Week 8 Update

Good afternoon parents,

Welcome to the end of Week 7, it was a busy one for us in 4DEL as we finalised some assessments and enjoyed a smooth week of learning.

I unfortunately ended up leaving early yesterday as I seem to have picked up this virus going around...thankfully it isn't Covid and I am hoping a day on the couch today will help send it packing!

My daughter Ella, is competing in the State Championships in Basketball up in Perth and I'm a bit devo I can't be there...something I am working hard on is accepting the things that I cannot change, this appears to be one of them.

I hope you are all well, I have had a few students share with me some things going on with sickness and things just being a bit tough...if there is any way that I can help, please do let me know! We have a pastoral care freezer for just these things!

Congratulations to Emme on receiving our Merit Award last week, an absolute legend who just keeps on keeping on!

A few reminders for the coming week...

Work - We are still working and will continue to run our regular program as much as possible. 

We will have some minor disruptions with our concert rehearsals but it will be business as usual...last week, lots of the students were tired right from the beginning of the week. 

This led to lots of minor, low level occurrences where kids were just at capacity and found things a little hard to cope with as well as some minor injuries for tired bodies. 

We are so close to summer holidays and the students (and you!) can take a well earned break, until then let's keep with the bedtime routines and factor in some rest where possible over the weekends.

Destruction of Property - The last couple of weeks have seen 3 separate incidences of vandalism to items within our classroom. 

We have had a wobble stool written on, a whiteboard snapped and then hidden and a table left at the end of the day with pictures all over it.

This has been very disappointing to see, unfortunately, no one has come forward to claim responsibility but I have had some students brave enough to speak up to share the chatter...unfortunately, nothing concrete though. 

We had a big chat last week about the importance of respecting the resources we are lucky to have available to us in our school and also the importance of respecting our teachers and classmates. 

As students get tired, these are often the things that    go out the window. 

I would appreciate it if you could have a chat with your child about these instances and reiterate the importance of - 

• Respect for our classroom property and
• Admitting when you've made a mistake and owning up.

We spent a lot of time talking about the fact that it is what you do next in life to make a fix up if you've made a mistake which is the most important thing!

I appreciate your support with this!

Colour Run - Your child would have brought home a double sided form last week, on one side is where your child records their fundraising efforts and the other is where you will need to sign if you DO NOT wish for your child to participate...I hope that helps make sense of it?

Rebecca Cool Art Experience - Thanks to our amazing P&F, we are so excited to have the opportunity to participate in an Art workshop this Wednesday beginning at 8.40am. 

I count myself super lucky to have a supportive P&F who work so hard to provide such phenomenal learning opportunities for the kids and teachers...thank you!

Christmas Concert - A reminder that this will be held on Wednesday 7th December, beginning at 5.30pm on the oval! Make sure you're loved ones know the date...all are welcome!

Our Learning...

As I mentioned, the learning has not stopped! We have had fantastic time reviewing our Narrative purpose, structure and necessary language features and the students will begin writing their own examples this week with our class totem the Coolbardie will feature prominently with all the main character energy!

Ask your child about the roller coaster analogy for planning their narratives, unfortunately my deepest fear was once again unlocked when we literally recapped my trip on the roller coaster earlier in the year! Whilst the heart rate was still high, it provided the perfect teachable moment to help the students! Looking forward to seeing their end products.

In maths we will begin reviewing our written and mental strategies for addition through the use of number lines and the jump strategy. These are often tricky to recall and the next two weeks will be spent looking at some of our more tricky concepts! We will be looking next week at plotting coordinates and we have a great fun Ugly Christmas Sweater activity to do just that!

Our religion learning has been focused around the seasons of the church, specifically Advent which started last Sunday. This is a time of renewal as we spend the next few weeks preparing for Jesus' birth.

In HASS we will continue looking at the importance of what humans need to survive and how we source our food! 

The students will need to think carefully about what is really important to survive...and whilst coffee and Wi-Fi make the world wonderful, they aren't integral to human survival.

Towards the end of next week, we will begin sending home any extra items that won't be needed...this will include extra stationery, exercise books and scrap books. 

As I mentioned above, we will be working right up to the end so a lot of things will remain at school...but it will be a slow march home in Week 9, this will help on the last day so that students aren't taking home the entire contents of their drawer! 

Hopefully this makes life a little easier for you at home as well!

As of Week 9, if you can pop in a reusable tote bag for your child that would be great...the Coles plastic and paper bags, whilst great for the environment just don't cut it unfortunately!

Thank you again for your support, it has been a truly enjoyable year! 

I look forward to seeing you at the Christmas Concert if not before!

Have a great week and stay well!

                                       Mrs Delane