Week 7, Term 4

Hello from the Preps!

This week in Literacy, we have been reading and writing words with our new sound ‘oa’ of boat and completed a Big Write narrative on the topic ‘Magic Shoes’. It was fun to listen to all the creative stories with magical shoes including making people teleport, turn into tigers and become invisible. After writing we used our ‘red pencils’ to reread our story to edit, checking for capital letters, punctuation, finger spaces, and that their sentences made sense. In Maths, we have been building our subtraction skills and using strategies to work towards solving problems more fluently. We also explored missing number equations such as 9 - ? = 2 and practised finding the part that is unknown.

A highlight of our week was the much-anticipated Prep/Grade One Dinner and Games Night on Thursday. We played outside games and had playground fun before we ate a delicious pizza dinner and had some fruit. We kindly thank all our parent helpers who helped make the evening a success.

On Friday we had another visitor with Tracey bringing her dog to visit the Preps as part of the Responsible Pet Ownership Program. We learnt about how to be safe around dogs through singing, games, dancing and by saying hello to a dog.

Next week in Literacy we will be revising all the sounds we have learnt this year. In Maths our focus is on doubling and halving numbers.

We wish you all a wonderful weekend.

Nicole and Lauren

Hello from the Silver Banksia building!

This week, we were lucky to have Pranavi’s mum, Raj, visit to talk to us about Diwali as part of our inquiry, “How and why do people celebrate?”. We learned that Diwali is the Hindu festival of light, celebrating the idea of light over darkness. As part of the traditions, people create rangolis—beautiful artworks made using coloured sand, powdered limestone, red ochre, dry rice flour, spices, flower petals, or chalk. We enjoyed having a go at making our own chalk rangolis at the school entrances. Diyas, small ceramic dishes that hold candles, are also used to decorate homes during Diwali. We made our own diyas and look forward to decorating them once the clay has dried. Raj also brought in some traditional Indian sweets that are commonly shared during Diwali, and they were definitely a big hit!

A huge thank-you to Raj for generously giving up her time to share her knowledge and celebrations with us.

In Literacy, our focus has been on creating procedures and using commas to separate items in a list. We started by creating procedural texts for making a vegemite sandwich. There were some hilarious outcomes as we tested the procedures by following exactly what they said! Nobody wanted to eat the sandwich that was literally stuck together with glue after the procedure said to ‘stick the two pieces of bread together’! We learned quickly the importance of choosing our words carefully and including enough detail in our instructions.

In Maths, we enjoyed getting wet and messy as we explored the capacity different containers hold. We estimated, measured and compared different items and ensured we were measuring accurately.

In Wellbeing this week, we explored the difference between safe secrets and unsafe secrets. We discussed different scenarios and whether we thought they were ‘safe’ or ‘unsafe’. We came to realise that if we are not sure, it’s important to check with someone.

And of course, there was much excitement and anticipation on Thursday as the Grade 1s enjoyed their first ever camp – a sleepover at school! A huge thank you to the parents that helped with dinner, breakfast and our picnic at the gardens on Friday (photos to come next week). We are sure everyone will sleep well over the weekend!

Next week, we will be finding out about Ramadan as part of our Big Question “How and why do people celebrate?”. In Literacy, we will be using adverbial phrases at the beginning of our sentences while, in Maths, we will be reviewing time and patterns. Our Wellbeing topic will revolve around help seeking if someone hurts us and, over the next two weeks, each Grade 1/2 class will participate in a Christmas themed Ecolink incursion titled ‘Santa got stuck in the chimney!’.

We hope you have a lovely weekend,

Wendy, Laura, Claire, Sarah and Andrew

It’s been another great week for the Grade 3/4s filled with lots of learning, fun and assessments! 

In Literacy this week we have continued exploring human senses and movement. Throughout our literacy lessons students have read about the nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems. We have learnt about how voluntary and involuntary muscles work within our bodies and have come up with even more questions and wonderings to explore!   

In writing we have been revising persuasive texts. The students have enjoyed activities such as ‘Would you rather?’. Students moved to either side of the room to whether they agreed or disagreed with a particular statement their teacher read out. For example: Would you rather have the power to fly or be invisible? Keeping with the human body theme students wrote a persuasive text debating the topic, students should not be allowed to go outside for physical breaks during school hours because it wastes valuable learning time. This was hotly debated within our classes, and many convincing arguments were shared. 

In Maths, we have started learning about Mass. We have been using analogue scales to measure the mass of objects in grams and kilograms and converting between the two. We even came up with our own fruit salad recipes that needed to have a total mass of 500 grams. Grade 3/4S also enjoyed using the analogue scales to weigh the class guinea pigs. 

There was lots of excitement during this week’s STEAM Friday challenge. Students worked in pairs to participate in the Skittles Taste Test with a focus on tuning in to our senses. By using blindfolds and blocking our noses students were able to discover that taste happens when our tongue and our nose work together as they are connected through the same airway. 

We have continued Topic 8, Positive Gender Relations, from the Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships program in our Wellbeing lessons. In this week’s lesson, students looked at scenarios where people have been affected by different types of gender-based violence and what they can do to get help. Students were introduced to the No, Go, Tell model to advise actions a person could take if affected by gender-based violence.  

Next week, we look forward to launching the final big question for the year, "How can we contribute to our community?", and investigating three dimensional shapes in Maths in preparation for our annual gingerbread creations. Students will be continuing Bike Ed in PE so please make sure students come to school with their bikes and helmets on their usual P.E. day. 

Enjoy your weekend 

Sally, Pete, Louise, Hannah and Carly

This week, students have been exploring the art of fable writing, focusing on key features such as moral lessons and animal characters that represent contrasting traits—one positive and one flawed. This creative writing unit beautifully complements our novel study of The Silver Donkey by Sonya Hartnett, where we continue to [...] themes and structure of a fable.  

In Maths, students have been working with percentages, specifically learning how to calculate discounts and determine the cost of items after a percentage reduction. This has led to meaningful, real-world learning as students apply these skills to everyday financial scenarios and even some online shopping!  

For our Wellbeing this week, we have continued to explore concepts around Positive Gender relations. We discussed different types of violence – physical, verbal, emotional, sexual and financial. We explored the feelings of everyone involved in situations involving violence – the target of the violence, the person who is doing the violence and the people who are witnessing it. There were many overlaps with emotions of all three involved parties. 

For BQT and Business and Economics, we have been exploring resources—natural, human, and capital. Students have been investigating the concept of scarcity and considering how limited resources influence decision-making. Each student selected a resource to invest in for their own fictional country and prepared a persuasive pitch to secure funding. We will continue with these next week.

Region Cricket 

Last Friday, our cricket team travelled to Swan Hill today to play in the Region Cricket Final. They displayed great commitment to training during lunchtimes to prepare for this event. On the day, we had a comfortable win in our first match which was against St. Marys Robinvale. In our next two round robin matches, we faced quality opposition in Marist Bendigo and Rochester. We lost to both those two sides, but improved our batting, bowling and fielding throughout the day. Rochester went on to play off in the final after being undefeated in our pool. Special thank you to Charlie for coaching the team and giving up numerous lunchtimes for the team to practice together. Thank you to parents, Claire, Mark and Bart for their support and transporting our students to the event. 

Bike Education Grade 3-6

Students are steadily improving their bike and road safety knowledge over the past two weeks as well as their riding skills to assist them to ride with other footpath and road users. Please continue to bring a roadworthy bike and a helmet to school on their scheduled PE day. Please refer to the information and permission note for your class dates and times. At CNPS we value active travel to school due to the environmental, health and social benefits.  

Most classes still require the assistance of more parent/carers to act as safety checkpoint marshalls on our last week (beginning 2nd December) when we venture outside the school on to the footpath or road. Parents and carers do not need a bike to assist us. If you haven’t already indicated on your child’s note, please email carly.mcginniskin@education.vic.gov.au if you can help. Carly will be in touch next week to confirm helpers for each class. 

Swimming Grade Prep-2 

Our junior classes can attend swimming lessons at Gurri Wanyarra in Kangaroo Flat during the mornings on Monday 15th, Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 17th December. We will be looking for parents/carers to assist us. Buses will transport our students to the venue and the cost of this program is covered by the DET Swimming and Water Safety initiative and funding. More information and permission notes will go home to our Grade P/1/2 families next week. 

Swimming for Grades 3-6 will go ahead as usual at the Castlemaine Outdoor Pool during Term 1. 

CNPS Titans Soccer Top Missing! 

We’ve discovered we’re missing one of our white team soccer jerseys, No. 6. I suspect it was already missing before this year, but if anyone comes across it (ex students?), we’d love to have it back. Thanks!

Prep E

Freya R - for the kind and thoughtful way you looked after a peer who was hurt.
Oscar S - for your impressive knowledge of all the sounds we have learned this year!

Prep N

Bonnie W - for showing confidence, enthusiasm and kindness in everything you do!
Quinn K - for working hard at home and at school to improve your reading fluency.

1/2 CS

Edie K - for the way you kept revising your procedural text for brushing your teeth.

1/2 L

Emellia M - for your enthusiasm when acting out people's procedures to determine the missing elements.
Olivia D - for thoughtfully sharing your iPad with another student whose iPad was broken.

1/2 WA

Nala L - for learning all of your spelling codes.
William E - for your beautiful account of Diwali story.

3/4 H

Bella C + Ffion M - for showing responsibility and kindness by cleaning up a mess that wasn't yours.

3/4 L

Poppy R - for using effective persuasive techniques to write a convincing argument.
Piper D - for working hard on your goal of taking your time to complete learning tasks.

3/4 PS

Maxle P - for seeking help and improving your confidence when drawing 3D shapes on paper.
Sadie B - for the accuracy and effort demonstrated when drawing 3D shapes.

3/4 S

Dylan L - for approaching recent assessments with confidence and independence.
Art T - for the determination you showed to complete your Ghostbuster coding challenge.

5/6 BN

Hendy S + Lochie C - for using great ideas and strong arguments to show why your country should use renewable energy.

5/6 H

Gulliver W - for having the patience to get your artwork just right.
Charlie S - for making amends through difficult conversations.

5/6 J

Alba R - for the way you always take your time and do your best.
Flynn M - for demonstrating passion by committing yourself to improving your softball skills.

Performing Arts

Bella C - for your explanation of how to use expressive skills in drama.

Community Noticeboard