Thank you!

Thank you all so much for the very generous gift voucher - I can't wait to put it into action during the post Christmas sales! I'm glad I didn't open the card in front of you all because I would have started crying - your kind words really touched my heart. Thank you also to everybody who gave me additional gifts. I feel completely spoilt and my flowers have pride of place on the dining room table.

It has been an absolute pleasure working with your children this year. They are so much fun and I am really going to miss them.

A MASSIVE thank you to you, the parents and grandparents for your help and support throughout the year. I loved having you listen to the children read, come on excursions, help during MAD Week, attend their book launch, watch them in their sporting endeavours, be there for assemblies, special days and performances plus everything else you did. So many of you also contribute your valuable time to other areas of the school community and both myself and the children really appreciate your commitment and effort. Thank you for making this year wonderful!

Finally, I wish you all a fantastic Christmas and a safe and happy holiday.

2013 Final Week

Thank-you to everyone for supporting our class Secret Santa. I know the children are very excited about opening their gift on Wednesday. Thank you also for supporting our Christmas Carols last Sunday. The children looked and sang beautifully!

I have started sending home books that the students no longer need. If you could send in a plastic bag this week for their gumboots to go home in that would be great. Their Portfolio and headsets will follow them into Year 2 and therefore will not be coming home.

Take home reading will finish tomorrow so that a stocktake of books can occur. Your children's reading has improved dramatically this year. Please ensure they continue to improve by reading every day during the holidays.

This week's schedule is as follows;

Tomorrow (Monday) is a normal school day with the children wearing their sports uniform. The children must bring their iPads to school each day this week fully charged.

Tuesday is our Picnic Day and the students are to wear their sports uniform. We will be arriving at Bicentennial Park at 9.15am and then returning to Cornish at 11.15am. You are welcome to meet us at the park. Children should have sunscreen applied to them prior to arriving at school. There are no lunch orders on Tuesday so please pack snack, lunch and a drink.

On Wednesday the children must be in full Summer uniform. Please remember that the jumper is not an outer garment for travelling to and from school. As school finishes at 12.30 the children will not require any lunch just a snack and a drink.

Concert, Swimming, Fundraising and Secret Santa.

Christmas Concert
Sunday is the Christmas Concert. The children need to wear their sports uniform and they need to meet me in the classroom at 5.30 p.m. Could the girls all please have their hair tied at the nape of their neck or out? The crowns that they are wearing work better if there are no additional bulges on their heads. You may collect your child from the deck outside the office once they have finished their performance and changed out of their costume.

Swimming
There is swimming on Monday and Tuesday this week. The children have done really well organising themselves at the pool. Thank you so much to all of the sensational parents who have come to watch and assist. The children love having you there and so do I!

Fundraising

As part of Year 1 and 2s Inquiry into Communities, the children are taking action to make a difference in two communities.

They are raising money for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation to support their Book Buzz Project. The Book Buzz Project supplies Literacy Packs to remote Indigenous Communities. Did you know that only 1 in 5 children in a Northern Territory remote community can read at an acceptable level and that only 40% of Aboriginal children are at school until Year 12?

They are also raising money to support Oxfam's efforts in the Philippines. The children want to raise money to supply hygiene kits to families who have been affected by Typhoon Haiyan.
The students will be running a lolly guessing jar game and a pick-a-stick game every recess and lunchtime in the main area starting on Monday 2nd of December. The cost is 50 cents per guess for each game.

Secret Santa

Shhhh!

This time of year is all about giving and each child will be a Secret Santa for one of their classmates. The children in Year 1 will give one another the gift of reading. In line with Cornish's focus of sustainability, please choose one gently used book to give to their nominated classmate. Please wrap up the book and leave it under the tree in the classroom by this Friday 6th December. 

Student Led Conferences and Swimming

What a brilliant night of student led conferences! The children did an excellent job reporting their learning to you. They loved sharing their achievements and identifying areas for improvement. It is very important for the children to be responsible and accountable for their own learning and to be reflective about their work. Thank you for spending this special time with them.

Swimming starts this Monday the 25th of November. We will be attending a 5 day program at Toby Haenan Swim School which will be run over 2 weeks. We will be swimming on the following days;
Monday 25th November
Thursday 28th November
Friday 29th November
Monday 2nd December
Tuesday 3rd December
On these days we will leave school at 11.30 a.m. and then return around 1.00 p.m.
Our lesson time is 11.45 - 12.30. You are most welcome to attend the lessons however please meet us at the pool.
On swimming days children need to come to school with their bathers under their school uniform. For girls wearing one piece bathers, they should just have their bathers on up to their waist (for ease of toileting before we leave school.) All children are required to wear a swimming cap.
Show and Share will be cancelled for the next two weeks whilst swimming is on.

Communities

Wow! The first week of our new unit has been a really busy one. We have had an incursion with Jo from Frankston City Council, we have discussed different levels of government and what services they provide, we have decided that some services are more important than others and we finished the week with a walk to the lake to observe a community of Cormorants - more than 10 nests filled with lots of chicks - amazing!

As part of our 'Lots of People, Lots of Needs' unit, the children are going to build their own community. They will earn points throughout the day and then with their points they will start building. As their village grows into a town, then into a suburb and then into a city, they will then need to decide on what services they need to provide their community. Could you please provide your child with an empty jar/container for them to collect their points in?

Could you please also check your child's iPad and if you haven't already done so, load on the First Grade Learning app  https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/first-grade-learning-games/id590268705?mt=8 as we started using it last week.

I hope you all enjoyed a restful mid term break!

What a week!

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our Assembly presentation and Book Launch. I'm sure, like me, you were all very proud of your children's efforts. The children's published books can be borrowed anytime from the CLIC and it is up to the individual student if they wish to leave their book permanently in the CLIC as a resource for other students or if they would prefer to take it home at the end of the year.

The new iOS (7.02) update for the iPad is causing some challenges. The main one being that the update actually takes up a considerable amount of space. This in turn means that when larger apps such as Pages, Keynote or iMovie go to update there is not enough space left to do so. I would strongly advise you to do the following. Firstly, if you haven't updated your child's iPad - don't. Wait until the end of the school year and then do it. (I'm not doing mine!) Secondly remove any apps, photos or videos that are not required. They do not need any of last years apps and I have listed the apps that we no longer use on the Obsolete Apps page. Finally, if you do choose to do the update (plus the 7.03 update available this weekend) check the amount of space that is available by going to Settings-General-Usage and it will show you how much storage has been used and what is left available.

Please also note that there are still several children who do not have the required apps on their iPads. Please check the App page on this blog and load them on as soon as possible.

School email addresses are up and running for each child. The address is to be used for sending documents to me so that I can monitor and save their work. They can also email documents to themselves as another way of saving their Pages and Keynote documents. Depending on how well they cope with their emails we may (or may not) tackle Google Drive....we'll just see how we go! Passwords were sent home during the week. Please record them in a safe place.

As the children have probably told you we are meditating every day. Hopefully they have also told you the benefits of meditating - increasing children's memories, reducing children's anxiety levels, improving children's sleep and improving children's circulation and immunity just to name a few. We have been using an iBook called Kid's Meditations for Primary School Age which has short, 3 minute meditations. If you would like to check it out or use it at home this is the link https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/kids-meditations-for-primary/id658265119?mt=11

I have recently read some interesting articles on praising and rewarding children. These are the links if you are interested http://blogs.terrapinn.com/happiness/2013/10/16/childs-mindset-matters/?utm_source=Think+%26+Be+Happy&utm_campaign=5eb18ba477-T_BH_22Oct_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8d56b8eabc-5eb18ba477-36265993&ct=t(T_BH_15_January_20131_3_2013)&mc_cid=5eb18ba477&mc_eid=b7d0bc0ddc

and http://www.ivillage.com.au/marshmallow-generation/

Finally, Show and Share for the next 2 weeks is going to focus on communities. The children need to identify a community that they belong to and talk a little bit about it e.g. church community, sporting community, cultural community, local community, school community etc. They could share; where their community meets, what is does when it meets, who is in that particular community, what it needs and what it likes to celebrate.

Welcome to Term 4

I hope you all had a restful and fun holiday. I can't wait to hear all about the children's adventures. So I can hear all about their break, the first two weeks of Show and Share will focus on the children's holiday.

Thank you to everyone who has returned the Term 4 Authority, if you have not yet submitted it please do so this week.

There are only a few apps that I have requested this term. These will be pushed out over the next week, so it is important to check your child's iPad regularly so that they can be loaded on. It would also be helpful if you could please remove any unnecessary photos, videos and apps as the children find it most frustrating if their device does not work properly due to too much storage space being used. It is equally frustrating for them if they go to use an app and it is no longer there. You can use the App page on this blog to check that you have all of the required apps loaded on.

This term, fluency and comprehension will be our main reading focus. The children need to not only read a passage of text fluently but they also need to be able to fully understand it (at both a literal and inferential level) too. In the children's reading pouch tomorrow night you will find a sheet of comprehension questions. As part of your nightly reading routine, please select  2-3 questions from the sheet and use these to check your child's comprehension each evening.

I'm looking forward to a busy and exciting final term with your children! As always, if you have any queries please email me to arrange a time to meet.