Pinnacle College eNewsletter

26 August 2020

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Dear Parents, Friends and students,

Welcome to the first issue of the Term 3 Newsletter.

I will start with exciting news that is sure to delight our school community. I anticipate that many of you have seen the SOLD sign on the board of the Centacare on 48 Wandana avenue. I can proudly announce that as the Pinnacle College community, we are the new owners of the property. Now it’s time to make our plans for the refurbishment of the new school building and provide a fantastic learning environment for our students.

I am also happy to announce that the construction plans of Golden Grove secondary site are steadily advancing. We are now at stage 3 with council applications. We eagerly await the development to stage 4, which is when the construction tender will take place. Our intention is still to start the construction at the beginning of 2021 and make it available for the students’ use in early 2022.

Enrolments for 2021 are rapidly progressing this year. School tours have been taking place, and vacancies are becoming quite limited in some year levels. It is very encouraging to see this surge of interest in our school. We continue to work hard to demonstrate the excellent standard of education offered at our school, to parents and the wider community.

You are likely aware of the process when notifying the school of any concerns or issues. Just to reiterate, any issues that arise should be dealt with classroom/subject teachers and as the second step you can contact the relevant coordinators/head teachers. As the campus principal, I am more than happy to assist you once all these steps have been exhausted. Our grievance policy is readily available on our website if you require further clarification on this process.

I will conclude by leaving you with an insightful quote by renowned author Isaac Asimov.

“People think of education as something that they can finish”

Wishing you and your family all the best for the remainder of the term.

Kind Regards,
Atilla Shinik
Campus Principal

PRIMARY COORDINATOR

With a return to normality, it has been refreshing to visit our primary classrooms and support students. While we are in Term 3, there are so many faces and personalities to learn. Visiting classes is always a fantastic way to engage with students and support them in their learning. It also provides opportunities for staff to learn from each other in the way they deliver their education. With a mix of bookwork, ICTs, group discussions and buddy lessons, our junior primary classes have solved subtraction problems in maths, as well as creating their own equations to solve; our Year 2s have analysed past and present modes of transport and then reinterpreted transport for the future; the Year 6 students have supported Foundation in the writing and illustrations of an animal big book.

We have returned to an assembly with all classes and it was exciting for all classes to share what they have been doing in their classes. Sharing awards and rewarding our students was a highlight. While we continued this in our classes for the last few months, it cannot compare to the feeling of being recognised for your efforts in front of your peers!

Lastly, I’d like to thank our staff, students and parents for their efforts in the car park. The end of the day is such a busy time and with your support, our teachers are facilitating a safe environment for our students. We are grateful for everyone adopting the changes as we educate students on road safety.

Kind Regards,
Myles McLean

SCHOOL COUNSELLOR

Dear parents and guardians,

Stress is a common issue we see with our students. Although stress can be positive in small doses it can become harmful and negative if it is constantly in a heightened state. The first step towards helping your child overcome stress is to identify the source of stress. By doing this you are helping your child perform to their full potential.

Some stress signs include:

Procrastination
Lack of motivation/ Lack of interest
Irritability
Feeling overwhelmed
Anxious thoughts and feelings
Chronic worrying

Developing effective management strategies are crucial. Some of these strategies are:

Having an open discussion with your child and understanding their needs
Encouraging your child to use a study planner and a diary
Helping your child break tasks down into manageable chunks
Encouraging sleep, exercise and family time
Encouraging balance in fun activities and study time
Setting a healthy study space for them in order motivate and encourage them to study
Practicing mindfulness (https://www.smilingmind.com.au/)

Kind Regards,
Zina Almufti

CANTEEN LIST

DATES TO REMEMBER

Library

Thank you for your support with the Book Fair. We earned enough credits to get a lot of new books from Scholastics for the campus libraries. This is an important part of keeping children reading at home and the pride of owning their own books.

Book Week is in Week 6 between August 24th to August 28th. We have some very curious creatures visiting the school during the week. Friday is the celebration of the CBCA Shortlisted books. There will be the Book Week Parade in Lesson 1 and 2. Classes will then read and celebrate one or more of the Shortlisted books with other classes on their campus.

Premiers Reading Challenge will conclude on Sept 7th. The students have had all year to complete their forms. We can provide new forms if needed - just ask. 90% of the students of Pinnacle College (R-6) have completed this challenge. It is a great recognition of their reading from the Premier.

Kind Regards,
Lisa Preston
Librarian at Golden Grove and Gilles Plains

PASTORAL CARE

Dear Parents

Year 9 students have continued their after school Pastoral Care activities. Students have participated in sports, art-craft and cooking. Students have also been given ample opportunity to complete homework during sessions. On a regular basis students also continue to take part in discussions to enhance their spirituality .

During the Qurban festival, year 9 students ran ‘Fairy floss' and spider drink stalls and supported the poor and needy with their food and game stalls.

Kind Regards,
Ayse Aslan
Girls Pastoral Care Teacher

MUSIC

“Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.”
Kahlil Gibran

The Foundation students have been learning about texture in music, and have chosen instruments for specific purposes when telling different stories. In Year 1, the students have been learning to recognise and play loud and soft and high and low sounds. We used this learning to choose instruments to tell the story of the Bird and the Elephant. The Year 2s have been revising all the rhythm patterns learnt this year, and are about to recognise and play stepwise ascending and descending melodic patterns. The Year 3s and 4s have enjoyed learning how to play the ukulele. So far, we have learnt the names of the different parts of the instrument, correct posture when playing, how to tune, the names of the four strings and different ways to strum. Singing and playing together is so much fun! The topic for the Year 5 and 6 classes has been Music in the Movies. We have been learning about the purpose and use of sound effects and music in movies, music jobs in movies, composers who write music for movies, and the use of recognisable motifs. The challenge now is to compose music which matches a scene, changing such elements as the instrumentation, tempo, dynamics and texture to create the most effective music for the scene.

Keyboard Club has started again on Tuesdays at lunch time. Year 6s have been invited this semester, and there are some new members keen to learn how to play some songs on the keyboard. There are still some spaces available, so ask Mrs T for a letter if you’re in Year 6-9 and are interested.

Tracy Schache
Music Teacher

LOTE - Arabic

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Welcome back to another term. During the term, Arabic students made Eid Aladha cards. Students enjoyed writing beautiful messages in Arabic for their families. I wish you all had a great Eid and may Allah accept all our good deeds.

In year 1, we are focusing on pronouncing and writing the Arabic alphabet with short sounds. Students are learning how to join these letters to make words; they are also learning how to pronounce and write simple words..

In year 2, students are learning about body parts and are also looking at combining double vowels and long vowels when reading. The year 2 students are also learning simple grammar, for example Tanween, shddah and Alf Maqsora.

In year 3 and Year 4, students have continued with learning how to apply their goals to develop their reading fluency and comprehension, speaking and writing skills in Arabic. Year 4 students have a project about their future career and they will discuss their project in class.

Warm Regards,
Ola Abdelmonem
LOTE Teacher

LOTE - Turskish

hello,

Welcome to Term3, In this term we will put more emphasis on reading Turkish books as much as we can. It gives opportunities for students to practise their knowledge and improve their skills.

With year 1/2 class we are learning “The body Parts' ' and we did craft activity. With year 3/4 class we are learning “The Countries and Nationalities''. With year 5/6 class we are learning the “My City and My House”

Warm Regards,
Gulsum Altunkopru

FOUNDATION – GOLDEN GROVE

Welcome to Term 3. It has been so lovely to see the progress in the Foundation class so far and the maturity shown by our youngest students.

Students have been working extremely hard to further develop their Literacy skills. We are now learning more digraphs and using our phonemic awareness to read and write words that are a bit more complex. The children are developing their sentence writing skills and are now becoming more independent writers. We have been working on improving our comprehension skills where children are taking part in many ‘responding to the text’ activities. Children have been very creative with their responses! I love looking at illustrations that are detailed and well developed. We have also been very lucky to have the Year 6 class come in and listen to their buddies read.

In the health curriculum the children have loved learning about the people who help us keep safe in our community. The children have been learning about the importance of doctors, nurses, paramedics, police and firefighters and their roles out in the community. The children have enjoyed bringing their past experiences about these roles into our class discussions. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 we will be unable to visit the Fire Station but are planning another exciting excursion which will be announced very soon.

In Design and Technology, the children worked in pairs and had fun designing their emergency vehicle. Once they had decided what materials they were going to use, they then constructed a 3D version of their emergency vehicle. The children are now ready to start painting their creations, and have loved the process of designing and making their models.

Children have excelled in the subject area of Mathematics, where they have been extended to learning about numbers from 0-50. Children have been able to demonstrate the place value of random numbers and have enjoyed using the MAB blocks to demonstrate their understandings. We loved learning about ordinal numbers with many hands on learning experiences. Children have been engaged whilst learning about Statistics and Probability. We have had fun collecting data and representing our data on a whole class

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the parents for their continuous support and efforts you have given your child at home. Getting support at home does make a huge difference.

Kindest Regards,
Mrs Vokolos

YEAR 1 – GOLDEN GROVE

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

The first half of this term has been filled with many exciting learning experiences!

This term we are studying ‘Transport’ within the HASS curriculum. Students have had the opportunity to design and create their own transport systems using recyclable materials. This has allowed students to learn how transport has evolved overtime and how various modes of transport move in different environments. By independently designing and creating these systems, students were able to facilitate their mathematical, creative and engineering qualities.

In Literacy, students have been working hard to include verbs and adverbs in their procedural texts. Students have been studying the difference between adverbs, verbs, adjectives and nouns and how to use these parts of speech in their writing. All students enjoyed creating their ‘Cat in the Hat’ fruit skewers which helped facilitate our understanding of how to effectively follow a recipe and how important it is to include the correct verbs and adverbs when writing the method in a procedure. Students have also been practising using the correct tense in their sentences including past (I jumped), present ( I jump) and future ( I will jump).

In Numeracy, we having been learning about how to tell the time to the o’clock and half past, describing the duration of time using months, years, days, hours and minutes, counting back and subtracting two-digit numbers using number lines and hundred charts and identifying the attributes and names of 3D shapes.

I look forward to many more learning opportunities in Term 3! :)

Kindest Regards,
Miss Di Cola

YEAR 2 - GOLDEN GROVE

Hi parents!

We loved our excursion to the Big Rocking Horse. As part of our HASS inquiry this term, we are exploring past and present transport, technology, communication and toys. At the Big Rocking Horse, Sheryl, the toy maker, took us on a tour around the factory to show us how the wooden toys are handmade and built to last for lots of years. After the tour, we climbed the Big Rocking Horse which is over 18m tall, and got to feed the alpacas, kangaroos and ducks in the animal park. It was great to finally have an excursion after COVID cancelling our Term 1 and 2 excursions.

The students have been working very hard at home to become Multiplication Ninja Masters! A huge congratulations to Omar and Ahmed for learning ALL x12 times tables!! I am very proud. Most students have learnt their 2s, 5, 10s, 3s, 4s, 11s, and are working hard on the 6s and above. By being able to recall multiplication and division facts quickly, they were able to use these skills to help them identify fractions of numbers and groups. We are moving onto to telling the time to 5 minute intervals next week!

We have introduced coding into our technology lessons using the program Scratch. We made a cat fly on the computer like a bird and made a chase game scoring points catching an object. I have loved seeing their enthusiasm in our Technology lessons. Over the next few weeks, students will start to build their technology designs, using materials from home. These range from type writers to phones to TVs! Keep an eye peeled for the final results!

Remember to keep reading!

Kindest Regards,
Mrs Rees

YEAR 3 – GOLDEN GROVE

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

We have been lucky enough to have Miss Hill working in our classroom since the start of Term 3. This is her final practical assessment before she graduates. We wish her the very best as she moves on to teaching her own class. We will miss her happy and kind personality very much. The Year 3 class have been super busy learning this term so they have each shared one of their favourite learning moments below.

English

Aaya S. - We have been writing explanation texts focused on life cycles. I chose to write about the panda life cycle because I love pandas.

Ahmed E. - When we were writing explanation texts we used Seesaw to make our life cycle. Mine was the life cycle of a dog.

Zeina - In literacy we have been learning about passive and active voice in writing. It was lots of fun!

Tarek - I really liked painting my spelling words to learn them.

Sakeena - We learnt to write an explanation text. I wrote about the life cycle of a chicken and I learnt that a teenage chicken is called a pullet.

Daya - I really enjoyed learning how to write explanation texts and learning the life cycle of a star.

Habibulloh - We have been learning about past, present and future tense. If something is the past tense it usually has ‘ed’ on the end of the word.

Maths

Daniel - We have been learning about the split strategy for multiplication. I can do 75 x 5 easily using this strategy!

Ali J. - In maths we learned about multiplication and division.

Remzi - 72 x 2 = 144 I learnt how to do this in maths. I use doubles to solve this problem.

Science

Aya H. - We are learning about day and night. We have learnt when light is blocked by an object it makes a shadow. When you move the light the shadow moves too.

Aaliyah - At night you can’t see lots of detail, I like night because it hides the rubbish.

Fahed - In Science we are learning about day and night. It is nice at night because you can see all the lights better. You see them better because we are turned away from the sun’s light.

Marpugha - I like night because you can see the stars. The stars are still there during the day you just can’t see them because the sunlight is too bright.

Dhulfiqar - In Science we have been learning about orbits. It takes the Earth 356 days to orbit the sun.

Eisha - We are learning about shadows. When light is blocked by an object it casts a shadow behind the object. If you move the light source further away the shadow gets smaller, if you move it closer it gets bigger.

Art

Abdullah - In Art we are learning to draw like Van Gogh and we are using oil pastels to draw different lines.

Melika - We are making pictures of Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ with oil pastels. My favourite style of line was the thick dashes.

Ahmed K. - We are learning to draw Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’. We used oil pastels to colour the starry night. We used our fingers to blend the pastels. We added lots of details with thick and thin lines.

Mukesh - In Art we are making pictures. My fingers turned blue.

Lanya - We are learning about Van Gogh’s art. The ‘Starry Night’ art. We are making the same picture but everyones is different and beautiful.

Gholam - In Art we get to recreate ‘Starry Night’ I am enjoying it because you can draw with oil pastels.

SPORT

Aahil - For PE we are learning about Aussie Rules Football. We are learning how to kick the ball, drop punt and dribble kicks. We are also learning different ways to pass around the ball, hand pass and marking. We are learning about the rules of the game as well. We went to AFL Max for an excursion, we practiced our skills in a relay game and our jumps in the wipeout section and our goal kicking in the target area.

Ali R. - We are learning to play AFL and we went to AFL Max. I have learnt how to kick a football properly.

Thank you so much for all your help, communication, cooperation and assistance with the education of your child, it is much appreciated. They are such marvellous, funny, kind, intelligent little people it is a privilege to work with them.

Kind Regards,
Kylie Burton

YEAR 4 – GOLDEN GROVE

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to another term. It’s hard to believe we are already halfway through the year. Time certainly does fly when you’re having fun!

In English, the Year 4s have been busy learning about Narratives using the '7 Steps to Writing Success' program. We learnt that a Narrative typically has 60 seconds to catch the reader's attention so we tried to make our starts as 'sizzling' (exciting and descriptive) as possible. Below are a few examples:

The air suddenly turned black around me. I knew what this meant. I froze as I saw shadows in the distance. I tried to run away but I couldn't. I could feel my palms sweat and tiptoed to the back of a tree, whispering to myself, "Don't make a sound. Don't make a-" CRACK! -- By Yona

"Roar!" yelled the lion ferociously. The lion came down from the rock to hunt and eat his dinner. He was walking in the jungle and his name was Khan Shorttail. He was as fearful as a volcano erupting, as huge as a rhino and as strong as an army of 100 soldiers. -- By Ibrahim

The mist came. Frank rushed as fast as a cheetah through the forest, trying to get the enchanted book from the mad scientist. His hair was flying everywhere. His palms were sweating. -- By Aman

"No!" cried the village while a baby was yeeted. The guards couldn't do anything even though the village was the safest in the world. There was no hope until a guy yelled in a deep voice, "We have to fight, for our family and for our freedom!" -- By Daniyal

It was dark out. All of the memories from yesterday were gone. It was like I was in a coma. My legs didn't work and I was terrified. I looked around. Suddenly, I started to float in front of the door until... BANG! -- By Senay

Aside from Narratives, we have also been reading 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' by Roald Dahl. This novel has proven to be highly engaging, both in terms of content and language. We have added numerous WOW words to our 'Word Wall' and have even attempted to use them in our writing.

Our Science topic for this term is 'Rocks and Soils'. We have completed multiple experiments with soils by collecting samples and comparing them in terms of colour, density and texture. Next week, we will begin examining rocks.

In Maths, we have covered several topics, including Multiplication and Division Facts, Written Multiplication and Symmetry. Written Multiplication has been the most challenging but rewarding topic thus far (there's nothing more satisfying than solving a problem correctly!). We will revisit this topic next term when we learn about long division. Thus, students are encouraged to continue practising their times tables in preparation.

Warm regards,
Miss Mubarak

YEAR 5 – GOLDEN GROVE

ART

In Art, we are studying contemporary Aboriginal Art, We have looked at Brian Robinson’s sculptural installation artwork ‘The Custodian of the Blooms’, and students have created their own 3-dimensional blooms inspired by this work. We have also looked at artist Judy Watson and her artwork ‘String Over Water’. In her work, Watson explores ecological issues such as water sustainability. Students have Investigated ways to save water at home and at school. We are taking inspiration from this work and experimenting with dyes, watercolour and ink washes. Students have been allowing the paint to dry and have continued to add layers to their artworks. These experiments will be used as backgrounds for pen and ink drawings about a special place.

English

Procedures… public speaking… soccer… filming… what aren’t the Year 5s up to? Year 5 students have been reviewing procedures and the need to provide clear instructions with easy to manage directions (just see ‘exact instruction challenge: PB and J on YouTube). Since last term, they have been developing their speaking skills and as we couple these together, the students will film themselves completing their procedure. We will then reuse these skills later in the term as students review the class novel, Two Wolves. In PE, students have learnt the basics to soccer and are applying them in problem-based scenarios. Through a variety of simulations, students identify problems and solutions. This has then led to them organising themselves in 7-a-side competitions to great success. I look forward to seeing them in action in our class tournament later this term.

Kind Regards,
Year 5 Teachers

YEAR 6 – GOLDEN GROVE

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

-- Welcome back to Semester Two. Hope you’re all doing well! :) --
Time flies when you’re having fun, we can’t believe it’s already Term 3 and we're almost at the end of the year.

In Maths, we have been focusing on adding and subtracting fractions (unlike fractions, mixed number fractions, simplifying fractions and improper fractions). Collectively, we have spent many ways of solving questions by working in groups and doing individual practice to extend our knowledge as fractions can be tricky! We have also been doing transformations and created posters to represent translation, rotation and reflection. This was really fun as we used various materials and created patterns that visually represented our understanding of the topic - Ameerah.

In English, we’ve been focusing on debating. We were given topics such as; “the best game is, deforestation, rubbish-free zones, children being home alone and the best films”. We have been having lots of fun exploring varied opinions and ways of displaying our perspectives. This week is our last round of practicing our speeches as we will begin competitions with our team mates in the class. - Mahliya

In Science, we have been learning about Earth and natural disasters. There are 4 main cores inside Earth; the crust, the mantle, the inner core and the outer core. It’s interesting learning about Earth as we often forget what characteristics can be found on the land we live on. Likewise, it has also been fascinating learning about natural disasters as there’s so many we didn’t know of like brinicles and underwater volcanoes! - Mia

In PE, we are currently learning about soccer. We have learnt about the rules/fouls of the game and focusing on improving skills such as; trap & pass and headers. We have learnt that it’s imperative to do warm ups for our ankles, thighs, legs and arms to ensure we don’t cause any injuries while playing. In Health, we are learning about various ways of comparing and analysing advertisements. Factors such as rhetorics, slogans and jingles is what attracts audiences to certain advertisements. - Meryem

In the Arts, the Year 6 students are working towards creating an exhibition which captures our familiar surroundings (Pinnacle College) with a variety of approaches from Visual and Media Arts. Media arts involves creating representations of the world and telling stories through communications technologies. We are currently looking at artworks by the Australian New Media artists Daniel Crooks, who works in the areas of experimental photography and film. Crooks will often represent multiple views, times and places in a single image. Students have taken inspiration from his artworks and have applied it to their own art making.

The first half of the year has been filled with many achievements, we hope the remaining of the year goes smoothly for all students and families. Thank you for your ongoing support and effort in your childs’ learning.

Keep Warm & Kind Regards,
Year 6 Teachers.

YEAR 7– GOLDEN GROVE

In Art, students are creating cultural inspired masks using the medium, sculpture. Students have researched and designed a mask based on a chosen culture that they have studied. Students have been tasked with making their masks interesting by creating an expression, adding elements and exaggerating features.

In Creative Digital Media, Students have been exploring the professional drawing application Procreate. We have been using Apple pencils as part of our creative process. So far this term students have created motivational posters and have transformed photographs into cartoons. Students have experimented with; using text, colours and shading, working with line, using layers, using different brushes and importing and manipulating artworks and photographs.

Kind regards,
Miss Molly Affolter, Mrs Mungall & Mrs Maik
Year 7 Teachers

YEAR 8 – GOLDEN GROVE

Art

In Art, students are studying photography this term. We have been exploring different shots and angles. Students have explored what technically makes a good photograph and have had a go at analysing photographs using the rule of thirds. We have explored points of focus and interest, balance, composition, lighting and depth of field. Over the last two weeks we have been experimenting with still-life and abstract photography. The students have produced some beautiful photographs so far.

Sport

In the sports electives this term, at Golden Grove, the year 8/9 girls have chosen to play the sport soccer. The girls have shown a lot of effort and determination for the game, and a lot of them have exceptional skills at playing the sport! The sports elective girls have also chosen to do tag rugby for the remainder of term 3 after finishing soccer. In tag rugby the girls will be playing a normal game of rugby but instead of all the tackling they will be pulling off tags that will be on the player. Overall, the girls are enjoying the sport soccer as they improve their game every week, with dribbling, scoring goals, and improving their soccer skills too.

Fatema Mim

Kind regards,
Mrs Mungall & Mrs Maik
Year 8 Teachers

YEAR 9 – GOLDEN GROVE

In Drama Year 8 and 9 students have been busy researching and investigating different dramas to find a direction for our End of Year Performance. After weeks of collaboration and development students have decided on the musical, ‘Into The Woods’. This musical is based on different folk tales from the Brothers Grimm. We have been busy working out roles and responsibilities for all students involved in the production and performance. students have rehearsed and auditioned for roles on stage and backstage. All roles have now been cast including set, prop ,lighting, sound and costume designers.

Health and Physical Education Excursion

On Wednesday 12th August, the year 8 and 9 students participated in the 8/9 Girls 5-A-Side Soccer Carnival at Salisbury High School. The students participated enthusiastically and improved throughout the day. We had a year 8 team in division 2 who finished 4th overall and who won their finals (in a penalty shoot out!), with the help of superstar Saeeda’s striking abilities and Ilsa’s epic defence. They year 9 girls fought gallantly against tough opposition in division 1. They never gave up and won 1 of their matches. Israa, Mariam, Fariha and Sarah were the goal scorers during the day. We were very lucky the rain held off! A great day was had by all!

Science

During the first 4 weeks of Term 3, in Science classes/year 9 students have been learning ecosystems, relationships within ecosystems and methods to estimate the abundance of a particular species in an ecosystem. Students conducted two experiments by observing chlorophyll in the plant cell and celery stem/ leaves to understand how water moves up celery stems. Students outlined the role of chlorophyll in photosynthesis. At the end of the topic we have been exploring the human effect in ecosystems and effects of bushfires, floods and droughts on Australian ecosystems. For year 9 assessments students needed to complete a scientific report and also recall word and symbol equations for photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the quiz.

Kind regards,
Mrs Aslan, Miss Molly, Mrs Mungall & Mrs Maik
Year 9 Teachers

Primary – ART CLUB

To accommodate for popular demand, the Art Club is now running three days a week. It has been wonderful to see so many enthusiastic students supporting the Arts. We have begun the term exploring watercolour and have been experimenting with washes. Lower and middle Primary students are creating a mixed media picture that represents the changing of the seasons. Upper Primary and High school students are exploring techniques and materials while independently choosing the direction of their artwork. All students have begun to produce beautiful works of art.

Kind regards,
Mrs Mungall

FOUNDATION – GILLES PLAINS

Dear Parents,Caregivers and students,

Welcome to Term 3, another term of busy learning!

This term in English, students have been doing a wonderful job with incorporating their knowledge of letter sounds and tricky words, to write simple sentences. Students are enjoying learning about our new letter characters and exploring their knowledge when we use whiteboards for spelling games. Our main goal this term, is to keep persisting with listening to the sounds that words make and have a go at writing those sounds during writing time. Students have also been working on understanding the elements of a Recount and sharing about their weekends. We have had some wonderful sharing.

In Math, we began the term by looking at counting to 50, ordinal numbers and the different ways that numbers can be represented. Students really enjoyed the hands-on activities during our learning of Base 10. They worked well supporting each other in groups and when working with a partner. Our new upcoming topic is all about learning how to use a tally and collecting data. This should also be fun and engaging.

Students are really looking forward to the very exciting Book Week and Book Week Parade. The theme for this year is ‘Curious Creatures, Wild Minds’. Ms Lisa, our school librarian, has been doing a wonderful job at introducing the theme to the students and preparing some curious visitors that will be coming to our school in Week 6. I look forward to seeing what curious costumes students come dressed in to school for Book Week!

Kind Regards
Miss Victoria Makowiak

YEAR 1 – GILLES PLAINS

As expected, Term 3 is whizzing by, just like the transportation that we are learning about in HASS and Visual Art. Students have been comparing old and new forms of transportation and for fun, they used toy cars to mix primary paint colours to make secondary colours. This was definitely a favourite activity.

In English we have been learning about writing procedures, including recipes. Students wrote a procedure on ‘How to make a yummy yoghurt cup’ and then got to follow their recipe to create a delicious morning snack. There were so many delicious fruits added to their yoghurt, such as apple, mandarin, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and even blackberries!

In Maths we have just finished our unit on telling the time and duration. Students looked at a range of activities and decided how long these activities would normally take. They also learnt how to read the time to the hour and half-hour and even some challenging quarter-to and quarter-past times.

Science has also proven to be a fun favourite this term with students looking at the effects of heating and cooling on different foods. We are now beginning to think about whether the effects can be reversed or not.

We are now excited to start creating model transport systems and can’t wait to share some of these with you in our next newsletter!

Kind regards,
Mrs Sandra Holland

YEAR 2 – GILLES PLAINS

The Year 2’s had a sizzling start to Term 3 with the introduction of narrative writing in English. Students have enjoyed beating the clock to write interesting starts to their story using provided picture prompts. They have also put their acting skills to the test with students acting out strange scenarios to build their bank of sound words. These experiences have generated a lot of excitement, laughter and interesting stories, which we hope to share with you on Seesaw soon.

We are experts on push and pull forces, and we are now looking at floating and sinking in Science. The students explored push and pull on the playground and we looked at the forces we use to make everyday objects like balls and hoops to move. The students are applying their knowledge across the curriculum and have been teaching me new and exciting ‘friction magic tricks’ as their understanding grows.

This Term the Year 2’s are toy makers as they learn about past and present toys and the materials they are made from. So far we have made a running toy and an oscillating woodpecker, using everyday materials from home. The students are currently planning, designing and making string instruments which they will use to conduct an in class performance.

The students have been singing songs, playing games and working on strengthening their mental memory of the time tables. Regular practice is recommended to commit the times tables and the related division facts to memory for fast and fluent recall. Please encourage your child to practice one set of times tables per night.

Warm regards
Miss Bianca Villani

YEAR 3 – GILLES PLAINS

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Term 3!

This term, year 3 students have been looking at a range of texts that are helping them to strengthen their reading comprehension skills such as; activating prior knowledge, using self-monitoring strategies, predicting and questioning. We will continue to develop these skills for the remainder of the term, so students have a ‘toolbox’ of strategies they can activate and unconsciously use whilst reading. Students are also strengthening their skills around building upon their vocabulary, by exploring new words within the texts they are reading. We have also been working extremely hard on explanation texts; how the Sun, Moon and Earth cause day and night. As a group, the students were very excited to apply what they have learned so far in Science, across to their writing in English.

One of the highlights so far this term, was our excursion to the Adelaide Planetarium as a part of our Science unit. We gazed at the artificial night sky in the Planetarium’s dome and explored different objects in our solar system, such as the constellations and planets. We watched a simulation and learned more about how the Earth, Sun and Moon cause day and night and how the seasons change across our planet.

As you can probably tell by now, we have an overall theme this term on day and night. Take a look at our wonderful Starry Night pieces, inspired by the work of the Artist Vincent Van Gogh. We used techniques from Van Gogh and applied them to our artworks, using oil pastels. Everyone worked so hard on their pieces and they came out wonderful!

All students are super excited for Book Week and all the wonderful activities we will be doing on campus. The theme for this year is ‘Curious Creatures, Wild Minds’. I can’t wait to see all the curious creatures students come up with for their costumes!

Kind Regards,

Kind regards,
Miss Kerry

YEAR 4 – GILLES PLAINS

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to semester two, I can’t believe that we are already half way through this term! It is so good to see all the students attending school, arriving on time for class and consistently wearing the correct uniform.

This term in HASS, students have been learning about The First Fleet and European colonisation of Australia. They have been very interested in the reasons leading up to The First Fleet in England, the journey The First Fleet made and we have also been having some very interesting discussions about the impact that this had on Indigenous Australians. Everyone is looking forward to their excursion to the Maritime Museum to get a more in-depth and hands on understanding of this time in Australian history.

In Science, students have been studying the topic of Earth sciences, particularly focusing on soils, rocks and landforms. Recently we learnt about the different ways that rocks are made and students were able to sort these into their types of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. We also used magnifying glasses to examine rocks and their properties. Our next lessons will be about landforms and we will be investigating the effects of weathering and erosion.

Kind regards,
Nicole Scriven