:45 for a return by 3pm. Thanks!
Also next week we will be going to Lane Cove Pool on Tuesday afternoon. Please help your children to remember swimmers, towels, goggles and warm clotehs to walk back in. They have voted they just want to go once to this pool in Term 4 because the outside pool is not available. We are exploring other options for PE for the term and we’ll be doing a lot of swimming (we hope!) at Jervis Bay.

In class this week, as well as working on the plot for our play, we have written reflections about how we did last term and what we intend to concentrate on this term. We are finishing off our measurement topic in maths and launching straight into text books… unit 23 in both books is due this week. We are also listening to the history mini PIPs which everyone completed last term on famous Australian people as part of our history unit.

Our shared book, “The Recruit” is coming to a very exciting end and we’ll soon need to choose a new one! That’s always fun!

I have a couple of other requests this week:
1. WELDING … does anyone have a welder we could borrow to mend a desk that has a metal part sheared off? If anyone has the skill to do this, it would be greatly appreciated.
2. SEWING … a couple of our cushions are without covers and it would be great to have covers with zips that can be removed for washing.
Time spent on either of these tasks would count at maintenance hours. Thanks!

Special thanks to Jenny for washing the cushion covers we do have over the holidays!

Have a great week! Love, Wendy

PS Maintenance Day this coming Sunday. Please come and help if you can.

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PIANO, GUITAR and DOUBLE BASS?

Posted on October 17, 2019 by wendyp

Hi everyone!

Welcome back to the new term. I hope all our musicians have been having fun playing their instruments over the break!

Lessons are back into gear for most students this week… check in with your teacher if you are unsure.

We have a classical music teacher willing to teach double bass here at school. Please speak to me if you are interested in this.

Later this term, after the concert, we’ll have another performance opportunity so children can start thinking about what they’d like to play for that!

Cheers,
Wendy

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Julianna Term 4 Week 1

Posted on October 17, 2019 by juliannam

Hello everyone,

Welcome back for our final term!

Term 4 fee invoices were emailed out early this week, if you have not received please let me know. Pre-schoolers please check that we have billed you for the correct number of days and totals

Reminders:

Cake containers from 50th Birthday: there are still some containers, and plates in the second office that need to be collected please.

50th Birthday Merchandise: The following items are available in the office for purchase:

Currambena black trucker & cotton caps, Linen Tea Towels, Jute Shopping bags, Currambena logo pens, beautiful 100% silk scarves with vibrant preschool mural artwork and Currambena 2020 calendars. This   calendar has all the school dates so we will not be doing the fridge magnet calendar. Payments can be made in the office using your card on the Tap & Go device.

Travel- If you are going to be away for more than 3 days you need to fill in the travel request forms, which are in the office. This is a directive from the Department of Education

FOUND – I have a single apple wireless earphone in the office. I think it was found in the playground

  UP COMING EVENTS!

Whole school Concert at Sydney Norths Leagues Club 14th Nov

End of year community social Wednesday 18th December if a group of parents would like to organize.

Cheers Julianna

 

 

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Excursion to Canberra – Wendy’s Group Term 3

Posted on October 17, 2019 by wendyp

Students from our school have recently undertaken an education tour of the national capital. Students were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy.
The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding of $20 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate will be paid directly to the school.

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My Time at Currambena; Rory Hare

Posted on October 9, 2019 by katrinaa

             MY TIME AT CURRAMBENA

 My time at Currambena started in Sarah’s class. My first two years of school were spent at Rozelle Public School. When I had almost finished Kindergarten my Mum became the Preschool Director here. She told me lots of great stories about Currambena. I knew that I wanted to come here straight away but Mum wanted me to wait a year so she could have time to settle in first.

My first memories of Currambena are of coming to the school for one of its birthday parties before I was a student here. The first person I met was Aidan. We have the same surname! I’ve made lots of great friends Leo, Tom, Aidan, Marley, Philip, Chris, Hubert and lots of other people along the way.

I found Currambena very different from my first school. Everything was different, even the little things! At my first school I had to sit at my desk and eat before I could go outside and play and then I wasn’t allowed back into the classroom to eat if I was hungry. Here I can eat whenever I’m hungry, even during class time or while I’m playing outside. I really enjoy the freedom I get at Currambena. At my old school if I finished my work early, I had to sit and wait for the others, at Currambena I can work on other things or go outside and play. I’ve learnt a lot from other children as well. Their project presentations have taught me about things I don’t think I would have learnt anywhere else.

I’ve loved all the teachers I’ve had. I enjoyed Sarah reading to the class and helping me with my projects, I also had a lot of fun in Louise’s class. Now I’m in my second year in Wendy’s class. She’s helped me with my textbooks and my spelling. She’s taught me many things; especially how enjoyable it is to read. I’ve loved the camps and the excursions, particularly horse riding and ice skating. This year I attended the APDEC conference. I had a great time, making friends and learning about other democratic schools.

I’ll miss everyone at Currambena and hope I can come back and visit all the year 5, soon to be year 6 children as well as the teachers and everyone else. I’ll miss Currambena but am very excited about going to high school and feel ready for it.

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