NEWSLETTER Friday 24th April, 2015 Phone: 9587 0877 96 Kearney Drive, Aspendale Gardens, 3195 Fax: 9587 0477 Email: [email protected] DIARY APRIL Monday 27 Thursday 30 MAY Friday 1 Monday 4 Tuesday 5 Year 2 Moonlit Sanctuary Excursion Rossdale Golf Clinic (Year 6 students) Year 1 Toys Over Time Incursion BOOK FAIR Begins Request form for Cadbury Chocolate Drive Sent Home School Council – 7.00pm Class Rep Meeting – 7.00pm MAY Wednesday 6 Thursday 7 Monday 11 Tuesday 12 Wednesday 13 Thursday 14 Sunday 17 Monday 18 Mother’s Day Stall in C.L.C. Last Day of BOOK FAIR Last Day for Chocolate Orders NAPLAN Testing NAPLAN Testing NAPLAN Testing Kitchen Garden Working Bee 10am – 2pm + Sausage Sizzle EDUCATION WEEK BEGINS ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS’ NEWSLETTER REPORT Athletics Day On Wednesday we enjoyed an excellent Athletics Day for the Year 3 – 6 students. The students rotated around shot put, discus, 100m sprint, relay, hurdles, high jump and long jump activities. The students put in a lot of effort to do their very best in all the events and there were some fabulous times and distances recorded. We would like to thank the assistance from parents and students from Parkdale SC, as well as all the AGPS staff, especially Jo McDougall for her excellent organisation. The winning House for this year’s Athletics Day were the Falcons. Congratulations! ANZAC Day Assembly. On Friday there was a special assembly to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ANZAC spirit. Students read some very moving diary entries from long ago of diggers (soldiers) who obviously endured much physical and emotional pain. Our backdrop of poppies certainly set the scene for a moving ceremony presented by many of our Senior Year students. Highlights included a comprehensive report of the Year 6 students’ visit to the Shrine earlier this week. The Ode presented by the all of the Year 4 students was stirring and was followed by a very sombre playing of the last post. Well done to everyone for your outstanding level of respect of the fallen and their families. Our school captains, Olivia West and Dylan Reeve, will be representing the school at the dawn service at the Chelsea Cenotaph on Saturday morning at 6.00am. A wreath has been organised for Olivia and Dylan to present. P.Y.P. Motoring Along Our Primary Years Program continues to build momentum with teacher teams putting in extra time to plan and implement our focus of global mindedness. You may have also noticed the impressive and informative displays in our foyer that illustrate all of the inquiry studies at each level for the year. Under the efficient leadership of Helenor Regester (PYP Coordinator) and the implementation team we are continuing to embed the important principles of the program. Excursions The students from Year 3 and Year 6 have had a great week with excursions to The Gould League and Melbourne Museum/Imax. Our Year 3’s learnt a lot about the natural habitats of animals and how animals adapt to their environment by their physical condition and behaviour. The Year 6’s saw a brilliant documentary entitled, Forces of Nature. They discovered the causes of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tornadoes and volcanoes and were amazed by the amazing footage. Attitudes To School Survey Next week the Year 5 and 6 students will be completing the Education Departments ‘Attitudes to School Survey’. This is a short survey based on how the students feel about our school, their teachers and their peers. The questionnaires get sent off for compilation and the school receives a series of data sets back. This data is analysed by the staff to reflect on our current practices and make recommendations and actions for improvement. This information, along with the parent survey and staff survey give us vital information which assists us in making future improvements to our students’ education. A reminder also to all families of children in Years 3 & 5 that NAPLAN testing will be taking place on the days beginning 12th May. Classic Dining Evening @ AGPS Last Tuesday a group of 16 young chefs from Year 4 invited their parents to an evening of culinary challenges and fine dining at our school kitchen. All enjoyed preparing the food and dining together to a menu of Corn Frittata, Spinach, potato and pumpkin pie, French Toast (thanks to Mike Salahoras) and ANZAC biscuits. There was lots of laughter and banter and a true sense of community. We trust that the following families found the evening’s activities a special experience: Salahoras, Koh, Cameron, Padinis, Constantopoulos, Hogg, Turner, Lum, Brown, Tolios, Schaumann, Mifsud and Doak. Meanwhile, James and Jasmine researched the French Toast recipe on the internet that will be part of the next round’s menu in the kitchen. Peter Wyatt & Jonathan Baker YEAR BOOK 2015 If you would like a copy of our fantastic 2015 Yearbook and have not included payment with your school fees, the cost is $20.00 and can be made payable to the office. We need to finalize numbers to be printed by the end of this term. So make sure you don’t miss out on this spectacular offer! Glenys Balik YEAR 4 ANZAC BOOT CAMP On the 21st of April 2015, the Year 4’s did a boot camp to experience what it’s like to be an ANZAC. We carried our very heavy backpacks three times around the oval. We did four different challenges that replicated mental, physical and teamwork experiences that the soldiers may have faced. We learned it’s hard to be an Anzac and you have to be committed to be a soldier. The teachers were mean!! By Jeremy, Lior, Cassie, Edie and Tijana AGPS INTER HOUSE ATHLETICS CARNIVAL Wowee, what a fabulous day we had on Wednesday at the 2015 AGPS Inter House Athletics Carnival! The rain clouds stayed away as the wetlands were taken over in a sea of colourful and excited students who were ready and raring to go. The students were placed in colour coded age groups and rotated around a number of athletic events throughout the day. The students displayed their brilliant skills in the following events; long jump, high jump, discus, shot put, hurdles, sprints and relays. Each and every student is congratulated on their efforts, as each event that they participated in resulted in points awarded to their House. Congratulations to the Falcons who took home the silverware in a close contest, possibly with the greatest cheers too! A fun filled finish to the day was the teachers vs students relay race. Luckily no hamstrings were torn in the process of this event as the students took it right up to the teachers who burnt the ground alight with their pace that would rival the Jamaican Olympic team! A huge thank you to the Parkdale Secondary students who assisted with running each of the events, your hard work was greatly appreciated and allowed the day to run smoothly. Thank you also to the parents who helped out with the measuring, recording and hurdle up-righting! Special thanks must also go to Mr Peter Wyatt for marking the lines of our running tracks to make us look and feel the part. Well done to all at AGPS for a brilliant day!! MOTHER’S DAY Mother’s Day is less than a month away and this year is a very special year for us. Back in 2010 Helen and I were both diagnosed with Breast Cancer. We stood together as ‘sisters’, put our fists up and fought! We could not have done it without each other and the support of our friends, family, colleagues and AGPS community. This year we celebrate 5 years of being Cancer Free and we want to celebrate! The first part of our celebration will be walking the Mother’s Day Classic with each other and anyone else who would like to join us on Sunday 10th May. Please register @ https://mdc.mothersdayclassic.com.au/register.php and join our team Always Smiling  We are in WAVE 3 which starts at 9.55am but you can join in whenever it suits you; walking, running or even strolling! Look out for the HUGE SMILEY Chris Hills & Helen Musgrave A MESSAGE FROM THE ART ROOM A few extra pictures of some extra hard workers for our recent ‘CHORES FOR CHARITY’ event. Thankyou so much for your efforts and cute pics! ANZAC DAY ART INSTALLATION We are very proud of the efforts of every child in our school who created the most beautiful poppies for our special ANZAC DAY assembly that was held this morning. Some children went home and researched the origins of the poppy By Elise Zammit 4OM By Adeline 4OM Volunteer at our Book Fair! Dates: Monday 4th May – Thursday 7th May Our Book Fair will be an exciting celebration of reading with hundreds of fun, engaging, affordable books for kids to discover. Join our volunteer team to: • • • • Bring creative flair to signs and decorations Organize and put things in place Offer a helping hand, set up, or pack up Help shoppers of all ages find the perfect book We appreciate your support in whatever form it takes. Contact: Glenys in the library! © 2014 Scholastic Inc. 11677 • 145400 MATHS FUN TERM 2 EDITION Have you got some playing cards home that aren’t getting used? Well here are some ideas of how you can use your playing cards to assist your child with their Maths. 1) Play matching number games with playing cards. 2) Put cards in order from the largest to the smallest by counting the shapes (hearts, spades) or using the numbers on the card (without using the jacks, queens or kings) 3) Play a game of ‘pairs’ where you turn over two cards that add up to 10. 4) Play a game where each player is dealt four cards and everyone has 1 minute to make up a calculation using the card they have in their hand so that the answer is the value of the next card turned over. A scoring system can be used, such as 1 point for using 2 cards, 2 points for using 3 cards, 3 points for using all 4 cards. 5) Play Race to 100. Each player turns over a card in turn and keeps a running total of their score. The first to reach 50 or 100 is the winner. 6) To assist with subtraction, play Race to Zero. Players start on 100. Each player takes a card in turn and subtracts that number until they get back down to zero. 7) Play ‘Place Value Cards.’ Players are dealt 3 cards. Players decide the placement of each of the cards. Which card will they put in the hundreds column, which in the tens column and which in the ones column. The aim is to make the highest possible number. Player with the highest number gets one point. 8) Play ‘Target Cards’. Players are dealt 3 cards. Players decide the placement of each of the cards. Which card will they put in the hundreds column, which in the tens column and which in the ones column. The aim is to create the 3 digit number closest to the agreed target (might be 500). Player whose number is closest to the target number gets one point. Maths Puzzles Page Foundation – Flower Patterns I see five flowers in my garden. The first flower is red. The second flower is yellow. The third flower is red. If this pattern continues, what colour is the 5th flower? Children could use paper, pencils, crayons, counters or other materials to assist them. Allow them to find a strategy to solve the problem. Extend the problem, with what colour would the 7th, or 10th flower be? Is there are pattern of which flowers are which colours? Explore this with more flowers, up to 30. Years 1 and 2 – Necklace You are making a necklace with 20 beads. You can choose the colours but you need to show a pattern, so that the whole pattern must be shown at least twice. What is the least number of colours you could use and how many times would this pattern repeat? What is the most number of colours you could use and how many times could you show this pattern? Which number of colours will not work because they can’t finish your pattern with the 20 beads? Why do you think these numbers don’t work? Years 3 and 4 – Making Staircases. Using square counters or tiles, how many tiles do you need to make a staircase? Are there numbers of tiles smaller than 3 or larger than 10 you can use to make a staircase? Is there a pattern in the numbers which make staircases? What is the pattern and how would you describe it? Years 5 and 6 – Birthday Candles. Mrs Gillespie is 73 today. She has had a birthday cake every year since she was born. How many birthday candles has she blown out in her lifetime? Instead of adding all the numbers from 1 to 73, is there a rule or generalisation to help you work out the how many candles she has blown out? iPADS in 4RG App of the Week Look for this logo on the App Store. Best app in the App Store in 2011 and 2012. SkyView Explore the Universe STARS OF THE WEEK Week 2 – Term 2 Years Foundation – 2 Years 3 – 6 SAVE THE DATES SATURDAY 15TH AUGUST A.G.P.S. TRIVIA NIGHT FRIDAY 30TH OCTOBER A.G.P.S. ‘HALLOWEEN’ DISCO FUNDRAISING INITIATIVES FOR TERM 2 On-going Bag It & Bring It – used clothing and footwear in good condition to be placed in green wheelie bins located outside the staffroom in the Administration building. Entertainment Books – on sale NOW for $65.00. Available from the Office or in digital version online. With each book sold our school receives $13.00 Mother’s Day Stall – Wednesday 6th May. Thank you to those parents who have offered their time to assist on the day. Cadbury Chocolate Drive – look out for your order request form on Monday 4th May  FIRST LESSON FREE!  Expert tuition by fully qualified teachers  Beginners to Advanced  Examinations (A.A.T.B.D. Inc.)  Annual concert and competitions  Now enrolling age 3 years and up  Beginner adult classes available Classes held at St Chads Church Hall 12-14 Thames Prom Chelsea Enquiries: Ring 0401 468 173 [email protected] www.artevolutionsds.com