Weetangera Primary School eNewsletter

From Julie

We have all been very busy! Term 3 has been filled with intense moments of learning, laughter, excursions, celebrations and excellence. The usual work of learning both indoors and outdoors has seen our students further spread their wings and grow their skills.

The additional experiences in Term 3 included:

The musical achievements of not only the combined school band their and experiences at Fraser Primary School, which was brilliant but also includes the participation of Eryn Harvey and Rafa Lai who are members of the Primary Concert Band, recently touring to schools in the ACT and Liora Shan and Suhaani Gosai who are in the Primary Concert Choir and sang at Government House.
The Athletics Carnival – wet weather interruptions aside and trying to plan ahead for the best day to run the carnival has seen many of our students continue through to the next level of participation at Zone and District representation levels
Junior and Senior School Assemblies, my week is capped off on Friday mornings when the students present their learning, entertain us with their songs and dances and receive the Inspired Learning Awards.
Book Week, a time to reflect upon the skills we have developed as readers, the books that excite us and the latest offerings from new and exciting authors. Not to mention the opportunity to dress up as our favourite character.
Excursions – brilliant to be able to send our students out into the broader community to experience learning in different ways and in different places. This term students have been to:
- Circus Quirkus
- Canberra Museum and Gallery for Preschool
- National Arboretum for Year 4
- Caring for Country – Kindergarten
- Kenny Koala – P to Year 6
- Hall Museum - Year 2 in Week 9
- National Museum – Year 1 in Week 10
Next week: GALLERIES OF LEARNING, Wednesday 7 September 4-6pm. The students will showcase their work, talk to their families about the progress they are making and the next steps in their learning. Families will see work that is complete and work that is still ‘a work in progress’. Family members will also be able to observe the various levels of success across a year level and reflect upon the accomplishments that our students have made. Please remember to book in your time slot as we are so very VERY excited to know that you will be coming along to celebrate your child/ren’s learning accomplishments.
Next Friday, 9 September is a PUPIL FREE DAY. We thank you for your support, we know that it can be tricky, we appreciate the opportunity to gather together, plan, collaborate and continue to highly focused and engaged teaching professionals.
Did you receive your information about the LAPATHON? An initiative of the P&C and one that has been out of the realm of opportunities in the last few… it’s back! The lapathon sounds like the best way to spend a few hours; walking around in the sunshine, being sponsored to do the walk, raising money for the P&C and also wearing your brightest, craziest FLURO outfits. The date: Thursday, 22 September. The time; 11.30am – 1.00pm. Join us. Sponsor us. Walk with us 😊
Next week all students who participated in NAPLAN 2022 will receive their results. I will send further information regarding NAPLAN next week.

Within the next fortnight construction will begin on the covered outdoor area over the basketball court. You may have already noticed that the items required for this construction have been placed in the lock-up area behind the garden. The intention is for this work to begin before the holidays, continue through the holiday period and be completed in early Term 4. The covered area will provide another huge area of shade, enable the basketball area to be used during even the hottest months of the year and will be greatly appreciated by the staff as it will also enable classes to have access to shaded areas in which to work. And the best part of all of this; this is being constructed at no cost to the school.

In referencing costs I need to draw to the attention of families that there has been quite a delay in the payment of the BOOKPACK payments this year. While I appreciate that families can have difficulties in paying I do ask that bookpack payments and voluntary contribution payments are made. Our students use many consumables from pencils, pens, textas, crayons paints through to books, copy paper, art materials, etc. Please check in at the front office and make the necessary payments. I will include the payment information and voluntary contribution form at the end of the newsletter, or click this link to download it.

Additionally, while I celebrate the re-invigoration of excursions there are many payments that have not been made for excursions recently attended; both those involving buses out of school and those involved in attending what are usually referred to as ‘incursions’ events taking place at school that needs to be paid for. Please check on the amounts that you have outstanding and make your payments at the front office. I thank you in advance for attending to these payments.

The annual School Satisfaction Survey has opened and this is an opportunity for families to express their satisfaction (or otherwise) with Weetangera Primary School and the learning opportunities for your children. The staff, the students in years 4-6 and our families all have input and once the data is collated, examined, analysed and re-interpreted the school develops a profile and action plan about the best ‘where to next’ steps that we need to take.

In summary, your most important actions for next week… book in to the Galleries of Learning. We can’t wait to see you in Our place of learning talking with your children about how they spend their day, the nothings that they do and the things that they have enjoyed and been successful with.

This week’s thought for the week:

Laugh at yourself!

It’s easy to laugh at others, much harder to laugh at ourselves.
But, it’s much more rewarding. It lightens our lives.
It brightens others’ lives. It builds self-confidence and self-worth.
It endears us to others. And life is too short to take ourselves too seriously.

I hope you have had a rewarding week of laughing at yourself… I know I have 😊

Regards

Julie

Julie.cooper@ed.act.edu.au

WPS - Communication Guidelines

At Weetangera Primary School, we want to make communicating with us as easy as possible. And we also want to make sure that we can give you the information that you need in the best ways.

We have put together a draft document that outlines the different forms of communication that we use at Weetangera Primary School, and how you can get the information you need in the quickest and most efficient way. We'd appreciate it if you read through this document and let us know if you have any feedback or any questions. You'll find the document linked below.

Weetangera Communication Guidelines

Lost Property (and a change of clothes)

Lost Property

We love that Weetangera Primary School come to school dressed in their warm and confortable school clothes. As the weather changes, like all Canberrans our students dress in layers, and often those layers are discarded as the day gets warmer. A lot of the time, our students then forget to take those layers home. Each unit has a lost property tub, where all labelled lost property is taken at the end of the week. If you're missing a few jumpers or jackets, please encourage your child to check their unit tub. And remember to label all property so that it's easy to return it to its owner.

Change of Clothes

School can be dirty, messy (and of course lots of fun!). We encourage our students to play outside and use their imagination and creativity, which sometimes means that they get a little muddy, or sometimes a little wet. It's a good idea to pack an extra set of clothes for your child, particularly if you know they like to dig in the dig pit, or roll down the hill in the grass. Even a spare pair of socks or shorts can make all the difference for a comfortable day at school. But please don't forget to label them!

School Satisfaction Survey

One week to go!

On 18 August 2022, you should have received an email with a link to the annual School Satisfaction Survey. Please take some time to complete the survey and provide valuable feedback for our school. The survey is open until next Friday 9 September.

Your responses will help our school to identify what we do well and how we can improve. The data will also be used to underpin school improvement practices and inform government priorities, as well as in research projects and longitudinal studies aimed at improving the quality of education services in the ACT.

The survey link was sent to the email addresses listed as contact 1 and contact 2 within our administration system, noting that if the same email address is given for both contacts then that will be the only email address that receives the survey. If you didn't (or are aware of someone who didn't) receive the email, please contact our front office to check that your contact details are correct.

2022_SSCS_ParentAndCarer_QRCodePoster_A4.pdf

What's Happening in the Possums

In the KAN Possum Magic class we have been working hard on our Maths! This term we have been learning different addition strategies to add two numbers together. Some of the strategies we have been learning are friends to 10, counting on and using doubles and near doubles. Below is an explanation of the strategies.

Friends to 10
Last term we learnt about the two different number combinations to make 5 e.g. 2+3. This term we progressed to ‘combinations to 10’. We discovered all of the different numbers that can add up to 10 e.g. 1+9, 3+7, etc. We played games like go fish and connect 4 using friends to 10. We also created a rainbow artwork using rain drops to display our favourite combination to 10. Knowing our combinations to 10 thoroughly allows students to solve addition problems quickly.

Counting On

Counting on is a strategy whereby students have two numbers, they identify the larger number, lock it in their heads and count on the smaller number. An example would be 10+3, lock the 10 in your head and then count 11, 12, 13. This skill is an extension of counting from zero, as it is much quicker than e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Through using counters initially, it allowed students to see the amount and easily recognise what number is larger. They were able to trust that the larger group has that many, so they wouldn’t need to count from 0. We have been progressing to using only numerals, this is trickier as they do not have anything physical in front of them to count.

Doubles and Near Doubles

Knowing number doubles quickly will allow students to solve sums efficiently. Students practised doubles through painting dots and folding the page over to create a double as well as board games to enhance this practise. Once students become fluent, they were extended to near doubles. This is where the two numbers being added are one more or one less than the traditional double. For example 5+6, students know that 5+5=10 so they can then add one more and know the answer is 11.

Alex Nicholls

What's happening in the Mopokes

This term in history, the Mopokes have been learning about how life has changed over time. As part of this learning, students had the opportunity to create their own history box and present it to the class, discussing and sharing special artefacts that represented each of the stages of life including: before they were born, when they were a baby, when they were a toddler, when they were in preschool, now and what they would like to do when they are an adult.

In the future when I am an adult I would like to:

Alexa - “care for animals”
Jeff - “become a scientist”
Mary - “be a vet & a horse rider”
Charlie - “own a house”
Pippa - “be a music teacher & a mum”
Harvey - “be a palaeontologist”
Eli - “do web design”
Zac - “become a rugby player”
Jacob H. - “become a pilot”
Milan - “be a soccer player”
Teddy - “be a police officer”
Jhanvi - “be a dentist”
Elizabeth - “be a mum”
Jacob L. - “be a youtuber”
Patrick - “work in an office”
Alfie - “be a miner and create bases”
Ava - “be a shopkeeper”
Marley - “become a teacher or glass maker”
Marco - “be a police officer”
Chloe - “be a dancer”
Hesara - “become a racing car driver & own a lamborghini”

Hayley Dix

What a busy few weeks we have had in Year 3.

In Maths, we have been hard at work learning about money and giving and receiving change. We have participated in money rotations and have really enjoyed playing maths games that help to develop our understanding of money.

Last week we celebrated Book Week. It was so wonderful to see so many different characters represented and to hear about the exciting books the students have been reading. We read and enjoyed three books on the CBCA Shortlist. After reading each book, we followed up with some linked activities based on the books and at the end of the week we voted for our favourite. The winner was…Stellarphant!

This week, we had the privilege of seeing a live short play based on Stellarphant. The Year 3 students were so engaged and involved in the performance - getting up singing, dancing and participating in the story.

Check out some student reflections after the performance:

Harriet declared: 5 star rating.
The Meerkat Performers did the show of Stellarphant. Stellarphant is a fiction narrative that is about an elephant who wants to go to space but the manager of space command keeps telling her that he couldn’t approve her application. So she studied, kept fit and smart, built a spacesuit, rocket and trained a crew but the manager called his manager about if it’s okay to let Stellarphant to go to space and he called his manager and they ran out of managers so they called the big boss and he said no. Eventually Stellarphant got to space.
Abby and Deb did an out of this world performance. They got us singing, dancing and some students even did some acting. I am glad they came. It was AWESOME.
Nell remarked: They involved the people and they made it funny and enjoyable. They acted the people/animals well. They were good at making quick changes.
Mika said: The characters were Stella, the big boss, the man at the desk, sloth, the octopus, tiger and penguin.
What they did well was the sounds of the rocket, them building and them taking off.
Callum commented: They were very good at singing and acting. The act was funny and the big scary boss was not scary because it was the picture and because I read the book and I knew what was happening.

This week, we also enjoyed a visit from Kenny Koala. He taught us about good and bad choices and how to stay safe at school, at home and in the community. Year 3 even got to see Kenny’s car. They saw the blue and red flashing lights and listened to the noisy siren. With a quick stamp on their hands and a sticker for their shirts they said ‘bye’ to Kenny and David.

Bec Spoors

My New Gallery

The Year 4 cohort have been exploring informative texts and their structures for the past four weeks. We have been examining what makes an effective information text, and during this process we worked on developing deep and meaningful questions to help organise our information. We learnt about the importance of written cues, graphics, illustrations, and organizational structures. Using these skills, the students have researched a chosen endangered animal from Africa or South America and will create a research project to explain why and how to save these endangered animals.

Year 4 went on our very first excursion to the Arboretum to learn about sustainability and the environment. The weather on the day was amazing and all the students had a great time learning about the Wood Wide Web, where students immersed themselves into role play creatures from an Australian forest food web. Later in the morning we learnt some basic skills of orienteering and teamwork. Students worked in groups of two to read a topographical graphical map and navigate between checkpoints. There was no set route, so the skill and fun came from trying to find the best way to go and score the most points along the way. The students thoroughly enjoyed the day and made the connections to our sustainability unit.

Robyn Trenton

What's Happening in the Shooting Stars

The Shooting Stars have been really delving into literacy this term, with a range of activities to engage in learning.

We started with some suitcase writing. We had an old suitcase full of treasures that we slowly explored, describing them to our peers and then discussing who the items could belong to, and why they might be significant. We used our writer’s notebooks to write some really awesome passages and ideas for stories. We are looking forward to developing these into masterpieces!

For Book Week we started with a bang, doing a Book Tasting. We got to try a range of genres of books and all of the students discovered a book that they would enjoy reading from a brand new genre or author. We also had a ‘Blind Date with a Book’ where we explored wrapped up books and remembered not to judge a book by the cover.

Finally, we began Miss Bradstock’s annual Book Week Quiz, which has ten questions in a treasure hunt through books to find the answers. So many books, so little time! We can’t wait to show you some of the things we have been learning at our Galleries of Learning soon.

Emma Bradstock

What's Happening in Music

Year 3 & 4

In music this term, the students in year 3 & 4 are exploring different composers throughout history from Tchaikovsky to John Williams, including indigenous artists such as Gurramul and David Blanasi. They are analysing works written by these composers and making connections between the elements of music used. The students have been identifying the purpose of the music and the intention of a composer. For example, the students have been listening to Camille Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals and identifying how and why he used instruments to imitate animals. Here are some of our thoughts and ideas so far:

Year 3 & 4 will be composing their own music using graphic notation to create a song that tells a story and represents a story from the Dreamtime.

Year 5 & 6

In music this term, the students in Year 5 & 6 have been discussing where and why people make music. The students will be exploring the compositional elements within music, specifically focusing on Indigenous Australian music. After connecting sounds to symbols, the students will be organising and arranging each element to compose and perform a soundscape that represents an image within Bronwyn Bancroft’s The Art in Country. They have been exploring the concept of a soundscape and are currently comparing natural sounds with human made sounds. Using classroom instruments and technology, the students have been brainstorming ways that they could create a soundscape using instruments to mimic what they would hear around them.

Let’s look at the maestros at work:

Bucket Drumming & Choir

This term, we welcome back Bucket Drumming for students in the senior school, and Choir for the junior school. Each week, the students participating in these extracurricular activities meet in the music room to make some wonderful music and smash out some wicked rhythms on the bucket drums. We have had a huge increase in numbers this term in Bucket Drumming reaching a whopping 100 students!

The choristers and bucker drummer will be working hard to prepare songs and rhythms to perform during assemblies throughout the semester. The mini musicians are so excited to share what they have been working on!

Australian Cross Country Championships

School Sport Australia Cross Country Championships: Adelaide

Well done to Kai M and Evan M for representing Weetangera School at the Australian Cross Country Championships in Adelaide last week. Both boys should be proud of themselves for qualifying for this event and they acquitted themselves well against the best runners from all over Australia. On Saturday the individual race was held at Oakbank Racecourse, the course was undulating and muddy which made for a challenging race. Evan finished a creditable 30th place in the 12 year boys 3km race in a highly competitive field and was very close to the first ACT athlete to cross the line. In the 10 year boys 2km race Kai ran a great race to finish in 5th position where the top ten were extremely close. Well done Kai!

On Monday the cross country relays were held at the University of SA. Evan competed in the 12 year boys 5 x 1500m race and ran a fast time to help his ACT team finish in a creditable 5th place. Kai competed in the 6 x 1500m composite relay, his team was comprised of the fastest ACT boys and girls from each of the 10, 11 and 12 year races at the individual race on Saturday. The team ran a magnificent race and managed to beat all the other states to claim the gold medal!

Congratulations to Evan and Kai on competing at this prestigious event and best wishes for your future sporting endeavours!

Erwin McRae

Book Week 2022

We had a fantastic book week this year, with our students and our community getting up close and personal with lots of amazing books.

Thank you to those parents, relatives and friends that attended our reading morning. It was so nice for our students to spend some time enjoying books with their loved ones. The students also enjoyed some delicious book week themed treats from the canteen on Friday.

And let's not forget our dress up days. It's always amazing how creative our teachers, students (and parents!) are when they are getting their book week costumes together. What fun to share our love of reading in such a fun way. We can't wait until next year.

Constable Kenny has spent this week at Weetangera with his friend David; talking to all of our students about keeping safe, including road safety, online safety and good decision making. On Thursday, our year 1 students were delighted to surprise Kenny on his 40th birthday.

Zones of Regulation - Strategy of the Week

Category- FEEL IT

Pressure Points

Use your fingers to massage one of these spots:

The centre of your forehead.
Your temples (the soft spot next to your eyes).
Your earlobes.

Rub each spot with a medium pressure for one minute.

How do you feel? What Zone could this be helpful in?

P&C News

Father's Day Stall

Thank you to all of our families for supporting the Father's Day stall. It was very successful, with our students choosing lots of cool gifts for their dads, grandads and loved ones. Thank you to our volunteers who helped source, sort, store and sell the gifts. We're looking forward to hearing about how successful it was.

Happy Father's Day to all our dads, stepdads, grandads and great friends.