Appreciations
Last weekend was an opportunity taken by so many in our (and the wider) community to visit further afield than has been possible since late June.  We have really earnt this opportunity. 

Concerns
A staff member was concerned that on Monday evening she observed two current students and a former student riding without due care, or helmets.  An accident only takes a moment but can have life altering effect for everyone associated.  I do know the staff member has spoken with the students and their parents.  While we do not wish to interfere in the children’s life beyond the school gates, our duty of care is consistent with our strongly held view that the work we do does not stop at the end of the school day.  This might be a moment to have a chat to your kids about making smart choices when involved in potentially risky recreation.

On issues of safety; a few reminders –

• At the end of the school day it is not safe or appropriate for parents or carers who park on the far side from the school to urge their children to cross the road unaccompanied. Please make your way onto the footpath on the school side and use the crossing whenever possible.
• If using our Their Care OSHC program after 8 am or before 4 pm (when the boom gate is operating), please do not walk through the car park to make your way to Emu Corner. As has been mentioned in the newsletter earlier this term, please enter at the car park gate and duck to your right through the single green gate that leads to a path at the front of Koala building, continue to your left between Koala and Wallaby, along the basketball court side of Gecko and past the bike shed to Emu Corner.  It is only probably an additional 40 metres to walk and is a whole lot safer.
• Finally, for parents or carers who are later than 3.40 pm to the Blandford St exits for pick up, gates will be locked and waiting students accompanied by a teacher to school reception. In such cases parents will need to access the front gate for student pick up.

Prep 2021 Q & A – This evening from 6.30 pm I will join our Kinder to Prep coordinator, Karri on a WebEx Q&A for parents of next year’s Prep intake.  This is yet another way Karri, strongly supported by the Prep team, has remodelled our usual plans in order to inform, support and encourage our newest intake of students and their parents. 

If you wish to attend, log on at: https://eduvic.webex.com/eduvic/j.php?MTID=m02f17392a054342ebd524fc9f4afdead

Meeting password: 2021fwps
Meeting number (access code): 165 818 0859

Updat-ed – I have enjoyed posting the terrific number of new subscribers weekly.  Last week we had 379 and now we have 432 registered subscribers.

As the Updat-ed app requires us to approve registrations for new subscribers to receive communications, please contact us if you have completed the process and you have yet to receive access.  There have been a small number of registrations who we are unable to ascertain contact details and as a consequence were unable to process further. A call to the office should be able to solve this problem quickly.  To download the app just visit the App Store for iPhones or Google Play for Androids.  Search for Updat-ed by sponsor-ed and from the menu select our school.

Next week …

Kinder students staged visits – We are pleased that following a COVID safe plan we will be inviting our 2021 cohort of preps to visit, along with a parent or carer for the first time over the next two weeks.  The stringent regulations will enable only 5 children, accompanied by 5 adults (parent or carer) to attend a classroom at a time.  As a consequence, we will hold 3 x 45-minute visits over 8 days. 

Each session will be held in alternating prep grades with the current prep classes being taught in the gallery space on these days. These sessions will be held Monday to Thursday in Weeks 8 and 9 from 23/11 - 3/12.  3 sessions daily at 9:15am, 10:30am and 1:00pm. 

Classes for 2021 - Next year we are in the rare situation of having the identical number of grade 1 classes planned as we have had Prep classes this year.  Due to it being such a challenging year, after agreeing on our class structure for next year and following consultation with the Prep teaching team, I would like to announce that the current prep student groupings will remain the same for 2021.  This decision was predicated on the reduced amount of in person face to face teaching, as well as far less time for the students to form bonds of friendship. Due to the class structure we are unable to consider using this approach in other grade levels, but we do feel that this unique approach for the prep grades will be generally well received.

Graduation Polo Tops for Grade 6 2021
Every year our graduating grade 6 students have the opportunity to purchase a commemorative polo top.  Notes went home this week and are due back no later than Friday 11th December. 

A note from Jodi from our Library
The last week for library borrowing this year will be 23 November to 27 November. 
All student books will be due back on Monday 30 November to enable the annual stocktake to proceed.
Students will still be able to come into the library from November 30 but will have to bring their own books as they will be unable to use the books on the shelves.

All the best,

Brendan

Does your child want to be a rock star? Of course they do! Now is their chance to put down the air guitar and pick up a real one! With a contemporary student driven approach, Soundgarage is a fun way to enjoy music.

Children can sing or learn an instrument, build their self-confidence and be involved in a variety of music performances. 

If your child/ren would like to have lessons with Soundgarage in 2021, please register your child  sing the Soundgarage Enrolment Form 2021.  Please ensure you complete both sides, the online component and return the form to the school office by 4pm on Monday 7th December 2020. 

Soundgarage lessons will cost $155.00 per student per term. 

For further information please contact Maddie Owen 0401 844 522 or email:maddie@soundgarage.com.au.

In Prep this week we are learning about feedback.   We are practising how to give and receive constructive feedback to others. We continue to practise our reading strategies (reading super powers) and increase our independent reading stamina. Students are learning to take notes and taking notes of describing words they find in texts. We are learning how many stories we read contain a message to the reader and we are discussing the meaning of stories read.

     

In writing we are learning to write independently using correct sentence structures by writing about experiences at school. Once they have finished, students are encouraged to reread to check their conventions and if they would like to add further detail or change word choice. Students are learning to add more detail to enhance their writing and learning to revise and edit their work.

       

In math students have been learning division by making equal shares. Students are learning to write number sentences to match their problems and select a strategy to solve and represent a division problem. We are exploring the language of capacity by experimenting with a variety of different shaped containers: pouring, emptying, and filling, etc.

    

Students are enjoying learning about animals in our integrated studies unit. They have made their animals and animal habitats considering their animal’s needs such as water, food, shelter, space and depicting the most ideal or natural home of that animal.

      

A reminder that although we don’t mind students bringing Pokemon cards to school, they are not allowed to trade them as this has caused concerns in prep grades.

     

We are thankful to our families for their continued support over the term.

Have a great week of learning.

Anna, Amelia, Karri, Amel, Janeane, Tara and Helen.

This week, the Grade 6 students have been working on investigating the enormity of our solar system as part of our Earth Space & Science unit. After a practical activity of stepping out the size of the solar system across the oval, students worked on building solar systems whilst considering the accurate scale of either the size of the planets OR the distance of the planets from the sun. 

       

Students had to use the AU (astronomical units) and some multiplication skills to create the accurate distances of the planets. Even more maths was involved in reducing the size of the planets to a manageable size. Then a whole lot of craft materials, newspapers and coloured paper was used in building a model. 

Our School is located on the lands of the Wurundjeri and Kulin people and we wish to acknowledge them as the Traditional Owners.

We would also like to pay our respects to their Elders, past and present, and Aboriginal Elders of other communities.



We enjoyed celebrating NAIDOC Week and learning about our First Nations people.   NAIDOC Week 2020 acknowledges and celebrates that our nation’s story didn’t begin with documented European contact.

                  
The very first footprints on this continent were those belonging to First Nations peoples.

For us, this nation’s story began at the dawn of time.

NAIDOC 2020 invites all Australians to embrace the true history of this country – a history which dates back thousands of generations.

It’s about seeing, hearing and learning the First Nations’ 65,000+ year history of this country - which is Australian history. We want all Australians to celebrate that we have the oldest continuing cultures on the planet and to recognise that our sovereignty was never ceded.

Always Was, Always Will Be.

Dear Parents/Guardians of grade 6 students,

Following the current restrictions about gatherings (consistent with the most recent update of the School Operations Guide of 4th November), the 2020 Graduation will be held in the GECKO building with grade 6 students and school staff.

Unfortunately, with a need to confirm our arrangements at this stage, we will be unable to host any family members at this year’s graduation event.

Grade 6 students will remain at home on the morning of December 14th (last week of the term) and arrive at school ready for the daytime ceremony to commence at approximately 12:30 pm (TBC).

A 2-hour post ceremony celebration for the grade 6 cohort will be held immediately afterwards. Our staff will provide food and drinks and supervise the students during this time of celebration and reflection through until the normal home time of 3:15/3:30 pm. This will be in the style of the grade 6 socials which were unfortunately cancelled due to COVID 19.

All performances and award ceremonies will be recorded prior to and at this time and will be provided to each student on a USB memory device in the days following our graduation event.

While we understand that parents and family members will be disappointed at this necessary decision, we hope that you will be understanding and supportive. We wish to continue to work cooperatively to ensure our unique graduation is a positive and memorable event for our very worthy, grade 6 cohort.

Term 4 will finish at 1:30pm on Friday 18th December. 

If you have any questions, please contact your child’s teacher.

Regards

Grade 6 Team

Hi FWPS!

I’m Hannah from the Maribyrnong Toy Library and we are coordinating a series of Aboriginal Story Times with our partner Aboriginal organisation Yarn Strong Sista. 

It would be great if you could promote these events through the school newsletter. Attached is the promotional poster.

Also feel free to incorporate this event into your classes (we have had a few schools attend the previous live story time). It would be most suitable for prep and 1&2 classes. Feel free to forward this on. 

Our next story is next Tuesday: Aboriginal Music Story Time.

Join Annette Sax, a Taungurung woman and Education and Creative Arts Director of Yarn Strong Sista, for an Aboriginal story time. While listening to some songs from Aunty Wendy’s Mob CD, Growin’ up Strong and making your own music, we will learn about the importance of the Possum Skin Cloak for Victorian Aboriginal Peoples. Annette will also share the Aboriginal Hokey Pokey in local language.

When: 1:30-2:30pm Tuesday 24^th of November

Where: online

Cost: free

To register: www.eventbrite.com.au/o/maribyrnong-toy-library-14484191549    

Cheers,
Hannah Veljanovska 

I acknowledge the Wurundjeri Traditional Custodians of the land on which I live, and pay my respects to the Elders, past, present and the young people that will grow our future.

A Christmas-e-Carol will get people singing Maribyrnong’s very own Christmas Carol written and recorded by local artists. Our special version of the 12 Days of Christmas is a nod to our local traders and the delicious diversity of food offerings in this City. Residents are asked to learn the song (even just a piece of it as it is long) and record themselves singing, dancing or playing instruments along. Then send their videos in to be part of the bigger edited version. All the videos compiled will be a a wonderful tapestry of our community singing as one and we want to see all sections of the community, young and young at heart singing together. Submissions are open 13 November – 1 December, with the final video piece circulated from December 14.

Here's the website for all entry links including the song and some suggested dance actions.

A-Christmas-e-Carol

Santa and Sirens involves a digital photo competition giving residents the opportunity to win a visit from Santa on a special vintage fire truck. A winner from each suburb in our municipality will be selected. Many of our suburban back streets will enjoy the Santa drive by from their front yard, in what will be a series of small Covid-safe events bringing Santa to the people. Competition entries are open 13 November - 1 December, with the tours taking place from December 14-18. Only residents of the City of Maribyrnong will be able to win this prize. For more details and links on how to enter head to

Santa-and-Sirens