This Week

Hi lovely Families,
Happy birthday to gorgeous Grace for yesterday. Thank you for the delicious honey joys. Thank also to the parents who were able to attend the 1:1 laptop program information Night on Thursday. The Expression of Interest Forms were sent home on Friday except to Freya who has been unwell.
We are performing at Assembly on Friday!!! There has been much discussion about what we should do. Some children have been working on a movie which has been great but has also caused some angst due to people being left out and negative feedback. I have spoken to the class about this and the need to speak to others as you would like to be spoken to and about empathy. Some children wanted to sing their current favourite song about a fox but several staff suggested that it's probably not the best thing to sing at a school assembly. I have come up with an idea I shall share with the children tomorrow. If you are available on Friday please come along to watch us and thank you in anticipation as to my requests!
The children are currently undertaking some online testing. These are adaptive tests and are quite long, 30 questions in English and 60 in Maths. These provide great data and are a great way to track the children's achievements. Some children completed them in year 1 and 2 but the generally start at year 3. It's not their favourite use of the laptops but is essential at this stage of the year.
Thank you for providing the children with fascinating information about their ancestry. The presentations have been up to their usual high standard and we are learning a lot about this.
Hope all go the guests at the Spring Carnival Luncheon were well behaved and Vicky's house is back to its original condition. Thank you for hosting this school event.
Production Rehearsals are in full swing, shame I can't sew or I would help out there. Thanks to Kirsty for making a sword or 50 and Cherie for her sewing. Apologies if I have omitted other helpers.
Hopefully the weather warms up during the week!  We do have school on the Monday before Cup Day, however, if you are intending on having an extra long weekend enjoy it.
Thanks again for your support. It makes my job so much easier and rewarding. I am truly loving teaching your delightful children.

Welcome to term 4

Had a great time in Darwin! beautiful weather and place. Looking forward to revisiting for longer some time. It was great to get back to school though. We had a busy week last week. We have been collecting data and statistics and graphing these. Production practise was a hoot, most impressed with the dance moves! well done to the 6 children chosen for recording the song. We managed to run 1194  laps of the oval collectively!! Jono received an award for encouraging others to increase the number of laps each day. All children were amazing, I amazingly managed 9 laps on Friday!!! Please let me know if we should continue this. The children really enjoyed it and in terms of having a balance with sitting and moving it was of great benefit. Well done to Ebony on her sensational speech as part of the school's Public Speaking Competition. The 9 speeches delivered were of a very high standard and it was quite difficult for the judges to pick 5 to go on to the next level. The school Disco was the best Disco OOPS has ever had, in my opinion, 3WS certainly has some great dancers and singers!! Thank you all for the information you are providing about your ancestry. If you were at Assembly on Friday you would have seen how many children have come from overseas at OOPS. We are looking forward to visits from you or your parents to share your cultural heritage with us. Please let me know when you are available for this, thanking you in anticipation. The NAPLAN results were outstanding. I look forward to seeing how this group does in Year 5!!  Don't forget about the 1:1 laptop information night on Thursday 7pm - 8pm in  C Wing. Have a great weekend, enjoy this gorgeous weather.

We're a happy team at Hawthorn!!!

It was a great day at the MCG! Thought you might like some snaps from my day! Off to join the celebrations at Glenferrie Oval around midday! Zac, Nathan and Vishay might see you there! GO HAWKS!!!

Holidays

Hi All,
Enjoying this gorgeous weather and Footy Finals!!!! Apologies to Monique, Grace, Daniel, Bardon and Bailey B BUT GO HAWKS!!!!! I'm going!!! Hopefully I can redecorate the school in brown and yellow since Duncan requested I don't and he will still be in Finland!!! Hawks fans have my permission to wear footy colors first day back, regardless of the result. Term 4 means hats are required so please ensure your child has their hat in their bag. About to go out for breakfast with my Dad! He is 80 today! It's Miss Kelly's birthday tomorrow!
Enjoy the holidays :-)

Last Day of Term 3

I don't believe how fast this term has gone by! Yesterday we had visits to our classroom to Endangered Animals Expo. The children were proud to present and pleased with the feedback other students and teachers gave them. We visited 4AF and 3KP and noticed that each grade had a slightly different focus on the same theme! We love diversity!Today parents are welcome to visit our room! We will be visiting 4TR, 4BB and 3JH before recess.
It is Footy Day so there should be lots of brown and yellow around the school! Fingers crossed for a victory tonight!
Regarding Footy Day Lunches, I am opposed to the drinks the canteen provides today. It is my belief they contain too much sugar and make the children hyperactive. I'm asking the children not to drink this at school but at home so you can observe any changes your child might have as a result of this drink. I have asked Duncan to have this drink removed from the canteen for the past 3 years!
I am off to enjoy a week in Darwin the first week of Term 4! Tahnee will be teaching 3WS for that week. After 21 years at the same school, I'm enjoying some Long Service Leave! I have left the planners for Tahnee to follow and will email spelling words for Week 1 later today, hopefully I remember!
Welcome to the McPhee family! Jesse has had a wonderful first week at OOPS, thanks to your gorgeous children. Thank you for your continual support and feedback. It makes my job so much easier.
Enjoy the break from school uniforms and lunches!
GO HAWKS!!!!

The Year is flying by!!!

Hi Lovely People! We have Planning Week this week. No Specialist classes for us until Friday. The Level 3 teachers are spending Friday planning for next Term. We are working on an Endangered Animal Project in cooperative groups during the afternoon sessions. This draws together our learning on this unit and we are learning heaps. Footy Day ( last day of Term) orders went out on Monday and  can be returned  by next Monday, September 16th. The children know my view on the Quench drink!!!! We are having a Scientist visit our school on Monday as part of the CSIRO Scientist in Schools program. We have been reading magazines from CSIRO, Scientriffic, which have further sparked the children's interest in science. Hope you can get to the Coffee Morning tomorrow, thanks Cherie for sending the reminder.

This Week ~ August 26th

Greetings from Home! Meant to do this on the weekend but had a weekend full of sport including a sensational victory in the Yarra Junior Football League Under 14 Grand Final! So apologies for blogging later than I had planned to.
Monday we went shopping at the Fathers' Day stall at school. Please ensure IOUs are paid for prior to Friday, thanks to any parents who helped out. Our school is so lucky to have such a supportive group of parents.
On Tuesday we had Level 3 Sport. The Hooptime Groups are training hard. Please remind any participants that they do need to attend all training sessions. Their coaches have been a little disappointed with some choosing to play down ball instead. As a consequence, and in discussion with staff and PE Sarah, it has been decided that children who do not attend all training sessions, will not receive as much court time as those that do.
Today, Wednesday, we have the Zoo coming to us! We will be attending the session after lunch. Thank you for returning money and forms promptly. It makes the Office Ladies happy not to have to chase this up. They certainly have been busy with Swimming, Camp, District Aths and all other office related tasks. They are a lovely bunch that really do run the school. Shh! Don't tell Duncan I said that!
We have reverted back to our 'normal' timetable. So we have Music and PE on Monday, CRE on Tuesday, Mandarin on Wednesday, Art on Thursday and Library on Friday. I have Yard Duty at recess on Tuesday and Lunchtime on Thursday, a swap was required as we have changed the Bike Riders Group to Tuesday due to Production Rehearsal.
Thursday is Book Character Parade. Just checked the newsletter via the iPad and the Parade will be in the Gym from 9:15 ~ 10:30! Parents are more than welcome to attend. If your child wants to change out of their costume, please send along their school uniform.
On Friday, we are having a Free Dress Day. The children did a great job on bins last week during Swimming and scored 93% therefore receiving a Free Dress Day.
This afternoon I will be participating in my second webinar as part of the Professional Learning I am undertaking as part of Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century. I missed out on a Hangout on Google last night as I was enjoying a night of no footy training and playing basketball with my boys in the backyard. Even Bonnie the Basset joined in briefly!
Enjoy the weather  :-)

Second Week of Swimming

The children are so well organised and coping well with the Swimming Program. Freya suggested we eat an early snack so we now eat just before 10 am so the children have energy for swimming and are not too staving when we return. We have factored in a short recess for the swimmers when we return to school.
Tomorrow we are watching Mr Popper's Penguins, as a treat. This partly came about due to many children doing research on Antartica.
Thursday is District Athletics for some children. Please send along food and drink in a small backpack and check out the weather forecast. Possibly wear layers and have a raincoat as according to my iPhone the weather will be wet and 14 on Thursday.
The Swimmers are looking forward to Fun Day at Swimming on Friday,  are their teachers. It's quite enjoyable being given the opportunity to throw buckets of water on the water slide!!!! Both the Swimming Teachers and the Bus Drivers have commented on the children's manners.
Remember next week is Book Week! I'm  hoping my costume arrives on time.

Swimming Fortnight

Hi 3WS Parents,
Level 3 are Swimming for the next fortnight! Those participating in the swimming program leave school at 10:20 and return at 12:30. Non-attenders are in our classroom with me this week and next week with Brittany. Yesterday we read some books from the Premier's Reading Challenge list, utilised the laptops to explore food chains and food webs and worked on a Water Safety book.
Today we did Mental Maths, Divisional Tables and some reading.
Our timetable is different, please refer to the email yesterday for updates.
We have been reading a lovely book called Smooch and Rose by Samantha Wheeler. We explored her website today and there are some great links to wildlife related websites.
Please have a look at:
www.samanthawheeler.com.au
www.nationalgeographic.com.au/kids/
www.wwf.org.au
www.rspcavic.org
www.wildlifevictoria.org.au
The children continue to present their learning. Thank you for your assistance with these. I am amazed with their learning!

Greetings from home!

Good Morning!
We all enjoyed the School Athletics on Wednesday! Very proud of the children for their efforts and manners. Great to see and hear them supporting and encouraging each other. Loved cheering them on during the Shuttle Relay, definitely did not go OTT!!!!
I attended a Cybersafety Summit yesterday and am looking forward to sharing my learning. I have 2 more PDs to attend on the next 2 Fridays. I am looking forward to learning more.
We are enjoying the Science Talks the children are sharing with us. Looking forward to seeing Habitats next week. Please remember to contact me if there are any concerns regarding the homework.
See you all on Monday, all being well! I might be voiceless after cheering on Nick who plays his 100th game of Footy on Sunday. Then maybe Finals for his team, fingers crossed!
Enjoy your weekend :-)

This Week ~ July 22nd

We have been enjoying learning about Endangered Animals this week. I shared a Thailand Story of Amy's distress at seeing Gibbons and Iganuas used as pets and Tourist photos. From there Freya brought in a flyer about Orangutans and we decided our class should adopt one! It was hard to choose but Monti was chosen by an overwhelming vote. The children are keen to explore palm oil free products. The website we have been exploring is: www.orangutans.com.au
We have been exploring the 3x table and discovered that the digits in the 3 x table sum to 3, 6 or 9!!!
Most of the children completed the 201 - 300 word spelling test! We have some amazing spellers.
We are looking forward to the school athletics on Wednesday.
Thank you for assisting your children with some scientific investigations. I will email next week's spelling words and homework grid on Monday.

Enjoy the last days of holidays and the start of Term 3!

Greetings from Thailand! I am enjoying the pool and the beach and the food as well as the friendliness of the thai people! My children are mastering the art of bartering with respect and are convinced they have bought some bargains!
Yesterday we went on a speedboat to Phi Phi Island. We did some snorkelling and saw some very colourful fish. We saw some monkeys in trees and Josh threw asome bananas to them. They marked these like Buddy Franklin!! Next week we are going to a National Park and will go on a raft down a river.
Hope the weather has not been to wet in Melbourne and all have had a pleasant break, ready for another busy term.
Work well for Olwen next week and see you all on Monday July 22nd :-)

Thank you and Happy Holidays!

It was wonderful to chat to most parents and children over the past week at our 3 way conversations. The children were happy and proud to share their portfolios with you. Some were left at school on Friday, possibly dur to post party excitement! Jayde and Zoe, I placed your portfolios on top of your tubs. Please remember to take them home next term!
Thank you for the party food. Byron enjoyed his farewell party. He will pop in to visit when he can. Just a shame his team was not in winning form this week.
As I was having a leisurely read of the paper with my coffee yesterday morning, before my Saturday Sports taxi duties, I noticed a review of a film that might be of interest after our Indigenous Studies Unit. It is called Satellite Boy and is showing at Cinema Como and is PG.It looks interesting. I'm hoping to see it and also go to Monet's Garden  at the National Gallery with Amy some this week.
Enjoy no lunch boxes and uniforms for the next 2 weeks. And thank you again for your support this Term.

Halfway through Term 3!!!!

The weeks are flying by!! We have now added the third component to our Spelling so each child has a list of words for themselves. We were using the 'u' sound last week and looked at the many ways this sound is made. The children also have words from the 100 and 200 most used words lists. They also have 2 words from their own writing. Thank you to the parents who wanted clarification about these changes. I hope I was able to explain the rationale behind our schoolwide decision to make this change.
The children have been undertaking online testing. Their results have been amazing, with other staff commenting on these. They are adaptive tests so adjust for each child depending on their ability. The Maths Tests are 60 questions long! The children are showing high levels of concentration and perseverance. Well done!
The standard of homework has been high. Nathan's Timeline of his life was exemplary. Thank you for the work you are doing at home with your children. We have enjoyed the presentations on our Indigenous Australians Unit, very topical at the moment. The standard of presentations has been amazing and the children are teaching myself and each other so much. Frank popped in on Friday during Sienna's presentation. He returned with his iPad after recess. Frank's wife is going to work at a school in the Kimberley's region of Arnhem land for a month. Frank showed us photos of this school! It was amazing to see some similarities and differences between our school and their school.
The children continue to do a great job of their VIP week. Freya is up this week, a short week due to Curriculum Day on Friday. We are on Bins this week!
Well done to all children who went to Cross Country last Monday. Congratulations to Byron who goes onto the next level.
There will be a teachers versus students netball match on Monday. Better see if I can find Amy's old Lycra uniform or maybe my old skirt and hot pink tshirt!!! The senior children do enjoy taking us on!

Education week

With NAPLAN testing over, we are back to normal, as such!
Homework grids and revised spelling lists went home on Monday. The choir went to North Blackburn shops to sing yesterday. Today our classroom was open for Numeracy. We utilised the Level 3 iPads, made arrays with ourselves, played a Michael Ymer game then completed multiplication arrays using dice.
Reading groups are back on! One group enjoyed some Popcorn after reading about it. Another group performed a play.
After lunch we went to visit our damaged Chicken Coop and are writing about it. Last session was Mandarin. I used the time to change the passwords for the Premiers' Reading Challenge! The children will record these in their Diaries tomorrow.
Open Night is tomorrow 6pm - 8pm. Check out the Book Fair in the Library. We had a Book Look today.
We are enjoying our Unit on Indigenous People.  We visited www.abc.net.au/dustechoes/

Thank you!

Thanks so much to Emma, Daniel and Allan for coming along on Friday and cooking our burgers for our Hamburger party. I was so pleased to hear the children use their wonderful manners to these helpers.
Yesterday we completed the Naplan Language Conventions and Writing Tests. The children all worked well. We have just started the Reading Test and the silence is deafening, you could hear a pin drop!
Unfortunately, we have some colds and illness in our classroom this week and we are out of tissues! Also, as I don't close the door and have the windows open it might be an idea for the children to have layers on during the colder weather.
Hope you all had an enjoyable Mothers' Day.

Apologies and advance notice!

I do apologise for my absence on Friday! I left Miss Smith with the day planned, an outline of which she wrote up on the whiteboard, a very organized and motivated pre-service teacher!!! The children and will miss her after this coming week.
We thought as a means to bid Miss Smith farewell and to thank her for her fantastic work, we would cook hamburgers at school for lunch on Friday! Despite McDonaldsbeing just up the road and Josh possibly being at work there, I just could not do that option!! Instead, I plan to purchase burgers from Scott the butcher and the other ingredients from the Kerrimuir shops. Please let me know if I need to provide a vegetarian option. I am thinking lettuce, cheese and tomato but can also have beet root if any child particularly likes it. I will check with Shanti regarding what might be growing in the school veggie patch that could go on our burger and we could gather some eggs from the school's chooks!
I'll need to check with Mel regarding the school's barbecue and would love some parent helpers if anyone is free. A note in your child's Diary would be great or please send me an email!!

Don't forget tomorrow is the Mothers' Day stall and that there is Cross Country Training for those children who were selected in the team.
Disappointed that the Hockey Gala Day was cancelled but looking forward to some clinics to be held at our school.

Is anyone interested in being a Box Hill Hawks Mascot??? Details were in the newsletter but the response has not been great. I reckon Zac, Nathan or Vishay would be keen!!!

The children have enjoyed learning about Naplan tests. We have planned to have more Naplan experience this week.

Camp

What a great 3 days!! What a wonderful group of children! Have to say how proud  I was of all the children. Staff commented on the children's manners and willingness to have a go. Some fears were conquered and many laughs were shared, only a few tears. The food was fantastic and the duty groups all did a great job.
The children wrote a reflection on camp yesterday, taught byMiss Smith. We viewed some photos from my camera and Tony's and Sarah's iPads. I'm still to take the photos off my iPad and phone but will hopefully find time for that tomorrow as today I'm a taxi service to Sport for my boys! Looking forward to seeing some more photos next week.
Thanks to Cynthia, Zoe's mum, for offering to be 3ws class rep. A class contact list will be distributed and I'm sure we will need to arrange a coffee morning or afternoon shortly.
Next week we will be commencing preparation for Naplan Testing. This will allow the Year 3s to become familiar with the procedures and content of the tests.

Camp

We are having a great time at Phillip Island. I loved all 18 metres of the Giant Swing! Looking forward to Archery and ropes course after lunch.

Phillip Island Adventure Camp

I'm packed, camera and iPad charged! Got clothes for all weather conditions including rain.
Looking forward to a fun filled three days away with a fabulous group of a children, teachers and parents!

Glad Anzac Day is to follow camp, a chance for all to have a nice restful day, except for Collingwood and Essendon supporters!
We welcome Miss Smith to our class, a preservice teacher from Deakin University. Miss Smith spent the day with us on Friday and will be at OOPS in Level One, Two and Four classes whilst we are on camp.

Don't forget to wave the buses off if you can in the morning. Our expected return time is around 3:30 on Wednesday but I will call the school on Wednesday when we leave Cowes after our picnic lunch on the foreshore with an updated ETA.

Welcome to Term 2!!!!

We had a great time in Vietnam! The three of us would love to go back again! My favorite place was Hoi An, though the time we spent on the junk was just sensational.

Looking forward to Camp . Will be packing this time next week!
Hope everyone is ready for a great time at Phillip Island :-)

Good Friday

We caught a night train last night and now are in Sapa and about to go on a hike. The train was an interesting experience and not to be missed. We are in Sapa for 2 nights and thaen return by train to Hanoi before going to Halong Bay and staying overnight on a junk. No sign of Easter here! Thanks Cam and Freya for your comment and enjoy your school holidays!

Vietnam

Hi 3ws, Julie Miss Kelly and I arrived in Hanoi late last night after being at 4 airports and on 2 planes. I watched 2 1/2 movies and was able to read 8 chapters of my book. Today we are going to explore Hanoi and go to see a Water Puppets show tonight. Work well for Cass!

This week!

The children finished their letters/emails to Duncan, Mel or School Council regarding safe and unsafe aspects around our school. The children were chuffed to get a reply letter from Mel. The drafts, final copy and response are in their Portfolios. Today was Ride2school day, an amazing number of students were able to ride and a very old and unfit teacher did as well. We had a Parent Helper in this morning and managed 4 out of 5 reading groups!!! During our middle block, we had all the laptops and the children were able to create a fraction wall from instructions and assistance of their peers. I was amazed! The iMac is up and running and we are using it daily!
I would like to thank the children and parents for a wonderful first Term. The children will tell you I am both excited and a little sad about my trip to Vietnam, as I have not been away from my family for any longer than 5 days, which was last year on camp. I did shed a tear or two when my youngest (14) said he didn't know how they would survive without me and wished I was home for Easter!!!
I am hoping to blog, email, Viber, Skype and maybe even send a postcard whilst I am away.
I have left notes for Cass and know the children are in good hands.
Please remember Camp forms are due back by Wednesday.

The Long Weekend

Hope the weather hasn't been too unbearable. Off to a Writing PD at school today. The class voted not to have spelling words this week. I will do a list for the few that we're disappointed by this. We are not having a VIP this week due to there only being 3 days. Zac will be our VIP next week. My trip to Vietnam is getting closer and I'm a little excited. We are pretty sure that Cass will be teaching 3WS whilst I'm away.

OOPS Welcome Picnic!

Nice to see so many families enjoying the school on Friday night! Great also to have our SRC's presented with their badges at Assembly on Friday.
The children enjoyed going in pairs to sing Happy Birthday to Sue on Thursday.
All Level 3 classes have a basketball clinic next week, Monday for 3WS!
I have fixed up the Mathletics tasks for all children. They enjoyed playing each other on Friday in Live Mathletics. The children need to complete 1 curriculum area and then compete in 3 Live Mathletics. Some children need to move on from Level 1. They know who they are!
Enjoy your weekend!
I have discovered the merits of online shopping for university text books! Remind me not to complain about the cost of Secondary School books again. I need to acknowledge my lovely daughter who is saving lots of money by finding these books online :-)

Parent Teacher Chats

It has been lovely meeting the Parents of the lovely children I have the pleasure of teaching this year. Thank you for your time and information.

Homework grids were sent home this afternoon, along with a letter of explanation. I would like the Home Learning Wallets returned daily, please.

We have commenced Quiet Reading daily and will choose a selection of books each Friday from the Library.

Most children have been making a movie using Movie Maker, using photos taken by Zoe, Oscar and myself. They have been quick to learn and teach me how to improve my movie making, now that we have sound again on the IWB!!

Happy Chinese New Year!

We spent our morning learning how to use chopsticks and cooking dumplings and fried rice. We all enjoyed the experience although some of us needed spoons to eat our rice. Our photographers have recorded the experiences and the children will use these photos next week to create books, movies, PowerPoints in order to share their expereiences with their families. We will be doing some more cooking on Monday and are looking forward to the Lion Dance Incursion. thanks Tracey for organizing this.

Library is on Friday after lunch. Year 3 sport commences next Tuesday. We  have Art on Thursday. Times for Parent Teacher chats will be open for you from Tuesday, they are restricted due to the AEU Industrial Action but I'm happy to do this via an email or phone call or during my time release if there is not a suitable time.

Week 2 ~ Feb 4th

Specialist lessons commence this week. We have Music before lunch and PE after lunch on a Monday. We started a Spelling Test today, wrote in our Journals and read the first chapter of The Naughtiest Girl goes to School.  We looked at skip counting in Maths, forwards and backwards and using different patterns. This week we will be learning more about Chinese New Year through a variety of experiences, from craft to cooking and calligraphy.

Week 1

What a lovely group of children!! They have the best manners I have ever had the pleasure of hearing and seeing. Looking forward to a fabulous year.

Holidays!

I enjoyed a very delicious Japanese lunch with my daughter. We went to the movies and saw Life of Pi. It was a stunning and at times scary movie in 3D.
HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY FOR YESTERDAY!

Holidays!!!

Spent 5 days at Anglesea. Enjoyed reading, sitting on the beach and canoeing

Welcome to the 2013 school year!

Hi 3WS students and parents! I hope to keep you posted on this blog. I hope you had an enjoyable Summer break.