School Newsletter Issue no. 14 - 11.8.2023
Message from the Principal
Looking At The Data:
As discussed in the last newsletter, the month of August is when schools begin to plan not only for term four, but for 2024.
Early NAPLAN Data:
The Naplan data gives us a picture of the overall cohort according to the new levels of reporting. Student names have been de-identified
Year 5
Writing Reading Spelling Grammar Numeracy
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Year 3
Writing Reading Spelling Grammar Numeracy
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Community Activities:
As we are now at the middle of the school term, there are a number of activities coming up, these being:
Sunday August 13th - Griffith Open Day at the Nathan Campus - P-6 Choir and Super Strings
Saturday August 26th - Opti mind Competition Day at Griffith Logan Campus – timetable to be
released. We have two teams competing this year.
Wednesday August 30 th - Yarranlea Colour Fun Run (if it rains it will be cancelled and held on a
a different day in the lead up to the September School Break)
EPIC Survey:
Engaging Parents In the Curriculum (EPIC) has been a three-year project for Yarranlea Primary in conjunction with Griffith University. This year we will complete the project with your input. Unlike the annual school survey, this will only have approx. eight questions. An important component is what are your thoughts about our curriculum and what you believe we could add over a period of time. While we follow the Australian Curriculum and deliver this in a themed-based unit of work, we also take into account our student and parental interests. The survey will be part of the agenda at the forthcoming P&F meeting. There will be other opportunities to give feedback on our EPIC survey which will include the Griffith Open Day and the Colour Fun Run on Wednesday, August 30th.
Working Bee:
Many thanks to those that attended our last working bee. With the new shed completed, we were able to dismantle the small shed and transfer equipmnet and resources to the new shed situated behind the junior classrooms.
Term 4, 2023- Dates For Your Calendar:
Friday - October 6th
Whole School Excursion – Jacobs Well Environmental Centre.
Friday - October 13th
Swimming Carnival- Griffith Swimming Pool with The Village School.
Wednesday, Thursday - October 18 and 19th School Musical.
Wednesday, Thursday - October 25th and 26th Prep 2024 – visiting days.
Wednesday , Thursday – November 1st and 2nd Prep 2024 – visiting days.
Friday - November 3rd Scary Dance - Whole of Community Activity
Thursday - December 9th Year 6 BBQ - Guest speakers –Being adaptable
Friday - December 1st End of Year Graduation – please note we will have a lip-sync competiton after the graduation this year.
** Our school sport will be swimming in Term 4;
this will be held on Monday afternoon **
Reflection Quote
Children are the priority
Change is the reality
Collaboration is the strategy
What's been happening
Weekly C.A.R.E.S certificates
Our students are issued with C.A.R.E.S certificates on a weekly basis as we strive to demonstrate these values.
C- Cooperation and
A - Appreciation of our environment and each other
R - Responsibility of self and resilience
E -Excellence and encouragement
S - Sharing
Congratulations to our students who received their C.A.R.E.S certificates
Dingoes NewsDesk
Hi everyone,
I hope everyone has had a lovely week! We have officially passed the halfway mark for Term 3 and there's still plenty of learning to come!
Literacy
Students have continued to refine their graphic design skills on Canva this week. As part of our information reports, students are creating a brochure on a selected Australian town or city and it's water use. We have been looking at how to find credible websites and fact-checking our information that we use on online. In their brochures, students have added tables of information containing the average rainfall per a month for the town or city. We compared how some areas have a vast difference in rainfall and which months typically recieved more rain. I am very impressed at their skillset using Canva and I can't wait to share their finalised brochures!
Basketball Stars
The Dingoes have been practicing their basketball skills this Term, which our coaches Mr C and Mr Roussos helping out. They have been focusing on dribbling skills, hand-eye coordination and general fitness. It has been great to watch them improve each week!
Stories from Abroad!
We were very happy to welcome Magnus back to the Dingoes class last week as he arrived from from an exciting overseas trip.
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Kookaburras NewsDesk
Greetings Kookaburra
Families
Morning Tea Storybook Reads:
We will be continuing our class storybook reads at Morning Tea time this term. Should you or a Grandparent like to come in and perform a storybook read, please reach out and email me with some dates that work for you, and I will slot you in. Morning Tea is at 10:15-10:30 am, and parents have usually gotten through 2 storybooks with questions from the students in this time frame.
Some of our wonderful class Mums with their daughters and chosen books (they were all a massive HIT!)
LITERACY
Following on with our learning of INFORMATION REPORTS for this term, we have been focusing on what the MAIN IDEA of a text is and how we can find this out. When teaching this age group, pictures and age appropriate real world connections are a great way to cement the idea of a topic. To consolidate the "Main Idea" concept, we used the idea of a PIZZA - the main idea is of course the PIZZA and all of the tiny details (toppings) help us determine what the main idea is... without the toppings... it would be just..... bread? ;)
BASKETBALL:
This term our school sport is Basketball. Mr C is our coach, and this occurs on a Friday afternoon each week over in Griffith University's Sports Hall. So far, the Kookaburra's have been focusing on hand eye coordination by learning ball skills, dribbling and shooting. May I just say how impressed both Mr C and I were at their ability to not only have a go and try new things, but by their overall level of skill for this sport in just the first two weeks! Please see below a few action SHOTS from our basketball lessons so far.
SHOW AND SHARE:
Show and Share is still going strong! Please find below some photos of our recent Show and Share moments!
CLASS TALLY TIME:
Every tally earned for working together is an extra minute of play on a Friday afternoon. Last week we used 10 minutes of our class tally time out on the oval. Some of the class decided to hold a "GYMNASTICS SHOW" during this time, showcasing all of their gymnastics skills and essentially "Showing Miss W how it is done"!
DANCE:
The time has come for us to start choreographing and learning our Scary Dance routine! Last week on WEDNESDAY (hint hint).. we decided on our dance song (which is a very timely and current song), and assigned our line positions. Learning our routine will be a slow and steady process, but we can't wait for you all to see what we come up with for our annual Scary Dance event next term!
HOLIDAY SHOW AND SHARE:
On Friday afternoon of last week, fellow peer Magnus (from the Dingoes group) was kind enough to come down to the Puggle and Kookaburra rooms to give us a 30 minute Show and Share of his recent 6 week holiday to Europe. Magnus created a beautiful PowerPoint slideshow containing pictures and heartfelt moments he captured on his travels. There was not one word written on any slide, but Magnus spoke through every photo and detailed a lot of history in his recount of his holiday. Magnus kept the children's attention for the WHOLE time which is a true testament to his presentation ability. Well done MAGGY!!
"Happiness is seeing the smile on a child's face as they learn"
Puggles NewsDesk
Hello wonderful Puggle Families,
Maths
This week our Prep students have been learning about patterns. The children have loved listening to Pump Up the Pattern (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoFhVdYsmPg) and making patterns using blocks, shapes, and fruit loops.
The Year 1 Students have continued their investigation of measurement. This week we learned to measure, order, and compare the masses of objects using non-standard units.
HASS
This week the Year 1 Students were learning about recycling. The students went outside and sicovered what could and couldn't be recycled.
If you have any photos of your child recycling at home, we would love for you to send them in to add to our class photo wall!
Growth Mindset
This fortnight we have been focusing on having a growth mindset. The Puggles learned about the power of yet and what happens when we talk positively to ourselves.
Show and Share
Parent Story Book Reads
Thank you to all our wonderful Puggle families for coming in and reading a story. The children have loved listening and learning with you. If any other Puggle family member would like to pop in for a story please let me know your availability.
Happy Snaps!
Music and More
Hi Parents!
Optiminds Day is Saturday 26th August at Logan Campus of Griffith University. We will be advised of the exact time shortly. Just a reminder that students need to wear all black to this event. Costumes and props will need to be brought also. Parents and families are welcome to watch the Long Term Challenge. However, the Spontaneous Challenge is for judges only. Please see list below of allowable items that students may use for their costuming and props.
Griffith Open Day is this Sunday 13th August! Super Strings will need to be at Nathan Campus by 11.30am with instruments and music.
Whole school choir needs to meet at 12.30pm.
Please wear school uniform without hat.
Thankyou so much!
OSHC News
"If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours." ............ Dolly Parton
The OSHC area is looking very spick and span, with the new flooring being a wonderful addition, keeping the undercover area free from leaves and dust. Now with the additon of further covered lanes in the forest area and with the removal of some trees this has given us a fantastic light and airy area.
Vacation Care program will be emailed to all families on Monday.
WHAT'S COOKIN? AFTERNOON TEA - After School Care HITS!!!
Vegan Chocolate Brownies
Easy Baked Ziti
If you have a favourite recipe you would like to share with our families, please forward to me so that I can include in our newsletter.
TEN PIN BOWLING
Welcome to a fantastic round of bowling from Yarranlea Juniors as we continue to learn the sport of bowling. We had some fantastic games over average with Sylvester bowling 57 pins over his average with a score of 121. Well Done Sylvester, keep it up!!!
The juniors are really trying hard each week to try new skills and obtain there personal best scores. I have been bringing in various items for the children to view and obtain ideas for their bowling shirts - printing soon - as well as some of the old school patches I obtained when I was in league. I have also been recapping on the importance of 'giving way' on the lanes during league play.
Just a heads up on the 'STAR OF THE WEEK' each week, when the children recieve their certrificate there is a practice game on the bottom of the award to use at any centre with no cost to parents for the children to bowl 1 game. So lets use those vouchers before they expire. What a great way to have some practice.
...... Coach Graeme ..
A WEEK IN AFTER SCHOOL CARE
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLE – AUGUST 9
The theme for this year is ‘Indigenous Youth as Agents of Change for Self-determination.’
Indigenous Peoples have an equal right to govern themselves, equal to all other Peoples. Indigenous youth are playing an active role in exercising their right to self-determination, as their future depends on the decisions that are made today.
TRY A NEW FOOD
Did you know children need to be offered a new food as many as 10-15 times before they will eat it. Sometimes we can
get into a routine and perhaps a little worn down on refusal so we stop offering the new foods. Try some of these tips to get
New foods back on the menu:
Buy new food regularly: If you want your kids to try new foods, you have to make them available in the house. If you never buy broccoli, they’re not going to eat it. But if you buy it regularly and put it on their plate (even if they don’t eat it), they will become more familiar with it and may be more likely to try it down the road.
Grown your own food: Gardening is a great way to get kids interested in trying new foods. When they see the food growing and then get to harvest it, they’re much more likely to be excited about trying it.
Talk about taste & ingredients: Educate your kids about family recipes and traditions, whether they are complicated heirloom recipes, making scrambled eggs every Sunday, or memorable meals your family has shared. Read more here.
LANDFILL EXPERIMENT
Today, an estimated one-third of all the food produced in the world goes to waste. That’s equal to about 1.3 billion tons. About 6%-8% of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced if we stop wasting food.
Try this experiment and show children what happens when food scraps are just thrown in the bin . Have kids place food scraps in a bottle of water before placing a balloon on the end and leaving it out in the sun for 7+ days. Kids can observe the gas produced as the food decomposes in a landfill-like environment.