Goondi SS 16.08.2023

From the Leadership Team

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we pass the half-way point of the term, our students are learning, investigating, cooperating and making great progress. We have however, seen very high level of absences in more than a few classes. Please ensure your children are at school everyday ready for learning.

As you are aware Goondi State School is moving from the Goondi 5 of Be Safe, Show Respect, Participate and Work Hard, Get Organised and Bounce Back so that students can easily maintain the high standards of school work, behaviour and conduct that we all expect and help to maintain consistency in school routines and expectations. The (PBLC) Positive Behaviour for Learning Committee will share insights with the P&C at next weeks meeting and more information for our community will be given in newsletters from now to the end of the year. These are the identical expectations when representing the school in district sports and on school excursions.

All students must be in full school to attend any activity off the school grounds. Please remember jeans are not part of the school uniform at Goondi State School.

The Count Down is on: from the 16^th of August to the 4^th of November 80 days until we celebrate the amazing journey of Goondi State School.  The 125 Celebration.

Tania and Deej

School Calendar

AUGUST

18th Friday - Year 4 Excursion

                        - Bullying No Way Day

21st Monday - P & C Meeting 5.30pm Library

                           - Book Week activities begin

24th Thursday - Pre Prep Morning 9am-10am

25th Friday - Book Week Costume Parade

                         - Premier's Reading Challenge ends

31st Thursday - Pre Prep Morning 9am-10am

SEPTEMBER

1st Friday - STUDENT FREE DAY

4th Monday - Swimming years 1&3

6th Wednesday - Olympics Unleashed Visit 2pm-3pm

7th Thursday - Pre Prep Morning 9am-10am

8th Friday - Poetry Idol Final

11th Monday - Year 6 Orientation Morning at ISC

11th-15th - HOTSHOTS

12th Tuesday - Parent Teacher Interviews

14th Thursday - Pre Prep Morning 9am-10am

Prep Capers

We are continuing to work on our information reports on animals and are showing great stamina when writing as well as increasing confidence with our sounding out of difficult words. We are learning lots of subject specific vocabulary and using it during discussions throughout the day. Several students were talking about themselves as omnivores while eating their lunches the other day. Our spelling lessons are really assisting with the chopping up of words into sounds and we can see this strategy really helping to increase their willingness to have a go when spelling during writing lessons. 

This week we will be preforming our poem in class and making the decision about which students will represent our year level for the school wide Poetry Idol. Please encourage your child to practise so that they feel prepared and confident for this process.

Rapid recall of addition facts and strategies to help them work out problems continues to be a major focus during math lessons. Our weekly rapid rocket addition tests are building their speed and capability with addition and they are excited each week to see how they have improved.

A big thank you to our prep families for supporting your child with homework daily.  It is very important to be practising sight words as this helps students with reading, writing and spelling. Home Reader books get changed on the Friday, ready for Monday to be sent home.   

As always, if you have questions or concerns or wish to share some information with us, please make contact with us to arrange a suitable time to talk.

Thank you

Mrs. Myers, Mrs. Barba, Mrs. Ferguson and Mrs. Tanti

Year 1 Capers

Did you know there are more ants on the planet than people? Did you know that there are 12000 species of ants? Well these are some of the interesting facts we have been learning about ants this week.  We are practising adding a bit more detail to our sentences to help the reader become ‘ant experts’.  This will be the third report the students have written and will be their last practice before attempting their final writing assessment task for the term, which will be completed independently.   

Class finals for Poetry Idol will occur at the end of this week.  Year One finals will occur in Week 7.

During Maths students have been practicing doubles plus one facts and we can definitely see students are becoming better at recognising when she see one of these facts.

In Science are learning about healthy and unhealthy habitats.  Soon, students will create a healthy habitat for a chosen insect.

Have a great week,

Leigh, Hayley, Wendy, Fiona, Ashleigh and Anita

Year 2 Capers

Week 6 is on us already, and we are moving quickly towards our assessment period of Weeks 8 and 9. This is always a high rigor period in our term, and there should be a focus on good sleeping habits, good diet, and solid attendance. All of these play a role in achieving the best result for our learners. Information about Parent Teacher Interviews will come out shortly. Ms Scheiwe will be hosting interviews across a few afternoons in Week 9. The other interviews are in Week 10 at this stage.

While the rain has slowed down a lot of our outdoor activities, in the classroom things are still going strong. HaSS has been interesting, comparing old technology to new, and examining why things changed. If you get the chance, please talk to your student about what life was like for you at school, and toys you had when you were their age.

Science is all about the natural resources we find in the Earth, and our very timely look at water. While conserving water sometimes seems silly given our recent rainfall, it remains an important topic, specifically when we look at the amount of drinking water we have available.

We are also heading towards our Poetry Idol competition, and even if your learner has no desire to compete, we still use their poem as the assessment for our speaking task this term. Poems should be practised at home as much as possible.

Remember also that we are building our houses in class shortly for technology, and any materials that could be donated would be appreciated. This could be cardboard, plastic, even egg cartons, anything that could be used as craft.

Book Week will be celebrated next week. There will be activities on offer in the second lunch break for students to participate in. It is advisable for students to bring along their Readers Cup Form as they will be able to add more book titles to their list to complete their sheet. Older students will be encouraged to read to younger students in the hall, prior to the school day commencing. Don’t forget to get creative with costuming as the Annual Book Parade will be held on Friday,25^th August and you are welcome to come along and join in the fun.

Regards,

Nathan Worth, Robyn Scheiwe, Kathy Pike and Jeanette Spataro.

Year 3 Capers

We are halfway through the term already and it is becoming very busy with assessment around the corner. Please ensure students are coming to school every day, so valuable content is not missed. It is evident the students are working hard practising their poems for poetry idol. Keep it up! We are looking forward to the first stage of the competition.

We are deep into the information reports with ending Fiji this week and then beginning Indonesia.

Last week, we conducted a science experiment that demonstrated how heat transfers from our hand to an ice cube. This week in Science, we are investigating the temperature of porridge over a length of time.

Kind Regards,

Ashley, Janelle and Amanda

Year 4 Capers

What an awesome start to Term 3. We have had a busy term investigating the feral animals that threaten both the environment, agriculture and people’s lives and how the impacts are being managed. The students have learnt so much and some really thought provoking discussions have arisen.

We also were able to witness the students performing their poems for poetry idol. All students should be very proud of their efforts and performances.

This term in Maths we have explored decimals, measurement and are currently focusing on different multiplication and division strategies to solve problems.

Please if you want to assist your children please continue with IXL focusing on multiplication, division and decimals over the next two weeks.

In Science, we have explored lifecycles and the role animals play in the ecosystem. We have investigated producers, consumers and decomposes. This culminates in the Year 4 excursion to the Cairns Aquarium to allow us to see this in real life.

As the term end gets closer, it is essential students are getting adequate sleep, eating breakfast and staying hydrated. Please also ensure your child gets a chance to have a break and be a kid for their own mental health as we come into assessment time.

Thanks, Leigh, Jade, Lizette

Year 5 Capers

Hello families of 5A and 5B!

What a busy Term 3! In Week 5 we celebrated NAIDOC week where dance groups from both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups were at our school. We have all been working very hard in class across all subjects to get the most out of our learning.

In English, we have been working hard to create a stop motion animation on iPad’s, focusing on creating a story using characters and a setting. Some of the stories being created are very detailed. We have seen lots of engaged participants working very hard. We have also been practicing our poems for Poetry Idol. Both 5A and 5B will be holding finals on Thursday the 17^th of August, where 5 representatives will be chosen from each class. Then next Thursday, Week 7 the Year 5 cohort will select 3 representatives who will compete in our school wide competition. Please encourage your children to practice and learn their poems.

In Maths, we are about to start consolidating knowledge to begin assessment. We have been working on our focus areas highlighted last term from testing.

In HASS we are looking at who enforces the law in Australia. In science we have been looking at light and whether it is transparent, translucent or opaque.

In Technology we are testing the effectiveness of a helmet to see how it protects us in an accident. Students have been very engaged with lots of experiments!

Thank you!

Kayla Hutchins, Rebecca Nolan and Greg Azzopardi.

Year 6 Capers

Hello Class 6B and Class 5/6 families!

Wow! We’re already more than half-way through Term 3, and both classes are busy consolidating and completing work before the assessment period begins. In English, students are bringing together everything they’ve learned about composing opinion pieces as persuasive texts and the unique structure that makes it special, to continue to improve their writing. They are choosing words and techniques to persuade, including topic sentences, thesis composition and the structure of argument. 

In Maths we are revising core concepts, while also applying what we’ve learned and using our skills and knowledge to problem solve. The Bar Model continues to be explored in great depth, as both classes make tremendous improvements in solving complex word problems.

In Science, we have been looking at the damage natural disasters can inflict upon our environments, both built and natural. 

We’ve also been working hard in our other key learning areas, as well as developing skills each day for our 6s as they work towards transition. 

Until next time,

Mrs Worth, Mr Ward and Mr Azzopardi

L.O.T.E News

Students in Years 5 and 6 Italian at Goondi State School are working on their knowledge of the Italian language by speaking, writing, listening to and using new words in phrases and sentences in Italian.  Well done students!

Year 5 students are using teacher-developed tables to understand nouns and adjectives.  They are asking and answering questions in Italian in simple responses with verbs.  Year 6 students are asking and answering questions using nouns, verbs and adjectives in compound sentences. Years 5 and 6 students are completing a revision exercise to assist their learning.  Students in Italian classes are also listening to songs to enhance fluency.

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

The Arts News

The Art room was alive throughout our NAIDOC celebrations with students participating in the activity of creating Yarning Sticks. Yarning Sticks are an important part of our First Nations culture, as they support building respectful relationships. They are passed around and used to empower each individual whilst speaking.  In our NAIDOC workshop, students created their own yarn stick from locally collected twigs and and wool. It was a fun, fantastic cultural activity that acknowledged the contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to our nation.

Francesca Rosa | The Arts

Community News