29 September 2020

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Dear all,

It has been a very fast paced term for everyone amid the COVID pandemic. So far, we have been very lucky compared to other states and I hope this blessing will continue for the rest of the year. It’s vitally important to have the students on site for various reasons from the educational perspective all the way to the emotional well-beings of our students and parents. We would like to use these favourable conditions in our advantage and so far, it has been the case.

In my previous principal newsletter message, I have talked about the purchase of the new site. We have taken another step in the development of this new site and the refurbishment will start in a few weeks of time. Hopefully we will be using the new building at the beginning of 2021. According to our recent plans, the site will contain 3 classrooms and a multipurpose room that can be used for art, STEM and many other purposes. The uniform shop will also be serving in the new building. With these new facilities, Pinnacle College will be providing a better service to our community and students.

Pinnacle Talks have been successfully commenced this term. On 17th of September, Mr David Speirs, Minister of Environment and Water was at Golden Grove Campus for a speech about environment awareness to our students. Minister was accompanied by Mrs Paula Luthen MP, member for King during this visit. Our students greatly benefited from a very informative and insightful talk regarding being environmentally friendly and protecting our lands. We greatly appreciate their visit and sparing time for the students of Pinnacle College.

Finally, I would like to wish everyone a safe and enjoyable term holiday. Looking forward to seeing you all next term in great spirit.

Kind Regards,
Atilla Shinik
Campus Principal

PRIMARY COORDINATOR

The holidays are a great time to unwind from the ‘push’ of the schooling weeks, as well as some much deserved time with family and friends. This recharge allows us to have a fresh start for when we return to school. Term 4 is always a busy time as many of the year’s events are still with us and we complete our final assessments all the while seeing the finish line not far out of reach. To assist with a smooth return to school, here are some tips to stay sharp during the break:

Read, Read, Read

As your child reads, it will create new neural pathways, as well as strengthen existing ones! According to the 2015 Scholastic reading Report, on average, children who read over 20 minutes a day scored above the 90th percentile on standardised reading tests.

Take a Technology Vacation

Consider banning your smartphone and other devices from the bedroom. This small nightly break from technology can lead to improved sleep, cognitive function and communication skills.

Exercise Your Brain

Brain games are designed to help keep your brain sharp. They are designed to help you sharpen your problem solving skills, discover patterns, and reach goals are extremely effective for brain enhancement.

Move, Move, Move

Whether it’s a game of rigorous tag with your mates or a nice jog around the block, physical activity allows for increased fuel delivery to the brain. Exercise also strengthens the connections between nerve cells and decreases the harmful effects of stress on the brain.

Kind Regards,
Myles McLean

Secondary Coordinator

Dear parents, caregivers and members of our school community,

Term Three has been busy as we found our way back to a feeling of normalcy. Students have shown resilience and dedication to their learning.

Throughout the term, we have placed emphasis on Literacy and reading, with students participating in the Premier’s Reading Challenge. Reading is instrumental in the academic development of students and thus, we encourage all learners to read for 10 minutes a day, every day.

Our focus has not only been on the learning of our students; anticipation has been building as our Secondary Sports Day approaches. The event is combined with our Elizabeth East campus and provides us with the opportunity to join our students as one school. While we do encourage students to strive for academic excellence, we appreciate any opportunity to recognise the co-curricular achievements of our students. The House Captains have demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities as they have been preparing the students for the upcoming event.

I would like to remind all parents that next term, students are expected to be in their summer school uniform. We actively practice sun safety, so a school hat is required during recess and lunch.’

As we wind down for the term, we encourage all children and their families to take the time to rest; Term Four will be a busy one, filled with many school activities and preparations for 2021.

Kind Regards,
Emilia Triantafilakis

Community Engagement Events at Golden Grove Campus

Interfaith Celebration of International Day of Peace

Pinnacle College/McYess Ltd and Multifaith SA hosted an interfaith Celebration of International Day of Peace at Elizabeth East campus. 85 people from 20 diverse communities, faiths and organizations shared inspiration about how we can shape peace together. 2020 Theme 'Shaping Peace Together' through speakers covered reconciliation, peace, social harmony and making peace with the Earth. Our school showed leadership bringing together many voices to speak about peace. Two international organizations ‘Living the Change and GreenFaith’ supported the program.

• Uncle Allen Edwards Snr spoke on Reconciliation in Australia and signs of hope emerging from new dialogue between First Nations and recent settlers in this ancient land, building respect by sharing stories from the heart.
• Dr Nadeem Memon of the UniSA Centre of Islamic Thought & Education shared a deeply personal & engaging journey with cultural awareness and social harmony
• Philippa Rowland, President of Multifaith SA encouraged all to make Peace with the Earth by living the change and taking swift action on climate change in personal & powerful ways

Pinnacle TALKS

Pinnacle College Golden Grove Campus has officially started Pinnacle TALKS. We hosted the Hon David Speirs (The Minister for Environment and Water) and Mrs Paula Luethen (MP for King). We would like to thank the Hon David Speirs and Mrs Paula Luethen for their inspiring and informative speeches on Environment and Social Cohesion. The Minister also talked about Environment and new regulations as well.

Noah’s Pudding (Asure)

Noah's pudding (Asure? was celebrated. Pinnacle College and McYess collaborated with two Uniting Churches (Para Hills and Modbury). It was a great opportunity for us to connect with faith leaders and local people as well as sharing our stories. Around 55 people attended the event.

Kind Regards,
Dr Mehmet Aslan
Community Engagement Manager

SCHOOL COUNSELLOR

Dear parents and guardians,

On the 10th of September our school celebrated R U OK? Day. R U OK day is a national day of action dedicated to reminding everyone that everyday is the day to ask, "Are you OK?" and support those struggling with life's ups and downs.

Staying connected and having meaningful conversations is something we can all do. So, if you notice someone who might be struggling - start a conversation, be a good friend and a great listener.

Kind Regards,
Zina Almufti

School Noticeboard

Library

The Library has been very exciting this term. Even though there were no parents on site for the Book Fair it was a great success with over $500 of new books for the library. Thank you to all the staff members who helped out especially Donna and Miss Mungall who coordinated all the fantastic decorations. Book week with the theme Curious Creatures, Wild Minds was amazing with a visit from Wilbur’s Wildlife including some very interesting animals. The reading of shortlist books and crafts is always a lot of fun for the primary students.

We are running a book week competition – to be completed by the end of week 1 – term 4. It would be fantastic if students could get creative over the school holidays.

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

Spelling Bee

In Week 10, the Year 4s, 5s and 6s came together for the inaugural Spelling Bee. After competing in separate classes, the Top 5 of each class competed in front of their peers in the gym to determine the overall winner! Miss Mubarak, Miss Sawafta and Mr McLean would like to once again congratulate all the students for competing and a special congratulations to Meryem in Year 6 for winning. We look forward to celebrating our students next year, as well as at other academic events in Term 4 and early next year.

Year 4, 5 and 6 Teachers

Art Club

Students have had great fun this term exploring different mediums. We have enjoyed painting and creating with mixed media. Younger students enjoyed creating Fathers Day images to surprise dad. These images were then printed onto mugs. Older students have used glass paint to create colourful candle jars. Over the last couple of weeks we have made scratch boards and have been creating colourful artworks. We have also had some fun making shimmering slime to take home for the holidays. Have a wonderful break. I look forward to seeing you refreshed next term for more creative and crafty arty projects.

Kind Regards,
Jocelyn Mungall

PASTORAL CARE

Dear Parents/Caregivers

We are about to complete another busy term. As a Pastoral Care team we have organised a half day reading and excursion program in Week 9 and Week 10. Students are looking for these days and enjoy their time with their peers.

Also, during after school sessions, students had productive study sessions and activity sessions such as cooking, sports and embroidery making. We are looking forward to continuing our programs throughout the year.

On the 23rd of September, the year 9 girls hosted a Karaoke night to raise funds for the Cataract project in developing countries. The high students really enjoyed the night. Cataract is clouding of the eye lens and it leads to decrease or total loss in vision. The World Health Organisation (WHO) identifies cataract as the single most important cause of blindness in the world today. The girls raised over $500; making the karaoke night a success for both the girls and the Cataract patients. If you would like to donate to support our project, please contact Australian Relief Organisation (ARO) or the Pinnacle College PC department.

Kind Regards
Ayse Aslan & Gulsum Altunkopru
Girls Pastoral Care Teacher

MUSIC

Gallery Title: Music - Gilles Plains

“Sometimes music is the only thing that takes your mind off everything else.”

In Foundation, we have been choosing sounds which have helped us to tell stories such as Tiddalik (an Aboriginal Dreaming story) and The Awongalema Tree (a traditional story from Zambia).

The Year 1s have been learning about fast and slow through movement, singing and playing. We told the story of The Old Grey Cat, playing the fast and slow sounds and acting out the story. Dances like the Chicken Dance are also lots of fun and they really make us listen when they slow down and then gradually get faster and faster.

In Year 2 we have played ascending and descending melodic patterns on chime bars, glockenspiels, xylophones and metallophones. We combined these melodies with other instrument sounds to create a Soundscape including a thunderstorm, rain, stream, river and waterfall. The Year 2s at Gilles Plains also made musical instruments in Art and brought them to their Music lesson to show me! I just love seeing the children integrate their learning across different subject areas!

The Year 3s and 4s have continued on their journey of learning how to play the ukulele. Most recently, we have learnt how to number the fingers on the left hand to play the C chord and the Am chord for songs such as Umbalayo, Obwisana (a traditional song from Ghana), Funga Alafia (a traditional song from Nigeria) and Mumma Warruno (a traditional Aboriginal Lullaby). Hearing the children sing while they play is a true joy!

Years 5 and 6 continued looking at different aspects of Music in the Movies, focussing on foley effects. They needed to create the sound effects for a short animated film called Peck Pocketed, finding ways to make sounds that would match the different elements in the film, as well as trying to time the effects to match the action. We finished the term by looking at Mickey-Mousing, which is often used in cartoons or comedy films.

A small group of dedicated students in Years 6 and 7 have come to Keyboard Club during Tuesday lunchtimes and have been learning to play Beethoven’s Fur Elise and Moonlight Sonata and Yiruma’s River Flows In You.

As we come to a well-earned holiday break, I encourage you to look for opportunities to enjoy, create, and appreciate the music that is all around us. I just love birdsong at this time of year!

Tracy Schache
Music Teacher

LOTE - Arabic

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Year 1 Arabic

In term 3, the year 1 Arabic class continued with their Arabic learning at an introductory level with a focus on Reading. We learnt about the concepts of Madd (long vowels) and Tanween (Double vowels). We combined previous learning of Alphabets and single vowels with newly acquired learning. Towards the end of the term, students were introduced to Sukoon and Shadda (Diacritics) written on top of consonants each with its specific function.

Year 3/4 Standard Arabic

The 3/4 Standard Arabic class has been going over vocabulary pertaining to Home/School environment and common objects. Main prepositions were revisited as well as masculine and feminine forms of nouns. We also started learning about posing and responding to closed ended questions as well as definite vs indefinite articles in nouns and their varying forms. Students also learnt about possessive pronouns and vocabulary denoting possession.

Warm Regards,
Mahmoud Hassan
LOTE Teacher

LOTE - Primary Turkish

Merhaba

This term gave us opportunities to implement new learning strategies such as art craft and outside reading circles. Year 3 and 4 students enjoyed the weather while they were reading Turkish story books outside. We hope to continue more productive activities in next term.

Enjoy your Term 3 break!

Warm Regards,
Gulsum Altunkopru

FOUNDATION – GOLDEN GROVE

I cannot believe we are at the end of yet another term. Students have shown their maturity and growth as individuals. I would like to congratulate my class on their excellent progress and efforts they have demonstrated throughout the term.

I am so pleased with how they are progressing within the English Curriculum. The children are now becoming more confident when writing independently and their bookwork is surprising me each and every day. Their concentration skills are developing and am amazed at how far they have all come compared to the beginning of the year.

The children are loving the different topics within our Mathematics Curriculum. We have expanded our knowledge on numbers from 0-50 and now the children are now looking forward to learning numbers from 0-100. We have explored Statistics and Probability and the children loved collecting data on various themes and creating their very own bar graphs. Children demonstrated their fantastic adding skills by using different methods. Children enjoyed using concrete materials to add, using the ‘adding on method’ or even using their fingers. It is so lovely to see that each individual child understood the concept of adding but all used their preferred method in order to solve problems.

We also had an exciting opportunity arise this term, the Foundation class together with the Year 1 class went on an excursion to the ACPA Dance Academy. Students had the opportunity to use their beat and rhythm skills and various dance and movement activities.

I am very excited to provide more learning experiences for Term 4 and will be a very busy term with getting students ready for Year 1. To continue your child’s learning please ensure they complete Reading Eggs, Mathseeds, tricky words, reader and holiday homework booklets. Most importantly, have a restful break and will see you all back in the last term of the year.

Kindest Regards,
Mrs Vokolos

YEAR 1 – GOLDEN GROVE

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

How quickly term 3 has come to an end! What an eventful term it has been!

Students enjoyed creating their own transport systems in HASS this term. Students learnt how to design and plan their transport system by identifying what recyclable materials and equipment they needed as well as the steps they were going to follow to create their system. This allowed students to consolidate their understanding of procedural writing. This also provided students with a great opportunity to explore their technological skills and extend their creative abilities. Students' final products were fantastic!

In Numeracy, we have been learning how to collate data by asking the appropriate questions and creating a graph to represent our findings. Students enjoyed investigating what the most popular playground equipment was in our class and the foundation class then comparing the results. We have also developed our ability to identify patterns in numbers when counting by 2’s, 5’s, 10’s and 3’s and identifying the attributes of various 3D shapes.

One of the many highlights this term was our excursion to ACPA Dance studio and Bonython Park! Students had the opportunity to learn a dance routine and practice a variety of dance movements and techniques. Students enjoyed eating their lunch packs at Bonython Park, playing on the adventure playground and celebrating all their hard work throughout the term.

I look forward to many more learning opportunities in term 4! Students should complete Reading Eggs and Math Seeds activities online during the school break as well as complete their holiday homework to ensure their brains keep active in preparation for year 2!

Enjoy a well-deserved break!

Kindest Regards,
Miss Di Cola

YEAR 2 - GOLDEN GROVE

Hi parents!

The students had a fantastic term in Numeracy. They started off with great enthusiasm and confidence learning their times tables, and this continued into telling the time and flips, slides and turns. Next term we'll be focussing on money and using change! We have also started to look at some NAPLAN style worded questions involving two steps. This has proved quite tricky for the students, so I have included it in their holiday homework.

The students finished their HASS projects and they turned out very well. We saw lots of old telephones, typewriters, game boys and black and white televisions. We definitely need to work on our arts and crafts skills, as we had some difficulty keeping our projects neat! However, we presented them at assembly and everyone loved them!

As you will have seen on Seesaw, we have been invited to the Year 3 Zoo Snooze at the Adelaide Zoo on the 7th December! The students will get to explore around the zoo when it is shut to the public and go for a nighttime walk around the Zoo! The cost of the overnight camp is $85, you can pay a deposit of $25 and pay the remaining amount in November. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me via Seesaw.

I have given the students a few extra homework booklets for the holidays. Some of these include addition and subtraction column methods and reading comprehensions. Remember to keep reading!

Kindest Regards,
Mrs Rees

YEAR 3 – GOLDEN GROVE

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

English -

In English we have been learning about information reports, we had to pick a topic and research our plan. When we got to the final copy we edited our work as well as choosing to write it on Seesaw, paper or in a word document. We also have been doing literacy rotations and we are doing different literacy activities every morning. These activities were grammar, comprehension, handwriting and guided reading groups. We are in groups with special names, Sapling, Leaf, Blossom and Gumnut.

By Eisha Sajeer

HASS -

In HASS we learnt about Australia’s neighbouring countries, they are close to Australia eg. Vanuatu, Samoa, New Caledonia, Fiji and Indonesia. There are more but these are some we could choose from. We had to research the country we picked, then we presented it on a poster.

By Eisha Sajeer

Maths -

In Maths we have been learning about different types of collecting data. We have been learning our times tables. We learnt about different types of graphs like column graphs and picture graphs. Our year 3 class has been learning about the y-axis and the x-axis.

By Zeina Alhajomar

P.E.

In P.E. We have been learning about how to kick a football. We went to AFL Max because it was related to football. We learnt to handball the ball to other people. We have also been playing modified soccer. We have also learnt how to pass and kick a soccer ball between cones.

By Zeina Alhajomar

Science -

In Science we are learning about day and night, shadows and how the earth orbits the sun and how the moon orbits the earth. In the day time the stars are still in the sky we just can’t see them because of the sunlight.

By Marpugha Mavlan

Technology -

Our year 3 class have been talking about whether technology is a friend or a foe. We have also been learning about occupations that use technology and occupations that don’t. We looked at some types of technology in 1800, 1852, 1900 and 1953.

By Marpugha Mavlan

Health-

We have been learning about cyber safety. We now know that we have to be careful online and don’t share pictures of our faces. Don’t share your address, email and other private information.

By Marpagha Mavlan

Kind Regards,
Kylie Burton

YEAR 4 – GOLDEN GROVE

Dear Parents,

So much has happened since our last newsletter, it’s hard to know where to begin…

We celebrated Book Week, Science Week, R U OK? Day and even took an excursion to the SA Maritime Museum. Students thoroughly enjoyed all experiences, particularly our excursion as it allowed us to cement our knowledge of the First Fleet, a topic we’ve been learning about in both HASS and Drama.

In English, we’ve completed our unit on Narratives and moved onto Poetry. We examined poetic devices, such as alliteration, onomatopoeia, similes, metaphors, personification and rhyme schemes, before writing our own poems. Below are two of our many fantastic pieces:

‘The Atlantic Ocean’ by Shaheer

Within the water,
Having so much erosion.
Possibly holding Atlantis,
Is the Atlantic Ocean.
Next to Europe,
The fancy place for living,
The Atlantic Ocean,
Is the perfect place for swimming!
Deep beautiful blue,
Fish-carrying fame.
Could hold a lost city,
That goes by its name.
Everyday water,
Sadly, no tropical islands.
But look on the bright side,
At least, there’s no pythons!

‘My Siblings’ by Firdaus

I do my homework unlike my brother,
When I finish, he doesn’t bother.
I push him around but he doesn’t care,
It’s so annoying that it’s not fair.
I fight with my brother all the time,
I always get in trouble but he is fine.
I fight with my brother day to night,
All until the next fortnight.
All my siblings are annoying like me,
If you come to my house, then you will see.
I have to deal with this all the time,
Because all my siblings just don’t shine.

In Maths, we have completed our units on time, volume and capacity, fractions and decimals, and problem solving. Students are encouraged to continue practising these concepts over the holidays.

Until next term, I wish you all a relaxing, enjoyable holiday.

Take care,
Miss Mubarak

YEAR 5 – GOLDEN GROVE

LOTE (Arabic):

The term's learning focused on connected/disconnected pronouns in both singular and plural forms. This was followed by an exposure to 'Interrogative words' and how to correctly pose and answer questions. We also learnt about 'Adverbs of Time' and their use in meaningful sentences. We read various texts that focused on social interactions, time and places and translations were provided for these texts. Students wrapped up this term by learning to change singular Subjects to plural form and understanding how sentence structures change accordingly.

Kind Regards,
Year 5 Teachers

YEAR 6 – GOLDEN GROVE

Music: We continued looking at different aspects of Music in the Movies, focussing on foley effects. They needed to create the sound effects for a short animated film called Peck Pocketed, finding ways to make sounds that would match the different elements in the film, as well as trying to time the effects to match the action. We finished the term by looking at Mickey-Mousing, which is often used in cartoons or comedy films.

Kind Regards,
Year 6 Teachers.

YEAR 7– GOLDEN GROVE

Humanities

Throughout this term, during our Humanities lessons we have been learning about Valuing and Managing Water. Subtopics we learnt based on this topic include the importance of water, challenges of managing water, water scarcity, managing water in Australia’s biggest cities and floods in Australia.

While investigating these topics, we learnt many interesting new facts. For example, did you know only 2.5% of the world’s water is safe for us to use, despite the Earth’s surface being covered in it? And did you know every Australian is responsible for using more than 1 million litres of water per year? We read detailed descriptions of everything, then answered multiple chapter questions regarding them.

Other things we learnt were how to read a weather map, how to detect changes over time and interpret satellite images, as well as understanding flow maps that show movement of things from one place to another.

By Mahum Numan Khattak,
Year 7A

This term in our humanities lesson we have been learning about water. Throughout these lessons it has become clear to us how important water is. Water is formed by the processes of evaporation, condensation and precipitation. 2.5% of the world's water is freshwater, available for us to use. There are some water poor countries and some water rich. Did you know that Australia is considered water poor? The wettest region of Australia is an area in Tasmania. One of the many benefits of water is that it connects places and people. On the negative side, water in all its states can cause serious problems and damage in different places. Here is one more interesting fact for you: The Amazon river carries the most water with a discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined. It has been really fun learning about water this term, we learnt a lot of interesting facts and some ways to manage water scarcity in our homes.

By Nada Al Balawi
Year 7A

In Humanities this term, we have learnt how to manage and value water. Water is a very important resource and, fun fact, we can only survive without water for one week maximum. Our wonderful teacher, Miss Molly, has educated us on how to not waste water by having short showers and implementing showerheads that only use 9 litres of water per minute, while the usual showerheads use up to 20 litre per minute. This is a very efficient way to save water. We also studied about water scarcity and the impacts of floods. Did you know, Africa is the country that faces the most water scarcity? This is because they have a huge population but they have a low and unreliable rainfall. Floods can really affect places and can leave the place in a very devastating situation. The largest flood that has ever happened in Australia is in New South Wales in the year 1852. There was a lot of damage and it killed nearly 100 people.

By Zoha Rafeek
Year 7B

In Art, the Year 7 students have been busy creating sculptural masks that have cultural influences. Students have worked with plaster cast and paper mache to add elements, create expression and exaggerate features. Over the last couple of weeks students have been busy painting and embellishing their masks with feather, leaves, gems and lace. They have turned out great and the art work produced is of a very high standard.

In CDM, The Year 7s have been busy learning to create an animated visual metaphor using the application Procreate. Students have enjoyed using the Apple pencils over the term to design and create digital artworks. We have also compared traditional and modern advertising and discussed the effectiveness and impact of both.

On Tuesday the 22 September, some of the year 7, 8 and 9 students went to the IceArenA as part of the Sports Elective. Please enjoy some fun pictures of them on the day.

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

YEAR 8 – GOLDEN GROVE

On Tuesday the 22 September, some of the year 7, 8 and 9 students went to the IceArenA as part of the Sports Elective. During their SEPEP unit, students have been running their own soccer and dodgeball tournaments and completed individual roles and responsibilities in committees to ensure the success of the tournaments. The Presentations and Social Committee organised to go ice skating as their ‘end of season’ presentation. Congratulations on a brilliant ‘season’ girls and what a fun way to end the sports elective. Well done! A huge thank you to Mrs Maik and Mutia for helping out.

In Drama, students have been very busy developing our performance for our end of year production of ‘Into the Woods’. Costumes have started to arrive and rehearsals are going well. Our talented back stage and production crew have created a scale model of the set and have begun crafting props for the actors to use.

The Year 8 Students were also very helpful with this Year's Book Week. Drama students Fatima and Rouaa were MCs for the event and did a great job of staying in character throughout the program. Thank you to all the students who came in costume as curious creatures and helped out with the primary rotations. The younger students really enjoyed your support. As part of Book Week the senior students also enjoyed an excursion by Wilburs Wildlife where we were able to learn about Australian animals and reptiles.

In Art, students have enjoyed studying photography this term and have created an impressive body of work that will be displayed in the classroom. Students have explored many different types of photography over the term including; still life, abstract, forced perspective, illusion and portrait.

Kind regards,
Miss Molly , Mrs Mungall & Mrs Maik
Year 8 Teachers

YEAR 9 – GOLDEN GROVE

Sports Day and HPE

On the 24th September all secondary from both Golden Grove and Elizabeth took part in yet another successful Sports Day at Rundle Reserve. Students had been practicing the events in their HPE lessons leading up to Sports Day. There were many great costumes, colours, laughter and records broken. Congratulations to all age groups, events and house winners!

The year 9 students also went to the IceArenA as part of the Sports Elective. Please enjoy some fun pictures of them on the day!

In science, we have been working with the flow of energy, matter and waves during our Science experiments this term and we have discovered many amazing things. We have conducted experiments on "law of reflection", how light bent on different mirrors and lenses and investigated different types of waves and energy transmission. It can be tricky to think about the rules of light and how we see when it is such a natural, often assumed gift.

Well done to all the students for doing an amazing job on their research task. Students completed their models where they planned and constructed a model of spacecraft that will be able to provide life support for 80 colonists for their twenty-year journey to the exoplanet XY2305. It was fantastic to see most of the students engaged and participate in the experiments and research projects collaboratively.

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

FOUNDATION – GILLES PLAINS

Dear Parents,Caregivers and students,

What a busy term it has been! Some of the many highlights students have had the chance to experience have included Book Week, R U OK? Day and the making of gifts for Father’s Day.

Our most recent highlight of this term, has been our baking experience. Students got right into the zone of things with the washing of their hands, putting on their aprons and chef hats and ready to learn the yummy trade of making cookies with Ms Jessica. Students did a fantastic job at mixing their ingredients, rolling fondant and even cracking an egg straight into their bowls. Wow!

In the classroom, students have done a wonderful job with their recount writing. Each week they persisted with including what a recount needs to have and completed their final recounts for the term, very well. Students have also been progressing with their tricky words, knowledge of letter sounds and general spelling.

In Math, we have covered numbers to 50, addition, collecting data and hefting. Students have been working on the concepts of counting on, using the ten frame and number lines, as different strategies, to help with working out number questions. Collecting data was one of the favourite topics, as students got to ask and answer questions on different topics.

Students have had one very busy term and deserve time to rest, rejuvenate and play. Working on daily reading along with Reading Eggs and Mathseeds is encouraged. Thank you Foundation students and parents for a wonderful term and I look forward to seeing you all ready for a big Term 4!

Kind Regards

Miss Victoria Makowiak
Gallery Title: Foundation - Gilles Plains

YEAR 1 – GILLES PLAINS

The end of Term 3 is now upon us and we certainly packed a lot of learning into the term.

A fun end of term activity to complete our English unit on procedure writing and changes in Science, students participated in an engaging cooking incursion run by the fabulous Jess at Cook ‘n’ Create. Students were turned into little master chefs, complete with aprons and hats and baked delicious and creative biscuits, all while learning about mixtures and irreversible changes.

Students also got to tap into their creative side for Mathematics, Design and Technology and HASS this term. In Maths, students created a robot made from 3D objects that they coloured and formed from nets. In Design and Technology, students became fashion designers, creating some clothing for a Beebot to wear and there were some very unique final designs. Finally in HASS, students developed their own transport system made from recyclable materials. They chose either road, rail, sea, or air transportation and presented them to the class.

Lastly, I would like to say how super impressed I am with the procedure stories that students published this term. Students were inspired by the story book ‘Wombat Stew’ to write their own version. They are in the process of being printed and I’m sure students will be delighted to share them with you next term!

Have a safe and restful break and I look forward to a productive Term 4.

Kind regards,
Mrs Sandra Holland

YEAR 2 – GILLES PLAINS

Term 3 was action packed with the students participating in Book Week Celebrations, R U OK? Day, Science Week and the Premier’s Reading Challenge. We also had time to visit the world’s biggest rocking horse.

The students explored the narrative writing process by following the Seven Steps. We experimented with sound effects and talking directly to the reader. The students had a wonderful time dreaming up their pebble, rock and boulder scenarios and forming creative solutions to the complications in their narrative writing. We look forward to sharing our narratives with you on Seesaw.

This term, the students developed their understanding of multiplication as they sang songs and played both interactive and whole class games to improve their memory. Regular practice over the school holidays is encouraged for fast and fluent recall. In Mathematics we also covered the topics of time to the closest five minutes and transformation.

In Science, we learned about forces through hands-on investigations on push and pull, floating and sinking, friction and gravity. The students enjoyed the hands-on nature of this topic and would regularly ask if we could do science!

We concluded our Toy Making unit of work with a visit to a working toy factory and the Big Rocking Horse. The Year 2’s were super excited to see the machinery and learn which part of the wooden toy it made. After learning about the toy making process, we climbed to the top of the Big Rocking Horse where we could see 360 degree views of the Adelaide Hills.

After a busy term, the students have earned some rest and relaxation. Please read over the school holiday, complete the Holiday Homework Booklet and use the online tools such as Mathseeds and Reading Eggs.

Have a safe and happy holiday

Warm regards
Miss Bianca Villani

YEAR 3 – GILLES PLAINS

Dear Parents and Carers,

What wonderful memories we have created this term in year 3, it has been out of this world! We celebrated R U OK? Day, Book Week and visited outer space on our excursion to the Adelaide Planetarium.

This term, the students have thoroughly enjoyed our overarching theme: Earth and Space, in Science, English and Art.

3A have produced some wonderful planet information reports over the past few weeks and have been very self-efficient; taking on board feedback, editing their work and demonstrating their personal best efforts in their writing. They have had a lot of fun collaborating in small groups in art, working on their dioramas to represent the movements of the Sun, Moon and Earth, causing day and night.

In Mathematics, we have been exploring data representation and interpretation. Students have been conducting many surveys and have come up with some interesting Survey questions for their peers: What is your favorite sea creature? What is your favorite fruit? In which month were you born? We know that the most popular sea creature is a dolphin, the two months with the most birthdays are: February and October and the least popular fruit is watermelon. We represented the data we collected on column and picture graphs and came up with facts, which correlate with the data we collected.

Don’t forget hats are compulsory in Term 4 as we are slowly approaching summer. Please make sure your child comes to school with a hat, which is clearly labeled with their name. I will have sunscreen in the classroom readily available for the children to use during break times. I wish you all a lovely, relaxing and enjoyable break. Continue to listen to your child read in the holidays, as much as you can and make sure they engage in their holiday homework, but please also take time to relax, unwind and enjoy each other's company.

Kind Regards,
Miss Kerry Apergis

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