Back to Back Special Weeks
Last week was Science Week and I am sure many families enjoyed talking about some of the amazing activities conducted in our Primary School learning spaces. Ask your children about some of the following activities their teachers organised in classrooms last week, or perhaps others not listed:
Robotic hands Tower building Physics – fulcrums Weight distribution Bug Observations Making butter
Simple machines – marble runs
Ivory soap clouds Rocket tea bags Slime Volcanoes Making lemonade Magnets Dancing raisins ‘Eggsperiments’
This week is Book Week and we were off to a flying start on Monday with our annual Book Parade. It was obvious that hours of preparation had gone into many costumes as children and staff alike paraded around our MPC to the joy of their captive audience. Dressing up as one of our favourite book characters is a great way to recognise the power that books have to transport us to far away places in our mind.
We had students and staff from our Early Learning Centre, Officer and NWS Campuses all having fun together, enjoying high fives and congratulations on their efforts. The costumes covered a wide range of book titles and authors:
Roald Dahl Titles
Alice in Wonderland
The Bible
Anne of Green Gables
Fairy tales & Nursery rhymes
Where’s Wally
Charlotte’s Web
The Chronicles of Narnia
Books and characters derived from movies
Kids classics – Paddington Bear/Winnie the Pooh
The Secret Seven
Super heroes and sports stars
We were also treated last week with a visit from Award Winning Australian Author, Claire Saxby. Claire shared her books and how she develops her stories through ideas and research. Our students were engaged in the writing process and were fascinated by the depth of knowledge and planning required to bring ideas to life in the form of a picture story book.
This past week we have had the Scholastic Book Fair and Adventist Book Centre visit OC Primary. Students have been able to visit the Book Fair and write out a wish list of titles they would really love to be able to purchase and enjoy. Parents can come in and browse as well and payment can be made by cash in person or online. The Book Fair travels to our NWS Dining Room this week. All NWS students will have the opportunity to go ‘window shopping’ on Thursday and Friday this week and take their wish lists home. This Tuesday and Wednesday before and after school, there will be opportunity for our NWS families to come in and buy books.
Classroom activities during book week have included shared and modeled reading and lots of writing about books. In the upper grades students have been writing persuasive texts, persuading their readers to pick up their favourite book, giving reasons why it is the best book going around at the moment. I wonder what other learning your child has been engaged in of late?
We hope your children have been enriched over the past two weeks being immersed in science and books. Take the time to talk to your children about their learning and the fun they have had, focusing on these two special weeks on our College calendar.
Mr Roger Sevenhuysen
Deputy Principal Primary