Primary Years

Programme

News ISSUE 2, SEPTEMBER 2013

Inquirers

Knowledgeable

Thinkers

Communicators

Principled

Open-minded

Caring

Risk-takers

Balanced

Reflective

Learning is about the joy of

discovery and the mastery of

meeting challenges.

-Unknown

Our

learners strive

to be

MISSION STATEMENT

We help our students discover their passion and direction in life and make a positive contri-

bution in the world.

CORE VALUES:

We are a nurturing Christian community, basing all we do on the values of:

RESPECT for ourselves, for others and the environment. RESPONSIBILITY for our actions.

FROM THE PYP COORDINATOR

In this Unit of Inquiry the Year 5 classes have been learning about how organisations help people who have been affected by natural disasters. Our central idea is:

Organisations are set up to assist people affected by changes to their environment. We had a couple of incursions throughout this inquiry. We had a visit from Todd Pender who volunteers for the Armadale SES. He talked to us about what he does in the SES and he also showed us his vehicle and trailer that he uses when he does work for them. The Bilby class also had a visit from Lucas Grant’s Grandmother who was affected by the 1974 Cyclone Tracy in Darwin. She told them some very interesting information on Cyclone Tracy. The Year 5 classes have definitely been very enthusiastic about this unit. Both classes have also brought in many interesting artefacts.

In Pre-Primary, our current unit of inquiry is about

plants. Over the term, we have looked at the

importance of plants for the survival of humans and

other living things. We have learnt about the parts of

a plant and what they do and have also investigated

where different fruits and vegetables come from.

On Thursday 29 August, we went on an excursion to

Kings Park Naturescape where we explored the

natural habitats of trees and animal life. We watched

a special performance called ‘From Little Seeds Big

Trees Grow’ that explained the life-cycle of the

Marri Tree and some of us were lucky enough to be

able to help perform this special story to our peers.

Our excursion to Kings Park was a fantastic day

which we all enjoyed.

Animal rights

featured strongly.

Passions and

interests can

inspire people

to take

action

Students took action against

obesity by providing

fitness programmes.

Action has many forms: Mathue raised awareness of the effects of video game violence by measuring blood pressure when playing games. Emily raised awareness of epilepsy by making information packs for use in and out of school. And this is just a snap-shot! There was LOTS of action taken.

A highlight of the exhibition is the opportunity for Year 6 to demonstrate their learning to the School Community.

The Year 2 children this term have been developing a unit of work related to their inquiry on communities and how they reflect the culture and heritage of the people within them. The children have studied the importance of Aboriginal symbols and how they are used in a variety of ways to create stories. They have enjoyed working together in groups creating interesting canvases and murals depicting rock art. This has led to creating their own bark paintings and totem poles.

Inquiry in the Japanese Classroom

Year 4

Central Idea: Technology has

transformed the way people communicate.

Year 3 Central Idea: A variety of signs and symbols facilitate local and global communication.

(Above and left) These are some examples of how we could communicate before we started using MacBooks.

Central Idea:

Through stories we can discover other cultures.

Year 1 Echidna and Numbat

We enjoyed reading

stories from different

cultures. We looked for

clues in the pictures and

words in the story that

helped us to discover

the culture that the story

was from.

During the UOI, we

learnt to tell stories

in different ways.

Some of us made

puppets and told

stories with our

puppets. This

helped us to write

our own stories.

Mrs Nicholas came in and did an incursion with us. We learnt about how stories from different cultures can be told

through music. We experimented with making Aboriginal symbols using our bodies and we used them to help us

tell the story of ‘the Rainbow Serpent’. We had a go at playing the didgeridoo to see if we could make the sound

we heard in the music that we danced to.

KEY DATES FOR TERM 3 2013

ASSEMBLY PROGRAMME—TERM 3 & 4

Emu/Possum Friday 27.09.13 2:20pm

Kangaroo Thursday 31.10.13 2:15pm

Frilled Neck Lizard Friday 01.11.13 2:20pm

Numbat Thursday 07.11.13 2:15pm

Black Swan Friday 08.11.13 2:15pm

Quokka Thursday 21.11.13 2:20pm

Bilby Friday 22.11.13 2:20pm

Merit Certificate

Assembly

Friday 06.12.13 2:20pm

WORSHIP PROGRAMME

Term 3&4 (Years 3 to 6 - Wednesday

11:45am – 12:15pm, ELC – Thursday 2:00pm

Year 3 & 4 18.09.13

Year 5 23.10.13

Year 6 30.10.13

ELC 14.11.13

Year 3 20.11.13

ELC 28.11.13

Year 4 04.12.13

Wednesday 18.09.13 Art Exhibition Opening (VMAC) Year 3&4 Worship

Friday 20.09.13 JWACS Film Festival Premier 2:00pm Visit from Swan Christian College

Monday 23.09.13 IPSHA Inter-School Athletics Carnival at All Saints

Tuesday 24.09.13 Primary Inquiry Journeys IPSHA Inter-School Athletics Back Up day

Wednesday 25.09.13 Art Exhibition Closing and Primary Partnership Coffee Morning