Newsletter #14 September 3 2020
Learning Today, Leading Tomorrow.
Principal’s Report
An additional challenged has been posted on Compass by Ms Kasambalis!
It’s a great one to do as a family as you can walk and have some exercise together.
Just register at https://www.steptember.org.au and all the funds go to cerebral palsy.
The challenge for me will be to ensure that I get to 10000 steps in a day and I know that since we’ve been in lockdown that’s been a lot harder for me to achieve so I’ll let you know how I go!
Virtual Assembly
It’s been a delight to have this week’s school assembly recorded and shared with the community.
Thank you very much to the Year 6 Hosts: Alice and Michael. I enjoyed hearing the National Anthem played by Alice as well. The reflections by Retal and Arthur in Year 5 provided us with many ideas about how to have fun and the ways they were grateful to the wonderful teachers for their planning for all the tasks that are keeping them motivated and learning.
Improving independence has been a big plus and spending extra time with family is priceless. Challenges are real but there are several ways they are overcoming this situation.
Our Sustainability Captains, Daksha and Sienna provided us with prompts on ways to be more sustainable and in particular got me thinking about how we can reduce our use of plastic.
The montage of Year 5 learning in step with the Star wars music was a very inspirational theme for their work in Science including pictures submitted by the students of their learning and being signed off by Mrs Oldham and Mr Swanson! We very much enjoyed hearing from the Year 5’s.
The work put in by Ms Piscioneri, Mrs Jones and Shan who is the parent of Alice & Emily was absolutely fabulous and of course congratulations to all our Students of the Week.
Professional Practice Days
During this week, all teachers have been extremely hardworking as usual but have expanded on their professional practice to further deepen their understanding of how the learning has been going for each of their students.
Measuring the growth of each learner this term has seen added challenges for each teacher and they have been using this time as well as many hours of their own time to effectively evaluate and monitor progress using the online environment. It’s an endless task as you can imagine and the GHPS teachers do a superb job.
Teachers are the masters of eliciting feedback from their students and providing timely feedback to build each child’s proficiency.
They proficiently use many strategies to build the prompts in the learning tasks. In addition to their feedback, here are some ways that parents can also be helping their child with questions such as:
- Are you on track with your work?
- How do you know?
- Are you on track to achieving your goal?
- How do you know?
Prompts that parents can provide can also include:
- How could you deepen your understanding?
- How could you improve your work?
- What is the next step you need to take?
- How do you know?
We hope you find these prompts helpful when supervising your child at home.
2021 Prep Enrolments
Thank you to our current families who have emailed or contacted us about dropping in their child’s prep enrolment form for next year. We would love to have all of these in by the end of term or earlier if we can so if you have your second or third child starting with us, please complete it and we can start planning for classes.
Call us if you’d like any additional information about how to get it to us.
Thank you to Ms Ristos who has emailed a wonderful message and sent out our GHPS flier to our local kinders and childcare singing our well-deserved praises and promoting our school.
The kinders have been very keen to share our flier and love our school. We can’t wait to have all our enrolments coming in.
Finance & School Council September Meeting
The next Finance meeting is at 6.30pm followed by Council at 7pm on Monday 7 September.
Stay safe everyone and remember we are thinking of you all.
Libby Alessi Principal
A message from your Assistant Principal
Wellbeing
On Thursday 10th September it is R U OK? Day.
2020 has been a challenging year for everyone and circumstances have made it even more important for us all to stay connected and, for those who are able, be willing to support those around us.
The focus of this year’s R U OK? Day 2020 is on “There’s more to say after R U Ok? You don’t have to be an expert to keep the conversation going when someone says they’re not OK. By knowing what to say you can help someone feel supported and access appropriate help long before they’re in crisis, which can make a really positive difference to their life.
Here is the link to the R U Ok? Day Website where you can get more resources:
https://www.ruok.org.au/join-r-u-ok-day
Remember I am here to help everyone in our GHPS Community and I am just a phone call away if you need any assistance or if you just need to have a chat. Please call me on 9571 2931.
GHPS Spoonville has arrived!
Spoonville has arrived at GHPS. Have you found Spoonville during your daily exercise?
We would love for our Spoonville to grow.
We encourage you all to make your very own spoony character to join our GHPS Spoonville. We have 4 spoony characters so far, I wonder how many we will get.
Take a photo of you with your spoony character at GHPS Spoonville and send it in, I would love to see them!
A BIG thank you to Lisa Oliver for all of her help in building the GHPS Spoonville!
“Spring: A lovely reminder of how beautiful change can truly be.”
Stay safe and stay at home
Amy Tinetti Assistance Principal
Congratulations to the following students who received a ‘Student of the Week’ award.
Austin 0N – For working hard to practise your letters and Magic Words at home. I am so proud of the progress you have made with your reading! Keep up the great effort!
Shenan 0R – For reading exceptionally well during 1 on 1 assessments this week! Congratulations on going up a reading level and earning your blue words! Well done Shenan!
Audrey 0S – For improving so much on her reading and writing during online learning and confidently reading during our Webex session. Keep up the great work Audrey!
Vidhaan 0S – For your consistent effort in all areas of online learning and always contributing to our Webex sessions. Keep up the great work Vidhaan!
Rina 1A – Thank you for giving your very best effort every week and for showing pride in your work. You have a wonderful attitude to learning and should be proud of all you have achieved so far this year! Well done!
Henry 1A – Thank you for being open minded to new learning opportunities during remote learning this term. I am impressed with your efforts and how you reflect on your learning each day. Congratulations Henry, keep working hard in every task that you do.
Mithra 1E – For going above and beyond with your learning each week. You are producing work of an excellent quality and having a go at more challenging tasks. I loved that you recorded an extra video to show me your learning this week!
Ivy 1E – Thank you for your amazing effort in remote learning so far this term! You impressed me greatly with your reading last week. Your comprehension and retell was outstanding! Keep it up!
Jon 1M – You have been trying your best during remote learning this term. I am very proud of your efforts. Keep up the fantastic work Jon!
Aaradhya 1R – Thank you for being so positive and excited to learn each and every day! You are always so organised and take great pride in your work! I love how you go above and beyond in your learning and are challenging yourself – you are doing an amazing job at home!
Arav 2C – For your determination to improve at every opportunity and always trying your best. I could tell you had rehearsed your presentation on the Anglerfish many times. You are doing an awesome job. Keep it up!
Vritti 2L – For displaying amazing creativity skills in constructing a scary villain during our narrative writing lesson!
Oscar 2S – For his amazing effort in all aspects of on-line learning and the completion of all work to such a high standard. Oscar you are a star!
Lucas 2S – For his persistence and effort to complete his learning tasks this week. A tremendous effort Lucas. You are a Star!
Emily 2S – For her very interesting and informative presentation of her diorama during roll call. You learnt so much and taught us so much about the Colossal Squid. A stellar effort Emily!
Zoya 3F – Her dedication and commitment to achieve her absolute best in all remote learning tasks. She consistently goes above and beyond and always does it with a smile.
Shiva 3F – His exceptional skills he has shown when completing his digital posters. They are digital masterpieces that have showcased his impressive expertise.
Anvi 3K – Always working incredibly hard on all online tasks, reading with expression and designing posters beautifully.
Aniket 3K – Starting interesting classroom discussions during roll call, researching facts in detail and entertaining the class with his unique lego creations.
Asher 3O – For his excellent colourful digital poster on the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Tyler 3O – For his positive attitude towards his online learning this week and being punctual to roll call each morning.
Daiwik 4C – For consistently applying teacher feedback to your work this week and exploring new possibilities during your Coding task. The well-timed sounds you included in your characterization scene really helped your scene come to life.
Stephanie 4J – Consistently inspiring, creative and brilliant work and continuously completing all Work Submission tasks, during Remote learning.
JP 4J – Consistently high quality and brilliant work and continuously and reliably ensuring that all Work Submission tasks are complete and handed-in, during Remote learning.
Nandini 4J – Consistently high quality and brilliant work and continuously completing all Work Submission tasks, during Remote learning.
Ishani 4J – Awesome Narrative Story writing, showing supreme motivated effort, using ALL of the tools in the Seven Steps for Successful Writing toolbox, producing sensational and engaging writing that you can see, feel and taste.
Divyanshu 4J – Awesome Narrative Story writing, showing supreme inspired effort, using ALL of the tools in the Seven Steps for Successful Writing toolbox, producing sensational and engaging writing that hooks you in and shows deep understanding of your story characters and how you portray them to your reader.
Lucas 4R – For working hard to improve your writing skills by asking questions and taking on board feedback from your teacher. Your writing is getting better and better. Keep up the great effort, Lucas!
Darcy 5O – for being an active contributor to online discussions, book study sessions and work sample discussions. Keep up the great progress!
Anna-Lucia 5S – consistently handing in her work and striving to achieve her best. Well done!
Lucas 6J – For his insightful comments and contributions during Literature Circles. Your input allows for robust conversations. Outstanding effort!
Charlotte 6P – For her outstanding contributions to Literature Circles and her reading tasks exploring the elements of plots. Well done!
Our school has registered to take part in National eSmart Week. eSmart is an initiative of the Alannah & Madeline Foundation and is all about building supportive and connected social environments both on and offline.
This is our chance to shine and show all the wonderful work we have done as a school community this year. At the start of this year, who would have thought that some school would be in remote learning, and spending more time online than ever before? Our school community has done an amazing job at adapting throughout this year.
This year’s National eSmart Week theme is Connecting Safely. The week from 6-12 September celebrates the work schools have done to connect safely.
Next week we will be sharing 2 lessons (one for the Prep-2 and one for year 3-6). Keep an eye on Compass. We can’t wait to see your wonderful work! #eSmartWeek
In the meantime, we’d like to thank you for all that you have done to ensure that our school has kept Connecting Safely in 2020!
Mrs Murnane
Year 2 News
Bonnie constructed a very cute diorama showing a seahorses’ habitat.
Vritti made a fantastic diorama out displaying some very cute dolphins!
2S research projects by Rashmi, Oscar and Mia.
2C Dioramas by Javin, Tharini and Darshika.
Year 3 News
The Year 3 Student’s have had another wonderful week of learning.
They have all been extremely busy researching, designing and creating their Inquiry project digital posters and preparing for their virtual presentations. It still astounds the Year 3 teacher’s how much they have learnt and the ICT skills they have developed and shown us while participating in Remote Learning.
Well done Year 3.
Shiva 3F
Elizabeth 3F
Audrey 3O
Manaswi 3O
Aditya 3K
Rory 3K
Year 6 News
What would happen if you woke up and there were no trees?
We should begin things by discussing the significance of trees. Trees give us oxygen, shade and materials we use in our regular day to day existence. There are no two same trees on the planet, which is fascinating! All of them have a different surface, structure and shape and a ton of them have seasonal changes.
A tree can roughly absorb 21 kilograms of Carbon Dioxide ( CO2) a year. It’s the same weight of 10 standard bags of sugar. It is like the amount of CO2 produced when you drive a car 41482 kilometres. Trees also reduce the amount of sound pollution so if you live near a freeway or a railroad track, a group of trees are very useful to quiet down the noise and allow you to sleep more peacefully.
Satellite pictures say there are roughly 3,000,000,000,000 trees on planet Earth and these trees take 31% of the Earth’s surface. For a beginning, the planet would look altogether different if all the trees were no more. People are chopping down a ton of trees, however, it would, in any case, take decades or even many years to cut down each and every one. In a nonexistent situation, how about we think that all of them were demolished by some dynamic god. What might happen?
The main issue would be a huge reduction in oxygen levels. The website Climate Change and Global Warming suggests Oxygen makes up roughly 21% of the Earth’s atmosphere and our bodies need it to survive because it makes up at least 65% of the human body and it creates 90% of the body’s energy. People can live 1 month without food and a week without water but hardly a minute without oxygen. Using paper wisely is an excellent way to save trees from being cut down. GoExploreNature.com – Los Angeles outdoors for LA Kids Go to their website to find out additional information.
To summarize, trees are critical to people as well as the earth around us as well. Recycling is the most well-known and significant method of sparing a tree.
“One tree can make a million matches, One match can devastate a million trees. So, plant a tree so our next generation gets air for free” – Pratisha Verma
Daksha 6P
The Wolf Who Howled Hunter – Fractured Fairy Tale
Once upon a time, there was a very naughty wolf. He loved to play tricks and steal from the other wolves in his village. He even had a reputation in the village;everyone was cautious when he was near, in case he decided to sneak a fake spider into their bag or steal a piece of meat. He was an orphan and nobody really knew where he came from; it was like he’d just appeared out of nowhere one day and was dumped on the doorstep of their village.
One morning, the wolf had woken up and found he had run out of ideas to prank the neighborhood. After stealing a piece of rotten meatloaf from a travelling werewolf merchant for his breakfast, he decided to look in the newspaper stand for any rogue papers that may have fallen off the racks. Luckily, due to his expert thieving skills, the wolf nabbed a paper with ease. He was certain he’d soon find something to entertain himself with….
He ripped open the first page and looked for a story that he could come up with a prank for. Almost instantaneously, he managed to find a story about a big, burly hunter who was stalking the area for any wolves that he could kill, armed with a huge sniper rifle and steel boots with stunningly sharp studs. The wolf suddenly knew exactly what prank he would pull.
Everyone in the neighborhood had locked themselves in their houses, as news had spread that the hunter was near the village. Everyone that is, except this young little blighter of a wolf who thought it was a good idea to stay outside and wait for the hunter to arrive. He had a very naughty plan which would possibly cause him to be hated throughout the entire village….
“AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” howled the naughty wolf. “THE HUNTER IS HERE! HE’S TRYING TO EAT ME! AAAAAHHHHH!” He expected an instant response from the villagers, who would run out of their homes in an attempt to save him, but have found out to have been pranked! He smiled at the thought, but as he kept wailing, nobody came. Meanwhile, at the villagers’ hut…
The villagers weren’t at all sad to hear the wolf’s repeated cries. “He’s probably faking it anyway,” said one of the villagers. “Yeah, he stole some of my cheese and meatloaf!” protested another. “I’m not saving him – I hate his guts!” Of course, the wolf could not hear all of this gossip, but he could sense that something was not working. He packed up and went to sneak into a house to sleep.
The next morning, the wolf was set to cause more trouble. He howled for the whole day long, but not one villager was fooled by it. He was starting to get increasingly frustrated and impatient. He stamped his foot and sought refuge under a nearby tree, which he climbed halfway and rested. The wolf’d had enough howling for one day. Unsurprisingly, howling all the time drove him nuts too.
The third morning was a bit different. The wolf did not come out of the tree. Instead, he stayed there for a while, now wondering if there really was a hunter out to slaughter the village. If there is, he thought, I’d love to meet him. I could make jokes about him! He excitedly made his way down the tree, going back to his usual position. The only problem was, someone with a familiar face stood in his place…
The hunter looked exactly the same as he did in the newspaper – big muscles, huge rifle, sharply studded boots and a look of pure hatred. “WELL, WELL, LITTLE WOLF, ” boomed the hunter in a shockingly deep voice. “I HEARD YOU CALLING FOR ME, SO YOU’VE GOT YOUR WISH. ” The wolf stared at him in pure delight, obviously not picking his time. “I didn’t call a big, weird looking dude like you?” remarked the wolf cheekily. “I called a hunter!” As soon as he spoke these words, he laughed maniacally.
The hunter was fuming. “YOU KNOW WHAT, ” he boomed, “I’LL COME BACK FOR THAT VILLAGE OVER THERE LATER, BUT FOR NOW, YOU’RE GOING IN HERE.” With that, the hunter produced a huge burlap sack and chucked the poor wolf inside it. With an expert tying manoeuvre, the wolf was trapped. “HAHA!” cried the hunter. “THAT’LL TEACH YOU NOT TO MESS WITH ME.” Despite the wolf’s repeated howls and pleas, the hunter stomped off back through the forest with the wolf inside the sack. After that, it was a complete mystery whatever happened to the little wolf. (It wasn’t.)
THE END
Evan 6P
Sport News
Prep-2 Physical Education: Dance/Movement & Games, Celebrating Diversity and Mini-House Athletics!
Below are some photos of our students participating in Phys Ed activities.
Layla PR, Teju PS and Ameya in PS
Adhit 1A, Naira 1M, James 1A
Henry in 1A and Sully in 1M competing in house athletics! Well done boys!
Rhea in 2C playing ‘blind snake’ a game from Austria! Karthik wrote what his favourite athletic activity was last week! Shloka in 2S participating in the Celebrating Diversity unit.
Miss Kasambalis
Library News
Next term on the 19 to 23rd of October, GHPS will be celebrating the CBCA Book Week with the theme of ‘Curious Creatures, Wild Minds’. This will be a chance for students to celebrate books and participate in sharing their favourite books and love of reading. More information will be coming out next term in regards to the Book Week activities our school will be participating in, including dressing up as your favourite book character or author as a whole school celebration.
We will also be participating in a School Book Drive next term. To celebrate Book Week, we will be looking for donations of Children’s books for our classroom libraries. These books will be used by the children in each class for their independent reading sessions. These books can be books you have at home that are no longer getting love from your children or you may like to purchase a new book to donate to GHPS. More details in regards to this will be shared next term, including dates for when we will be starting our GHPS Book Drive.
Well done again to the students who have been participating in the Premier Reading Challenge as GHPS have now read a total of 3,602 books and 58 students have completed it. Make sure that when you are adding books to click ‘Finished’ on each book you add so that the website knows you have finished reading that book.
Congratulations to the Grade 1s for having read the most amount of books, and to Harvey (1A), Praneedh (1A), Prajesh (1R), Arav (2C), Yuvan (3K) and Aradhya (5O) who have all read over 100 books! Fantastic work to all those who have been reading at home and keep up the amazing reading as there is less than a month left of the PRC with it ending on September 19th.
Thank you and keep up the great reading everybody!
Miss Lucas-Lely
Calendar
Sep
Fri 18 End of Term 3 (early dismissal 2.30pm)
CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS