Congratulations and happy holidays!

Kevin and I would like to congratulate all the students in 34kt on a fantastic year! We would also like to thank all the parents and friends of our community for all their wonderful participation throughout the year.

Have a fantastic holiday and we will see you around next year...

Don't forget...

Don't forget:

This Friday 10th December is our class picnic at the Railway Park starting at 4pm.

On Monday 13th December is our parent morning tea and travel expo.

PHPS Bazaar 2010

A big thank you to everybody for a fantastic Bazaar yesterday. The children had a fantastic time! A big thanks to Dianne and Lisa for their brilliant organisation and to all the parents who assisted on the day!

Christmas Break Up

Friday 10^th December

Join us for a play in the park after school to celebrate the end of the year and wish Kevin and Tim a marvelous summer break.

Railway Reserve, Solly Avenue, Princes Hill (nearest to school)

4pm onwards

BYO food and drinks

Also, we’re organising a collective gift for Kevin and Tim, so please make a contribution by contacting Lisa or Dianne (or Seb’s Mum, Julianne) by Monday 6^th December on either

Lisa Amad Camilleri austriskservices@bigpond.com

Or Dianne Smith dsmith@parks.vic.gov.au

Study Ladder

A note will be going home about a new (ish!) website called Study Ladder. It is made by the people who created Smartkiddies, but it includes a range of literacy activities as well. The children's login for Smartkiddies will work on this site.

New Website List

Underneath the "Useful Website" list on the blog, I have created a new list called "Websites for Around the World". As the term progresses I will add more resources for the students. Thanks to Olivia (Nick in 3/4K's mum) for the Germany link. If you have any other links you think would be suitable, please email me:

hawkins.tim.r@edumail.vic.gov.au

A Bazaar Message from our Parent Reps

Dear Parents and Carers of 34KT,

2010 Spinning Wheel Hamper Themes/prizes for the Bazaar

Each year, classes are asked to donate goods for themed hampers as prizes at the Bazaar Spinning Wheel.

This year, Kevin and Tim’s home group themes are “Gourmet food” (which may include wine, olives, honey, coffee, vinegars, herbs/spices, preserves, crackers/biscuits, olive oil, nuts etc) and “Bath time luxuries” (which may include bubble bath/bath oils, scented candles, soap, shower caps, face washers, toiletries and champagne).

The hampers (handsome looking coloured rubber tubs) have arrived in the Neighborhood, so please drop in any donation you can manage in the next few weeks. Please keep in mind the goods need to non perishable and non melt-able.

Thanks for all contributions large and small.

Regards,

Dianne and Lisa

Visual Art Newsletter for Term 4

Newsletter term 4

Our Learning Environment

To create and maintain interest and curiosity in our studies into countries around the world we would like to create a 'Museum' in the neighbourhood. If you have any artifacts, posters, costumes, postcards, music etc. that reflect the Arts or culture of a country you have visited or come from we would love to 'borrow' them to make our student's learning come alive and stimulate learning.

Don't forget we would love to have any one come in and cook a dish from another country with a small group of children - thanks Dianne (George in 3/4T's mum) for coming in on Monday to cook Malaysian fried rice, save some for us!!!

Thanks

We would really like to thank all the parents from Neighbourhood 2 who have contributed throughout the year. We really value the strong home-school links we have built together and look forward to this going further in the future. We would like to acknowledge Anjali's mum, Rohini, for the time she has given in supporting students' literacy learning because due to work commitments she is unable to help this term.

We would also like to thank Barb Allen for her visit on Friday to share her African experience to encourage interest in learning about the world. Out of retirement for an afternoon!

Learning in Term 4

In Learning Neighbourhood 2 there will no longer be a "paper" newsletter and all information and news will be posted on the blog. If you are unable to access at home we invite you to come in and look at the blog with your child.

This term in literacy we will be focusing on the text features of non-fiction material. We will continue to develop the children's ability to write narratives, recounts and reports. At the end of the research stage of their inquiry, "Around the World", students will present a travelogue about that country. This could be presented in many different ways that negotiated as the term progresses. Please note the research grid (embedded below) will assist them in their information gathering. The reading groups run by parents have been highly successful and we would encourage anyone with some spare time to participate in this program. Nick Szigeter's mum, Olivia, has kindly offered to share her experience in doing this with anyone interested. We expect that at all times our students have at least two books in their lockers either borrowed from the school library, brought from home or selected from the class library. These are for both class and home reading and are expected to be recorded in their reading log.

This term in mathematics the students will undertake targeted teaching sessions based on current assessment that will support and extend student learning in this area. Students will also use mathematics in project work, such as webquests and activities relating to the inquiry. We would still encourage students to use the mathematical resources in the "useful website" list on the blog as part of their home learning. These include tutpup for strengthening basic number facts, smartkiddies to encourage children to work mathematically and participate in the range of games that support mathematical thinking.

We will continue to provide students with Learning Agreements which will also be embedded into the blog. This term there will be a section titled "Home Learning" which will be left blank. Students will be expected to fill in any learning or activities they do at home. These may include cultural experiences (cooking, sport, helping out at home, family events, etc).

As always, you are welcome to come in at anytime to share your child's learning, share their portfolios or chat to Kevin or Tim about any concerns or issues.

category sheet for mutlicultural facts_blank

Our Inquiry for Term 4

This term we will be focusing on multicultural studies. These are the through lines of this inquiry:

Learning to understand ourselves:

· Identity is shaped by a range of influences (culture, family, community, place, tradition, religion, history)

Learning to live well with others:

· Diversity enriches our society. Living well within a diverse society requires tolerance, understanding and respect

PARENTS AND FAMILIES - WE NEED YOUR HELP

We are hoping to ask family members to come in a do a cooking session on a particular country or regions food with a small group of children. Please see Kevin or Tim if you are interested...

Welcome to Term 4!

Welcome back to school everybody! The new gymnasium and oval are almost ready. With the weather warming up it will be great to be able to play on the new oval!

Don't forget swimming starts next week - so make sure you have returned your form whether you are going or not.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Ariel (3/4K), Hamish and George (3/4T) for their participation and successes in the district athletics yesterday at the Coburg Athletics Track.

Assembly

Congratulations to all the students in 3/4KT who presented at this morning's full school assembly. Many other teachers commented on how the performance was entertaining, genuine, fun and showed that children in Learning Neighbourhood 2 enjoy their learning. Some teachers even said it was the best assembly they have seen this year!

Parent Morning Tea

A big thank you to all the parents and friends who attended Learning Neighbourhood 2s morning tea. Kevin and I both agree that the quality of the food made by the families was outstanding and the best we have ever seen at Princes Hill Primary School. What a difference it makes with no packaged food! The children did a wonderful job in the concert and then worked with gusto on their Learning Agreements as the parents wandered around to see the learning taking place.

We would also like to thank Lisa (Josh's mum) and Dianne (George P's mum) for organising this event.

Parent Reps for Learning Neighbourhood 2

I would like to thank George's mum, Dianne, and Josh's mum, Lisa, for offering to be our parent reps in Learning Neighbourhood 2.
We would like to get a contact list together for the community and here is a copy. One will be handed out later in the week:


Class Info

Information Night

Here is a copy of the letter home about our Information Evening on Thursday, March 11th at 7.00pm. Students in Learning Neighbourhood 2 are welcome to attend to share their learning.

Information night

Learning Agreements

This week in Learning Neighbourhood 2 we will be initiating our Learning Agreements. For many of the activities, there will be workshops that model and explain the learning involved.

Parents, please share your child's Learning Agreement by looking through and discussing items in their black display which is sent home every night. Please encourage your child to record any books at home that they have read on their reading log.

Thanks, Kevin and Tim


Learning Agreement -

Welcome to your blog!

Hello 3/4K and 3/4T! This is blog is for you and your families. There will be information, your work, challenges, puzzles and a whole lot more. Please feel free to leave a comment or any websites you think are worthy for our link list!

Here is a copy of the Newsletter for Term 1 for your information (click on the four arrows for full size)

Newsletter Term 1 -