Morning Tea - Expo of our inquiry

We welcome all our parents and guardians to a morning tea and to see an exposition of our inquiry learning this Thursday at around 9:30 am (after we take the roll and get everything ready...) This has been organised by our Parent Representatives. We would like to take this opportunity to spend some time with members of our learning community to celebrate all that we have achieved this year. We hope that you are able to take part in this wonderful occasion but please don't feel bad if you are unable to attend. We will discuss with the children the time commitments that parents have and discuss how difficult it is for people generally to be flexible with time in their work environment, using ourselves as a model for this.

Diorama Project

We have been very fortunate to have Sahra (Isaac's mum) run the diorama project with some of our students in the neighbourhood. She kindly came in last week to give a presentation and this week, she assisted with the planning of the dioramas with the students who signed up to the workshop. Next Wednesday, Sahra will come back to help with the building of the diorama. 

It would be great if each child involved in the diorama workshop could bring a shoebox or similar sturdy box with a lid from home by Wednesday, December 14th so we can begin to build the diorama. Any other materials needed should be discussed with your child as they have been thinking about their requirements as part of their planning. Some students have said they would like to make their diorama with an eyepiece for viewing but this is completely optional. The eyepiece is made from a simple toy magnifying glass, available very cheaply from discount stores. For safety, plastic is preferable to glass for magnifying lenses but whatever is readily available would be fine.

Clarification 1 to 1 Computing Program

Just to answer and clarify some questions that has been coming from the parent community regarding the one to one laptop program. Students who do not take up the one to one MacBook option will continue to work within the neighbourhoods with a laptop ratio of 4 students to 1 laptop as they do now. These students will not have one to one access and they will have to negotiate with other students and the teaching staff for access to the school laptops as they do presently. Students who take up the one to one program will have guaranteed access to their laptop for learning as they need it both during school and at home.

As was stated at the one to one information evening we believe that one to one access to laptops is an important step in providing the best possible learning environment for our students. With the introduction of the program in 2012 the teaching and learning in the neighbourhoods will remain the same as it is now.

At no time will all students be asked to “get out your laptops”.  The use of laptops in the neighbourhoods will remain, as it does now, connected to the inquiry, managed by the learning needs of the students and supervised by the neighbourhood teachers. In learning experiences that have a specific ICT focus an equitable laptop ratio will be in place.

Also a reminder that parents will only have one opportunity to take up the 1 to 1 program.  Grade 2 and 3 students who wish to be a part of the program in 2012 must sign on this year.  There will be no possibility of signing on at a later stage due to contract constraints.

Keith McNeill

On behalf of the 1 to 1 laptop working party

Transition Info

Here is some info from our Student Pathways and Transitions Coordinator, Rita,  concerning transition sessions for our students who are moving to new neighbourhoods next year.

Transition: We all experience it!

The whole school community including children, parents and staff are experiencing the transition of children from one year level to another.

To familiarise themselves with new home groups and neighbourhoods the children will partake in 4 transition sessions. Three will take place on 5^th, 6^th, 7^th December from 10am to 11:15. The children will spend time in their 2012 neighbourhoods with their team of teachers and groups. They will familiarise themselves with the new learning spaces, discuss learning possibilities and partake in learning agreement activities with all of their 2012 teachers.  Older children will be mentoring and offering advice to the younger ones. The children will have lunch in their new spaces as part of each session. The aim is to make all children feel comfortable, confident and excited about their next year level. Consistency in learning across the school aims to make this a seamless process.

On Tuesday 20^th December there will be a fourth transition session where the children will be introduced to their 2012 home teacher as well as working in their new neighbourhoods for 1 hour. This will take place from 2.30 to 3.30. The children will be dismissed from their new neighbourhoods on this day.

This period of change is both challenging and exciting in which children and families adjust to expectations, interactions and relationships.

Rita Jokubaitis

Student Pathways and Transitions.

Spelling High Frequency Words

We have been exploring some strategies to make sure that we spell all our high frequency words correctly. It is important that students are aware of which words they misspell frequently and make sure they learn them for when they produce texts. It is an expectation in our neighbourhood for all students to spell all these words correctly and use them appropriately at all times. 

Students should use the "look, say, name, cover, write, check" strategies when they are learning these words. This is as follows:

1. Look at the word, perhaps noticing words within the word, looking at the parts of the word, or underlining known parts 

2. Say the word (in a way that will help you remember how to spell. i.e. not necessarily how it is pronounced). 

3. Name the letters of the word. 

4. Cover the word and picture it in your mind. 

5. Write the word from the picture in your mind. 

6. Check to see that you have all of the letters in the word and in that correct order.

The document below lists the 100 frequent words:

100 frequent spelling list

Press Club - Episode 3

The new episode of PHPS Press Club is now available for your viewing pleasure. This episode presents the wonderful 4/5 Choir, and the lead up to their fantastic Mary Poppins show last month. The show will also give you a short preview of the performance. The entire show will hopefully be available to you on DVD soon!

This episode can be accessed in the intranet sections of the PHPS website HERE and the username and password can be found in Talking Point issued today (week 6).

Inquiry Workshops

Today, we ran three elective inquiry workshops. One workshop examined the topography of potatoes, looking into the contour lines in topographical maps.  Another workshop also examined contourlines in maps and created mountains using plasticine, measured and marked each section and drew its topographical map.  The third workshop investigated air pressure through a series of experiments and explored how air pressure affects the weather. Here are some photos taken during these workshops.