Newsletter Articles

Ashbourne

Congratulations to Evie and Graeme.

Langhorne Creek

Congratulations to Montanna and Tilley who are our School Captains.

They will be ably supported by Charlotte M and Mia as their Vice Captains.

Milang

Congratulations to Zayden and Lydia.

Strathalbyn

Congratulations to Jack and Poppy who are our School Captains.

They will be ably supported by Georgie, Lexie and Vienna as their Vice Captains.

Surf Safety Day at Port Elliot

Our Surf Safety day at Port Elliot last week was a fabulous day for all. The weather was perfect and we all enjoyed improving our surf safety and skills. This day was funded through the National Sporting School Program and was an excellent way to ensure core surf safety and competency for all our students.

The Acacia Class

We have had a very busy start to our school year in the Acacia class. We have been setting up our class routines, building a team environment, getting to know each other and decorating our classroom walls. We are all looking forward to a great year ahead!

From Miss Gail’s Reception - Year 1/2 class

Trees

The Reception - Year 1/2 class at the Langhorne Creek have been learning about why trees are important in our lives. We brainstormed the reasons why trees help all living things.

Trees:

• Provide shade and shelter
• Produce fruit and nuts
• Provide food and homes for animals, insects and birds
• Produce wood which is used to make many different things including paper
• Are used to play hide and seek
• Provide oxygen to help us with breathing
• Are great for climbing
• Need to be loved and looked after so they aren’t cut down
• Need to be planted to help the Earth be healthy

From Mrs Hopkins’ Emus

Quality Start

The Upper Primary have settled in well at Langhorne Creek and have enjoyed several collaborative Quality Start activities. We would like to welcome Ava, Levi and Chew to our class and it’s great to see so many happy, smiling faces. Here is some of our artwork about what we are looking forward to this year and our quirky ‘Wanted’ posters!

Sewing …

We made these bags from recycled material. We are going to use them for library or shopping bags. It was lots of fun. - Imi

Cockatoo’s Visit from SAPOL

A highlight for last week was a visit from SAPOL. The children listened carefully as Police Officer Sarah talked about all the different things that police officers do and shared some pictures of the Police Force in action. She explained what an emergency is and how to respond when an emergency happens. We also learnt an interesting fact about police horses - South Australia is the only Police Force in Australia to have ‘Police Greys’.

What about Bees?

The Upper Primary class has had a great start to the school year. We have been focusing on what working collaboratively looks like. We worked collaboratively on a joint art project using oil pastels to create a bee. This involved communicating with classmates who were working on the parts of the bee surrounding your part, discussing colours and making decisions together. We then recreated the same project. However, this time we worked individually and we didn’t communicate with the people working around us. The two bees turned out very different. This is what we noticed.

The individual bee I like. But the collaboration bee looks like a real bee and we were working as a team and communicating. - Zayden

I think the individual bee looks good but I liked the one when we collaborated, it looks better. - Opal

Snipe Sanctuary

During Term 1, the Upper Primary class as part of their Science lessons are learning about birds. Last week they walked down to the Snipe Sanctuary on the Milang foreshore and observed the environment that the snipes live in. They returned to the classroom with lots of questions which they will investigate throughout the term.

They also collected leaves, twigs and bark and made their own bird’s nests. Working collaboratively students were able to use their critical thinking skills.

Quality Start with Room 8

Things have kicked off with a ‘flying start’ during the Quality Start activities in Room 8. We have been establishing our class agreements, learning about our wellbeing in relation to stress, positive relationships and strategies to help such as Mindfulness. We have also been exploring ‘Deep Learning’ through activities developing collaboration and character. Here is what some children thought…

My first week was fun. We wrote our class agreements and what stress is and how it can make you feel. Also how to make yourself feel better like breathing in or out or counting to twenty. We do mindfulness where we listen to ‘Smiling Mind’ or music. We do reading or drawing. We did a lot of ‘get to know you’ activities – talking to each other or playing people bingo (except you are asking people questions). We did this really fun activity where we made a paper chain out of newspaper and we had to put the paper chain around the handle of a bucket of water. We poured one litre at a time into the bucket. You had to make the paper chains THICK or they would snap. We also had a lot of ‘Me Talks’ to get to know facts about people. – Jordan B

Team 28!

Team 28 at Strathalbyn R-6 has had a terrific start to school. We have had a focus on friendships and positive relationships, classroom routines and sustainability. We have also been learning about Global Learning Competencies with a focus on Character, Collaboration and Citizenship. We have been learning about these through a variety of fun activities.

One of the activities that we loved was working together to create a natural portrait of our partners. These were brilliant.

News from the Art Room

The Art Room has got off to a great start this year with students focussing on their Pop-Art drawings. Have a look at what Room 1 have completed so far.

Cooking with Waste

I had zucchini, flour, milk, butter, coco powder and choc chips and I used the frypan, bowl, spatula, measuring cups, grater and a knife to make pancakes. I cooked them in the frypan and they were the yummiest pancakes with choc chips! They were the best! – Caleb

SAPSASA News

Congratulations to..

• Imi and Keeley on their participation in the Eastern Fleurieu School team at the recent district swimming carnival. Their attitude and willingness to participate is a credit to them.
• Lucy and Tilly on their selection in the district tennis team which will compete in Adelaide in Week 8.

Kangaroos Know All About Using a Growth Mindset

In our class, students have been learning about the Power of YET! We know that our brain is like a muscle, and that it can only grow through hard work, determination and lots and lots of practice. It is through effort, hard work and practice that allow children to achieve their true potential.

Students often learn the most when they fail, as mistakes are a big part of the learning process. There is nothing like the feeling of struggling through a difficult problem, only to finally break through and solve it! The harder the problem, the more satisfying it is to find the solution.

The goal should never be to just get the ‘correct’ answer, but to understand the topic at a deeper level and to want to learn more.

Developing a Growth Mindset means persevering, even when things get tough, and telling ourselves to keep on trying! When we make mistakes, we tell ourselves that mistakes help us to learn. When something is tricky, we ask our peers for help, rather than giving up. If we use a growth mindset, we know that practice makes progress- and nobody’s perfect! - Gemma and Rachael

Here are our amazing Growth Mindset posters!

Kangaroos and Echidnas- Buddy Class Shared Reading

Our class has been working with the Junior Primary Echidna class to learn about a useful reading strategy- Predicting. Each week, we read with our buddy to develop our reading comprehension skills. Predicting means that we think about what to expect before, during and after we read. After we have chosen a picture book, and before we open the book to read it, we talk about the front and back covers, the blurb and pictures, looking for clues about what the story might be about. Our prior knowledge also helps us to predict.

We also talk about the genre of the story, is it a narrative, a report or a recount? We search for the author and illustrator’s name and ask our buddies if they have read any other books by the same author. This is a fun learning experience and we enjoy sharing our knowledge with the younger students.

Learning about Ngarrindjeri Culture

In HASS we have been learning more about Ngarrindjeri culture and traditions. It has been very interesting and we will hopefully be going on an excursion to Raukkan. We learnt that David Unaipon (who is on the $50) was born in Point McLeay. - Maggie

Making A Difference - with Mrs Hopkins

In Making a Difference, we have been talking about all of our good values including how we cooperate with others. We drew these cute koalas and wrote all of the good ways we show cooperation, like including others, joining in, helping, working together, getting along and showing respect. - Gemma

Magic Faraway Tree

The students enjoyed a walk with Mrs Cook and Grace to try and find the “Magic Faraway Tree” in the “Enchanted Woods” of Milang. They are really enjoying listening to the story in class and were busy using their imaginations on the walk to see if they could spot any elves! They did find a very big tree which they were sure could be the “Magic Faraway Tree”.

Bird Study

Our class has been studying the birds in the school grounds. We observed 11 different birds around the school, noting where they were and what they were doing. We were particularly interested in how well camouflaged the different birds were, so we gave each of the birds a camouflage rating. We focussed on kookaburras and gave each other feedback to help us improve our drawings. Later we will be using watercolour paper and water colour paints to produce an A3 artwork of an Australian bird.

Pancake Day

Langhorne Creek

Pancake Day was an incredible success and I have had some awesome students who were super helpful. We raised $64 which will be donated to Red Cross Bushfire Relief Donations. Thank you to Ms Schmoock and staff for helping organise the needed items.

Strathalbyn

Pancake Day was a huge success on Tuesday, 25th September. The Rotary Club came and cooked for the school community, donating ingredients and giving up their time. Our Pastoral Care Worker Kaye Gale, made everything come together, along with teachers Annabel Gunn and Kim Craven who supported the day, with children from their classroom doing a fantastic job of serving. The amazing Rotary team cooked 700 pancakes, with over $1400 raised. Funds are going to the Rotary Club and Kangaroo Island Bushfire Fund. It was great to see everyone enjoying pancakes together for a great cause.

Room 7 Deep Learning

Our focus for Term 3 is ‘Positive and Inspirational Human Achievement.’

One of the many stories we have researched is the work of French Artist Thierry Noir. He is famous for turning the Berlin Wall into a brighter and happier landmark compared to the previously depressing, unsightly and sad reminder of when the city was divided.

Before

After

It has certainly lifted the classroom’s appearance as well!

Students in the Spotlight

Zoey Wins Big!

On Sunday, 1st March one of Eastern Fleurieu School’s Year 5 students competed in the Australian Pony Stud Book Society competition at Monarto.

Zoey competed in 12 events throughout the day and placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd in every event.

It was a slow start to the day; we had to get to Monarto really early to get set up. It was a smaller show but there was still very good competition. The wins that I am most proud are the Champion Hack which is judged on the horse and how it moves. Also Champion Rider which is judged on how you present yourself and how you handle your horse. – Zoey

Rylei, Levi and Quba’s Karate Champs

Over the weekend of Saturday, 9th February and Sunday, 10th February three sisters Rylei, Levi and Quba competed in the Karate SA State Titles.

All three girls were very successful throughout the day:

• Rylei won Gold for Kumite (fighting) and Bronze for Kata (movement).
• Levi won Bronze for Kumite (in Rylei's level) and Bronze for Kata.
• Quba won Bronze for Kumite and Bronze for Kata.

We had to get up very early to travel to Virginia to compete in this competition. I competed in every event and I had good, tough competitors in all rounds. I have been participating in karate for 6 years and my sisters and I do this in Littlehampton. – Levi

Congratulations to all three girls on their fantastic efforts!

Maths with Room 31

Over the past 3 weeks we have been learning about subitising and what it is. When we subitise we use our minds to recognise the number of objects in a group without having to count them. We are getting really good at this! We have also been looking at different ways numbers can be represented and how that does not change the amount that is there. During this time we have also been learning new numbers, what they look like and how they can be represented in different ways. We have been using dice, tens frames, tally marks, blocks and collections of pictures to help develop our subitising and number recognition skills. This learning focus has lead us to learning through hands on activities and games.

Here are some photos of our subitising and number recognition journey so far.

National Walk to School Day Friday, 13th March

Many thanks to Evie who led us on a tour of Ashbourne. Whilst we don’t have many students who live close enough to walk to school we were all able to join in a brisk walk around town and consider the health and environmental benefits of leaving the car at home.

We went to the creek and past Evie and Judah's house. The weather was really good and the walk was great because we had a fun time and walked really far. - Graeme

It was fun and it was a long walk. There were cows in the paddock so we couldn't walk through there. We had a big long chat and it was really fun to talk and walk with my friends. We hope to do it again next year. - Oliver

Every Heart Needs Art

Our recent “Every Heart Needs Art” project at Ashbourne has been an opportunity for all students to engage in creative processes and reflect on the positive well-being that comes from self-expression. Through music lessons our older students have also been reflecting on music and songs to which they have a specific connection. They have thoughtfully made and shared a selection of songs which express their unique individual identities. In times of rapid change and uncertainty it is more important than ever to be able to engage positively in the arts. Many students as part of their ready to learn plans identify music, drawing and creating as a fundamental skill in being calm, centred and grounded.

Cedric Varcoe Art at Langhorne Creek

On Monday, 2nd March, Cedric came to our campus to talk about Indigenous culture. He told us the story of the Ngarrindjeri. My favourite part of the story was when Ngarrindjeri were in the canoe. Something new that I learnt was the symbol of a waterhole. We did paintings using some of the Aboriginal symbols. One question I would like to ask Cedric is, “What is your favourite colour?” - Gemma

Rubbish Pick up

After our last visit to the Snipe Sanctuary one member of the class suggested we should spend some time picking up rubbish around Milang, so it doesn’t blow into the lake or become ingested by one of the birds we have observed. The class thought this was a great suggestion, so we spent an afternoon picking up rubbish from a couple of locations. Whilst we did find over two and a half kilos of rubbish, we discovered that there is very little litter around the foreshore. We were pleased that we were able to do something positive for the town and the animals that call Milang home.

Health with Room 3

To start of the year, we have been looking out health, and one particular area we have focussed on is what it means to be ‘fit’. It’s not just about how you look or how far or fast you can run. It’s a combination of flexibility, endurance, strength and cardiovascular endurance. We can also consider skill based attributes such as agility, power and balance to supplement physical attributes.

Students conducted physical testing in many areas to demonstrate that everybody can achieve and succeed and break the idea that ‘I am not physically fit because I can’t run fast’. From here, critical thinking was needed to devise an individual program that will enable each person to improve in their chosen component of fitness. Popular choices were cardiovascular endurance, flexibility and agility. All of the data collated from these activities will be used in future maths lessons to create line graphs which will indicate growth and improvement over time.

Next up we look at nutrition, everyone’s favourite. Eat your greens and you’re all good! Not quite…we will learn that a balanced diet is extremely important to function physically and mentally and understand the negative impacts that sugar can have on the body and mind. Maybe a MasterChef style cook off will be in the near future…watch this space!

Quotes from the kids:

The fitness program is lots of fun and it pushes you as you want to achieve the goal you have set. I’m doing flexibility and strength and it gets hard, but I know it will be worth it in the end. - Jessica

The fitness program is really fun. I’m doing cardiovascular endurance and it really pushes you to your limits. In my program I do stair climbing, laps of the oval and skipping. I feel like I have already improved. - Bethany

My fitness program is great because it will help me to improve in the sports I participate in and it keeps us healthy. - Caitlin

There may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you. Every time I wake up I feel more accomplished than ever knowing that I’ve put in the work in my fitness program. – Lexie

Ashbourne Mural

Many thanks to Gaynor who has been working steadily at our mural. It is brightening our school and creating a positive and welcoming entrance. Students will continue to add to the mural over the term.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Langhorne Creek

All students have been talking about how special their mum’s are and all the wonderful things they mean to them.

Here are our classes with their Mother’s Day cards.

Echidnas

The Echidnas wish all our mums a very happy Mother's Day.

We have enjoyed thinking about all the things our mums do for us. Our gratitude is immense. We hope you enjoy the gifts we made for you.

Here is the class poem we wrote for our mums.

Kangaroos

Happy Mother’s Day to all of our Wonderful Mums!

Our class has been very busy putting lots of love and attention into making some handmade gifts for our beautiful mums! Students have made a gorgeous exploding mother’s day gift box, voucher booklets, messages full of love and appreciation and potted flower paintings using their finger prints.

Here is a sample of what the students have brainstormed why their mum is so very special:

She helps me to succeed in life; She has a great smile; She gives me warm hugs and kisses; She helps me when I am feeling worried; She helps me to achieve all of my goals; She takes the time to take me to lots of different sports and dance classes; She helps me to improve my learning; She’s a good teacher; She gives me awesome, big bear hugs; She helps me when I am stuck reading tricky words; She cares for me when I am feeling sad; She makes the best and most delicious yummy cakes; She helps me to fix up my mistakes; She cooks delicious dinners; She makes yummy food to bring to school; She is really nice; She is very helpful, loving and kind; She bought us a really cool swimming pool to swim and play in; She helps me with all of my chores; She give me pocket money to buy things…

We hope you all enjoyed a very Happy Mother’s Day!

Home Learning

Echidnas

Damien and Lexi have been shared with us some of their work and experiences while learning from home.

Emus

For the past few weeks we have been doing school at home. It has been different but a good experience. I enjoyed doing maths the most. - Yuan

ANZAC Day

Kangaroos

In history we have been learning about ANZAC Day. We learnt about when the first ANZAC commemoration was and what happened on the first commemoration. We watched BTN and on BTN it showed us what it was like in World War 1. - Gemma

Emus

In class we have been talking about ANZAC Day and how important it is to remember the soldiers that fought for our country. - Lucy

Milang Visual Arts

For our first Visual Arts lesson for Term 1, we combined with the Upper Primary class and began learning about a famous artist called Vincent Van Gogh. Although Van Gogh’s art works are very famous now, this was not the case when he was alive. People didn’t think his paintings were very special and of the hundreds of paintings he produced, Van Gogh sold only a very few in his lifetime! We focused on his collection of sunflower paintings and discovered that the petals of a sunflower are not just yellow but can vary from the palest yellow to a bright, vibrant orange with streaks of brown. Before we started painting our own interpretation of Van Gogh’s sunflower paintings, we used magnifying glasses to closely study photos of different sunflowers to see up close how different colours blended together. We then carefully used a pencil to sketch our sunflower design before using paint to add colour and texture to our completed works of art.

Madagascar Play

In Week 2 the Upper Primary class performed a play in front of the Junior Primary class. The play involved prop making, learning lines and dancing. The performance based on the Madagascar movies, was great fun for us to perform and the Junior Primary class were a very enthusiastic audience.

Milang’s Mini Sports Day

Milang students enjoyed a mini sports day on Friday, last day of Term 1. They did bean bag throw, sack race, egg and spoon race, fly, obstacle course and a dance off. It was great fun with everyone participating and the weather was perfect. We will be all ready to compete in our combined Small Campus Sports Day later in the year!

Students Care Packages

In Term 2 students from the Junior Primary class at Milang sent pictures, letters, flowers and hearts to the residents at the Strathalbyn Aged Care Home. They were really pleased this week when they received a letter to thank them for their lovely thoughts. Their work has been displayed in three areas of the home and has been greatly appreciated by the residents. We hope we can visit them soon!

Maths with Room 1

In Room 1, we have been working hard on our multiplication and division strategies. We all learn differently, so different things work for each of us.

Maths pushes me, I like that. Now I am better at recognising what strategies to use in different situations. - Peyton

I like Maths because you can get creative by learning different strategies and using a different one every time. - Hamish

I liked learning stacking because it is easier and a new way to learn. - Jasper

We love problem solving and discovering things for ourselves in Room 1 — there are so many different ways to learn maths skills!

The LEGO Challenge

Students in Room 27 worked in groups to complete a Lego Challenge. Students were given 20 minutes to create a new rocket for NASA using Lego.

When completing this task students focussed on the Global Learning Capabilities: Collaboration, Character and Creativity. Each group had different challenges while completing this task but overall students worked well to create their rockets and had lots of fun at the same time!

It was quite fun. I was a bit fussy because I wanted to put the flag on the side of the smoke. Someone in my group told me a lesson to not be fussy. - Lucian

Something that went well for us was working together and helping each other. - Anna

Room 9 News

Rooms 9, 12 and 13 have been focusing on the 6 Global Competencies. The Year 3 team created a book for students to record how, in their everyday life they are already working on the 6 Global Competencies. Once a week students record how they have been able to meet the competencies of Character, Citizenship, Communication, Creativity, Collaboration and Critical Thinking. Students really enjoy reflecting how they have been able to show these competencies and how they are showing their learning when they do not even know they are doing it.

The Commemoration of Endeavour’s Voyage

In Room 7 as part of our STEM subjects we have been constructing models of Captain Cook’s Endeavour. Only re-used and recycled materials (paper cardboard, string and old masking tape) were used, even paint choices were limited so that different colours had to be made from mixing together.

In 1768, British explorer James Cook embarked on his first Pacific voyage aboard the ship Endeavour. That was 250 years ago! The historic voyage made possible the charting of the east coast of Australia and the North and South Islands of New Zealand.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had been living on this land for more than 60,000 years by the time the Endeavour crew made first landfall at Botany Bay on 29th April 1770. Some of the encounters between the two groups were not very friendly. Both sides were frightened and felt threatened by each other and there were a number of violent encounters.

Outdoor Classroom Day Dress Up

On Thursday, 21st of May it was the Northern Hemisphere Outdoor Classroom Day. To celebrate our connection to the natural world, we were challenged to dress up in nature. Here are a few costumes that the students designed and created on the day.

Cows Create Careers

Earlier this year we nominated to be a part of the Cows Create Careers program run by Dairy Australia. We were planning to have 2 dairy calves to hand raise; unfortunately, this part of the program was not possible to run in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions. Luckily we have 2 cows that live on our schools neighbouring fence and many students who have cattle as part of their family farms. Lots of stories and connections. Through weekly film clips we are tracking the growth of 2 Holstein dairy calves; Bright and Future. We have had to predict their weight each week and we have been amazingly close (with 2 kg each time). Lessons so far have focussed on jobs within the dairy industry and the influence of technology.

We estimated the weights and we were really close, only 1 kilogram out. We’ve learnt a lot, we’ve brainstormed ideas and learnt about how to milk cows. We’ve learnt about the new machines. – Coyote

We learnt about a dairy farm, how many acres, how long they’ve been on the dairy and the changes. – Edward

One of the calves is shy and the other one curious. We saw a new robotic milking machine that might change the future of milking. – Graeme

When the calves get older they get more milk and grain to eat. – Damian

Brindabella

The Emus are continuing with their studies and reading of the novel Brindabella. Here is some artwork from the students.

On Monday we were very fortunate to have a Zoom call with Ursula Dubosarsky, Australia Children's Laureate and author of many incredible children’s books. We first sent Ursula an email of questions we wanted her to answer. It was an amazing experience to talk to Ursula and she individually answered all of our questions. She said that she loved writing Brindabella and she is very excited about her new book called The Blue Cat. She said she has always loved writing, ever since she was at school. As a class we feel very privileged to have had this opportunity. - Monty

Milang Cockatoo’s Classroom

Both the Upper Primary and Junior Primary classes were involved in our first lesson in Term 2 and it was great to see how well the varied age groups supported each other and collaborated. We focussed on things that were living, non-living or never lived. Their communication skills were highlighted as their ideas or predictions came together after discussion including touching and feeling a variety of objects using their senses.

We then planted Broad Beans in a plastic see through cup with soaked paper towel and watched them grow. Our predictions about how long it would take them to sprout were many and varied from 5 days to 3 months. It was surprising to see our first sprout within about 6 days! The root grew first and then the second leafy shoot appeared about 3 days later. After a week or two when the beans were well developed we planted them in the veggie garden. The mature leaves are now about 6 - 7 cm tall and doing well.

Mapping

Our mini unit on mapping is now complete. Students have created their own map of the district on cardboard. The criteria for success included elements such as a title, legend, north point/compass, appropriate proportions and grid references. Thank you to Miss Cole our Student Teacher for all of her assistance with our mapping unit.

2nd Lego Challenge

We competed in the second Lego Challenge with the theme of Reconciliation. To recognise the 20 years since the Sydney Harbour Bridge walk for justice and equity for Indigenous people they had to build a bridge that could hold a drink bottle, could span 15 cm and was an attractive design. The winners of the Golden Brick and the Lego Aboriginal Flag were Zayden and Cleo! They demonstrated excellent collaboration and creativity, designing their bridge using only black, yellow and red bricks.

A Visit to a Friend…

The students in Room 6 had a very special outing on Thursday, 21st of May. One of their much cared for classmates Taylor, has been at home during the COVID-19 crisis due to health complications. Her class were missing her badly and really wanted to show how much they cared. Mrs Gunn was right onto it! She organised a quilt, kindly embroidered by Bubbells (heartfelt thanks to Julie). We organised a heated teddy and the children and families donated other gifts.

We took the bus out to visit Taylor, waving beautiful silk ribbons provided by Mrs Baker, who was also missing her. Mrs Craven was sad to miss the occasion but loved the photos. On an exciting and unexpected note, Taylor has been able to join her class back at school this week, which makes everyone very happy. Thanks to all who spread this kindness and care!

Smarties in Room 26

Team 26 students have been transformed into scientists! Students investigated whether or not Smartie boxes were all the same.

Some of our questions and predictions were…

Are all Smartie packets the same? - Tayla

I predict the animals on the Smarties packets will all be different. - Jade

I predict the Smarties in the packets will not all be the same. - Sam

Next, students thought about and made a list of materials they would need to carry out the investigation.

Then, students observed how many Smarties were in their own packet and recorded how many different colours they had.

Students created graphs to display their data.

As a whole class we discussed our findings and our data showed that our Smartie packets contained between 11-14 Smarties. With variations of colours. Some students got all 7 colours while others only got 4 different colours. We had a great time investigating and then eating our Smarties!

Friday Afternoon Electives

On Friday afternoons, our Year 6 classes combine together to participate in Electives. This is a wonderful opportunity to get together with all of the Year 6 cohort and have a laugh at the end of the week. The students have the chance to decide what they would like to do, these options include Arts and Crafts, Technology, Football on the oval or PE in the gym.

Our New Toy Box

Bodhi from Room 30 was wondering where he should put all of the sandpit toys that are outside his classroom.

So…he decided to write a letter to Bunnings to see if they could help out in any way, and they could!

Thanks to Bodhi’s letter, Bunnings gratefully donated a wonderful container to put all of the sandpit toys and trucks in! Check out the photos below!

Room 14’s Deep Learning

Room 14 have been hard at work creating their Deep Learning projects. The Deep Learning projects let them be the teacher, letting them choose what they want to learn about. Room 14’s projects stretch from bridges to colic in horses, history to ziplines.

Their projects are looking really cool. Let's look further into these wonderful projects. For instance, Owen’s is a newspaper on the history of Strathalbyn. My guess is he chose this project because he wanted to know more about the land he lives on. What would you choose to do your project on?

Ashbourne Mural

Huge congratulations to Gaynor and all of our students who have worked for many weeks on our indigenous flora and fauna mural. It has been an on-going learning process where students have been able to be involved in and appreciate the process of researching, rough sketching, background painting, detailed painting, re-working and gradually building up our mural in layers.

Information Reports with the Acacia Class

We chose an animal to study. We learnt how to write information reports and to how research. Then we planned and typed our information reports on the computer. I chose to research a tiger. We decorated and coloured our lap books and stuck our information report onto our lap books. We are going to use the lap books to share information with others. - Michaela

Our lap books are going to go in the library so our school can see and read them. I made my lap book about wedge tail eagles. We spent almost 4 weeks making our information reports and lap books. - Hayden

Kangaroo’s Cultural Studies

In Cultural Studies we have been studying ancient buildings from around the world, and looking carefully at their different shapes and sizes.

We were given a task that was to make a replica of an ancient building using recycled boxes of different sizes and shapes. Our palace was inspired by the Taj Mahal , with all of its different shapes, arches and domes. The materials that we used included fabric, cardboard boxes, sticky tape, masking tape, hot glue, egg cartons and sheets of cardboard. We had so much fun making our amazing palace! - Marley and Gemma.

History of Langhorne Creek

In History we have been learning about the history of Langhorne Creek. There were many local schools in the area including Angas Plains, Lake Plains, Old Langhorne Creek, Mosquito Creek and Mulgundawa School.

Lake Plains school opened in 1864 and a big flood in 1941 went through the school.

Angas Plains originally was a community school and in 1875 it became a state school until it closed in 1947. It then was used as a community hall until 1991.

The reason there were lots of little schools was because the only transport they had in the olden days was horse and cart, bikes or walking.

The Langhorne Creek Old School has been renovated and is now used as the hub for the Langhorne Creek Wine Industry Council. It was originally built in 1876.

Chicken Divas

On National Simultaneous Storytelling day, we read a funny picture book called ‘Whitney and Britney: Chicken Divas’ by Lucinda Gifford. This book tells a story about two chickens called Whitney and Britney. The chickens spend all day sleeping but at night-time, dressed up in sequins and feather boas, they perform at ‘Club Sparkles’. We made our own Chicken divas and started by watching a video-clip demonstrating how to use fine-liner pens to draw delicate patterns all over our chickens. The next step was to add lots of bright colour and paste our chickens onto coloured card. We finished off by adding lots of sequins and colourful feathers to make our chickens really sparkle!

STEM at Milang

In STEM we have started making bird feeders from pop sticks. Important consideration when planning our designs have included the size of the bird the bird feeder is aiming to feed and how to ensure the bird seed will not fall out of the bird feeder. Our designs will aim to be both creative and functional. We will be collaborating in groups by sharing hot glue guns and pop sticks and supporting each other with the challenging parts of the building process.

Swans

We have been reading the Colin Thiele book Swan Song. The book is set in the Coorong and focuses on a boy’s relationship with a black swan. We are currently writing newspaper articles about black swans in the Coorong and Lake Alexandrina area and in art we are about to start making swan sculptures from clay. Last week we walked down to Lake Alexandrina to undertake more research about the environment the black swans live in. We will be using this research for our newspaper articles and sculptures.

Lego Masters

Milang students were surprised with a visit from some very special guests. Josh and Trent from Lego Masters. How exciting! Jacqui our Pastoral Care Worker, who is friends with Josh was going to pass on some questions that the students had been preparing and bring back their answers. However, Jacqui announced that they could ask them themselves and Josh and Trent walked in. You should have seen their faces!

Butterfly Feeders

In Science, Mrs Minards and the Junior Primary students have been making butterfly feeders out of sauce bottles and decorating them with brightly coloured flower petals and pom poms. Then they filled them with sugar water and hung them on the water tank to attract butterflies. Some of our caterpillars have now turned into a chrysalis so it won’t be long until they transform into butterflies.

Heavy and Light with Room 20

In Room 20, we have been learning about Heavy and Light in our Mathematics lessons. The children have had a chance to experiment with the scales to explore weight. They have been exploring mathematical language such as ‘heavier than’ or ‘lighter than’. Our first lesson was completely free play. This gives the children a chance to totally explore the resources so they are ready to delve into deeper learning in the lessons that follow.

In our lessons we also discussed some of the elements of Deep Learning 6 C’s (Character, Collaboration and Communication). In their groups of two they had to keep in mind how they were working together with their partners using the C’s.

A Blast from the Past

On Friday, 19th June Room 24 and Room 25 took a trip back to 1935.

Students arrived at school dressed in old school uniforms completed with knee high socks, polished shoes, neatly combed hair and button up shirts and dresses. They were in for a very eye-opening day with no computers, laptops or internet and having blackboards and chalk to write with. Students in Mrs Lewis’ classroom had a visit from Headmaster Heidi in the morning where she inspected the student’s uniforms and made sure they were ready for the day.

Both the students and teachers had a fantastic time experiencing 1935 and many students asked if every day could be just like that!

Room 29’s Veggie Garden

In Room 29, we are growing a vegetable garden. We planted bean seeds. The seeds grew into plants and we counted how many beans grew on each plant. We pulled the beans off the plants. Then we chopped them up and cooked them. We made a noodle stir fry.

It was very yummy, I loved it. We like making healthy food. – Arie

I would like to make it again. - Isabella.

Cows Create Careers and PJ day

I liked doing it because I learnt a lot from it. We learnt what they do with cows, like making milk, cheese, yogurt, butter and ice-cream. – Hayden

We learnt a lot about cows and got to predict Bright and Future’s (baby calves) weight. Their final weight in Week 9 was over 62kgs. – Edward

I learnt that there are many different careers with cows; farmers, mechanics, bakeries, butcher and truck drivers. Charlie M

On the last day of Term 2 we celebrated finishing the program with a catered lunch, a dressing up day and games with prizes.

Deep Learning and the Global Learning Competencies

We all participated in a “River Crossing” challenge activity designed to examine and build collaboration, communication and creativity competencies. Students worked to get everyone across the imaginary raging river, using cardboard pieces as stepping stones. Amazing leadership and team skills helped us all make the crossing.

Acacia Class

The Acacia class have had a busy and fun start to Term 3. We have been looking at time in Maths, we have started our Aboriginal Sustainability unit, we have written book reviews and created some 'Nature Art' in our beautiful scrub. We are very much looking forward to what the rest of the term has to bring.

Bush School

I am going to paint the girl’s toilet doors for my Deep Learning project. I am finding it fun so far. I am doing an Alice in Wonderland theme. I have chosen to paint Alice and the Cheshire cat on the doors. It will brighten up the toilets and hopefully make people happier. I chose it because I thought it might be an interesting thing to do. Also because the toilet doors kind of need a bit of brightening up. - Evie

Robots

The Echidnas have been making robots out of a range of materials. The criteria was that the robot needed to stand up without falling over. We are going to write stories about our robots and each robot will have a special mission to accomplish.

The Kangaroo’s Australian Native Animal Research Projects

My native Australian animal research project is on the Orange-Bellied Parrot. Sadly, these birds are listed as critically endangered due to feral cats, foxes and the effects of climate change. The males are bright green in colour on the head, back and most of the wings. Their belly has a bright orange patch and a blue band marking between the eyes. The female is duller in colour and they have a smaller orange patch on the belly.

They migrate from the southern coasts of South Australia and Victoria to the northern coasts of Tasmania. They feed mostly on low-growing shrubs. Did you know, there are less than 50 of these critically endangered birds in the wild and only 320 in captivity?

To help the Orange-bellied Parrot thrive, you could keep your cats inside at night and help support the Zoos Victoria Fighting Extinction breeding program or donate via the link below! - Gemma

I have been researching about the endangered Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombat. These animals live in sandy, grassy woodlands in Queensland. They are covered in soft grey fur, even on their noses! The females are pregnant for only 21 days and the joey is the size of a grain of rice when born. They have a backwards-facing pouch so that when they dig it doesn’t fill up with dirt! We need to protect their habitats and support captivity programs so that the Northern Hairy-Nosed wombat’s future is more secure. – Molly

I have been researching about the Mountain Pygmy Possum, which is critically endangered! This tiny possum has a dark ring of fur around its eyes, rounded ears and a long tail. Their habitat type is in the alpine regions of Mount Buller and Mount Kosciusko. They eat Bogong moths, insects, spiders and beetles. Did you know, that their marsupial family is called Burramyidae.

You can help the Mountain Pygmy Possum by keeping your cats inside at night and by donating to the Australian Reptile Park. - Layla

The native animal that I am making people aware of is the Gilbert’s Potoroo. This animal is Australia’s most endangered marsupial and is now critically endangered largely because of habitat loss and feral foxes and cats. They live in tall scrubby areas exclusively on the southern tip of Western Australia in small populations. There are only 40 living in the wild! Their diet consists of truffle-like fungi, berries and small seeds. Did you know, that Gilbert’s Potoroos were discovered by Europeans in 1840 and are named after an early explorer John Gilbert. In the 1840’s they were nick-named ‘rat-kangaroo’.

To help save them, we need to stop littering, which damages their habitat, reduce bushfires and stop cutting down trees. - Charlotte

History with the Emus

The Emus have been working on our ‘History in Langhorne Creek’ book. – McKenzie

The Salt Works at Mulgundawa started in the late 1800’s and is still operating as a successful business today. I am doing some research about the Salt Works and went there for a tour. It was very interesting. - Taylor

Here are some our findings on the paddlesteamers and Chilton’s Cottage. The photo is of horse shoes and a gate latch which I found in the garden at home which is Chilton’s Cottage. - Maggie

Milang Junior Primary Literacy

As part of our literacy learning, the Reception children have been participating in a phonemic awareness program. At the start of the program, the children were given 8 letter sounds and required to make some specific words using only those sounds. As the weeks go by, the collection of letter sounds grows and the complexity of words also increases. The children have really enjoyed manipulating the letter sounds to make lots of different words and it has been a great opportunity to extend their understanding of word formation and word families.

For the Year 1 and Year 2 children, the completion of a fortnightly Spelling Contract is an important component of their Literacy learning. The Spelling Contract focuses on particular letter blends and gives the children the opportunity to increase their reading and spelling accuracy and fluency. Improving their sentence structure and introducing the children to alphabetical order are also some of the skills which are included in the Spelling Contract. One of the activities this week included making a ‘chatterbox’ using their spelling words and while spelling was the focus, the activity demonstrated much more than this. The children did an impressive job of listening to instructions, following each step in the ‘chatterbox’ procedure and helping others get their folding just right. A great example of collaboration as they all worked together to make sure everyone was included and could finish the task.

Monarch Butterflies

Langhorne Creek

Our class was really lucky to observe the amazing life cycle of the Monarch Butterfly last term. Nate and Jett bought in two caterpillars and we watched their transforming life cycle stages. The caterpillars moved into the Chrysalis or Pupa stage just before the holidays. The boys took “Ted” and “Tiny Ted” home where they then transformed into beautiful Monarch butterflies. Nate and Jett bought them back to school where they were then released. We really enjoyed learning about this incredible critter!

Milang

Our first butterfly emerged from its chrysalis last Tuesday, 21st July. So exciting!

It took longer than we thought it would. The chrysalis was formed on Monday, 8th June so it has been an 8 week wait. In warmer conditions it would be between 2-4 weeks only. It is a little unusual that the Monarch is laying eggs in the colder months. From our observation all the stages of their Life Cycle are taking longer. From egg to caterpillar, usually only 5-10 days has been prolonged also. The caterpillar feeds on a special milkweed plant that the butterfly is attracted to commonly known as Cotton Bush. The caterpillars eat the leaves and flowers continually. Then their metamorphosis begins. The caterpillar finally attaches to a leaf, sheds its skin and creates the chrysalis where it then develops into a beautiful butterfly. Once butterflies have hatched out they are attracted to purple, orange, yellow, pink and red scented flowers. They feed on the nectar. So get planting! You could have Monarch butterflies in your garden too!

Australia’s Biggest Child Safety Lesson (ABCSL)

On Thursday, 25th of June we took part in the Australia’s Biggest Child Safety lesson (ABCSL). This is an initiative of the Daniel Morcombe Foundation. It was designed for children aged 8 – 12 years and focused on how to stay safe online. Here are some of our thoughts after the lesson.

ABCSL reminded me to tell a trusted adult if something on the internet goes wrong. - Opal

ABCSL taught me what to do if I feel uncomfortable and to report people. - Scarlett

ABCSL reminded me to not reply to people that you don’t know. - Lydia

ABCSL reminded me that it’s ok to block people. - Bohdan

ABCSL reminded me that you don’t talk to people you don’t know online. - Bailey

Swan Sculptures

At the end of Term 2 we used air dry clay to sculpt swans. We have painted the swans and are making nests for them to sit in. We enjoyed using the clay and have had lots of opportunities to demonstrate character and critical thinking as we have encountered numerous challenges during this process.

Aboriginal Sustainability

We have started our unit on Aboriginal Sustainability. Our first lesson was spent at Lake Alexandrina collaborating in small groups. While at the lake we came across a bird tangled in fishing line. Fortunately, we were able to catch the bird and remove the fishing line. We were sad to see an animal in this situation, but we were pleased that we were able to offer it assistance.

Farewell Sue Hall

In Term 3 Sue has enjoyed her first weeks of retirement. She made this decision in Term 2 but in typical Sue fashion, wanted no fanfare or fuss but appreciated farewell cards and gifts from staff. Chatting to Sue she began her teaching career at Milang in 1979 with the Reception/Year 2 Junior Primary class and Kaye Gale was her mentor in the middle primary class. After time at Mount Gambier and Pinnaroo, she was ‘recycled’ (her words) back to Milang before taking parenting leave to then pop up at Strathalbyn teaching music. For the last years, she has been our Intervention teacher, tirelessly working to close the learning gap for our students. Sue’s deep knowledge of literacy, her care and kindness will certainly be missed.

Strathalbyn R-6 New Student Service Office

During the June school holidays, our old Sensory Room and Hub area have had a renovation and our Student Services office is open for business.

Students will now come to this window to

• Drop off morning absentee books
• Pick up an apple for fruit break
• Drop off green excursion folders
• Sign in upon late arrival at school

Have a look at these impressive before and after photos!

Molly’s a Movie Star!

As kids, a lot of us grew up watching weekly episodes of Behind the News (BTN).

For Room 12’s Molly, this wasn’t enough! Molly and her brother Hamish, along with other family members were recently filmed on their trip to Whyalla snorkelling with the Giant Cuttlefish.

Every winter, the waters around Whyalla in South Australia are home to a spectacular natural event. Thousands of Giant Cuttlefish come to the area to breed in the world’s only regular mass gathering of the colourful cephalopods.

With fishing restrictions easing, these creatures are once again at risk of becoming endangered. Well done to Molly, Hamish and their family for taking the opportunity to raise awareness for this.

Well Done Artists!

On Saturday, 1st August the Junk Sculptures made by students at Strathalbyn R-6 Campus were taken to Adelaide for a SALA exhibition Mr Steele organised. 1st prize went to Erica for 3 fabulous African animals. 2nd went to Gemma for her amazing sheep. 3rd prize went to Archer for his frightening piranha. 4th place went to Rani for Piglet. Well done to all students on their fabulous Junk Sculptures.

Friday Afternoon Electives

We have had another addition to the Friday Afternoon Electives program. To make sure we are taking advantage of this beautiful warmer weather, Miss Grant has been running netball games on the basketball courts. We have a few netball stars in the making by the looks of it! Thank you to Miss Grant and Levi for umpiring.

Rona the Glitterbug

We are very proud of all our students’ talents which are often found outside the classroom as well. In Week 1 of Term 3 we read a very special book which was co-written by one of our students, about how kids can understand the Coronavirus. Jack helped to produce this book and had great pleasure in sharing it with the class. He even drew one of the pages in the book!

Thanks Jack!

Room 13’s Passion Projects

Students enjoyed researching about one of their favourite topics as part of their ‘Deep Learning’ unit in Integrated Studies. Many students chose to present a PowerPoint display while delivering their presentation which everyone was highly engaged in. Here are some photos highlighting the great work that was carried out. All students received a mark based on the criteria that was set; clear voice, knowledge of topic, depth of questioning skills and overall effort. Seeing the students sharing their proud work was a major positive for our class last term, well done to all!

100 Days of School!

On Monday, 27th of July Room 20, 21, 30 and 31 celebrated being at school for 100 days. Students were able to begin their day using the 100 days of school photo booth. Each student brought along a bag of 100 items. We compared these bag of items using measurement vocabulary, which proved a great teaching tool and discussion point.

Each class rotated around to complete: a hundred digit picture with Mrs Pitt, a 100 day crown with Penny, a 100 puzzle with Ms Woolford and a practical creation using 100 wooden planks with Mrs Mead.

Each student made a 100 day snack placement whereby they counted 10 of each snack to create 100 individual snacks. The students thoroughly enjoyed eating these afterwards.

We finished the day by creating 100 using our bodies on the oval which was filmed and photographed using a drone - a huge thanks to Matt Chapman for making this possible.

We hope your child loved celebrating 100 days of school!

Maths with Mrs D

Over Term 1 and Term 2, students in Years 4, 5 and 6 at Strathalbyn R-6, Langhorne Creek and Milang Campuses’ have been coming to or engaging online with our Extension Maths Program. Kids are identified and invited to attend by their data, grades and teacher recommendations.

Our focus this year have been on the Collaboration, Communication and Critical Thinking Global Learning Capabilities.

The hard thinking problems that we have been working on have been about building collaboration skills between the students, as often they work incredibly well individually but can still require support and practice working with others.

They have been also solving problems using consensus of the group, another hard task to communicate your ideas and listen to others! Especially when asked to prove or disprove your answers.

We’ve also had a lot of fun and frustrations making mistakes, developing grit and connecting with others. This week, they (and some selected Year 3’s) will compete in the Australian Maths Competition in either the Middle Primary division (Years 3 - 4) or the Upper Primary division (Year 5 - 6). We wish them all the best as they apply their skills in a national competition.

Year 6/7 Girls Netball

A team of ten Year 6’s and Year 7’s across the Langhorne Creek, Strathabyn R-6 and 7-12 Campuses had an active two days of netball in Week 4 Term 3.

On Tuesday, 11th August, the girls attended St Francis de Sales College to play in the knockout competition. While they took a solid win against McLaren Vale Primary, unfortunately they couldn’t quite beat the St Francis team, knocking them out of the competition.

On Wednesday, 12th August, the girls travelled to Victor Harbor to play in the Southern Fleurieu Netball Carnival. The cold wind and rain didn’t make a difference to the way the girls played! They were undefeated in all five games and took home the trophy!

An extra congratulations to Rylei for being selected in the Southern District Netball Team for 2020.

A huge thanks must go to Year 10 students, Jet and Prue, for giving up their time to umpire on the day.

STEAM Day at Milang

Students from Ashbourne, Langhorne Creek and Milang Campuses enjoyed a day of STEAM learning at Milang on Friday, 21st August.

They learnt how to make Indigenous boats from natural materials, design and make a rubbish bin, invent a fishing device as well as join in the Mega Lego Challenge.

All the activities were based around the Science Week theme of Deep Beneath the Sea.

Thanks to the ladies from Goolwa Rotary who spoke with the students about the need to keep our oceans free of rubbish.

Book Week, 2020

A highlight of each year is always the Book Week dress up day. This year did not disappoint with everyone making a huge effort again. Our outdoor parade was enjoyed by families and thank you to our Captains; Evie and Graeme who were compares. The shortlisted books have been announced, with final prizes being awarded in October.

Write a Book in a Day

On Friday, 15th of August, the Acacia class were given the challenge of writing and illustrating a book in a day. We started at 9:00am and had the book written, edited and published by 3:00pm that day. Students showed fantastic communication and collaboration skills as they made decisions as a group, supported one another and were respectful to all involved. The finished product is called 'The Day Our Lives Changed' and all students should be proud of their efforts and contributions to the book.

Ecovineyards Project

As a part of the Ecovineyards project, Mary Retallak has sent us some calico strips. The calico strip is like a thin piece of material. Mary Retallak is a scientist that has started this project. The project is about testing the soil types and the bacteria that forms on them.

We wrote the date and letters from A to F on the top of the material then we put them in the ground on Friday, 12th June. We have been keeping an eye on the calico strips. We planted them around the school in different spots where we thought there were different soil types.

We left them in for 8 weeks. We carefully dug them up to see what had happened to the cloth and whether it had decomposed. We think there was bacteria and fungi forming on the strips. There was purple, yellow and pinkish spots along with black dots.

We re-buried them for another 2 weeks to see whether they would decompose anymore. Some of them had, while others were basically in their original form. We think this because the cloth had been in the dirt for a period of time and formed bacteria.

We tested the PH at all the different spots we put the calico strips. We carefully washed them and let them dry overnight. The next day we looked at them through the magnifying glass, we were surprised to see how much they had disintegrated.

Thanks so much Mary for the calico strips it was a great experience and we learnt a lot. - Charli and Maggie

Sporting Schools - Gymnastics Program

All students had the opportunity to participate in the first two sessions of gymnastics at the Langhorne Creek Soldiers Memorial Hall. The sessions, provided by instructors from TriSkills Australia and funded through Sporting Schools, covered the basic safety information before students undertook a range of activities including balancing and tumbling. We look forward to the follow up sessions in Weeks 7 and 9 along with further development of our skills.

We have been very fortunate to have the opportunity to do gymnastics. Today was our first of three sessions and it was so much fun. It is organised through 'TriSkills'. We feel very privileged to be able to do gym across at the hall. - Taya and Imi

Hotshot Tennis Racquets for our Receptions

The ANZ Tennis Hot Shots Racquet Roadshow is again providing 30,000 racquets to Foundation / Reception students around Australia, thanks to ANZ and Tennis Australia. We are one of 832 lucky schools to be receiving racquets. It’s a great opportunity to get our kids moving, both at home and at school! The students have also been given a special certificate to take home to celebrate their new tennis racquets.

Pictured with their racquets are Lincoln, Archie, Connor, Zander, Flynn and Emerson.

Rebekha Sharkie Flag Presentation

Ashbourne

Last week we were fortunate to have our MP, Rebekha Sharkie visit to present us with new Aboriginal and Australian flags. Rebekha outlined the history behind each flag and explained the symbolism.

Langhorne Creek

We had visit from Rebekha Sharkie last week who presented our leaders with new Australian and Indigenous Flags.

Milang

Last week we had a visit from Rebekha Sharkie to present us with some new flags. We look forward to Rebekha coming back to Milang to do a Civic’s lesson next term.

Strathalbyn R-6

On Monday this week, Rebekha Sharkie popped in to present new Indigenous and Australian flags for our site. Our school captains and ATSI students enjoyed this opportunity to chat to Rebecca and admire our new flags on display.

Around the Grounds - Carpark and Bike/Scooter Parking

We would like to say a HUGE thank you to Chris and Anne-Marie from Williss Contracting for making our carpark surface a much smooth area for buses and vehicles. Their donation of time, machinery and materials is very much appreciated by all.

Also, thanks to Mark Hall for popping in with his forklift to unload our new bike and scooter racks.

Our trusty team of construction workers, Riley, Thomas, Maisy and Thomas, have done an amazing job of putting these racks together ready for those who ride to school to park their ‘wheels’ safely.

Reading Comprehension Strategies with our Buddies

With our Echidna R-2 buddies, we have been using reading comprehension strategies to better understand texts and revising the essential components of narrative story writing.

We enjoy sharing picture books with our buddies and making predictions before and throughout reading the text together. We also discussed the characters from the stories and their descriptions/traits. We carefully identified the settings, where the stories took place, the problems or complications that occurred, and how the problems were resolved.

Together, Lexi and I read ‘Eleanor’s Eyebrows’ by Timothy Knapman and David Tazzyman. We predicted from the front cover, that Eleanor didn’t have any eyebrows so she would draw them on. The main characters in this story are Eleanor and her two eyebrows. The setting changes, as the eyebrows move around to different places. The problem was that Eleanor didn’t want her eyebrows because she thought they were hairy and silly bits of fluff. In the end, her eyebrows returned to her and this made her happy again. - Marley

Polluted Water!

The Kangaroos and Emus did an experiment on polluted water! We got a partner from our class and got two of the Kangaroos to work with. We watched a couple of clips on pollution in the water and how people have helped around their community. Then we got a big piece of paper with questions and we had to answer them in our groups. We all had a tray of mucky water with a range of rubbish and oils in it. We had to try and turn the water back to its natural state but we found this was very hard. It was a very interesting experiment and the moral of the story is to take care and look after our water ways and the whole environment. - Ava

History

We have been learning a lot about World War 2 and the impact it had on our local community. We have interviewed local community members and have even built our own Anne Frank secret annex on Minecraft.

This is Ethan wearing an old soldier’s slouch hat at Milang Soldiers Memorial Gardens. - Ethan

Behind The News (BTN)

I wrote this letter to BTN and recently found out that they have put it on their website...

Learning about Australia

As part of their HASS lessons Junior Primary students have been learning about Australia.

During Art they painted their background using a coffee wash and then used foam sponges to colour in Australia. We then used traditional Indigenous symbols to tell our own stories of Australia. Here are some of our creations.

Water Science at Milang

In Science we have been learning everything about water. Water types as in dams, rivers, streams, wetlands, mangroves and oceans. We have also looked at the Water Cycle to do with evaporation, condensation and transpiration. We have also done some small experiments adding things to water and watching their reactions. We tried Bi-Carb Soda, baby powder, corn starch, icing sugar, oil, food colouring and vinegar in a range of different ways. We predicted what would happen next!

Weaving at Milang

In Art we did some paper weaving using a range of different patterned and painted paper strips as we created our designs. Then we laminated them and are using them as a place mat while eating lunch in the classroom at our desks. The students displayed their work at our last assembly.

Vineyard Visit

Two weeks ago we travelled to our local Rosemount Vineyard. We have formed a partnership with the vineyard as part of our deep learning. We visited the vineyard to find out more about the issues affecting grape production and yield. They have commissioned us to design a variety of insect hotels to help assist in pollination and increase their grape yield. Back in the classroom we have been researching beneficial insects and how they would help the vineyard. We have been drawing our proposed insect hotel designs to scale and we have also designed 3D models using Makers Empire. Our next step is to present our ideas and proposed designs to the vineyard’s Environmental Committee.

Scale and Proportion

In Art Milang have been investigating scale and proportion. We started with a drawing of a Red-Necked Stint (a bird the flies from Siberia to the Coorong every year). The drawing was then cut into small 24 pieces. Our challenge was to each take a small piece of the original drawing and draw our piece in the correct proportions, but on a larger piece of paper. We then painted our own pieces using watercolour paints and paper and have placed the individual pieces back together to make a significantly larger picture.

Loose Parts Play Grand Opening

On Monday, 24th August we opened our new Loose Parts play area with a red ribbon ceremony. Organised and planned by our Year 6 Leaders everyone was really excited to start creating. Loose parts play is a type of play that supports invention, divergent thinking, problem solving and offers a sense of wonder to children. The materials that can be moved, carried, combined, redesigned, lined up, and taken apart and put back together in multiple ways. They are materials with no specific set of directions that can be used alone or combined with other materials. It will be available for students at recess and lunch times.

Upper Primary Business Enterprise

Students in the Upper Primary class have been learning about starting a business with Mrs Cook. They have developed a product or service, produced a persuasive advertising poster and worked out potential profit margins. On Monday at lunch time they sold their wares at a mini school market. Profits made from their products and services will go to the charity of their choice.

Fairytales and Fantasy Bootcamp 2020

Well, this year has been very different for the Eastern Fleurieu School Performing Arts Group (PAG). We started the year off with our usual excitement. Sixty plus students joined the choir from all the campuses. We excitedly began rehearsing for our big performance of Fairytales and Fantasy. Then COVID-19 hit. Sadly our plans for a live performance were squashed. But, we didn’t let this get us down. We knew that singing was the best antidote to a world crisis.

So, instead of a live performance this year, the Performing Arts Group will be producing a filmed performance which will be sent home to families and interested groups in Term 4. So, to get us ready for this performance we had our usual PAG Bootcamp. Here are some small tasters and highlights. We can’t reveal too much though…

Langhorne Creek and their amazing dance. We can’t show you any more than this…it’s a secret.

It’s not all hard work…who are these wild animals?

Went out for a break after their pizza and chips…and it rained! A lot!

Tree Planting at Harrogate

Room 26

For our Deep Learning topic this semester, Room 26 is looking at all things Plants.

On Thursday, 6th August Room 26 along with Rooms 27, 28 and 2 visited Evan (Donna Prusa’s brother’s) property in Harrogate which was affected by the December bushfires. There, we planted 225 trees to replace foliage and trees damaged by the recent fires.

Students showed great collaborative skills, working in small groups with Year 6 students from Room 2 to dig holes and plant trees correctly. Teachers also saw a great amount of communication happening within the groups, negotiating the rules of group work and sharing responsibilities.

Room 26 reflected on the experience we had shared to see how we had contributed as local citizens to the revitalisation of these fire effected areas and felt great happiness to be involved.

We hope that when we are in our fifties and sixties these will be fully established trees, housing and feeding the local wildlife!

Room 2

“The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better.”
― Robert F. Kennedy

Rooms 26, 27 and 28 teamed up last week to help re-vegetate a property at Harrogate that was affected by the devastating bush fires last summer. The Year 2s have been learning about habitats, and as a part of their learning they had learnt the proper way to plant the plants, as well as why they were important. The students braved the chilly weather and worked hard to plant over 300 red gums and blue gums along the seasonal creek line.

Mr. Smith's Year 6s were fortunate enough to be invited along to help supervise the groups, and they showed great leadership skills in their encouragement and coordinating of the students. The Year 6s are focusing on the global learning competency of collaboratio, and this was a great opportunity for them to practice working collaboratively by identifying their team’s strengths and sharing jobs evenly.

Although the recent rains had brought a tinge of green to the landscape the scars of the fires could still be seen in burnt out sheds and building, the scarred remains of existing vegetation, and from hearing from the landholder that was generous enough to host us. It was a powerful learning experience to not only see the impacts of the fires, but for students to know that they were able to make a contribution and make a difference.

Thanks to Donna for organising what was both a fun and rewarding day.

Electrical Circuits with Room 7

During Science we have been focussing on both electrical circuits and reversible and irreversible changes to substances in preparation for our final culminating project for Term 3’s Deep Learning unit.

On a Tuesday with Ms Somerville we have been learning about electrical circuits. Recently we have found out the correct symbols for the parts of the circuit. We got into partners and went on the Makey Makey website and connected a control panel with a USB cord which allowed us to play the online piano. We have also taken torches apart and learnt about different types of circuits. We have learnt a lot and look forward to using these skills in our gothic project. – Brianna R and Poppy

With Miss Grant we have been looking at reversible and irreversible changes. We have made cheese/putty by mixing warm milk and vinegar. We learnt that this was an irreversible change because a chemical reaction occurred. We also attempted to dissolve as much sugar as possible into different temperature water. We found that dissolving is a reversible change because when we left the solution for a couple of days the water evaporated and we were left with just sugar. – Rahni, Rani and Brianna D

Mystery Animals!

In Team 25 we have been learning about living things. The students have enjoyed sharing their knowledge and classifying different animals.

Students were given some information about a mystery animal that had been spotted in Tungaree. The students were asked to be scientists and apply their knowledge to classify, name and make a model of the animal.

Fire Safety Visit

Room 27

Sally from the Metropolitan Fire Service came to speak with Rooms 26, 27 and 28. She talked about fire safety, personal protective equipment and what to do if you see a fire. Some students got to try on Sally's uniform and protective equipment.

Room 28

On Monday, 3rd August Sally Smith came to talk to our Year 2 classes about her job as a fire fighter. She works in Adelaide for the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service. She explained what to do if there is a house fire or bushfire. She taught us how to stop, drop and roll. Sally talked about how tough her job is and the devastating fires that were around in December and January. The students thought she was very brave.

Bella was chosen to dress up in the firefighting uniform.

Southern Wins Silver

In the week starting Monday, 7th of August, netball teams from 40 districts around South Australia came together to compete in the annual SAPSASA state carnival. This year, due to venue and COVID restrictions, the carnival was separated into country and metro pools. The country girls, participating from Monday-Wednesday at Priceline Stadium, were split into two divisions. Our local Southern Fleurieu girls were placed in division one, and under coach Kelly White, were prepared to play some great netball across the week. Southern faced 9 highly competitive teams in their quest to be named the best country district in South Australia, dropping only two games for the week. The competition was very close, but after an important win over Northern, and a draw to Gawler, the girls were able to finish on 22 points, behind first placed Riverland on 25.

Selected from the Eastern Fleurieu School were Matilda, Lucy and Mia from the R-6 Langhorne Creek campus, and Rylei from the 7-12 campus. Rylei’s strength, determination and skill were key factors in the teams success, being named as the most valuable player for the carnival. In addition to the players, two of our Year 10s, Delta and Jet, were selected to receive one on one umpiring mentorship by two of Netball SA’s top umpires, Bruce Stribley and Rebecca Ferguson. The girls learned a lot across the week, and were able to receive SACE points as a part of Stage One Self Directed Learning. A huge congratulations must go to these girls on their development and umpiring across the carnival.

Acacia Class Wetlands Excursion

On Tuesday, 8th of September the Acacia class travelled to the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre in the Warriparinga Wetlands for a Cultural Tour as part of their Aboriginal Sustainability learning. The students had a fantastic time learning more about Bush Tucker, Scar Trees, Shelter, Native Plants and Traditional Bush Medicine from our tour guide Tom.

Oceans with Echidna’s

Echidnas have been learning about why our waterways and oceans need help from humans to keep these environments clean and healthy for all living things.

As part of our STEAM project we made collages of water animals living in an unpolluted ocean. They all look healthy and happy.

Indonesian

We have been lucky enough to be taught Indonesian from Nadia who is doing her teaching placement with Bu Kaye. Nadia has been teaching us about volcanoes, new words in Indonesian and it has been a lot of fun to have Nadia back at Langhorne Creek. - Edie

Pop Art

In art we have been learning about different artists and styles of design. We learnt about Andy Warhol and his influence on pop art and then created our own. It was a lot of fun. - Mia

SAPSASA Netball

This week Tilly, Mia and I played SAPSASA netball against other country regions. We played at Priceline Stadium in Adelaide. We ended up coming 2nd and really enjoyed the experience. - Lucy

Farewell to Jacqui

On Wednesday, 9th September we said goodbye to Jacqui our Pastoral Care Worker. Jacqui has been at Milang for the last 3 years and has served as a Pastoral Care Worker at Eastern Fleurieu School for 8 and a half years in total. Jacqui has also worked as an SSO during her time here and has been a wonderful support to staff and students. We will miss you Jacqui but we wish you all the best in your new chapter and look forward to hearing from you.

Our Place in the World

For our HASS learning in the Junior Primary class, we have been learning about ‘Our place in the World’. We started by using Google Earth to look at our planet from space and we then explored all the different countries that make up our world. We were even able to find a country for almost every letter of the alphabet (except for ‘W’ and ‘X’). After finding Australia and learning that our country is both a continent and an island, we then discovered that Australia has 6 states and 2 territories. We integrated our HASS learning with Father’s Day by carefully colouring and then cutting out a ‘Map of Australia’ jigsaw for our Dads and Grandpas. The next step of our learning is to think about where we live and communicate with others, the features and places that make our location unique. We also plan to draw our houses in miniature and map our locations on a big map of South Australia.

Insect Hotels

Last week our insect hotel groups presented their proposed designs to the Rosemount Environmental Committee. Students used PowerPoint presentations, life scale drawings and 3D models to explain their ideas. The Committee were very impressed by the research conducted by the students and have accepted the proposed designs for all of the insect hotels. We are now awaiting the arrival of the wood and our next step will be to start building.

Warradale Camp

In Week 7 the Upper Primary class travelled to Adelaide for a 2 night camp. Over three days we visited Cleland Wildlife Park, Adelaide Botanic Gardens, Bounce, Carrick Hill and Mount Lofty. Every student in the class attended the camp and it was a great opportunity to learn outside the classroom. We will be using our learning from our camp experiences in our unit on Aboriginal Sustainability, in upcoming digital Art lessons and as writing prompts for Writers Notebook.

I enjoyed going to Carrick Hill and following the Story Book Trail. - Carly

I enjoyed going to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens and taking digital pictures in the gardens. - Kye

I liked going to Cleland Wildlife Park because I got to learn a lot about the different animals. I learned what they eat and about the different types of kangaroos and wallabies. - Lydia

I enjoyed going to Mount Lofty. I liked the view and the cool air. - Erin

I enjoyed going to Bounce. I had a lot of fun and I did tricks. Cleland Wildlife Park was also good because there were lots of animals. - Zayden

R U OK?

Last Thursday, 10th September we celebrated RUOK Day. RUOK Day is a day of recognition, to remind us that we need to work together and look out for each other through life’s ups and downs.

This was a great opportunity to discuss wellbeing and mental health with students and to normalise speaking out and sharing with those around us about our emotions. In particular, it was very meaningful to have adults in our school, explain that everyone goes through tricky times and there is no shame in reaching out to friends or connecting with support. It was a great opportunity to let kids know that they can be proactive and supportive to those around them by following four simple steps.

1. Asking – Are you Ok?
2. Truly listening to their friend and the response
3. Encouraging Action – by suggesting who to talk to or how to get help
4. Check In- with your friend in a few days again, to see how things are going

“If someone says they’re not OK, make time to listen, encourage action and check in. That conversation could change, or even save, their life.”

Hudson, London and Scarlett, wearing a splash of yellow to spread awareness on RUOK Day

This focus supports the ongoing message of being kind and caring for each other. We always encourage children to speak with their families and trusted adults about any issues or things that are bothering them. Speaking regularly to your child about their friendships and feelings, helps them to know that they have an open line of communication and that they can share their thoughts as they process them.

Thanks to all of the families, children and staff who supported this event and remember, it doesn’t stop with a day!

Narnu Farm

Room 9

On Thursday, 13th August Room 9 were able to go on their excursion to Narnu Farm.

This was an opportunity to celebrate the year’s successes so far and work together to build collaboration and teamwork.

Our activities included hand ploughing with a Clydesdale horse, horse riding, blacksmithing, feeding farm animals, chicken hatchery, butter making and a vintage truck ride to feed the Clydesdales.

The kids absolutely loved horse riding and blacksmithing. A highly recommended place to visit!

We would like to thank all the parent volunteers that came along and made the experience a delight. We could not have done it without you.

Room 12

On Monday, 24th August our class braved the early wet and windy weather and ventured to Hindmarsh Island. The kids partook in a wide range of activities including horse riding, truck rides, animal feeding, horse shoe making and butter making.

I loved the horse riding, I was so nervous but I felt so safe and want to do it again. - Joseph

Mr Springhall was scared of the emu, it was funny watching him. - Heath

I loved feeding the Clydesdales, I have some at home and they are so big. – Patrick

Unfortunately this year we couldn't go on a camp due to COVID Restrictions, so were very fortunate to still be able to attend.

We had some very tired kiddies, but had the best time.

Deep Learning in Room 30

Our Science/Deep Learning topic has been Living Things. We had a great excursion to Monarto Safari Park earlier in the term. We learnt about animal groups and how to classify them, made a mystery animal that scientists had found in Tungaree Gardens and designed and made habitats for various animals. We also grew bean seeds. The competencies we are focusing on are Communication and Critical thinking.

Sports Day Preparation

Sports Day practice is in full swing at the Strathalbyn R-6 Campus. Hurdles and High Jump mats are out on the oval everyday with thanks to Room 1 and Room 7. Classes have been coming out in their learning and fitness breaks to prepare. We have also completed the run offs for the sprints and our new event this year, the long run. The Captains and Vice Captains spent Thursday morning with Mrs Tarling to film and learn the Health Hustle and they have taught their teams the new war cries.

The Game of Banco

Banco is played for the entire term. Students come to work each day and are paid a wage. They are employed to learn to the best of their ability. Teachers are their employers. Our currency is called ‘Loonatics’ or Loonies for short.

Here are some of employee’s comments about their experiences:

Banco is fun to play because we learn about money so when we are older we will know how to organise our own money. I know how to write a job application. - Emilee

You have to go to the Bank to get your money out. It’s like real life. - Mersaides

Banco is a fun game because I get to buy things from the shop and will know what it’s like when I’m older. - Lacey

I wanted to layby something but I missed out. - Susie

I’ve learnt to count money and create graphs to show how much money I’ve got. - Bonnie

I’ve had three jobs and it gives me more money so I don’t get bankrupt and can pay fines and bills (like rent). - Jaide

You have to save or have enough money if you want to buy things. - Caly

Any advice for those who play next year?

Avoid fines! - Rowan

My advice is not to spend all you earn in the first two weeks because you might have a lot of fines to pay. - Riley

Listen, do your work and work hard to get bonuses! - David

At the time of writing there are no students who are bankrupt which is one aim of the game! – The Boss

Oliphant Science Awards

Congratulations to three students from Room 8 at the Strathalbyn R-6 campus for their participation in the recent Oliphant Science Awards. Issy entered her poster about ‘The Science of Bushfires’. Erika and Isla made a board game, ‘First to Earth’ based on the concept of space. Erika and Isla were awarded a ‘highly commended’ for their work. All the girls worked very hard on their entries and can feel justifiably proud of their efforts. Thanks to Juliann Koopman and Lizzie Schofield for their support to the students as liaison with the awards organisation. Well done girls!

Choose how to add this event to your calendar:

Apple Calendar iPhone, iPad, Mac - Download .ics file

Outlook Desktop Outlook - Download .ics file

Android Calendar Android devices - Download .ics file

Other Calendar Google Calendar, Yahoo, etc. - Download .ics file

Download Event