Parkhill Primary School Newsletter
Issue 16, Thursday May 24 2018
Principal's Message
CAMP SPECIAL
Well… this week’s newsletter comes to you from Log Cabin Camps, Creswick! It’s been a beautiful, fun-packed few days here and the children of Y5/6 are having a super-duper time! It rained yesterday during our Sovereign Hill experience day, but it didn’t dampen our spirits at all. The children learned about migration push and pull factors, we panned for gold and learned about the Eureka Stockade. We were investigators looking for evidence to support our claims, learned about the diggers, restaurant owners, sweetie makers and redcoats.
At camp the activities are in full flow – Canoeing, Leap of Faith, Zip Line, Initiatives and Crate Stacking…
VISION BOARD:
As you may be aware, our super-duper active PFA has been and continue to raise funds to help us develop our play spaces once the building works are complete! We would like your help. Outside my office in the foyer is a large empty display board, which Roger recently installed for us. I would love to develop a community vision board where together we can develop ideas for our play spaces at Parkhill. Next time you see something in a play area that you love, take a photo, print it off and come pop it on the board… or next time you see something in a magazine or newspaper that you think is a great idea, cut it out and come pop it on the board! The vision board is like a wish list or an ideas pallet for how we would like our spaces to look.
Reminders:
Radio Awareness Incursion: The Y3 students have an incursion on Monday as part of their Finding Out for their new unit of work.
ICAS Science: On Tuesday we will hold the ICAS Science test for any students who have elected to do it.
Open Day/Evening: On Wednesday from 9am – 11am we will hold our annual Open Day. Please come along and have a look through our new Foundation – Y2 building, pop into the classrooms throughout the school and say hi! I will be running some workshops on Essential Agreements during the morning. In the evening from 6pm – 7:30pm we have our Open Evening where the children come back to school and guide you around the school with the Parkhill Passport! Please come and join us in the fun!
Have a great weekend,
Elaine Brady
Principal
Calendar of Curriculum Events
Friday May 25 - Y5/6 students return from camp at 3:30pm
Monday May 28 - Y3 Radio Awareness Incursion
Tuesday May 29 - ICAS Science
Wednesday May 30 - Open Day from 9am-11am & Open Night from 6pm-7:30pm
Friday June 8 - Y2 Melbourne Zoo Excursion & Foundation Myuna Farm Excursion
Friday June 29 - Term 2 ends at 2:30pm
Student of the Week
FS - Riley T
FT - Jake L
1B - Justin M
1HE - Zoe P
2C - Lucy B
2M - Najim S
3M - Cody S
3R - Sherry Z
4G - Isaac A
4N - Victoria R
5D - Jamie X
5H - Whole Class
6CM - Erin S
6L - Jethro D
New Music Teacher
We have a new instrumental music teacher at Parkhill - Matthew! Matthew will be teaching clarinet, saxophone and recorder lessons. If you would like more information on the instrumental music lessons provided at Parkhill, contact the office at parkhill.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au or 03 9807 2239.
Musica Viva Incursion - Water Water Everywhere
Splish, splosh, splish, splosh! The students sat with rapt attention as the percussionist flicked the water with her fingers. There was an audible gasp as she pulled out a huge plastic tube, put the end in the water and hit it with…. a thong?!?
On Thursday May 17, Parkhill Primary School was visited by three musicians from Musica Viva’s education program who played excerpts from Tan Dun’s Water Concerto. There was Luke on soprano and bass clarinet, Leigh on keyboard, and Thea on percussion, playing all sorts of things in her huge bowls of water – plastic cups, wooden bowls, bells, a gong, and that huge plastic tube of course. They talked with us about the importance of water in our daily lives and there were also opportunities for the students to get involved musically, using body percussion and instruments to improvise along with the musicians to create their own original compositions.
The students were a fantastic audience, showing great interest in the music and gleefully joining in when asked. They also had a chance to ask some interesting questions of the musicians at the end. We’re now all looking forward to a chance to make our own water music in the coming weeks.
Jackie Knight
Performing Arts Teacher
Mighty Migration
Mighty Migration has been the topic of our current Y6 Inquiry. We have been studying waves of migration and how immigration impacts individuals and Australia. Y6 would like to share their learning with the wider community and welcome all to visit the display in the foyer. It will be available to view both before and after school for the next 2 weeks. Please drop by and check it out!
Busy Times in Foundation
What a very busy time the Foundation students have had in the last couple of weeks. We visited the Botanic Gardens and planted our own daffodil bulbs. We heard the story of the lightning tree, walked in the rainforest and had a wonderful time exploring the Children’s Garden.
For Tt Week we invited our teddies for a Teddy Bear’s picnic. We decorated teddy bear biscuits and shared them with our buddies.
Our “Action” for our Inquiry Unit, “Sustaining Life”, was to help Jenn in the Parkhill Garden. We weeded the garden and planted snow peas. Thanks Jenn for letting us help out!
For Gg Week we invited our Grandparents/Special Friends to school. We shared a special book and the Grandparents/Special Friends had to do lots of thinking!! The Foundation students put on a little concert and morning tea for our visitors.
A very, very big thank you to all our wonderful parents who have helped us out over the last couple of weeks.
Y1 Melbourne Zoo Excursion
“We went to the Melbourne Zoo to look at animals and their environments.” - Justin M
“We learned that animals live in lots different countries and habitats.” - Carmen B
“It was funny when the Orang-utans hid from us.” - Holly G
“It was nice to see the animals happy in their habitats.” - Jackson M
“We had a really good time at the zoo!” - Miranda Z
Y3 Salvation Army Incursion
“I want to be like the Salvos”, I thought. Recently, the Y3 students had Brad Potter from the Salvation Army come to Parkhill to explain what they do. We learnt that the Salvos help the poor by providing food, water, money and help with their bills. It was amazing to learn that the Salvos provide hope for the poor! The Y3 students became very emotional and it made us think about what we can do to help others!
By Hannah D, 3R
Art News
The Cover Art Competition is open to all primary aged students and is free to enter. It closes on Friday June 15 2018. The winning entry will receive a $100 Dymocks book voucher for the school and a $50 book voucher for themselves. Parent consent must be given for participation.
If you are interested in entering, please see Cathy Bateman for further details. The entries will be sent all together, so submit them to Cathy Bateman by Friday June 8 at the latest.
Cathy Bateman
Visual Arts
Chaplain's Corner
Ah, the joys of getting kids to school on time.
It’s not so bad for us now, the eldest is largely responsible for getting himself to school and he (so far) does a good job of it. But when he was smaller we had more than a few awkward parent-teacher conferences where they helpfully suggested getting the boys to school on time would be beneficial to their learning. When children are late they miss out on the first part of the day, and - depending on how late they are - they may miss learning or crucial instructions and have to endure the stares of everyone else in the class as they shuffle in late, yet again. As parents we knew it wasn’t great and it took a while to work out what works.
Below are some TIPS for the less organised amongst us. I hope you find something helpful that will make your mornings a little bit more stress free!
Set things out the night before: Clothes, lunches, breakfast, equipment they need to take…. Oh and shoes. I’ve lost count of how many mornings we used to spend searching for lost shoes!
Actually time how long it takes to get to school - it may be longer than you think. Or check on Google Maps then add 20%.
Work out what time you need to arrive and work backwards from there. By that I don’t mean plan to arrive at 9am - plan to arrive at 8:45am and work out how long does it take you to get here, and how long will it take to put everything and everyone in the car.
In your planning include some “fudge factor” to allow for last minute toilet stops/nappy changes, changing muddy toddlers that fell over on the way down the driveway, traffic, the kinder child needing to look at every second flower along the way, etc. I’m learning not to fill every available minute. It gives you space for things to go wrong and to enjoy life a bit more too!
Set a 'loading the car time', not a leaving time. I only just read about this one and I’m keen to try it as I often notice anywhere between 5 and 15 minutes disappearing between the time I start to leave the house and actually pull the car out of the driveway.
If you need to, set a timer so you know it’s time to get out the door. Or even set more than one!
Lastly be aware that sometimes things do go wrong, and that’s ok - on those mornings we need to be kind to ourselves!
Suzanne Carmody
Chaplain
PFA News, May 24
Committee Members:
President: Vanessa Cowley
Vice President: Katrina Battle
Treasurer: Sumi Sundram
Secretary: Kylie Touloupis
Communications: Eva Conley
General Members: Fiona Crellin, Jason Van Lint, Elle Delmee, Mark Havas, Lisa Jacobson, April Minniece, Anny Murray, Wendy Douglas, Janneke Storteboom.
THANK YOU!
Thank you to all the parent volunteers who helped with the NAPLAN breakfast preparation. The children and teaching staff really appreciated your effort. The students wished it was NAPLAN every day!
ENTERTAINMENT BOOKS ARE NOW AVAILABLE!
For just $70, get over $20,000 worth of valuable offers to use within Melbourne until June 2019.
Each entertainment book ordered via Parkhill contributes funds to our school. Share with your friends and family. Order here: https://www.entertainmentbook.com.au/orderbooks/9r34937
Thanks for your support!
TRIVIA NIGHT!
Tickets are selling fast, but it’s not too late! Join us for an evening of grown up fun! The Parkhill Trivia Night is not only jam-packed with trivia, there are also door prizes, games, a silent auction and even some rock 'n' roll bingo!
BOOK YOUR TICKETS HERE: https://www.trybooking.com/VVOT
SILENT AUCTION
With the Parkhill Trivia Night just around the corner, there are some fabulous auction items up for grabs. If you are unable to attend on the night, no worries - there is a complete list of items and bidding sheets with all the information you need at the office.
HAPPY BIDDING!
If you are the successful bidder and are not attending the Trivia Night, you will be contacted the following week.
Here’s a list of auction items to date:
Parkhill Primary School
Email: parkhill.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au
Website: www.parkhillps.vic.edu.au
Location: 4A Parkhill Drive, Ashwood VIC, Australia
Phone: 03 9807 2239