From the
Principal
Dear Parents / Carers,
Yesterday morning we welcomed our school community back into the school to celebrate Education Week. Our students were thrilled to have their parents in their classrooms, and I thank all the families who came to visit.
Do you have a child starting school in 2023? I kindly remind parents to submit their enrolment form as soon as possible. We need to know how many local enrolments and siblings are expected before we can make enrolment offers to families who are out of area.
Everybody is talking about Climate Change and at Rowville Primary School we have introduced a subject called Environment and Garden.
This week in the Environment and Garden Class, Year Three students explored their developing understanding that Actions and reactions on Earth are controlled by predictable and explainable forces.
In their first session this term, students explored the rotation and revolution of the Earth giving us patterns of Night and Day and the Seasons of the year. To explore this concept, students inquired into foods that can be grown in cooler months and why some plants are not producing food now.
We introduced the thermometer as an instrument to measure temperature. We predicted and tested the air temperature by reading the scale in Degrees Celsius and then made predictions about the relative temperature of the soil. Students discovered that the soil temperature was 12 Degrees Celsius, at about 15 cm deep and wondered if it may be cooler at a deeper level. They gave explanations for why the surface of the soil felt warm to touch on this bright, sunny day.
Belinda, our horticulturalist, invited students to predict the temperature inside the middle of our compost pile. Again, they were encouraged to make connections to personal experience/knowledge, and justify their thinking before measuring to test ideas. It was discovered that the internal compost temperature was 45 Degrees Celsius which encouraged many to want to plunge their hands into the centre to experience this warmth. Belinda explained that feeding microbes produce heat energy as they devour the green waste in the pile. Our added brown, dry autumn leaves help to regulate this process, so it doesn’t decompose too quickly.
Later, students moved on to use rulers to explore formal units of measurement in centimetres to measure the length of plants. This can be compared over the weeks to harvest time, to see if conclusions can be made about the growth of plants at this time of year.
Even with all this purposeful Inquiry, some students took time to enjoy moments of mindfulness in our garden on such a beautiful late autumn day.
This week we welcomed Tracey Sheridan as our new Office/ First Aid Officer. Tracey brings many skills to the role and will be the friendly voice and face that greets our families on the telephone and when they visit the school. Tracey replaces Jessica Fitzsimmons who left to take up a promotion.
Each fortnight our students produce the Friday program. Please find included a link to the latest release.
Anne Babich
Principal