Week 5 Happenings

Monday
Prep Cup Day!

Tuesday
Melbourne Cup Day (Public Holiday)

Thursday
Tabloid Sports P-2 (New Preps transition program)

Nathan cares for people in our community

Yesterday Nathan (Zadie's Dad) came to speak to the Prep Neighbourhood about his job as a social worker and his role for caring for people in the community. Nathan works with older people and offers assistance to help older people become more independent. Nathan told the Neighbourhood a lovely story about how he helped a woman who had been living by herself for a year. With Nathan's assistance the women joined a swimming group, now catches the bus on her own and has made many new friends.

Nathan made the thoughtful statement "It is important to be able to care for yourself."

Thank you Nathan!

 

Term 4: Whole School Choir

On Thursday  7^th November (Week 5), the Whole School Choir will commence again at lunch time from 11.10 – 11.45 on the stage in the gym. The choir will run for 4 weeks and culminate in a performance at an assembly on the 3rd December (Week 9).

The choir will also have the opportunity to participate in the unveiling of the flag assembly on the Tuesday 12 November (Week 6). This choir is open to all students.

- Hannah

Life Education Van

The Life Education van will be visiting our school   between 18 and the 25^th November.

Life Education is a provider of drug and health education to children. The program supports children with making healthy lifestyle choices.

The Life Education program assists children to achieve the following outcomes:

§  Acquire age appropriate knowledge to support informed health choices

§  Develop and practice skills and strategies to act upon individual decisions

§  Recognise the values and attitudes that may influence lifestyle choice and behaviour

There will be a parent information session on Tuesday 19^th November between 9:30-10:00 for those who wish to learn more about the various programs the Life Education van has to offer.

Kevin Siemonek

Action Required: PMP

We are able to use the gym again this Friday for PMP between 12:10 - 1:15, but we are unable to set up during lunch due to Bazaar rehearsals so we are asking parents to help with the setting up of PMP as well as running an activity. If you can help out please add your name to one of the lists in the Neighbourhood. Thank you.

A walk to Princes Park

A group of children from the prep neighbourhood walked towards Princes Park and along the way we noticed that our school was part of our local community.  Other things children noticed were Redmond Park elderly citizens home, traffic signs, nature strips, electrical power poles and homes.  The children observed that Carlton Football Oval was in Princes Park and that the park is used in many ways, children can use the playground, people walk their dogs and people walk and run around the track.  Our fun was short lived by the onset of rain and we had to scurry back to school.

We walked to the Railway Park

A group of children headed North to the Railway Park and beyond, to the top of the hill with Luisa. The children went from 'the city to the country!' We talked about the fact that people need to keep their environment clean and walk on the footpath to help the grass grow.

We walked to the cemetery

A group of children left the school grounds very excitedly and walked down Wilson Street. The children took many pictures of the beautiful flowers in the people's front gardens and chatted happily. The first building that the children knew was the Milk Bar, and they peered inside sand waved to the friendly shop owner. On our walk we passed Elly's house before coming to the cemetery. The children were very respectful as we wondered around the cemetery, looking at the grave stones and seeing when the people were had lived. When we walked past the church on Mcllwraith Street many children has stories of visiting the church for non religious experiences. The rain started, so we quickly finished our walk, passing Bianca's house just before arriving back at school.

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Prep Cup Day!

The school is open on the Monday before Melbourne Cup so the Prep Neighbourhood will be celebrating Melbourne Cup with a special day full of cup related learning experiences, including hat making and 'horse' races.

In the morning during learning agreement cup related provocations will be set up and some cooking will take place (if we can get some volunteers to help)

At lunch time we will be having a picnic on the mini oval so we ask that children bring a small plate of food to share.

Children are invited to dress up as in 'Melbourne Cup' attire, the Prep team will be wearing their finest.

 

The Airport Community

This afternoon Ed (Sophie's Dad) came in to talk to the Prep Neighbourhood about the Airport Community where he works. Ed works in a school at the airport that trains Air Traffic Controllers and Fire Fighters.  Ed showed has some short movies about being an Air Traffic Controller and a Fire Fighter. The children had many questions for Ed about working at the airport.

Thank you Ed!

Surgery in Prep

Today Mark Baldwin (Oliver's Dad) visited the Prep Neighbourhood to talk to us about how he cares for the community everyday in his job as a surgeon. Part of his presentation included showing us how a surgeon dresses. Three of our Preppies had the opportunity to dress up like a surgeon and 'perform' a Tonsillectomy (removal of the tonsils) on a teddy. The children were very excited by the experience. I think a number of the Preps now want to be a surgeon when they grow up. 

Thank you Mark!

The Hong Kong visitors also enjoyed the presentation

Week 4 Happenings

Monday
Library: Prep J
Guest Speakers

Tuesday
Library: Prep M
Guest Speaker

Wednesday
Library: Prep S

Friday
Guest Speaker
PMP (parent helpers required)

Communications Working Party

Effective communication between primary schools and families has been shown to play a critical role in the achievement levels of students. The Princes Hill Primary School communications working party are developing an improved communication strategy for the school. The strategy is based around the principles of improved approachability, stronger family engagement, enhanced learning outcomes, and greater student involvement.

The Year 2 blog has been modified along the lines of these discussions and all parents and students are encouraged to explore the site and provide feedback on this format and any of the other forms of communication they receive from PHPS.

 

If you have some ideas about what we can do better as a school in communicating, talk to us.

Please send your comments to akealy@unimelb.edu.au or if you would like to discuss this further contact me on 0413 012 177. Allison Kealy

Local community walk down Lygon St

After assembly on Tuesday, a group of Prep children went for a wander down Lygon St. There was a focus on observing what our wider community has to offer.

We walked from our school to the cemetery and took lots of photos of interesting things along the way.

Preps in Pyjamas

Today the whole school didn't get dressed and came to school in their pyjamas. To say the children were excited would be an under statement. Here are some pictures of Preps in Pyjamas.

We constructed ... a community

In the art space children have been constructing a community using boxes, paper, string, paddle pop sticks and textas. This has been a big group project that many children have taken part in. Come in and have a look, it is very impressive.

 

Junior School Library (JSL) Helpers

We have a new circulation system for books in the JSL area. Thanks to those parent helpers who are rostered on, we are now scanning books in and out.

We do need another parent each morning to facilitate the loans system and to back up the other parent if they are absent for some reason.

 

To join the JSL roster, from 8.50-9.00am (it’s a 10-15 min job each morning), please let Mark know or a Home Group Teacher.

To find out more email: riley.mark.g@edumail.vic.gov.au

 

Book Covering Boxes

Boxes of new books requiring covering are available from Julie in the Reception area. They can be taken home for covering.

If you have special skills in covering using ‘dust jacket’ method, we’d love to hear from you or we can train you to do this method.

 

Thanks,

Mark

Melbourne Now and On Top of the World: Flags for Melbourne Project

Today at assembly Stewart Russell and Helen Johnson spoke about our school's involvement with Melbourne Now and On Top of the World: Flags for Melbourne project . We were also lucky enough to see the wonderful flag design that Helen Johnson has come up with using the children's artwork. Below I have included an article Hannah wrote for Talking Point for you to read.

Flags in Prep: Last term everyone in the Prep Neighbourhood designed a flag in a workshop after watching the Japanese film Totoro, these are being finished in the art space during Learning Agreement and some are currently displayed around the Neighbourhood.

Now we are designing a flag as a whole Neighbourhood with the help of Belinda (Noah V's mum). The project is in the beginning stages and children have been asked this week to design a symbol to represent themselves. Watch this space for more information about this project as it unfolds.

Article from Talking Point:

Princes Hill Primary School and On Top of the World :

Flags for Melbourne – A Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria  Exhibition

This project was developed by Stewart Russell from Spacecraft Studio, in collaboration with participating artists. On Top of the World: Flags for Melbourne is a public art project presenting flags designed by sixteen artists to be flown from flagpoles across the City of Melbourne, and concurrently presented in the Great Hall at the National Gallery of Victoria.

One of the exciting things about this project is that Princes Hill Primary School will be one of sixteen sites represented, (including Government House, The NGV, West Gate Bridge and the Exhibition Building). The reason our school will be one of the prestigious sites included in this project is because one of the five finalists for the 1901 Australian Flag competition was Ivor Evans, a 13 year school boy who attended Princes Hill State School. As a result, our school has been chosen as one of the prestigious sites to recognise the significant contribution of Ivor Evans.

The project is a unique opportunity for the city to engage with artists through the conversion of selected flagpoles into temporary gallery spaces.

On Top of the World: Flags for Melbourne extends the curatorial range of Melbourne Now and the NGV beyond their physical gallery spaces to become part of the day to day city experience.

 

The flags will take over 16 significant flag poles during the summer show, while a second set will be installed in the Great Hall at the NGV. In so doing the project provides Melbourne with access to the best visual art and design and in the context of their own community.

 

The individual artists and designers selected to create the new flags have been chosen to reflect the quality and breadth of creative talent in Melbourne. They have also been chosen to provide a diverse range of viewpoints to produce a memorable panoramic perspective of the city. Princes Hill Primary school will be represented by the artist Helen Johnson.

 

Melbourne Now will run from 22^nd of November 2013 – 23^rd March 2014. Flags for Melbourne will go up a week before the opening of Melbourne Now. We are excited to be a part of this wonderful exhibition.

Pyjama Day: 23rd Oct

Tomorrow is Pyjama Day at Princes Hill Primary. Children are invited to wear their pyjamas to school and bring a gold coin donation. Money is being raised for charity.

Action Required: PMP

We will be running a shorten Perceptual Motor Program (PMP) this term. Due to our new specialist timetable we are trying to work out an appropriate time. We are able to have access to the gym on Fridays after lunch (between 12:10 - 1:05). If you would be able to help during this time, please sign up on the sheets in the Neighbourhood. We are hoping to start this week.

We saw ... a plane sky writing

Today the Prep Neighbourhood was lucky enough to see a plane sky writing a message today when we were outside looking at shadows. The children and teachers were very excited by the sky writing and enjoyed trying to guess what was being written. Take a look at the pictures below.

 

 

 

Learning Agreement

This term the learning agreement spaces have changed again. Sia's homeroom is now the Art space, Maddy's homeroom is the Writing space and Jessica's homeroom is the Maths/Science space. The children have been really engaged in the learning experiences that have been set up this term.

Week 3 Happenings

Bazaar Hampers are in the Prep Neighbourhood, please start bringing in items to fill the hampers.

 

Monday
Library: Prep J

Tuesday
9  Assembly and Coffee Cart
9:40 Community Walk (Parent Helpers required)
Library: Prep M

Wednesday
Library: Prep S

Action Required: Guest Speakers

This term the Prep Neighbourhood is continuing with our 'Creating a caring community' inquiry and we are beginning to look at the wider community. As part of this we are asking for guest speakers to speak to the Neighbourhood about their jobs and how they impact the community. We are hoping to have these sessions in Week 4, so if you would be interested in speaking with the Neighbourhood please speak with a member of the Prep team.

Carfting for the Bazaar

Action Required: Bazaar Baskets

In each homeroom there is a tub for the Bazaar Hampers. Please take a look at what items are needed for your homegroup's hamper. 

 

Action Required: Community Walk

Next Tuesday the Prep Neighbourhood will going on a community walk to see who and what is in our local community.  We will be leaving school at approximately 9:40 (after assembly and the roll) and will be wondering around for about 30-40 minutes. If you can join us on the walk please add your name to one of the lists in the Neighbourhood.

We're going on a word hunt: 'ut' words

This week we were looking for words that end in 'ut'. Some examples were 'but', 'nut' and 'cut'. The children have been asked to look for more 'ut' words in their reading at home and brings these words in to share with the Neighbourhood.

 

Maths: Using a Calendar

Today the children received a calendar for Term 4 and added some of the important events that will be taking place. We will be continually referring to and adding more events to this calendar throughout the term. We ask that you talk to your child about how you use your calendar/diary and discuss if there are any important dates that your child can add to their calendar at school. e.g. family birthdays/planned trips away/special visitors.

Term 4

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1	October 7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th
2	14th	15th	16th	17th	18th	19th	20th
3	21st	22nd	23th	24th	25th	26th	27th
4	28th	29th	30th	31st	November 1st	2nd	3rd
5	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
6	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	17th
7	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd	23rd	24th
8	25th	26th	27th	28th	29th	30th	December 1st
9	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
10	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th
11	16th	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd
Holidays	23rd	24th	25th Christmas Day	26th	27th	28th	29th
Holidays	30th	31st	January 1st 2014