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Principal: Mark Spencer PO Box 4030 - 595 Ballina Road, Goonellabah 2480

Phone: 02 6624 1444 Fax: 02 6625 1072

Email:goonellaba-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Website:www.goonellaba-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

13th November 2018 – Week 5 – Term 4

Kindergarten Orientation – Thursday, 15th November The second day of our 2019 Kindergarten orientation program is on this Thursday from 9:00am – 1.30pm in the Kindergarten classrooms. The program runs each Thursday for 4 weeks. If you know of any pre-schoolers who will be starting school in 2019, please inform their families of our program and ask them to contact the school on 6624 1444 for details.

Parenting Support - Reminder Belinda, from Interrelate will be available at our school on Thursdays for parenting support. Belinda has years of experience delivering parenting programs and supporting parents and caregivers. She is passionate about helping parents and caregivers, and recognises that parenting is often not easy and at times can be really tough. Getting some support and a few ideas can help lighten the load. If you would like to drop in for a chat with Belinda, contact Warren Rhijaan to arrange a time.

Save the Dates End of Year Celebration Day All stages will be having their end of year celebration days in Week 9, this term.

K-2 - Wategos Beach - Byron Bay – Thursday, 13th December.

Years 3 & 4 - Camp Koinonia – Wednesday, 12th December.

Years 5 & 6 - Wet’n’Wild – Thursday, 13th December.

Student Parliament 2019 Year 5 students have received information about how to nominate for the 2019 Student Parliament/School Captains. They will have 2 to 3 weeks to campaign. The students will give a speech at the K-5 Assembly on Tuesday, 4th December at 9.20am. Voting will happen straight after the speeches and the announcement of the Parliamentarians will be at the Presentation Assembly on Tuesday, 11th December.

P&C Meeting The next P&C meeting is being held on Wednesday, 21st November from 7.00pm in the staffroom. All welcome.

High School Orientation – Tuesday, 27th November The first full day orientation day for students in Year 6 who are attending Kadina, Lismore or Richmond River High Schools next year is on Tuesday, 27th November. Information from the High Schools should have already been received.

Mark Spencer, Principal

Positive Behaviour for Learning Positive Behaviour for Learning is based around the philosophy of PREVENTing problems occurring, TEACHing the

appropriate behaviours NOT presuming students know what to do, ACKNOWLEDGing when students are doing it right and

CORRECTing them if they are doing something wrong.

Goonellabah PS staff are showing their commitment to the PBL ethos by continuing to reward students in the playground,

classroom, library and office for doing the right thing and behaving appropriately during lessons. Students receive Bonus

Awards or a blue Thank You for following the 3 core school rules;

Being Safe

Being Responsible

Being Respectful

This week in all classrooms K-6 students will be revisiting what it means to BE SAFE, RESPECTFUL AND RESPONSIBLE by specifically targeting; BE SAFE USE EQUIPMENT CORRECTLY IN THE CLASSROOM, this includes sitting on chairs with four on the floor, holding scissors by the blades, using stationery correctly, holding laptops etc with 2 hands, reading and writing in books IN THE PLAYGROUND; this includes throwing balls, jumping with ropes, exercising on fixed equipment and drinking from

bubblers. If we all use the equipment correctly and safely, it is unlikely that someone will get hurt or injured. If students see someone who is not using equipment correctly please tell a staff member and they will help fix the problem before it gets worse! PBL international research tells us “For an average student to learn something new, it needs to be repeated on average 8 times. This includes seeing it, hearing it and doing it. For an average student to unlearn an old behaviour and replace with a new behaviour or strategy, the new behaviour must be repeated on average 28 times.” (Wong, USF).

School Intensive Swimming Scheme – Week 1 56 lucky students are participating in this year’s swimming scheme at Trinity Sports and Aquatic Centre.

Everyday students are taught how to be safe around the water at home, near a pool and at the beach.

Every lesson includes survival skills such as floating, safety jumps and remembering to swim with a

friend.

Did you know that 112 is the phone number you use when ringing an ambulance from a mobile?

Active Kids: From 31 January, parents, guardians and carers

of school children can apply for a $100 voucher to use for

sport and fitness costs including extra swimming lessons!

Stage 2 Homework Expo Stage 2 students have been eagerly bringing in their homework projects this week. By means of celebrating their hard work,

we are organising a Stage 2 Homework Expo. This will take place Wednesday Week 6, 21st November, in the Library. All

families are invited to come along and view the students’ productions. The Expo begins at 2:30pm and runs through until

3:15pm. You will have the opportunity to vote in the People’s Choice Award for the project that you feel is worthy of

additional recognition.

Speech At the age of 7 and 8 years old, children should be able to use joining words to increase their story- telling ability. Joining words are used to help build a story with a beginning, middle and end. Joining words are used to create longer sentences. Some joining words are for example: and; so; because and but. Board games like the one seen below are a fun way to encourage children to use joining words to increase their sentence length. For example, the following sentence uses ‘so’ as the joining word: ‘We were born on the same day so we are the same age’.

Past in the Present by Year 1 - Pink

Last term Year 1 Pink studied Bundjalung Culture. This is a short story from the class about the things they have learnt.

There are fifteen nations that make up Bundjalung Country. Sacred sites of the area include Nimbin Rocks, Goanna Headland

(Dirrawong) at Evans Head and the Bora Ring at Tucki Tucki.

Creation stories come from these sacred sites. The Three Brothers discovered Lismore, Ballina and Tweed Heads. The

Aboriginal people used stone tools and flint to make fire! The Indigenous people used their stone axes to cut bark from cedar

trees so they could make canoes. We can see the scarred trees today!

Lastly, Indigenous People always left the Environment to regrow so that the land and animals would be safe for future

generations.

P&C News

Christmas Hampers

The P&C committee are asking for donations for the Christmas Hamper raffle. Donations of non-perishable items,

decorations, toys may be left with Allison at the canteen. The raffle will be drawn at the Carols by Candlelight, Monday,

17th December. Raffle tickets will go home in the next couple of weeks.

Christmas Showbags

The P&C will be selling Christmas showbags, more information will be available soon.

Occupational Therapy Motor Planning happens with everything we do. From dodging objects in our path, to picking up items,

aiming and throwing, drawing, writing and even getting dressed. To do these tasks we must organise

incoming information from all our sensors and turn that information into a plan. All movement (over,

under, and around objects) requires fine motor and gross motor skills and planning to organise and

carry out the action. This little activity is a fun way to practice this skill. As well as assisting in motor

planning, squeezing the pom pom is a fine motor work out for the hands. These skills are both

important for fine motor tasks like coloring, hand writing and cutting.

Items needed: 1 x Clear snap lock bag White craft pompoms 1 x Coloured pompom Permanent Marker

Making the game: Fill the bag with the pom poms and squeeze out the air before sealing. Use the permanent marker to draw on a maze from one side of the baggie to the other. This can be as complex or simple as you like. To make it more difficult you could add additional mazes, or two different pom pom colors for the maze. The aim of the game is for your child to work the colored pom pom from one end of the maze to the other.