Week 3 Already!

Goodness, it's hard to believe we're heading into Week Three already!

Reminders for this week:
Monday - our Thinking Skills Display for 2014 will go up, providing everything gets finished! Also - BOOK FAIR! We will be purchasing on Monday at around 12:30pm. Also, book club orders are due.
Tuesday - no library, as the book fair will still be going.
Wednesday - Cashflow session #2!
Friday - health lessons begin for Year 5 students.

Many thanks to Alina who has been running Cashflow in our room last term and this term! We will be continuing with this over the next few weeks so that all students can have a turn playing before the end of the year. Feedback has been really positive, and the students are seeing links between this and their online financial literacy unit.

Book recommendation! - I have recently been re-reading 'The Secret of Childhood'. I would wholeheartedly recommend reading this to anyone looking to get a snapshot of Montessori's first few years in the classroom in San Lorenzo, and at her conceptualisation of the Spirtual Embryo, and the role of the adult in fostering its growth. While I have not been able to find an e-book of this particular tome, the translation and publication from Ballantyne Books (available through Amazon) is flawless and makes for engaging reading. It provides a succinct reminder as to the value added to life by a Montessori education - both for the child, and the adults who come in contact with them.

And with that, see you tomorrow!
-Ang

End Week 2!

Hi everyone!

I've had a request for the homework this term to be uploaded, so you can now find it here. Big thanks to Marianne for making it! Please note that students who did not submit their homework this week should make sure they have at least eight tasks finished for next week. The expectation is that the grid be finished by the end of the term, but that having been said, leaving all 52 or so tasks until the last week is obviously not going to be feasible, so please help your child by setting up a routine that will allow them to do a little at a time. We have talked a lot in class about not leaving it until Sunday night to complete it, and about conferencing with me and doing a little extra in advance if you know you are going to have a particularly busy week during the term.

Please initial and date the corresponding box or activity after your child completes a task.

Looking forward to seeing some creative responses on Monday!

-Ang

Gotta go back - back to school again!

Hello, 46A and followers! Hope you have had a great two week break.

Plunging into Term 4, we have a new specialist timetable:
Monday - Indonesian 8:45-9:45
Tuesday - Senior Lab 8:45-9:45 and Library 9:45-10:45
Wednesday - PE 8:45-9:45
Thursday - Art 12:15-1:15
Friday - Y5 Sport 8:45-9:45, Music 9:45-10:45 and Y4 Sport 11:15-12:15.

Homework will be distributed tomorrow, to be completed in the homework scrapbook used in Term 1 (or in a new book if the old one was finished). It is a new initiative we are trying - Open-Ended Tasks. The expectation is that all tasks on the grid will be done by the end of term - many are not difficult or do not require much time to do, so I am hoping our class will embrace the challenge. Who knows, some people might finish it and ask for more - if that is the case I will happily oblige! As always, if you are not at school for an extended period of time, the volume of work is open to negotiation - however, as 4-6A knows, 'I had a busy weekend' doesn't cut it as an excuse as the homework is set week-by-week, not weekend-by-weekend! Please encourage your child to do a little extra on days where they are not busy if there are some days where they know they will be time-poor.

Lots of exciting events coming up across the school this term - Book Fair in Week 2 and 3, Staff Development Day on Friday of Week 4, Melbourne Cup Day in Week 5, Community Evening, Transition, Bonsai Club - the list goes on! The usual classroom initiatives will continue - CAFE reading, THRASS spelling (boy do I have some fun in store for that one!), a graphing extravaganza, some new science experiments, our turn to make something for the media centre, all sorts of stuff.

REMINDERS - REALLY IMPORTANT - Daylight savings began today (hooray! love this time of year!) so make sure you rock up for the 8:45 bell tomorrow... not at 9:45! Also, being as it is that it is Term 4 - NO HAT, NO PLAY! Make sure you have a sunsmart school hat to wear, and that it is CLEARLY named with your name and class in case you get separated!

See you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow!
-Ang.