Dear Parents/Care givers and members of our school community,

It has been mentioned in a previous conversation with community that our newsletter, in particular the Principal’s Message, Curriculum

Corner and Parent Corner are put together each week with a purpose in mind.

Throughout the term staff reflect on practices and processes and we generate the ‘next step and the next step’ in improving our way for-

ward. I am pretty sure that I overuse some words, for example, invest, expectations, progress and community however, these words are key

characters in our school story.

The first week back was a short and busy week. Regaining momentum in routine, rejuvenating dynamics, reconnecting operational matters

and reigniting passion for teaching and learning. Although I must say that it didn’t take much of a spark to rekindle as there was considera-

ble time given by staff over the holiday break to planning and preparation. I want to acknowledge the time taken from family and outside of

work hours and given to professional time.

So it is with unreserved appreciation that I share with you my response to a gratuitous email sent late last week. A visiting family member

of a Gowrie State School family wrote some heart-warming words of praise and thankfulness for the work and ‘soul’ being provided eve-

ryday, in every classroom by every staff member at our great school.

In turn,on behalf of the staff and students, my thanks for these inspiring and kind words. They made a good day an even better day. In clos-

ing, I can recall in my younger days, an elderly neighbour (when you are young it seems adults were perceived as elderly?)talking to my

mum over the backyard fence near our chook house, told her some wise things which she often relayed to us over the years. The exact

words, these are not but the learning was captured. Kind words do not cost much but they accomplish so much. (Pascal)

I look forward to the Gowrie community Dawn ANZAC Day ceremony tomorrow. Lest We Forget.

Kind regards Mandy

Taking Pride in Ourselves, Taking Pride in Our School! 24April 2017 Issue 12

Enriching Expectations Empowering Engagement Exceptional Effort Every Day

A piece of artwork from our Year

5/6 class

DATE CLAIMER Anzac Day Dawn Service Tuesday 25 April

Labour Day Monday 1 May

Year 1 Amaroo Excursion Thursday 4 May

P&C Meeting Tuesday 9 May NAPLAN

Tuesday 9 May Language Conventions and Writing

Wednesday 10 May Reading

Thursday 11 May Numeracy

Mothers Day Stall Thurs 11 Half Day and Friday 12 May

Year 4 Amaroo Excursion Thursday 18 May

Choral Fanfare Tuesday 23 May

Under 8’s Day—Friday 26 May

Cancer Morning Tea—Friday 26 May

UNIFORM SHOP

Please note the change of days.

Open Thursday

2.30 to 3pm

Student Absence Line: 4698 6860 Open 24 Hrs

Please advise the school on the same

day your child is absent. This phone line

is open 24hours and a very easy way to

let the school office know if your child

is unwell or going to be absent for any

reason.

Parent Corner

CHOIR NEWS Choir practice is on

Fridays at 8:20am

We are still looking for volunteers for tuckshop. Please let

Michelle or the office know if you could help out. Thank you

Tuckshop commences this week. Orders will be accept-

ed on Wednesday this week due to the public holiday.

CANCER MORNING TEA AT GOWRIE STATE SCHOOL FRIDAY 26th May 2017—9:00am

Come one and all—parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends—for a morning of entertainment

followed by a cup of tea and lovely eats. Our Choir will sing and each class from Prep through to Year 5/6

will present an item.

Please mark this date in your diary and look forward to a lovely day.

Debra Burge Classroom Music Teacher

Dental Van We are still awaiting an arrival date for the Dental Van.

Thank you to everyone who has returned their forms.

We can still accept forms if you would like your child/

ren to see the dentist.

If interested in trialling

please collect paperwork

from Mrs Stanton.

Nominations must be in

on Wednesday 26 April.

Parent Corner

Educators took every opportunity last week to catch up with all the children. They all seemed happy, relaxed and rested. Everyone en-

joyed sharing their holiday stories and was then keen to get into activities. Active play outside was popular with lots of tag games and

ball play.

A surprise to educators was the amount of child initiated talks and activities connected to ANZAC Day. For this reason we took many

children to the memorials for a close look and discussion and also checked out the two very special lone pine trees within the school

grounds. Other ANZAC activities included painting, making poppies and playing music on the keyboard while thinking about the sad-

ness of war. The music that they played was very solemn.

OSHC is a ‘Not for Profit’ organisation so please keep accounts up to date. Bank transfer deposits are accepted for account pay-

ments. Please refer to your statement for details. If you require any information please contact us on 46 307 710 between 7:00 and 9:00

am and 2:30 to 6:00 pm. We have 101 message services and routinely check our messages.

Bookings - spaces are available each morning and afternoon this week.

The OSHC team Lynell, Josie, Sharon and Lirissa truly enjoy working as a team with you and your children.

Prior knowledge facilitates learning by creating mental hooks that serve to anchor new learning. Social and Emotional growth is very

important and as we return to school after the break, I have enjoyed the conversations with staff and parents regarding the ‘blossoming’ I

noticed at around week 7 last term onwards and now have the privilege of seeing the ‘growth spurt’ after the holiday.

I am privileged with having the position of looking out and looking in, going beyond the frame of the office. The caption below is a snap-

shot of what I see happening throughout each week about student’s growing their resilience, relationships, persistence, trust.

Reflection:

This is something I wrote the other day when I was thinking about the conversations I have shared with staff, in particular, Mrs Linda

Cox the Head of Teaching and Learning, in relation to leading our way forward; progressing every student.

A Term 2 improvement destination= to connect reading, writing, vocabulary, spelling knowledge and skills to build deep student learn-

ing….that goes beyond the mastery of existing content knowledge.

On behalf of the Curriculum Leadership Team I invite parents/caregivers to an informal Coffee, Curriculum Conversation

on Thursday May 4th at 10:00-11:00am. The topic… Breaking it down and building it up- what does this Term 2 improve-

ment destination look like?

Curriculum Corner Spelling When learning to spell words students use 4 main spelling knowledges – morphemic, visual, phonological and ety-

mological. These knowledges can be summed up as: Phonological knowledge referring to the knowledge of sounds. The term, ‘phonological knowledge’ is also used to in-clude phonographic knowledge, i.e. how sounds are represented alphabetically. Phonological knowledge involves knowing:

the sounds of English

the way different sounds are represented by letters

the names of letters and the sounds they represent

the concept of onset and rime, e.g. br - ick

how to segment multisyllable words. Visual knowledge referring to the way words look. It includes knowing: letter shapes there are spaces between words the probability of letter order in common letter strings where particular letter clusters occur in words, e.g. -ed, un-, -ation, ai/ay the visual images of words, in order to (1) Recognise letter clusters in words, e.g.said train, plait (2) Distinguish between words where the same sound has different letter patterns, e.g. meet, meat. Morphemic knowledge referring to the meaning elements within words. It is the understanding that words that are relat-ed in meaning or function tend to share spelling. In its simplest form this principle may be identified in the common inflection-al ending of plurals, e.g. laughs(s), bananas(z), blouses(ez). Despite variation in sound the inflections have the same spelling. At a deeper level spelling preserves the meaning linkages across words, e.g. sign, signal, signature; music, musi-cian; vice, vicious. These word relationships are not always readily apparent. Understanding these meaning linkages and the manner in which they take precedence over phonemic demands is a powerful understanding for readers as well as spellers. Morphemic knowledge also includes knowing:

words related in meaning are often related in spelling despite changes in sound

how compound words are constructed

that there are common prefixes and suffixes with generalised rules for adding them to words

how prefixes and suffixes function. Etymological knowledge referring to the knowledge of words and how these affect spelling patterns. During its evolu-tion English has been greatly influenced by many languages including Latin, Greek and French and continues to ‘borrow’ words from other languages. In many instances the spelling of the word has been preserved, e.g. omelette, quiche, latte.

Extract taken from ‘Spelling: Improving Learning Outcomes’

This week all students from year 1 – year 6 will bring home a spelling journal which will document their

weekly spelling progress. From pre testing in the front to post testing in the back. The journal will outline spelling

strategies being employed, and the weekly focus. We encourage parents to become involved by having discussions

with your child on strategies to use, words that were known, unknown, challenging for them, where they might

observe (hear, see, speak) these words. Some examples are: reading texts, newspapers, signs, posters, tv, daily con-

versations, sport. Students will be developing learning goals to actively take ownership of their spelling learning at

a deeper level. Students are encouraged to bring these journals back each Friday so that post testing can occur.

Spelling, vocabulary development reading and writing are firmly linked together. Application of spelling occurs in

student’s daily writing and reading where generalisations to other words can be made to help develop story ideas

and can strengthen decoding. Prep students will begin their journals in Semester 2.

Week 1 Vocabulary words from each class

Prep- cantankerous

Year 1- cyclone, hack

Yr 2- stagnant, maximum, flexible, scorched

Yr 3- sequencing, vertices, rectangular, prism

Yr 4 – inferring, predicting, moral, synthesising

Yr 5- valour, evoke, reliable, biased, assertions

Yr 5/6 – vivid, amphibious, undesirable, assertive

Cont...Mrs Norton McNeill’s paragraph presented on parade.

Australia’s contribution to the First World War was significant and reliable. Our country’s assertive response evoked 400,000 enlisted

from a population of less than 5 million and a further 3000 volunteer nurses inferring a sense of a young nation willing to step up. There

were very few towns and families who did not feel the loss of a loved one.

For many families, their heartbreak was scorched by what can only be described as the fog of war- the inevitable chaos, moral reckoning,

undesirable confusion of the battlefield. The feeling of not knowing, of wondering if their son or husband was still alive kept many a

mother, father and wife awake at night. We remember all those who lost their lives in the battles of war and we remember all the tears

shed by their families.

The stories of valour and the ANZACs do not fade instead gather strength as a vivid tradition, a prism of learning that will not become

stagnant but grow with our words, actions and morals. It is a tradition that gives a sense of belonging.

Voluntary Contributions (Photocopy in bold, reams of paper in

italics)

Prep – Yr 6

Students at

School

Voluntary

Cont.

Budget Re-

quired

No of Con-

tributions

Paid

Payments to date

183 students $3,655.00 6—Prep

61- Yr 1-6

$300.00

$1,025.00

3 reams per

student

552reams A4

Reflex paper

Reams Collected to date: 317

(Not including via booklist)

EFTPOS To assist parents, the

school has EFTPOS facilities for fast,

efficient payment of school fees &

other payments. No cash required,

$10 min trans.

MILLION COIN CHALLENGE

Term 2

Coins Uni-

forms

Attend-

ance

Prep 1

Yr1 193

Yr 2

Yr 3 4

Yr 4

Yr 5 170

Yr 5/6

PHOTOCOPY PAPER Parents please remember if buying paper to

bring to school please

purchase REFLEX PAPER

It is available for around $5/ream at lots of

suppliers including Woolworths, Big W, or

your local post

office. Thank you

Voluntary Contributions for 2017

PREP $50—Years 1 to 6 $15 per

child Thank you to the parents who have already contributed.

GOWRIE JUNCTION PROGRESS ASSOCIATION INC & GOWRIE STATE SCHOOL

ANZAC DAY Dawn Service

25 APRIL 2017

COMMENCES 5.45am

GOWRIE STATE SCHOOL

Theme: the ”Flanders Offensive” Centenary of a significant First World War Battle.

Following the Dawn Service an invitation to join in the sharing of breakfast at the Gowrie Junction Community

Hall, is extended by the Gowrie Junction Progress Association. The breakfast is funded by the Association. If a

donation is offered, the Association have elected to dedicate the donated funds to Legacy. A donation box will be

available at the Hall.

Coming together to observe those who have stood in times of challenge and tell the stories for those who can

longer speak. Come together at the Dawn Service (at the school) and the breakfast (at the Community Hall).

The ideas have been abundant. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the Student Council Team, Mrs Winter, Mrs Antuar and

Mrs Norton-McNeill around concept building, planning, sourcing out and creating gift items for the Mother’s Day Stall. The P&C

are supporting the opportunity for students to learn about enterprise, financial literacy, group skills, just to name a few as they work

together to coordinate and operate the Mother’s Day Stall.

The thinking behind the action is about the students learning about resourcefulness thereby making many of the items. (Quality as-

surance is in place.) On May 11th and 12th the stall will be open for students to visit and purchase a gift item(s). Reasonable prices.

Gift wrapped (free) with handmade cards.

The support given by community has been well appreciated and made a difference. Mrs Judge kick started the BeauTEAful Bundle

and GROWn Give product line with donations and gathering of support from community members; a number of students are experi-

menting in kitchens all over Gowrie in developing delicate delicious delights. But we would appreciate more support with donations

of coffee sachets, tea bags, soap, face washers, hand towels and gifts in general to supplement our gift range. Send into the office

and I will collect. Michelle Gascoyne P&C Vice President

YOUR P&C IS PLACING A STRONG

EMPHASIS ON COMMUNITY IN-

VOLVEMENT BOTH WITHIN AND

OUTSIDE OF THE SCHOOL AND

HOPES TO SEE AS MANY AS POSSI-

BLE AT THIS SOCIAL EVENT AND

THANK THE SCHOOL AND THEIR

STAFF FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY.