Junior School News 5 May 2017 - All Souls St Gabriels School · ^The Lamington Man _ which is a...

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Junior School News 5 May 2017

Pre-prep to Year 12

Co-Ed Day & Boarding

30 Dr George Ellis Drive,

PO Box 235, Charters Towers Qld 4820

Phone: 47 88 2242

A Busy Start to Term 2

Well done to all students for their positive attitude to learning during the very busy and productive

start to this term.

Grandparents’ and Family Open Day

It was wonderful to see the delight on the JS students’ faces as they shared their learning with family

and friends. I hope the many grandparents, mums, dads, aunts and uncles, and friends of ASSG who

joined us for our Open Day, enjoyed spending time in the classrooms with the JS students.

The day began with a delicious Big Breakfast and entertainment provided by our JS Choirs.

Classrooms were soon buzzing with children busy questioning, making links with the past,

experimenting, using their imagination, singing and having fun sharing their learning with family and

friends. I think we also had some new “Rock Stars” join Year 3.

This was a very special day for all our students. It provided an opportunity for them to feel proud,

have their achievements recognised and involve their family in the learning they do at School.

On behalf of the wider School community I would like to say a BIG thank you to everyone who contributed to making the

day a great success. It was a celebration not only of the achievements and efforts of our student learning, but a celebration

of our wonderful School community.

Spirit of ANZAC

As teachers, we are fortunate. We spend our entire professional lives watching children learn, grow and develop new skills

each day. A great responsibility that we are all charged with, is to provide our students with opportunities to develop a

deep understanding and a genuine appreciation of the values, beliefs and traditions that make us who we are: Australians.

During the first couple of weeks of this term, JS teachers have been talking with the children about respect for the spirit of

ANZAC and what this means for them as students at ASSG. The students have been reminded that ANZAC Day goes beyond

the anniversary of the landing on Gallipoli in 1915. Lessons have focused on the tradition of service and sacrifice. We have

talked about the spirit of ANZAC being about courage, endurance, duty, mateship, good humour and love of country and

have discussed how we can apply these qualities to our everyday lives.

A significant day in the All Souls St Gabriels School calendar, ANZAC Day was remembered with pride and reverence. It gave

us all cause to reflect on the importance of service, friendship and sacrifice both past and present.


Country Music Festival

Friday 28 April was Country Music Day in the Junior School. It began with a buzz of excitement as everyone arrived at School

dressed in their best country attire. The students paraded their ‘country best’ for the Country Music Festival judges.

Congratulations to the best dressed boy and girl from each class:

Pre-prep: Nate Musk Brodie Beatty

Prep: Paul Pomat Lilah Plant

Year 1: Danny Clark Hayley Risdale

Year 2: Clayne Musk Isabella Maff

Year 3: Zane Lhotka Annie-May Johnson

Year 4: Clancy Brassington Georgia Mann

Year 5: Steven Davidson Lacey Barnicoat

Year 6: Seth Guldbransen Alexandra Holt

The Country Music Judges awarded: Paul Pomat, Isabella Maff, (Pre-prep – Year 2), Clancy Brassington and Georgia Mann

(Year 3 – 6) best dressed overall.

The day continued with Mrs Marshall, Mrs Polsen, Davin Marshall, Bob Galvin, Sarlina Teti, Belinda Boyle, Desiree Beatty,

Naomi Phillips, Louise Polke, Janet Koglkia, Sarah North, Emma Groves, Lisa Taylor, Julia Craig, George and Angela Ferguson,

all working hard to make sure our float was ready for the evening’s Country Music street procession. It was awesome to

have so many people get the float ready.

The theme for the floats this year was acknowledging ’40 Years of Country Music’. All Souls St Gabriels JS students enjoyed

the opportunity to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Charters Towers Country Music Festival. This was first created to

give the hard-working country folk of the region a chance to come together, put aside the daily grind of working on the land,

sit back, relax and be entertained for the weekend. Our students looked incredible on our colourful float, as they celebrated

40 years of this great Charters Towers community event.

A project like this does not happen without a vision and the support of students, staff, parents and the wider School

community.

Our sincere thanks to:

Mrs Marshall and Mrs Polsen for all the extra time you have both put into planning, co-ordinating and organising the

staff and students to make sure all our props were ready for the float.

Weston’s Carrying Service for providing the use of the truck and low-loader and thanks to Jim Polsen for driving the truck

so smoothly.

Peter and Sue Hammer for providing the hay bales and Bob Galvin for collecting them.

Brent Marshall, Hugh Polsen (disguised as the Phoenix) and Jake Wilson their participation and help unloading the float.

JSSG for funding the materials, hardware and of course the helium balloons.

At the end of a long and successful day, the help of the staff and volunteers who dismantled the truck was also greatly

appreciated. Congratulations and thank you to everyone who was involved.


Inter-School Cross-Country

Congratulations to all the students who represented our School at the Charters Towers District Primary School Sports Inter–

School Cross-Country Carnival. The day began with much anticipation and plenty of butterflies. However, these feelings

were soon dismissed as “Team Souls” were supported and encouraged by many parents and friends. Each runner is to be

congratulated on their efforts and doing their personal best for the team. We were victorious in once again bringing home

the Inter–School Average Shield and came second to Richmond Hill SS for the Aggregate Shield by just 1 point.

Congratulations to Charlotte Jesberg and Reagan Butler who were awarded the Age Champion medals and to, Anna Dunn,

Anna Milton and Lauren Atwell who were the Runners Up in their respective age divisions.

Congratulations are also extended to the following students who qualified to represent Charters Towers at the NQ Trials in

Week 6: Georgia Mann, Anna Milton, Charlotte Jesberg, Lauren Atwell, Emilee Stevenson, Seth Guldbransen, Tristan Maff,

Jed Marshall, Reagan Butler and Meg Brassington.

NAPLAN

On Tuesday 9, Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11 May, JS students in Year 3 and 5 will take the 2017 NAPLAN tests. It is very

important for the students to have a clear understanding of what is expected in these national tests, so they are able to

demonstrate their skills to the best of their ability. Mrs. Heuir and Mr. Roughley are making sure the students are familiar

with the test language, format, response types and time constraints of the Reading, Language Conventions and Numeracy

tests. No specific study is required in the lead-up to these tests and students do not need to feel anxious about them. By

explaining the style of the tests and undertaking some samples, our Year 3 and Year 5 students are well prepared to do their

best without being stressed.

Children take their cues from their parents about how to handle many situations. The best way you can help your child

prepare for NAPLAN is to let them know that NAPLAN is just one part of their school program and to urge them to simply do

the best they can on the day.

A sense of community and pride The Junior School is abuzz with activity and I encourage you to read the following class reports. They are a great reflection of

the wide interests and learning pursuits of our students and how these are facilitated by the fantastic JS staff.

As teachers, we spend hours each day with your children; watching, measuring and celebrating their successes, big and

small. Small academic achievements, positive behavioural changes and social triumphs bring us pride, joy and fulfilment.

Thank you to everyone involved in supporting our fantastic school. It is a pleasure to work with such a great School

community where a sense of family and togetherness thrive.

Always learning, Serving others, Staying safe and Going forward Tina Akers Head of Junior School


Pre-Prep Mrs Peagham, Mrs Limkin & Mrs Cragg

We are pleased to welcome new students Lilly-Ann and Austin and their families to our wonderful School community and the Pre-prep classroom!

Term 2 began with all the children making lamingtons to coincide with our book “The Lamington Man” which is a different version of “The Gingerbread Man.” Our students quickly made the connection and shared their ideas about how the texts were the same or different in some way. We learnt some new information from our story too. We did not know that cake was dipped in chocolate sauce and rolled in coconut to make lamingtons! We were very proud of ourselves for running such a long way in the Cross-Country. Thank you to all our families who were able to come down to support the children, they loved seeing your smiling faces at the finishing line!

We have learnt a lot of new information about ANZAC Day. We have been looking at photographs of real soldiers who went to war. We discovered they wore special uniforms including a Slouch Hat with the Rising Sun badge on the side of it. We saw a picture of a crown in the middle of the Rising Sun badge. We discovered that soldiers, pilots, sailors, doctors and nurses all went to the war and that a lot of them did not come home to their families. We saw the Poppy flowers growing where the soldiers were fighting in the war and discovered that we wear them on ANZAC Day to remember all the people who went to war. We read a story about a little girl who baked ANZAC biscuits to send over to her Dad who was a soldier fighting in the war. We even tasted bully beef and black tea just like the soldiers ate in the trenches and we baked our own ANZAC biscuits to share with our families. We were very interested to see photographs and listen to information our friends shared about members of their family who were soldiers in the past too. We watched a video of an ANZAC parade and looked at photos of the Charters Towers cenotaph and we visited the ANZAC memorials at our School. We think ANZAC Day is a very special event in our community. The Queensland Kindergarten Guidelines state that a kindergarten child who has a strong sense of identity shows pride and confidence in who they are, their family and culture.

Another special event we all enjoyed was our Family/Grandparents’ Day. We loved sharing our “This is me” books with our families and showing them all the new skills we have learnt and all our great thinking and ideas. Thank you to everyone who attended, we hope you enjoyed putting your left leg in for the Hokey Pokey!

In Numeracy, we are starting to think about how we can sort objects and place them in groups. We have to look at objects and really think about how they are the same in some way. We discovered we can look at many different attributes and put them in the same group. We had a basket of animals and we made many groups – the hoof group, the horn group, the ocean group and the wing group. Great thinking!

In Science we are exploring the needs of different animals. We are researching new information about animals we know little about. We are exploring how to use books from the library and the Internet to find the answers to our questions. We will continue to explore the needs of plants and humans too.

We are enjoying some pirate fantasy play outside and some beauty shop dramatic play inside. We are using new vocabulary, learning how to include our friends, as well as using money to pay for things. We are creating our own play ideas and enrolling our friends in our imaginary storylines. We have so much fun and we are learning so much.


News From Prep: Margaret Riddle and Vanessa Herring

We concluded our formal learning about the writing of Eric Carle at the end of Term 1 with a Hungry Caterpillar feast. This was a really happy event for the children. We provided all the food from the story for morning tea, including eating a leaf (lettuce!) after the fruits, salami, cheese, ice-cream cone and so on. We were prompted by the discovery of an old photo from 13 years ago of Prep children having the same caterpillar themed morning tea. This became a part of the children’s historical learning. They compared the photo of the past with what Prep is like now. Uniforms and the classroom were quite different. At our feast, the children even asked to wear the old uniforms which we still had hoarded in a cupboard. The class now completes an assessment item for History in which they use their skills of analysis and comparison as they look at the past photo and the photo from now.

During play outdoors, the children discovered a decaying log which broke apart to reveal an ant colony. It was a perfect introduction to their Science learning this term. We are discussing what living things need to grow. The children were able to watch the flurry of the young pupa being moved as they looked for a safe place to nest.

The Prep curriculum in History asks for the children to show how special family and cultural events are celebrated. Easter and Anzac Day have proved to be valuable events to help the children understand this. After hearing the story of Gallipoli, they became engrossed in acting out the story outdoors. Their play showed a deep understanding of historical knowledge as they dressed for battle, gathered equipment and dug trenches. We overheard two comments which struck a poignant chord with Vanessa and I ..

I want to go to war. It sounds like fun! and I’m going to be in the war. They’re my friends.

In their play, they could grasp some of the feeling of the time. Another child was keen to contact her husband in the trenches. She fetched some technology from the shed and “set up face time with him ‘cause this war is happening now.”

The children have been discussing the characters in stories. They can talk about which character would be the main one and give thoughtful reasons about why. We have been guiding their thinking by giving them a question to think about as they listen to the story. This has helped them to recognise that the pronouns he and she tell us if the character is male or female. They are quite excited to pick up such clues in the vocabulary, calling out, “It’s a boy!” as soon as he is heard. The series of Harry (the dirty dog) stories are being read and enjoyed, providing a focus for such learning.

At the time of this writing, I am thinking about the computer lesson tomorrow. We are off to the computer lab to write some more sentences in Microsoft Word using the range of sight words that the children are learning. They will create some simple sentences and then practise changing the font. We will put them up on the back door for you to have a look.


Marvellous Marvels—Mrs Marshall

DINOSAUR ROAR!

The Muppets are up to their necks in dinosaurs. I love this Dinosaur Unit of work,

simply because it is fun! The children get really engaged in all things Dinosaur. The

BBC series “Walking with Dinosaurs” has fascinated the little ones. Did you know,

according to Palaeontologists, dinosaurs walked on land. Any others at the time

were known as flying or marine reptiles.

Thanks to the Grandparents, we have started our Dinosaur display. After reading “If the dinosaurs came back” the

children had to come up with ideas to finish the sentence. There were some insightful suggestions like “I would hide” to

“We could ride to school on a dinosaur”. In Science, we will be comparing dinosaur skeletons to animal skeletons of

today. The children make predictions about movement and protection using this information. In English, we have been

analysing a narrative (story). The Muppets have to understand this before they can write their own sequenced narrative

about a dinosaur. With all these exciting things happening in class, I think the highlight will be going to the Museum in

Townsville to look through the exhibit. I can’t wait!

Cross-Country was a highlight of the second week. Such big kids now running a whole 1 km. I was so proud of their

efforts. I think they were proud, that I nearly ran all the way too. It was hard work keeping up. I took photos of them at

the race to put in their diary as a record of their efforts.

During Maths, we have concentrated on addition strategies. Showing the children doubles, make to ten facts and count

on facts have helped them become quicker at addition. We have also worked on tens and ones. The Muppets have to

identify how many tens and ones are in a number. We have tried to write these in words, which was a bit tricky at first.

During Design Technology, we have been talking about how inventions have made things a bit easier for farmers and

graziers. Later on this term, the children will be given an assessment task asking them to design a solution to help a

farmer. They have to draw then explain their solution. The ideas they have come up with have been pretty amazing.

The children have been surprising me each day as they discover something new they can do. I love watching them learn

and being a part of that process of helping them along. If you have any questions about your child please don’t hesitate

to contact me.

Until next time….


Talented Twos Miss Melissa Browne

Thank you:

Welcome back to what was a brilliant, but extremely busy start to Term 2. It was so wonderful to have so many community events to begin the term and share some of the fantastic work produced in Year 2. It was truly lovely to meet family and friends on Grandparents’/Family Day and we are so thankful for the help and support provided on this day. We had a blast sharing our classroom and school with you all.

Reminders:

Just a reminder that our class reading challenge will be continuing this term. Please remember to write down your reading minutes.

Magnificent Maths:

In Mathematics, we have been learning to collect and record data. We have explored the use of tallies and have used the data to construct picture graphs. We look forward to collecting more data over the coming weeks and learning about why and how data is used.

Exciting English:

Over the past few weeks, the children have become fixated with the writings of author Roald Dahl. Every day I have children begging me ‘will you please just read one more chapter’? Their enthusiasm and excitement has ignited a flame amongst many. We have begun to make connections between the novel George’s Marvelous Medicine and the work we are doing in writing. We have been learning about procedures and have enjoyed relating this knowledge to George Kranky’s recipes in the story. Although we must note that children are not to follow the procedure for making the concoction at home or you will end up with an extremely tall Grandmother, chickens that lay eggs the size of footballs and other animals with necks and legs at least 6ft tall.

Sensational Science:

In Science, we have been exploring mixtures. We have discovered that a mixture is two or more things mixed together. We have discovered the many places mixtures can be found and some of us have even done some investigating at home. We particularly enjoyed experimenting with cocoa powder, rice puffs and icing sugar to create a mixture of our own. Matt Dunn even noticed that the packet of icing sugar was actually called ‘Icing Mixture’ and therefore it must be made up of at least two different ingredients. He was right!

High quality HASS:

In HASS this term, we are focusing our attention on Geography. We have been learning about places at a local and personal level and have been trying to use some newly learnt vocabulary in our everyday life.

Terrific Technology:

Technology has had us transforming our minds to become our very own designers. We have been exploring the role of designers and architects in our society and have decided to apply some of this knowledge to our own class challenge. Soon we will be designing our very own toy. The toy must include a push or pull force and must be safe to be used by young children. We have learnt the importance of planning, designing, testing and evaluating and look forward to applying this in our own designs. Watch this space!


Year 3 News

Mrs Laura Heuir

Rock’in ASSG on

Grandparents’/Family Day!

Orchestra of outstanding

voices

Country Music legends

Kill’n the Cross-Country

Seriously talented artists

Tearing up the disco dance

floor

Always learning and

working together

Respecting other cultures

Scientists observing

observable features


Year 3 News

Mrs Laura Heuir

The students have been quite busy beginning all of the new units for Term 2.

In English, they were very excited to each receive their own copy of the chapter book “Matty Forever”, which is a novel that we will be studying this term to support our learning about the narrative genre. The students will examine the language features and structures that the author has used to create detailed and engaging descriptions. Their task is to put on their own author’s hats and write a narrative with the theme of friendship. Their narrative will carefully develop characters and showcase many of the language features studied in class. Come along and check out our learning wall to keep up to date with all of the expectations of this task!

So far the Rock Stars are enjoying the Science unit as they investigate the relationship between the Earth, Sun and Moon and the effects of the Earth’s rotation. Did you know that the Sun was created around about 5 billion years ago and has enough energy to burn for another 5 billion years? Wow! That is a lot of birthdays!!!!!! This week the students have refined their observation skills while studying observable features of the day and night sky. It has been interesting to learn how much the students already know about the topic and I can’t wait to see how much more knowledge they have to share by the end of the unit.

In Mathematics, we have been revising place value concepts and learning how to group numbers in different ways. Ask the students to explain the meaning of standard and non-standard partitioning and to show you the actions that help them to remember the terms. I’m sure they will be able to make you understand perfectly as well as keep you entertained! We have also had fun exploring the concept of multiplication. The students have learnt new terminology and completed many hands on activities to demonstrate their understanding of groups, rows and arrays. Next week they begin learning memorisation strategies for basic multiplication facts.

Have a fantastic term!


YEAR 4—Mrs Turner

TEAM TURNER ALL STARS

What a wonderful and busy start to Term 2 we have had. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Grandparents and family members for our Big Breakfast and Family Day. Throughout the Junior School Cross-Country, the spirit I saw in each of the Houses and the sportsmanship and encouragement from all students was to be commended. Marching with the students during the ANZAC Day Parade, I must say was one of the most memorable marches I have been a part of. With such a strong history and connection to fallen soldiers, it certainly was special. Finally we finished off last week with our float for Country Music – such fun! Thanks Mrs Marshall and Mrs Polsen plus all of the volunteers who helped make it look fantastic.

Now, for some of our learning. We have fully immersed ourselves in the novel, “The One and Only Ivan”. This novel is based on a true story and is written in first person from the main character’s perspective, who happens to be a silverback gorilla in captivity. It’s been very interesting reading about Ivan’s thoughts, feelings and actions because so far, he is very content with his life in a circus at a shopping mall. Tasks have included building a vocabulary wall using the rich language the author, Katherine Applegate, uses throughout the text. We have also filled in character charts with details about each of the characters and the children are answering a range of question types to show their understanding of the text. They have made some interesting discoveries about Ivan and we stop often to discuss what we have read and how that affects our thoughts and feelings towards the characters.

Our Science links directly to our novel, as we are studying endangered animals. We are initially looking at the ‘big picture’ and reading about endangered animals around the world. We will then narrow our search to Australian endangered animals, as we will be able to meet some of these face to face during our excursion to Billabong Sanctuary. We are developing our research skills to find out about the animals’ descriptions, habitats and diets before we move onto the causes for their endangerment and what is being done to assist their survival to increase their numbers.

STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. This is our focus for our Design Technologies this term. We started last week with our first challenge. We are aware that animals like Ivan the silverback gorilla are sometimes transported in crates. The students have been given the challenge of designing a crate to hold a small stuffed animal using only paddle pop sticks, glue and tape. They have been working in pairs and groups to come up with some design ideas, take measurements, draw plans and record the method they will follow for the construction. Once their planning is submitted, they will build their crates. They will be able to make amendments as they build and reflect on the process. This will be followed by another challenge, also linked to our novel.

The students were very excited to start HASS this term. Even though they knew who Captain James Cook was, they had no idea that so many other sea explorers had sailed around parts of Australia before him. We will be studying life in Britain before the First Fleet, the causes for Australia being chosen as a penal settlement and the journey they made to reach the east coast.

Our main areas of focus for Mathematics this term are number, operations, and mapping. We are also consolidating knowledge and skills in fractions and money. There will be more hands on opportunities to assist students in their learning.

Each week for homework there will be maths tasks, in particular number activities and word problems to reinforce our learning at school. Literacy Planet is also set up every fortnight with reading tasks and spelling activities linked to personalised spelling words. Children complete these in class but can also access them at home.


Year 5 News Mr Rob Roughley How wonderful it is to be able to start the Year 5 Newsletter

contribution by acknowledging the achievements by two members of

our class. A great big, hearty ‘congratulations’ goes out to Karlee and

Charlotte. Over the past week Karlee (with a tiny little bit of help from

her mum) participated in the Country Music Festival’s Junior Busker

Competition. Over a period of three days, Karlee busked for a total of 6

hours and as a result of her outstanding efforts, achieved the title of

Junior Busker.

Charlotte was also busy earlier in the term playing hard over two days

while participating in the North Queensland Netball Trials. Thanks to

Charlotte’s skills and commitment to the game, she earned herself a

well-deserved place in the North Queensland team.

Well done Karlee and Charlotte!

Also a big well done to Year 5 for their presentations to family and

friends at Grandparents’ and Family Open Day. Despite some technical

glitches, the class were thrilled to be able to share with everyone their

knowledge, interesting facts and Term 1 work. It was a fantastic

morning and I enjoyed chatting with many of you. Thank you for being

part of our day.

In Mathematics, we continue to focus on place value and are working

well on our two digit by two digit multiplication algorithms and

estimation. Getting used to the extra steps in this mathematical process

has been a bit of a challenge – particularly the purpose of the ‘magic

zero’ and the effect it has. If you are working on two digit by two digit

multiplication tasks at home, it would be fantastic if you could ask your

child to check the reasonableness of the answer and explain their

thinking as to why it is reasonable. This will also help them focus on

their strategies and mathematical thinking when it comes to NAPLAN.

This term we are very excited to be combining Art and Technology into

the one unit. In the past, Year 5 have demonstrated their creative skills

by planning, filming and editing projects celebrating and promoting our

Junior School. This year, our class will be working in small teams to plan,

film and edit a short documentary on friendships. The documentary

making project is designed to help them work co-operatively with other

students they would not normally do group work with, and to help Year

5 build on the positive friendship skills they have been working on with

Miss Taylor and Mrs van Wijk. Knowing some of the creative minds in

the class this year, I am sure the projects will be very informative and entertaining.

Hopefully by now; your child is either asking you a lot of strange questions about space or, they are giving you a lot of

interesting facts about the planets in our Solar System that you already know. For example; Venus and Uranus are the

only two planets that rotate on their axis in the opposite direction to all our other planets. Perhaps by now they are

even telling you planet order, planet size and average temperatures.

To build on what we are learning in Science, we will be checking in with the International Space Station on a regular

basis, looking at some of the experiments they conduct in space and why, and with any luck, if the link is working this

year, we may even be able to send them messages and ask them questions.

Depending on the weather and the arrival of a camera to telescope connector, we are hoping to come back one night

and look at the stars and take photos of any planets we can find. But more about that closer to the time.

Here’s to a wonderful productive Term 2.


Year 6: Mrs Marilyn Toohey Year 6 students have really ‘stepped up to the mark’ recently as there have been many opportunities for them to show us their leadership skills. During the first week of Term 1, we crammed both Inter-House Cross-Country and Grandparents’ & Family Day/Big Breakfast into 3 crazy action-packed days of preparation and activity. Our House Captains, Zali, Seth, Jim, Milli and Ally helped to energise and encourage their teams with some very loud war cries at the Inter-House Cross-Country. More importantly, they set an excellent example of sportsmanship and ‘getting in and having a go’. The next day, many of the Year 6 students had a specific role to play in the hosting of Grandparents’ Family Day/Big Breakfast and all of the others helped in many different ways, from setting up tables and chairs to helping younger students or visitors. Thank you – Year 6 leaders! ANZAC Day saw Jed and Meg joining with our Senior School Captains to lay a wreath during both the Dawn Service and the main ceremony. Lucie and Jim were proud to march right behind the flag and lead the Junior School students and Jim’s big voice helped us all to know when we had to turn our ‘eyes left’ to show our respect for the dignitaries during the ANZAC Day march. The action continued with Country Music Day on Friday last week and each Student Council representative helped with the judging of the country music costumes in the Junior School. Amongst all this, Jim has represented Charters Towers at NQ Rugby League Trials and Seth and Meg at NQ Tennis Trials. Although none of them were selected into an NQ team, all did their best and were great ambassadors for our school. We enjoyed spending some time with our grandparents when they came to our classroom. All of the grandparents were happy to ‘adopt’ an extra grandchild or two, as not every student was lucky enough to have their own grandparents attend. The students were ready for a trivia quiz with their grandparents as they had already turned some of the facts they had learnt about Australia into questions. They discovered that their grandparents were pretty smart and it was hard to trick them. We also had some interesting conversations to enable the students to compare some aspects of their lives with the lives of their grandparents at the same age. These were some of the main differences that we discovered: Some of our grandparents went to very small country schools – maybe only a dozen or so students and one teacher. Others went to big city schools with 1000 or more students. Our grandparents grew up in many different parts of Australia. Walking, biking, taking a bus or riding a horse to school was much more common for our grandparents than being taken in a car. In most cases, our grandparents didn’t travel as far for their holidays as we do these days. Communicating with friends and relatives was usually done by landline telephone or writing letters. Our grandparents would have used atlases and encyclopaedias to find information when they were our age. Their favourite childhood activities were pretty similar to ours – horse riding, playing sport, fishing, biking, reading, playing marbles, playing board games, bush walking, climbing trees, building a treehouse, roller skating, going to the beach. Some of the BIG world events our grandparents can remember are – the Apollo moon missions and the Neil Armstrong/Buzz Aldrin moon landing, the beginning of television, when Charters

Towers was an air force town during World War 2, the saying ‘children should be seen and not heard!’ and the Queen visiting Townsville. Prime Ministers they can remember include Sir Robert Menzies, Harold Holt, Sir William McMahon, Ben Chifley and John Gorton as well as Winston Churchill from Britain. Thank you to all those who joined us, we learnt a lot and loved having you in our classroom.


German (LOTE) -Mrs Melita Dunn

What a busy start to the term! For some classes this week will be their first German lesson, due to

Travel day and ANZAC commemorations.

I hope you all had a Frohe Ostern and received lots of Oster Eier (ask your children). We finished up

last term making Chocolate Nests. Just like when we made the pancakes, the children had to first

deconstruct and then translate the German recipe. You would be surprised at the knowledge they

have of the German language already and ability to identify familiar words or phrases.

Once again a big thank you to my trusty helpers Jaron and Bastian (Gap staff). It is wonderful to have

their back up and the children really get a lot out of having them around. Often the children ask me questions about

Germany and about the Gap staff that I cannot answer, so we decided to come up with some interview questions to find out

everything we wanted to know. This turned out to be a wonderful cross-cultural activity!

This term (once again) homework will be given out in class. If for some reason this doesn’t come home, the basket with

‘Deutsch’ will have some spare copies. Children have until their next German lesson to complete and hand in to me or in to

the basket.

JS Music—Julia Maclay

Students have had a good start in Music this term, and we are preparing ourselves for another hectic term!

Unfortunately, my time with Pre-preps and Preps has been limited in the last few weeks. In their most recent lesson, the students have focused on ‘Buzzing Bees’- Learning a buzzing bee vocal warm up, creating their own buzzing bees, as well as learning and moving to Buzzing Bee music. Students are continuing their work on singing skills, with our introductory Hello song.

Chants, Raps, and simple songs are the focus in Year 1 this term. They continue to grow in confidence and are making more sounds. We began by focusing on keeping the beat and now we continue this, as well as develop performing ‘Rhythm’. We are still developing our team-building skills and learning that it’s OK if you don’t have a turn all the time.

Year 2 have started their term with the book ‘3 Little Pigs’. They have been choosing appropriate instruments to represent the characters and the action, In Week 2, they performed their music and reflected on their performance thinking about what they did well and what they could do to improve. We will be using the book ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ to develop our skills further.

Year 3 have continued to learn songs from different countries representing traditions and cultural events. The students have learnt and performed the Spanish ‘Happy Birthday’ (feliz cumpleaños.) We are now learning a more difficult piece ‘Out on the Mira’- a traditional Canadian song.

Students in Year 4 have started the new term with a composition task: They have watched a clip of ‘The Road Runner’ and ‘Wild E Coyote’. Students chose instruments and sounds to match the action and the characters on screen. They have had a go at creating appropriate melodies and sounds and will continue by performing their compositions.

Year 5 students have revisited Soundscapes, beginning the term by performing a soundscape. Students then watched the storm scene from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and thought about how they could re-create the scene with instruments and body percussion. In their last lesson, students performed their composition and then we analysed the performance after watching it as a class.

Balinese Gamelan Music is the focus for Year 6 this term. In their ongoing unit based on the ‘Ostinato’, the students have learnt

about the different instruments from Balinese Gamelan and about their roles, as well as how they are made. They will continue the unit by performing and composing in this style. They are continuing to learn notes by playing stave games, as well as ‘Staff Wars’- an application on the Arts iPads. They will perform their composition in Week 8.


JS HPE & SPORT NEWS: Miss Pia Taylor

Well we have certainly hit the ground running (quite literally) this term. It has been a very busy few weeks in terms of sport in the Junior School. We have started with our Inter-House Cross-Country Carnival, students have been away representing Charters Towers at NQ trials, Inter-School Touch competition has started and on Thursday 4 May we competed in the Inter-School Cross-Country carnival.

Inter-House Cross-Country

Week 1 saw our annual Inter-House Cross-Country Carnival being held. All the students should be very proud of their efforts and well done to adjusting to the new track with such little notice. Congratulations to Feetham and Becket House for winning the Cross-Country shield. Congratulations also to the following age champions;

6yrs – Georgia Nelson & Danny Clark

7yrs – Rebecca Galvin & Matt Dunn

8yrs – Bailey McGuire & Henry Jesberg

9yrs – Della Walsh & Rory Clark

10yrs – Anna Milton & Nate Taylor

11yrs – Charlotte Jesberg & Seth Guldbransen

12yrs – Reagan Butler & Jed Marshall

Inter-School Cross-Country

This week our Cross-Country runners went to Columba Catholic College to compete at the Inter-School Cross-Country Carnival. Depending on their times, the top 5 students in each age group from 9-12yrs were selected for our team and competed against students from the other primary schools. Representatives for the Charters Towers team will be selected to travel to Townsville to compete at the NQ trials. Selection for the Charters Towers team is open to students 10-12yrs old.

Congratulations and good luck to the following students who were selected for the ASSG Junior School Cross-Country Tearm:

Della Walsh, Anna Dunn, Jennifer Lavery, Bridget Boyle, Dale Beatty, Rory Clark, Oliver Colthup, Tio Chong, Shelden West, Zane Lhokta, Anna Milton, Georgia Mann, Yasmin Musk, Grace Kirkwood, Alaina Heuir, Nate Taylor, Clancy Brassington, Alexander Nunns, Travis Friend, Mahava Leo, Charlotte Jesberg, Lauren Atwell, Dru Mossman, Alexandra Holt, Emilee Stevenson, Seth Guldbransen, Tristan Maff, Blair Colthup, Will North, Kody Thun, Reagan Butler, Meg Brassington, Zali Downes, Lucie Taylor, Milli Davey, Jed Marshall, James Callaghan-Sharp and Jim Mann

Inter-School Touch Competition

Inter-School Touch Football competition kicked off last week with the boys and girls teams both playing against Millchester SS. The boys had a very narrow loss, being defeated 4-3. The girls came back in their game to hold onto a 2 all draw. All students who participated should be very proud of their efforts, as for some it was their very first game of Touch. I look forward to seeing their skills and game play develop over the coming weeks.

NQ Trials

Congratulations to the following students who have all recently represented Charters Towers at U12 NQ trials;

Netball - Charlotte Jesberg, Mia Dickson (Year 7). Rugby League - Jim Mann. Tennis - Meg Brassington, Seth Guldbransen, Chloe Wolfenden (Year 7) & Zach

Vass (Year 7).

Boys

Will North

Jed Marshall

James Callaghan-

Sharp

Mahava Leo

Jim Mann

Tristan Maff

Xander Nunns

Seth Guldbransen

Sam McCartney

Kody Thun

Girls

Charlotte Jesberg

Ally Holt

Lucie Taylor

Zali Downes

Emily Maxwell

Dru Mossman

Anna Milton

Meg Brassington

Reagan Butler

Emilee Stevenson

Inter-School Touch Football Teams


Library Link—Mrs Silverwood

Let’s hear it for picture books!

There seems to come a time in the library, when picture books become out of fashion with students. I recently had a class

and watched one little girl sitting in a comfy chair engrossed in her book. Along came another student who stood in-front and did a little dance saying ’children’s book, children’s book! It took me a second to realise that she was actually using the comment as an insult – saying they were baby books. Fortunately, the little girl was enjoying her book so much she either didn’t hear or didn’t care. I came alongside the dancer and made a comment that they were children’s books and weren’t we lucky to be able to read them too!

Picture books are not only literary works but artistic endeavours…making the authors work come to life. I was recently reading the book to the Year 1 class. Just as I was about to turn the page, a young boy pointed out something on the page. It tied the story together and added to the whole picture. I had never noticed this small little picture, but young eyes spotted it from metres away. Exploring and discovering books can be a real joy.

Sometimes as children progress through school, I hear their comments and ones obviously passed on from home that it is time to move onto chapter books. As students’ progress through school, we want their reading to also progress. That is why we have a 3 book borrowing policy. Reading 3 novels in a week, along with a busy school and home life is not achieved by many students, so including a quick read in the form of a picture book, can be a great way to relax, let your imagination run free and may even plant ideas for future writing activities.

I was reading an article by Shaun Tan. One question he is regularly asked is ’Who do you write for?” http://www.shauntan.net/essay1.html

Since 1996, much of my time has been devoted to writing and illustrating picture books, which have reached a broad readership in Australia and overseas, having been translated into several languages. While I describe them as 'picture books', they are not specifically children's literature and appeal to a general audience (http://www.shauntan.net/books.html)

While many of our pictures books are written specifically for children, some have much deeper meaning and can be enjoyed on many levels. It never ceases to surprise me which books make the short list for Children’s Book Week. Some have amazing pictures and story lines…and some just seemed aimed at the adults who read them rather than the children who listen to them. Ever purchased a book you thought was wonderful, and watched as your little one grabbed for an old favourite that bores you to tears????

Picture books are a wonderful format for capturing a little ones attention and hopefully starts them on a journey of reading for pleasure. They are a great excuse to come together, for older siblings to engage with the younger members of the family. Children know when to move on…trust them.

Enjoy a picture book today.

The Junior School Support Group will be holding its annual

Mother’s Day Stall, in the Ena Eden Learning Enrichment Centre

on Friday, 12 May.

We invite all families to donate gifts for this stall and some

wonderful donations have been received, thank you. However,

we require more donations of gifts, so each JS student will

have a range to choose from for their mothers or

grandmothers. Donations can be anything ranging from items

that you may have won through cent sales and do not wish to

use yourself or something from a $2 shop. The JSSG require

these generous donations to be delivered to the School no later

than Wednesday 10 May.

The JSSG are also looking for volunteers to help out with the

running of the Stall on Friday 12 May. If you are interested in

volunteering your wonderful sales skills,the JSSG will appreciate

your assistance in selling the items to students.

Please let the JSSG know if you are available to help by filling in

the sign up roster sheet outside the staff room, sending an

email to [email protected] or by phoning the

Junior School on 4788 2242

The classes will receive a timetable of what time they can “go

shopping” on the Friday. You will not need to send any more

than $10 with your child on the day. Items for sale will range

in price from $1 to $10. Additionally, all JS students will have

their names placed in the draw for the Mother’s Day Raffle.

http://www.shauntan.net/essay1.html

http://www.shauntan.net/essay1.html

http://www.shauntan.net/books.html

mailto:[email protected]


Junior School Schedule Term 1 Weeks 4-7 WEEK 4 Monday 8 May

After School Care/ After School Activities 3:00—5:15

Tuesday 9 May NAPLAN (Year 3 & 5) Year 1 Museum of Tropical Queensland Excursion After School Care/ After School Activities 3:00—5:15

Wednesday 10 May NAPLAN (Year 3 & 5) After School Care/ After School Activities 3:00—5:15

Thursday 11 May NAPLAN (Year 3 & 5) Year 4 Billabong Sanctuary Excursion Souls Shakers—Dance MPC 3:00—4:15 After School Care/ After School Activities 3:00—5:15

Friday 12 May JS Assembly 8:35 NAPLAN (Make-up sessions) Mother’s Day Stall Little Souls Inter-School Touch (Year 5 & 6) After School Care/ After School Activities 3:00—5:15

WEEK 5 Monday 15 May


Tuesday 16 May After School Care/ After School Activities 3:00—5:15

Wednesday 17 May After School Care/ After School Activities 3:00—5:15

Thursday 18 May Souls Shakers—Dance MPC 3:00—4:15 After School Care/ After School Activities 3:00—5:15

Friday 19 May JS Assembly 8:35 . Little Souls Inter-School Touch (Year 5 & 6) After School Care/ After School Activities 3:00—5:15



Tuesday 23 May NQ Cross-Country Trials Townsville After School Care/ After School Activities 3:00—5:15


Thursday 25 May Souls Shakers—Dance MPC 3:00—4:15 After School Care/ After School Activities 3:00—5:15

Friday 26 May JS Assembly 8:35 Little Souls **Inter-School Touch (Gala Day)** After School Care/ After School Activities 3:00—5:15



Tuesday 30 May After School Care/ After School Activities 3:00—5:15


Thursday 1 June Souls Shakers—Dance MPC 3:00—4:15 After School Care/ After School Activities 3:00—5:15

Friday 2 June Under 8s’Day Little Souls After School Care/ After School Activities 3:00—5:15

** More information will be/has been sent home to families about these events.**

A friendly reminder to parents and guardians: Children can be dropped at School after 8am (Year 1 –6) and from 8:15am (Prep & Pre-prep).

We do not have any staff rostered for the supervision of children before these times, as we are busy preparing for the day’s learning activities. Your understanding and co-operation are greatly appreciated.

Junior School News 5 May 2017 - All Souls St Gabriels School · ^The Lamington Man _ which is a...

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