Book Swapping on Thursdays

Over the next four weeks period, during the 2012 Prep Transition program, staff, students and parents are being asked not to use the Hall/Torus areas in the mornings. This will mean that home reading books will need to be changed during or at the end of the day, with the Specialist program operating in the two hour block after lunch.

We thank you for your cooperation,

The Year 1 Team 

Books in Lockers

Just a reminder that students' learning books stored in their bag lockers are not for taking home as they are still being used in class. If you have inadvertently taken them home, can you please return them?

Many thanks.

Term 4: Important Dates

Week 2:

Monday 17^th October: Life Education 1V (9 am)

Monday 17th October: Life Education 1S (10 am)

Tuesday 18^th October: Life Education 1E (2:30 pm)

Chess commences (Wednesday Lunchtimes in the Torus)

Week 3:

Tennis commences (Tuesday Lunchtimes for 7 weeks - 13th December final session)

Wednesday 26^th October: Ripponlea Excursion (9:15am-3:15pm)

Week 4:

Monday 31^st October: Whole School Assembly (Hong Kong student exchange program)

Tuesday 1^st November: Melbourne Cup Day (No School)

Thursday 3^rd November: Tabloid Sports session 1 (9-9:45 am)

Week 5:

Thursday 10^th November: Tabloid Sports session 2 (9-9:45 am)

Sunday 13th November: PHPS Annual Bazaar

Week 6:

Wednesday 16^th November: Official opening of BER (check newsletter closer to the date for times)

Thursday 17^th November: Tabloid Sports session 3 (9-9:45 am)

Week 7:

Thursday 24^th November: Tabloid Sports session 4 (9-9:45 am)

Thursday 24^th November: Parent thankyou morning tea

Week 8:

Week 9:

All Library books due back by this week

Friday 16^th December: Reports home

Week 10:

Wednesday 21^st December: End of Year Picnic

Thursday 22^nd December: Last day of the year (2pm finish)

A belated 'Welcome Back' to Term 4

We welcome families and children back to a busy term ahead! We also welcome back Emily to the Year 1 Neighbourhood who is working with us in sessions 3 & 4. Alex, our student teacher, will also continue working with us for the first two weeks of 4^th Term.

Catrina delivered a healthy baby girl, Kyra, on the Sunday before the term started. We look forward to hearing regular updates from Luca as well as look forward to her coming into the area for a visit. 

Hats

Please remember that the school Sunsmart policy is effective in Terms 1 & 4. Children need to have hats with 7cm wide brims in order to be allowed to play out of undercover areas (the Library terrace area). Hats can be purchased from the Uniform shop located in stage area of the gym (use the ramp entrance) on Monday mornings.

This term there are a number of special events taking place. These have been outlined on a separate blog post “Term 4 Important Dates”.

Play & Inquiry

This term the Year 1 neighbourhood continues its learning exploration looking at the role of families and culture. Students selected their Play & Inquiry investigation areas this week and these are detailed on the Play & Inquiry display board in the Torus.

Parent Helpers for Play & Inquiry

A heavy focus this term is on creative projects and any assistance from parents and carers would be welcome to assist students in their projects such as quilting, dolls/costumes & masks and claymation.

Cooking

We are also hoping to run weekly Friday cooking sessions with all of the Play & Inquiry groups. These will be small groups of six students using the Red Brick Building kitchen.

Please see Sia, Sheryal or Elke if you are able to assist in these learning initiatives.

Timetable Change

A change in Specialist timetabling has occurred this term. Presently, the Monday afternoon sessions have been changed to Friday afternoons (1V – Visual Arts; 1S – PE; 1E – Italian).

Thursday morning Specialist sessions (session 1 & 2) have changed to sessions 3 & 4 after lunch.   

Bazaar

Thankyou to the Year 1 parent reps who continue to promote the Annual School Bazaar efforts. Rosters have been placed on the Noticeboard outside the Year 1 Neighbourhood requesting assistance on the Year 1 stalls. A separate email has been sent out to families on each Home group’s email contact list detailing the timeline for events leading up to the Bazaar (collection of soft drinks, hampers, etc). Collection point for items are in the Torus.

Notices

Please remember to return the Blue Life Education permission slips and Yellow Excursion forms to classroom asap.

Life Education Visit 2011

Life Education Parent Information Session:

Tuesday 11^th October 2011

9:30 – 10:30am

Dear Parents

As part of our drug and health education this term we are having the Life Education mobile

classroom visit our school from  11/10/11 – 19/10/11. Prep – Year 2 will have a one hour lesson and Year 3 – 6 will have a 1.5 hour lesson during this time.

Life Education has been visiting our school biennially for many years and helps to facilitate the development of life skills in students to prevent and minimise the harm of drug misuse.

Lessons are always age appropriate and the children will be covering a wide range of drug and health related topics, ranging from the human body and how it works, healthy eating and nutrition, medicines and drugs, bullying, resilience and social skills.

Healthy Harold, the much loved Life Education giraffe mascot is always a much anticipated element of the Life Education visit. The sessions are always fun, interactive and really extend and develop the children’s understanding of the topics covered. We will be further broadening these topics in class both prior to and after the Life Education visit with the student workbook which is included in the cost of the visit.

As part of our drug and health education this term we are offering you the opportunity to visit our Life Education mobile classroom, while it’s here at our school to learn about the following:

What is my child learning in Life Education?

Have you seen inside the Life Education mobile classroom, or know of Harold?

What drug education is appropriate for primary school students?

Why do we have health and drug education?

How is health and drug education integrated into your school’s curriculum?

National Immunology Day Competition

Also on this Tuesday 23rd August:

A session is being run by one of the parents at PHPS - Charles Hardy for National Immunology Day. Approximately 35 students in Year 1 have elected to participate. Students will learn about the immune system and how the body fights infections and following the presentation, they will have the opportunity to create posters for the competition that closes on the last day of term. 

Delays of the competition can be found on the link below.

https://www.edumail.vic.gov.au/owa/redir.aspx?C=5004002850464b518cc4f49299a7060d&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.immunology.org.au%2fprimary.pdf

National Literacy Week/Day - Tuesday 23rd August

Following a whole Neighbourhood meeting on Friday, students decided that to celebrate National Literacy Week, next Tuesday they would either come dressed up as a favourite book character or bring in their favourite stories to share. Costumes/dress-ups do not need to be elaborate.

This week's Assembly is a celebration of National Book Week. The Year 1s will celebrate in the session after lunch.

Swimming Update: from Geoff

Please refer to Swimming Notice sent home for further details re. swimming caps.

Thanks!

Swimming Program Update: Swimming caps

The Year 1s and Preps had their first day swimming today and were fantastically behaved and confident in the water! It was wonderful to see the children enjoying the water and being instructed by the swimming teachers.

We found out today that the swimming pool policy is that all swimmers 3 years and over need to be wearing swimming caps. If your child/ren have these at home, could you please send these in their swimming bags?

We will follow up with the pool tomorrow to see if these can be purchased from the pool, so further updates to follow.

Sorry for the late notice,

Elke, Sia and Sheryal

Premier's Reading Challenge

Just a reminder that the Premier's Reading Challenge is due to finish at the end of August. Parents need to print out the book list and sign this sheet.

Please return sheets to homegroup teachers so they can be passed onto Annette for validation.

Many thanks,

Sia, Sheryal and Elke

Swimming Update

We have created a swimming schedule for the Notice Board outside the Year 1 entrance with swimming session times with both the first and second week. If you are able to assist, please put your name in the allocated session time.

Thanks,

Sia, Sheryal and Elke 

Parent Helpers for Year 1 Swimming

We would really appreciate parent assistance at the Year 1 swimming program in Weeks 5 and 6. Please let your homegroup teacher know or email me if you are able to assist on any (or more) of the days.

In the first week (Monday 15th, Wednesday 17th and Friday 19th August)

Session 1: Elke 9:10 am - 11:15 am

Session 2: Sheryal 10:05 am - 12:10 pm

Session 3: Sia 11:15 am -1:20 pm

In the second week (Monday 22nd, Wednesday 23rd and Friday 25th August)

Session 1: Sia 9:10 am - 11:15 am

Session 2: Elke 10:05 am - 12:10 pm

Session 3: Sia 11:15 am -1:20 pm

Many thank,

Sia, Sheryal and Elke

Princes Hill Primary School Cookbook

Don't forget to start writing up your favourite recipe for the PHPS Cookbook to be sold at this year's Annual PHPS Bazaar. Include your name, a short 'story' and, if taken from another recipe, credit to where it has come from.

Recipes can be emailed to: bookforcook@gmail.com

Mathletics

Some students in Year 1 have curently reached the highest level they can complete on their Mathletics Account. Elke has been collating a list of these students and is awaiting a response on how to get students into the next level.

Please see her if your child/ren have also completed this level so she can follow up with it.

In the meantime, there is a list of other Maths and Literacy learning activities on the Linked/Web-section of the Blog which you get to by scrolling to the bottom of the page. Some sites require parents to sign up.

Prep-Year 1 Swimming Program

Green permission slips were sent home on Friday to students who had returned "Expression of Interest" notices for swimming. Please complete all relevant details on these forms and return to Home Group teachers ASAP.

Please remember to also include payment when returning permission slips (swimming is not covered by the excursion levy).

The dates for swimming are listed below.

Monday 15th, Wednesday 17th & Friday 19th August

Monday 22nd, Wednesday 24th & Friday 26th August

The allocated times for each home group were also sent home this week.

Welcome Back to Term 3

Welcome back to a new term in the Year 1 Neighbourhood! We trust you have all had fantastic break.

Sia will return to school on Monday.

It is important for everybody to remember to bring in their Readers' and Writers' Notebooks to school daily, inlcuding the plastic pocket to transport books and notices safely. If your child has finished the notebook or has mislaid it, please purchase a replacement or see your homegroup teacher. We are really encouraging daily reading for all children to improve fluency and understanding, including reflections and written response to what is read. Please refer to the notice inside the book.

Thanks!

Parent Helpers

If parents have any spare time, Home Reading book boxes need some sorting, placing the books in the correct box. If you are able to assist before the end of the term or early next term, it would very much be appreciated.

Thanks

Late Arrivals on Tuesdays

If you arrive late on Tuesday and homegroups have already started making their way to assembly, can you ask students to place bags next to the stair well rather than on it? Many thanks!

Library Books

All library books should be returned before the end of the term. Thanks!

End of Term 2 Update: Parent Teacher Interviews & Term 2 Student Work on Display

Parent/Teacher interviews are scheduled for Thursday. Please note that Elke will be conducting interviews in Room 16 (Year 2 Neighbourhood) for her homegroup meetings.

Sia has been putting up a superb display of students' learning from this term including Play & Inquiry, reading reponse and maths activities.

Thank you to the two parents who have volunteered to become Parent Representatives in the Year 1 area. Please speak to Sia, Sheryal or Elke if you are willing to assist in this role.

A reminder that school finishes on Friday at 2:30 pm.

We hope you all have a wonderful Term 2 break, ready and refreshed for Term 3. Thank you to all the parent who have also assisted in the Year 1 Neighbourhood this term with reading, typing, laminating, accompanying students on the Melbourne Museum excursion and various other roles that help make our teaching role enjoyable and easier.

Happy holidays,

Elke, Sia & Sheryal