Student of the Week Awards

Congratulations to last week’s

Student of the Week award

recipients: Cal, Heath, Maddy,

Callan, Alby, Linc, Alannah and

Kai. Keep up the great work,

kids!!

Word Mania

Well done to the Grade 3 class

who came 2nd

in the

participation for our region on

the Word Mania challenge. This

was a great way for children to

improve their spelling and

vocabulary, with a bit of

competition thrown in! Well

done Grade 3!

Waste-Free Wednesday Winners

Congratulations to the Grade 5s,

who were last week’s

Waste-Free Wednesday

winners!! It is great to see a

trophy made of recycled

materials as the winners trophy

for the week. A massive thank

you to parents and students for

supporting this program. As a

sustainable school it is a small

way we can help our

environment.

VicSpell

A huge congratulations to

Callum Lancey, Martha

Dunemann, Meg Milburn and

Alexis Kendall for their

participation in the VicSpell

regional finals at St Paul’s on

Monday. They all did a great job

as ambassadors for our school

and tried their very best! Well

done to Martha, who won the

Grade 6 division, and will go on

to compete in the provincial

finals in September! (Hopefully

they don’t fall on a day when

she is away at camp!!)

Book Week

The PCS Book Week will be held

in Literacy and Numeracy Week

which tarts on Monday the 4th

of September. Friday the 8th

September will be our Book

Week Parade, held in the shed at

9.15am. Children will be asked

to dress up as their favourite

book character. During the

week we will have a variety of

reading/book activities that

students will participate in.

Footy and Pie Day 5th

September

Don’t forget to get your Pie

orders in by TUESDAY for Footy

and Pie day on 5th

September.

Kids dress up in their footy

colours on this day.

Have a great week!

Cate

School Council Parent Members: Geoff Warriner ( Pres.) 5659 9132, Karyn Hill (Sec.) 5659 2309 , Melanie Wallace (Treas) 5627 5668, Kelli Olsen 5659

7228, , Brad Mc Intosh 5659 7244, Royce Nieuwerth 5659 2140, Michael Kendall 5659 0203, Caroline Wilson 0405 574 048 & Brock Churchill 0419 018

670

THE POOWONG PRATTLE

www.poowongcs.vic.edu.au poowong.cs@edumail.vic.gov.au 0448 592 356 5659 2356

What’s on this Term

30th August

1st September

5/6 Camp

31st August Kinder Visit

2nd September Trivia Night

3rd September Father’s Day

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V.C.O.P Big Write Writing Topic of the Week

For Big Write this week, students across the school are writing a piece of personal writing. It is called “Dear Diary,

Today…”.

Please talk to your child about their ideas and opinions and encourage them to discuss them with as many family

members as possible. Talking about the topic is a major help to getting ideas flowing!! A great time to do this is while

you are sitting at the table for dinner. A TV –free conversation is a major winner! Even discussions while driving in the

car can help (and can be easier to manage with sporting commitments!)

Your child will benefit from hearing about your opinions and ideas as well to help them generate ideas of their own.

Remember to use the ‘because’ word and remind your child to do the same. This helps them to articulate the reasons

behind their ideas. That way when they write on Thursday they will have so many ideas and will be able to use a

connective like ‘because’ to make their ideas really valuable.

Please help your child to think of exciting V.C.O.P for their writing:

V- Vocabulary (wow/exciting words)

C- Connectives, words that join ideas together eg. because, as well as, due to etc.

O- Openers- amazing ways to start a sentence- not just “Once upon a time”- try “Gently the wind whipped around the

ground at her feet…” or words that end in ‘ly’ or ‘ing’- Gently, Silently, Strongly or wondering, powering, jumping. These

are powerful openers- especially with poetry that makes images in the readers mind

P- Punctuation (ask your child to show you Kung Fu Punctuation (hand signals) to demonstrate.

- ocabulary, onnectives, peners and unctuation.

VCOP is focused teaching of the following: Vocabulary = teach a wide range of ‘wow’ words, (ambitious vocabulary); Connectives = teach a wide range of words and phrases for connecting thoughts, ideas, sentences etcetera; Openers = teach a wide range of ways of opening sentences, including sequence words, linking words and phrases and the 3 power openers; Punctuation = The teacher continues to model correct use of the punctuation and encourage increased understanding through use of strategies

www.sharethedignity.com.au

If anyone has any old handbags that are gathering dust in a cupboard, and might like to donate them to "share the

dignity" ...its a charity that donates to homeless women. Share the Dignity's ‘It’s in the Bag’ campaign is an opportunity to ensure that women and teenage girls who find themselves homeless, sleeping rough or taking refuge in shelters receive a gift this Christmas, a reminder that somebody cares and they’re not alone. In 2016 we were blown away by the response of the Australian public who donated 107,000 handbags - in 2017 we hope to exceed that number, and your help will be a great start! This year we are asking that each bag contain all of the "must haves" as a minimum to ensure that each handbag will have the basic necessities for each and every woman that receives one. (they can of course contain almost anything else the donors heart desires). The must haves are: Toothpaste, Deodorant, Shampoo, Conditioner, Soap, Sanitary Items. If anyone would like to donate items, could they please leave these at the school office for collection no later than Monday afternoon.

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Prep news!

Literacy/soundwaves focus: This week our Soundwaves

sounds were ‘ ll’ in words such as ‘ bell’ and ‘fill’, and ‘zz/s’

in our list words ‘jazz’ and ‘was’. We have been working on

the short vowel sound ‘u’, in words such as hut and mug. In

rotations students revised some of the Soundwaves sounds

and worked on sentence structure tasks.

Writing: We started our new unit on response writing. The children are beginning to write book reviews

and explain what they like about the books read. Our big write this week required the children to write a

letter someone special. Over the next few weeks we will look at how we can respond to letters and other

material.

Maths: In maths this week we have been using dominoes to work out addition problems. The students

participated in games and rotation activities to explore simple addition problems. We started our unit on

mass, reading the book ‘Who sank the boat’, which generated a lot of discussion about who actually sank

the boat using language heavier, heaviest, light and lightest.

Integrated studies: Students have discussed what history is and shared their personal history and how

they have changed over time. They were able to identify what they can do now that they could not do as a

baby.

Chinese: This week in Chinese we learnt how to say “I don’t like…”

Next weeks news topic: Students will share their photos of themselves as a baby or a toddler, so they do

not need to bring anything else in. It was great to see all of the children were able to identify a sphere and

there were many interesting things brought in for news this week!

Other things to know: This week for waste-free Wednesday we only had 2 pieces of waste! 15 of the 17

children present had a completely waste free lunch box. The children are so proud of their achievement

and seem to understand the environmental impact of not contributing plastic or

unrecyclable waste.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs Hallyburton.

Grade One

Literacy/ Soundwaves focus: This weeks Soundwaves sound has been ‘or’ as

in horse and ‘a’ as in ball. We have also looked at other letter combinations

that make the same sound.

Writing focus: This week we have begun our focus on response writing. The

students have begun a character review on a character of choice from a book

we have read in the class. We have also touched on letter writing. We will con-

tinue to focus on both forms or response writing along with others over the coming weeks.

Maths focus: This week we have been working on subtraction. The Grade 1’s have been using a range of classroom

materials to assist them in solving their subtraction problems.

Chinese: This week we reviewed all the language we have learnt over the last ten weeks. Part of this review included the

students having to draw pictures to match the story they were read by our Chinese tutor that was in Mandarin. The

students then had to repeat the story back in Mandarin.

Integrated: This week we completed our Humpty Dumpty classroom display! The grade worked really well together to

construct it.

Other things: Next weeks sounds are ‘v’ as in vase and ‘w’ as in web. If students could try and bring something

containing this sound for their news or talk about something with this sound that would be great. This week we started

making our spider legs for the production. The students are getting very excited! If your students have not brought in

some stockings for the production can these please be brought in ASAP. Thank you!

Have a great weekend,

Miss Jones

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Grade 3

Literacy: Did you know there are 8 different roles in our Lit Circles? So far the grade 3’s have learnt about 6 of them. Each Lit Circle has up to 6 students who are reading the same text, but they will be examining the text from a different angle. The first step is to read the text (time will be given in class for this however it won’t be enough so everyone will have to read at home). Then once the text is read, students will complete tasks based on their allocated role. Then when they meet with the teacher again they will be ready to participate in some rich conversations about what they have read. So far the students have really enjoyed learning the different roles. In writing we are looking at response writing. We have started our writing rotations and so far the students have been really good at understanding how to identify good goals. This week’s big write was a great opportunity of being able to work on achieving our goals. The sound for the week in Sound Waves was “ir” of bird. Maths: We started looking at division this week. It flows on nicely from fractions, as fractions are a form of division. We have looked at how do draw a diagram to explain division and how division relates to multiplication. Next week we will continue to work on the “I’m Divided” poster. We have also been completing some mental maths warm ups and have been doing some great estimating from Estimation 180. Students are getting much better at telling the time. Next week we will also do some data and graphing activities. Integrated: This week we completed our group posters on life before Europeans. Next week we will be looking at current issues. In the news this week there have been some councils that have decided not to recognise the 26th of January as “Australia Day” and are referring to it as “Invasion Day” We will investigate this a little further next week. Homework and spelling are still due on Tuesdays, reading diaries and Lit Circle books must come to school every day and Wednesday is Library. Mr Horton and Mrs Anthony

Grade 2 News Literacy/Soundwaves focus: this week we had or as in horse. We are also looking at contractions and using contractions in our writing. Writing focus: We have started our response writing topic however we are having so much fun writing poems that we are continuing writing our own style of poetry. Reading: During reading, we are trying to make comparisons to the book characters and ourselves. Maths focus: Multiplication and Division. We are singing our times tables and having fun learning them. We are learning to make the connections between multiplication and division. It is a bit tricky for some of us. Integrated Studies focus: We have nearly finished creating our Jack and the beanstalk display. This has been a whole class project with lots of discussion and negotiating.

We have enjoyed having Mrs Warner in our class as a student teacher. Monday 28th August is her last day. We wish Mrs Warner every success in her future studies and career as a teacher. Cheers,

Mrs Lacanaria

Page 9 Poowong Prattle

Grade 5 News

Next Wednesday morning we will be on our way to sunny Marysville. The children should be at school at normal time. The bus will be departing from school at 8:30 sharp. If you have any medication please make sure it is handed to your child’s classroom teacher. A form will be coming home with regard to any medications you want teachers to administer. Literacy/Soundwaves focus: This week we studied the graphemes “or, ore, a, aw, au” – horse, core, ball, paw, sauce. We won’t be completing a unit of Soundwaves next week due to the camp. Writing focus: This week in writing we have been completing our cow reports in email form for our Cows Create Careers projects. Maths focus: This week we have continued to work on improving our understanding of short division. We have looked at the structure of division equations and discussed the importance of knowing your multiplication number facts. We have multiplied ingredients for a recipe that had to contain enough ingredients for the entire grade. Other things to know: The children will be arriving home from camp before 3:30 pm, so normal pick up time please.

Regards,

Jim Leicester

Grade Four

Literacy/ Soundwaves focus: This week we have continued learning

about the various roles in Literacy Circles. This week we have learnt

about the investigator, character captain, crazy connector and pas-

sage picker. These roles are explained to the children and they all complete the role based

on the text they have read. We will be starting these rotations in the upcoming weeks where each individual

student will perform a different role from their group. When we come together they will share what they have done

and provide discussions for the group. This is a rich and engaging way for the students to understand what they

read in various ways. Our Soundwaves focus sound is ir, ur, or, er, ere, ear and our. Words include bird, nurse,

world, fern, were, heard and journey.

Writing focus: In writing this week we have started our writing rotations where we focus on how we can

improve our writing. Each week the teacher will sit down with a group and analyse their writing to make goals for

the next Big Write piece. Other activities in these rotations include a follow up activity from the teaching group,

soundwaves and typing/computer skills. We have focused on letters this week and how to correctly structure a

letter.

Maths focus: In maths this week, we have worked on various strategies to help us with our division knowledge. We

have discussed what division is and how we can figure the equation out by using visuals

and our knowledge of multiplication. We have engaged in various rotations to practise our

skills and have also been learning about division with remainders and long division.

Integrated Studies: This week the children continued to work in their expert groups and

finishing off posters on what they have researched so far about life in Australia before

European settlement.

Have a great weekend!

Miss Pears

Page 10

Absolute Final day

11th September

Music

It feels like the calm before the storm. All the grades are working really well on their songs and their performance. We need to make sure we all know the words to the songs. The words have been sent home (except for prep and grade 1) and students should be practising these when they can. Each class has had an opportunity to have a practise on the stage and are doing really well. It is a tight squeeze for some grades but they are coping fine. Notes went home last week about costumes so hopefully that has given you enough notice for the required items. If anyone has any cardboard boxes or cardboard sheets, I would really appreciate them for blocking out the shed windows and for part of the performance. Our recorder group has been practising their assembly piece “Dreaming” and it sounds great. This week was the last week for the bucket drumming elective (and haven’t they been teriffic?), however bucket drumming will continue for anyone who is inersted, on a Friday afternoon at last play. Mr Horton

Page 11 Poowong Prattle

I am super excited to announce we had 86 students with a waste-free

lunch this week, 21 more than last week! This is such an amazing effort by

students and parents, thank you so much to parents for your support on

this project. The children are excited to talk about having a waste free

lunch box and are able to discuss why it is important for our environment

This week’s ‘Waste-free warrior’ award for the grade with the least amount

of litter goes to grade prep, with only 2 pieces of plastic. This is an

outstanding effort, and one I hope will continue. Grade prep also had the

most waste-free lunch boxes with 88% of students waste-free. All grades

improved on the number of lunch boxes coming to school waste free. Grade

two had the greatest improvement, doubling their waste-free lunch boxes

from 9 last week to a whopping 18 litter free lunch boxes this week,

awesome effort grade 2!

Don’t forget that all children with a waste-free lunch box go into a weekly

raffle to win amazing litter free prizes such as; reusable lunch bags, bees

wax wraps and stainless steel lunch containers. Last week’s winner was

Ned in grade prep who won an awesome lunch and snack bag set,

generously donated by “Littre free living”.

Waste-free lunch box tip of the week.

One of the main contributors of waste is plastic wrap or plastic zip lock

bags used for sandwiches or rolls. To create a waste-free lunch you can put

the sandwich straight into the lunch box, usually no wrap is required. If

you feel the need to wrap your child’s sandwich you could use a bees wax

wrap, a reusable sandwich wrap or bag, or place it into a smaller compact

container.

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On offer this term for Monday lunch

orders are:

Mains: (choose one)

Veggie soup

Sausage Casserole with Rice

Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta

Chicken or Falafel Wraps

Desserts: (choose one)

Orange cupcake

Chocolate choc chip muffin

Bon Bon

Lunch orders are $5

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Poowong Consolidated School Fundraiser

It is time to take a stand on the war on waste. Switch disposable plastic for reusable products at Litter Free

Living. Enter the code PCSCHOOL and you will receive a 10% discount plus 20% of your sale will go back to

our school.

We are endeavoring to reduce litter in our school through reducing lunch box litter and educating the students on

the war on waste.

Litter Free Living offers a range of reusable lunch and household products which keep food fresh and

eliminate the use of plastic wrap and disposable plastic bags.

Please shop at www.litterfreeliving.com.au

Enter PCSCHOOL at checkout to help reduce your impact on the environment and raise funds for our school!

*BONUS* receive a 10% discount when you enter PCSCHOOL

*BONUS* Spend over $50 and use the code PCSCHOOL and you will automatically receive 1 small reusable zip-fresh

snack bag (durable, reusable zip-lock bag)

*BONUS* Once 5 sales with the code PCSCHOOL have been placed our school will receive a free Litter Free Living

product for us to giveaway

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Page 17 Poowong Prattle

Page 18 Newsletter Title

Whats NEW for 2018

Like Minds Class

In 2018 there will be a new option for learning at KSC for stu-

dents in Years 7-9. To access this class students will need to

demonstrate excellent effective learner behaviours and will

work with a smaller number of teachers on a personalized

learning program.

STEAM Building & Hardcourt area

Outstanding Literacy & Numeracy Results

Did you know we have had outstanding learning growth between Year 7 to 9 in all our Naplan results which exceeds the state mean and puts us in the top for Gippsland

schools?

Living up to our motto of

“Aim High” we have re-

searched the best teaching

practice to ensure that our

students learn the core skills

relating to literacy and nu-

meracy.

In 2017 we introduced the

Cars and Stars Reading program

into Year 7 along with the Writ-

ing Program “Big Write”. This will

ensure a streamlined approach

to the strategies our local prima-

ry schools are already imple-

menting. We also expanded our

LINK program into Years 8 & 9

and have an experienced teach-

er leading this work with stu-

dents.

Each year level 7-10 has English

and Maths at the same time

which will means that we can

have flexible groupings to en-

sure that all students can have

learning at their point of need.

Korumburra Secondary College

Lifelong Learner Capabilities

Our College purpose is to develop lifelong learners who are re-spectful, resilient, strive for excellence and are productive members of their community.

We are about develop-ing the whole person along with key literacy and numeracy skills.

Every term our stu-

dents and parents will

have a GPA report

which provides feed-

back on the student’s

growth in these im-

portant 21st Century

skills and dispositions.

This is linked to our

ACE curriculum

which supports the

development of these

skills which are ap-

plied across all learn-

ing areas.

Parents will receive

continuous reporting

of learning tasks in all

subjects online

through our parent

and student portal..

This means our par-

ents can keep up to

date with their child’s

progress.

Global

Classroom, ACE Senior & Broad-ening Horizons

At KSC we know that schools

need to change to meet the

learning needs of our learners.

Most knowledge is available at

the click of a button, but we

need to be able to critically

evaluate what we are reading

and also use and apply the

knowledge and skills. Our Col-

lege has been recognised

across Gippsland for our prob-

lem based learning opportuni-

ties where students work to-

gether with local businesses

and agencies to provide solu-

tions for community challeng-

es in Year 8 and Year 9.

A state of the art

learning facility

which has many

high tech options

and new equip-

ment together

with a senior

school study cen-

tre PLUS a new

Community Action Group This active group of parents and commu-

nity members formed in 2016 to have an active community voice in the work of

KSC. To date they have worked with school and student leadership to create sever-al community engagement activities. A great opportunity to be involved and make

Principal Abigail Graham School Contact: 56551566