Year 1 and 2

Welcome to the second newsletter of Term 3!

Wominjeka! Welcome!

We hope you all had a wonderful week. The students have been working hard and making connections in their learning! Please find any important dates and information below:

Important Dates

14th – 18th August: Years 2-4 ICAS English

18th August: Grade 2 Scienceworks Excursion

21st August: Book Week Parade

21st – 25th August: Years 2-4 ICAS Spelling

28th – 1st September: Years 2-4 ICAS Maths

28th August: Grade 1 Melbourne Museum Excursion

31st August: Family Maths Night

31st August and 1st September - Father's Day Stall

8th September: Science Expo

Family Maths Night

VPS are holding their highly successful Family Maths Night on Thursday 31st August at 6:30pm. Parents have the chance to book a session and see different mathematical concepts being shown throughout each grade. More information to follow.

Science Expo- Friday 8th September

From Monday 4th September to Friday 8th September, we will be celebrating Science Week at VPS. Three special events for students and families have been planned. 

On Wednesday, Year 5 and 6 ‘Scientists’ will be leading three science related activities for the rest of the school’s students to participate in. Between recess and lunch, the students will move with their class between three different activities across the whole school, to experience different aspects of science, such as circuits, chemical reactions and the making of bath bombs!

Thursday of science week will bring an amazing incursion to VPS – the Jollybops Science show. More information and payment details are now available on Qkr!. Payment is due for all students by Thursday 31st August.

Science week concludes with our whole school Science Expo on Friday 8th September. Parents and carers are invited to come and experience each year level’s exploration of science and associated displays. The Expo will be open for families to view from 3pm until 5pm in the school stadium. 

Take Home Readers

In Grade One and Two we have been noticing that students are coming to school without their Take home readers and/or Lexile books. It is imperative that students are reading each night for 30 minutes and remembering to bring these books to school each day for our daily silent reading sessions. 

Lunchboxes

Just a reminder to parents to make sure students are provided with cutlery in their lunchbox. It has also been noticed by the Level 2 Team that some students are missing snack in their lunch, particularly on Fridays when Subway is ordered. If a snack could be provided it would be much appreciated, as many children get very hungry by recess time. 

At Vermont Primary, we promote healthy eating and the reduction of plastic wastes in our lunchboxes. Please ensure your child is provided with snacks and lunches that are going to give them energy and focus throughout the day (e.g fruits, vegetables, yoghurt, crackers, etc).

Smart Watches

Many students are now wearing smart watches to school that allows them to make calls, take photos and watch videos. It is because of these features that they fall under our school phone policy and therefore they will be collected by the teachers at start of the day and locked away until the end of the day.  

Book Week

One of the highlights of the school year is just around the corner, Book Week! This year it’s being held from the 19th to the 25th of August and the theme is Read, Grow, Inspire. Vermont Primary School will hold its annual Book Week parade on Monday 21st August. All students are encouraged to dress up a character from a book of their choice. Be as creative as you like with this! 

Michael Wagner Author Visit 

On Tuesday 29th August, we have Michael Wagner, the well-known author, coming out to speak to our students. Michael has over 80-plus titles including a 20-book series about the funny and exciting sporting adventures of Maxx Rumble, six books about a family called The Undys, a heart-warming first reader called Pig Dude: He Can Do ANYTHING! and the acclaimed picture books Why I Love Footy and Bear Make Den. We look forward to hearing him speak!

Writing Competition - Grow!

This year we will be holding a writing competition that is open to all students. The topic for the writing competition is Grow! Students are welcome to take this theme any way they like and can write in any genre, for example, writing a poem about an animal that grows, writing a procedural piece about a favourite plant, writing a narrative about a student that wanted to be a basketballer so they took a potion to grow. There will be 4 different categories: 

• Foundation 
• Grade 1 and 2
• Grade 3 and 4
• Grade 5 and 6

If your child has any questions, encourage them to ask their classroom teacher. 

Grade 1 - Melbourne Museum Excursion

On Monday the 28th of August all Grade 1 students will be visiting the Melbourne Museum for our Inquiry unit on Living Things and Dinosaurs. 

Payment is now open on QKR. Please ensure you pay by Friday 18th August so that your child doesn't miss out. No late payments will be accepted as numbers need to be confirmed with Melbourne Museum and the bus company.

Grade 2 - ScienceWorks Excursion

On Friday 18th August, the Year 2 students will be travelling by bus to Scienceworks as a part of our Term 3 Inquiry unit titled 'Machine Makers'.

We are leaving promptly at 9am and will therefore ask students to arrive at approximately 8.45am on the day of their excursion. We will be unable to wait for students that do not arrive by 9am; if students are late, they will remain at school.

Students will need to bring their snack, lunch and a drink bottle in a small backpack. 

The cost for this excursion is $24.00. All payments & permission forms are on Qkr now. Payment due no later than Friday 11th August. 

Should you have any further queries, please speak to your child’s teacher.

Grade 2 - ICAS

ICAS starts for Grade 2 students in Week 6. This is only for the students that have signed up for this. ICAS is no longer a compulsory competition. Please refer to the Literacy page in this newsletter or the school website for further details.

Grade One Science- Salt Crystals

The Grade 1s are learning about the states of matter in Science and how substances can change between solids, liquids and gases. We conducted an experiment and created salt crystals to see how a liquid can turn into a solid. These are our salt crystals after only one week, we can't wait to see how big they grow!

Grade Two Maths

Next week (Week 5) in Maths we are learning all about length and using formal and informal measurements, we are asking children to bring in a sock for us to use in our Maths lessons!