Parkhill Primary School Newsletter
Issue 20, Friday 7 August 2020
Dear Parents/Carers
As we head into the next few weeks under very difficult and surreal restrictions, I wish you all the very best. I urge you to continue to engage with our online platforms and connect the children with their friends in as many safe ways as you can: writing letters, phone calls, meets and any other fun ways to stay in touch but stay home!
Moving into next week we have removed the option for you to collect resources from school. The Learn From Home packs will be hosted in a google link - see below - for you to print and use at home. I understand that this causes issues for those of you who do not have access to a printer or have limited knowledge of how to manage these things. If you would like to discuss this further please contact me directly on 0413440871 or elaine.brady@education.vic.gov.au
The Learn from Home packages will be made available from 10am every Monday. Please keep the work that your child completes so that you can return it to school once we are back onsite.
https://sites.google.com/education.vic.gov.au/lfh-with-pps
Next week we are holding our Parent/Teacher interviews - you will have already received your invitation. If you would like to have an interview with any of our specialist team please contact them direct:
dean.sciacca@education.vic.gov.au
carlie.eriksen@education.vic.gov.au
shuoyin.tu@education.vic.gov.au
karin.moorhouse@education.vic.gov.au
The Parent/Teacher interviews offer the perfect chance to discuss your child’s learning with their class teacher and our specialist team - please do make the most of the opportunity.
Again this week across the school we have super engagement in our remote and flexible program. The children in our F/1 group are learning about fairy tales and thinking about perspective, different points of view and how the stories we know really well can be flipped! This week they read the story Three Billy Goats Gruff.
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
This week in F/1 we have been doing lots of activities based on the story The Three Billy Goats Gruff. We identified the different elements of the story. We looked at Tightening the Tension and the pebble, rock and boulder. We also created profiles of a troll and labelled his features. In STEAM we designed, built and tested a bridge too!
Juggling full time work and children at home learning is a real challenge. I saw this the other day that really made me think, and made me smile:
apologise to children when you are wrong
do not assume you're smarter than a child simply because you're older
say thank you to children when they do something for you or others
admit when you've made a mistake and admit it openly to them
listen to children
Our children need our time, our attention and our love.
I hope you are all well and that you are staying safe. Please reach out if you need support, help or have any feedback at all to offer elaine.brady@education.vic.gov.au
Take care and best wishes,
Elaine Brady
Principal
We are so Impressed with the Fantastic Home Learning Happening !
2/3T have been creating an Information report of an endangered animal, orthography - looking into the word "endangered" and looking at our gardens.
4/5D have been busy working on Inquiry Maths, Word Families and What is the Perfect Environment for your Wellbeing?
5/6 Suffix Poems
This week in 5/6 we have been exploring all the different ways to spell the sound ‘shun’. We then used our knowledge to write some short rhyming poetry. What a great job our 5/6 students did!
Once there was a silly magician,
He usually takes a magic position,
This time he teleported next to a musician,
For this he did not have a premonition.
Fynn
I have heard a suggestion,
That if I turn into a magician,
I won't have to write a poem with words like suppression,
Oh wait it’s too late. I have a crippling depression.
Sam
Kayo does not have the permission,
To become a magician,
And have all the attention,
From the politicians.
Ella
I am in a recession,
Of deep depression
I wish had permission
To break out of this homeschooling profession
JoeInquiry Maths 5/6G- Angles
Angles exploration flooded our online classroom this week as students searched for and measured angles in artwork and their homes. Students then elaborated on their learning by identifying the standard rule for the sum of angles inside a triangle and quadrilateral. Nice work team.
Chaplain’s Corner
Whilst watching re-runs from a favourite TV show over the lockdown period, one episode in particular really struck a chord.
Two of the characters had their world shattered after being forced to live out their lives on an isolated planet, away from all they’d ever known, in order to stop them succumbing to a deadly virus. No really, the show is 20 something year's old but it felt a little too relatable!
The two characters have vastly different approaches to what would, in a real life setting, likely amount to significant loss and trauma. One is able to calmly accept it and get on with forging a life where they are. The other fights against it every step of the way, obsessing over finding a cure until a raging storm dashes all hope of that possibility and she too is forced to accept her situation.
We find ourselves in the midst of grief and trauma, our freedoms stripped away (albeit for our own good but stripped away none-the-less) it’s confronting. We are isolated from each other, from our regular lives, police patrol the streets, the army is knocking on doors, signs on the freeway announce our city in curfew. This situation feels anything but normal. I’ve said it before but it bears repeating it’s ok to grieve all of the things we have lost and it’s ok not to feel ok.
The show I was watching really made me think about our present situation and how we approach significant change.
Some of us will be able to calmly accept our present reality and move on to what we need to do now, to make the best of it.
It’s encouraging to know we can come to a place of acceptance of change.
For others it will take a bit longer until we can settle and that’s ok too.
This journey is different for each of us so it helps if we practice empathy towards each other as we are all at different stages of making sense of or accepting our current situation.
And of course, the characters in the show made it home when their friends tracked down a cure. That reminds me to have hope too when I see the hard work being done around the world to find a vaccine. Until then I’m sure we’ll keep doing the best we can to keep making a life and looking after each other right where we are.
In this together friends.
Suzanne Carmody
Chaplain
Dear Parkhill Families,
We hope you are all keeping safe and well.
Thank you to the families who have placed an order from Issue 5. Every Book Club order earns Scholastic Rewards for the school to purchase additional resources, and we are grateful for your support.
The next Book Club issue is now available - Book Club Issue 6 2020. There is no cut-off date and you will be able to combine orders from both issues 5 and 6 up to the end of Term 3.
As we are in lockdown restrictions, we are again offering home delivery for orders with a $5.99 delivery fee.
Orders can be placed via the Book Club LOOP platform. Remember there is no obligation for you to make a purchase.
Need a hand or have any queries, please email me angelita.williams@education.vic.gov.au.
Happy reading, and take care!
Angelita Williams
Library Assistant
Young Engineers Term 3
This term we are happy to provide 3 different Online learning options through 4 different programs to our STEM parents.
Online learning Options:
- Lego® STEM Learning – Build models and learn STEM concepts
- Lego® Wedo Learning – Build models and learn how to program them using Wedo 2.0
- Scratch – Learn basic coding and logic to develop playable games
All these can be attended from the safety of the house and are fully supported by our YE team. (please see poster below)
Online links for each program are:
ONLINE PACK 1 - YE STEM LEGO® PROGRAM 2020 T3 - PREP TO YR 2: https://www.trybooking.com/BKPRN
ONLINE PACK 2 - YE STEM LEGO® PROGRAM 2020 T3 YR 3 - YR 6: https://www.trybooking.com/BKPSK
ONLINE PACK 3 - SCRATCH CODING PROGRAM 2020 T3 - YR 4: https://www.trybooking.com/BKPSL
ONLINE PACK 4 - LEGO® WEDO 2.0 CODING 2020 T3 YR 3 - YR 6: https://www.trybooking.com/BKQBU
Parkhill Primary School
Email: parkhill.ps@education.vic.gov.au
Website: www.parkhill.vic.edu.au
Location: 4A Parkhill Drive, Ashwood VIC, Australia
Phone: 03 9807 2239