Whole School News

Easter Raffle 

Any families who have yet to return the Rafael tickets & money and still wish to do so are asked to please return them to the office no later than Thursday 4th April. 

 

The raffle will be drawn at school assembly on the last day of Term 1, Friday 5th April. Assembly starts at 2pm.

   -   EARLY DISMISSAL   -  

A reminder to families that students will be dismissed early on Friday 5th April due to the end of Term.  School Assembly will commence at 2:00pm. After School Care will commence early to accommodate for the early finish. 

   -   SAVE THE DATE   -   

Working Bee  - Sunday 19th May

 

All families encouraged to come along and help clean up/maintain the school grounds. 

Victorian Premier's Reading Challenge

The Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge is now open and (insert school name) is excited to be participating.

 

The Challenge is open to all Victorian children from birth to Year 10 in recognition of the importance of reading for literacy development. It is not a competition; but a personal challenge for children to read a set number of books by 6 September 2019.

 

Children from Prep to Year 2 are encouraged to read or ‘experience’ 30 books with their parents and teachers. Children from Year 3 to Year 10 are challenged to read 15 books.

 

All children who meet the Challenge will receive a certificate of achievement signed by the Victorian Premier and former Premiers.

 

To read the Premier’s letter to parents, view the booklists and for more information about the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge, visit: www.education.vic.gov.au/prc

Foundation News

What a term! We are so impressed with how far these little learners have come. It has started with a busy week with cross country, pyjama day and the teddy bears picnic. They have had a wonderful day sharing time and treats with their buddies. Before the holidays we also have the cultural infusion incursion and a couple of parents visiting to share different cultural ways that their families spend time together. Thank you to those parents for assisting.

 

In literacy, we will be focusing on the word dog with the new letter being g and due to many events this week and a short week 1 of term 2 we will continue this word after the break. After that we will learn the word jam with new letters j and m. Always on a Monday we will have an introduction session where the children will guess the word though clues. However some children are already coming to class knowing the word which doesn’t allow this part of the lesson to be taught. If you have a Monday show and share students can use the previous word learnt. We will also send/ have sent home an alphabet chart and handwriting letter formation page. This will assist the children when practicing reading and writing at home. The letter chart can be used when reading and writing to associate letters, with the pictures to assist unknown sounds. There are also a few common digraphs to look out for when reading. The awareness of finding these in their reading will eventually flow into writing, and partway through the year our words of the week will incorporate some diagraphs also.

 

 In mathematics, children have been learning the days of the week. In this area they are learning about which days are school/weekend days and which days would come before or after e.g. Tuesday comes before Wednesday and Thursday is after Wednesday. For those familiar with ordering days of the week, they have been extended to months of the year and some looking at calendars and how they work.

 

In humanities, the children will continue to learn about families for the first week, where we will celebrate with Grandparents and Special Friends Day on the 26th April. Please keep this morning in your diary as the children really look forward to sharing their learning and classroom with their visitors. In these last 2 weeks we are exploring into the ways that we spend time with families including celebrations and traditions. For our first week show and share, we thought it would be nice to bring in a picture or items with an explanation of how your family shares time. Any different, cultural stories will further our understanding of how families are similar and different within our grades. 

 

Have a fantastic holidays! From the Foundation team.

Year 1 News

As the first term of Year One draws to a close, the student are feeling settled and are successfully managing the daily routines expected of them.

 

In order to share knowledge of the variety of holidays celebrated by families within the O.P.S community, Year One students participated in some activities to celebrate Purim. Purim is a special celebration in the Jewish calendar. The students were lucky to have some Year One Parents come to the classroom to share the historical story attached to Purim. To celebrate, some students wore or created some silly hats.

There were some excellent entries, including a hat belonging to Noah (1C) with Cheezals, pretzels and other treats intricately attached. In addition, there were some very artistic hand-created hats. The students then made a small noise-maker instrument using paper plates and plastic cups.

 

In English, the students are continuing to develop their knowledge of spelling accurately using knowledge of short and long vowel sounds. They are consolidating their skills of accurately applying punctuation and appropriate grammatical structure within their writing. Students are continuing to read daily and develop their reading comprehension and decoding skills taught within the classroom. During mathematics, the students have continued to develop their knowledge of place value and number sense, as well as familiarising themselves with characteristics of 2D and 3D shapes. The students are beginning to develop knowledge of ‘location’, with a focus on positional language, such as beneath, diagonal, left, above, etc. The Year One teaching team thank you for ongoing support and engagement in your child’s learning throughout this term. 

 

Next term the Year One students will be exploring a new inquiry topic. The ‘Mad about Science: Light and Sound’ incursion will be taking place on the 27th of May. Please ensure you have consented for this incursion, as it would be a terrible shame for your child to miss out on this fascinating and hands on experience.

Year 2 News

The students have enjoyed their first term of Year 2! The students have settled into the new routines and are all becoming more organised and responsible.

 

So far this year the students have almost perfected their recount writing, learnt a number of graphs and digraphs to help them with their spelling and are reading a range of books including fantasy, information and mystery. The students’ number knowledge has increased this term as they have been exploring number patterns as well as shapes and calendars.

 

Possibly the most exciting part of term one for Year 2 has been working on the ‘Stages of Life’ projects. The students have researched their projects and are looking forward to showcasing their work to their parents and friends this week.

Have a safe and happy holidays. We are all looking forward to term two – especially our excursion to the Shrine of Remembrance in week 4! Make sure you process your permissions as soon as possible on Compass.

Year 5 News

Year 5 Camp

Earlier this term the Year 5 students ventured off to Echuca for a four day camp. A great time to get to know everyone and form new relationships with people at the beginning of the school year. We were lucky to have delightful weather the entire time, not too hot which was great!

 

We left on Tuesday morning and drove to Bendigo where we went back in time at Central Deborah Gold Mine which is one Australia's deepest underground mine tours with Nine Levels of Darkness, allowing us access to Level 9 of the mine, 228 metres underground. We wandered through searching for gold, finding out how gold formed so deep underground and the conditions that the early miners had to endure. We tried our luck with gold panning (unfortunately no great successes) and then had lunch at Lake Weerona. After our recharge we were back on the bus heading for Camp Kookaburra.

 

Upon arrival we found out our cabins and cabin mates and had some time to settle in. Then it was time for activities which we completed over two days. The activities we did were; rock climbing, scavenger hunt, abseiling, flying fox.

 

On Thursday we spent the day in Echuca, traveling down the Murray river on a Paddle Steamer and learning about the history of the area. We traveled along a secret underground tunnel and had lunch at the old port. After going back in time we came back to the present at TwistED Science, a great hands on science learning centre.

 

By the time Friday came we were all very tired, with a number of sleeping beauties on the bus traveling home (teachers included!). We had a great time and are looking forward to our next adventure in Year 6!

Year 5 Sport

This term the Year 5s have been playing a variety of different sports competing house against house. Each week two houses face off against each other for bragging rights. The sports we have played this term are; Rounders, Cricket, Tennis, Lawn Bowls and Kick Ball. On the 29th of March we had our Grand Final matches with the ladder leader Chisholm choosing for all teams to play Cricket. There was a lot of great sportsmanship and positivity as well as loud cheering. The final results for the term were;

First – Chisholm

Second – Flynn

Third – MacKillop

Fourth – Hollows

 

Here is some thoughts from the students;

“I like that Year 5 sport involves teamwork and it’s competitive.” – Darcy  

“I like when people cheer you on during sport.” – Alex 

“Year 5 sport is competitive and encourages people to play more games and it’s fun” – Sarah 

“Year 5 sport is fun and exciting” – Gus 

“Year 5 sport makes everyone play different sports because not everyone plays sport” – Oscar 

“It’s lots of fun and you get to encourage people to get out of their comfort zone” – Mia 

 

PE & Sport News

House Cross Country

Thank you to everyone who helped make yesterday a great success! All the students had a ball as you can see in some pics below. 

Stay tuned for the results for Distrists.

 

Regional Swimming

A HUGE Congratulations to Toby C who represented OPS at the Regional Swimming Carnival last week. 

Toby came 3rd in 50m Breaststroke which is an outstanding achievement. GO TOBY!!!

Year 3 to Year 5 Swimming Program

Year 3-5 Swimming will be held next term at Waves. This event is now on Compass for parents to consent and pay for. Please ensure this has been processed before the due date. 

If you child cannot participate due to medical reason please contact the office in writing as well as providing a medical certificate. 

 

Year 6 Interschool Sport

Term 2 sport is now up on Compass ready for approval and payments. Please ensure this is completed by Wednesday 24th April. 

Competition starts on Friday 26th April with the Lightning Premiership.

 

Year 6 Sports Tops

Information regarding the new Yr 6 Sports tops will be coming home soon. Stay Tuned.

 

Emma Milliken

PE Teacher, Sports Coordinator

Visual Arts News

In line with the Lunar New Year of the Pig, all grades have been completing some fabulous ‘oink-worthy’ artworks this term.  Grade preps explored paper folding of lanterns with Mrs Ioannou, grade 1 and 2’s painted their pigs some fabulous mud to play in, the grade 3 and 4s cut out terrific pig silhouettes, grade 5 explored ink, nib and watercolour painting and the grade 6s extended their observational drawing by using charcoal or pastels. 

We have also explored the question ‘What is Art?’ and are in the midst of completing a wonderful whole school garden display of what art means to the students at Ormond Primary School.  Please see our display in progress on the inside wall opposite the Artroom.

Congratulations to all the students who participated in the Photography competition that was initiated and run by our fabulous Arts Captains, Tom and Mair.  All the entries were of a particularly high standard making it quite difficult to select the winning pieces.  There is another opportunity for students to enter a community photography competition being run by ATOM.  Further details are below and all students are encouraged to participate. Entries are now open and close Friday 10th May. 

This year’s theme is: Texture

Each entry must be based on this year’s theme.

Entry is free, and is open to all Australian and New Zealand residents.

  • All photos must be taken specifically for the ATOM Photo Comp 2019 and be suitable for displaying in a public environment.
  • Entrants may use digital image manipulation (e.g. Photoshop) if they desire.
  • If you include any copyrighted or trademarked content in your photos (e.g. poster, brand-name prop), you must be able to provide written permission for its use. Entries containing any unauthorised content will be disqualified. You can contact the following organisations for more detailed information and resources:
  • All entries must be submitted online (including uploading of your three photographs) by close of entries: midday AEST, Friday 10 May 2019.

 

Entries can be submitted to one of five categories:

  • Lower Primary (Years F–3)
  • Upper Primary (Years 4–6)
  • Lower Secondary (Years 7–9)
  • Upper Secondary (Years 10–12)
  • Open

If an entry was created by more than one person, it should be entered into the appropriate category for the oldest member of the group. While some assistance from parents/teachers is expected in the student categories – particularly at the primary levels – the creative vision for the entry must be the students’ alone, and the bulk of the work must be done by the students.

Photos may only be submitted once. Entrants may submit multiple entries, as long as each entry differs significantly from any others submitted by that entrant (it should contain distinctly different photos).

Online Entry System

In order for your entry to be valid, you must submit it using the online entry system on this website, including:

  1. Completing the online entry form, including a short written statement about how you have addressed the theme.
  2. Uploading your 3 photographs.

If you have any questions, or are having trouble submitting your entry online, please email apc@atom.org.au – we are here to help.

 

Finalists and winners

Six finalists in each of the five categories will be contacted via email and announced on this website later this year (date TBC). Please ensure you submit a valid email address with your entry.

The winner of each of the five categories will be contacted via email and announced at the 2019 SAE ATOM Awards, held in Melbourne in November.

Prizes

Prizes for winners of each of the five age-group categories include Ted’s Cameras gift vouchers valued at $500 for the two primary categories, $1000 for the two secondary categories and $2000 for Open. Total prize pool: $5000.

Have a wonderful  Easter break and I look forward to another busy and fun term in the Artroom.

Happy creative days.

 

Helen Kupfer

Visual Arts Coordinator