General Office

Office Hours: 8.30am to 4.30pm

Telephone: (03) 9404 4311

Email:

plenty.parklands.ps@education.vic.gov.au

School Website:

plentyparklands.ps.vic.edu.au

Term Dates

Term 1

27th January - 1st April

Term 2

19th April - 25th June

Term 3

12th July - 17th September

Term 4

4th October - 17th December

Attention 2021 Prep Families

At the start of term 1, Prep families at PPPS received DPV Health Transition Resource packs. They were passed out to families at our Parent Partnership afternoon. PPPS thought the Transition Resource pack was informative and well presented.

It provided information on:

DVP Health would appreciate parent feedback on the resource pack. Could you please let them know your thoughts by completing the two minute survey. Your time will help make future resources more informative, relevant and engaging.

Below is the survey link.

DPV Health is a not-for-profit organisation that offers exceptional health care services to people of all ages.

If any families missed receiving a copy of the pack please contact me and I will get one sent home in your child’s bag.

Thank you in anticipation

Leanne Weston

Prep Transition

On behalf of DPV Health

Good Food for Good Health

DPV Health has launched an online cookbook Good Food for Good Health, to help our community eat healthier by creating nourishing, balanced meals at an affordable price that will help improve your general wellbeing.

The cookbook has Dietitian approved recipes from across the world and loads of lunchbox friendly recipes too!

What makes the Good Food for Good Health cookbook different from other cookbooks?

• Recipes are healthy, cost-effective & simple to

create

• Recipes are sourced from the local

community

• Information about cooking methods and

healthy swap ideas to create balanced meals

to search for a recipe that’s right for you and your family.

Follow @GoodFood4GoodHealth on Facebook for regular updates.

Prep School Nursing program

Melissa Sullivan, Primary School Nurse from the School Nursing Program, will be conducting Prep assessments for PPPS in Term 3. Melissa has been working with our school for many years and she is professional, knowledgeable and compassionate towards supporting families with concerns re their child.

The Primary School Nurse service helps to identify, address and support children and families with concerns that may impact on children’s health and learning and is provided free to all Prep students during their first year of school. Melissa’s advice is always practical, with helpful strategies and recourses re behavior, eating, sleeping, toileting, physical and emotional health, all of which can impact on a child’s learning.

All families of Prep students will receive the School Entrant Health Questionnaire on TUESDAY 25th May. It will provide Melissa with your child’s health history and identify any concerns you may have relating to your child’s health.

Please note that children cannot receive a health assessment by the School Nurse without consent.

ALL PREP families are required to return this form with or without consent to the school by selecting one of the options on Page 3 – ‘Your Consent’.

Prompt return of all questionnaires would be appreciated by

Thursday 3rd June

It is important that all are questionnaires are returned.

Please contact your class teacher or myself if you require any further information.

Thank You

Leanne Weston

Prep Welfare

Premier's Reading Challenge

The Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge is now open and Plenty Parklands Primary School is excited to be participating. The PRC application offers a range of exciting features including:

access to a library catalogue (including book images and blurbs)
a modern user-friendly interface
rewarding students with badges as challenge milestones are achieved
the option for students to mark books as a favourite, give them a star rating or complete a book review

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 17 September 2021.

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 booklist and for more information about the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge, visit: www.education.vic.gov.au/prc

DRAMA

Prep

This semester in Drama, the Prep students have been learning how to use their body language and facial expressions to perform. We have explored the characters from different books, including Imagine by Alison Lester, The Very Cranky Bear by Nick Bland and The Bus To The Zoo by Mark Murphy. The Preps have gained a lot of confidence to perform in front of their classmates on stage this term and I am excited to see many more amazing performances from them as the term continues! Jessica Marcy

Year 2

This semester in Drama, the year two students have rehearsed and presented many imaginative drama performances. They have used their creativity to re-enact and modify popular stories such as “The Little Red Hen” and “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”. Students have also created tableaux to depict the scenes of stories and daily scenarios. Some of our favourite drama games are “Go, Stop, Face, Clap”, “Grandma’s Footsteps” and “Night at the Museum”. More recently, students were provided with a script to the Dreamtime story Tiddalick. Their challenge was to rehearse their lines and portray their chosen character using appropriate facial expressions, voice and movement. It has been amazing to see their creativity and stage confidence grow and enhance throughout this semester!

Kate Cugnetto

Year 5

The Year 5s have been impressing me and their classmates this semester by using mime, slapstick and comedy techniques to perform. Everyone is demonstrating great skills in these performance styles and have had their classmates in fits of laughter during performances on stage! We are all looking forward to watching the Year 5s mime performances in the upcoming weeks based on the theme ‘The Restaurant’ where they must create and follow a script with their group for a 5 minute performance. I have no doubt they will be amazing!

Jessica Marcy

e-Learning at PPPS

eLearning is the exploration and use of a diverse range of strategies and tools to support and extend learning opportunities for all students. Through focused learning experiences they will further develop their eLearning skills and learn how to be responsible users of ICT tools, including social media.

eLearning is a specialist subject at PPPS and supports the use of digital technologies that occurs daily in the classroom. Students in Prep to Year 5 participate in a weekly specialist eLearning session in the computer lab for one semester. In the other semester, students visit the computer lab with their class teacher. Students in year 6 have eLearning for the entire year.

In the classroom, the students use a variety of programs and digital devices to complement and support their learning. These tools include computers (desktops and netbooks), iPads and Interactive Whiteboards. On these tools, students have access to a variety of educational applications and the immense resources of the Internet.

In specialist eLearning lessons, students investigate a variety of digital systems (computers, iPads and peripheral devices) and use these tools for a variety of purposes. They become more competent users of a variety of software applications and tools appropriate to their year level. Students are then able to independently use these applications as learning tools in their classroom. So far this year, students have focused on animation, coding, website design, book creation, art and graphics software and Microsoft Office and Google Workspace applications. Students use computers, iPads and robots (Sphero, Bee Bots and Dash) during eLearning lessons.

Cybersafety is an important component of eLearning. Students learn how to be safe when interacting in an online world and we address areas such as online identify, strong passwords, personal safety, digital footprints, cyberbullying and cyber security risks.

Kerrie Shelden and Mary Jo Cottier

eLearning teachers

Investigations in Prep 12