28 July 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Welcome back last Wednesday to all students, staff and families for what looks to be another busy and exciting term. I hope you had a safe and happy holiday break. It's lovely to see students settling back into familiar school routines ready for a new term of learning.

Our teachers and Education Assistants were busy on Monday and Tuesday of last week attending Professional Learning at Murdoch University, Gilmore College and onsite.

We would like to extend a warm welcome to Mrs Kim Hartley who has joined the team at PLDS.

We have an exciting range of learning experiences coming up in term 3 for students and parents at Rockingham Lakes campus including Artacular, the Disco and Open Night. You have received information about the Derby Dress up Day on Friday 5th August.

This term we also look forward to our annual Topsy Turvy and Athletics Carnivals across all sites. Further information will be sent out shortly.

Could parents and caregivers please check that emergency contact numbers on file at PLDS are current and updated. It is vital that in the event of an emergency, we are able to contact a family member or delegate.

Please make sure that all items of clothing are named. As the weather begins to warm up students will take off jumpers and jackets. As mentioned, the Sports Carnivals are held this term so please make sure footwear is appropriate to join in active sports lessons.

We are looking forward to an exciting and really productive term.

Shelley Collins and Fiona Forbes

Mandurah

Welcome back to the start of another wonderful term. This term kindy are busy learning about the theme ‘animals’. We have just finished our NAIDOC theme which has seen us learning about many wonderful aspects of Australia, some Dreamtime stories and of course our beautiful Australian animals. The students were very excited to complete some Aboriginal dot painting and together we have made an awesome sample of work to display in the Artacular Exhibition later this term.

We are beginning our term learning about zoo animals, followed by farm animals and then pets. Don’t forget to come in and have a look at our beautiful work around the room. We are also concentrating on name writing this term, with the hope that everyone will be able to write their name independently by the end of the term. We have constructed name trains and they look great. We are continuing to focus on using our correct pencil grip and scissor grip when cutting. Please make sure your children are using these at home too!

This term we will be starting our news program and we will be heading off to the library. Please make sure your child has a library bag at school so they can borrow a book. Notes will come home regarding these soon.

Thank you and we look forward to another wonderful term!

Mrs Reilly and Mrs Wilson

Mandurah Term 3 Dates

RLPS Campus

ECE5

In ECE5 we learnt about Aboriginal Culture while celebrating NAIDOC week. We looked at traditional Aboriginal dances and paintings. We learnt that they used natural colours like browns and reds, us in dots and their hands. We made a large mural of a frog using dots and each child did their own part. We had lots of fun.

D1

In D1, the Year Ones have enjoyed learning about two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes. We have mastered the names of two-dimensional shapes and we have really enjoyed using our knowledge of features to build these shapes using a range of different materials.

We have been working very hard to learn names and features of three-dimensional shapes including cube, cylinder, sphere and cone. We have used our sense of touch to describe 3-D shapes hidden in a feely bag discussing how it feels. Does it have pointy corners? Does it feel round? Now that we learning the names, it is fun for us to try and guess the shape before revealing it!

Using our knowledge of the features of 3-D shapes, we have experimented making our own using play dough. We have really enjoyed looking for 3-D shapes in our school environment and testing which shapes we think will roll and which will stack.

RLPS Derby Day Dress-Up

RLPS Operation Christmas Child

A big “shout out” to all the families who have donated items for our shoeboxes so far this year. We are hoping to fill 50 shoeboxes with gifts for children overseas for this whole school project and are very excited about the gifts we already have.

Some of the things that we still need are:

• Small soft toys/teddies (40)
• Small pencil cases (20)
• Sets of coloured pencils (18)
• Sharpeners, erasers and sticker packs (35 of each)
• Skipping ropes (15)
• Socks – white unisex (20 pairs)
• Face washers (25)
• Library/carry bags (30)

It would be lovely to get all of our donations in by Friday 5th August. This date also happens to be our special fundraising day for Operation Christmas Child – gold coin donation to Dress up for Derby Day. This will assist in finalising our gifts ready for packing and shipping.

Thank you to everyone who has assisted us and we look forward to your continued support.

RLPS Term 3 Dates

ALL CAMPUSES

Other Important Information

Healthy Choices

LUNCH BOX TREATS A CALORIE OVERLOAD FOR KIDS

A small packet of chips may seem a harmless lunchbox treat, but research shows an eight year old would have to run for an hour to burn that off. Just one row of a chocolate block requires a similar level of exercise - an hour of vigorous playground activity or 48 minutes pedalling a bike.

The news is worse for children who make a meal of a burger, hot chips and a soft drink.

To use up that much energy, the Children’s Nutrition Research Centre has found an eight year old would need to spend nearly 5 hours running around or three hours on a bike. In accordance with Department of Education guidelines (the traffic light system) we focus on “green” healthy foods at school, and ask that parents not send “red” foods such as lollies, chips, cheezels or soft drinks to school. If children are having a birthday, sending a cake to share is acceptable, but please do not send lolly bags. If sending a cake to school, please ensure it does not contain nuts as we have several children with severe nut allergies at the Language Centre.

Below are some examples of healthy lunch and recess choices:

Relationships Australia

Relationships Australia in Mandurah has a great range of courses planned for Term 3. These courses are aimed at strengthening and improving relationships for individuals, couples and families.