1. family and parenting
2. children

St John’s Newsletter
Term 1 Week 10 - Wednesday 1st April 2015
Head of St John’s
Children who read succeed. One of the best predictors of
educational success and career attainment are one’s strong literacy
levels and passion for reading in primary school. Strong reading
skills develop through repeated practice and exposure to a wide
variety of quality literature. As we enter the holidays, I encourage
the students of St John’s to read for leisure as much as they can. I
also ask parents to read with their children as a part of the joy of
holidays.
Ms Shannon Rosewood
•
Young children learning mathematics - A guide for
educators and families by Robert Hunting, Judy Mousley
and Bob Perry (laying a foundation for later success in
mathematics)
•
Math right from the start: what parents can do in the first
five years by Jan Greenberg and Toni S Bickart
I would like to take the opportunity to thank the dedicated team
of staff in the Junior School who all work so tirelessly to enhance
the educational experience for your children. I look forward to the
numerous events next term and wish all families a restful break.
Exciting events next term!
Titles particularly relevant to promoting a love of literature and
numeracy in the home include:
•
Reading Magic by Mem Fox
•
Rocket your child into Reading by Jackie French
•
The reading bug and how you can help your child to catch it
by Paul Jennings
•
Reading Right from the Start: What Parents Can Do in the
First Five Years by Toni S Bickart and Diane Trister Dodge
•
Don’t leave childhood without: a guide to the best books
for children
•
A family of readers: The book lover’s guide to children’s
and young adult literature by Roger Sutton and Martha V
Parravano
•
Maths for Mums and Dads by Rob Eastaway and Mike
Askew
•
Help your kids with maths: a unique step by step visual
guide by Carol Vorderman
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School Resumes - 21 April
Anzac Ceremony and Wellbeing Breakfast - 24 April
Assembly – 1 May (Kindergarten hosting)
Tour St John’s – A celebration of Bike day – 8 May
NAPLAN – 12–14 May
Armidale Eisteddfod
Athletics Carnival – 4 June
French Day – 10 June
St John’s Public Speaking Competition – 12 June
Paper Planes
Thanks to two very very keen Year 3 students, the St John’s Paper Plane Competition was held on Monday 30 March at 12:15. All
students from Transition to Year 6 prepared their own paper planes using templates provided by the Paper Planes movie website.
Students made the classic dart, raptor, the Ken Dwyer (look it up!), manta ray and many more. http://www.paperplanesmovie.com.au
Charlie and Archie (with the assistance of Mr Foregeard) planned an exciting array of categories for the event. A careful study of
international paper plane rules was fiercely analysed and the competition was formed. Events included distance, decoration and time
‘in flight.’
We would particularly like to thank the parents and staff who competed into today’s thrilling event. Well done Harvey-Grace
Grandparents, Mr and Mrs Smith, Eva’s Dad and Mrs Dent. Mr Logan’s celebrity appearance was much applauded by the students.
Congratulations to Eva’s Dad and Mr Forgeard who both claimed victory in the longest flight category.
It was a fantastic event and we are so proud of the initiative of Charlie and Archie. Thanks boys!
IPSHA Cross Country Carnival
Three students from St John’s travelled to Sydney over the weekend to compete at the
IPSHA Cross Country Carnival. St John’s students made the enormous effort to travel to
Sydney for the carnival. St John’s were the only regional school from Northern NSW to
attend the carnival.
Ashley Knight in Year 4, Sophie Mason in Year 5 and Isabella Gooch in Year 6 competed.
Ashley wiped 1 minute off her PB while Sophie and Isabella made it into the top 15 of
their age group. This means Sophie and Isabella will continue to represent IPSHA at the CIS
Carnival in June.
A great achievement for all St Johns runners. I think we were the smallest rep team but the girls ran
their hearts out. You would have been very proud of them all.
St John’s Sport News
Mrs Jess Oehlers
Term 1 Sport has come to an end and what a great term it has
been. A big congratulations to all students who have participated in
school sport and tried their best. At St John’s we pride ourselves on
‘having a go’ and having a positive attitude, especially when trying
new things.
On Saturday, Ashley, Sophie and Isabella competed at the
IPSHA Cross Country Carnival at The King’s School in Sydney.
Congratulations to these girls on making it to IPSHA. More will be
mentioned about their results at this week’s Assembly.
Thank you to all students, parents and staff for their commitment
to Summer Sport this term.
Winter Sport will commence at the beginning of Term 2. All training
will commence on the first Wednesday back at school. All students
will need to bring their sports uniform and equipment (if needed).
Students are to be collected from the Junior School at 4:30pm.
If students are not picked up by 4:30pm they will be sent to the
Homework Centre.
Isabella Gooch, Sophie Mason, Ashley Knight.
Assembly Awards @ St John’s
Congratulations to the following children who received awards in the
Week 10 Assembly:
Personal Best Awards
St John’s Star
K - Lillian Meredith
K - Meshari Almagheeb
1/2 - Matilda Johnstone
1/2 - Taj Killen
3/4 - Charlie McCulloch
3/4 - Eva Dabovich
5 - Isabella Rutledge
5 - Lilly Green
6 - Isabella Johnston
6 - Keeley O’Connor
Have a fabulous holiday and we look forward to seeing you again in
Term 2.
Premier’s Reading Challenge
If any parents would like to register their child for the Premier's
Reading Challenge, please contact Mrs Smith (St John's
Reception) by email [email protected]
Your child will be provided with a unique username and
password to allow for recording of books that have been read.
If your child was registered in 2014, they are able to use the
same username and password. Mrs Smith has a list of the 2014
passwords if they have been forgotten.
Further information re the website will also be available at this
time. The PRC continues until August, 2015.
More information can be found here:
https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html
Transition
Mrs Catherine McCann
Mud Kitchen In The
Making
During Week Seven the children began making birthday cakes and
other delicious desserts when playing outside. We added pots and pans
to the outside environment and a plastic kitchen. The children created
and used their hands and their creative minds. The interest in this area
grew and grew so, we asked the Maintenance Staff if they would be
able to build us a large mud kitchen and much to our delight they
agreed. The children got to work and created designs for their
kitchens. They discussed what would be needed in an outside kitchen
and then painted and drew designs. When the Maintenance Staff
arrived the children helped to unload the ute. The children checked
daily on the progress of the Mud Kitchen and in week nine a number of
little “Mud Kitchen” chefs worked on their first cook off. We are so
lucky at St John’s to have a wonderful team of people who make our
program tick along……. Thank you Shane and Darren for your hard
and creative work.
Transition
Mrs Catherine McCann
If You Find A Little Feather
If you find a little feather,
a little white feather,
a soft and tickly feather,
it’s for you.
A feather is a letter
from a bird,
and its says,
“Think of me”.
Do not forget me.
Remember me always
Remember me forever.
Or remember at least
until
the little feather
is
lost.’
!
!
So….
…if you find a little feather
a little white feather,
a soft white feather,
it’s for you.
pick it up
and ….
put it in your pocket!
!
Beatrice Schenk De Regniers
Transition Service
Project
Birds of a Feather
Transition has just started their first ever service project. The project
stemmed from an interest in feathers and bird life.
Over the next few months the Transition children will be observing
the kinds of birds that are in our school environment. The children
will use a clipboard chart of birds and will place stickers over the
birds that they find. We will work as a whole class to research the
needs of these birds and the kinds of plants that will encourage them
to nest in or gather food from. From there we will work together to
plant a little grove of trees and plants that will support some of our
native birdlife.
Year 6
Mrs Heidi Dent
Year Six!
!
Mathematicians or Architects?
!
!
This term has seen a lot of different activities take place in the Year Six classroom and as the term comes to
an end, we are still working hard to achieve the goals we set for ourselves.!
!
In Maths, in particular, we are currently working on a connected learning task that uses our knowledge and
understanding of 2D shapes and 3D objects along with angles to design and construct some new playground
equipment. !
!
Each structure needs to meet the set criteria, while considering safety and overall appeal to young children.!
!
Aspects include the design of a balance beam; selecting the best 3D object and a safe calculated angle for
the beam, a climbing wall with appropriate hand and foot holds at suitable angles, a raised cubby house
including the net for the selected object and a set of swings that are supported by a frame. These are just
some of the areas the students are considering.!
!
Students are then demonstrating their learning and application of mathematical concepts through
construction of a working model and a set of plans.!
!
Although not yet complete, the photos show examples of our work so far.!