Literacy Update

A huge acknowledgement to the students who put their hand up to participate in the 2023 Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee. 

Great resilience was displayed, particularly given this was our first attempt and we were all a little unsure of what it would look like. There was a thought by many that it would be a live event, where the students would be standing up and spelling out the words like you may have seen on TV. 

The event was not like that at all. The students were logged into a computer and given a word via audio that they then typed in. There was a sentence provided to give context and the contestants had a go at recording the word. They were given 25 seconds to type in the word. 

All students performed really well and should be proud of their achievements. We are yet to hear back if any of the SKiPPS contestants have made it through to the finals. 

The 20 students that chose to participate will be acknowledged at an upcoming assembly once the competition has concluded.

Well done to the Year 3/4 students;

• Alessia D, 
• Avi T, 
• Beatrice M, 
• Dexter C, 
• Eric W, 
• Jaiden N, 
• Rosa S, 
• Sorcha H O’B and 
• Tomi B.

The Year 5/6 students;

• Anna B, 
• Avni J, 
• Ella P, 
• Gus B, 
• Henry P, 
• Isidora F, 
• Lanna G, 
• Leo K-S, 
• Louis D, 
• Max P and 
• Xavier B.

New Resources

We have been updating our Take Home Books this year and the Year 1/2 team have just received this new bundle of books to bring home and share with you. 

These books help your child to build a love of reading. Reading with your child daily, strengthens their language, vocabulary and comprehension skills and helps to build confidence as they read in a safe and supported environment. 

These books are an important part of our reading program at SKiPPS so please look after them, return them and enjoy them!

The Year 3/4s also have new Literature Circle books and they are very keen to get them contacted. 

If contacting books is a skill of yours then please let Joe know. He has the books and the contact ready to go.

It is a great thrill to share the remaining 4 entries into the 2023 KidsNews Short Story competition. 

As Far as Dreams Go

By Chloe S Year 4

One windy Wednesday morning at Brown Hill Elementary Lucy Lemon was sitting at her desk with a blank white page and a pencil dancing around in her hand. As she glances out the window, she suddenly sees some type of monster. It’s a scruffy green colour with some kind of horns. She pinches herself once, then twice, but the monster was still there.

She’s so intrigued that she dashes out of the classroom but no one seems to notice, they’re just too bored. As she sprinted down the hall and out of the school gate, there was the monster.  

Lucy tip toed up to the monster and asked “What are you doing here?”.  

The monster replied “Oh hi, my name is Mat the Friendly Monster and I’m off on a mission to find a little girl called Hollylocks”.  

“Would you mind if I came with you?” asked Lucy.  “Of course you can!”

As they walk through the forest, they hear a soft cry and follow it.  They come across a huge sky scraping tower made out of old crummy grey bricks with a big vine of braided holly flowing down it.  Then Mat whispered “This is the place”.  

Before he knows it, Lucy is nearly at the top of the big vine.  Mat shouts “Lucy! Stop! Where are you going?”, but she does not stop, so Mat has no choice so he starts climbing up. 

As Mat finally gets to the top, he finds Lucy comforting Hollylocks.  

Mat shouts “Lucy be careful, her hair is made of holly!”.  

“It’s fine Mat, she’s just a little girl needing help”.

“All I need is to get down from here, I’ve been trapped here for days, months, years!” exclaims Hollylocks.  

“It’s okay, we can jump down, the grass is very soft down there” Mat says.  

So, the three of them take a deep breath and leap out the window and land on the soft smooth grass below.

“Thank you but now I need to get back to my Grandmas, will one of you come with me?” asks Hollylocks.  

“I’ll come with you” says Lucy.

So, they start walking down the dark gloomy path leading into the deep shadowy forest.  But what they don’t notice is that there is someone hiding in the shadows - the Big Bad Pig!

Hollylocks and Lucy keep skipping down the path with no worries at all in their minds.  Suddenly they hear a small grunt! “What was that?” whispers Lucy.

At that moment there are more worries than you could imagine in their heads.  Then all at once this creature jumps out in front of them.  It’s pink, it has a snout - it’s a pig!

“Ah!!” scream both of the girls.

“Grunt! I’m the Big Bad Pig and I want all of your cookies, Grunt!”

“Sorry but we don’t have any cookies,” exclaim the girls.

“So then get me cookies!!” angrily shouts the Big Bad Pig.

The girls keep walking in disbelief and the pig keeps shouting at the top of his lungs.  All of a sudden Mat the Friendly Monster jumps out and the Big Bad Pig actually looks scared and stops shouting.  And then before you know it, the pig is gone.

“Mat, you saved us!” happily exclaimed the two girls.

“It’s all that a friendly monster can do!” laughed Mat. 

So, they all walk up to Hollylocks Grandma’s house but then out of the blue Lucy hears her name “Lucy! Lucy!” 

Then before you can say “pop” she’s back in her classroom at her same old desk with her same old pencil but an amazing story on her page.

Jacaranda Blooms

Ramona M-W Year 6

The thick smell of sweet jacaranda blooms filled the musty air. Summer in Argentina was insanely hot, melting the sole of your shoe in seconds. Square textured cobblestone paths and well-organized plant arrangements. The glamourous grand mansion stood prouder than any, shining bright at the night, lighting up the busy avenue. The interior is large and beautiful. An amazing marble staircase to the side of the entrance, that after a while feels like walking on Antarctica’s surface; cold and icy, in a way eery. Lamps and ceramic animals were placed on fabric doylies, such fascinating furniture. Dark wooden chests carved with ridges and bumps and bends, drawers cut out and topped up with brass nobs painted to look like silver.

1967

At the dark of the night, in the warmth and comfort of the house, the family sat down on the well-worn brown leather couch, sinking into it. The distant mumble of the TV sounded quietly. Outside of the windows was a dark sky. Stars scattered around, lighting up different parts. In the house, the only brightness came from the glowing TV and a flickering kitchen lamp; the light bulb does need to be changed. Through the glass door you could make out the dark shadows of the courtyard. 

At daytime, especially dawn, the area looked spectacular. From the strong walls of the house next door, you could see the morning sun waiting to come out from its hiding place. Spiky cacti with vivid purply-pink flowers, the petals soft and silky. Big yellow plants outlined with a dark, kelp-like, green. Terracotta pots with faint cracks on the rims. On the corner of the avenue there was a milk bar, where after school kids would gather and eat Argentinian alfajores: buttery sift milk caramel and crispy biscuit, the flavours melting on the tip of your tongue. 

Upstairs, in the mansion, there was a square window divided into four neatly panelled rectangles, it had a shelf in front, and was high up, no tiny hands could reach it. The walls are painted snowy white with a hint of blue, like the colour of new sketch pad paper. The bedrooms upstairs were cold, and even though people lived in them, they felt empty. In these rooms, the windows were barred from the outside so that buglers couldn’t get in even if they tried. 

The upstairs was so different to the downstairs at night, lifeless. I noticed every night, the family all downstairs watch TV and talk after dinner. I have nothing to do upstairs but walk around. Sometimes, when they hear me the youngest boy (I believe his name is Felipe) creeps up the stairs to look. He can’t see me since I am a spirit and am dead. He can only see when I want him to, which is rarely. The boy smirks and looks down the stairs. He shouts gibberish words and stomps on the stairs, as if he were a big monster cracking the earth as he walks. Boy he is naughty. Especially when teasing his older sister Isabel. As he stomps, she screams. Then, realising its him, she straightens her face and rolls her eyes. 

That night I was bored. I never really show myself to Isabel, she isn’t my favourite. Some nights I choose to watch the boy as he sleeps. It may sound creepy, but I’m just making sure he is safe. Occasionally, he wakes and looks rights at me, smiles dozily and huddles back under the sheets. He’s always ok with seeing me. His sister would have shrieked and woken the entire neighbourhood, dramatizing the situation.

The morning’s pure sun shines down. The sweet scent of nectar and pollen fill the air. When I was living, life wasn’t as peaceful as this. Still, sometimes I wish I didn’t feel like I was chained to the loneliness of the upstairs. The courtyard is so lively, I wish I could go down and touch the earth and the leaves, feel the silk flowers and the spikey cacti prickles, like plant versions of green porcupines. All day I have nothing to do but shuffle around on the scuffed old carpet. Knock on the peeling main door at the top of the marble stairs. In the upstairs bathroom, I turn the faucet off and on. Off and on, off and on. 

2020

I am still here. I will always be here, I think. I don’t work like Pythagoras’ theory. Unless my soul escapes into the air, and the fact I can control whether living people see me or not. Everyone is grown up, time has passed. Someone changed up the mansion, splitting the upstairs and the downstairs; now two houses. I feel even more trapped. Yet, even if I were free there is no way to touch the outside world. I know that dream of the jacaranda blooms and silky cactus flowers will never reach my lifeless nose. Wrinkly and old, weathered from all the years, oh so many, when will this loneliness end? I have tried everything to unbind myself.  To remember what really happened before all this. To find myself. 

The teenage boy, Agustin, walks past me. He is Isabel’s grandson, his mother passed away recently. Then, someone opens the front door of the downstairs house. I know, because I can feel it. They walk up the marble, slowly. Shoes click-clicking. I can tell by their pace, that it is a child. I get ready to disappear when a young girl looks up at me. Deep green eyes, like plunging into the sea. Chestnut brown hair that’s just below her shoulders. A yellow pintuck dress with printed flowers, and white platform sneakers. She looks at me. And when I feel her soul staring at me, I know I haven’t disappeared. 

An old man behind her approaches, looking straight at me too. 

He reminds me of someone. His face looks disbelieving. He is around the same age as Isabel, who I can hear at the bottom of the stair, skipping up now to speak with Agustin. It just clicked in my head. The old man standing there is Felipe, and the young girl (Moni?) much be his granddaughter. They gather in the downstairs house to chat; I am left there frozen. Life has passed. I am still loved. 

  The two houses still stand proud, their lights a little darker. There is only a small scent of the blooms, and sometimes there is none. The light bulb has been changed, and no one lives upstairs. But that doesn’t matter, because this old old nose just got the whiff of life it needed to remember his own. It was not his only purpose to watch over the people passing by. Remember life. If you didn’t believe it then, you sure do now. 

The end.

By Ramona M-W

Based on a story told by generations in her family.

The five elements 

By Olive B Year 4

Once upon a time there lived five girls from Elyvania. They all had superpowers. There was Mia. She had animal power. There was Maya, she had plant power. Callie had fire, Charlotte had water and lastly, Jade had gem power. All together, they are the Five Elements! 

One day they were walking down the street when they heard screaming. It was coming from the burger shop, and it was on fire! Charlotte got to work and tried to put the fire out but struggled a bit, so she yelled “CALLIE! COME AND HELP, THIS FIRE IS OUT OF CONTROL!”   Callie said “ok.” in a calm voice. Callie likes fire and likes to play with it. So, she turned the fire into popcorn and ate it ‘till it was all gone. 

Meanwhile, a crowd had gathered outside the burger shop. In that crowd was the Mayor. Once the fire was put out, the crowd erupted in applause.  Then, the Mayor walked to the front of the crowd, and everything went silent. He clapped his hands and said in a suspiciously low voice “well you have done it again five elements, you saved the day. Now go home and have a big rest. I can take it from here.” “Ookkkkk?” they all said at once. 

As they were leaving, the Mayor wandered over to Mia and whispered in her ear, “I’ve heard that something very bad is going down at 386 Clouds Lane.  You and the other elements should go there and save our town” he said. 

The next morning, they looked up where 386 Clouds Lane was.  Turns out, it is ages away! 

“Hay Mia, can you make us some horses please?” said Jade. “Yeah sure... here you go.” said Mia. 

So, they all rode their horses to 386 Clouds Lane.  Once they all got there, Maya rang the doorbell and waited until a little stubby man came along and said, “welcome you must be the Five Elements. Come in, come in!”. All of the Five Elements looked at each other with a suspicious look, and then walked in. 

The place was an 1840s kind of style. It had looked as if no one had set foot in the house for 100 years! As the little stubby man kept on walking, the five followed slowly along. 

They seemed to be going to an attic where there was no light or windows. Until the little stubby man switched on some lights, which somehow pulled a trigger that dropped a cage on the five elements!  

“Oh no” cried Jade.  “Get us out of here”, cried Charlotte.  “Hey you” said Maya. “Me?”, said the stubby little man. “Yes you, get us out of here!” said Maya. “Oh, don’t ask me I’m not in charge. Ask Thomas Berk the Mayor.” 

“THE MAYOR!” they all yelled. “Yes, and he will see you shortly.” 

  “But but…” “No buts. Goodbye” said the stubby little man.  

The Five Elements each used their superpowers to try to escape from the cage.  Maya tried to wrap crawler vines around the bars to try to break them. Callie tried to melt the bars with fire.  Charlotte tried to snap the bars with water.  Jade made a big rock and threw it at the cage. Mia created animals to try to bite through the cage bars. But nothing worked. 

And then, it hit them! The best idea of the history of ideas! To combine all of their powers.   

Jade made a super crystal that collected every girl’s power.  The crystal created an energy force that was so strong, that it disintegrated the bars of the cage!  “Hooray” the Five Elements cheered.   

Once they escaped, they went to find the Mayor and arrest him. “But how can we find him?” said Callie.  Charlotte had a good think, “Where would a bad Mayor hide? … In the in the basement!” she cried!  

“So, let’s go!” said Jade. So, they all went to the basement and the Five Elements found the Mayor.  “How did you get out?” he said.  Mia looked at the Mayor and had a funny feeling. She reached for his hair and pulled off a mask! It was a wanted criminal called Bob Makenzie!  He had pretended to be Thomas Berk to get elected as Mayor, so he could bring down the town! 

So, in the end, Bob and the stubby little man were arrested, and the Five Elements got a medal for their reward and the satisfaction of saving the day!  

The Magic Key

Jake Year 4

Jacqueline Morphy

Literacy Leader