16 August 2019

Newsletter Articles

Principals Report

Welcome to term three, it is incredible to think that we are at this stage of the year again. There is a lot happening this term and some things to reflect on from last term.

The term has started quite busily with teachers commencing their programs which you will find outlines of in this newsletter. It is the 50th Anniversary of “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” and a few of our teachers are delivering curriculum which taps into this. We also had our special celebration day last Friday where students were able to investigate this further.

At the end of last term we surveyed our students on the Arbury Park Camp. The camp has been reported on already but it was important to get student perceptions on their experiences. We managed to survey at least 18 of the students who went on the camp, with our 3-5 students and 6 – 12 students completing the survey with individual responses whilst our F – 2 students who attended were surveyed in groups. On the subject of what students liked, the camp responses ranged from the orienteering activities to the food, which all students seemed to enjoy. Some responses included:

Orienteering because you get to run around in the forest and see things you haven’t seen before.

I liked orienteering because we got to compete against our friends and it was fun working with our friends to work out where we needed to go. I especially liked the food, the dinners were great meals and it was the most I have ever been fed.

Orienteering because you can go out on you own or with someone all over the park and bush survival because we got to light a fire also I liked climbing the hill.

The scientific research activities were engaging as students found out about adaptations and got the chance to collect specimens from the Arbury Park environment including its ponds. One student commented on this as well,

I liked the adaptations because it was fun learning about how animals adapt to their environments.

We asked the students to talk about activities that they found hard but interesting at the same time. Activities which are challenging for students to complete at any time are also the ones from which they learn the most due to the focus and effort needed. A middle primary student commented on the orienteering challenge, while some students found the bush survival challenge a difficult task as it forced students to develop their teamwork skills.

Reading the maps because there were some things that were really difficult to find.

Bush Survival, because of the problem solving

The bush survival activity because there was a lot of arguing going on so it was hard to make decisions.

We asked students to connect their learning to the main areas of learning they take in at school. feedback showed us that Science (14 responses), Maths (8) and Aboriginal Culture (10) were areas that students saw links in to our curriculum. All other areas also rated a mention. The food got a really high mention from all students with an average score of 4.56 out of 5, while sleeping areas, toilets and showers received an average of 3.78 out of 5. The survey results were pleasing and informative. Our next school camp is scheduled for 2021 and while it seems a long way from now it is still time to think about our options as this helps with advanced planning. In the past most of our camps have had the themes associated with the outdoors and some cultural experiences as the camp in 2017 did. They have also generally been five day camps. Feedback is also important on these events and I did have some feedback on points such as the length of our camps earlier this year. If you have any feedback on our whole school camp or even the other camps we run contact can be made with relevant staff or via my email address which can be found at the end of my article.

On the first weekend of term we had our new Long and Triple Jump pit excavated and filled. Many thanks to the Smulders family for their work here, in particular Drew who did the heavy work! The pit meets the requirements for this event, being 3m wide and 8m in length with a depth around 400mm overall. Students have started practicing their jumps. The finishing touches will include the purchase of a take-off board and markers for triple jumps but this has not deterred our students from testing out our new feature. The Quorn Sports day will be held on Friday August 16th, prior to this newsletter, and our Sports Day is scheduled for Friday September 6th.

Last Friday we held our celebration of the first Moon Landing and walk, which amazingly occurred 50 years ago. The day was an exciting one with a lot of variety for our students. All our students started the day with an interactive quiz where they learnt some interesting facts about the lunar landing and subsequent investigations into the moon. As we know there is not much gravity on the moon and our students found that it is 1/6th the weight of what we experience on the earth, explaining why astronauts had to be weighted down. On the weird and wonderful side students also found out that moon dust actually has a smell to it! The interactive nature of the quiz was very engaging as with each set of questions students got feedback on what they thought the correct answers were, then the chance to compare how knowledgeable we were against the real answer! Later on they got to participate in the design of a Lunar Lander, with the aim of constructing a model which did not toss out their astronauts, which were marshmallow props! Students tested and redesigned their landers using a variety of materials and after initial tests then got the chance to go back to the drawing board. The conclusion of the Design and Technology challenge was a test drop from a variety of heights, up to 210cm. Students really got an appreciation of the influence of different types of design on the weight, aerodynamics and consequent chances of a safe arrival for their astronaut teams.

Other activities also included a new Augmented Reality Periodic Table, Virtual Reality activities and the chance to build a model of an Atomic Crystal Structure. The Augmented Reality Periodic Table was especially a privilege. This is a newly designed App for iPads, which students were able to use, requiring students to point the iPad camera at a periodic table which came to life with images of selected periodic elements, students could then investigate these by tapping the relevant icon. Our students were amongst the first to get a chance to view and use this, with the national launch of the app occurring in the following week.

It was an exciting day with a few parents turning up as well for the lunchtime show and barbecue, where the chance to engage in Virtual Reality experiences was popular with all who were there. I would like to thank Rod Dowler, Discovery Centre Leader, with Transformation and Engagement at ANSTO for his efforts in planning and delivering such an interesting day for our students. Many thanks also to Ian Carter, Geologist with the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science for his efforts in coordinating the day for our community.

Another busy term is coming up. We will have had our term 3 conferences for parents and students by the time of the publication of this newsletter. Students will be reviewing their goals set at the start of the year, we have got some new students at Hawker this term so this will be an interesting experience for them. At the end of the term secondary students will receive a written report detailing their progress so far in Semester Two, while primary students will receive a progress report with a written report due at the end of the year.

Enjoy the newsletter. As always please make contact with me if you have any questions, I can be contacted by the Front Office on 86484003 or by my email at daren.oneill253@schools.sa.edu.au.

Mr Daren O’Neill
Principal Hawker Area School

Hannah from Headspace

Next Visit – Week 8 TUESDAY 10th September

Foundation – Year 2

From the strange and mysterious land of the little people…

Here we go, 19 weeks of school left for the year! First of all we should probably concentrate on term 3, and we are as for the first two weeks our overarching theme has been ’50 Years since the first Moon Landing’. The children have been very busy mind mapping what they know, watching age appropriate YouTube clips of the first moon landing, building ‘eagle’ lunar modules, making cratered moons and studying the phases of the moon.

For the remainder of the term we will be studying our Solar System and then India. As usual I will program all subject areas under these themes where possible.

With one school term of our new Read Write Inc. English program under our belts, we begin term 3 more organised and wiser. Within our little classroom we have 5 learning levels. These 5 levels require a minimum of 4 adults to deliver the program effectively so a lot of human resources are being deployed during these lessons. The children are doing well with many milestones being met. Another new aspect to our English program that will be launched during the term is Big Write and Big Talk. This aspect is all to do with teaching Writing and creating excellent writers.

Best of luck to you all for the term ahead. I hope you all find some time each week to listen to your young children read, and read to them, chat with them and have some fun together. Good luck.

Mrs Amanda Hilder
Foundation – Year 2 Teacher/Literacy Coordinator

Year 3-5 class

School Sport

I can’t believe it’s already term 3! This means Sports Day is coming up fast! Sports Day will be in Week 7 this term, and in week 3, the Year 3-12 students will be participating in Quorn Area School’s Sports Day too. This is a great opportunity for students to compete against others in their own age group, and will give them a bit of extra practice for our own Sports Day too! We will also practice events during PE lessons.

In health this term we will continue our work on the topic of mental health and feelings/emotions. We will then start our unit on Relationships and sexual health which is based around the SHINE curriculum.

3-5 Class

In English this term, we will be continuing running the ‘Fresh start’ program. Some students will also be learning how to write a script and have the opportunity to cast their classmates in their play for an end of term performance. We will be incorporating some of the Arts curriculum into this unit.

Our HASS topic this term is ‘Extraordinary People in History’. We will have a three week focus on three different people. Students will learn about what these people did that makes them extraordinary, the influence they have had on society, and where in the world they are from. Our first extraordinary person is Neil Armstrong! Students will have to wait and see who the other two are!

Miss Hayley Brown
Year 3-5 Teacher and HPE Coordinator

Year 6-12 class

Welcome back to Term Three everyone. I hope you had a wonderful two-week break.

This term, the 6 – 8 class will be focussing on non-fiction texts. They will do a lot of inquiry based learning. They will do persuasive writing, information reports, wedding speeches and eulogies. They will also do a four-week research project on edible insects. I intend to help them grasp comprehensions skills, summary skills, comparing and contrasting skills from all the activities they will do in this project. The highlight of the project will be researching an edible insect of their choice showing reasons why some communities have to depend on insect diets.

The Year 10 English class will start working on their SACE Stage One English. They will split into different English papers; Essential English for one candidate and English for the other. This is to cater for the varying abilities in my Year 10 cohort. The questions the class will focus on include writing a Scientific report, analysing a movie and the novel Native Son by Richard Wright and writing a persuasive letter to a bank manager trying to convince them to donate $500 000 to a charity of the student’s choice.

In Geography, the 6-8 class will explore the water cycle, uses of water, dams and rivers and they will also research water disasters such as floods, cyclones and tsunamis. This study on water is quite extensive in the Australian Curriculum because Australia is susceptible to droughts and water disasters. We want our future generations to embark on deep researches on these catastrophes so they might minimise their incidence.

There is only Research Project being offered at SACE Stage Two this semester. Most of the candidate’s Stage Two subjects will be done with TAFE or through VET and apprentices.

I wish the 6 - 12 class an exciting and rewarding study time this term. All the best!!

Mr Mphilisi Manombe
Year 6-12 Teacher & SACE Coordinator

Mathematics and Science

The Flinders Ranges are recognised as harbouring a vast collection of ancient fossils including Ediacaran fossils. This term year 3-5 students started to build their knowledge of the Flinders Rangers Treasures including the fossils records that are found at Flinders Rangers. To develop an appreciation and understanding to earth’s oldest fossils students need to study, research, analyse and examine what is at the own backyard. The future field trip would be part of the science lesson this term to help students to use the new gained knowledge at the own environment.

Through science, students seek to improve their understanding and explanations of the natural world at their door step.

Science year 6-7

When you look at the world around you, how do you categorise or group what you see? One of the broadest groupings is 'living' and 'non-living'. This may sound simple, but it is sometimes difficult to decide whether something is truly alive or not. Classifying living things into these categories is an important. This term students of year 6-7 have 6 different weekly tasks, which will help them to build their understanding of the world around them.

Science year 8

The human body is a complex biological system involving cells, tissues, organs, and systems all working together to make up a human being. This term year 8 students have 6 weekly tasks that will build the student knowledge, how the human body works. At the end of the term student have to create the model of the human digestive system.

Solving highly complex problems requires that students have both fundamental skills of problem solving, research gathering, time management, information synthesizing, utilizing their knowledge. With this combination of skills, students become directors and managers of their learning process, guided and mentored by a teacher. It is a complex process however our students respond well to most of the given challenges both in mathematics and science.

Mrs Lidia Szelzak
Mathematics and Science Teacher

HAS Community Library News

Book Week 2019

Reading is My Secret Power

This concept creates a dynamic platform to explore how reading empowers each of us, no matter what age, race, gender or religion. How awesome that we share this universal super power with so many people!

Family reading practices significantly influence a child’s reading behaviours along with parent attitudes, values and behaviour. Together we, parents and teachers, can influence a child’s attitude towards reading and ignite the flame within them to become curious and connected to texts and to be able to express their ideas creatively.

Around the world, a vast majority of people can recollect a time they read something that moved them. It may have been a quote, a picture storybook or an article on their Facebook feed. You may remember your first year of school, perhaps your teacher was reading to you, using voice and rhythm to draw you into the story. There is evidence showing us that children who are highly engaged in reading activities are more likely to be effective learners and will achieve greater outcomes at school and are exposed to more opportunities in adult life.

(Excerpt taken from “Reading is my Secret Power” by Zart Art)

Tuesday, August 27 – Dress-up Day - Come dressed as your favourite book character or what you would like to be if you had a secret power.

11:00 a.m. – Book Week Parade (the kindy children will be involved in this)

Here are some websites that provide some great ideas for dressing up for Book Week-

Wednesday, August 28 – Grandparents and Special Friends Day

Grandparents and Special Friends are invited to join us at school on this day. The kindy will also be involved in this time.

10:00 – 10:30 a.m. Grandparents, special friends, parents, etc. are invited to spend time with Margie Arnold from Meg’s Bookshop who will be sharing about the latest books available for children, from babies to teens. She will also share about some of the latest adult novels recently published.

10:40 -11:00 a.m. Shared morning tea in the Multipurpose Room. Margie will have books available for sale.

11:00 -11:50 a.m. Grandparents and Special Friends:

• spend time with your ‘special’ children sharing your favourite books with each other
• let your child/children take you on a tour of the school/kindy
• Check out the books available for sale from Meg’s Bookshop. Students with vouchers from last term and Book Week dress-up prizes will be able to ‘purchase’ books at this time.

We look forward to seeing you at our Book Week events

Digital Literacy

I work with the Foundation to Year 5 students in Digital Literacy one lesson a week. What is digital literacy I hear you ask? The Australian Curriculum states it like this…

Throughout this year, the students have been using their iPads to develop their skills in digital literacy. They are learning to use the technology competently, interpret and understand digital content and assess its credibility and they are creating, researching and communicating using the different apps on the iPad.

The F-2 students are learning how to use Book Creator. It is an intuitive and easy to use app that enables them to combine text, images, audio and video to create interactive stories. This app can be downloaded from Apple’s App Store or from Google Chrome. There is a free version available that allows you to create one book. To create more books, you do need to purchase the app.

Edu blogs

Developing their own Blog through using Edublogs (edublogs.org) is the focus for the Year 3-5 students. The research the students are doing on animals of the Flinders Ranges will be posted on their blogs. They will also use this information to create an eBook using PowerPoint.

Steve Ballmer (CEO of Microsoft 200-20140 says,

“The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn't think they could learn before.”

These are some of the benefits I trust that our students are gaining as they learn to use technology responsibly.

Mrs Ailsa Green & Rosie Luckraft (CLA)
Teacher Librarian

S.A.K.G – Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden

The milk bottles are working wonderfully, the plants are trying to escape the containers and the rabbits have not been back! The classes have had already two harvests of lettuces and mesclun salad to take home. Early flowers are bringing some colour among all the diverse greens. The F-2 classes are studying weeds. We will investigate which weeds are edible. The 3-6 students will be composting weeds and learn about their benefits to the garden.

The students will write recipes utilising the produce from their garden beds.

In week two the 6 to 10 students started a project that took some of them to garden activities they performed in Year One.

This project is for the students to tell the story of their life through cooking and gardening at HAS. It gives them the opportunity to find photos of former teachers and friends.

Mrs Joelle Sharples
Kitchen Garden Specialist

Reminder

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