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Can you believe we are at the end of Week 6 already? I can't! What a wonderful Term 1 we have had so far. I'd like to begin by welcoming our two new students Arcena and Arnab who have joined us this week. Welcome to Swansea Primary School! I hope you have had a lovely first few days with us and thank everyone for making them feel so welcome. I’d also like to thank our SRC for their leadership so far this year. It was lovely to see them presenting Assembly this week. I enjoyed listening to the students from K-6 showcasing the learning happening in our classrooms and thank our community representative, Sergeant Marcus Pearce from Tas Police, who joined us to talk about Bike and Road Safety. The message was clear and just in time for National Ride2School Day today. It was a huge success and it was great to see so many happy and confident young riders. Thank you to all of our parents and grandparents who could join us this morning.
I am looking forward to celebrating Harmony Day on Wednesday and invite families and friends to come along and share a morning with us to celebrate Australia's cultural diversity. Further details are attached.
Fair preparations are in full swing. If you can spare some time on Easter Saturday to help out at a stall or have an idea in mind, we would love to hear from you. Donations of any kind are more than welcome!
On Tuesday 24th March we will be holding our School Association AGM in the Reading Room from 5pm-6pm and I encourage parents new and old, to consider joining the committee. If you are unsure about what the role entails please pop in and I'd be happy to chat with you and welcome you to come onboard.
Kristy Hay
Principal
On Tuesday 24th March we will be holding our School Association AGM in the Reading Room from 5pm-6pm and I encourage all parents new and old, to consider joining the committee. For those of you who are unsure about your role as a parent representative on the School Association, it is:
- to share ideas
- to help fundraising
- to suggest new intiatives and help to facilitate them
- to learn more about the School's vision for the future and that of the Department
- to attend a meeting once or twice a term to plan for and track progress on our fundraising efforts.
I hope to see you there and look forward to working together to brainstorm ideas for fundrasising for things like new play equipment, school bikes, a scooter track, undercover area for wet weather play, school mini bus, the list is endless! We need to look ahead and plan for the future and how our fundraising efforts can make SPS even better than it is today and I need your help!
On Wednesday the 11th of March, 21 students from Swansea Primary travelled to The Domain in Hobart to compete in the SPSSA Athletics Carnival. Our students competed in a range of long and short distance races as well as the long jump, shuttle relays and circular relays. Thanks to the enthusiastic participation of all students who attended, we came away with 6th place. All staff members were extremely proud of how our students represented our school. Congratulations to all of the students and a big thank you to the staff who helped organise this fantastic day.
Bronwyn Brown
Menu
Thursday 19th March Tacos (gluten and lactose free) $4
Thursday 26th March Shepherd’s Pie (gluten and lactose free) $4
Thursday 2nd April Ham & Cheese Pizza (gluten and lactose free) $4
Please bring canteen orders and payment to the school office by Wednesday morning for catering purposes.
Our Swansea Primary Sustainability Group would like to remind parents and friends that ALL old toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes can be recycled back to the factory from the boxes in the Office. This saves them going to landfill. Remember “You have to pay to throw away!” We will recycle small batteries too.
IDENTITY
In Kinder/Prep Class we are learners who look after and care for things.
On Assembly day we made a picture of 5 special things we have been learning to care for and then shared them with our school community.
Here are the 5 things we presented:
Our Bodies by Lincoln and Baily
"We have to wash our hands." - Baily
Our Broad Beans by Flora and Georgina
"We planted them last week... They need plenty of water, sun and good soil." - Georgina
Our Pet Eels by Riley and Emmett
Our Belongings by Poppie and Ella
"We need to look after books... we don't just throw them." - Ella
Our Rubbish by Felix and Zeb
"This is a dump truck taking the garbage away." - Felix
"We have to put our rubbish in the right bin." - Zeb
Social Skills
As a class we look at activities each week explain how the brain works. Our latest activity looked at dopamine and how our brain releases dopamine when we are happy, when others say or do kind things for us and also when we do kind things for others. If you are interested in seeing some of the episodes that we use to start our discussion then search for The Mindfulness Tool Kit on ABC iview.
Numeracy
We are concentrating on counting and addition. In Maths groups we are rotating through activities such as Mathletics (practicing logging in and doing revision work independently), teacher groups, adding activities, counting activities and maths games.
Our counting activity was based on guessing how many pieces of pasta we had and then counting and checking to see who got the closest guess. Different groups of students came up with different ways to count large numbers. Some students used egg cartons to group their counting into tens and twenties to make their final counting easier.
- Count in ones, twos, fives and tens from predicted numbers and from random numbers.
- Play maths games and board games at home.
- Count money and work out change.
- Tell the time (both analogue and digital).
- Work on Mathletics at home.
- Remind your child about the days of the week, the months of the year, the seasons etc.
- Cook together and measure out and weigh ingredients, work out fractions such as ½ a cup, time the cooking and share the food evenly.
HASS
Our history work has been looking at things from the past and comparing them to present day items. We then make predictions about the future. The ‘Topic Talks’ about old fashioned toys was really interesting. We discussed the materials that toys have been made from and how they are powered.
In geography we are looking at the different types of houses we live in and how different houses can serve different purposes. We have been drawing and labelling parts of houses and looking at the different materials used to make houses.
Next week’s ‘Topic Talk’ is a celebration or a special family tradition. This will hopefully allow us to discuss different traditions and celebrations around the world and compare them to our own.
A big thank you to all families who are reading together at home. We certainly do lots of borrowing from the library and enjoy reading either on our own or with a friend in class.
Humanities and Social Sciences and Art
We have been learning about biomes around the world, and how they are defined by the climate and flora and fauna that lives there. We will be researching a biome in small groups and presenting our findings to the class.
There are many categories of world biomes, but the main land ones are;
- Polar
- Temperate Forest
- Desert
- Tropical rainforest
- Grassland
- Wetlands
- Taiga (conifer forest)
- Tundra (alpine and arctic)
Mathematics and English
We have been trialling an online mathematics program called Prodigy. So far students seem to be very motivated to participate in math lessons that involve Prodigy!
There is a parent letter about Prodigy in Mrs Wilson’s students’ homework books. Why not log on together and see what you think!
We have been focusing on presentation of bookwork and handwriting. Students have also begun their typing lessons using an online classroom called TypingClub. Log on information is also in homework books.
Well done to all the students who have been completing homework. This is a great opportunity for discussion about schoolwork and to gain an idea of what your child has been doing at school.
Here are some reviews about Prodigy.
Alex; In Prodigy you fight monsters by answering sums correctly. You can get pets and go to different worlds when you fight.”
Eva; When you first enter the game you start at your house and get taken away to the academy where you first meet the evil puppet master. Then you fight his minions and level up until you eventually beat the puppet master.
Arcena; I would recommend this game because it is fun to play. There are good maths questions. This game is very unique too.
Lewis; The pets work well because if you die in a battle then they can take over for you.
Ruby; Prodigy helps kids learn more and you have to do math questions to beat the creatures.
Lincoln; Battles run really smoothly and moving around works well.
Alice; The game could be improved by adding more lands because you get bored of the same ones.”
Abby; I would recommend this game because it makes maths fun!
Summa; When you first start you get to choose a pet but you have to win the battle first – if you loose you do not get it.
Shyla; You have to answer questions and you battle people you know and people you don’t know.
Ava; Prodigy could be improved by adding a button that shows how to befriend people
Naoimh; I would recommend Prodigy because it’s really reassuring to play a game while knowing you are learning along the way too.
Ivy; I think Prodigy could be improved by including better music and they need to have better characters because everyone wears the same thing and you can’t choose what you wear.
Xearna; I give this game 4 and a half out of six and I would recommend it to others.
Courtney; At the start you put in your username and password, then your character goes to the academy.
Josh; I like Prodigy but I wish there was a more grown up version because some of the characters and pets are a bit childish.
Kade; I would recommend it because it is fun doing battles.
Blake; I am so obsessed with the game that once I’m on I don’t want to get off!
Dear Families,
Swansea Primary will be celebrating Harmony Day this coming Wednesday 18th March. All students will be involved in activities during the morning that celebrate Australia’s cultural diversity and reinforce the shared idea that everyone belongs.
We encourage all students to come to school wearing;
a costume from a culture or country other than Australia.
Or
- something orange
To continue the fun, we will be having a multicultural shared picnic for lunch.
It would be wonderful if families could send along
A plate of food that is easy to share that represents the food of another country or culture.
Please let class teachers know if your food is gluten, nut or lactose free.
We warmly invite families to come along for the morning and join in with our activities.
Warm Regards,
Sophie Wilson
Swansea Primary School needs your help for the Swansea Country Fair on Easter Saturday.
We would appreciate if all families could donate a Easter Raffle item, a block of chocolate/easter egg and/or easter novelty item.
We are also needing
- glass jars any sizes, but especially the low-wide style (salsa jars)
- lemons
- cherry tomatoes
- novelty items for lucky dip prizes
The Swansea Country Fair offers a fantastic opportunity to raise much needed funds for the school.
| Wed 18th March | Harmony Day - all students |
| Mon 23rd March | Tas. Brixhibition Lego Competition due |
| Mon 23rd March | Southern Tasmanian Student Leaders Conference - SRC students |
| Thurs 2nd April | SPSSA Champions Carnival - selected students |
| Wed 8th April | Assembly 1.45pm - All Welcome |
| Thurs 9th April | Moderation Day - students not required to attend school. |
| Fri 10th April | GOOD FRIDAY |
| Sat 11th April | SWANSEA COUNTRY FAIR |
| Mon 27th April | Term 2 begins |
NOTICEBOARD
Swansea Library Open 9.30 to 4.15pm
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