1 December 2016

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Dear Parents, carers and friends

This is our second-last newsletter for the year, which seems hard to believe, but with almost three weeks still to go, there is a lot to do and a lot to celebrate.

We had a fabulous school assembly this Monday with so many certificates, acknowledging the great teaching and learning that has been happening. Students also received recognition for their thoughtful behavior, related to our Hi 5 Values. Please do come to our assemblies because it is a great way for you to join in our weekly celebrations.

This week we are proud to say that we made yet another media story with our Coding Club from 2/3 Weavers attending TASICT Technology and Innovations Conference. Writing code is a huge current and future employment base for today’s young people. I am so proud that our school is offering the kinds of opportunities that are not stuck in the traditional curriculum areas. We will be exploring STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) next year through 3D printing, robotics and engineering challenges.

In the area of sport, I am really pleased to say that our school was represented at the Champions Carnival for Swimming. This week we have 21 competitors for the schools triathlon and we look forward to being able to hold our traditional RVPS triathlon before the end of the year.

This week our Grade 3-6 students enjoyed a fantastic performance by Grade 8 students from The Hutchins School. It was great to see these wonderful young performers and I am so proud of the conduct of our students as an audience.

Every class this week is involved in the Fire Safety Program with guest presenter Alison. The classes have had a great time with Alison and I’ve seen students dressed up in fire-fighter outfits doing some excellent commando crawls across the library floor.

In other wonderful news of RVPS achievement, Ms Weavers and Ms Gearman have been leading a Gifted and Talented project. This group of students have produced a film which has now been entered into the MyState Financial Film Festival. There are about 250 entries and the RVPS entry has been selected as a finalist! Awesome stuff!!

Our bike licenses are a very important part of how we teach students our Hi 5 Values. Thank you parents and carers for supporting this. Only this week we had a situation where one of our older students was on the skate-park before school, without a helmet, prior to the time that staff go on duty. The student sustained some nasty injuries in an accident. Please do whatever you can to help us avoid this. When parents back us with our school rules we are able to ensure that our students develop into responsible young adults. By agreeing to allow your child to ride to and from school, you agree to support us in the rules and the consequences when rules are broken.

I expect that all parents are upholding our ‘preventing bullying’ messages. When your child reports bullying to you, please let us know so that we can follow-up. I have had a couple of situations where a student has reported that their parent has told them to go ‘hands on’ at school. Surely this is not the case! Surely, as a community, sending our children to school means that we agree to ensuring the safety of all children and that we all act as responsible adults in the care of the children.

We are flat out planning for end of year events, including our Achievement Assembly and the Graduation Dinner for Grade 6 students. Behind these events is a great deal of organisation by staff and parents. Thank you so much for your work for our end of year celebrations.

Kind regards, Libby Robinson

Assembly Photos

Green cards presented at assembly 28th November 2016

High 5 Awards presented at assembly 28th November 2016

Home Reading

Congratulations to these students, who received Home Reading Certificates at assembly this week.

10 nights of reading

Kiarna Dance Prep/1Bowering

25 nights of reading

Abigail Leary 1/2Rigney

75 nights of reading

Logan Shaw Prep/1Bowering

100 nights of reading

Connor Hopkinson 1/2Rigney
Lincoln Bryan 4/5Gearman

200 nights of reading

Molly Page 1/2Rigney
Bella Sherrin 3/4Patulny

225 nights of reading

Seth James 1/2Rigney
Hannah Bellette 1/2Rigney
Bella Sherrin 3/4Patulny

250 nights of reading

Bella Sherrin 3/4Patulny

275 nights of reading

Bella Sherrin 3/4Patulny

School Terms 2017 and Professional Learning days

Fire Safety Lessons with Allison

Prep/1 Porte/Varveris- The Story of Tiddalik

Porte/ Varveris prep/1 class read the story of Tiddalik. Tiddalik is a story about a greedy frog who drank all the animals’ water. Some animals worked together to get Tiddalik to laugh which brought the water up. The students retold this story and did some illustrations to show they understood. Here are a few examples.

3/4 Patulny Balloon Experiments

Children learn in many different ways. Some students learn verbally, some by sight and some physically. Students from Mr Patulny’s class had fun learning to count higher by counting the number of times they could hit the balloon in the air. What an exciting way to learn to count.

3/4 Patulny Explorer Photos

Mr Patulny class has been learning about Australian Explorers. The students have been working very hard on their explorer and writing information down about them. They displayed their work on a poster. Here are some of the examples.

Interactive Game Link

A fantastic link that will help students with compound sentences. It is an interactive game that allows the child to work out if the sentence is compound or not and if it uses the correct connecting word.

Grade 5/6 Mathletics Computer Program

An example that children can work at their level in maths is through the Mathletics computer program. This enables the student to have maths problems set to their level which encourages them to work at their own pace. They are rewarded after receiving over 1000 points a week with a certificate. Mr Coombe 5/6 class worked on improving their maths skills in the computer lab.

HANNAH’S STORY by Hannah – 1/2 Rigney

Once upon a time there lived a princess named Chloe. She was a very nice princess and she had a golden ball. One day she was playing with it and she threw the ball and it went in a pond. Then she heard a frog say “Would you like me to get it for you?” The princess said “yes please.” So the frog went off to get it. After a while the frog returned with some sea weed. Chloe said, “That is not my golden ball.” The frog said, “Is it the shiny thing in there?”

Chloe said, “Yes.” So the frog put it back and went to get it.

The princess said to herself, I think that frog has a memory loss. He must have hit his head. After a while the frog finally returned with the golden ball. Chloe said, “Thank you for getting the golden ball.” Chloe was so pleased the frog got the golden ball back. Then they lived happily ever after.

By Hannah 1/2Rigney

Risdon Vale Primary School Kitchen Garden Program is having a stall

Kinder performance

The Kindergarten students have been very busy learning their nativity scene songs for Christmas. They are learning: Away in a Manger, Animals in a Stable and A Baby is Born. Ms Gros and Mrs Cross have provided the music to help them to learn the words. We are all looking forward to seeing the Kindergartens perform.

Jingle Bells

Jingle Bells

Dashing through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bob tails ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to laugh and sing
A sleighing song tonight

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh

A day or two ago
I thought I'd take a ride
And soon Miss Fanny Bright
Was seated by my side
The horse was lean and lank
Misfortune seemed his lot
We got into a drifted bank
And then we got upset

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh yeah

Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh

Cooking with Anna

Waldorf Salad

Equipment:

Chopping boards, knives, measuring spoons
small bowl, large serving bowl, serving spoon

Ingredients

1/2 small white cabbage or lettuce, shredded
2 sticks celery, cut into very thin slices
1 green apple, peeled and diced
Small handful grapes, halved

Dressing:

3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 tablespoon white wine vinegar or lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

In a large bowl, combine the cabbage (or lettuce), celery, apples and grapes.

To make dressing: Mix the mayo with the vinegar ( or lemon juice) and season with salt and pepper.

Stir dressing into the vegetables so that they are well coated.

Will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Apple pancakes

Equipment:

potato masher, small bowl, large mixing bowl
mixing spoons, measuring cups, measuring spoons
spatulas x 2, frypan, spray oil or butter, wire rack

Ingredients

2 cups self-raising flour
1 ½ tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
1 cup milk (may need more if batter is too thick)
1 cup raw apple, grated or cooked apple, mashed (about 2 apples)
1/2 cup sultanas
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Method

1. Peel apples and grate if using raw apples.
2. In a large bowl place all ingredients and mix well until there are no lumps in the mixture.
3. Let mixture sit for 10 minutes.
4. Heat a frypan on a medium heat and add a knob of butter. Move butter around with a spatula to coat the bottom of the frypan.
5. Spoon mediums size spoonful of mixture into the frypan leaving space between each pancake.
6. Cook pancakes until bubbles appear on top and then flip over pancake, cook until lightly browned on bottom.
7. Place cooked pancakes on a wire rack to cool

Source: Anna’s experimenting

Risdon Vale Festival

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

Mission Australia

Membership opportunity from Nth Melbourne Football Club

SCHOOL CALENDAR