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Goondi SS Newsletter 23rd March 2022

From the Principal

Dear Parents/Carers,

As we head towards the end of Term 1, we have had a sustained period of time where we were faced with a high proportion of absences for both students and staff due to COVID. This has meant that we have had to postpone our parent interviews, student leader investiture and school photos. Details of these date changes are being advised as soon as new arrangements are in place.

We can advise that in the second week of Term 2, we will be offering an opportunity for all parents and carers to meet with class teachers for an oral report around student progress on Tuesday April 26^th.

The Parent-Teacher interview will provide you with a summary of your child’s progress after approximately nine weeks of school. During the interview you will be provided with information in relation to the following:

How your child has settled into their new class and year level and how they are coping with routines and classroom expectations.
A general overview of your child’s performance to date.
Your child’s application and attitude to learning in general.
Your child’s behaviour and how they relate to others.
Other issues which may be impacting on their learning and suggestions on how you can support your child.

The interview will also provide you with an opportunity to raise areas of concern, or to seek clarification on aspects of your child’s progress.

It is highly recommended that you make every effort to attend interview evenings such as the one we have organised for the last week of this term.

As this will be the last newsletter before the break, I would like to invite all our families to join us as we commemorate ANZAC day on April 25^th at the Innisfail march. Subject to confirmation from Innisfail RSL, our students will assemble in school uniform opposite the RSL at 8:00am. The march will begin at 8:30am. We hope to see many of you there to represent Goondi SS as we take part in the march.

We will send updates as soon as information becomes available to us.

Regards,

Peter Begemann

Principal

School Calendar

TERM 1 CALENDAR

School Events

Tues 26^th April – Parent/Teacher interviews

Student Leader Investiture – date to be advised in Term 2

School Photos – 30^thMay

P&C Events

Next meeting - Mon 16^th May

Congratulations to our 2022 P&C Executive. We are pleased to welcome our executive committee for this year and look forward to more great events and fundraising opportunities that the P&C provide

President - Peter Greven

Vice President – Michael Blair

Secretary – Rebecca Sapuppo

Assistant Secretary – Rebecca Allen-Ankins

Treasurer - Louise Blair

Assistant Treasurer – Kylie Goodwin

Other School News

PARENT-TEACHER INTERVIEWS

As previously advised, parent-teacher interviews scheduled for Term 1 have been postponed due to COVID and the 2 week delay at the start of the term. The main interview opportunity will now be held on Tuesday, April 26^th. Interviews of 15 minutes duration will be held between 3:30pm and 8:00 pm. All interviews are conducted in your child’s classroom.

Appointments can be made on line and a link will be sent out in the first week of Term 2

CAR PARK/ROAD SAFETY

A number of students are walking past the parent pick up gate in the mornings and across the entrance to the carpark on their way to the bus pick up gate to enter at the other side of the school. This puts students at risk and although we understand it is a little quicker than walking along the school pathway, it is dangerous to walk across a busy car park entrance.

A small number of students ride scooters and bikes to school. We ask that parents and carers remind students not to attempt to ride through the people waiting directly at the front of the school at home time.

Please also remind students at home time to use the school crossing only, when crossing the road.

SCHOOL PHOTOS

School photos have been postponed due to the high volume of student absences at this time. They will be rescheduled for Term 2 and will take place on Monday, May 30^th

STUDENT LEADER INVESTITURE

Unfortunately, due to COVID, our 2022 investiture has been postponed. We will advise of the new date as soon as we have this and hope formally recognise our student council early in Term 2.

Prep Capers

Wow! Where has this term gone? Time flies when Preps have FUN! FUN! FUN! We only have two weeks left, and the classes are going to be very busy.

For the next two weeks, we will continue our weekly writing tasks. Students are learning how to write sentences using a capital letter, finger spaces and a full stop. Preps use their sight words booklets and word walls to help when they are writing their sentences. They also read their sentences back to see if they make sense. We will learn about the following Letterland Characters – Golden Girl, Walter Walrus, Jumping Jim, Yellow Yo-Yo Man, Vicky Violet and Zig Zag Zebra. In this week’s word families, they learn about ‘ug’ as in bug, ‘og’ as in log and ‘ot’ as in pot. Prep classes are currently doing reading groups and the students are very keen to read every day next term. By the end of the term, students will have learnt all the Casey Caterpillar Handwriting Shapes.

During Maths, in the next couple of weeks students will learn about numbers nine and ten. They will know how to count, read and represent numbers to ten and how to write them in numerals. Students will also learn about Calibrated Number Tracks, Ordinal Numbers, Big/Small, Shorter/Taller, Heavy/Light, Sorting and describing the rule.

All Prep classes will continue to revise the Goondi 5 Rules daily (Get Organised, Show Respect, Be Safe, Work Hard, and Bounce Back) to remind everyone of their classroom expectations. Students will discuss and share how to be kind to friends and five things about themselves.

Prep staff are happy to see students adapting very well to their classroom routines. Wonderful work by the students for returning their homework each day. The students have become independent and well organised during their classroom routines.

May you all have a happy and safe holiday and may the Easter Bunny find your families.

Kind regards

Prep A, Prep B, Prep C Teams

Year 1 Capers

It is a very busy time of the term here in Year 1 with testing being conducted over the next 2 weeks. It is really important that students are getting to bed early and having a nutritional breakfast each day to sustain their concentration during testing.

In English this week the students will be completing their last practice of writing an imaginative recount before the assessment begins next week. We have been really impressed with the creativity of storylines and the enthusiasm showed by all students towards writing each week.

In Maths we have been revising final concepts before testing begins this week. Testing will continue into next week as well and will culminate with a timed Addition number facts test.

Keep practicing sight words, home reading and writing out spelling words each night. A little practice each night can make a big difference!

Leigh, Hayley, Tayla and Fiona

Year 2 Capers

Week 9 has seen us start to focus on our assessments, in all subject areas. Parents and carers can assist their students in this by ensuring that homework is completed regularly, and this includes the new spelling words in their homework, which are linked to their writing assessment piece. You can also help your students in this time with a healthy breakfast, and enough sleep. The data collected from this testing is valuable for us in planning next term, and creating content relevant for our learners. Students complete 3 Maths tests, booklets in Science and Hass, and an Imaginative Recount in English, so it’s a busy time for everyone.

We still have lots of fun things to do before the end of term, including another science experiment about solids and liquids! We have also been talking in HASS about features of our planet, such as the Equator and the Tropics, as well as why Australia is called the land down under, if you wanted to ask your student about this.

Please also ensure that home readers are being read and signed off each week, reading is vital for developing comprehension, and this assists in all other subjects as well.

Good luck to our Year 2 students through this time, and all the best for the coming week.

Nathan Worth, Robyn Scheiwe and Jeanette Spataro

Year 3 Capers

It’s hard to believe it’s already week nine and that we are rapidly approaching the end of the term!

We have continued to examine living, non-living and once living things in Science. 'Is a seed a living thing?' is the question we have been investigating.

In Maths this week our focus is on 2D and 3D shapes, symmetry and angles. Next week we will develop our understanding of addition and subtraction and apply our knowledge in a range of contexts. The multiplication fact focus has now shifted to the three times tables.

In Literacy we have been constructing expositions. We are very impressed with what the children have produced so far.

This week and next week we are testing and assessing. We understand that there is a lot of illness around at the moment, but it is important that your child attends school if they are well enough to do so. Unfortunately, they are disadvantaged if they need to make up the tests at another time,

Until next time,

Donna, Janelle, Paula & Lizette

Year 4 Capers

Wow! Week 9 and assessment time is here! This week and next we will be completing our end of term testing, so eating a healthy and nutritious breakfast before coming to school every day is very important. The students are really enjoying our novel study of “ Matilda” by Roald Dahl which we will be viewing as part of our Goondi 5 Reward afternoon. More information to follow. For our Genre Writing assessment the students will be writing a Narrative with the theme “The Great Escape”. Throughout the term, we have taught all of the elements of writing which the students will require in order to have success with this task.

In Maths, as well as daily consolidation of Place Value, mental computation strategies and multiplication tables, we have completed a unit of work on using the language of chance to describe the likelihood of events occurring.

Our Science and HASS units are being completed and the students are consolidating important vocabulary, skills and concepts in preparation for their assessments. Our bridge building is well-underway with many unique and interesting designs under construction!

Until next time Kath, Kathy and Mel.

Year 4/5 & 5 Capers

Term 1 has certainly flown by with students now reviewing and preparing for their end-of-term tests scheduled for this week and next week.

In English, students continue to consolidate their skills and practise their narrative writing. Some excellent narratives were written last week about the topic, The Chase.

In Science, students are continuing to explore light. It has been interesting to investigate how different cultures used principles of refraction when hunting and gathering.

Students have been working hard to consolidate their knowledge and learning for their end-of-term English, Maths, Science and HASS assessments. During our end-of-term testing, please ensure your child is partaking in revision and study as part of their homework. It is also advisable for your child to eat healthy food and get enough sleep to ensure they are able to perform their best to achieve success.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. Thank you kindly for your support.

Cheers for now, Rebecca, Jessie & Janette.

Year 6 Capers

Hello Year 6 families!

It’s been a busy run to the end of term for Year 6, with house captain elections and assessment taking up much of our time in the last couple of weeks of term.

Well done to all students who presented speeches for the house captain elections! It was pleasing that so many students were willing to work hard on their speeches and explain to the cohort why they would be the best person for the job of house captain. Congratulations to those who were successful in gaining a position, but of course, all of our Year 6 students should consider themselves leaders and role models this year, and should all continue to show initiative and help lead the school when opportunities arise.

This week students have been busy finalising their Term 1 units and completing assessment. They have been working on Maths and Reading assessments this week, and will complete these, as well as Science and HASS next week. Please don’t worry if your child has had time off school due to isolating. This term has seen some students having to spend stretches of time out of the classroom, and we will continue to work hard to minimise the effects of this at school.

This term in English, students have written some truly fantastic imaginative historical recounts based on our novel 'Scarecrow Army' during our weekly Writing on Demand sessions. It will be wonderful for students to be able to compare their writing at the beginning of term, with what they produce for their assessment, so see how far they have travelled.

Thank you to all students who have been focusing on getting enough sleep, eating a healthy breakfast, and bringing a healthy lunch to school, to make sure they are fully equipped for learning and assessment each day. We’re looking forward to ending this term off strong, ready for some rest and relaxation in the upcoming school holidays.

Thank you for your support!

Tjaart Richards, Melanie Worth and Janette McClelland.

LOTE News

The years 5 and 6 Italian classes at Goondi State School are consistently speaking, writing and listening to their learnt and new words and/or phrases. All classes have been building on their Italian language through listening and actively participating.

Year 5 students are beginning their oral assessment by singing a song and saying the alphabet individually to their teacher. They are also learning to answer simple questions about themselves. Year 6 students are writing and reading simple conversations in Italian between more than two people. Students are beginning their written assessment by completing a conversation.

The bookwork standard shown in their exercise books is pleasing. Feedback and assistance is given to students regularly. Continue encouraging your child to speak Italian with you and discuss what they are learning.

Arrivederci (Goodbye)

Signora Lazzarini