7 March 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Welcome to week six of a busy and productive term one. I hope you all enjoyed the extra day with your families over the long weekend.

In this newsletter you will find information about Expressions of Interest for the PLDS Board. We are currently seeking EOI for new members and details regarding the role and responsibilities are available to view.

Just a reminder to parents to update any changes to contact details with the front office. It is essential that we have up to date contact numbers in case of an emergency. If your child is on the bus, please alert them to any changes in the daily schedule along with a note to the class teacher in the Communication Book. Please be aware that we are only able to release your child to adults you have included on your contact list.

We will shortly be inviting you to an Individual Language Plan meeting with your child’s teacher, Speech and Language Officer and an Admin member. The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss the goals and teaching strategies in your child’s Individual Language Plan. Please send an RSVP once you receive the letter or use the online booking system. We look forward to meeting with you to strengthen the quality partnerships we value with parents.

Term one 2018 is a busy 11 week term, with PLDS teachers shortly visiting students who transitioned to their home school this year. Student information has been sent to schools and teachers will take a handover file of information for the 2018 teacher. We have also invited the exiting school teachers to attend Professional Learning at PLDS with the first session commencing today.

We have had exciting learning opportunities across our 4 campuses over the past two weeks. Mandurah students have been busy gardening and learning about caterpillars, while students at Bungaree have been enjoying the novel ‘Possum Magic’. Our Pinjarra students have been building racing boats that would float and be powered by air, while the Kindy students at RLPS have been learning about our bodies, numbers and colours.

A big thanks to Mr Voges and his team for organising the trip to the WACA. This annual event is always thoroughly enjoyed by the students.

We would also like to welcome back our School Chaplain, Mrs Eleanor Clayson, who has provided some useful information in this newsletter. You will also find information from our school nurse about excessive screen time and the negative effects it can have on our students.

Voluntary contributions and charges are due by the end of term one. Fees sent in by the end of this term will go into the draw to win a prize at the junior assembly in term two.

Have an enjoyable fortnight and make the most of the warm weather.

Shelley Collins
Principal

Expressions of Interest for Peel Language Development School Board

We are currently seeking expressions of interest for PLDS School Board. Please see the attached flyer for more information.

Important information for Parents

Do you know how important your child's attendance is?

We want to make sure all children get the best education possible which is why attending school every day is so important.

Mandurah Campus

Room 14 cannot believe that we are half way through term one already!! Room 14 has had a great time getting to know each other and it is exciting to see new friendships forming between the year one and two students. As a class we have been doing lots of learning on how to be a good friend. We have been practising how to ask people if you can join in on a game and appropriate ways to communicate when you are annoyed or uncomfortable.

We have also been learning about how living things grow and change. As a class we have all grown already. Our knowledge of sounds is growing as is the amount of time we can sit nicely on the mat. To help us learn about the growth of living things we have been reading lots of books and doing some gardening.

In science we have been doing lots of digging and watering in our garden. We can already see that our plants have grown since we planted the a few weeks ago. We love watering the garden and are getting better at only getting water on the plants.

We have also been learning about caterpillars and butterflies. We read ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and learnt about how caterpillars need healthy food to grow just like we do! We made some beautiful paper chains that look just like the Very Hungry Caterpillar and these chains are now decorating our class.

Every day we are growing in so many ways and we cannot wait to see how much we have grown by the end of term one.

Ms Le Breton and Mrs Lally

Bungaree Campus

Magic in Room 4

Over the past 2 weeks we have been reading Possum Magic. While reading the book we learnt a lot about Australia and practised our comprehension skills. Most importantly we had to try the food in the story! We tried lamingtons, which were a hit with everyone and we all made vegemite sandwiches, but only some of us liked these ones.

We had the most fun making scones. Following the recipe, we worked together to cook the scones and then we tried them with jam and cream. We loved them and so did Room 3! Now we know why Grandma Poss and Hush rode all around Australia to try all these yummy foods.

Pinjarra Campus

Room 30 Pinjarra

The Year 2/3 class at Pinjarra have got off to a flying start for 2018! We have been developing our problem solving and technology skills by building and racing boats. The student’s challenge was to build a boat that would float and would sail powered by air. Some magnificent vessels were built and everyone had a lot of fun floating and racing them.

We have discovered there is a room full of enthusiastic and talented artists in the classroom. We have made some lovely, bright name tags for our windows. The students also learnt about Picasso and created portraits in the style of Picasso.

Students in Room 30 have been learning a lot about persuasive texts. We have learnt about point of view, had lots of discussions on topics and chose if we were ‘for’ or ‘against’, we have learnt how to structure a simple persuasive text and this week students will begin to plan, draft and write their own persuasive texts.

Have a look at some of the work we have been up to in Room 30.

RLPS Campus

We have had a great start to the year in Kindy A. We have all settled in well and are enjoying all the fun new things we get to experience, now that we are big Kindy students. So far this term we have been learning about ourselves and our bodies. We have been learning about our faces and our eyes and the fact that we use our eyes to see. We have seen so many things and can’t wait to learn about our other senses. We are also trying to identify our names and find it around our classroom. We have done a lot of work on the number 1 and 2 and the colours red and yellow. We have been really busy in our class learning all about school and we go home each day, happy and exhausted. We can’t wait to learn so much more.

WACA

On Monday 26th February, the students from rooms 3.3 and 3.4 of the Rockingham Lakes campus were treated to an excursion to the WACA ground to watch the Western Warriors take on the Victoria Bushrangers in a Sheffield Shield match. We were able to watch the first session of play where the Warriors were fielding. A few wickets gave the students something to cheer about.

During the lunch break the students were able to go onto the field and play a game of cricket themselves. The students had a terrific time and were very well behaved throughout the day.

Ben Voges
Health and Physical Education Coordinator

Dental Forms

If you received a dental form last week, we ask that forms be filled out and returned ASAP.

Chaplain

Welcome back to 2018!

My name is Eleanor Clayson and I am the chaplain here at PLDS.

I am here as chaplain for staff, students and families. My goal is to be a friendly face and a listening ear for all. When I catch up with students it is often over a board game or craft.

I have information for community services and support for families. Below is an excerpt from the link below.

Quick Ways to Calm Down

Sometimes you’ll need a quick way to help your child calm down and you don’t have much with you. Maybe it’s when you’re out at Target or stuck in traffic. These tips will come in handy at those times:

• Imagine your favorite place - it’s like taking a mini vacation wherever you are
• Think of your favorite things
• Name animals alphabetically (alligator, bear, cow, dog, etc…)
• Squeeze Something (play dough, clay, silly putty, your fists, a stress ball)
• Get a Cold Drink of Water

If you want to catch up for a chat (it could be over a cuppa) or have any questions please email me: eleanorc@youthcare.org.au.

Eleanor Clayson
Chaplain

Helping Hands Network – Outside School Hours Care

Helping Hands are now taking new enrolments for Before School, After School and Vacation Care.

Enrolment packs are available at our front desk.

Should you have any queries regarding their services please contact them directly on 0437 322 404 or Central Office 1300 612 462.

The Science Team

The Science Team is very excited to announce that we will be making some worm habitats with some of the students...but only if we can get enough donations of 2L clear plastic bottles and 500ml water bottles with a lid!

Please please please instead of putting them in your recycle bin can you please give them to your child's teacher instead.

Crunch & Sip

Community Health Nurse

Parenting support

As parents, you are the most important person in your child’s life.

Many parents find life with a child a joyful but challenging experience. Children’s needs change as they grow and each stage brings new challenges. You may find the following resources helpful from time to time as you navigate some of these challenges as a parent:

Screen time

Children and adolescents should not spend more than two hours a day on screen based activities. Excessive screen time often leads to poor health, poor fitness and overweight.

Activities like surfing the net, social networking, watching TV and playing screen games can be educational and fun, but all involve sitting still for long periods of time. Set family rules around screen time and encourage your child to try a range of active pastimes, especially during daylight hours.

For more information, go to the link below.

Community News

Relationships Australia

We have a lot of great workshops coming up over the month of March.

Free Seminars

You are invited to attend the Triple P Seminar Series. You will learn practical, positive and effective ways to deal with common behavioural problems and ways to help your child achieve their best at school and in the future. Please see flyer for more details.