Newsletter

Issue 11

Term 3 

Thursday 22 August, 2019

Dear parents,  a reminder that Aspiri Primary School will be closed tomorrow, August 23, 2019 as our staff will be participating in a Nicholson Network Schools Development day.

Students are not required to attend and the office will be closed.

OSH club will be offering a full day service for those families that are registered.

Please remember that all streets around Aspiri Primary School are  “School Zones”  in the morning and afternoon. Please adhere to the required speed (40km/h) for the safety of our children. I will be asking Police to conduct random speed checks for the remainder of 2019.

A reminder to families that parking along Rossiter Avenue is not allowed by the City of Armadale. Parents parking here risk incurring a fine from the Rangers when they attend.

Noel Morgan. Principal.

The school has several formal communication methods, for example this newsletter and some informal examples such as parent initiated and managed social media platforms. Whilst these informal platforms are acceptable in almost all of their iterations, please note that the school logo, motto and other media cannot be used on mastheads, Facebook pages, blogs etc without the permission of the Principal; as it is in what the Education Department refers to as an “uncontrolled” environment and is also subject to Department of Education copyright. Please see Mr Noel Morgan if you have any issues with this requirement.

Kindy 3 has been focusing on sustainability the last two terms and we have been using recycled materials to make box constructions. We have been learning how to plan first and then build as this encourages students to think about their ideas, explore what materials would suit and then finally construct it. They are very proud of their creations. Here are some photos of the amazing constructions that have been created. 

The Pre-Primary students from PP2, PP3 and PP4 have been busy making Father’s Day gifts during their Bunnings incursion. The Pre-Primary students engaged in wood work for their Father’s Day gift. Each student was provided with pre-cut pieces of wood, nails and a hammer. The students had to listen and follow instructions, line up the nails and gently hammer to construct their wood work gift. The students will be decorating them later in the week.

On Thursday in Week 3, the Year 5 and 6 students from Mrs Grima's class participated in a Waste Wise Audit. The purpose of this audit was to find out how much waste our school produces and what type of waste is produced. This information is able to help us become a Waste Wise School and give us the information to consciously dispose of our waste by implementing the 3Rs - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. 

 The students worked hard, sorting the waste into different categories:

Recyclable Organic Items: 

• fruit and veg scraps
• whole fruit
• food scraps
• paper and cardboard

Recyclable Non-organic Items:

• plastic 
• aluminium
• steel cans
• milk and juice cartons
• other recyclables

Non-Recyclable Items:

• Chip packets
• Lolly and ice cream wrappers
• Plastic bags and cling wrap
• Whole packaged food - unopened 
• Rubbish

Once all the rubbish was sorted, we weighed the amount of waste in each category. The school will use this information to drive sustainable waste management practises. 

We would like to thank all the staff members on the Sustainability Committee for organising such a valuable learning opportunity. 

Last week was National Science Week, Australia’s annual celebration of science and technology. To celebrate this event the students across different classes engaged in fun and hands-on activities which encouraged them to share, explore, problem-solve, investigate and collaborate. In Kindergarten outdoor agency time students enjoyed handling meal worms and observing them using magnifying glasses. Student’s also used their senses to explore the properties of oobleck (slime), the effects of mixing oil, water and food colouring. In Pre-Primary students made a cloud in a jar to learn about how rain clouds work. Whilst other classes created their own shadow puppets to assist in investigating how the position of a light source can influence the length and direction of shadows.

Year 1 Visual Arts

Title of Art Project: Paint a Still Life in Primary Colours

To begin this task, students were introduced to the meaning of primary colours and the significance of still life in art. We talked about how many great artists painted still life’s and the variety of objects used in their compositions. Next, students were given a photo of a still life and asked to draw it on A3 thick paper, using lead pencils. Then students were given the primary colours of yellow, red and blue acrylic paints and instructed to apply them in their purest form without mixing them. As this project was completed over the course of several lessons, the students were taught in the beginning of a lesson to redraw their shapes with black and other coloured pencils in order to bring back the shapes that got lost under the paint. The end result is just amazing!

What a busy and fun week we have had celebrating reading and books! Thank you to everyone who submitted their colouring in entry! There were so many colourful and creative entries to choose from which made it very tricky to select the winners. This year's winners are: Akshika (Year 5), Aaron (Year 4), Pualani (Year 3), Van (Year 2) Ikjot (Year 1) and Viaan (Pre-Primary). The winners received a $10 voucher to spend at our Book Fair. Thank you to parents for your support in this year's Book Fair sales. Every purchase will give our school extra points from Scholastic to purchase more books for our Library. 

See you again next year! - Mrs Tan  

Running Club will continue every Friday, 8:10am - 8:25am on the Rossiter Pavillion Oval.

Just a reminder to label your children's clothing and water bottles with their full name.  We have numerous items in the Lost Property bins located in the Administration Office and outside Kindergarten 1 (the first room on your left as you enter the gate).  At the end of this term any items not collected from these bins will be removed and used for our emergency spare clothes collection. 

If you’re looking for ways to help your family be more active, why not try…

·         Walking or riding to school together;

·         Visiting the beach to play cricket or Frisbee;

·         Taking the dog for a walk;

·         Doing some gardening (try building a veggie patch!);

·         Visiting the local swimming pool;

·         Playing at the park;

·         Going for a bike ride;

·         Bush walking;

·         Outings that involve walking (like the zoo);

·         Participating in a community walk;

·         Buying children presents that encourage physical activity (like sports equipment or a kite).

For more information go to www.nutritionaustralia.org

Healthy eating for children

The Australian Dietary Guidelines provide up-to-date advice about the amount and kinds of foods and drinks that we need regularly, for health and well-being.

By providing your child with the recommended amounts from the Five Food Groups and limiting the foods that are high in saturated fat, added sugars and added salt, your child will get enough of the nutrients essential for good health, growth and development. A healthy diet reduces the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and some cancers. Your child may also feel better, look better, enjoy life more and live longer!

The amount of food your child will need from the Five Food Groups depends on their age, gender, height, weight and physical activity levels. For example, a 3-year-old boy requires 1 serve of fruit a day, but an 11-year-old boy needs 2 serves of fruit a day. A 9-year-old girl needs 4 serves of grain (cereal) foods a day, and a 14-year-old girl needs 7 serves a day.

Children who are taller, more physically active or in the higher end of their age band, (and not overweight or obese), may be able to have additional serves of the Five Food Groups or unsaturated spreads and oils or discretionary choices. For further information go to www.eatforhealth.gov.au

What should our children eat?

Try and follow these basic guidelines when deciding what to feed your children:

·         Include 2 fruit and 5 vegetable serves into the daily routine.

·         Serve lean meats, fish, chicken and dairy. Remember eggs and nuts!

·         Choose wholegrain bread and cereal.

·         Limit saturated fat intake and reduce total fat intake.

·         Limit fast food like chips and pastries.

·         Limit sugary drinks and offer water or low fat milk instead.

·         Limit lollies and foods with a high sugar content

Following these guidelines will help our children to be healthy children.

 Healthy food children will love!

·         Blend fruit with milk and a spoonful of low fat yoghurt to make a smoothie.

·         Freeze fruit (such as grapes, pear or banana).

·         Top toast with ricotta cheese, banana slices and cinnamon.

·         Cut vegies into bite-sized pieces.

·         Mix chopped tomato and green capsicum with baked beans.  Put the mixture on toast, or in a baked potato, and sprinkle with low-fat cheese.

·         Add cooked vegetables to lightly beaten eggs.  Melt some polyunsaturated margarine in a pan and cook the mixture gently over low heat until eggs are firm.

Remember to use a cool bag or put a bottle of frozen water in the lunch box to keep food cool at school. Keep lunches interesting by including salads, wraps and dips with cut up vegies.