I hope you enjoy the long weekend this weekend to celebrate the 'Queen's Birthday'. Our CSIRO excursion on Friday is getting closer. The children will need to bring playlunch, lunch and water for the day. Could you please be mindful of nut allergies as we will be eating together as a group? Also it would be a good idea if lunch could be packed in disposable bags then we don't have to bring our lunchboxes back. Our new Inquiry unit is called 'May the Force Be With You' where the children will be looking at how things move. It is a Science based unit and there will be lots of hands on activities. It is getting close to the end of term and the children are extremely tired. They are busily finishing off their portfolio activities and the reports will be coming home with them this term. The children are up to the final publishling stage of their narratives and they look terrific!!  A big thankyou to the parent helpers who have been helping out in class with the editing process as it is often a huge task.
The children have been given a new website to look at to help them with their spelling. It is called Spelling City. http://www.spellingcity.com/ The children can work with their weekly spelling words and play an assortment of interactive games. So far the reviews have been very positive.
Michelle Bird

Inquiry Project Presentations- This Week

This is a taste of what to expect at JSB's Project Presentations on Thursday 3rd June 2010 at 2:30 pm. The children have been working very hard and they are very proud of their finished product. Many parents have said that they will be coming so we look forward to a full house. Next Friday (11th June)we will be going on our CSIRO Excursion and today we drew a name out of a cup for the lucky parent helper chosen to attend. This time it will be Mrs Suzanne Brooker (Jake's Mum). Thankyou to all the parents who responded and hopefully there will be more opportunities for other parents later on in the year. In addition to this we have a special news from one of our classmates. Isabella (Izzie) has been selected to dance in the stage production of 'The Candyman'. We will keep you posted when we have more details about this. Congratulations Izzie!

It's been a while since my last blog comment but with report writing and this flu type virus I haven't been able to get around to it. The cold weather is upon us and I have asked the children to take their hats home so that they can be washed. I am encouraging the children to wear their windcheaters outside but they usually end up on the ground after five minutes or in the basket by the door. Remember to bring a note when the students return from being absent. I apologise to parents who have received a 'please explain' note from the office when they have already written a note. I have marked these on the roll from my end and the office is looking into a possible explanation. There has been a lot going on around the school. The mini golf course has begun works with the help of some dads, Mr Bennetts, Mr Penson and Mr Kendall. It will be great when it is completed. The chunky gravel is to be removed from the Prep area and there will be a surprise in store for the preps very soon.
On Wednesday we will be having a whole school Open Day/ Grandparent's Day. You are welcome to come up and watch your child work and to be a part of their learning. We do have Italian at 10:00 am so the children won't be in the classroom then. We have a special morning tea at 11:00 am for anyone who is at the school at this time.

Cheers Michelle Bird

Hi Guys, we will be having our Mother's Day Stall tomorrow. Could the children please bring their money in an envelop or wallet and bring a plastic bag to place the present in. I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend last week as we remembered Anzac Day . The children enjoyed making Anzac biscuits at school and many went back for seconds.
This week we are looking at 'th' words and we are studying Pattern in numbers. The children are busy working on their inquiry questions at the moment.
Thank you to all the wonderful parents who were able to fill in the gaps for Literacy over the next few days. We still need helpers for next Tuesday and Friday so if anyone is free and feel like filling in it would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Michelle

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce our class pre-service teacher Miss Rebecca Looper. Bec will be with us for four weeks and has already developed rapport with the children. It was a sad day yesterday with Finn leaving to move to NSW to live. We gave him a bit of a send off and hopefully we will find time to write to him when he is settled.

This term with Spelling, we are trialling something new. We are introducing Spelling booklets which will be given out each Monday. The children will keep them at home practising until Friday when they will need to return them to school for checking. The children's words will be tested on Friday. It would be a good idea for the children to keep the booklets in their Reading bag so they come back to school for the following week. If this is a cause for concern please contact me so we can chat about it.

See you at the parent fest,
Michelle Bird

Welcome to Term 2. I trust the children had a great break and they are rested and ready to start this term's work. There have been a few changes to the timetable. On Tuesday the children will have Phys Ed and Music and on Wednesday the children will have Italian and Library. I will get them to bring a new timetable home this week so you can all keep track. Spelling homework will begin this term and the children are encouraged to practise these words at home. The words will incorporate both Thrass and M100 words and I will test these words every Friday. Thankyou to all the parents who have signed up to help with the Literacy Program. I still have a few vacancies for anyone who has missed out (especially Fridays).
Don't forget to fill out the Parent Fest form if you are interested in attending next Wednesday night.
Michelle Bird