Drama Parent Group Meeting

A meeting will be held on Friday August 26th in room 14 at 2.45.
Please come along to discuss costumes, sets and other ways of assisting.
Please note the time which is before school ends.
Thank you very much to the parents who came along on our excursion to The Arts Centre on Wednesday 24th.

http://www.monkeybaa.com.au/Emily-Eyefinger.html

National Immunology Day

A session is being run by one of the parents at PHPS - Charles Hardy for National Immunology Day Tuesday 23rd August. Students will learn about the immune system and how the body fights infections and following the presentation, they will have the opportunity to create posters for the competition that closes on the last day of term 3.

Excursion Wednesday 24 August

9.30 The bus to the Victorian Arts Centre will leave school.
10.30 Performance of "Emily Eyefinger".
11.30 Lunch and a play in the park including a reflection of the performance.
1.30 Guided tour behind the scenes at the Arts Centre.
2.40 Bus departs from The Arts Centre to school. Expected temperature a sunny 20.

The children are asked to bring lunch and drink in a disposable bag. Please write your child's name on their lunch bag and drink bottle.

Drama Group Assistance

The children in the drama group project have composed a story. This week they have worked out the scenes, characters and have discussed stage setting to dramatise their story.
Parents who could assist in this project with documentation of the process, costumes and simple sets are invited to a meeting on Friday August 26 at 3.45 in room 14 (writing space). Please come along and join us if you can assist in our production in any way.

Childrens Book Week-Which Books Will Win?

Younger Readers Short List 2011
Bauer, Michael Gerard Just a Dog
Bongers, Christine Henry Hoey Hobson
Branford, AnnaIll. Sarah Davis Violet Mackerel’s Brilliant Plot
Carmody, Isobelle The Red Wind
McKinlay, MegIll. Leila Rudge Duck for a Day
Murphy, SallyIll. Rhian Nest James Toppling

Early Childhood Short List 2011
Champion, Tom Niland & Niland, KilmenyIll. Deborah Niland The Tall Man and the Twelve Babies
Dubosarsky, UrsulaIll. Mitch Vane The Deep End
Lester, Alison Noni the Pony
Niland, Deborah It's Bedtime, William!
Norrington, LeonieIll. Dee Huxley Look See, Look at Me!
Ormerod, JanIll. Freya Blackwood Maudie and Bear


Picture Book Short List 2011
Baker, Jeannie Mirror
Bancroft, Bronwyn Why I Love Australia
Greenberg, Nicki Hamlet
McKimmie, Chris Two Peas in a Pod
Masciullo, Lucia Written by Kim Kane Family Forest
Riddle, Tohby My Uncle's Donkey


Information Book Short List 2011
Brasch, Nicolas Theme Parks, Playgrounds and Toys
Brooks, Ron Drawn from the Heart: A Memoir
Davidson, Leon Zero Hour: The Anzacs on the Western Front
Dubosarsky, UrsulaIllustrated by Tohby Riddle The Return of the Word Spy
Lloyd, AlisonIllustrated by Terry Denton Wicked Warriors & Evil Emperors: The True Story of the Fight for Ancient China
One Arm Point Remote Community School Our World: Bardi Jaawi: Life at Ardiyooloon

http://ozbookweek2011.wikispaces.com/

http://cbca.org.au/userfiles/file/Downloads/Nat%20Site/2011/Shortlist%20Announcement%20(1).pdf

Talent Quest

Dear children,
We just wanted to remind you that Trudy and Alison will be in the school gym Friday August 18th at 11.10am for the children to come and put their names down for this year’s Talent Show. We’re hoping to meet lots of children and hear their ideas for their act. The children are not going to be judged this year and we want to give as many children as possible the chance to get on stage and perform (including inexperienced ones who have not performed previously). We’re hoping for a variety of acts such as circus skills, gymnastics, instruments, poetry, as well as the usual singing.

Readers and Writers Notebook Graph

Many new things happen in our Year 2 neighbourhood to make our learning visible. Ethan's homegroup have developed a reading and writing graph. In the first week of term 3 Ethan's home group developed this graph. The first day only 6 people wrote in their readers and writers notebooks. On Thursday in the 3rd week we broke our record and 18 people wrote in their readers and writers notebooks.
It is very important for each child to use this book as part of home/school learning and to bring this book home and to school each day.Daily home use of Mathletics is also very highly recommended.
A reminder that the Premier's Reading Challenge is due to finish at the end of August. Parents need to print out the book list and sign this sheet. Please return sheets to homegroup teachers so they can be passed onto Annette for validation. http://www.education.vic.gov.au/prc/
Ethan's homegroup.

Drama Project Weeks 5 and 6 Term 3

The children in the drama group project worked together as a team and have drafted a group story featuring all their characters. As part of their learning agreement in weeks 5 and 6 the children will write a detailed description of their character, visualise and design a costume that their character could wear that would suit the setting and story. They will act out different parts of the story and they can create models showing showing different scenes of the story. They will write a letter to Sheryal asking for assistance with the music that have chosen. As a group we will continue to develop the story using the outline we have created. We are all very excited with the progress of our team project.

Dear parents please see Rita if you could help the children with costumes, props, singing, acting!

Learning Agreement Weeks 5 and 6 Term 3

I must do:
Spelling: Conference with a teacher to select 3 spelling words. Look, say, cover, write and check these words every day.
Complete 3 different spelling investigations with your words.
Ultranet: Upload assembly photos. Use a heading to describle what the photos are showing.
Writing: Complete and publish your pyramid poem on coloured pyramid shaped paper.
Maths: Roll a 6 sided and 10 sided dice and record as many different maths problems related to these numbers as you can.
Maths: Create a name for your character using only capital letters with symmetry.

Pyramid Poems

A pyramid poem is a poem about a person, place or thing that is written in a pyramid or triangular shape. It starts with a single word on the first line and builds. The children in the Year 2 neighbourhood have been stuying and writing pyramid poems. They help the children with spelling, grammar and word choices which are part of their writing. These poems develop awareness in children of author's choice of words.

Cat
furry cat
funny, furry,cat
soft, funny, furry cat
smelly, soft, funny, furry cat
naughty, smelly, soft, funny, furry cat
Written by Sophia

Rotations

During the last sessions on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays the neighbourhood are involved in learning rotations. The rotations consist of guided reading and independent reading as well as borrowing in the library, ICT workshops in the library and maths projects in the neighbourhood.

The ICT workshops are currently involving the exploration of the Ultranet and personalising the children's pages. During the library sessions, the students are using shared text to focus on strategies that efficient readers use. During the maths projects sessions the students are exploring the concepts and understandings of space including symmetry, shape characteristics and transformation.

Year 2 Neighbourhood Class Reps

Thank you to Laurel Gorman, Tina Winn and Josie Byrt for being our class reps. Laurel, Tina and Josie will keep our learning community informed about social, community and other events. Please speak to them about contact details.
Welcome to Spohia and Rochel our new students and to their families. Both girls have settled very well into our neighbourhood.

Ethan, Kevin, Rita.

What is drama? What is animation?

Drama is about acting and using talking voices. Using music and using singing and drama is about dancing too. Performances is about putting on a show and using punctuation and singing. Jasmine

I know that drama is when you show a play or get into character. I know that performance is when you perform a play in front of an audience. Maddie

Drama is something where you make a story made out of music or as a play. A performance is when a few people either show the story or read it. Lachlan

Drama is when you move your body. Drama is also when you create a character and show a story through dancing. When you perform you can have dancing, singing and a story that is shown through dancing and singing. In a play you might have a large audience or a small one. Isabella

Drama is someone pretending to be someone else. Drama is team work. Drama is like a problem and resolution mountain. Wil

Drama is where a play is put on or a performance is put on. People pretend to be other people. People cannot put on a perfect performance. James

In animation, you can make things up. Rhianna

Animation is a type of illusion. It involves the appearance of motion caused by displaying still images one after another. Lucy

Animation is lots of pictures moving. Animation is an illusion of movement created by quickly showing a series of images each slightly different from the last. I want to learn why animations are made and how do you make them. Grace

My character is pretty, lovely, helpful, caring, shares things, listens, and thinks before she does things. She lives in the sky in the castle. She lives with her mum, dad and her sister. She hangs out with her best friend Grayson. She wears sparkly clothes and she likes wearing her hair up. Eliza

My character is named Coconut but she is called Coco. She is friendly, cute, fuzzy and spotty. She lives in a big forest. She lives with her family. She lives deep inside the forest in a burrow. Her favourite place is the old tree where her grandma and grandpa live. Selma

Problem Solving Mathematics

This week children have been invited to investigate Bob's buttons.
Bob arranged buttons in groups of 4 and had 2 left over, and in groups of 5 and had 1 left over. The smallest number of buttons he could have had was 6.
Investigate what other numbers of buttons would also fit the pattern.
Can you find a way of describing all the possibilities?
Ethan, Kevin, Rita

Character Development Sketches

Whole School Assembly

The Year 2 Neighbourhood is looking forward to presenting the beginning of their Term 3 Inquiry Learning on Tuesday 9 August.

This term the children are developing team work skills which they will need to use in their group projects. Throughout the coming weeks group stories will be composed, scripted, published and presented.
Ethan, Kevin, Rita

Parent Comment

This week the children have learnt how to copy and paste their learning agreement into their portfolio page in their express space. They have been encouraged to share the current agreement with their parents. Parents can add a comment about their child's learning by clicking on edit text. Please save your comments at the end. The children will add their new learning agreements every fortnight. The children are very excited about all the applications that they are learning in Ultranet.
Hi Rita
Just wanted to mention the fabulous application for the Iphone Ipod and Ipad
The application is called Kindergarden words made by Brain design and Writing Pty Ltd
as i mentioned it is very helpful with the sight words and just getting in some practice...
Check out this application:

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/australian-uk-complete-kindergarten/id415200279?mt=8


Sulz ©™

Dear Rita
I love writing and ultranet
From Miray

Ultranet and Learning Agreement

In Ultranet training this week the children will be required to add the learning agreement for weeks 3 and 4 of term 3. To do this the children must
Go to their Express Space
Learning Goals
Click on add new page
Label LA weeks 3 and 4
Open the Learning Agreement
Select and select all
Back to Ultranet - learning goals
Paste
Save
The children can discuss their Learning Agreement with you and as a parent you can edit and add a parent comment.
They must also add a calendar and blog to their home page.
Ethan, Kevin, Rita

Polly Borland

Kate, Bell's mum inspired the neighbourhood with her talk about her sister the renowned photographer Polly Borland. We learnt about her team work with Lauren Child to produce two beautiful books. Lauren made all of the props for the books whilst Polly Borland beautifully photographed the scenes to produce the stunning books. Kate's message to all the children was to be passionate about their interests and if you put your mind to it you can achieve anything. We all thank Kate for her motivating and informative talk. It was inspirational.
The children will continue this discussion in book talk this week where we will share the works of Lauren Child including her books with Polly Borland.
Parents are invited to join us for these discussion sessions on Wednesdays 9.10 to 9.55.
Thank you Kate and Belle.
The grade 2 children, Ethan, Kevin, Rita.