Welcome To Term Four.

Hi everyone. It has been a while since my last post so I apologise for my tardiness. Thankyou for your birthday wishes as I celebrated my 50th birthday overseas. My family enjoyed an exciting 3 weeks in Europe on a cruise and my husband and I took great delight in showing our youngest two children the amazing sites and history Europe has to offer.  Mrs Miller did a wonderful job covering my program and I believe the children has a great day with their 'Push and Pullathon.'  The seeds the children planted at the end of term are growing well. Our new inquiry unit this term is 'How Does Your Garden Grow?' The children have been asked to bring a number of things to school for this unit. ( a soft drink bottle, a pair of panti hose and a collection of seeds and seedpods) Tomorrow we are planting a mystery seed in their bottle and the students will observe and record its growth. Don't forget to go with your child to the garden behind the Upper School building when you have a chance as the students have done an amazing job.
This week we have celebrated Nudie Lunch Day and Science Day and next week we have our excursion to the Botanical Gardens- fingers crossed that the weather will be fine. The parent helpers will be selected tomorrow afternoon and I will contact the parents concerned shortly after. This term is looking to be a busy one with the Junior School sleepover/BBQ coming up. The medical form will be coming home soon as I forgot to attach them to the notice. OOPS!

Michelle Bird

This Week at Yarrambat

Hi guys, I hope you are enjoying your day off. Staff are learning about the Ultranet which I find a little scary at the moment but I am sure will master it eventually.
Our Inquiry Unit has been very engaging for the children. We have finished our rotations and now the children will have to choose one of the topics to further research and create a design brief on.
This week's spelling is J, G, DG, GG. The students have been a bit slow in returning their spelling booklets this term. A good strategy is to keep them in their reader bags and then they don't go missing.
Don't forget Swimming is on Wednesday. The hairdrying is going well and thankyou to those parents who have been helping out in this area. A warm hat would be a good idea for the those children with long hair as some hair is not getting dry until we get back to school.
See you all tomorrow.
Mrs Bird.

Week 3 Term 3 2010

Welcome to Week 3. There has been a change in Library time for this term. It is now on Monday after lunch.  The children have filled out a new timetable and if you haven't received it, it may be still in their reader bag. Spelling this week are words that make the 's' sound from  Thrass and M100 words (group 3 have a few extras thrown in).   Try and encourage the children to practise these each night rather than fill in their homework booklets all in one night. Spellingcity and wordsafari are good interactive websites for the children to have fun with whilst learning their spelling words. I would like the booklets returned to school each Friday so I can correct them and then they are at school for the new words the following Monday.

Swimming is going well and the children are enjoying it. A swimming cap is a good way to keep the hair dry and it reduces the amount of hairdrying time to a minimum.
The children are busy learning about how things work? I have suggested to the children to bring interesting toys or gadgets from home for show and tell ( that are not valuable or fragile) and explain to the class how they work. Edheads is a good website on the blog where children can go to learn more.
I am back on deck full time again so if you have any concerns or just want to touch base please feel free to pop in before or after school. Thankyou to those who have inquired after my injury. I feel a bit embarrassed that a simple fall can cause so much damage -  I must be getting old!!!   Michelle Bird

Welcome to Term 3

Hi everyone. I trust you all had a great holiday and were able to rest, relax and have fun too. I would like to welcome Taine to our class this term. He is in Grade One and the boys are already keen to include him in their games. This term we have a new timetable. We have Art on Mondays and if you haven't yet provided an art smock for your child I encourage you to do this as it really does protect the school uniform. The students will have Phys Ed and Italian on Tuesdays. Swimming starts this week. I encourage students to purchase a swimming cap if parents are concerned about wet hair. We still have vacancies if parents would like to assist with hairdryers when we return back to school. Swimming goes for 8 weeks which is most of the term so we will not be requiring Literacy helpers on that day. Parents are also welcome to come and watch their child during their swimming lessons.

We will be continuing on with our Inquiry unit 'May the Force Be With You' and the children are welcome to bring in any interesting toys for 'Show and Tell' and explain how they work. Cheers.

I trust you all had a lovely break over the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend and that you enjoyed an extra sleep in, I certainly did. The children appeared to enjoy their excursion to the CSIRO on Friday and were exhausted coming home on the bus (a few children falling asleep on the bus). The excursion was totally hands on and the children were made to think about what force was involved to make each toy move. Here are some photos to show you how engaging the program was.

                                                                                     

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!