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Term two has started and it promises to be a busy one at the school. At the start of this term we completed our NAPLAN Testing for our Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students, with all except the Year 3 Writing test being online. Tests were predominantly held in Week 2 with a couple of catch up tests early in Week 3. These went without any major issues, and we were fortunate to avoid the major internet issues that were reported on the Thursday afternoon of Week 2. From here the tests are marked, and data collated with reports coming back to schools in early Term 3.
New Staff
We welcome one new staff member this term. Louise Watson has joined our staff teaching one day a week (two half days) in the Senior Secondary area. Louise is teaching Stage One PLP to our Year 10 students, with support from Roxby Downs Area School. Louise also is teaching the Stage 2 Research Project to our Year 11 student. These two subjects form a significant part of the SACE curriculum as both are part of the compulsory subjects which SACE students need to complete.
Dates coming up this term:
- Hotshots Tennis in Port Augusta on Thursday May 26th (Year 3-4 students) and Friday May 27th (Year 5-6 students).
- Whole School Closure Day on Monday May 30th after the Hawker Cup.
- Bikes Palya week at Hawker from Monday June 20th to Friday June 24th.
- NAIDOC day at Wilpena Pound on Tuesday July 5th.
- School NAIDOC celebrations during Week 10.
- Last day of term Friday July 8th
Hotshots Tennis
Hotshots Tennis is happening for our students in Week 4 this term. On Thursday May 26th Victoria Barratt will be taking our Year 3-4 students to the Port Augusta Tennis courts for a day of the modified tennis junior tennis format. On Friday Polly Smart will take our Year 5-6 students to the same venue for the older version of this event. We are looking for parents who are interested to support the events on each day, consent forms have gone out and if there are still interested parents in the lead up all assistance will be greatly appreciated.
Bikes Palya
Our Bikes Palya week is on from June 20th to 24th, information will be coming out steadily as the week approaches. Bikes Palya has been facilitated by non-profit Bicycle South Australia (Bike SA) since 2013. Bikes Palya is known in the APY lands and remote Outback communities for delivering bike-focused in-school and school holiday programs. Palya means “great” in Pitjantjatjara. Bikes are Great! (Bikes Palya) In getting ready for the week one of the activities planned is the opportunity for students to be involved in some bike maintenance and repair to learn how to take care of their own bikes. We would like to thank both our Parents and Friends and the Hawker Community Development Board who have supported the costs of the week. The organisers will be keen to spend some time preparing for this activity and are inviting families to make available bikes that are in need of repair for the week. Of course we are planning for all students to also bring in their bikes on this week to be a part of the activities. In preparation for this we have published a basic survey for parents to complete which focuses on topics such as bike ownership, knowledge, riding ability, availability of bikes for repair etc. We are also asking for any parents who would like to be involved in the riding activities as support – the ratio for riding activities for schools is 5:1, so if we have four adults per 20 students we will be within limits.
Over the week activities will be programmed for delivery to our three classes at the school – Foundation to Year 2, Year 3 to 6 and our Year 7 to 11 class. Activities planned for the week include:
- The week will start off with an Introduction of the program, Helmet and Bike checks
- A General skill check and introduction of turning and moving safely on the road for inexperienced riders in particular
- An introduction to road rules
- Riding through a set up road course
- Practicing riding on the road
- Bike maintenance activities:
- How to keep your bike in working conditions (chain, cranks)
- How to fix a puncture
- How to adjust your breaks
- The construction of an obstacle course for bike riders
- Building of jumps with claimed wood
- Final ride and licence hand over
- End of week Barbecue
Community Walking Trail program
Hawker Area School has been successful in gaining a grant through the Flinders Ranges Council to assist in developing our Community Walking Trail. This development will be dependent on community involvement as well as the Flinders Ranges Council who have also pledged support with the program. The plan with the program is for the trail to be developed over the next few years, some of the ideas covered so far include:
- The development of parts of the trail starting from the walking trail near the junction of Chace View and Wirrenada Terraces.
- Irrigation of these areas, drainage from the community gym.
- Planting of indigenous plants that have a history of successfully growing in the area.
- Education on the value and importance of the plants including bush foods and other practical applications.
- Research by school students and preparation of signage to support the information for visitors.
- Development of the trails including topping up the tracks with gravel, and setting up of materials such as boulders, logs, sleepers to use as nature play style features around the garden area.
- General propagation and planting by students at the school and members of the community.
- Involvement of members of the community as a source of plants and other materials for the program.
The first stage of this program will be a community meeting to be held at the start of the trail near the school, as indicated by the red arrow on the aerial photograph. This will be on Wednesday June 1st at 4pm.
Yard Supervision
With our increasing number of students at the school we have expanded our yard supervision at lunchtime to include two areas. Over lunchtime from last week we will now have one staff member in the hard court and playground area and another supervising students on the oval. This will enable staff to be able to supervise our students in these two areas. Patterns of student activity show that we have a lot of our Junior Primary students interacting in the playground and sandpit areas, as well as in general on the hardcourt side of our yard. At the same time we also have a large group of students who also play ball games on the oval. Supervision of these two areas takes time and the teaching staff have all taken on an extra supervision duty to enable this to happen.
School Sports
Congratulations to Will DuBois, Harry McAuley and Angus McInnis who competed as part of the Orroroo Football team in the U12 Mini’s football carnival over the weekend. The carnival consisted of eight teams from Clare, Jamestown, BSR (Brinkworth Spalding Red Hill), Roxby Downs and Burra. The boys played six games in total, losing just the one in the group stage. In the semi-final stage the boys were part of a semi-final thriller which went to extra time after scores were level. In the final they defeated BSR pulling away at the end, after being two goals down at half time. Apart from Will, Harry and Angus Lachlan Hilder was the unlucky fourth player, with a sprained ankle suffered during the week.
Great news as well on the Cross Country front, with Archie Morgan running well in Port Augusta. Archie qualified for the Oakbank Cross Country event, setting a high standard in the Cross Country qualifying in Port Augusta, running over 2000 metres. Archie ran the distance in 10 minutes, coming in second place overall for his age group, a great effort a great effort with the numbers competing. The Oakbank event will be run June 9th , we wish Archie all the best on the challenging course.
As always if parents have any questions I can be contacted at the school on 86484003 or by my email at daren.oneill253@schools.sa.edu.au.
Mr Daren O'Neill
Principal
Junior Primary class and Penny McCulloch
Welcome to Junior Primary class, term 2 and already in week 4. In English, the Junior Primary class will be continuing their Read Write Inc Programme during the first lesson. The younger students in foundation are learning their letter sounds, sounding out and blending of CVC words, handwriting letters correctly, simple sentence construction, rhyming recognition, segmenting words, listening for beginning middle and end letter sounds in words and exposure to a range of texts, read to by the teacher. Oral language is used in lessons throughout the day in all subjects, communicating through discussions, sharing in groups, pairs and to the class.
Year 1’s along with the Read Write Inc Program will be learning to write more complex sentences that are interesting and make sense, extending this to short narratives. They also have lessons in grammar, handwriting, word knowledge and exposure to a range of texts read by themselves or by the teacher.
Most of the year 2 students are doing a spelling knowledge programme with Ms Barrett. The focus for writing this term will be understanding the use of paragraphs in narrative and nonfiction text. English also undertakes lessons in grammar, handwriting and reading. Skills in oral language are produced through sharing in groups or pairs and in class discussions and presentations.
In Maths, Foundation students will be working towards subitising to 10 which means being able to recognise amounts without having to count like we instantly recognise amounts on the dice. They will continue building on counting strategies, basic number facts such as numbers that make 10 and use practical situations to model addition and sharing. Students will familiarize themselves with Australian coins and notes.
Year 1, students will be focusing on number sense using a variety of number strategies such as subitising, rainbow facts, doubles, skip counting, and counting on and back. We have been learning about the fractions of half and quarters and will be counting and ordering small collections of Australian coins and notes according to their value.
Year 2 students will be developing their number sense and place value knowledge up to 1000, count and order small collections of Australian coins and notes according to their value. They will keep learning strategies for understanding multiplication and division and interpret simple maps of familiar locations.
In Art, the Foundation to year 2 students will be exploring texture, colour and tone through the medium of Collage with reference to Eric Carle’s book illustrations followed by a study of form through Sculpture.
In Art for year 3 and 4, we are finishing off Lino cut prints from last term then moving onto exploring some 20th century art movement and the artist involved such as Surrealism, Op art and Pop art. Student will be experimenting with techniques of illusion for their own ideas. Later with Sculpture, we will be viewing 3 dimensional objects and replicating the form.
Ms Penolope McCulloch
Foundation - Yr 2 Teacher
We have had a great start to term 2.
In Science, the students have been looking at states of matter and the properties of solids, liquids, and gases. This has involved some fun hands-on activities. Later in the term we will be looking at chemical changes and the properties of natural and processed materials.
Health has us looking at how to keep safe and what to do in an emergency. We will be looking at support networks and who we can turn to when we need help, including contacting 000, and also actions we can take when we find ourselves in trouble.
In English, we are working on narratives and are looking at building our own, unique characters for a story. This will progress into looking at how to structure a narrative and the students will be producing their own picture books.
In Maths we have carried out a lot of activities to help us learn more about mass, volume and capacity. We have also been improving our multiplication skills in class. Later in the term we will look at area and perimeter and start working on division strategies.
In Home Economics, we have been looking at sustainability and how we can reduce our waste at home, school and in the community. We are still planning our school garden so we can grow our own food to use in cooking lessons.
Miss Victoria Barratt
Year 3-6 Teacher
Welcome everyone to term two. We’ve hit the ground running in all our classes and students are getting some quality work done.
5/6 English
The year 5/6 English class have started the term with a novel study. We are reading A Ghost in my Suitcase by Gabrielle Wang. This story is set in modern day China, with some links to the past which we are also studying in HASS. We are completing a mix of activities that go along with the book including drawing, diary entries, change the ending and perspective paragraphs.
5/6 HASS
During HASS this term we are completing a project on Ancient China, which is supporting our knowledge and understanding of our class novel for English.
We have also begun to look at Economics, with some activities on wants and needs, and supply and demand. There has been some lively discussion centered around deciding what is a want and what is a need.
7-10 English
We began term two focusing on authors purpose, looking at why authors write, what they are hoping to achieve with their writing, and who they are aiming their writing at. This is culminating in designing a menu which employs the purposes of persuade, entertain and inform.
This week we will start our unit of work on Shakespeare. This year we are studying The Taming of the Shrew, one of Shakespeare’s few comedies. This will be paired with the movie Ten Things I Hate About You, which is based on the play.
7-10 HASS
The focus for HASS this term has been Economics. We have looked at markets, supply and demand and macro and micro economics. Next week we will turn our attention toward business, and general ‘how to adult’ skills which will incorporate budgeting, resume writing, career exploration, taxation and superannuation.
SACE English
Our stage one SACE English students are working toward completing their second and third assessment tasks. Task two is a comparison and analysis of how the same message is conveyed to different audiences, task three is a creative writing task focusing on one important moment or memory.
5-10 Art
We began Art this term with shading skills, how to grade colour and different shading techniques such as hatching and swirling. Students produced some great work as they practiced and annotated their work in their visual art diaries.
This week we started a little art history, looking at the life and achievements of Pablo Picasso. Students will have a play with drawing some portraits in his style, and aim to complete a final piece using oil pastels.
F-2 HPE
We will be focusing on developing collaborative and coordination skills in Term 2. Apart from participating in both strength and cardio training, the students will also take part in different group activities and compete against each other. For Health lessons, students are learning about emotion recognition and regulation. They will learn to recognize their own and other feelings.
These pictures show students telling their classmates of different events that made them happy, angry, sad or excited. They take turns and roll the dice to share their stories. The pictures show that they are sharing their stories jubilantly.
Winter is here and we move the PE lessons indoor. Students are performing a range of aerobic exercises to strengthen their cardiovascular system. Last week, we played a game called Level Up! The below picture shows students participating in this game. They are performing different exercises to raise their levels and to beat the boss!
Years 5-6 Mathematics
This term, Years 5-6 students will learn about Geometry, especially 3D solids. From 2D shapes to 3D shapes, they learnt to build a range of animation figures using 3D nets and to calculate their surface areas. In the challenge below, students built a composite shape puzzle using 2D shapes. They would find all relevant shapes that could build this puzzle; thus, calculated the area of this composite shape.
In the following weeks, they will be learning about translation and rotation of different 2D shapes. They will plot the shapes on the Cartesian Plane to apply their knowledge.
Practice makes perfect! Years 5-6 students will continue to have Mathematics Stations to revise different topics. They will be divided into teams and challenge one another. This will be a great opportunity to apply and revise their prior knowledge.
Years 7-10 Science
Our secondary school students will be learning about chemistry this term. From the Periodic Table to Chemical Reactions, we will be conducting a range of experiments to investigate the properties of elements. In each experiment, students will pose a hypothesis and test for their assumption by recording the result. In Week 1, we learnt to recognise the atomic structure of elements and to read the Periodic Table. In Week 2 and 3, we made crystals in the Science Lab and made plastics out of milk and vinegar. To better connect students’ knowledge to real-world application, they will be investigating how to eliminate the use of plastics and how plastics can be a renewable resource.
In subsequent weeks, Years 9-10 students will learn about different bond formations between elements through experiments. Years 7-8 students will also continue to learn about chemical changes and how to separate mixtures using a range of techniques.
Years 7-10 Mathematics
Our secondary school students also learnt about geometry this term. They are combining the knowledge of fractions and geometry together to solve problems. For revision, we are using the Connect Four game to practice fractions. Students need to have at least four counters connected and the sum of the counters has to be a whole number, to claim the win.
We are also using different 3D solids to deduce the formula of cylinders, prisms and pyramids. From surface area to volume, students use different means to visualise both 2D and 3D geometrical shapes.
Miss Sharon Lam
Mathematics / Science / P.E. Teacher
The library is open at lunchtime every day enabling students to read, borrow books and DVDs, draw, chat, complete a jigsaw or play board games. On Wednesdays, we have a STEM club. This term, the students are working on designs to enter the Space to Dream competition supported by the Commissioner for Children and Young People. We have begun exploring what can be created in Maker’s Empire, the 3D printing app we are using. On Fridays, in our Adventures in Art club, students are doing drawings in the style of Eloise Renouf. They will be creating a piece of art to enter the Premier’s Reading Challenge STEM Challenge.
Last year, Jimmy Morgan’s 3D model created in Maker’s Empire, came first in the state-wide Space to Dream competition. During the school holidays and for the first few weeks this term, Jimmy’s model has been on display in the library, along with the other models/designs which were in the top group in the state.
HASS – Humanities and Social Sciences F-2
Me on the Map has been the topic the F-2 students have been studying late last term and into this term. They have been discovering that Hawker is on Adnamatna Country, in South Australia, which is a state of Australia, and that Australia is one of the continents on Planet Earth. The students are writing a short report on what they have discovered, which they will post on our Blog in the next few weeks. Our next inquiry unit follows on from this. Our inquiry question will be, How have technological developments helped change the way people live, work, travel and communicate?
Digital Technologies F-2
Do you know how computers ‘talk’ to each other? They don’t see the letters and numbers we see when we type. They communicate using 2 numbers only. 0s and 1s. These numbers act like on/off switches. In our lessons this term, we have been learning about binary. I have been impressed with how quickly the students have grasped some of the concepts being taught. They have worked out their birth date in binary and have been working on decoding a secret code. And this is all using ‘old’ technology-a pencil and paper! We will continue learning about how computers work behind the scenes. This work is part of the Speak Like a Robot digital challenge supported by the Commissioner for Children and Young People.
Mrs Ailsa Green Teacher Librarian and Ms Rosie Luckraft CLA
Meet Callum – The new addition to the team. Logan has loved having him in the class and Callum is part of our Play Based Learning Program. If you have any 0000 size clothes, tiny socks, or baby blankets we would love some for our classroom.
We have worked really hard on learning the routine of our day and term two has been incredible for the Akurra Room and we have settled back in with ease. We have been learning the letters in our name and having the correct pencil grip. Every morning Eliza, Pip, Ryan and Karl join us for RWI, we work really hard and then get to have some Play Based Learning fun. On Monday afternoon’s the whole F-2 class join us for dancing and we are working on something to perform at an assembly.
Kim Adele
SWAN Teacher
Term 2 has begun and we're off at a run!
Through my Read Write Inc responsibilities I am very excited to have witnessed a special graduation of one of my students earlier this term. This student has the quiet determination of 'The Tortoise', never uses personal challenges as reason for not striving and stays humble with each milestone reached. I am so proud of this student and wish them every success as they take on the next colour.
I am taking on Green Group this term and will be in touch with my parent group soon. Keep learning your speed sounds and RED words attached to your backpacks. ?
During our weekly Yura Muda lesson in F-2 we continue to learn about different aspects of our local Yura culture. We love our lessons with Karmy and look forward to them every week. Late last term we learned about the Awi Itina. Historically when we see these little red breasted birds zipping about it signals rain coming. I haven't seen any around where I live for some time...possibility why there has not been decent rain for ages!!!
At the end of week 3 I completed a little Science unit with my F-2 group on Seasons. I'm so proud of them. They listen to some of my very hard brain stretch questions and somewhat scratch their heads near the beginning of the unit but by the end they are able to explain some very complex concepts such as earth tilt and orbit, and how this effects our seasons. I've been very impressed!
Finally, my work with SWAN continues. We have recently gone through a big curriculum reset. I'm very proud of all of the Maths and English task development I have worked on in readiness for the month ahead. I'm excited to see how far we can move along academically this term. I have quite a few new afternoon routines I am trying this term also. Variety is the spice of life. ? I look forward to reflecting on my new afternoon routines with you at the end of this school term.
Have a great term Everyone.
Mrs Amanda Hilder
SWAN / Science / Yura Muda
Hi I’m Louise Watson and I’ve taken on a 0.2 position at Hawker this term, working with the year 10 class on the Stage 1 Personal Learning Plan (PLP) subject and Joel in year 11 for stage 2 Research Project. Both subjects are compulsory for SACE completion. Across my 24 years of teaching in area schools, I’ve taught a range of subjects and year levels -branching out from my secondary art/design training into primary, preschool and principal-ling. It’s nice to be involved in learning again and I’m looking forward to working at Hawker.
PLP is a useful subject to help students think about their pathways in senior school and for life after school. Students investigate capabilities, career options, complete work experience and make personal and career related goals. The subject is being taught by Roxby Downs, so I’ll be able to support the students to complete their assignments in class. All students recently completed work experience; Thane at Hawker Motors, Dan at Hawker General Store and Jack at Chris’ Mechanical Services. Huge thanks to the local employers for supporting the students in their experience of a workplace.
Joel has chosen a topic for his Research Project and as well as aiming to complete a range of research to find out about it, he also has to document and reflect on the processes he takes.
Louise Watson
Year 10 PLP and Year 11 Teacher
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