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The Reddam House Primary School Newsletter Volume 12 Issue 25 Friday, 31 August 2012

Dear Parents and Caregivers, Every year, we have the wonderful opportunity to open our doors to the community and invite guests, both from within and from outside our school, into our world. Last week’s Open Day was a terrific one, filled with wonderful musical performances from our en-semble groups, innovative artwork displays with work from numerous students up around the school, bubbling and fizzing science experiments which induced shrieks and wide-mouthed surprise and, of course, our fantastic classrooms on display for everyone to immerse themselves in the world that is Reddam House. Thank you to everyone who was involved in putting this event together, from the administration staff and teachers for all the behind-the-scenes work, to the students and parents for their efforts on the day. We really do have a real Reddam family. Our next big event is the Year 3 – 6 production of ‘Mulan’ at NIDA which takes place next week. The final touches are being put in place now and I am certain that we will all be amazed by the end product we will see on the stage on Wednesday and Thursday next week. Mr. Dean Hattingh has worked incredibly hard on this show and I would like to wish him and the cast broken legs. There are still a few tickets available through www.ticketek.com.au and I urge you not to miss out on this show. I had a thrilling week in my office this week due to some wonderful visits from some of our students. I have to say a big congratulations to a number of Year 1 students: Coco Harwin and Sebastian Canturi delivered excellent presentations on igloos. I learnt a great deal from these little children and was thoroughly impressed with their work. I also had a visit from Zayne Gladsden with his houseboat presentation which actually floats on water! Thank you to Zoe Kertesz for the magnificent book she handed me to read. Clearly, her writing and illustrating of children's stories mirrors her teacher’s talent, Mrs. Kathy Finikakos.

The Kindergarten students have been writing excellent recounts this week and have been putting their science knowledge to the test - flying their carefully constructed kites. I am always impressed by the level of work these very little people are able to achieve. Keep up the excellent effort!

This week, the students in Years 3 – 6 went off to see ‘Treasure Island’ produced by the Darlinghurst Theatre Company. This two-man show brought alive Robert Louis Ste-venson’s novel in an innovative way and our drama students, in particular, were in-trigued by the use of costumes and props to create characters and scenes. The theatre management was pleased with the students’ excellent understanding of theatre appro-priate behavior and the nature of the questions which our students asked in the Q & A session after the show.

http://www.ticketek.com.au

At Reddam, we always aim to ‘give back’ and I am very pleased to announce that the Year 1s have done themselves proud with their recent fundraiser for ‘Room to Read’. The students raised a whop-ping $1352 in one day which equates to 1352 books for children in need. By actively taking part in this fundraising activity, the Year 1s learnt the value of charity as well as the joy in giving to the less privileged. I would like to extend my thanks to all the parents and teachers who were involved in the event, from assisting by providing delicious homemade treats, to donating books, to being present on the day and helping in a number of ways. The active modelling of charitable acts goes a long way to instilling these values in our students. Today, we say farewell to Ms. Jennifer Yeh who will be moving on to a new phase of her life. Her work in establishing the Mandarin department is highly valued and we thank her for this. I would also like to introduce Ms. Sonny Rong who will be taking over this department. Sonny has spent this week with us and clearly brings with her wealth of skill and energy. I welcome her on behalf of every-one at Reddam; I know that she already feels a part of our school. Sonny can be contacted on [email protected]. The co-curricular programs for K - 2 and for 3 – 6 are steaming ahead. I am so pleased to see so many of our students taking part in the wide variety of activities on offer. The netball groups are thriv-ing and soon we will have a team ready for some friendly games. Children can join the netball group at any point by sending an email to [email protected]. I hope that everyone has a wonderful, relaxing weekend, particularly those students in ‘Mulan’ who have their first weekend off this term. Best of luck to the sports teams taking part in a number of events over the weekend, too.

Dee Pitcairn Principal

Reddam House

would like to wish a very Happy Birthday to

Ryan Chong, Luca Moses, Talia Wijisinghe, Rosa Gordos &

Mrs Eitzen who celebrated their special day this week

We hope you had a fabulous day!


mailto:[email protected]


Page 2 The Reddam House Primary School Newsletter Volume 12 Issue 14 Friday, 25 May 2012 Page 1

Sporting Fixtures Saturday 1st September

Basketball – Finals Girls 12R Div 1 ( Annie) V Inner City Diamonds 10.45 am Basketball Stadium Saturday 12E Div 2 ( Annie) V Maccabi Flames 8.55am Alexandria Basketball Stadium Saturday Boys 14R Div 1(Lee) V Inner City Titans 1.30pm Marrickville Basketball Stadium Saturday 14E Div 3 ( Lee) V Saints 12.35am Alexandria Basketball Stadium Saturday Please check sydneybasketball.com.au to en-sure there have not been any late changes to the draw.

Rugby Reddam 15s XV v Bye Reddam 13s XV v SHORE, Northbridge C, 9.00am. The bus will leave school at 8.00am Reddam Year 5 and 6 XV v Pittwater House, 4.00pm Keirle Park Queenscliff Monday 5th September

Sporting Results Saturday 25th August Basketball – Semi Finals Girls 10 R (Suzann) V CYS 14 – 29 12R Div 1 ( Annie) V Diamonds 15 - 14 12E Div 2 ( Annie) V Supersonics 28 - 4 14 R Div 2 (Irena) V Red Devils 20 - 50 18R Div 1/2 (Matt Garrett) V CYS 23- 60 Boys 10 R Div 1 (Lee) V Maccabi 10 - 33 12 R Div 1 (Matt Garrett) V Raptors 19 - 26 14R Div 1(Lee) V Cobras 30 - 24 14E Div 3 ( Lee) V Maccabi 41 - 36 16 R Div 1 ( Melvin) V Saints 30 - 67 Rugby Reddam 15s XV v Bye Reddam 13s XV v Riverview College 45 - 5 Reddam Year 5 and 6 XV v Oxford Falls Gram-mar School 17 - 31 Reddam Year 3 and 4 XV v St Lukes 36 - 46

SPORT FIXTURES

4 September Year 1 Excursion: Botanic Gardens

5 September Year 2 Excursion: Australian Walk-about World

Year 3 -6 Production—Mulan (Nida)

6 September Year 3 -6 Production—Mulan (Nida)

Year K-2 – Assembly

7 September Year 7 2013 Orientation Day

Year 3– 5—Assembly

9 September Year K 2013 Orientation Day

10 September

Year 6 Evening of Eminence

11 September

Yrs 3 & 4: SSO Music Excursion

12 September

Year 5 & 6: Math Olympiad

12 September

Year K - 2 Portfolio Day

13 September

Year 3 - 6 Portfolio Day

14 September

Last Day of Term

DATES FOR DIARY

SPORT RESULTS

http://www.trybooking.com/BUKC

mailto:[email protected]


This week Kindy put their knowledge to the test and built kites. The students learnt last week that the best kites were made from a light material and have a sturdy frame and a tail. They also thought it was important that our kites not only flew well but looked good too. The children began the project by cutting out the shape of the kite then painting a design. With a bit of help from their teachers they fold-ed and glued the kite into the correct shape. They then built the sturdy frame from straws and at-tached some string and a handle. The students all worked hard to build their kites. Next week we are going to take them to the park to see how well they fly.

KINDERGARTEN

We live in a three dimensional world. Every object you can see and touch has three dimensions that can be measured: length, width and height. 1D had fun designing and making 3D things. Marlon Rayson Harwood designed and made a Vegemite Factory. Chiara Bligh designed an amazing house that she wants to build one day. Isolda Rydge designed a Jumping Stadium Dasher Stewart made a mini rocket and launching pad.

HSIE and ART- Jordan George brought in an inspiring piece of human shelter. Jordan made his shelter from cardboard boxes and he actually demonstrated how he could climb in and sit in it quite happily. He then showed us how there was a door bell attached. Jordan discussed how we could cover it with plastic to make it water proof and someone else suggested painting it to make it look more attractive- so with team work that’s what we did!


YEAR 1


2R have designed and made their own floating devices for our final stage of Forces discover in Sci-ence: Floating and Sinking. We used recyclable household items to construct a boat. Some floating devices included ships, rafts, row boats and canoes. Next week we will be testing them to see if they float. We will be observing our findings and recording these.

YEAR 2


Year 3 visited the theatre on Tuesday to see 'Treasure Island'. The children enjoyed the fun-filled performance which was packed with action and energy! Flynn Rowlands became part of the act when he was attacked by a fearsome pirate, Long John Silver, and was held at sword's edge. The students loved the interactive question time afforded at the end. They asked intelligent and well thought out questions. As always we were so proud of the smartly worn Reddam House uniform and beautiful be-haviour of the children.

Year 4 have been learning about cardinal and inter-cardinal points in HSIE this term. Their current unit has had them working with maps and charts to follow and create directions. The children were engaged in a wonderful activity whereby they needed to use what they had been taught about compass points in order to create a di-rection puzzle. In this puzzle they had to specify the instructions using only co-ordinates for a classmate to follow. Jacob Amor in 4E was so excited he went an extra mile and created his own direction puzzles. Use the grid provided, to give Jacob's puzzle a go, using a pencil and a ruler. Direction Puzzle Start 5 spaces from the margin and 7 spaces from the top. Go NW 2, N 1, NE 2, E 1, SE 2, S 1, SW 2 then W 1.

TREASURE ISLAND

YEAR 4


Years 5 and 6 have spent the last week preparing and delivering their persuasive speeches. Year 5 have been presenting speeches on the topic, “Are dogs just dogs?” Athina Vougdis from Year 5 made an excellent suggestion that dogs aren’t just dogs because they are so valuable to people in our community for many reasons. She stressed the importance of dogs as guide dogs, drug detection dogs, compan-ions and members of families. Year 6 on the other hand, have been focusing on their novel “Number the Stars” by Lois Lowry and why is it such an important novel to study. Alexander Alsop mentioned that it is a brilliant novel to study because it shows how two people from such different cultural backgrounds can be such good friends. Lachlan Child also mentioned that it is such a great novel because it com-bines History and English and gives kids an opportunity to learn about history. All in all, Years 5 and 6 have demonstrated an excellent understanding of how to con-struct a speech and how to deliver one successfully. Miss Gash very much looks for-ward to their next round of speeches next term.

Congratulations to Bondi House who were voted by the public on “Open Day” as the overall winner of the 2012 Inter-House Sculpture Competition. Kindergarten through to Year 6 thoroughly enjoyed working with the sculptural artists to help guide them with their imaginative sculptural creations. The sculptures were created using a range of materi-als. There was a dragon made from metallic objects, as well as a colourful creature made using recy-cled materials. Coogee’s work utilised natural materials and fibres and looked very organic in form. The Sculptures are on display in the sculpture/herb garden near the Year K classrooms.

YEAR 5 & 6 ENGLISH

ART


The Year 6 Extension English class has been improving their narrative writing skills by focusing on descriptive and figurative language. Working on a number of creative writing pieces, from fictional to autobiographical, students are gaining valuable skills. One task students worked on, was to write a narrative which takes place over a short period of time and which conveyed the character’s feel-ings over a short period of time. Imogen Zalunardo wrote about a tsunami and effectively conveyed her character’s feelings and emotions.

The Perfect Day

I am standing on the beach. It is a perfect day. The sky is clear and blue and the sun is warming my pale skin. I squish my feet into the sand and I feel the soft grains between my toes. I smile. I start to jog down towards the water. It glistens and sparkles in the sun like it was full of crystals. The waves pound gently onto the shore while I drop one foot into the water and I squeal with delight. It’s cold but it feels nice against my skin. I wade into the ocean holding my arms above the water. It was icy but I dive under and feel the water ripple through my hair. As I came to surface, I suddenly could feel my body being pulled. Slowly at first and then quite fast. I paused. I looked around. People on the beach were yelling and running. Faster and faster. I am being pulled towards the ocean. The water is being sucked out and I can see the sand where the water is supposed to be. I’m really frightened. I turn trying to escape. Slowly, I start to pull away from the wa-ter. I use all my strength, arching my body forward. Now I start to run out of the water and up the beach. I turn around, only to see the ocean been sucked out so far you could hardly see anything. I can hear something. It sounds like a plane. I search the sky but I can’t see anything. The noise is getting louder and faster. My mouth opens with terror. I suddenly see what’s happening. It’s a tsunami. I hear screams and shrieks of terror. I’m going to die. A massive dark cloud is heading straight to-wards me. I run using all my strength. I feel like I’m in quicksand and it’s pulling me in. The tsunami draws closer. The roar of the tsunami is like standing next to a plane engine. I turn around, only to see that it is closer than ever. I’m so scared. I look up. There are people that have climbed up trees. I search around quickly to find a tree and over there it was a large palm tree. I race over to it before it gets to crowded. A sense of hope fills my mind. I run until I finally reach the palm tree. This is my only hope to save myself. I start to climb up but it is so tall. My body is so weak and I am so tired. The whooshing of the tsunami is getting louder and closer. I start to climb faster as it’s a matter of life and death. I‘m nearly there. I start to think of my family and friends. The grief they will feel when they hear I have passed. I reach the top… WOOSH! My body smacks the tree as the force is so strong. I hold on tightly. I close my eyes.

*** All I can see is red. Red covers my eyes and my body as I come back to life. Rescue helicopters, po-lice, fire-fighters and ambulances come in loads and rush over to save everyone. Bodies lay there while others slowly come back to life. I have survived. This is nothing like the perfect day. By Imogen Zalunardo

EXTENSION ENGLISH


On Thursday 30th August music students from both the Primary School and the Senior School attend-ed the Burger Centre, a day centre for the aged in Randwick. Reddam students performed for an au-dience of around 80 seniors, the eldest of whom was 102! This very appreciative group heard Marie Veinberg perform Schumann, Seth Gabrielsson perform on both classical guitar and piano, Roderick Gadaev sing Old Devil Moon and Bewitched, Marcus Michelsen perform Czardas by Monti and Si-cilienne by Pergolesi, Andrew Cai play Chopin, Nathan Kwok perform on Classical Guitar and Joseph Newton play ‘The Entertainer’. Congratulations and many thanks to these students who gave so much pleasure to these elder people.

MUSIC

OPEN DAY


The Children’s Book Council of Australia has announced the winning books for this year’s Book Week. In the Younger Readers category, The winning title is Crow Country by Kate Constable. The publisher, Allen & Unwin, describe Crow Country as a gripping time-slip adventure about a young girl, Sadie, who has moved unwillingly from the city to a small country town. Soon enough though, Sadie begins to make friends and she befriends the ever present crows. Then, when Sadie is tumbled back in time to view a terrible crime, she is pulled into a strange mystery. Crow Country is a significant cul-tural merger between fantasy fiction and Aboriginal Dreaming, written with sensitivity and respect. I would think this book will interest our students from Years 4, 5, and 6.

The Eve Pownall Award for the Information Book category went to One Small Island: The Story of Macquarie Island by Alison Lester (of Are We There Yet? fame) and Coral Tulloch. This book is so beautifully illustrated that it took my breath away. It could be considered a Picture Book as much as an Information Book. Macquarie Island is located approximately half way between New Zealand and The South Pole and I had never heard of it either, until I saw this book.

This book has been so beautifully crafted; it will appeal to all children from Kindergarten right through to Year 6 and beyond. The only disappointment for me, is the covers of both these books. I don’t find these covers engaging and I don’t feel they do justice to what is inside. So the old adage still rings true – “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover!”

LIBRARY


MULAN REHEARSALS

Monday 27 Tuesday 28

Wednesday

29

Thursday

30 Friday 31 Saturday 1 Sunday 2

Drama: HALL

15h30-18h00

Ancestors, Mu-lan, Mushu,

Shang, Chi Fu

Fa Li Grandmother,

Yao, Quin po,

Ling, Emperor Fa Zhou

16H00–18H00

Full cast with

Orchestra

15h30 - 18h00

Chi-Fu, Mu-lan, Shang,

Mushu, Yao, Ling,

Quin-Po,

Shang Yu

15h30-18h00

Ancestors, Mulan, Mu-shu, Shang, Chi Fu

Fa Li Grandmoth-er, Yao, Quin

po, Ling, Em-peror Fa

Zhou

16H00–18H00

Full cast with Orches-tra

15h30-18h00

Full Cast And all Mains

14h30 - 16h30

Full Cast And all mains

No Rehears-al

10h00 - 14h00

REST!

Dancing: Dance Stu-

Monday 3 Tuesday 4

Wednesday

5 Thursday 6 Friday 7 Saturday 25 Sunday 26

Drama: NIDA

NIDA

NIDA

OPEN NIGHT

MAINS CALL

AT NIDA

17h00

FULL CAST

17H30

2nd NIGHT

MAINS

CALL AT

NIDA

17h00

FULL CAST 17H30

Dancing: Dance stu-dio

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