9 June 2023

Dates to Remember

Prep, Year 1 & Year 2 News

Grade 2 News

This term we have been looking at different ways to display data in our Digital Technologies unit. One of the skills our students practiced was being able to represent a pattern using a digital system. Many students displayed their skill through SeeSaw on the iPad by using emojis. Some of them got really creative with their choices! We have certainly seen some tech-savvy students thrive.

Under 8’s Day

Under 8’s day is taking place on Friday 23 June from 9.00 – 10.30am. Students in Prep, Year 1 and Year 2, along with their young siblings and parents/carers are invited to join us for lots of fun and games in the junior school precinct. A fire engine will be visiting along with Cricket Australia and AFL Queensland. We will have plenty of hands on activities and games for the children to interact with.

Our prep classes need volunteers!! If you are free to supervise a small group of Prep students as they make their way around the activities, please see your child’s teacher. The P&C are also organising a coffee van to visit for the adults. We look forward to seeing you there on the day!

Prep Information Evening

Middle School Moments

Following on from the messages given by Mrs Jones last week, we have been out and about sharing in the morning wellness checks.  The Year 3 and 4 teams each bring their own flavour to this process.  Sometimes I get to be part of this process too.

In this year 3 class, the students form a circle and greet the person by name on either side of them.  Once this is done, with direction from the teacher, firm hand shake, looking in the eye and saying their name, the students choose a game.  At the moment they are enjoying scissors, paper, rock.  One student is the leader and if they beat you, then you sit down, until the last student is standing. If they win, they become the leader for the next day.

Some classes in Year four enjoy these first minutes in class enjoying being read to by the teacher from a book chosen by the class.

Our wellbeing session begins with a check-in with students on how they are feeling today / what zone they are in / how was their weekend? Each day, a student asks a question eg what is your favourite thing to do outside of school? We then finish off with a positive - playing a game eg Bang, 21, Heads down thumbs up, find a colour, make a group of ....

Our school community has also enjoyed lots of music and dance this week, with many of our families attending both the Music and Dance evenings. Well done to all students!

Our Junior choir did a wonderful job and sang actions songs about animals at the Music evening on Monday.

The Mid-year Dance Showcase was also a hit. Lots of colour and movement, with students returning who had been a part of the program in previous years.  Well done to our Dance Team.  Big shout out to a sparkly Mrs Broad who led the program, gave her time, energy and commitment over many years.  A job well done.

Grade 3 News

This semester has been filled with exciting learning opportunities. From building on our number recognition and writing narratives to having fun making a sundial. In science we researched how the Earth orbits the sun while rotating on an axis to provide us with sunlight and night time. We investigated how shadows changed length and position over the day as a result of the Earth rotating and we made a sundial to represent this. Did you know that this is how people would tell the time before clocks and watches were invented?

With a super busy semester with all that learning, here are some of our comments regarding our year so far.

Year 5 & 6 News

Our Year 6 classes have been busy learning about persuasive writing this term. We have enjoyed some debating and working on our presentation skills. We have learnt about speaking clearly and using pitch, pause and pace to enhance our presentation.  We also created an advertisement to a holiday location. We have been working on giving useful feedback to our peers to improve their work and presentations.

Here are some reflections from our students on the English units in Term 2.

What I love about this unit was about the debating with Miss Pike and Mrs Austen because in debating I love how we get into groups and are were given a topic. We then work as a group to come up with an argument. In my group was Bella, Oliver and Marc. It was really fun and our topic was ‘Year 12 students should not have to do volunteer work for 6 months after graduating,’ which was a good topic and we won. It was so fun to debating.       By Olivia

I enjoyed our holiday location unit because it helped me build my confidence in recording my voice.  I loved creating the multimodal advertisement aspect because I got to learn new skills. The overall aesthetics of my poster made me feel proud of myself. For the holiday advertisement we had to research about a holiday location which helped me learn more interesting facts about my chosen spot.    By Maddy

I enjoyed creating an advertisement to sell a holiday location as it involved a great amount of research. I made an advertisement to sell the location of a penthouse hotel at the Sunshine Coast called ‘Oceans.’  I had really good photos to sell the location.       By Ryan

This term we have started on our persuasive unit. We got to present our oral presentation and I was excited to create my poster. My topic was ‘stop cyberbullying’. I also liked the videos that we could use for debating because it gave me a lot of useful ideas.       By Cathy

One of our first units were advertising where we had to research a holiday destination and advertise it. It was very enjoyable as we got to explain our whole thinking process. Debating was the second unit which was amazing as I got to interact and work with people I don’t usually talk to. I got to know lots about some of my teammates and how they view topics but my favourite part of the unit was definitely the assessment. I got to write about anything I wanted to and I decided that mine was going to be about ChatGPT and how it would help students learning. While doing this assessment I realised how passionate I was about the topic and I couldn’t have done without the assessment.      By Shaurya

I enjoyed advertising because we did it on our iPad and we were allowed to choose our own location and do our own theme.       By Cherish

My favourite persuasive unit was advertising as I enjoyed learning how companies use different types of skills to persuade us to buy the product or item. I also enjoyed working on the OREO and PEEL structure, as I learned how to improve my writing.     By Leah

I really enjoyed the topic on advertisements because I got to research about a different country and got to find photos of my location which I really enjoyed. I also liked the topic of debating because we got to go in teams and stood in front of the class and shared our viewpoints which I thought was really fun.      By Oli

Administration

Medication at school

Please be advised that if your child needs medication at school the following must occur.

Emergency Medication (Asthma, anaphylaxis, allergic reaction)

An Action plan (from the Dr), a ‘Consent to Administer Medication’ form (from the school office) and medication must be provided to the school.

The information will then be processed and a blue bag (asthma) or red bag (anaphylaxis/ allergy) will be provided for your child’s medication to be kept with your student during the school day. This bag is school property and must stay at school to be used for school purposes. The school records will show when the medications or plans expire and the school will contact parents accordingly for these to be updated.

Routine medication

If your child requires daily medication, we require a Doctors letter, a Consent to ‘Administer Medication’ form (from the school office) and medication must be provided to the school. This medication will be kept at the office and the student must go there to receive this medication.

QParents

Report Cards will be finalised at the end of the term. If you have registered for QParents, you can access yours direct from the QParents app. Please contact the school if you require any assistance.

Curriculum News

Grand Avenue State School publishes a standard school report that is issued at the end of Semester 1 and 2 for all year levels. These reports were sent to parents on Wednesday 21^st June 2023.

The student report card includes:

Learning areas – each child’s report contains achievement information about each learning area studied. The report may also contain information about extracurricular activities.

Achievement codes – these codes describe your child’s overall achievement for each learning area studied against what is expected at the time of reporting using the Australian Curriculum Achievement Standards for each learning area.

In Prep, a five point scale is used to report achievement in English, maths, science and history.  The five point scale used is:  Applying, Making Connections, Working With, Exploring, Becoming Aware.

In Years 1–3 the achievement ratings Very High, High, Sound, Developing, Support Required are used.

In Years 4–6 the achievement ratings of A, B, C, D, E are used.

Your child will receive a behaviour achievement and overall comment. Written comments outline what your child has achieved and provide advice on areas for improvement. These are both determined by the classroom teacher.

The number of unexplained absences for your child is documented on the report card.

Please be assured that achieving a ‘C’ on the report card is considered a sound level of achievement. In other words, ‘C’ should be acknowledged as achieving at the level expected of an average child at this stage of schooling.

Where there is concern about a child’s progress, behaviour, etc. parents are urged to make an appointment to see the class teacher. If school personnel are concerned about a child, parents will be advised and an interview/discussion time, (possibly also involving the Principal or Deputy) will be arranged.

Sports

P&C NEWS

Diary Dates Term 2:

School Trivia Night: Friday 23 June
P&C Working Bee: Various dates – see below

Term 3 Planning – dates to be confirmed

Disco
Movie night
Father’s Day Stall
Meal Deal Day

Term 2 Disco

A massive thank you to Row, Binni, Jo, Robyn, Lesley, Lesley’s mother-in-law, Rebecca for volunteering to make the disco possible. Thanks to Tamara and Kaye for coming along to support the night.  We would love to get some feedback on the night. Please take a few moments to complete the following survey: 

Uniform News

There are currently only 10 year 6 shirts left in stock. If you would like one, please call in to the uniform shop as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

The uniform shop will be closed on the last day of Term 2, Friday 23 June.

School Trivia Night: Friday 23 June

A School Trivia Night is on Friday 23 June.  Tickets are for sale now. Tickets will close Monday 19June to allow us time to organise the catering for the event. Please purchase via Flexishools.

P&C Working Bee: P&C Meeting Room & Uniform Shop

We are working on painting and organising the P&C Meeting Room and Uniform Shop to be ready for term 3. If you have a few spare hours please sign up to help from the link below. We will be cleaning, painting, setting up shelving etc so many hands make light work! Bunning is helping contribute to the space, can you too? 

Facebook:

Have you joined our new Facebook page?  Please feel free to share this with family and friends and others in our Grand Avenue Community.

Your input:

Do you have any feedback, comments, suggestions, ideas?  We would love to hear them!  Please email p&cpresident@grandavenuess.eq.edu.au  

Next Meeting:

If you would like items added to the agenda, please email p&cSecretary@grandavenuess.eq.edu.au

OSHC News

The Vacation Care Program, booking and permission forms are now available on the iParent Portal. Copies have been emailed to all current families.

Please complete and return via email oshcbookings@grandavenuess.eq.edu.au or drop to the OSHC Centre.

Please note bookings cannot be made on the iParent Portal.

Thanks

Community Notices

Come and dance with us!

Forest Lake SHS are calling all students in Year 6.  They are holding their annual auditions for the 2024 Year 7 Dance Program of Excellence on Thursday 22 June.

Attend the audition to secure your place in their Dance Excellence class, where you will get the opportunity to perform with their Award-winning Dance Troupes and enjoy the array of Dance events held at Forest Lake State High School.

Follow the link to book your place: