School News and Information 

Library/Technology News

Wow what an amazing start 2024 we have had in the library!

We have Stage 3 using ‘Animalia’ as the stimulus for creating their own 3D character.  The students are currently in the design phase and have compiled detailed character profiles and written alliterations about their character. Stay tuned as we watch our 2D characters become 3D!! 

Stage 2 is also planning on using the 3D printer, however their challenge is to create a shelter that will protect our local pollinators in times of natural and man made disasters. The students have researched some of our local pollinators and the vital role that these creatures play in ensuring food security! Stay tuned as we create safe spaces in our school for our local pollinators.

Did you know? “Dumbledore” is an old English word meaning bumblebee.  

Stage 1 has been considering places that are special to them.  Using Indi Sphero Meet Sphero indi: the screenless programmable robot for kids 4+! (:90) The students are programming and coding Indi to visit their special place and narrate various locations and what makes their special place special to them!

Kindergarten have also started their coding journey with Indi Sphero using the coloured coded tiles and recognising that each colour represents a different instruction for Indi. The students are now sequencing these coding tiles which allows Indi to follow a course designed by the students.  It has been amazing to witness how quickly Kindergarten have grasped onto the idea of coding and sequencing!!!

Remember to keep bringing in and returning your library books each week.  

Have a fabulous week MGPS, 

Mrs Dunham

News from the Kindergarten Koalas!

Welcome to our first GULGOS article from Kindergarten!  Everyone in Kindergarten have had a fantastic start to school.  We are learning to work in groups, listen and engage our brains while we sit on the floor (whole body listening) and we have made lots of new friends.  I am so impressed at how quickly the students are settling into school and class routines.  They are all doing a fantastic job and being great PAX leaders!  We talk about our learning as being “precious” and our whole class knows that each time we are in class it is a special and precious time. 

One of the focuses in our literacy sessions are the sounds (phonemes) that the letters (graphemes) make.  We use this knowledge of our sounds to blend sounds together to read and write words.  We are also looking at rhyming words and syllables in class. Everyone is enjoying our reading group activities, where we rotate around and learn new skills and consolidate and revise previous learning.  We also LOVE reading.  The kids in Kinder all know that we also respect our books and treat them like we would a baby chicken (carry them carefully, don’t drop them etc).

In Maths we have been looking at numbers and counting, patterns (ask a Kinder child to sing you the patterns song) and subitising (recognising numbers quickly).  We work together to learn new maths ideas, in small groups and with a partner or individually.  Our class discussions during Maths and other subjects are always interesting and engaging!

We also have 2 goldfish in our class called Brave and Reevsie (named after Mr Reeves who gave the fish to us). The students take turns feeding them. Our goldfish are part of the learning we are doing in science.

Well done kindy on a wonderful beginning to your life at school!

Have a great week!

Felicity Pennington, Ange Harris and Kim See