Primary School Newsletter Issue No. 10 28th July 2017

Dear Parents,

We commenced Term Three with a rush. Teachers have high levels of written accountability and course development. You will be hearing and seeing many conversations on

TV about the importance of robotics and coding for our students — the next wave of new learning for both teachers and students.

Today at Alamanda, we have held our second training

day aimed at exposing our students to the world of coding. “Coding” involves science, technology, and mathematics. The teachers from these pictures are from a range of both private and public primary and secondary colleges.

Robotics is officially Alamanda’s ‘new horizon’. Wish us all the best, the students are excited and at times more able than we are?

Remember, we won the ‘RoboCup Competition’ with two weeks practice.

IMPORTANT DATESMelbourne Sea Life Aquarium Excursion 1 August – 1A, 1B, 1G2 August – 1I, 1J, 1L3 August – 1H, 1K, 1E4 August – 1F, 1C, 1D

Life Education Session31 July - 2J, 2C and 2I1 August - Prep A and N, 2E2 August - Prep E, G and I3 August - Prep D, B and J4 August - Prep M, C and K7 August - Prep H, F and L8 August - 4F, 4A, and 4D9 August - 4E, 4B and 4H10 August - 3E, 4C and 4G11 August - 3J, 3A and 3I14 August - 5A, 3B and 3F15 August - 3J, 3H and 3C16 August - 5C, 3D and 5E17 August - 5D, 5B and 5F

Fizzics Science Show Incursion4 August Diary of a Wombat excursion11 August

Year Four City Camp14-15 August

Book Day August 25

Premiers Reading Challenge Ends 8 September

Last Day Term 3 September 22

First Day Term 4 October 9

Alamanda College

Address: 86-100 Alamanda Blvd

Point Cook PO Box 6606, Point Cook

VIC 3030

Telephone: 03-8376 5200

Email: alamanda.k9@edumail.

vic.gov.au

WE WANT OUT PARENTS TO TELL US WHAT THEY THINK.

Our school is conducting a survey to find out what parents think of our school. The Parent Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education and Training that is conducted amongst a sample of randomly selected parents at each school.

It is designed to assist our school in gaining an understanding of parents’ perception of school climate, student engagement and relationships with our parent community. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies.

The survey will be conducted online by ORIMA Research Pty Ltd and only takes 15 minutes to complete. The survey can be accessed via desktop computer, laptop, tablet or mobile at any convenient time within the fieldwork period from Monday 7th August to Sunday 27th August.

Approximately 30 per cent of parents will be invited to participate in this year’s survey. All responses to the survey are anonymous.

The online survey is available in English, Arabic, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Chin (Hakha) and Hindi.

Survey language guides will be provided in a range of languages including Albanian, Bengali, Burmese, Cantonese, Dari, Filipino, Greek, Gujarati, Indonesian, Japanese, Karen, Khmer, Korean, Macedonian, Malayalam, Pashto, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Serbian, Sinhalese, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Turkish or Urdu.

The overall survey results will be reported to parents in our newsletter in September

For further information, please speak to you child’s teacher or visit:

http://www.education.v ic.gov.au/school/teachers/management/improvement/Pages/performsurveyparent.aspx

Dare to be Wise,

Lyn JobsonPrincipal

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News from PrepIt has been an exciting and busy start to Term 3 in Prep! As we move into the second half of the year, students are working hard to include more detail in their writing, as well as building up their vocabulary. Therefore the morning routine has changed across all Prep classrooms, with students having the option to work on their Beautiful Word book, Alphabet book or Writer’s Notebook. This has really helped students to increase their writing stamina and it is so lovely to see the students arrive in the morning, eager to start their writing. The students are very proud of their creative writing and we cannot wait to see what the rest of the Term brings. We have also started looking at some authors such as Oliver Jeffers, Lynley Dodd and Pamela Allen. The students have shown lots of enthusiasm towards exploring new books and using them as inspiration for their creative writing.

With a new Term also brings a new Unit of Inquiry. Our fourth Unit of Inquiry is looking at How the World Works, exploring the life-cycle of plants and animals, connections and differences between life-cycles, as well as why changes occur and are necessary. Students have been busy exploring provocations in their classrooms as they discover their new Unit of Inquiry. Some students have even started to plant their own seeds and have made predictions on what it might grow into, as well as what it needs to survive. We have also seen some amazing artefacts, such as a diorama on a students’ life-cycle so far, and the life-cycle of a plant! We are all excited to see what other artefacts are brought in to share as we move further into this Unit of Inquiry.

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Alamanda College

PREP ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL’S SUMMARY

Welcome back to term three, we would like to take this opportunity to welcome all the new families that have joined the Alamanda Prep community this term. We hope that you have settled in well and are enjoying your child’s learning journey so far. We have some exciting events happening throughout the term and we hope the students are just as excited and enthusiastic as we are to continue their prep learning journey.

Unit of inquiryWe are currently beginning our fourth Unit of Inquiry into the Transdisciplinary Theme: How the world works with a particular focus on the key concepts of Causation (Why is it like it is?) Change (Why is it changing?)

Through this Unit of Inquiry students will develop the enduring understanding (Central Idea) that ‘Living things go through a process of change.

We will be exploring the way people impact the natural environment. To guide this Unit of Inquiry and facilitate deeper thinking the students will be exploring the following lines of inquiry:

- Lifecycles of plants and animals- The connections and differences between lifecycles - Why changes occur and are necessary

Throughout our fourth Unit of Inquiry the students explored a provocation around ‘What could be in the egg?’. Where they developed, wonderings based around the central idea. The students have been exploring various life cycles and applying their knowledge using information texts and picture diagrams.

We would like for you to continue to encourage your child to bring in an artefact to reflect their thoughts and understanding around the central idea. We will be focusing on inspiring the students to take action that is driven by their own wonderings and understanding around our Unit of Inquiry. As your child is in their early stages of the PYP journey the teachers will continue be assisting students to take action.

Excursions and IncursionsWe have some very exciting excursions and incursion happening throughout Prep including Diary of a Wombat and The Life ED Van. These opportunities provide the Prep students with a wide range of educational experiences. They will be exposed to a world of creativity, wonder and enthusiasm, where they will further build on their daily classroom experiences. We would appreciate if you could please return your child’s permission forms as soon

as possible to ensure they are able to participate in all the activities provided.

AssemblyThroughout term three we will continue to hold Prep assemblies on Friday morning at 8:50am in the great space. This is a time for all the prep students, teachers and parents to come together and celebrate students learning and hand out awards to recognise student achievement and effort. The students will be provided with a range of opportunities to share learning they are proud of as well as participate in class presentations with their peers.

Book WeekBook week is fast approaching and the students are getting excited by sharing all their most loved stories by their favourite authors with one another or as a class. In the coming weeks, the students will be working on creating a book inspired wall that the class will work collectively on. This will be displayed in a communal area for the parents and school community to see. On the day, the students will complete a range of book related activities, be a part of a costume parade and share in all their most favourite books. We would like to take this opportunity to express how exciting book day is for our teachers and students and we hope that all the students are able to participate in the day by dressing up as their favourite book character.

School Uniform With the cold weather, well and truly upon us students need to be wearing their Winter Uniform during term three. The girls uniform consists of the Alamanda school tunic or long navy blue pants, white long sleeved shirt with the Alamanda logo, tie, Alamanda woollen jumper and navy blue tights. The boys uniform consists of the Alamanda long navy blue pants and long sleeved striped shirt with navy blue socks and the Alamanda woollen jumper. The uniform is displayed in the foyer of the school for your reference.

All students are required to wear appropriate school uniform every day. Unfortunately, there are many non-school items being worn and should not be worn to school. It is school policy for students to be wearing the correct uniform. Students are allowed to wear their full sports uniform on the day that they have Physical Education and on Friday.

Partners in Education,

Ellin Tideswell and Shahn Jones On behalf of Carmen SaccoPrep Assistant Principal

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News from Year 1

The Year One students have started Unit of Inquiry Four, looking into the transdisciplinary theme of ‘How the World Works’ our central idea is ‘Ecosystems are diverse and exist all around the world.’ Students will be looking into living and nonliving things that interact, the unique and similar environments and ecosystems around the world.

On Wednesday 26th July, Year One’s are celebrating their 100th Day of Year One. Students made Fairy Bread and

participated in a number of activities surrounding the number 100.

The Life Education Van is currently at school teaching students about ‘Friendships’. It’s an interactive experience allowing students to see ‘real life’ problems and learn about personal safety. Students were very excited to see ‘Harold’ the giraffe.

The Year One students are looking forward to our excursion to the Melbourne Sea Life Aquarium during

week 3. Classes will attend on allotted days from Tuesday the 1st of August through to Friday the 4th of August. Please remember to send your child to school with their snack, lunch and drink bottle clearly labelled and it must be disposable.

Thank you to the parents who have donated books from the Herald Sun Australian Story Book Collection and thank you to the parents who have donated tissues.

From Year One Students and Teachers.

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News from Year 1

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News from Year 1

The promotion started Saturday, 22 July and is continuing for 15 days, until 5 August. The books are available at participating newsagents, Woolworths and IGA supermarkets when you buy the Herald Sun. Thank you to all the families who have donated titles from this special promotion. The books include:

Possum Magic by Mem FoxThe Wonky Donkey by Craig SmithPiranhas Don’t Eat Bananas by

Aaron BlabeyTime for Bed by Mem FoxI Went Walking by Sue Machin and

Julie VivasWilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge

by Mem FoxPig the Pug by Aaron BlabeyThe Very Cranky Bear by Nick BlandThere was an old lady who

swallowed a mozzie by P.CrumbleThis & That by Mem FoxTales from the Gum Tree by May

Gibbs

The Magic Hat by Mem FoxPig the Fibber by Aaron BlabeyWaltzing Matilda by Banjo

PattersonWombat Stew by Marcia Vaughan

We would like to collection multiple copies of each book, for example 5 or 6 copies of each title, to use in the Year 1 classrooms to teach the students how to be part of a “Book Club.” “Book Clubs” give children opportunities to get together to enjoy books, share ideas and engage socially within a small group. We are excited to organise this project with your help.We would like you to consider making a donation of any one of these books for use during our “Book Club” activities. Sometimes newsagents have leftover sales and you can purchase the back titles for $2.30 each.

“The Great Australian Storybook Collection”

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ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL’S SUMMARY

Alamanda College

What’s Happening This Term?The Term 3 Curriculum Overview will be distributed next week. The Curriculum Overview provides a synopsis of our planning for Term 3 and describes the Units of Inquiry, the Central Idea and Lines of Inquiry; our literacy and numeracy teaching

foci; how the students will use digital technologies and also describes the specialist learning programs.

Highlights for this term includes the “Life Education Van” visit, the Melbourne Sea Life Aquarium Excursion, and Book Week to be held later in the term. Book Week includes decorating the classroom door, a dress-up day and making a book in a day. Please check your child’s school bag for the Term 3 Curriculum Overview and read more details.

Primary Years Programme:The term will start with the students exploring the Transdisciplinary Theme: ‘How the World Works’. Through this unit of inquiry students will develop the enduring understanding, that ‘Ecosystems are diverse and exist all around the world.’

The Melbourne Sea Life Aquarium Excursion will enhance the student’s understanding of this Unit of Inquiry. The day will include using a map to navigate around the

Aquarium to discover the various habitats on display, looking for animal characteristics and the environmental requirements for the survival of each ecosystem. Payment for this excursion has closed and parents are reminded to pack two separate disposable bags for their child’s snack and lunch.

One Hundred Days at School:The students also had fun celebrating 100 days at school for this year. They were able to make ‘fairy bread’ with 100s and 1000s; some students made ‘100 days’ crowns; everyone created collections of 100 items and arranged arrays to count 100 in various ways. Please enjoy the attached photographs.

Welcome and Farewell:Every week we welcome more students to our Year 1 classes. We wish you all the best as you make yourselves familiar with the Alamanda community.

We also wish Sarah 1I and Terewi 1A and their families all the best as they leave Alamanda.

Regards,

Helen WelshAssistant PrincipalYear One Mini-School

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News from Year 2

This term, students have continued to focus on our third inquiry. All classes have explored the central idea ‘Many factors encourage or reduce the transmission and impact of pathogens within a population’ through conducting scientific experiments. Students were curious to investigate the ‘Mouldy Bread’ experiment. Throughout this experiment students observed a dry and wet piece of bread over a duration of a few weeks. Students were reflective when thinking about how water can influence the growth of mould.

Students in 2H have immensely enjoyed writing scientific reports. This week

2H wrote a scientific report for the experiment ‘Customised Celery.’ In their reports students, have independently included a title, prediction/hypothesis, materials, method, result and conclusion. Caitlin’s (2H) hypothesis was ‘I predict that the celery will turn blue because of the food dye.’ Students were delighted to see how the coloured water impacted the celery.

To engage students in their writing, the Grade 2 classes have been focusing on writing craft. Writers craft involves students reading a story and identifying what craft the author has used. Students were then inspired to write their own story with

the aim of using the same craft. In 2A the students read the story ‘Water Dance’ written by Thomas Looker. They identified the craft used was personification and repetition. All students have completed their writing and are now in the process of completing their art work. This will then be published into a classroom book.

The year 2’s area currently undertaking the Life Education Program by visiting the Life Education Van. We are all very excited to visit and learn more about safety in our community to extend our knowledge that we inquired into earlier into the year.

News from Year 3

It has been a great start to Term 3 as the Grade 3’s have been unpacking their new unit of inquiry ‘Societies have different structures for making decisions’ under the Transdisciplinary Theme of ‘How we Organise Ourselves’. This inquiry explores the structure and responsibility of the Australian Government and how this compares to other forms of Government around the world. To spark curiosity and provide students with an opportunity to experience leadership positions within the classroom teachers nominated students to become classroom leaders for the day. This provocation inspired meaningful reflection about fairness as the leaders utilised their power to make decisions affecting all students in the classroom. Students are approaching this unit of inquiry with enthusiasm and they are beginning to make strong connections between different leadership structures which is exciting to see!

Our Grade 3 students are participating in the Premier’s Reading Challenge and have shown commitment by reading a range of different books each week. Reading stimulates children’s imagination and expands their understanding of the world. Students are encouraged to continue to log the books they have read. The Challenge will run until Friday 8th September.

To continue to promote reading across our cohort teachers have been introducing reciprocal reading groups. Students have been developing their reading comprehension skills, including predicting, questioning, clarifying and summarising. Each reading group promotes independence and aims to challenge students to gain a deeper understanding of the text

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Alamanda College

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL’S SUMMARY

Dear Families,

Brrr… Welcome back to another cold term. After a while deserved rest, both teachers and students are ready to start another busy term. It has been wonderful to see that all students have settled into their daily routine and have begun their learning with much enthusiasm.

Students and teachers have all started their fourth Unit of Inquiry for the year and are well and truly in the midst of unpacking the transdisciplinary themes, central ideas and lines of inquiry through the lens of the key concepts. As we walk through classroom, the Wonder Walls are full of exciting questions and artefacts are providing great conversation points for students to make important links. Please don’t forget to discuss our current units of inquiry at home with your child, helping them to connect to it and to bring in artefacts to share with their classmates reflecting their connections and understandings.

As it is very cold, please ensure your children are wearing the full winter uniform with black laced shoes. We have noticed some students have begun wearing items that are not part of the Alamanda uniform. If you have any questions about the uniform please speak with your classroom teacher and they will happily assist you.

Life Ed Van The Life Education Van is coming to Alamanda College for a 4 week period throughout Term 3 for all students in the Primary Years from Prep to Year 5 - you may have noticed it in the staff car park over the past week. Life Education has been empowering children and young people to make safer and healthier choices through education for more than 35 years. The program believes that each child should be living to their full potential. To meet this vision the program design modules that are relevant to Australian children and young people every day, as well as their families and communities.

Year 2 ‘All Systems Go’Inside a futuristic machine ‘The Venture’, the Captain and his crew take the class on a tour of the human body. Travelling through the blood, the class explore and discover how magnificent the human body really is. They learn the functions of various body parts and the actions required to keep these systems working well.

· Factors that influence the function of the body systems· Explore ways to manage peer pressure· The function of vital organs· Healthy Food Choices

Year 3 ‘Mind Your Medicine’Using a friendly game show format, Mind Your Medicine develops students’ understanding of medicines and their safe use, positive communication, strategies for managing conflict, stress, and bullying and explores how feelings influence the choices we make.

· Factors that influence someone’s sense of self worth· Techniques for effective communication· Identifying the impact of different factors on health and

wellbeing· Strategies for managing stressful situations

Year 3 Friday SportsBeginning this Friday, the Year 3 students will be beginning a tournament of the most exciting and athletic game Alamanda has ever seen - Boot Ball. We have held an assembly to launch the competition, explaining the rules and to drum up enthusiasm. A fixture has been drawn and each class will play each other once at some point across the term. We will be looking to give out house points for behaviours we believe to be in line with our school mission and vision statement and our PYP values like demonstrating kindness and empathy, being a good sport and cooperating with their teammates effectively. We will also be giving out house points for students who wear their sports uniform in

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Alamanda College

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL’S SUMMARY

their house colours on Fridays. Good luck to all our Year 3 students, we will update you on the competition results so far in the next newsletter.

Year 2 - 4th Unit of InquiryThe Year 2 team are about to commence their fourth Unit Of Inquiry for the year! The transdisciplinary theme is titled ‘How We Express Ourselves’ Which is described as an inquiry into the ways in which we discover and express our ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and values; the ways in which we reflect on, extend and enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the aesthetic. Our Central Idea is new and exciting and encourages students to unleash and explore their creativity. ‘The Arts allow us to express and interpret our creativity, feelings and beliefs’

This Unit of Inquiry will enable students to explore and be submersed into the following Lines Of Inquiry:

· The Arts are represented in different ways· There are many artistic techniques that are used to

express creativity and ideas .· Perspective plays a role in how art is interpreted· The Arts can enable communication on a global scale

For more information on our Unit Of Inquiry as well as literacy and numeracy focuses, please see the Term 3 Curriculum overview!

Year 3 - 4th Unit of InquiryThe Year 3 students are currently inquiring into the transdisciplinary theme ‘How we organise ourselves’, an inquiry into the interconnectedness of human-made systems and communities; the structure and function of organizations; societal decision-making; economic activities

and their impact on humankind and the environment. This inquiry links strongly with the Civics and Citizenship strand in the Victorian Curriculum for Year 3 and 4.

We are inquiring into the central idea that ‘Societies have different structures for making decisions’ through the lens of the key concepts function (how does it work?) and responsibility (what is our responsibility?). We began the term with a provocation where students were put in charge of making decisions in the classroom without any consultation with the other students in the class. Students felt it wasn’t fair, and observed that different students had different leadership styles. Sometimes the student in charge wasn’t making decisions to benefit all members of the class, while some students were very thoughtful and empathetic in their role.

Students have begun exploring the lines of inquiry:- Forming opinions and making decisions - The key features of a democracy- Levels of Government and their responsibilities.

Please see the Term 3 curriculum overview for a more detailed description of the upcoming teaching and learning program in Year 2 and 3.

Dare to be wise,

Georgia Bell, Jaymee Stigwood and Suzi KoneskiActing Leading Teacherson behalf of the Grade 2/3 Mini School

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News from Year 4

We would like to welcome all our families back to Term 3. We hope you all had a restful and relaxing break.

To begin the term, Year 4’s have been busy promoting and organising their action piece for their previous Unit of Inquiry which was under the transdisciplinary theme ‘Who we are’ and the central idea being ‘Decisions may promote equality and protect human rights.’ To follow up, this term the year 4’s participated in the 40- hour famine where they gave up all furniture, electricity and technology

in their classrooms for two days. This allowed students to not only appreciate what if feels like to live without their needs and wants, but it also was an opportunity to raise money for children in South Sudan who are living in poverty. Students were taking initiative to raise money, and obtain sponsors to support them in this great cause. Some children also took it further, by opting to continue the 40- hour famine at home. All students should be very proud of their efforts, they did an outstanding job!

The next exciting event coming up on the Year 4 agenda is our CYC City Camp. All students are very eager and enthusiastic for the camp. As it is fast approaching, all payments and notes should now be finalised. If you have any questions or concerns regarding camp, please see your child’s classroom teacher.

We would like to thank all parents for your ongoing support, it is greatly appreciated.

The Year 4 Team

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News from Year 5

Students in Year 5 have had a terrific start to Term 3! All classes have hit the road running with new and exciting learning. Students have been eager to begin our new Unit of Inquiry, with the focus on Science. The Central Idea is, ‘Scientific knowledge develops through questioning and discoveries’. To illustrate student’s prior knowledge, each student created their first thoughts and wonderings about the unit, linking to the central idea and lines of inquiry which include:

• Scientific knowledge, processes and discoveries;

• Scientific method;• Different ways of representing

scientific findings;• The communication and

validation of scientific principles;• Using our scientific

understanding to take action.

Students were introduced to the Unit of Inquiry through two engaging provocations that demonstrated the wonders of science and developed their knowledge and understandings of different elements and areas of science. Throughout the unit, students will participate in processes and discoveries linked to scientific experiments, research websites such as ‘Minute Earth’ and ‘Into Science’, and learn how to use and create the scientific method to record questions, hypotheses and findings. Students will also attend an incursion, ‘Fizzics Education’ where they will watch two science shows, ‘Big Science, Big Fun’ and ‘Tick, Tick BOOM!’ on Friday the 4th of August to learn about innovative and engaging processes and discoveries to expand their thinking.

In Year 5 Maths we have introduced a new concept, where twice a week students participate in a personalised goal setting class. This involves teachers choosing a mathematical area to teach students across Year 5. Students sign up to a class they wish

to learn more about and/or aim to develop their knowledge and ability in. The current mathematical areas are:

• Advanced Maths (Secondary Maths);

• Money;• Fractions, Decimals and

Percentages;• Mapping;• Measurement.

For the remainder of the week students continue to work with their classroom teachers on a mathematical unit ran

consistently across Year 5. The current unit of learning is, ‘Chance and Probability’.

Homework:It is wonderful to see students completing homework over the first week of term. Homework gets sent home each week on a day that has been selected by the classroom teacher. Just a small reminder, homework is to be worked on throughout the week and returned a week after receiving it. If you have any queries please see your child’s classroom teacher.

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News from Year 6

The Grade Sixes have had a busy and jam-packed start back to term 3, as they pick up where they left off from last term for their Exhibition. This process has been enthusiastically adopted by all students in grade 6, and has created an excited buzz across the year level.

Every Monday and Tuesday, students are grouped with their Facilitating teacher to focus on their Inquiry and Writing learning. The Facilitating teachers are the regular grade 6 teachers, but students are mixed up across the year level based on their area of interest. Students could select from medical science, production, communication, transport and natural laws for their Exhibition focus, and have been grouped with students of like or similar interests, in order to

create Unit of Inquiry groups. Students spend Wednesday-Friday back with their regular classroom teacher where the focus is on Numeracy, Reading, Spelling and specialist classes.

So far, students have unpacked the 5 Essential Elements related to the PYP, explored the Inquiry Cycle, listened to expert guest speakers related to the 5 areas of interest, and been assigned to a Unit of Inquiry group.

As a group, students have created their Central Ideas, and chosen personal lines of inquiry that interconnect with their group members and relate to the Central Idea. Students have also selected a Key Concept to focus their inquiry in on, ensuring that their research, thinking and action is all related. As a part of this process, each

group has been assigned a teacher mentor from within the school who will act as a support and guide for students throughout their inquiry journey. This week, students reached out to their mentor via email and have set up their first meeting with a detailed agenda to follow.

The PYP Exhibition Showcase will be held on Wednesday the 23rd of August, where families are invited to come and experience the learning that students have undertaken, and celebrate in their successes as a PYP student.

We look forward to continuing this journey with our year 6 students, and are excited to share this with you in the coming weeks!

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL’S SUMMARY

And Finally, Caleb Spires in Year 9 shared his journey in designing and creating a prosthetic hand that he has been working on and developing for the past few months with Mr Ludewig.

These workshops ignited and provoked students curiosity and imagination and thus assisted them in choosing an area of interest to further explore. Once students have established an area of interest, they will work through a number of workshops to gain a better understanding of the PYP curriculum and its five essential elements. The five essential elements of the PYP include: Knowledge, skills, Attitudes, Concepts and Action. Participating in the exhibition will demonstrate students learning in the PYP. The exhibition will involve others (for example, students may work in a small group or become involved with an organization outside the school), and their participation and their work will be assessed. Classroom teachers will assess students planning and learning, including their reflections, the methods they used, the way they linked the exhibition to the transdisciplinary theme and any forms of action that they engage in as a result. The teachers or mentors will share the criteria for this assessment.

The development of the exhibition will include the following. 1. Discussing possible real-life issues or problems to be

investigated 2. Posing questions that help to define the central idea

and to decide upon the lines of inquiry 3. Planning the exhibition 4. Gathering the necessary material 5. Recording and reflecting 6. Presenting the exhibition

The teachers will develop a modified PYP planner to help students through the process of planning and participating in the exhibition. This is a very exciting time for our students and teachers in Year 6. I look forward to seeing their journey with this exhibition and the final presentations throughout this term.

Teacher leave and movementAs you are aware by now Ben Leitch (5B) is on personal leave and replaced by Stacey Hose. All is going well and the transition has been without issue. We look forward to Ben’s return sometime within the next fortnight. We also had Danielle Carter (5D) move back interstate. She was replaced by Chris Reardon. We would like to welcome Chris into our 4/5/6 mini school. If you have any questions about the above movements, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Dare to be wise,

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to term 3. I hope you’ve had a wonderful two-week holiday and are ready to start school refreshed and ready to learn.

This is going to be another busy term and we are all looking forward to our upcoming Year 4 camp to the city, Year 6 camp to Tasmania, the Year 6 exhibition, Alamanda book week, and of course our grand Seusical the Musical drama performance scheduled for later this year.

This term the Year 6 team is very excited as they prepare for the initial stages of the PYP Exhibition. This Year students will be using the Transdiciplinary theme of How the World Works to delve deeper into our guiding question which explores the idea that ‘The science of today can lead to global innovations’.

A crucial phase in the initial stages of the Exhibition, is tuning in. At this stage of the Exhibition, students are thinking, establishing the known and unknown, making connections to their lives, creating a sense of purpose, wondering, questioning and building curiosity. So far, our students have enjoyed a range of experiences to tune in to How The World Works. The launch of the exhibition commenced with two-day intense workshops/presentations which included guest speakers who spoke and presented about the impact of science and technology on our past present and future.

Tony Pace and Malcolm Rivett who talked to the students about Robot immersion and how scientific advances have enabled us to move from the stone age to the industrial revolution, to the computing era, and the next stage, which is the robotics era.

Alice Osborne talked to the students about genetics and how each person’s genes contain codes that make us who we are. She also discussed the notion of genes with ‘typos’ (mutations) that can cause serious health problems in humans. She further added that technological advancements in science have enabled screening and early detection of genetic conditions.

Mr Germano presented his work on the impact that science and technology has had on our transport system. He discussed how technologies are interdependent. For example, transportation is interdependent with the communications industry such as manufacturing, construction, energy and power. His presentation ended with a conversation about the transport of the future. On the other hand, Mr Stewart, who has a background in Angus Kettle farming presented his knowledge about how science and technology has led to changes in processes of farming and production.

Mr Nelson ran a workshop on Scientific processes and ways we find out what is true in the natural world.

Alamanda College

Jackie Daniali Assistant Principal for Years 4, 5 & 6

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Specialist Subjects

LOTE NewsWelcome back to Term Three! The students have quickly settled back into school routines, and have begun the term with positive attitudes and an excitement for learning. Each year level has a new and different focus this term, and we have prepared a wide range of engaging activities to support them in their Mandarin Chinese learning.

This Term, Prep students will be looking at stories. The first story that they have begun learning about is ‘Lon Po Po’, a Chinese inspired version of the familiar tale Little Red Riding Hood. Students have been actively engaged in reading the story, communicating their favourite parts, and sharing their ideas about the moral contained within the story.

In Grade One, our focus is on fruits. All the students have been very excited about practising their Chinese language skills to share what fruits they enjoy eating, and that they have had for their fruit snacks.

For Grade Two, this term is all about food. Showing their thinking skills, students have been able to identify that there can sometimes be similarities between the Chinese pronunciation and an English word for different foods.

They thoroughly enjoyed guessing what each Chinese word meant, and creating a food craft.

In Term Three, Grade Three students are learning about school facilities in Chinese. Throughout the unit, they will be building their Chinese speaking and writing skills to identify the different places that are used at school.

Grade Four students are inquiring into sports. They are very interested in learning how to communicate their favourite sports in Chinese. To help consolidate their knowledge, they enjoyed playing the memory game.

In Grade Five, this term’s focus is on

occupations. To begin the unit, students carefully considered what they would like their future occupation to be, and shared these thoughts with the class. For Term Three, Grade Six students will be inquiring into their own identities. Demonstrating curiosity, the students began by researching their names in Chinese, and demonstrated creativity by making a name tag displaying their new Chinese name.

We have had a great start to Term Three, and we hope the students will keep up their open-minds and commitment in the weeks to come. We look forward to keeping you updated about their learning progress.

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We have welcomed all of our art students back to Term 3, with everyone looking forward to Book Day. In connection to Book Day during Term 3, our art lessons are based on a book. The illustrations and the story are our inspiration when thinking about our own artwork. We look forward to seeing the results as the Term progresses. For now, enjoy photo’s from in Prep and Grade 6, engaged in activities designed to scaffold their understanding of the story and the artwork.

Art News

Specialist Subjects

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At the end of Term 2, the Grade 6 Girls Netball team were undefeated in the Point Cook District Netball Competition. This put them through to the next stage to represent the Point Cook District and compete against other schools in Hobsons Bay, which was then held in the first week of Term 3 at Altona Sports Centre. The girls were

outstanding on the day, both their performance and behaviour. They finished a very close third position, only just missing out on the Grand Final. I am so proud of all of the girls and their determination, commitment and attitude and I look forward to seeing them succeed in the future. Well done to Skyler Lilly, Kate Lavers, Z’Keyah

Tagicakibau, Bella Marsh, Maggie May Ingram, Khushi Patel, Lilah Hillier and Kyla Kutia.

The Grade 5/6 students are currently training for an upcoming AFL competition in August. We had a big turn out to trials and were able to make two teams to take along to the event. Many of these students are new to the game and it is so pleasing to see them taking risks and trying new sports with enthusiasm. We are looking forward to taking the students to the event at Saltwater Reserve in August, and I have no doubt that they are going to do a fantastic job. We encourage all students to come along and get involved in upcoming sporting events.

The Point Cook Interhouse Athletics competition is also taking place in August. The Grade 5 and 6 students worked very hard in Term 2 completing an Athletics Unit during Physical Education lessons and will be well prepared for the upcoming event. Students will be competing in both track and field events, and will be participating in training sessions leading up to the event to fine tune their already impressive skills.

P.E. News

Café DareWelcome back to Term 3!

As the new term begins we welcome in our newest group of student baristas to the café. The 11 new members of the café team have shown great skill in the brewing and preparation of espresso coffee. Please come and support the work of the students as they open for service before and after school.

We would also like to celebrate a fantastic success which has unfolded in the recent past. Two of our former baristas – Aaliyah Downing and Madi Filer – have successfully obtained part time work in the local area, with both girls now working weekend shifts in a café and restaurant. Successes

such as these highlight the value of extracurricular initiatives, and programs that encourage student upskilling and personal growth, within schools. We are immensely proud of their achievement.

Just a reminder that we are open before school every day and after school Monday – Thursday afternoons. Our café is located on the ground floor of the New Building and all are welcome to come and dine with us.

Our Winter Warmers Hot Chocolate menu is continuing to be served, so come in and treat yourself!

Mr Ludewig

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Win a double pass to see Seussical Jr!

We are running two colouring competitions (Prep - Year 2 and Years 3–6) to win a double pass

to see Seussical Jr!

To be in the running, the pictures need to be coloured in and submitted to the office by August 13th.

Winners will be contacted via email.Good luck!

Seussical Production Team

Presents

Free Entry

Free Entry

Anyone can help our school earn amazing resources:• Earn one sticker for every $10 spent at Woolworths*.• Complete Sticker Sheets.• Drop Sheets in a Collection Box for our school .̂Runs 26 July to 19 September 2017.Find out more at woolworths.com.au/earnandlearn

Earn & Learn is on againStart collecting today

*From Wednesday 26 July to Tuesday 19 September 2017. Excludes liquor, tobacco and gift cards.^By Tuesday 19 September 2017.