2024 Term 1 Week 6
Principal Notes
Mid-way through the first term already and certainly a lot happening at Amamoor State School. Our Prep students have settled in beautifully to school and are adapting to all of their new routines very well. Each classroom I visit is working hard on their curriculum learning areas and at present, I write this newsletter from the Year 6 Leadership Camp at Barambah Environmental Education Centre, with our students learning some very important life and leadership skills (more information later in the newsletter).
Swimming continues this term to ensure every student at Amamoor State School has the skills to ensure they are safe in the water. Later in the year, we will again head off to Noosa Main Beach to practise water safety skills in the ocean, under the supervision of Surf Life Saving Queensland. Thank you for supporting both of these critically important aspects of safety and awareness for our students.
On matters relating to the P&C, our Annual General Meeting is scheduled to be held this coming Wednesday, 6 March, at 3:30pm. All committee positions will be vacated and members asked to nominate to fill the roles for the 2024 school year. If you would be interested in either nominating for a position, or simply becoming a member, please ensure you attend. At this time, I would like to personally thank all members of the current P&C committee for all of their hard work and dedication to the school over the last year. Your dedication to improving our school, and your fundraising efforts, make such a difference for our students and their experiences. All of your efforts are very much appreciated.
Please note there are only four weeks to go until the end of this term. During this time students will be continuing with swimming lessons, participating in our Book Fair, doing NAPLAN testing, sitting for School Photos and attending our Leadership Investiture Parade! As it is such a busy time, with assessment also being done, I would like to remind you all to make sure your child attends school every day and arrives on time and ready to learn. Thank you in advance.
I look forward to seeing you around the school.
Kind regards,
Tony Benzie
Principal
Office News
Office Hours: Monday - Friday
8 -3
admin@amamoorss.eq.edu.au
PH: 07 54 011 333
Student absentee/Late Arrivals/Early Pick up Procedure:
Please remember to call the school on 0754011333 or email at admin@amamoorss.eq.edu.au early in the morning if your child is going to be away or late for school so your child's absence can be recorded correctly.
If your child is absent from school without explanation you will receive a SMS text message that morning to your mobile phone asking their absence. Please reply with a simple SMS answer.
If your child arrives late in the morning please let the office know to avoid a SMS text message. Please let office know if collecting early so your child is signed out for the day.
Payments:
A reminder that Term 1 swimming payments are due. Invoices have been sent out for Leadership Camp.
School Payments can be made by the QKR app, Bpoint, Eftpos and correct cash. If you would like to go on a payment plan, Please see Amanda in the office.
Certificates of Achievement
Congratulations to our most recent award winners...
Elizabeth, Felicity, Brady, Jett, Freyja, Miranda, Lucy and Hugh.
Playgroup and Prep
1/2 Class
Year One/Two News
This week we incorporated Art with Science and mixed some materials together. We were experimenting with mixing colours and we made some interesting shades of orange, green and purple. We all agreed that purple was the hardest colour to make and realised that we only needed a very small amount of blue and a lot more red.
We are all enjoying our Fridays. It’s a fun and busy day with Kitchen Garden, Sports, Choir and Swimming!
Some children are requesting their Reading Eggs login so they can do it at home. Please feel free to ask for your child’s login details and I will give them to you.
A big welcome to Arlo! It is lovely to have you in our classroom. We hope you enjoy Amamoor School.
Kind Regards,
Sally Meredith
3/4 Class
Art Fun - Crazy Hairstyles
PBL FOCUS
Some words of wisdom from Year 5/6 about the PBL focus for weeks 7&8.
“Be Kind: Think before you speak. Words hurt.”
Brady and Oscar were talking about the saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” and decided that it isn’t really very accurate. Jaylah tells us that unkind words can leave you feeling insecure and hurt while Matilda says it makes her sad. Jett once experienced how difficult it was to try and rebuild a friendship after unkind words and Roisin believes that some relationships never completely repair after unkind words.
Veronica reminds us that we should “treat others as we would like be treated” She says, “we should be kind to others so that they will be kind to us.” Before we speak, we should ask ourselves, “Is it helpful? Is it kind?” If not, you shouldn’t really say it.
Unkind words can be unexpected and come out of anywhere. Oscar has heard unkind words like swearing, unkind nicknames, bullying and racism in our school and he is encouraging us to stop and be kind. Indy tells us unkind words, can and will hurt others a lot.
The final word from Roisin “kindness can fix anything!”
5/6 Science
In Science, Year 5/6 are exploring Matter and in particular the properties and behaviours of gases. We are working through some experiments to determine if gases have mass, if they can be compressed and about the volume or space they occupy. Ask your child what they have noticed so far. We are leading up to designing our own experiments using the scientific method.
Buddy Class
The 5/6 class really enjoy spending time with the Prep/1 class. Students participate in reading and other activities.
Year 6 Leadership Camp
Our Year 6 students departed for our annual Leadership Camp on Tuesday this week, heading up to the Barambah Environnmental Education Centre. On arrival, we quickly arranged our cabins, met all the staff and did an orientation activity.
Following this, we participated in a bike familiarisation course, in preparation for our mountain-biking challenge the next day! After some practice and getting used to the new bikes with hydraulic brakes and a crazy amount of gears, we were ready. We then needed to learn how to read maps, compasses and understand GPS equipment. We even had to make sense of contour lines! There were a lot of challenges in this session, that's for sure.
Using our new skills, we did a short hike around different sections of the bush around the camp. These were important for what we were in for the next day. Each of us also had to learn how to lead a group, problem-solve, and how to communicate with base using walkie-talkies (we even had to use strange words like 'over' and 'roger!' To top it all off, we then participated in a recording session and 'pod-cast.' We were the first group ever to do this at Barambah!
Wednesday morning we were woken up early for breakfast and to prepare for our two expeditions. With all of our planning done the night before, we organised our equipment and set out on our three-hour hike. Needing to work as a team, we used our GPS, maps and compasses (+common sense) to locate various places. Once found, we would then need to use our ipads to scan QR codes and complete various tasks. When all were completed, we were certainly ready for lunch!
The afternoon then saw us traversing open plains, weaving through both temperate and pine forests, plus winding country tracks on our mountain bikes. All of us improved our cycling skills and importantly, none of us came off! All we suffered were tired legs though.
Thankfully, we had some time to relax and do some nature art when we returned. Never to rest though, we had our final challenge for the day...the low ropes course and leadership challenge - building makeshift survival huts in the bush. Now, well and truly ready for showers, dinner and bed, we only had one thing left for the evening - writing our speeches for our leadership applications! So tired!
CAMP PHOTOS
LOTE
This semester Year 5 and 6 students are learning the Japanese language to communicate information about themselves and the people in their family. As a part of the unit, students explore the concept of family in Japan and reflect o similarities and differences with life in Australia.
Library
Chappy Chat
Our term is quickly slipping by and before we know it, it will be chocolate eggs, Easter Bunnies, and Hot Cross Buns. (Yum - especially chocolate eggs)
Like most people, I enjoy the Easter break. But before then, I continue to work with the beautiful students of our school.
I’ve seen over recent times that many children don’t seem to understand social cues, and how important they are in daily life. To that end, I have been talking with some of our students on the topic of understanding, and being able to read, social cues. With some role play being involved. The aim of which is to help them understand facial expressions, body language and personal space.
As well as this, we are continuing our journey of learning how to appreciate, identify and be grateful, for the people and things in our life. Whilst not many of us have the perfect life, we can still look for the good around us each day. As we do this, we can find things that we can actually be grateful for, even in the midst of a less than perfect day.
School Photos
Amamoor State School school photo day is 22 March. See attached flyer for online ordering. Orders taken up to 21 March 4.30 pm. Notes will be sent home early next week.
Music
In Music sudents are learning Baby Shark. A great job was done by everyone involved.
Kitchen/Garden Programme
Last week in the Kitchen/Garden Programme the 3/4 students made some Banana Muffins.
Cooking
Pick of the Crop
Pick of the Crop is a whole-school healthy eating program to increase opportunities for Queensland primary school children to learn about and consume vegetables and fruit.
Pick of the Crop is supporting Queensland primary schools to boost school children's consumption of vegetables and fruit through locally agreend school actions. Since 2021, 68 schools have participated in Pick of the Crop across multiple Queensland regions including Bowen and the Burdekin, Bundaberg and Wide Bay and Logan.
The program supports schools how to:
- connect with local growers, horticulture producers and farmers
- connect and engage with parents and carers
- share recipes, learning resources and news.
Swimming
Reminder: There will be no swimming 8 March. Swimming will resume for our last lesson for Term 1 - 15 March.
