NEWSLETTER, Week 7, Term 2, 2013

Dear Parents & Community Members,

From all reports the athletics carnival was a great success. I walked into the classroom on Friday to the moans and groans of the students complaining about stiff legs and sore joints ………I gave them no sympathy.

On Friday you will be receiving your child’s semester 1 report. The reports show your child’s progress in each of the Key Learning Areas. There is a rating for effort which ranges from 1 to 5, from least to highest effort respectively.

As a parent of two children all going through the public education system, this was the first thing I looked at in their reports, and to me it was the most important aspect. The overall achievement levels range from limited to outstanding. In NSW schools, all students should be assessed in a fairly uniform fashion. This is done so that when a child moves from class to class and from school to school, the ratings for effort and achievement will be commonly understood.

Every now and then, parents and carers are concerned that their child may have been assessed mid-year as sound and the same at the end of the year. This is not a cause for concern. It means that the child is keeping up and achieving increasingly complex outcomes as the year progresses.

It is a worry if the mid-year assessment is sound and the end of year assessment is below that level. If you have concerns about your child’s progress, I invite you to make an appointment with me early in term 3.

We have postponed our NAIDOC celebrations until Week 8, Term 3 in order to employ the services of some Aboriginal guides and consultants who are ‘booked solid’next week as you can imagine. The theme for NAIDOC Week 2013 is:

We value the vision: Bark Petitions.

This year’s theme proudly celebrates the 50th anniversary of the presentation of the Yirrkala Bark Petitions to the Federal Parliament.

In August 1963, the people of Yirrkala in northeast sent two bark petitions – framed by traditional ochre paintings of clan designs – to the Australian House of Representatives.

The petitions protested the Commonwealth’s granting of mining rights on land excised from Arnhem Land reserve and sought the recognition by the Australian Parliament of the Yolngu peoples’ traditional rights and ownership of their lands.

Asserting title to Yolngu country under Yolngu law, the petitions were the first traditional documents recognised by the Commonwealth Parliament and helped to shape the nation’s acknowledgment of Aboriginal people and their land rights.

We value the foresight, strength and determination of the Yolngu people whose Bark Petitions set into motion a long process of legislative and constitutional reforms for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

While appealing for the recognition of Yolngu rights to land, the Bark Petitions were a catalyst in advancing changes to the Constitution in the 1967 referendum, the statutory acknowledgment of Aboriginal land rights by the Commonwealth in 1976, and the overturning of the obstacle of the concept of by the High Court in the Mabo Case in 1992 that recognised the traditional rights of the Meriam people to their islands in the eastern Torres Strait.

Today, we look to a future that better understands and celebrates the unique connection that Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander’s share to country, as we continue to build an Australia that reflects the achievements and furthers the aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

On Monday two of our students, Kiara Harris and Courtney Hattam will be performing the Australian National Anthem (‘Kutju Australia’) in traditional Aboriginal dialect (Luritja) at the official flag raising ceremony that begins NAIDOC celebrations at Gunnedah Public School. These two students will present the anthem as ambassadors of Carroll Public School.

‘Kutju’ equals ‘Advance, go forward’.

Every Wednesday as you are probably already aware, Mrs Shultz and her daughter Di come in as classroom volunteers. In the morning they take the children for scripture.

Every Wednesday as well their cute little puppy Baz, comes in as well. Please enjoy the photos of this cute little guy!

Enjoy a wonderful holiday everyone.

SCHOOL RESUMES TUESDAY 16TH JULY,2013

Kind regards, Christine

THIS FRIDAY, CHILDREN MAY WEAR PLAY CLOTHES. WE WILL BE EATING PIZZAS FOR LUNCH & ZAK’S CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE FOR DESSERT THEN WATCHING TURNER & HOOCH!!! Miss Wales

This week, Kindergarten and Year One have been learning more about 3D shapes. Students did a great job of decorating, cutting, and putting together different nets to create their own 3D models. I am very impressed with how each of the students have developed in their ability to remember these shapes and some of their properties.

All students have also done a fantastic job of putting together their own advertising campaign to help stop the spread of CATCH IT, SQUISH IT, germs! SHOOT IT! We had some very catchy slogans.

In sport last week, students continued with their yoga lessons (Cosmic Kids Yoga) and practiced their hand/eye coordination skills with some games of handball.

Congratulations to Rory, who remains the unbeaten champion.

Mrs Norris

In Measurement last week we were lucky to have Miss Pollock join us for lessons.

Miss Pollock worked with Year 1 on their unit “comparing length“ and also with Rory on his unit “The Tonne”.

Everyone was very busy especially Year 1, with their ‘hands on’ activities. Rory zipped through his work and Miss Pollock was really pleased with his efforts.

Kindergarten were learning about the days of the week, including the terms yesterday and tomorrow, while Year 3 used the square centimetre to measure area.

It was great to see everyone thinking so well as they worked!

I CAN USE BIG WORDS NOW, MUM and DAD!!...... Ms Patison BUILDING VOCABULARY – Charlotte’s Web

Year 3 and 4 students as you would be aware are reading Charlotte’s Web which is a novel containing beautiful language and imagery. One of the purposes of reading this novel was to build the vocabulary of the students. I have impressed upon the students that they have to use the new words they have been learning not only in the classroom but at home as well.

Research has shown that children have to use a word at least 12 times in different contexts before it becomes part of their long term memory and everyday usage. So if you own a child by the name of Courtney, Kiara, Zak or Brock, you should be hearing at least some of these words being used correctly at home:

crafty, discarded, dejected, eaves, frolic, glutton, hullabaloo, lure, prance, provender, scythe, stealthily and trough.

Ms Patison and Miss Pollock

LONG VOWEL and SHORT VOWEL SOUNDS

Ms Patison and Miss Pollock have been working with Connor and Paddy on short vowel sounds and long vowel sounds. The boys caught on to these very quickly and teachers were very impressed with the words they came up with to demonstrate long and short vowel sounds!.

Well done boys!

ACTIVE AFTER SCHOOL SPORTS—TENNIS...Rob Hattam

Last Monday the students were involved in learning skills that assist with playing tennis.

To start the afternoon off, Mrs Loui played a game of “Lily Pads’ with the children and did stretches to help warm up their muscles.

One of the skills they learnt was ‘Splat’ which helps with hand/eye - coordination. They each had a partner, and facing each other, both armed with a racquet - one of them hit the ball along the ground and the other person had to ‘Splat’ the ball before it went through the goals.

The children really know how to ‘Splat’!!

Another skill taught - one person had a racquet and ball and the other person had an upside down cone. The person with the racquet had to bounce the ball then hit it gently so the other person could try and catch the ball in the cone.

All these skills plus many more help with teaching them hand/eye coordination, which is part of all sports.

At the end of the afternoon they all enjoyed a rally against Mrs Loui and Robyn.

Naturally Mrs Loui and Rory won!

BUDDING AUTHOR – RORY HATTAM – Bridge to Terabithia

Rory again this week has put pen to paper and produced a great piece of writing. Rory is currently reading Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson.

It is the story of two children, Jess and Leslie who create in their imaginations, a magical kingdom in the forest. Rory was asked to create his own imaginary kingdom and the results are indeed magical!!!

Please take the time to read (on the last page) about Rory’s kingdom which he called ‘Canopollis’.

Small Schools Athletics Carnival – Report by Courtney Hattam (year 3)

Last Thursday 20th June was the Small Schools Athletics Carnival. Children from Carroll, Fairfax, Mullaley, GS Kidd, Premer and Tambar Springs participated.

First we had the 800m. After that we had the 200m and then the 100m! It was exciting going in all of the races. Zak came third in the 100m age race. Paddy came second in his age race, Cameron came third, Connor came seventh and Stephanie came second. Stephanie then had to race again in the juvenile championship and came fifth. Frankee came sixth in her age race. Next we had to get into age groups so we could move onto the other field activities. We all had to participate in discus, shot-put, long jump and high jump. In discus, Rory came third, in shot-put Rory came first, in Long Jump there were no place getters from our school but we all had lots of fun jumping. In high Jump Kiara came equal first.

We all had lots of fun but on Friday we all felt very sore. Thankyou to Fairfax Public School for organising the carnival and a big thankyou also to all parents and friends who came to share the day with us.

LIVE LIFE WELL Carroll Public School joined this program at the beginning of 2013. Given that school holidays are just around the corner , I thought I would include some helpful hints for both school and holiday periods. - Christine

Live Life Well@School is a joint program of the NSW Department of Education and Communities (DEC) and NSW Health. The program strives to have more students, more active, more often and equips students to make healthy eating choices.

Lunchbox Snack Foods Children need to eat a range of different foods to provide nutrients to meet growth and energy needs. Snacks need to be everyday foods rather than sometimes foods.

EVERDAY SNACKS... *fruit loaf *plain popcorn *plain or fruit yoghurt *cheese and crackers *fresh fruit or canned fruit *dried fruit and cheese cubes *wholemeal biscuits or crackers *vegetable sticks and dip or salsa *corn or rice cakes with or without spreads *celery, cherry tomatoes and carrot sticks

SOMETIMES SNACKS... *muesli bars and dried fruit bars *potato crisps / chips and corn chips *lollies and confectionary *chocolate *cordial *soft drink