Teaching and Learning
Japanese
こんにちは,
Konnichiwa
Did you know that Spring in Japan is a very popular time for tourists and residents alike? This is because the spectacular and beautiful Sakura (Cherry Blossom) bloom all over the country. The Sakura is considered the national flower of Japan and begin to bloom during the months of March and April. It signifies the beginning of Spring and a new school year for students.
They are only in bloom for a short time so people in Japan make the most of this special time by having Hanami (Cherry Blossom Viewing) picnics under the beautiful Sakura trees.
You may have noticed our own blossom trees blooming next to the Japanese Garden. We have been talking about the Japanese tradition of picnicking under the Cherry Blossoms in Japan and the downstairs classes will be enjoying their own picnic later this term!
Also a big thank you to all those families and students who have been bringing in paper cranes. We are well over half way to reaching our goal of 1000!
さようなら、
Sayonara
せんせい
Sensei
Book Week
"What are you dressed up as?" and, "WOW, I love your costume!" are the phrases everyone said during our Book Week Parade on Wednesday 21st August last week. It was such a magnificent display of bright, colourful costumes with students and staff dressed up in their favourite book character with huge smiles on their faces in every direction you turned!
It was great to see the West Beach Kindergarten and West Beach Stepping Stone Child Care Centre attend our parade. Students also visited the West Beach Residential Care Centre, the West Beach Kindergarten and the Stepping Stone Child Care Centre to do some reading activities from which all participants enjoyed thoroughly.
The best dressed costumes went to the following students:
Junior Primary Category:
Winners: Alex Hefford and Lily Halliday
Runners Up: Chris Chambers and Mia Tregoweth
Middle Primary Category:
Winners: Lachie Mattschoss and Elley Bryant
Runners Up: Judd Halliday and Lara Scutchings
Upper Primary Category:
Winners: Riley Kellock and Bailey Bryant
Runners Up: Josh Williams and Chelsea Le Poidevin
Staff Category:
Winner: Simone Iachini
A huge thanks goes to Vicki Taylor who works so hard to manage and maintain the library space as well as organising the Book Fair and other Book Week activities. Not to mention the brilliant senior library monitors who organised the entire Book Week Parade, giving up countless lunch times to make sure everything ran smoothly on the day. They were such animated hosts for our parade and were so dedicated to their leadership role, ensuring that all of their jobs were completed way ahead of time. So thank you to Kiana Gettings, Vasileios Roditis, Emily West, Jade McCabe, Tom Sloan and Justin Soliman for going above and beyond in your Book Week duties.
Well done to all classes who decorated their door based on a shortlisted Book Week book. The door displays looked artistic, creative and eye-catching.
All students had the opportunity to participate in a writing workshop by either Kristin Martin or Jayne Dance where they were exposed to a range of books and poems written by these published authors and had the privilege to learn some great writing techniques from such experienced writers.
All in all, Book Week for 2019 was busy, fun-filled and colourful! Thanks to the entire West Beach community for supporting everyone's favourite week in the school year.
Sport News
Last week students in years 5, 6 and 7 travelled to Seacliff Hockey club to compete in the first ever, one of a kind, Tiger Cup! We were lucky enough to have enough talent and enthusiasm that allowed us to field five teams from West Beach Primary. The boys competed hard all day and really improved their skills and their teamwork as the day progressed. A few errors in their first two games cost them a spot in the finals as they finished the day really well. The girl’s teams competed excellently all day which saw both teams making the grand final! Congratulations to both teams.
These types of events are never possible without parent support. Thank you to all parents who helped transport children to the carnival. We greatly appreciate your support. Thanks to Jane Hedges for taking some photos on the day.
GO WEST BEACH!!
Marley Reid
PE Teacher
WOW - Wipe Out Waste News
Did you know that in Australia, over 5 million tonnes of food ends up as landfill, enough to fill 9000 Olympic-sized swimming pools?
So, what can we do about it, you ask? Well this is the exact question that the WOW group has asked themselves. It all starts with something small, but together, we can make a big difference.
We began by organising a waste audit conducted by KESAB staff members who assisted us with this process. We sorted a day's worth of rubbish and found some astounding facts - we are wasting whole, unopened sandwiches, whole pieces of perfectly good, delicious fruit and throwing so much plastic straight in the bin. As a group, the WOW team have decided to design a Litter Survey and are in the process of conducting this survey throughout the school.
We were also fortunate enough to get a Marine Biology PhD student to come and work with us through the CSIRO Scientists in Schools Program. Her name is Elley Pratt and she comes with a wealth of knowledge based on her studies of dolphin genetics which also relates to how waste can impact on our coastal waters and sea life. In our last WOW meeting, Elley presented to the students and this excited our WOW team as they already have an invested interest in sea life.
During our WOW meetings, Room 14, Room 10 and Room 9 students are also learning about how we can reduce waste. They began their research by watching ABC's War on Waste series and Elley will also work with these students and present her knowledge to the group.
Reducing our impact on landfill is a huge project that will take a long, long time to put into action. We have only just scratched the surface in this project, but our motivated WOW students are dedicated to making a positive impact on our school's waste management program.
What can you do? Well think of one tiny thing - just one. It might be to pack a waste-free lunch, put your uneaten food back in your bag, recycle your 10 cent refundable containers - anything! The smallest action that you take will make the biggest difference in our school and we promise you this: Mother Nature will thank you for it!
Room 12
In Room 12 we have been writing using the framework “Writer’s Workshop.” Writer’s workshop is a framework that is based on the idea that students learn to write best when they write for extended periods of time, on topics of their own choice. The workshop setting supports children in taking their writing seriously and viewing themselves as writers. The structure of the lesson is:
Mini lesson- where the teacher focuses on an explicit focused on a single, narrowly defined topic that all writers can implement regardless of skill level.
25 minutes of silent writing where students go through the writing process.
Students publish their texts in any way they please. Students have been working hard to work through the writing process and to publish their stories.
When students have finished they have a conference with the teacher where they receive 3 goals to improve their writing.
From the students:
“It is really good because you get to write about whatever you want and you can make a story which is inspired by your imagination” Molly Cooper
“I like it because you get to reflect on your learning by getting goals from the teacher to see how you can improve your writing.” Josh Williams
“We get to create our own stories and then get feedback on how to make our writing better.” Marco Kulovic
“It helps me to write better because we have mini lessons that teach us grammar that we can use in our writing. “Luke Harris
