Term 3

This semester’s integrated unit 'Sea Life” is a favourite for both students and staff. Students are investigating a variety of marine animals and plant life that are found in the sea. They are observing and identifying a range of marine animals, what they eat and how they move, and are beginning to develop an understanding of why we need to keep our waterways and beaches clean. It is obvious that students by the conversations I hear and the questions students are asking that they are enjoying their work on the “Sea Life” unit. Those under the sea classroom displays are becoming more and more spectacular with the addition of more colourful fish, corals, jelly fish, octopus, whales and dangerous sharks. Project books about sea animals which outline how they move, what they eat and what they look like are also being completed. Great work everyone.

To support this unit some classes have visited the Zoo and the Aquarium. PCS, PNC and PKD travelled into the city on the train and then to the Aquarium by tram which was a great learning experience in itself. In the Education Centre, students dressed up as marine vets and looked after “sick” sea creatures, participated in some water play, completed sea creature puzzles and viewed x-rays of a turtle. Throughout their time at the Aquarium students also saw a range of fascinating sea animals and plants. There were the beautiful corals, fish a multitude of colours, graceful sea dragons, stingrays and of course the sea creature that everyone wanted to see….. the shark. The King Penguins and their babies were fascinating and everyone loved watching them swimming and chasing each other. It was a great excursion and the students were able to see first-hand all the wonderful sea creatures and under water environments that they are learning about in class. Thank you to all the parents who supported this excursion.

PAL, PMM & PKC visited the zoo with a focus on observing underwater animals in particular the seals. The students loved the seal colony and watched them swooping and diving through their five-meter-deep pool, enjoying it's coastal currents. They also got to observe a range of turtles, fish and sea creatures in their sea environments.

As part of book week celebrations, Lower and Upper Primary combined to take part in a book week performance .The show was titled “Super Duper”. It was an educational musical with an exciting, dynamic and interactive story which was created specifically to celebrate Book Week 2017. The show explored the themes of striving to be your best and not underestimating people’s potential. Students were encouraged to become involved in the decision making process during the show and it was this participation that helped determine what happened in the end. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the interactive elements of the show and that they were able to influence the story.

The favourite part of Book Week for Lower Primary is the Dress Up day. Our students and staff not only love to dress up themselves but love to see everyone else’s costumes as well. As always there were many interesting book character and superhero costumes and didn’t they love showing off their costumes. There was a multitude of super heroes, princesses, a witch or two, pirates, the Mad Hatter, Emma the Yellow Wiggle, Thing One and Thing Two, Pocahontas, the Angry Ladybird, Hungry Caterpillars, Cruella DeVille, Snow White, Queen of Hearts, The Mad Hatter, Mini Mouse, Sulley and even Mini Mouse just to name a few. How fantastic everyone looked.

Although the weather was not very kind to us, the PNC Blackwood camp was great fun. This camp was the first time away for these students and a first for their parents as well! It gave students lots of opportunities for them to work together, build independence and gain confidence. They tried lots of new things including the imagination trail, walking in the bush in the day and at night, ten pin bowling and just being away from home. The cold, wet weather was a challenge in itself but it was great to see everyone have a go at things that were a little on the difficult side in difficult conditions. The staff really appreciated the opportunity to spend time with our students away from the formal school atmosphere. This is when we got to see personality traits that do not emerge in the routine and structure of the school day. PNC are to be congratulated for the way they participated enthusiastically in every activity and their cooperation with each other and their teachers. Great job everyone!

PLW, PRE & PJL are off to Lady Northcote on Wednesday and unfortunately the weather is also looking unfavourable. I think we will be dodging rain drops and snowflakes when we visit Sovereign Hill. Activities for camp will include the giant swing and hut building at the campsite and Sovereign Hill where we will go to the Education Centre, participate in candle dipping activities, a mine tour, gold pour and maybe even ride in a horse and carriage. There will be of course our customary dinner at the Hotel to complete the package.

The Lower Primary students always love doing something special for one of the most important people in their lives…..Dad. So they had been preparing for Father's Day for some time. There had been lots of cooking, present and card making! Our Father’s Day breakfast was the culmination of all these preparations. This breakfast was the best one yet! It was wonderful to see so many fathers and grandfathers share this special breakfast with their children and to meet with other Lower Primary dads and staff. We had so many at the breakfast that we needed to send out for more food! We do like to add new things to our breakfasts, so this year it was the photo booth. It was great to see our dads, granddads putting on their whacky hats, glasses, moustaches to have a memorable instant photo taken. I also hear that a menu suggestion has been offered, so next year baked beans may just be added to the menu! I hope all dads enjoyed Father’s Day with their families and maybe even managed to get a sleep in or breakfast in bed!

National Literacy and Numeracy Week is an annual event celebrating the importance of literacy and numeracy to future learning, life participation and work opportunities. Many activities were organised to celebrate the event and parents were invited to an open morning or afternoon in the classroom. This year, one of Numeracy themes was "Which Way" which for our students focused on following directional language to negotiate their way around the classroom or play ground. Students worked with their parents or class partners to find their way around the playground or classroom using a variety of visual supports. If you have visited Lower Primary recently you will also see the Catch a Reader display which has been integrated with our Sea Life theme. Reading is a lifelong activity, people of all ages read! Teachers are taking photos of students they 'catch' reading. You will find the photos of those "caught reading" on this display in the main corridor.

To finish up Literacy and Numeracy Week we celebrated the great learning that occurs at Concord at a whole school assembly this morning. PNC, PCS and PKV represented Lower Primary by performing on stage.

As you can see, it has been extremely busy in Lower Primary over the past few weeks and it is not looking like changing as the end of term approaches.

Kath Moore,

Assistant Principal - Watsonia Campus

Dates To Remember

September 2017

October 2017

November 2017