Week 9

W O O D EN D N EW S
Edward Beck Drive, SHEIDOW PARK SA 5158
08 8322 6422
Fax: 08 8322 7100
E-mail: info@woodendps.sa.edu.au
Website: www.woodendps.sa.edu.au
Issue No. 15
22 September 2011
End of Term 3
Friday, 30 September
Early Dismissal
2:15pm
Whole School Assembly Hosts Room 5 Mrs Brown and
Room 23 Mrs MacFarlane
Time to Take a Breath
What a busy past few weeks it’s been for our Year 5-7
primary students, their teachers and also many parents.
During this time we have had music night, (thanks to
our instrumental music teachers, Barb Williams and
Vicki Gregory), Senior Choir performance at the
Festival Theatre (thanks, Barb Williams), students
involved in the Festival of Music Performance Troupe
(congratulations to Olivia and Rebecca), Tournament
of Minds performance at Flinders University (thanks
Jane-Ann Natar), Pedal Prix 24 race at Murray Bridge
(thanks Lilse Wilson and all parents involved), Jump
Rope For Heart State Championships (thanks Don
Zampogna and Vicki Gregory), Hiragana Challenge
(Thanks to Ali Law and Year 6/7 teachers), SAPSASA
Netball knockout (thanks Sharyn Paris).
We have had some fantastic successes, and in all
events our students have presented confidently and
competently. It’s important that we see these events as
important elements in our students’ rich learning
experiences. As we come close to the end of the term,
it’s now time to take a breath … it’s going to be a brief
one for our Year 6/7 students and teachers, who are off
to Canberra next week!
Congratulations to our brilliant senior students on
winning the Hiragana Challenge for the second year in
a row. Our students dominated this competition
between seven school and took all of the major places;
including 9 of the top 10! Congratulations to Law
Sensai and the Year 6/.7 teachers for their fabulous
work preparing these students.
Go Brodie!
Congratulations to Brodie and the Shortridge family for
inspiring many friends and family to donate $16035 for
the cancer council through sponsorship of his
participation in the city bay fun run. Brodie has posted
on his website:
A big thankyou to all my family and friends who came
on the walk with me, I had a really good time and met
lots of great people. I just want to say thankyou to all
of the people who donated to my fundraiser you have
done an amazing job.
Congratulations to our High Velocity Jump
Team…read all about their fantastic efforts at the State
Championships on page 3.
2
How to Help Your Child Learn
TOM team worked together as a cooperative and
productive team to solve a challenging problem and
present their solution to the judges. The judges were
impressed with their choice of ‘murder mystery’ genre
to present their solution.
Canberra Here We Come
Preparations for next week’s Year 6/7 trip to
Canberra have involved significant time,
organisation and learning. Our senior students
have been developing their understandings of
what it means to be a citizen, what is
democracy, what is the purpose of government
and also what might characterise Australian
identity.
Thanks to Merry Whelan for
coordinating the planning of this adventure and
all Year 6/7 teachers for their work in ensuring
there is a strong connection between the
Canberra activities and the classroom learning
program.
Music Night: Junior Choir comprises student in years
3-5 who created a beautiful sound on the night.
School Photo Thank you to the mums
Andrena Gilmour, Leisa Bailey and
Helen Boers who helped to ensure all
children were presentable and on time
on the day.
Newsletter
No. 14
Don’t expect instant success. The secret to changing
behaviours and improving learning is to spend time
doing the important things with your child. It takes
time and patience. Try this model, it works!
1. You do it and your child watches you. Do this
often enough over a period of time until you
believe your child is ready to help you. As you
are modelling, talk out loud about your
thinking and your strategies.
2. You do it and your child helps you. Do this
often enough over a period of time, giving your
child encouragement and constructive
feedback, until you believe your child is ready
to take more and more of the lead.
3. Your child does it and you help. Do it often
enough over a period of time, giving your child
encouragement and constructive feedback,
until you believe your child is ready to take up
the task by themselves.
4. Your child does it and you watch. Do it often
enough over a period of time, giving your child
encouragement and constructive feedback,
until you believe your child is ready to operate
independently.
Enhancing Your Learning
Relationship with Your Child
We believe that parents are most important educators
in their child’s life. We know all parents understand
the importance of having loving relationships with their
children. Many too understand the importance of
continuing to have strong learning relationships with
their children. The importance of adult modeling and
guidance is paramount to children’s learning. On our
website is an article we developed some years ago
entitled Learning Relationships, which we often refer
to when we welcome our new reception families to our
school. In this article we talk about the importance of:
• developing children’s oral language; their
ability to explain, describe, converse
• helping children transition from adult directed
discipline to self discipline
• giving honest feedback by using many more
positive constructive comments than negative
ones
• through modeling and gradual release of
responsibility, helping your child become less
and less dependent on being told what to do;
more independent and able to show initiative
The full article is on our website:
www.woodendps.sa.edu.au
improving thinking
learning relationships
22 September 2011
3
Congratulations High
Velocity Woodend
Back to Back State Jump
Rope Champions
2010 & 2011
Reminder:
As part of PE Week next term Woodend Primary will
participate in a Jumpathon to help raise money for the
Heart Foundation.
Congratulations to all our students who recently
participated in the State Jump Rope Championships
held at ETSA Park. Over fifty students from years 2 to
year 8 represented High Velocity Woodend an amazing
effort in itself. A particular mention goes to our high
school representatives who made a special effort to be
part of our team; Melissa, Brooke, Bridie, Jess,
Georgia and Maria.
The many hours our team members put into preparing
for the championships paid off with outstanding results
in all categories. Many of our students achieved first,
second and third placings in both record events and the
routine events. A special mention to Olivia who
established a new state record of 22 Triple Unders and
to Jordyn who received the Team Honor Award.
I would like to thank all the staff and parents at
Woodend who support the jump rope program. Without
their support the teams success would not be possible.
A big thank you to staff who allowed team members to
negotiate practice times and to Vicki Gregory and
Karen Sheppard for their extra help leading up to the
championships. We are very proud of our team’s
achievements, behaviour and appearance. They all
looked stunning on the big stage! Finally a big thank
you to Linda Sullivan and her team of parent helpers
who were kept busy making our team members look
amazing. Congratulations to our media support crew
Zac, Benji and Daniel for the outstanding job they did
covering the routine events on Saturday night. Once
again well done everyone!
Don Zampogna, Vicki Gregory and JRFH
Coaches/Coordinators
Newsletter
No. 14
22 September 2011
4
What’s happening in
Mrs. Darwin’s class?
During this term Room 7 children have been busy
with work on Forests, the Show and Book Week
activities. We used these topics as a basis for
Literacy, Technology , Science, Art, Society and
Environment and some Mathematics learning.
We learned about the forest
layers—
layers
—the Emergent layer, the
Canopy, the Understory and the
forest floor. We must look after
forests because they give us
medicines and oxygen .
Kieran
I liked planting the bean seeds.
Now I’m going to watch them grow.
Ethan G.
I enjoyed planting the seeds and
watching my plant grow. They need
water and sun.
Bella
This term we have
focussed on Procedural Writing and
spelling and punctuation accuracy. We
have used our craft and
technology activities to
Spelling is fun and I like
develop our instructional
writing all my words.
writing skills.
Holly
I like doing my spelling
and cooking with Dana.
Elena
It was fun making and
Writing about cats. Paige
I liked making the cats. It was
hard, but then I worked out
how to do it well. Anja
Newsletter
No. 14
I liked making the cats. I
wrote instructions for ‘How
to make a cat’. Amelia
Amelia.
I made a great papier mache
cat and wrote about how I
made it. Ella G
I really wanted a pet cat. I made a
great cat in making time. Molly.
22 September 2011
5
Charlotte
I liked learning new
words and doing spelling.
Cooking with Dana was
great to do. Eliza
I liked learning about book
characters and story
settings.
Hoon
I liked doing Procedural
Writing about ‘How to
get ready in the
morning.’
Jessica
I liked doing the show
words in my Spelling.
Adele
I learned there are
lots of different rides
at the show.
Ella V
Amelia
Bella
In Book Week we made a class
banner about “Where is the
Green Sheep?” We love this big
book by Mem Fox, and it has a
lot of information about
‘opposites,’ like day/night,
near/far and big/small.
We looked at a lot of showbag data
to see what was in many showbags
and if we thought they were good
value for our money.
We used the Show web site to
make a showbag wish list for under
$80, and then printed out a map to
mark
where to find our showbags.
where to find our showbags.
Ethan J.
During the term we
went on excursion to the
Odeon Theatre to see
“Mr MacGee and the
Biting Flea.” There
were six small plays
featuring different books
by Pamela Allen.
Newsletter
We made showbags,
read showmaps,
categorised
information, analysed
show data and learned to
spell show words.
No. 14
Watching Tanya Batt storytelling
during Book Week.
I liked Mem Fox’s big
book “Where is the
Green Sheep?”
Grace
22 September 2011
6
Classes for 2012
2012
In order to form classes for 2012 it is
important that we estimate our 2012 student
numbers as accurately as possible. If your
child will not be attending our school next
year, please let us know in writing, ASAP.
Alternatively, if you have a child due to start
school next year, please enrol them now!
Placing students in class groups is a complex process, which
takes staff many weeks to work through during term 4 each
year.
It is about creating a group of students, which has a gender
balance, a range of learning abilities, and a range of
behavioural and social needs. Factors such as friendship
groups preferred learning styles, social and emotional
maturity, and even physical size are all considered when
making up class groups.
In order to make the best decisions about class groups we
need as much information as possible. Teachers provide
information on the social, emotional, behavioural and
academic needs of students. Students are asked about
friendship groups and factors, which help them learn best.
Parents also have an opportunity to provide input into this
process.
Parent Input
We have a very strong team of excellent teachers and we
expect that wherever your child is placed, there will be
learning success. Most parents are happy to leave this to
class teachers.
However, some parents may wish to draw our attention to
particular needs, which could be considered when working
through the placement process. If you feel your input is
necessary, please write about your child’s learning needs:
academic, social and emotional. Please do not request
particular teachers.
Please let Brian have your input by Friday, 21 October.
Who decides on class placements?
Our teachers do their very best to organise classes which
meet everyone’s needs and reflect input from students and
parents and past and current teachers,.
We value all input, however it is not always possible to take
on board all suggestions. Please understand this and
understand that, because of the impact on other students and
class balance, no changes can be made after classes are
released.
Needed Old
Telephone
Books
Please bring any old telephone books to school,
because the Environment Committee can put them into
our Money Tree Bins. Drop them off by Room 30
during school hours.
Thank you Emily
Environment Committee
Sports Fundraiser BBQ
Sunday 2 October
Bunnings Noarlunga
On Sunday, 2 October, Woodend Primary School has
a wonderful opportunity to host a Bunnings BBQ at
Noarlunga.
The funds raised from this BBQ will go towards all
new sports tops and some accessories for our after
school sports teams.
For us to be successful we will need some help on the
day, so we are asking all sports families if you could
help us out on the day.
We will need to fill a roster with volunteers each
hour between 9am and 4:30pm. If you are able to
volunteer for an hour or even two or more we would
love to hear from you. Please phone Kerri in the
office on 83226422 Jobs will include cooking,
serving and having
fun!!
When will parents know about 2012 class placements?
Class placement information will be sent home with students
in the last week of Term 4, only if we are in a position to
confidently predict there will be no changes to the class
structures. In other words, once we announce classes we
don’t want to have to make changes. Therefore we need to be
able to accommodate a significant number of enrolments
during the summer break without needing to change the types
of classes we have planned
Newsletter
No. 14
22 September 2011
7
Wilson McCaskill Parent
Videos and Workshops
Hiragana Challenge:
National Bandanna Day
This year the students in Rooms 9 and 24 have
decided to support Canteen’s National Bandanna
Day which is on Friday 28th October. They will
be selling bandannas outside of their
classrooms and in the front office before
school at recess and after school each day in
the first two weeks of next term. The cost of a
bandana is $4.00 and they come in a variety of
different colours and patterns.
On Friday 28th October we would then like all
of the people who have bought a bandanna from
us to wear it to school and help us to make this
a special event. Please support our fundraiser
and help raise money for this very worthwhile
charity.
Thankyou from the students and teachers of
Room 9 and 24.
We have had some very positive feedback from
parents who have accessed the Wilson
McCaskill videos using the weblink from the
newsletter. The weblink appears again in this
newsletter if you haven’t had the opportunity
to access these.
Wilson will be presenting some FREE Play is the
Way workshops for parents in various locations
in the Southern area next week. All workshops
run from 6:30pm – 8pm.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday Thursday
Morphett Hackham Thiele
Hackham
Vale East West
Primary
East
Primary
Primary
Primary
Register by calling OPAL on 83017249 by
Friday 23/9/11
Congratulations to Jackson
Tiger Medal Winner
I think that our team had a good year this year. I was
glad to be part of the team. It was a good year for me
also winning the teams best & fairest and also the Tiger
Medal. I didn’t expect to win any of those things
having only played 7 out of 10 games due to injury.
I really enjoyed my last year of school footy and think I
improved a lot.
Uniform
Next year we will be phasing in the introduction of a
new rugby style winter top for our senior students.
After consultation with Governing Council and
feedback from next years senior student families a
design has been selected. The tops will be available
at the beginning of next year. More information
about the tops will be sent home to next years
senior student families next term. Uniform changes
for the remainder of the school may be considered
after consultation with the whole school community
at a later date.
We would like to remind families that the cost of
school uniforms is tax deductable.
Newsletter
No. 14
22 September 2011
8
SAPSASA KNOCKOUT
NETBALL
On Friday, 9 September
Woodend Knockout netball team
played Marymount College in
the large schools district final.
We sadly lost but gave it our all.
Great effort by everyone to get
this far. Thank you to Sharyn
Paris and Mrs Sheppard for all
your help.
By Kate and Amber
Bill Schmitt - Changi Prisoner of War spoke to Mr
Zampogna's and Ms Whelans year 6 7 classes of his
experiences in World War 2 and what it meant to be an
Australian.
Whole School Assembly:
Music Night: McKenzie playing the drums
Music Night: Liam strumming his guitar
Good Thinking Awards
Congratulations to these students who have been
identified by their teachers as having achieved
learning success in line with our school values:
Nikita, Nisha, Daniel, Anastacia, Jordana, Howen,
Abby, Nicolas, Hannah, Cody, Talon, Brianna, Lauren,
Christopher, High Velocity, Luke, Britney, Kye,
Lilyana, Julian, Joshua, Megan, Damian, Eliza-Jane,
Grace, Ella, Ben, Delilah, Jesse, Brodie, Erin, Henry,
Jessica, Lylea, Sophie, Kieran, Mia, Aidan, Angela,
Lily, Joshua, Jackson, Brodie, Steven, Riley, Amber,
Declan, Jordan and Mikayla.
Diary Dates
Friday, 23 September
Whole School Photos
Sunday, 25 September
Year 6/7’s Leave for Canberra
Monday, 26 September – Friday 30 September
Year 6/7’s in Canberra
R/2 Swimming Week
Monday, 26 September – Wednesday, 29 September
Rooms 1 & 2 Zoo School
Wednesday, 28 September
New Reception Transition Visit 9 – 11:35am
Friday, 30 September
End of Term 3 Early Dismissal
2:15pm
Sunday, 2 October
Sports C’tee Bunnings BBQ
Brian Marshall
Principal
Jane-Ann Natar
Deputy Principal
Music Night: Dianna and Meghann on the violin
Newsletter
No. 14
22 September 2011