Life IN THE WILDERNESS Issue Number 9 17 September, 2010 DADS & DAUGHTERS BRAIN GYM Junior School Dads and Daughters Evening On Monday 6 August Wilderness dads and their daughters packed the “Brain Gym” to parti cipate in the annual “Dads and Daughters” evening. The evening, for Year 3 to Year 6 girls, was organised by the Junior School staff to celebrate the magic of games and the criti cal and creati ve thinking skills and habits of mind that are developed when playing higher order thinking games. Girls also enjoyed spending some special ti me working interdependently with their dads to tackle the array of challenging games, including bee bots, French puzzles, dominoes, Abalone, Cartagena and Goblet. The Junior School was proud to showcase the new Years 3 and 4 Mind Lab curriculum, sponsored by our Parents and Friends, following the successful implementati on of this program in Years 5 and 6 in 2009, which has resulted in girls applying specifi c problem solving strategies across the curriculum. Andrew Mair, who is the founder of our WD-30 Wilderness dads’ group, which organises social acti viti es for Wilderness dads and their daughters, commented that “It is great to see so many dads being involved and having fun with their daughters.” To fi nd out more about WD-30 events or to make suggesti ons for future events please contact Andrew through the Parents and Friends secti on of the Wilderness website or by email at [email protected]. Katherine Zollo Head of Junior School “My Dad really loved the present I made for him.” Alice Elfenbein “I liked having Dad at the breakfast because I got longer with him in the morning.” Tori Paddon- Jones “I had lots of fun and I did an acti vity with my Daddy watching.” Suneli Athukorala “I loved eati ng the chocolate balls we made for Dad. He let me have 2.” Holly Goodchild “We got to share food together while I was sitti ng on his lap. I really loved it.” Lily Sibley “I liked that Dad “I loved being “I liked playing with my Dad at Father’s could stay with me with my Dad.” Day breakfast.” Charlott e Cavill at school for a bit Natasha longer. When he got Coulls the chocolate balls, he ate them all!” Madeleine Morris “I liked “It was great having talking to Dad here because I Dad. It was got to show him the fun and I sandpit and I got to liked playing give him the present games with I made for him.” Elle him.” Emma McGill-Couper Jolly YOUTH ENVIRONMENT CONFERENCE Wilderness School is one of more than 35 schools from across SA parti cipati ng with 350 children in an environment and educati on event to be held in Adelaide on 14 and 15 September. The Junior School Environment Committ ee, led by Nikita Dahm in Year 6, was selected to make a presentati on to the other children at the event. Other members of the Committ ee are Rachel Neef, Bronwyn Meredith, Amy Wellalagodage, Sophia Nery, Rhianna Pendergrast, Kathryn Sheridan and Lulu Xiao. The Year 6 students have been working with an expert mentor and teachers to research an environment topic and come up with a creati ve way of presenti ng it to their peers at the conference. The Wilderness School presentati on is on the topic of the environmental benefi ts of eati ng and growing local fruit and vegetables. In additi on to the presentati on by our school, other topics being addressed by students are saving the Southern Right Whale, the importance of frogs and malleefowl, the important role of wetlands, how to help save Kingston-on-Murray, how to improve waste management, the impact of fl oods and how to conduct a carbon footprint audit. The students will join over 350 other students from Years 5 to 11 at the 2010 SA Kids Teaching Kids Conference. The event aims to increase awareness and knowledge about their unique natural environment, river systems, resources and indigenous culture. They will join the ranks of over 20,000 Australian students who have been part of similar internati onally- recognised and innovati ve “Kids Teaching Kids” events, where they teach each other through novel, interacti ve, informati ve and fun workshops. As well as presenti ng and listening to other students speak, the Environment Committ ee will be taken to Larati nga Wetlands, Mt Barker to parti cipate in an Environmental Project Day. The students will engage in hands-on acti viti es such as making their own recycled environmentally friendly pots, creati ng the ideal habitat for frogs, planti ng trees, grasses and ground covers, water testi ng, bird box building and working out the cultural uses of plants. It will be so exciti ng for our students, who have worked so hard on their presentati on, to be part of an event where ‘kids teach kids’ about the environment – and see just what kids can do when they put their heads, hearts and hands into making a diff erence. Katherine Zollo Head of Junior School CELEBRATING ACHIEVEMENTS If you would like to share your daughter’s out of school achievements we would love to publish them in this secti on of LITW. Please email details to btrott [email protected] or mbader@wilderness. com.au. ‘Life in the Wilderness’ is published three ti mes per term. Apologies to Hanna Mitchener (Yr 10) who has been selected as goalie for the State U16 Water Polo team, not the Nati onal U16 team as reported in the last editi on of ‘Life in the Wilderness’. Congratulati ons to Claudia Janowski (Yr 12) who was awarded the Blessed Frederic Ozanam Social Justi ce Award for Outstanding Leadership and Service. It was presented to her on 1 September at the 2nd Annual Vinnies Social Justi ce Awards. Claudia was presented with her award by the Hon Kelly Vincent MLC, the youngest person ever elected to SA Parliament. Claudia with the Hon Kelly Congratulati ons to Julia English (Yr 8) who gained 1st and 2nd prizes at the Apex Vincent MLC Australia Teenage Fashion Awards (AATFA) State fi nal. Julia will now compete in the Nati onal fi nals in Sydney on 2 October. Good luck Julia! Congratulati ons to the following students of Urszula Gruszewski on their amazing achievements in the recent Piano Eisteddfods: Kathryn Jannes (Yr 6) achieved 2nd place (Under 12 18th Century), 1st place (Open Piano Solo) and 2nd place (Under 13 Saxophone: Woodwind). Nicola Jannes (Yr 4) achieved 1st place (Junior Piano). Alyshia Vu (Yr 3)achieved 1st place (Sub Junior) and High Disti ncti on (AMEB Piano Grade 1). Yekaterina Hubczenko (Yr 4) achieved 2nd place (Junior Piano), 1st place (Piano Duet), eleven 1st places and one 2nd place (Piano) and was Overall Aggregate Winner (Under 10). Tatyana Hubczenko (Yr Julia’s winning garments 7), in additi on to her outstanding results outlined in LITW No 8, gained 1st place (Intermediate Piano) and was winner Overall Piano Championship. UNSW Spelling Competi ti on On 21 June parti cipati ng Year 4 and Year 6 girls entered the Internati onal Competi ti ons and Assessments for schools (ICAS) Spelling Competi ti on, conducted by Educati onal Assessment Australia, University of New South Wales. Students from twenty countries parti cipated in the event. The spelling of words is assessed, ranging from words with simple spelling patt erns to words with diffi cult or unusual spelling patt erns in the four diff erent contexts of dictati on, proof reading, error correcti on and applicati on of rules and conventi ons. Congratulati ons to the following girls who achieved excellent results. Year 4 Disti ncti ons: Year 4 Credits: Erica Turner Year 6 Credits: Karen Chiu Gemma De Nichilo Year 6 Disti ncti ons: Gabriella Belperio Yekaterina Hubczenko Eliza Duncan Hannah Bransbury Victoria Marchand Aditi Kamath Zara Fenton Mair Nikita Dahm Alexandra Selley Zi Jun Lim Imogen Lesicar Rachel Neef Grace Williams Edwina Traynor Danae Mavrakis Congratulati ons to the following girls who, on Thursday 2 September, represented Wilderness School in the IPSHA Poetry Recital Competi ti on which was held at PAC: Imogen Lesicar and Edwina Traynor (Yr 4), Eugenia Rapti s and Lily-May McBain (Yr 5) and Annabel Denbigh and OIivia Duncan (Yr 6). Lily-May gained a 3rd place for her category and Annabel Denbigh gained 1st place. Congratulati ons to Victoria Marchand, Ashleigh Bradford and Georgie Cufone (Yr 6), Sarah Damin, Amelia Craig, Reshma Berggren and Eugenia Rapti s (Yr 5) who are members of Team 1 which won the Primary Language Literature secti on of Tournament of Minds held at Flinders University earlier this week. Team 2 comprising Rachel Neef, Olivia Duncan and Michaela Rossi (Yr 6), Isobel Keen, Joyce Fang, Elisabeth Wellings and Laura Klovekorn (Yr 5), also competed very strongly in this competi ti on. Team 1 will now compete in the Australasian Pacifi c Finals to be held in Darwin in late October. Good luck girls! OOn 25 Auguust, thhe Wilderneess Annnuual Music Conccert wwas heeld in EElder Haall. It wass a woonderfful evveeningg that ddispplaayed tthhe maany taalents of ouur studdennts and was ennjjoyedd by all those who att ended. AAn evveningg such as this is noot achhievved withoout trrainingg, praccti singg and orrgannisati on. We sinceerely tthank all the sstudeents who peerformmed annd thoose staaff meembers who helpped thhem to aachiieve suuch high staandards. It wass an evvening to reememmber aand chherish. Gennevieve Monkk BBookook WeekWeek 22010010 “Across the story bridge, into the land of.....” During Book Week this year the Junior School held its own electi on to vote for our favourite books from the Short Lists for Book of the Year, 2010.