6 July 2017

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPALS REPORT

Hello Parents, Carers and Friends

Here we are, half way through the year and so much has been achieved!

I would like to thank the whole staff for the tremendous amount of work that is done by each and every person, to ensure that every day we are prepared to meet the needs of all students. The administration staff work tirelessly to ensure that everything from finances to attendance is followed up and checked. The cleaning and maintenance of the school occurs around the clock and enables a safe environment for all.

In classrooms, teachers deliver work that is planned for and highly intentional, making sure that the learning needs of students are met and that learning is engaging. The work of our Teacher Aides supports all programs, from the kitchen, garden, speech and student support, creating resources and patching everything from scratched knees to being aware of the needs of each student. This is a wonderful community of hard-working, dedicated staff who share a vision of excellence for our school.

Our support staff include: school nurse - Andrea, school psych – Jane, social worker – Danielle, speech pathologist – Celeste, teacher of the Deaf – Sarah, all of whom support the individual learning needs of students. Our school is also supported by our IT specialist Dan, who is here fortnightly. It is such an honour to work with this team.

And you! Your input into our school, through home-reading, attending parent/teacher evening, meeting with myself and teachers to exchange information and solve problems together makes this a very supportive environment for all. Our School Association and Parent Working Group represent the ideas you bring to improve our school. Our partnership with the Neighbourhood Center and activities such as Breakfast Club are other ways you help us to be a strong and safe, healthy and resilient learning community.

Next term our students will be doing Positive Detective as part of their social/emotional learning. Positive Detective is based on great research about the effects of Positive Psychology. The fact is, when you notice good things, when people around you are happy and caring, this has an effect of making others feel happy and caring. Ultimately, this improves learning and wellbeing. We will be working with you next term on how to support us with being Positive Detectives. Mr Jubb will be leading this in our school.

Thank you for your understanding and support with noticing that our school driveway should not be used for picking up children after school. We took the measure of closing the boom gate at 2.30pm because there were a number of close calls last week with parents driving fast into the driveway and children running across the driveway in front of cars. We could not continue to gamble with children’s lives.

We are celebrating NAIDOC Week this week with classes learning about Aboriginal History and culture past and present. Sarah Pelikan is doing a great job getting our school ready for our NAIDOC Week assembly.

Netball, Football and Dance after school are wonderful activities run by paid and volunteer staff. This is not part of the formal school curriculum and we offer these programs as extra to school. Students who have permission to attend do so with the understanding that they must be perfectly behaved or they will be asked to not attend in future. Teachers at these times are catching up on preparation and meetings, and should not be expected to continue to supervise after hours. I would like to thank Tamara, Bryce and Jayde for their generous gifts of time and skill.

The Education Act becomes active on July 10 this year. There will be updates to uniform, attendance and behaviour policies over the course of Terms 3 and 4. I would like to invite parents to information sessions in Terms 3 and 4. I will be working with the School Association to develop and update our policies in line with the Education Act and to organise parent forums.

Early in Term 3 we will have installed new play equipment in the Early Childhood playground for all Prep-Grade 2 students. This will be an exciting and happy development for these children. It will also support the work of teachers who find the current duty area very difficult to supervise. The new play equipment will be based on the flat ground just down the slope from the old play equipment which will be removed.

Thank you so much for your ongoing support for our work together. Our new website is yet another way we can share our journey with the world, and promote the ways in which our school is educating for the social, emotion, and academic needs of every child. We have high expectations for every child and every adult in our community. We treat each other with respect, with an aim that our children will learn in safe and supportive environments.

Our students resume school in Term 3 on Tuesday the 25th of July. Our staff will be here on Monday planning for quality teaching and learning in Term 3. I wish you all a safe and restful holiday and I look forward to seeing you when we return to school.

Kind regards, Libby

PRE-KINDERGARTEN 2017

This started in second term on Thursday’s
Times are 9 am till 10.30 am
Children are eligible who were born in the year 2013.
You must fill out an enrolment form available from the school office.
Children are to be accompanied by a parent or carer.
You will need to bring 1 piece of fruit to share a drink bottle with water and a smock.

Green card rewards presented at assembly 26th June

Green card rewards presented at assembly 3rd July

Hi Five Certificates presented at assembly 26th June

Hi Five Certificates presented at assembly 3rd July

Home Reading

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

Marli was listening intently to the story being read by Jaylen as part of the Story Dog program.

Some of our students have spent 2 days this week learning basic First Aid with St John Ambulance First Aid officers.

Premiers Reading Challenge

Message from The Hon. Will Hodgman

Reading is just like sport - the more you practice the better you get. I encourage students to take up the challenge of reading at least 10 books in 10 weeks. Reading and literacy skills are the basic building blocks of life, no matter what you aspire to do or be. This year you can also win book prizes, Hawthorn football game tickets and school visits by players.

For Kids - read 10 books in 10 weeks!

The Challenge:

• Read 10 books in 10 weeks
• Keep a record of the books you've read in your reading log
• Give your finished reading log to your teacher by Friday 25 August
• If you finish your 10 books before the Challenge ends – see how many more you can read in the 10 weeks! You can get another page for your reading log, or ask your teacher for one

What to read:

• Read any book you enjoy, on any subject, fiction or non-fiction
• You can read at home, at school or anywhere
• Check out some popular kids' authors and series
• Ask your teacher or a librarian to find some books you'll like
• If you are just starting to read, share books with an adult, older brother or sister or a book buddy
• You can include any book you read for the MS Readathon and any other reading programs, as long as you read it during the Challenge time
• Check out your school library or ask your parents if you can join your local LINC or library where you can borrow a great range of books for FREE

Write a book review:

• Vote for your Premier's Reading Challenge Player Ambassador by completing a book review

For parents – encourage a life-long love of reading

Our Challenge is for your child to read 10 books in 10 weeks:

• Talk about books with your child
• Make reading a family affair
• Encourage your child to submit a book review. There are six weekly book voucher prizes to win
• If you have the time, why not volunteer to help your child's school by volunteering to listen to students read?
• Take up the Challenge to read and explore books together
• Join your local LINC or library where you can borrow a great range of books for FREE
• For great reading suggestions for your child visit the LINC Tasmania kids' pages
• You can keep up to date and follow what's happening with the Premier's Reading Challenge by following our Facebook page

No word of the week but an action for the week:

A random acts of kindness is a selfless act performed by a person or a group wishing to either assist or to cheer up an individual person by being kind, thoughtful, using your manners, give out compliments, volunteer, and or forgive someone.

A random act of kindness can be as simple as telling someone that they did a great job at their work. If everyone is focused on doing random acts of kindness bullying would be fazed away.

The philosophy behind Random Acts of Kindness is altruism, which is selfless concern for the welfare of others. A traditional virtue and a core aspect of many religions, altruism is basically the opposite of selfishness.

Altruism concentrates on the desire to do good or help others without reward. Although the key to altruistic behavior is not being concerned with reward, doing good does have its benefits. Those who perform random acts of kindness often find that doing so reduces stress and boosts their self-esteem, leading to better physical and emotional health.

As you perform random acts of kindness for others, you will likely find that some people wish to return the favour. Instead of accepting their offer, ask them to "pay it forward" instead. The phrase “pay it forward" refers to the idea of requesting that a kindness be repaid by having it done to others instead. In this small, simple way, you can encourage others to keep the kindness flowing!

My challenge for you over the school holidays is to complete as many random acts of kindness as you can. Remember it doesn’t have to cost money. Tell your mum or dad you love them, hug a friend when they are sad or help your grandparents do something because they are unable to do it them self. They is not to expect anything back for doing this action only the fantastic feeling of being helpful, kind and thoughtful to those around you.

Explaining Random Act of Kindness

You tube clips of children doing random acts of kindness:

News from the Kitchen

Vegetable samosas

Equipment:

chopping boards, knives, steamer, frypan, measuring cups,
measuring spoons, baking paper, baking tray

Filling:

350gm pumpkin or sweet potato, diced into 2 cm cubes
3 large potatoes, diced into 2cm cubes
1 onion, finely diced
1 teaspoon mustard
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cardamom
1 teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon coriander powder
1 cup frozen peas
½ teaspoon salt and 3 twists of pepper
Hot water pastry – prepared earlier

Method:

1. Put 5 cm of water in the bottom of the steam pot.
2. Prepare the pumpkin and potato and put in the top steamer pot. Place steamer pot on top of other pot. Cook vegetables for approx. 5 minutes or until tender. Test vegetables with a fork to see if ready.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a frypan. Add onion and cook until transparent.
4. Add the spices, salt, pepper, vegetables, and mix gently. Mix until all the spices are evenly distributed through the vegetables.
5. Place a spoonful of mixture into the centre of each pastry disc and fold in half. Press edges together firmly with a fork.
6. Place the samosas on a greased tray and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
7. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes before eating.

Recipe resource – Stephanie Alexander recipe from Temperate & Cool Book 4

School Association News.

School dress Voting Results

After the dress voting blue pinstripes was the majority. The order has been placed to get an actual dress made. When is arrives it will be displayed in the school office

ITS COMING TO THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN…….

RISDON VALE PRIMARY SCHOOL FAIR

25th August 2017 4 – 7pm

Preparation has begun for an even BIGGER fair than last year.

Donations of any products can kindly be donated to the classroom teacher.

Classrooms have decided what they are doing and starting their prep:

Kinder: Coconut Ice
Bowering: Coffee and Tea
Porte: Cupcakes
Varveris: Lolly pots and Playdough
Weavers: Cake stall
Patulny: Second hand stall
Lockey: Lucky Jars (Jars filled with different items and allocated a number
Coombe: Second hand books stall

Rides and a variety of other stalls are being arranged but if you have any suggestions just let us know as the profit we make benefits our school and community.

LETS MAKE THIS YEAR EVEN BIGGER THAN LAST YEAR

Uniform Shop

The uniform is now being run by the School Association President Tamara Knop and Rachel Paige.

The hours in which it will be open is:

MONDAY: 8.30 til 9am
WEDNESDAY: 8.30 til 9am
FRIDAY: 2.30 til 3pm

If other times are needed please contact Tamara or Rachel on the Risdon Vale Primary School Association Facebook Page.

Well Done and Thanks for Voting

Risdon Vale School have won the competition with Tassie open Air Cinemas. Well done to everybody who mad this happen.

Details and dates of the event will be announced later in the year.

CHILDRENS ACTIVITIES

This week’s nursery rhymes:

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear

Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Turn around.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Touch the ground.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Shine your shoes.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
That will do.

Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Go up upstairs.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Say your prayers.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Turn off the light.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Say good night.

Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Turn around.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Touch the ground.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Shine your shoes.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
That will do.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Go up upstairs.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Say your prayers.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Turn off the light.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Say good night.

Teddy bear activities:

News from the Garden

Gardening

Some students in classes ½, 3/4 and 5/6 and all the ECE kids have been working in the garden all year and some of the kids have been re-soiling the garden bed with organic soil that gives the soil nutrients. Some kids who were in the weeding group were: Connor Hopkinson, Eliza Temple and Bonnie Holmyard. Some students were working in the garden with mattocks, shovels, rakes and a broom, using them for adjustment’s to the child seating in the ECE playground. Bonnie Holmyard was the supervisor with the broom. After a bit of work Eliza Temple was watering the garden and watered a lot of plants. Emily and Eboni were filling the garden bed with organic soil.

Article done by Mason Burr .

CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS