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Principals Newsletter Article
It has been a busy start to the term where we have regularly had staff and students away from school due to COVID and other ailments. On average each week we have had at least one staff member and students from one or more classes absent due to COVID, in addition to this we've had further absences connected to the regular strains of flu and gastro illnesses that occur at this time of year. This has certainly had an impact on how everything has operated at the school from the classroom to our front office. A big thank you to our staff, students and parents who have helped to keep our classes going, and stay healthy themselves. We have had to cancel our Open Night and planned Pupil Free Day due to this situation, these events simply would not have had the impact they are meant to have.
On our school events, this week past we had our school trip to the Quorn Area School Sports Day, well done to our students for the efforts that they put into their events on such a beautiful day. We also have planned our own sports day for September the 2nd at which Marree Aboriginal School and students from SOTA are expected to compete. Being a little later in the year, hopefully the weather will be kind to us, it can flip around a little, but the odds are in our favour!
Kim Adele took our footballers and one netballer to Port Augusta also earlier this term. The boys played as part of the Quorn Team and performed well against good opposition, going down in a semi final where they kept the top placed team almost scoreless in the second half, a great effort. Well done to all the boys who attended on this, the level of competition that the Port Augusta schools offer is quite high and from the sounds of it our boys showed a great attitude and competed well.
Last Wednesday TADSA (Technology for the Aging and Disability SA) visited the school to work with some of our students in the area of designing bikes and trikes which accommodate personal needs such as balance. The primary role of TADSA is to provide personalised assistive technology equipment and services to those who live with a disability, a role which they have provided for 45 years. Rob Calder came up to work with our students and had a range of bikes with various assistive technologies incorporated. The experiences of our students was fantastic as they gained confidence in riding bikes with a sense of safety and fun. Rob stayed through lunchtime and gave the opportunity to some of our other students to try out the technology and consider the benefits that it brings. Many thanks to Optimal Support and Jacinta Dempsey who helped to organise the opportunity for this to occur.
Our Yura Muda camp to Vulhathana in the Gammon Ranges will be in Week 9 from September 19th to the 23rd for our Year 4 students upwards. The first note on this went out last week and there is more to follow.
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
2022 Term 3 Junior Primary Overview
Welcome to term 3 at Hawker Primary School.
The day starts with the students unpacking their bags, calling of the roll and their designated jobs.
First lesson is the Read, write inc. program, followed by Maths, in which the class will be continuing with multiplication and division and grouping and sharing for the younger students. We have been collecting data to display as graphs to interpret and following up with chance, the likelihood of outcomes. Student will be continuing practice and understanding of place values.
The second lesson of English covers writing, grammar, handwriting, reading, word investigations, rhyme and oral language. The class is read to throughout the week, a variety of books, focussing on the vocabulary and the genre of the book. In Art, we are continuing with Sculpture and some Drama, Dance and Music
Library is on Thursdays and students can borrow books at this time if they have returned previous books.
Please make sure your child’s hat is clearly labelled so it is easily identified by your child and not mistaken by another child.
All parents or carers are welcome to have discussions with me about their child if needed, as working together works best for you, the child and us as teachers.
Here are some Sports Day photos from last Friday.
Ms Penolope McCulloch
Foundation - Yr 2 Teacher
Welcome to Term 3! We have had a fantastic start to the term with Pyjama Day and Quorn Sports Day, with lots of other fun activities to be had throughout the term.
We have been busy in class as well.
In Maths, the students have been looking at fractions. We have learned how to sort fractions and how to turn improper fractions into mixed numbers. Later we will be learning how to convert them into decimal points and percentages.
English has seen us looking at informational texts. This has started off by learning how to make sentences from minimal information and then producing paragraphs to make a full informational text on a country.
In Science, the Year 3/4s have been looking at living things vs non-living things and at different kingdoms and classifications. The Year 5/6s have been looking at habitats and adaptation plants and animals need to undergo in order to survive.
We are continuing the Child Protection Curriculum in Health which has seen us looking at how to recognise and respond to abuse. The Year 5/6s will also be looking at what changes the body undergoes during puberty.
In HASS we have been looking at the differences between celebrations and commemorations and what events are celebrated and commemorated in Australia and around the world.
The students have been busy, working in groups, and designing three course meals to cook in Home Economics. We have already completed the first menu with great success and are looking forward to trying the other two menus that have been planned.
Miss Victoria Barratt
Year 3-6 Teacher
Here we are well into term 3 already!
English 5/6
The English class this term have been focusing of poetry, all kinds. They have written an Ode to Chocolate, ballads of their choice, shape poems and limericks. There have been some really creative works produced where the kids surprised themselves.
We have also been working on comprehension every day, which is part of our reading goals across the whole school. I’ve seen a marked improvement in the students results here, which has been great to see.
English 7-10
We started English in term 3 with a close look at satire and parody which the students enjoyed. We followed this by viewing Monty Python and the Holy Grail which is an excellent example of both satire and parody. Students are currently completing an assessment where they will identify and analyse the parody, satire and irony in the film.
HASS 5/6
The Year 5/6 class have started the term learning about migration, immigration and refugees. We’ve looked at Anh Do and read his book The Little Refugee. We’ve also looked at where our families came from (those of us who haven’t been here all along), when and how they came. Students are currently working on a PowerPoint on refugees.
HASS 7-10
In keeping with the medieval theme of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the Year 7-10 class have been studying Medieval History in HASS. We started with the Fall of Rome and have progressed through The Crusades, the Church and Feudalism, the Spanish Inquisition, the Black Plague, the 100 Years War and are finishing with an assessment task on Joan of Arc. As part of our studies we watched Kingdom of Heaven which is a movie that tells the story of the second crusade where the Christian armies were evicted from Jerusalem. We’ve looked at why Jerusalem is so important to the religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism and analysed how this conflict has continued throughout history to present day.
Art 5-10
We have continued our work on a mural of the Great Wave, and are currently completing an acrylic painting of an underwater sea turtle. Students have been enjoying this work and they are coming along well. It’s been great to see the different interpretations of the same picture.
Adnamatna 5-10
During Adnamatna lessons this term we have started looking at some common words in Adnamatna language and how we use them. Students have completed a poster of their words, and will begin putting them into a story.
Mrs Sharon Bates
Year 7-12 Teacher / HPE Coordinator
Year 5-6 Maths
This term, our students are learning about Financial Mathematics. They learnt how to calculate discounted prices using percentages. They all took part in a challenge to see who saved the most money. In doing this they needed to decide how to use their coupons to buy 9 products and at the same time, to save as much money as possible.
Year 7-10 Maths
In Term 3, students are learning about algebra. They are connecting the concepts between geometry and linear relationships. From solving an unknown in a linear equation to building a linear equation, students construct a pattern block train (see below) to derive the equation of different 2D shapes. They collaborate to deduce the perimeter, corners and area of these 2D shapes; thus, use the equations to find the missing term.
Year 7-10 Science
Our secondary school students are focusing on learning physical science this term. The pictures show the students building a catapult and investigating how a plasma ball worked in an experiment. They had seen how important electrical energy was in our daily life; thus, they researched about the pros and cons of renewable and non-renewable energy. They also learnt to apply the knowledge of balanced and unbalanced forces. The below pictures showed that they drew free body diagram on their photos.
Miss Sharon Lam
Mathematics / Science / P.E. Teacher
Each year since 1945, schools and libraries across Australia have been celebrating books and Australian children’s authors and illustrators. Out of the hundreds of books for children and teens that are written and illustrated by Australians each year, 36 are chosen to be on the shortlist for Book of the Year. On the eve of Book Week, 1 book from each of the 6 categories is chosen to be the Book of the Year. The announcement this year was on Friday August 19.
In conjunction with Book Week this year, the Scholastic Book Fair will be happening in the library in Week 5. The students will be able to view the range of books and other items on Monday August 22. The Fair will be open for sales on Tuesday August 23 and Wednesday August 24 at the following times: 8:30-9:00 a.m., 12:40-1:10 p.m. and 3:10-3:30 p.m. A note has been sent home providing more information.
Book Week 2022
Dreaming with your eyes open is a wonderful theme for dressing up to. It really allows for us to be dreaming about being anything or anyone. And this is how it was today, at our annual Book Week Parade. There were glamorous princesses, beautiful butterflies, spelling binding characters from Harry Potter, action heroes like Spiderman and even characters, including the dog, from Where’s Wally.
Students and staff from the Kindy joined us, as did members of the Hakwer community, as we paraded around the playground area to groovy music on a sunny day in August. After the winners were announced and photos were taken, we all enjoyed a delicious cupcake made by Stef Teague.
Congratulations to the winners of the dress-up competition:
Most creative costume: Jimmy and Archie Morgan
Most glamorous costume: Lachlan Hilder
Most unique costume: Paul
Most original costume: Bayley
Most interesting costume: Sammy
Most colourful costume: Alice
Most elaborate costume: Lily
Most inspirational costume: Koko
I wish to thank the following people for their help in making the Book Week Parade work so well:
Steve Green – manning the sound system and all the other things he does behind the scenes to help out
Sharon Lam and Howard Yam – judging the competition (no mean feat!)
Rosie Luckraft and Janice McInnis – manning the cupcake station and helping at the book fair
Stef Teague – creating the cupcakes
Members of the community who joined us on the day
Parents for helping your child get organised for dress-up day
Staff for your support of Book Week in general and the dress-up day in particular.
HASS – Humanities and Social Sciences F-2
This term, we have started looking at Places and Spaces, which has included looking at the natural, managed, and constructed features of the environment, how the environment changes over time, either naturally or through human activity, and ways we can help protect our environment.
We will be moving onto consolidating all that we have been learning in HASS this year by completing a Grand Tour of the world. In their tour, students will be finding out a little bit about the different habitats around the world and some of the animals that live in those habitats. They will be working out the continents on which the animals live and the hemisphere in which they can be found. They will also need to work out how they would travel around the world and communicate with family and friends if their Grand Tour was in the early part of the 20th century as well as if they were doing it in 2022.
Digital Technologies F-2
The students have really enjoyed continuing their journey in discovering how algorithms work and the coding needed for someone else to create what they designed. Soon, we will begin working in Maker’s Empire to create a 3D object or toy that a child their age could take to Mars.
Mrs Ailsa Green Teacher Librarian and Ms Rosie Luckraft CLA
The SWAN team.
In the Akurra Room we have continued to work on writing our name, letter recognition and counting. We have been practicing our school routines and had a win with students now hanging their bags independently and knowing the routine of their day. We are also exploring motion and movement.
We also explored different perspectives.
We are working with the book “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”, we have made Bears, long wavy grass and will finish our term off with a bear hunt around the school. The 3-6 class is even helping us with the swirling whirling snow storm.
We have been going to the library and have a new library corner in our classroom filled with books which we are enjoying reading and exploring. This is part of our everyday learning.
We have been learning through a child-led play-based approach and having lots of interactive learning.
Kim Adele
SWAN Teacher
Pictured above are two examples of Ruby’s alternative afternoon program. Each week she has opportunities to ride her bike at school and spend time with Jasper the mostly friendly pony…unless he is being asked to hop on the float…then he runs off and hides under low hanging branches! ? The bike Ruby is pictured on is a special trike that encourages successful pedal movement and balance for SWAN.
Pictured below are two examples of Ruby’s new maths work. We try to find and/or develop activities that have a physical component to them to help with making connections from thinking to hand movement. In the activities pictured you can see the counters go onto the pictures whilst counting aloud and then the correct numeral needs a peg. In the next picture you can see a book which is the initial part of the lesson about a boy who builds a rocket out of 2D shapes of particular colours. Once Ruby and adult have read the book she can complete the two sheets with whiteboard markers…shapes and colours.
Mrs Amanda Hilder
SWAN / Science / Yura Muda
We are learning Taekwondo this term. Everyone is having one lesson on Monday. Junior and senior students will have one lesson in Lesson 5 and 6 on Monday, respectively.
Senior PE Teacher, Kim Adele
Junior PE Teacher, Sharon Lam
NOTICEBOARD