Mrs Leanne Schulz

Prep 2022 Transition

Once again, we welcomed our Preps for 2022 into the Prep rooms on Thursday 25 November as part of their transition to Aitken. It was lovely to meet many new families to the College. Our Year 6 Peer Leaders did an amazing job at working with the Prep students. They made the Preps feel welcome and helped them to settle into the classrooms by playing with them and making them feel welcome. A very big thank you to our Year 6 Peer Leaders!

ObstaCool Course

On Monday 29 November we have a giant ‘ObstaCool’ course with a big slide coming to Aitken for the Primary classes. Each year level will be timetabled throughout the day to have 30-40 minutes of fun, being active and challenged. All Primary students are to wear their sports uniform on Monday. Please ensure that your child has their hat and a drink bottle!

Here is a link to all the fun that we will be having next week:

https://www.obstacool.com.au/

Prep News

Miss Gemma Jackson (Prep AHOS)

The Prep students have been busy studying the environment at Aitken College. After their nature walk to Brodie’s Creek, the students had a go at recreating the creek environment through a craft activity. They did a fantastic job! This week, they have been having a go at designing their own pond that could be included in the wildlife corridor. It has been wonderful seeing their creativity shine through.

Here are some of the features students included in their ponds:

Ata (Prep G) - I would have lily pads and frogs in my pond.
Alannah (Prep G) - I would have clean water and some fish in my pond.
Anhad (Prep A) - I would have some frogs and fish in my pond.
Ameijia (Prep A) - I would like to have lizards and trees near my pond.
Aniyah (Prep R) - I would have tadpoles, frogs, lily pads and nice water in my pond.
Devran (Prep R) - I would put some slime and rocks in my pond.

In Mathematics, we have progressed with our graphing learning. This week we have been asking yes/no questions, collecting data and recording our data onto our graphs. We have now moved into posing ‘what is your favourite…?’ questions and providing options for our peers to choose from. The students are doing a fantastic job. Two weeks to go until we are ready for Year One!

Year 1 and 2 News

Mr Jevon Scandrett (Year 1/2 AHOS)

The weather is beginning to warm up and the students in Year 1 and Year 2 are continuing to work hard with their teachers with some fantastic learning opportunities.

In Year 1, students have continued to focus on their reading fluency skills. They have worked with partners to read to each other with expression and accurate phrasing. Students have also enjoyed some hands-on experiences for Integrated Studies where they are exploring the concept of community.

In Year 2, students have worked hard on their persuasive writing skills. They have created some fantastic letters addressed to the Principal, Mrs Crisara, outlining what they believe should be included in the new primary buildings. Students have also had the opportunity to work outside in the sunshine for some Maths activities, such as creating their own number lines from objects found in nature.

Should you have any questions or concerns, your first point of call should always be your child’s classroom teacher followed by me as the Assistant Head of School (Years 1 and 2). 

Year 3 and 4 News

Mrs Anne Adams (Year 3/ 4 AHOS)

Year 4 students have been focussing on how we can minimise our impact on the environment through sustainable practices. Here are some of the ideas that students came up with:

“I think we can recycle, and reuse containers. This is important to me because if we do these things, not only will we be able to keep the earth clean, but also save animals' lives.” Holly A and Reuben T

“I am passionate about stopping global warming because it is destroying our earth, melting ice in the Arctic and the Antarctic. Polar bears are becoming extinct because of this.” Francesca A

“I want to help in the environment! A way everyone can help is go to your local town and pick up the rubbish. It’s as simple as that! When everyone does it, it makes a huge difference in our environment.” Layla B

“It is important that we don’t cut down trees as it can cause deforestation. Let’s plant them instead.” Riley F and Xavier S

“People litter and it affects the ocean. Do you want cute turtles to die? When littering, plastic bags go into the ocean, and turtles think they are jellyfish. This causes starvation and the turtles die.” Jotham G

“It’s important because if the environment dies, we all die.” Aaron K

“If I was an ocean animal such as a turtle and there were plastic bags and other types of waste in front of me, I would not know that it is waste and what is food so I would just eat the waste without even knowing and I would die.” Puneet K

“How to make a difference is to recycle more not litter the environment so the animals can stay alive.” Eliana K

“Stop throwing rubbish away in the ocean.” Anthony K

“We can turn off lights and fans when we are using them as they use fossil fuels. It is important to me because we need to stop climate change because it will threaten extinction to all living things.” Ethan L

“Ocean pollution is important to me because if it goes on, sea animals will die, and we will eventually eat those polluted animals. I can start picking up litter to stop it from entering the ocean environment, because if it does, it would pollute and kill animals.” Ronell M

“I have recently stopped using plastic water bottles at home. Instead, I have a glass cup at home and a reusable water bottle at school. Even just these little things can make a big difference! Ever since I learnt at school how much harm plastic can do to animals, I tried to stop using it. So maybe you can try to reuse plastic or even not use it at all.” Jessica M

“We can all make a difference by not throwing rubbish on the grass. Throw it in the bin!” Lucas M

“We are killing the environment and not thinking about the future. We are not thinking about our children and our grandchildren, and we need to act now! Some things you can do to help the environment are stop littering, recycle when you can so it doesn’t go to landfill and reducing the plastic that we use every day.” Zoe M

"We can make a difference by not littering." Ainslee M

“I am passionate about marine life and to stop ocean pollution.” Sai D and Chloe R

“I am passionate to stop deforestation and to stop burning and killing nature.” Sayuni M

“Apparently by 2050, it will be too late. We won’t have a world because of all the pollution. Something we can do is do a daily rubbish pick up as a school. We all pick up fifteen pieces of rubbish and put it in the bin.” Jasmina M

“Greenhouse gases are produced by the way we live and is really bad for us and the environment. We need to use less power and electronics so that we can live and breath better.” Mia P

“Recycling is important to me because without recycling, all the rubbish goes to landfill. So, I’ve thought of an invention! It is a metal bag made from very flat metal, so it pretty much feels like plastic. It lasts a long time and when you recycle the metal, you get money for recycling it.” Kiara P

“Deforestation is important to me because when you cut down trees you are cutting down animal habitats. This causes the animals to wander into other areas looking for a new place to make a home. They may get run over or attacked by dogs and cats. We can help by becoming a paperless society by using our computers and only printing when we really need to.” Uvinyaa W

Since Spring is here, the Aitken surrounds are looking beautiful. Year 3 students took their iPads out and took some pictures of the flora around the school. Here are their comments and photos.

“This gorgeous flower is purple and white with leaves around it. It has little balls around the flower. This is a beautiful part of nature. Flowers are beautiful and this flower is one of the most beautiful flowers I’ve ever seen.” Savannah A

“This is a very spiky and healthy plant.” Viraat B

“Some of the nature around the school are like bushes, trees and (vegetable) plants in the garden. My favourite is the bushes that grow around Brodie’s creek.” Maheesha B

“This flower is a beautiful part of nature because it has lots of different colours.” Asmin B

“This flower light as a feather. This flower is key to nature and has bright petals.” Lyla B

“I chose this photo because I like trees.” Marlon G

“The leaves are as green as grapes. Its trunk is brown as chocolatey chocolate.” Kemindi I

“I like the flowers on the tree. It’s beautiful.” Isabelle K

“As we drive into school everyday, we see the beautiful trees that surround our school.” Scarlett P

Year 5 and 6 News

Mr Nigel Keegan (Year 5/ 6 AHOS)

It has been a productive and enjoyable couple of weeks for our Year 5 and Year 6 students. Below is a snapshot of student learning and activities in photos and quotes. Keep up the great work, students!

Our recent learning highlights:

“I have enjoyed learning about animal adaptations because I love animals and I got to expand my knowledge on animals.” Aanvi K

“Being with my friends and doing theatre scripts in English. We’ve also done outdoor games in Maths and Performing Arts and made videos where we were news reporters.” Aanya K

“Sport, because it is fun and makes me more energetic.” Koen G

“Catching up with my friends and doing work with them such as poetry in English. I especially liked writing my ballad. During Art we are making clay wall hangings and it’s been really fun!” Alana O

“Being able to see my friends after so long in lockdown!” Millie W

“I liked kitchen garden because I liked cooking everything.” Remi S

“Art, like using clay and making masks, because it’s fun to experiment with different resources.” Scarlet S

“Science because we get to do lots of cool experiments!” Maheen B

“Making clay masks and dioramas during Art.” Rafael B

“We are filming news reports for Performing Arts which is fun and engaging.” Roman C

Extension Maths Classes with Mrs Di Martino

Reflection by Kisali P - 6T

Last term for extension Maths we explored the Fibonacci sequence, and the Fibonacci rabbit puzzle.  The puzzle goes like this: a single newly born pair of rabbits (one male, one female) are put in a field. The rabbits produce a pair of offspring every 2 months. The rabbits never die and a pair always produces one new pair (one male, one female) every month from the second month on. This creates a sequence of 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 and so on, which is a sequence numbers called the Fibonacci sequence. The Fibonacci sequence is also reflected upon in various parts of nature, which we were asked to further research.

VCAL News

VCAL Valedictory Celebration