26 May 2017

Principal’s Report

Education Week

I was pleased to see so many families in

attendance at this week’s Open Night. There

was a great deal of activity in each of the

classrooms and I enjoyed seeing the choirs

perform at the end of the evening.

Throughout the week we have conducted a

variety of activities in line with the Education

Week theme of Healthy Body, Healthy Mind.

Highlights included the dance session led by Mr Scott as well Mr McDonald’s aerobics workout. Tuesday was healthy

lunch day with students encouraged to bring fruit and vegetables in place of chips and biscuits.

There has been a great deal of excitement and enthusiasm in each room. I would like to thank the Education Week

committee for their planning and organisation, and our community for embracing the various activities.

Leading Mathematics

In 2017 Ruskin Park is participating in an intensive Leading Mathematics course. The course is providing us with an

opportunity to review current research and to reflect on teaching and learning within our school. Thus far, the

course has been engaging and led to rich discussion amongst staff. It has also reinforced the strengths of the

programs we currently implement in our classrooms.

It is important to note that as parents your feelings towards Maths will have an impact on how your child thinks

about the subject and themselves as mathematicians. It is important to be positive and highlight the benefits of

having a go. The great thing about Maths is that there are so many games that can be played at home and school.

There are also many opportunities for Maths in everyday life. For example, when driving home from school look at

the number plates of passing cars, can they read or add up the numbers? Ask your child to help weigh ingredients

Upcoming Dates

May Friday 26th

June

Tuesday 6th to Wednesday 14th Tuesday 6th Wednesday 7th Monday 12th Thursday 29th Friday 30th

District Cross Country

Somers Camp Subway Lunch 2018 Foundation Meet and Greet Session Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday School Disco End of term 2 (2:30pm finish)

July Monday 17th to Wednesday 19th Friday 21st Wednesday 26th

August Monday 7th

Wednesday 16th

Grade 5 Camp Grade 5-6 Hoop time 2018 Foundation Story Time Session

Subway Lunch School Concert

when cooking or cut items such as sandwiches into fractions. These real life experiences can help your child to

develop deeper mathematical understandings.

Wellbeing Survey

In Term 1, students in Years 5 and 6 participated in The University of Melbourne’s Wellbeing Survey. This was

conducted in conjunction with Maroondah Council with a number of local primary and secondary schools

participating.

Earlier this week we received the results for our school and the municipality. The data from our school is

exceptionally strong. Our school’s results indicated many strengths, including positive perceptions of school, strong

relationships, gratitude and goal striving. Our students also reported very positive perceptions of bullying.

Staffing Update

As many of you would be aware, Miss Manz will commence her maternity leave on Friday 2 June. On behalf of the

Ruskin Park community I would like to thank Lydia for the excellent contribution she has made to our school and

wish her and Gavin all the very best for the arrival of their first child.

I would also like to congratulate Miss Williams on her upcoming wedding. Sam and fiancée Ned will tie the knot on

Saturday 3 June. We wish them every happiness.

Performing Art

It has been a busy time in the Performing Arts domain. In addition to Open Night, our Senior Choir performed at

assembly last week and we presented badges to our choir leaders. Congratulations to Cung Cung and Madelin, who

were voted as choir leaders for 2017. We wish them well in this role and look forward to future performances by

both the Junior and Senior Choirs.

District Cross Country

I had the privilege of joining our Cross Country team at this week’s district event. I was impressed by their

sportsmanship and determination in completing the course. Thank you to McDonald for running his early morning

training sessions and congratulations to all who participated.

Bunnings Sausage Sizzle

A massive thank you to our Family and Friends Network and wonderful volunteers who will be at Bunnings on

Sunday raising important funds for our school. If you have a moment please pop down and say hello.

Andrew Moore

Principal

Foundation News

Firstly, we would like to thank everyone who visited the Foundation classrooms during our open morning and

evening yesterday to celebrate Education Week. The children were so excited to see their loved ones and to show

them their books. During the morning session parents participated in a writing activity related to the Tall Man and

The Twelve Babies. Then it was on to a maths activity, designed to reinforce automatic recognition of teen numbers.

Everyone was kept busy creating a tally to record the numbers they had located.

During our Open Evening, the Foundation classrooms were buzzing with parents and children actively engaged in a

range of maths games and reading activities the children play to reinforce basic concepts.

OUR PROGRAM

We are very busy exploring the concept of living and non-living things in

our unit Amazing Animals. Last week there was great excitement when

Spikey our new class pet arrived. He is a giant Australian Prickly Stick

Insect and he was very popular with all of the Preps. We are keeping a

pet in our classrooms to reinforce living things need water, light,

shelter, food, air and to reproduce. The children will be observing our

stick insect’s behaviours and

will share their observations

with their peers.

During our pre-assessments for this unit, we discovered a number of

students had misconceptions about seeds and plants. So this week we

explored seeds and discussed the conditions a seed would need to grow.

Everyone had to predict which part of the plant would grow first. Then

they set up an investigation where they lovingly placed their seeds into

plastic bags with moist paper. Over the next few days they will observe

the physical changes to determine whether their prediction was correct.

We are also doing an investigation to determine whether a seed will grow in the dark and whether it will grow

without air in the bag.

During reading lessons the children have been introduced to information texts related to animals and insects. They

have explored the features of information texts such as the contents page, index, diagrams, sub headings and the

structure of the text. Last week they created a flow diagram highlighting the life cycle of a frog based on the

information they had read.

In Mathematics, we have been exploring teen numbers. Our students worked cooperatively with a partner to

represent the numbers using a variety of materials. The aim was to reinforce one to one correspondence when

counting and to

compare and order a

group of three teen

numbers from smallest

to largest. The

photographs highlight

how productive and

actively engaged in the

learning process our

students were.

Thanks to our amazing parent helpers, we have had three successful P.M.P. sessions so far. The children have been

working in small groups and have rotated around eight stations. During the session, they are very busy developing

the gross motor skills of jumping, balancing, climbing, eye tracking, locomotion, balance, fitness, eye-hand

coordination, body awareness and laterality. Not only is P.M.P a worthwhile learning experience it is also lots of fun.

These photographs capture how active our students are during the sessions.

Junior School

Our recent excursion to the Melbourne Zoo has inspired the Junior School students. They have been writing about

their experiences and working hard to answer the many questions they had. We have also enjoyed many Healthy

Mind, Healthy Body activities for Education Week and hope you enjoyed coming into the classrooms and seeing the

amazing work we're doing!

The Grade 1 author focus on Dr Seuss is certainly an interesting one. His clever use of language has inspired students

to attempt making their own rhymes, and next week they’ll be trying alliteration too! In Grade 1 the literacy focus is

on narratives. Students are reading and writing many different stories, and they will be focusing on improving their

narrative writing for the rest of the term.

In Maths, students are learning about different ways to solve addition and subtraction problems, and have been

practising solving many different kinds of problems. They have also started learning about chance, by classifying

familiar events into the categories ‘will happen’, ‘might happen’ and ‘won’t happen’. You can help at home by having

your child identify things that might happen at school today, such as rain, and things that won’t happen at school

today, such as snow.

In Grade 2 students completed their unit on writing retells, and their final retells of the short films Soar and The Bear

And The Snowman show a tremendous growth in their understanding of how narratives are structured and how

language can be used to engage an audience. We have now started to read and write non-fiction texts including

news articles, information reports and fact files. Students are learning about technical language, and text features

including contents and index pages, glossaries and diagrams. Some students have chosen to begin exploring the

genre in their free choice writing sessions, and we hope to see more students giving this a go over the next two

weeks. You can investigate non-fiction texts at home by reading age appropriate news articles at

www.heraldsun.com.au/kids-news, brochures of places you visit or any books you have at home, such as books

about animals or cars.

In Maths we have added and subtracted in as many ways as we could possibly think of. We have studied and

explored and built and drawn the ways addition and subtraction are connected and learned a lot. This week we

begin looking at money and chance. In money students will be skip counting to add the amount of like coins, then

amounts of different coins. Once students have mastered these skills we will be looking at strategies to calculate

change from amounts up to $5. You can support your child at home by having them handle money at the shops,

calculating their own lunch orders and working out how much change they should expect from small purchases.

Chance will be explored through coin flipping, dice rolling, using spinners and playing many different games to

develop an understanding of possible and impossible, likely, unlikely and even chance.

Middle School

Grade 3 and 4 All Grade 3 and 4 students participated in a Digital Citizenship afternoon. During the afternoon students explored

how to be safe online. They participated in a whole level activity followed by an independent activity which explored

their own digital footprints. Our aim in these sessions is to educate our students to be safe and responsible users of

digital technologies.

Grade 3: The students have been focussing on money

and chance and data in the past couple of weeks in

Mathematics. In the following weeks we will be exploring

fractions and angles.

In Literacy, students have immersed themselves in

poetry. They have been reading famous poems such as

Waltzing Matilda. Students have also written their own

poems. Our reading strategy during this unit is

visualisation.

The Grade 3 students have recently started a Science and

Technology project. The aim of this project is to build a

simple machine that will move a marble 30cm. The marble can move up, down, left or right. Students have

completed their first draft and will begin building their simple machines in the next couple of weeks.

Grade 4: In Mathematics the students have been learning about measurement. They have explored length, capacity,

mass, volume, perimeter, area and time through a range of hands on activities.

For the past few weeks in Literacy the Grade 4 students have been learning how to correctly format and address a

letter. In acknowledging ANZAC day, students have written a letter as if they were a soldier writing home. Students

have also been paired up with a pen pal in 4M or 4A and were very excited to receive a letter and reply.

In Science, students have been learning about materials. Students have been looking closely at how different

materials are suited for different things depending on their properties.

This term in History students have been exploring living conditions in 18th century Britain and the circumstances that

led to the First Fleet being dispatched to the Great Southern Land. In Geography students have been learning the

states, territories and capital cities of Australia and plotting these accurately on a map using atlases.

Senior School Curriculum

Action Teams

After our recent incursion with Kate Wilde, the Grade Six students are designing mini lessons with a focus on Growth

Mindsets. They have been working very hard, having completed their initial “Get to Know You” lesson and will now

begin to think about, “Challenge as an opportunity to learn.” We are very proud of the leadership skills shown

throughout this process with students accepting responsibility to work on their lessons at home. The planning and

organisation shown by our Grade Six leaders is exceptional and we look forward to the remainder of the process.

Grade 5 Science update

In Science students are learning about the Solar System and outer space. Each student has been assigned a planet to

research and create a PowerPoint presentation to present to the class. Students are currently working on

researching the information and creating a draft showing text and images. The questions include distance from the

sun, density, moons and atmosphere and how the planet received its name. Students have the opportunity to

research areas of interest and add other interesting information as they see necessary. Each student will also include

a reference list showing where they sourced the information from. Students will also be completing a self-

assessment rubric in conjunction with the teacher assessment.

Grade 6 Science update

In Science students are continuing to learn about how earthquakes occur and their devastating impact on society. In

the coming weeks, students will commence representing their ideas in the form of a fully labelled educational model

or diorama. Students will represent their understandings of the following: causes of earthquakes, how they are

measured, plate movement, fault lines, epicentre, focus and seismic waves. Students will be required to organise

and plan their projects and collect necessary materials to help them create their project. Students will also be

completing a self-assessment rubric in conjunction with the teacher assessment.

Interschool Sport

The Winter Interschool Sports program continued on Friday

where we ventured to play against St Mary’s Primary School.

Once again, our students represented the school with integrity.

We are proud of the manner in which our Year 5/6 students

have continued to perform – win, lose or draw.

Round 3 Results:

Soccer: Ruskin Park won, 13-3

AFL: Ruskin Park won, 102-24

Netball A: Ruskin lost, 9-15

Netball B: Ruskin Park won, 7-6

Newcomb: Ruskin Park lost 1 set to 2 sets

The fixture for remaining matches:

TBA – vs. Pembroke at Ruskin Park

16th June – vs. Rolling Hills at Ruskin Park

“MUSIC MATTERS”

Photo: Back Row (L-R- Colette M,

Delaney B, Phoebe J, Amy J,

Middle Row (L-R) – Josie B,

Isabella H, Rianha Q, Ella B,

Front Row (L-R) - Ayla H, Ella K,

Chloe M, Caitlyn E.

What a fantastic effort from all

the girls who competed in the

DanceStars Vic. competition on

Saturday May 20!

These girls have been getting

together every week with

Colette for the past couple of

months to put together their

very own dance routine. The

rules were that they had to

choose their own music and

build their own choreography. This was especially challenging for the groups, but as the results showed, they did

exceptionally well. Chloe M placed first and Delaney B came second in the solo section. In the duos, Ella K and Caitlyn

came second, Ella B and Rianha Q came third. The troupe, which was made up of all eleven girls, came first. They

represented RPPS admirably. Clearly all the hard work paid off.

All first and second place getters go into a special finals event that will be held at Monbulk College Theatre on

Saturday June 2. If you’d like to go along and support our dancers, tickets can be booked through trybooking.com

Finally, a big “THANKYOU” to Colette for all her expertise and assistance. Without her help, this event would not

have been able to go ahead.

Keep on supporting our young musicians and remember- “Music Matters!”

OSHC NEWS

EXCURSION TO CERES ENVIRONMENT PARK

During our visit to Ceres Environment Park we participated in an Aboriginal and Torres Islander Cultural program.

We learnt about Dream Time stories and all the children had fun dressing up and acting out the story of Tiddalick the

Frog.

We tasted a variety of Bush Tucker - Lilly Pilly, River Mint, Lemon Myrtle and Pig Face, growing in the Ceres garden

and enjoyed learning how to throw a boomerang.

OSHC Educator Team

Garden Club Things are moving at Garden club with

our garden edging installed by the

children and the garden bed ready to

be backfilled! We’ve taken delivery of

vegi mix soil from SuperSoil and are

ready to refresh our garden beds up in

the vegi patch as well as create the

two wicking beds near Mrs McArdle’s

room. (If anyone is interested in

learning more about these beds please

contact me at

marigold3136@gmail.com

Pauline, Rachael & Gemma (garden club volunteers)

Premier’s Reading Challenge

The Premier’s Reading Challenge has begun for another year. Teachers have spoken to the students about it and so far students at Ruskin Park have read 118 books. Reading is a doorway to new adventures and experiences. From zooming through the stars on a spaceship, fighting dragons, being a soccer star, books can take you to amazing places. Enjoy the challenge!

Family and Friends

We are fundraising with the NEW 2017 | 2018 Entertainment

Membership. Entertainment Memberships are filled with hundreds of

valuable offers for everything you love to do, and you'll be helping our

fundraising at the same time!

Next week a form will come home to help you order an online book or

purchase one from school. Please complete this and return to school.

You can view the membership online or there is a book in the school office. If you would like any other information,

please don't hesitate to ask

https://www.entertainmentbook.com.au/orderbooks/189q377

Birthdays

These students have recently celebrated their birthdays

Keidi Ellie Liam Mark

Alex Skylah Luca Samuel

Darcy Tyla Lachlan Sui Sui

Jonathon Joel

THE RUSKIN PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL VISION

Every student at Ruskin Park Primary School can develop their natural curiosity

and imagination through new and engaging approaches to teaching and learning.

The encouragement of a positive attitude within a friendly community of learners

will promote success today, tomorrow and into the future.

THE RUSKIN PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL VALUES ARE

Building Friendship, Creativity, Honesty & Respect