Weetangera Primary School Newsletter | Week 9, Term 3 2024
- From Julie
- Student-Centred Improvement Review
- Parent Portal App
- Parent Portal at Weetangera
- What's Happening in the Wombats
- What's Happening in the Marvellous Matildas
- What's Happening in the Gang Gangs
- What's Happening in the Shooting Stars
- Library News
- PBL
- Canteen News
- P&C Update
- Communication at Weetangera
- Community Notices
From Julie
Dear Families
I have it on the best authorities that the Galleries of Learning afternoon was an awesome event. Unfortunately, I was not in town on Wednesday and so I am having to rely on reports from students, staff and families that the opportunity for students to proudly show and share their learning achievements was a very positive experience.
Thank you to all who attended it is another one of the many ways in which you can actually see learning and experience the classroom as your children experience the classroom. Thank you to all of the staff who prepared the students for the afternoon and were on hand to celebrate your children’s success with you.
A special mention for Emma Cottam and the Warhammer Club; Felix, Fergus, Miles, Charlie, Caine and Zane. The Warhammer Club members have entered a competition, Armies on Parade. Their entry consists of Space Marines and Necrons and the terrain that supports them. You too can find out a little bit more about all of this by going to the Belconnen Warhammer Store, between 11.00am and 4.00pm on Saturday, 21 September (Just two doors up from Goodberry’s if you need a reference point), vote for the WPS entry and paint a model while you are there.
Every 4-5 years schools are externally reviewed to ascertain progress across several areas. In 2024 the ACT Education Directorate initiated a new process; The Student-Centred Improvement Framework, and schools nominated themselves for the review process. We nominated Weetangera as the opportunity to gauge our progress across various dimensions informs our collective work and establishes that areas of focus for the next 5 year strategic plan.
In the following dimensions we are being reviewed;
- Dimension: Leading
- Element: Strategic Improvement
- Dimension: Learning
- Element: Assessment
- Dimension: Wellbeing
- Element: Belonging
The work of the leadership team and staff has been to gather data and evidence and perform on balance assessments of where our collective work sits on a continuum of experience. The final 3 days of the review is Week 1 Term 4: Wednesday 16 – Friday 18 October. And you can be involved. Please see Mel’s message within the newsletter that explains how your voice can become a part of our school reflection and inform the next steps we take as a place of learning.
The holidays are on their way! What should you do? If you intend staying in Canberra Spring is an excellent time of year to get out and about and experience the awakening of the season. Some of the activities that families can embrace during the two weeks of the holidays include:
- Floriade: Art in Bloom
- Canberra Museum and Gallery: Kids Workshop
- National Arboretum
- Treetops Canberra – Majura Pines
- National Gallery of Australia
- And my favourite one – A list of all the free things you can do in Canberra with Kids. I wonder how many you’ll get through these holidays.
What ever you do and wherever you are going in the holidays enjoy the opportunity to spend wonderful time with your children. A great time of year to get out and about and embrace the Spring Sunshine.
Rest Relax Rejuvenate ReCOOPERate
One more week to go. School finishes on Friday, 27 September and please remember school returns on Tuesday, 15 October 2024. Monday is a pupil-free day
Regards
Julie
Julie.cooper@ed.act.edu.au
Student-Centred Improvement Review
As mentioned in Julie's message above, in week 1 of term 4 our school will be undertaking a student-centred improvement review. This will take place on Wednesday 16 to Friday 18 October.
We would like to invite you to participate in a community feedback session as part of our review. This will take place on Wednesday 16 October from 3.15-4pm in the school library.
To ensure that we can accommodate everyone for the session, please let us know if you are able to attend using this form.
Parent Portal App
Parent Portal at Weetangera
Parent Portal is now available. It is a secure online platform used to share student information between you and your child’s teachers.
Some reminders about Parent Portal:
- If you already have a Parent Portal account, use this Parent Portal access link to start using the great features.
- You can’t access Parent Portal directly through the ACT Digital Account website, you need to use the link above.
- When you are logged into Parent Portal, we recommend saving the browser as a favourite or to the homepage on your mobile phone for quick access in the future.
- The website can only be viewed using a web browser on your computer, mobile phone or tablet. An app is not available at this time.
- If you still need to register, you will need an access key and a Parent Portal registration link via email to link your existing account to your child’s records. If you haven’t received this, please contact the school’s front office team for assistance.
Head to our website for all the details:
https://www.weetangeraps.act.edu.au/For_Parents/parent_portal
What's Happening in the Wombats
During our exploration of the global concept ‘Sustainability,’ we explored what organic and inorganic materials are. To help us understand this concept, we created an experiment to see what types of materials could be broken down into soil within a worm farm. This led to many great conversations about our natural environment and how we can care for it, including placing waste in the correct bins.
We have continued to use our observation skills by visiting the yarning circle each fortnight this term to observe changes that happen in the natural environment. We have watched the buds appear on the tree, blossoms bursting out, wind sweeping the flowers away, leaves growing and beautiful birds gathering. We have enjoyed recording our observations using pictures and words. Here are a few of our great observations!
During fruit break we have been listening to The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton. The main characters Beth, Frannie and Joe often end up in magical places such as The Land of Take-What-You-Want. We had lots of fun writing about what we would take if we were in The Land of Take-What-You-Want. What would you take?
Lauren Domio & Michelle Robinson
What's Happening in the Marvellous Matildas
Inquiry - Our Excursion
Year 2 recently travelled to Mulligan’s Flat to gain a better understanding of wildlife in our local area and the challenges that they face due to introduced pests. They completed three activity rotations to learn about animal traps, water quality and native species. This experience enabled the children to connect to our sustainability unit at school and the importance of protecting our native wildlife.
Comments from the children:
Our group got the clean water given to us from the dam. We tested it and discovered a lot of little creatures living in the water. I liked the activity because it was fun to learn something new with my friends. – Sargun
The thing I liked the most was how you can see lots of kangaroos around . They talked about the wildlife and we got to see how healthy the creek was by assessing the little creatures. Also, I know a lot about it because I went there for my birthday. - Ray
I loved the whole excursion to Mulligan’s flat, but I really liked meeting the Shingleback Lizards, Poppy and Hughey. They kept scurrying over to me when the ranger put them down across the circle. It was really funny when Poppy kept licking my leg. - Amelia
Maths – Measurement
In maths, we have been busy learning about measurement – both with length and capacity. We have engaged in a range of activities to increase our skills and confidence in measuring using informal units. We put these skills to good use in our classroom by measuring, ordering and comparing the size of familiar objects that we use every day, like glue sticks, paper clips, markers, books, shoes and drink bottles. You might like to see us transfer these skills by measuring the length of items at home together. We have also enjoyed linking our learning with our sustainability unit to discover the lengths of different Australian animal species, like the echidna, which is 40cm long. That’s the same as 5 and a 1/2 mini whiteboard erasers or 2 lead pencils long!
English – Word Study
The Marvelous Matilda’s are a very clever bunch who have really enjoyed participating in word study investigations. It is a wonderful way to learn about phonology (sound), morphology (meaning), etymology (word origin), and orthography (written rules) in a purposeful and authentic way. Recently, while unpacking our sustainability vocabulary words, we grouped the words in different ways. We clapped out the number of syllables in the words. Then we looked at which words included vowel and consonant digraphs (two letters, one sound i.e. ) or a diaphone (one letter, two sounds i.e. x). We have also unpacked ‘bio’ and ‘micro’ to gain a better understanding of the words and their meaningful parts.
Kiri Davis & Chelsea Glenn
What's Happening in the Gang Gangs
The Gang Gangs have certainly been immersed in the world of Biological Science this term. We have been learning about life-cycles, habitats and the features of living things. A highlight of our term was a visit to the National Botanical Gardens, where we explored different mini-habitats such as the red centre garden, the rock garden, the wetland and the beautiful rainforest gully. The best part of the day was pond dipping and using magnifying glasses to see what creatures might be living in the pond! We found tadpoles, minnows, lots of different water bugs, and even a couple of baby yabbies! We also had fun playing in the paperbark treehouse and counting at least twenty Water Dragons! It was a wonderful hands-on excursion to support our learning at school.
The students have also been busy at school using their imagination and knowledge of animal features and life cycles to create their own creature and life-cycle. They also made a 3D model of their creature and supported this with some fabulous information reports.
Please enjoy some of the spectacular writing
The Blobble fish by Olive
The Blobble fish has big teeth and gills. The bobble fish has a shield of skin to protect itself from predators and the bobble fish has weird feet and a cool pattern and wiggly arms and their eyes look like they are wearing glasses. The Blobble fish can live on land they love to hide in the grass so thats why you barely see them.They live in big caves and mountains too. The Blobble fish love to eat seaweed and grass and snails and slugs. They also like to try new things.They are the best at camouflage. They need to know how to camouflage because they need to hide from predators to survive. The Blobble fish eggs are the size of a birds eggs.The parents leave their eggs for a week and then they come back to their eggs.The mum will stay with the eggs to protect their and the dad well leave the nest to find food.When the eggs hatch the babies will be fully grown.
Millow ake by Louis
Millow akes are one of the tiniest animals in the world.They have no meat in they only have bones in their body.They also hunt with their eyes and nose but at night they hunt.
Millow akes live in the middle of nowhere but most of the time they live in a rocky place in the desert and sometimes they live in Africa.They always live in dry places.
Milow akes can grow up to 5 cm thick and half a metre long. They can grow a number of legs on each side. They can also glow in the dark and can be camouflaged
Milow ake is one of the rarest creatures in the world because it can camouflage and can glow in the dark and there are about 500 of them in the world. If people find them there, they mostly find small ones. You can not eat them because they are venomous. If you eat it you die very quickly.
Milow akes are one of the best creatures in the world.
The Turscoi by Ashley
Introduction
The Turscoi has a stinger to sting its prey and eat it.The Turscois stinger has a curved bit that comes out and it being curved makes it hard to remove.
Description
The Turscoi has a VERY hard shell to protect them from danger,their shells are light green with dark green details.They have a grey patch on their face the darker the patch the more venom they have. So always check the patch before investigating.
Habitat
The Turscoi live in the mountains. Their sharp claws dig to make it home,it takes 4 mins to dig three stones.They try to find soil to put on the ground for a good place to sleep.
Diet
The Turscoi exclusively feeds on termites and crickets by stinging to kill them then feast.To eat them they will grave them to sting and crack them open and eat.
Conclusion
In conclusion the Turscoi is a not so common find with 143 left in the world They eat crickets and termites and have a stinger.
The Lizerfish by Dom
Description
The Lizerfish has a stinger on the end of its tail.The poison on the end of its tail causes a slow but painful death.The Lizerfish has two wings that have black patches and the rest is majestic white.It can also change colour to camouflage.The Lizerfish can get up to speeds of 250mph by using its flippers to propel itself forward.
Habitat
The Lizerfish lives in rocky crevices in the Pacific Ocean and in the sky.
It lays its eggs in the seaweed to keep them camouflaged from danger.
Diet
The lizerfish eats smaller fish and sometimes its own kind.Its way of catching its prey is similar to the chameleon. It extends its tongue to one metre to catch its prey.
Conclusion
Did you know… The Lizerfish can grow up to 3 metres? I love the Lizerfish but the question is do you?
Shelly Murdoch
What's Happening in the Shooting Stars
Weetangera Primary Students Relive the 80s at Belconnen High School!
On Wednesday, 18 September 2024, our Year 4 to 6 students visited Belconnen High School for their 80s-themed musical, featuring "Ghostbusters." The packed auditorium (with visits from Hawker Primary and Florey Primary) was buzzing with excitement as the cast brought the 80s to life with colourful outfits, live singing, a fantastic live band, and energetic dancing to classic hits like "Thriller," "Walk Like an Egyptian," and "Footloose."
The show was full of humour, with funny entrances from the Ghostbusters and surprise cameos, including the Marshmallow Man. Performers dressed as 80s icons like Prince, Axl Rose, and AC/DC’s lead singer added to the fun. Old video tapes, vintage phones, and retro TVs transported us back in time.
By the end, the crowd was on their feet, clapping and singing along to "The Final Countdown." A huge thanks to Belconnen High School for an unforgettable afternoon!
Quotes from the Day:
“We loved it, it was very funny. It was very entertaining, there were so many songs, and they all performed really well, and they all had really good voices. We loved it.” – Eloise, Vera, Victoria from 5/6 EC
“It was wonderful, very clever, the singers were amazing.” – Bec, 5/6 Teacher
“It was fun, there was a lot of ghostbusting happening.” – Logan
“I thought they chose some really nice songs, they got the crowd going, did well.” – Joe
“It was too good. Especially the Rick Roll. Yeah, I just liked it.” – Siddhik
Library News
To borrow e-books and audio books visit https://soraapp.com or download the free Sora app for android or IOS.
To access click on Find My School and select ACT Education and Training Directorate, then sign in using your school credentials. (student ID and password)
Students can now also access SORA through the digital backpack.
Once logged in students can access 100s of e-books and audiobooks on almost any device.
Happy reading!
Stephen James
PBL
Canteen News
P&C Update
Lapathon
Have your children asked grandma, pop, their favourite aunty and funny uncle to sponsor them for lapathon yet? If not there’s still time – but not much because it is NEXT THURDSAY?
Whether they agree a fixed dollar amount or amount per lap run, every donation goes straight towards our fundraising goals. Check the note in your emails for more information, and be sure to send your child with their running shoes on and dressed as their favourite character.
We’d love to see our parents stay to watch a morning of fun lap running/walking/skipping. The oldest groups start from 9:15 and the whole school will be out by around 10am, with lapathon complete around 11am.
Election day BBQ
Weetangera Primary is a polling place for the ACT election on Saturday 19 October, and we’re upholding the tradition of Democracy Sausage with our fundraiser BBQ. We need cooks and food and drink sellers for the day, with volunteer windows as little as 90 minutes from 7am to 3pm. If you can help head to https://signup.zone/KncQoipMhCajHJXPM and sign up for a spot!
We’ll also have a coffee van selling hot drinks and pastries.
Fete
Seven weeks to go! Make sure you have Sunday 17 November in your diary ready to help out and have some fun with the family.
If you’re planning some spring cleaning over the holidays, please keep your quality used books for the book stall, toys for the toy stall, and anything you think someone might find interesting at a garage sale for our white elephant stall. We only have limited storage space so are asking that you hold onto these until closer to fete day.
We are still collecting raffle basket donations for our pamper, garden, and toy, sports and games packs. We can also take donations of other things – whether a nice bottle of wine, yummy food treats, or a donation from your business, we can turn all sorts of things into prizes. And if you’d like to contribute but have no time to shop, you can drop off a cash donation at the school front office for our raffle coordinators to do the shopping for you.
Communication at Weetangera
Community Notices
Let Me Explain…
A Gone Buggo production
12:30pm & 3:30pm Tuesday 8 October 2024
The Theatre, Belconnen Arts Centre
Tickets: $35 Adult / $25 Concession and Children / $20 per person for groups of 10+
As a wildlife educator using macro photographs of live animals on LEGO dioramas, the work of Gone Buggo isn’t exactly intuitive to most people.
‘Let me explain…’ is a live performance; part science lesson, part comedy, part social revolution, passionately delivered in front of projections of colourful, exciting close-up photos of weird and wonderful critters. Over an hour and a half, we’ll explore where Gone Buggo came from, where it’s going, and why it matters to everyone, whether they like bugs or not.
About Gone Buggo
Steven Gill is a keen naturalist, educator and wildlife photographer. Having founded Gone Buggo; a social enterprise dedicated to increasing awareness and education around the importance of smaller, often less appreciated, forms of life, it seems fair to say that he is a man who wears his heart on his sleeve. He has recently self-published a collection of children’s stories he wrote for, and about, his daughter, delivered a TEDx talk in Melbourne about his particularly unique approach to wildlife photography, and is actively engaged in sharing his thought-provoking environmental education through public speaking events and classroom incursions.
Has your child registered to play sport this summer?
Come and Try Tball/Softball
The Boomerangs Softball Club will be hosting a Come and Try session for kids 5- 18 years of age.
When: Saturday 21 September 2024
Time: 10:00am to 12:00pm
Where: Grass diamonds on Walhallow St, Hawker International Softball Centre (across the road from enclosed soccer fields).
If you can’t make it on the day, come along to training on Diamond 2 at the Hawker International Softball Centre on Wednesday 11 & 18 September from 5:00pm to 6:00pm
For more information about the Boomerangs softball club visit: https://www.revolutionise.com.au/boomerangssoftball/home
