Volume 24 Issue 30 23 Sep 2016 20 Elul 5776

From the Deputy Head of Primary

Emma Clemens

Emma Clemens – Deputy Head of Primary

Great Mates Day

Last Thursday Year 3 had a wonderful time at Great Mates Day. This day is the culminating event in the Great Mates program that has run throughout Term 3. Great Mates aimed to support the students in developing and maintaining positive relationships and team building skills. Research has demonstrated that children’s friendships significantly contribute to the success of their social interactions, communicative skills and schoolwork (Blatchford, 2007). Typically Middle Primary years can be a time when students begin to navigate new friendships and have a heightened sense of group awareness. Therefore the Great Mates program seeks to support Year 3 students in a positive, team-focused approach to friendships and social interaction in class and the playground.

The Great Mates program involves team activities where students are in groups of five or six. These groups have a mix of students from both classes and a combination of boys and girls. The program has four key elements, described below:

  1. Weekly Team Scenarios

Students have engaged in short playground and classroom scenarios aimed at developing an appreciation and value for one another. Each scenario is approached using Habit 5, Seek First To Understand, Then Be Understood. Students then use Habit 4, Think Win Win and Habit 6, Synergise to find a solution.

  1. Weekly Team Challenges

Students have been involved in weekly team building activities. The focus for these sessions has been working collaboratively. At the outset of the program, the groups established the qualities of a good team member. The students also learnt to use the acronym for TEAM: Together, Everyone, Achieves, More, to appreciate the value of each individual in a team.

  1. Great Mates Day

Throughout the day students worked in their teams to complete a range of challenges. The teams then worked co-operatively to prepare lunch for one another. The purpose of the day was to develop a sense of team spirit and cohesiveness across the grade. I had the privilege of working with a Year 3 group throughout the day. I was thrilled by their constant efforts to use ‘put ups’ to encourage one another as they solved the team challenges. The group also worked incredibly well to synergise with one another by incorporating different ideas into their solutions.

  1. Secret Buddies

This was the culminating event on Great Mates Day. The principle behind the secret buddy videos is that we should understand and appreciate those who are different from us and help others to feel like they belong and are valued. The focus for the videos is that it’s okay to think, look and act differently from others. Each student in Year 3 was allocated a secret buddy and prepared a special video presentation which was then showcased to the grade. For many students this was a very touching and memorable moment as they were acknowledged by their peers for their unique characteristics and skills. The students were also very proud of the videos they created and the opportunity to shine such a positive light on others.

One of the activities at Great Mates Day was creating a team rap. Below are some of the scripts from the students.

Great what? Great mates what? Mates, great mates,

Do put ups and not put downs,

‘Cause we are Team 8, wow,

Listening is what we do, we will listen to you,

We are Leah, Leah, Kaila, Sam, Jamie, Jethro and Adrian,

Great mates we’ll turn your frown upside down,

Together, everyone, achieves more.

 

Yo, hey, it’s time to work and play,

Because today is Great Mates Day,

Put ups are good for you and me,

Put downs are bad for us to see,

Put up up up and not down down down,

To make your face smile and not frown,

We’ll think win win and not win lose,

Which one do you think we’ll choose,

Co-operate, collaborate,

Use teamwork to become great mates,

Be proactive not reactive,

That’s why we should be proactive.

 

We work together so that means we synergise,

I think win, you think win together, think win win,

We like put ups, put downs are bad they make you sad,

Only include, don’t exclude it’s very rude,

Habits how many? Seven, they make you freindly

First things first without it you’ll burst

If you’re going to be proactive, make it active,

And after all that fun it’s time to pause and sharpen the saw,

Great, great, great, great, mates,

I am a mate, you’re a mate, we’re all great mates,

 

Great mates day is a lot of fun,

We like working as a team,

We have put ups and not put downs,

The marble run was lots of fun,

Turning the tarp was really had,

We helped each other get along,

The treasure hunt was up and down,

We worked together to make it count,

In Great Mates we had challenges,

But in the end we made it work,

Great Mates Day taught us a lot,

Teamwork rules, it’s hot hot hot.

Grandparents and Friends Day

Today we held Grandparents and Friends Day celebrating Rosh Hashanah and Kabbalat Shabbat. We began with a very special ceremony where we heard a story from Rabbi Ninio and enjoyed performances from the Junior Chamber Choir and Year 1 Drama students. The ceremony concluded with a moving performance of Aveinu Malchenu sung by the Primary School. Following the ceremony, students completed activities in class with their grandparents and friends. These activities included challah baking, Rosh Hashanah cards, plaster candle holders, challah covers and scrapbooking. Thank you to the Music department for preparing, conducting and accompanying the musical items. Thank you to to the Hebrew and Jewish Studies departments for their wonderful organisation of the activities. A special thank you to Adam Carpenter and Hagit Bar-On for all their wonderful oversight and planning for the day.

 

sank-jordin

Jordin Sank

Mazal tov to Jordin Sank

Jordin Sank in Year 5 has won the AJN annual Rosh Hashanah card competition. Her drawing will become the official AJN Rosh Hashanah card for 5776 which will be sent to everyone from community leaders to the Prime Minister of Australia and the President of Israel. Jordin has been interviewed and photographed for the Jewish News. Mazal tov Jordin!

K-2 Gala Day 

The K-2 Gala Day which was planned to take place in Centennial Park on Thursday was unfortunately affected by wet weather and the event was held at school. The students had a wonderful time as they rotated through a number of activities including egg and spoon races, musical chairs, marbles and skipping games. Thank you to Stuart Taylor and Adam Ezekiel for organising the event and for the K-2 teachers for running the activities.

Year 2 Science Showcase 

On Wednesday we had our Science Day. On this day we showed different experiments that we learnt about this term when we explored sound and light. Some experiments included ocean in a bottle, pitch, balloon speakers and magic tricks. We invited our parents and the Kindergarten and Year 1 students. We have learnt lots of scientific ideas and words this term. We have learnt about how to change pitch on a guitar string by turning the pegs to adjust the length of the string. We have also learnt that the volume is the different pitch of a sound. You can change the volume and pitch in a drum by hitting hard or soft or hitting on a different part of the drum. We have enjoyed learning more about sound and light and showing this through our experiments.

Toni Sher and Jemma Adler

Year 3 Toy Exhibition 

This term we have been learning about forces in Science. We had to create a toy without help from an adult that we could make in about two lessons that used at least two forces. Some forces could include pull, push, friction and roll. We had to draw plans for our toy and write an information report to explain how it worked. We also had to make an advertisement for our toy and think about questions that parents might ask us. My toy was dog that used pull and roll forces. We showcased our toys to the Year 3 parents on Tuesday. Overall it was a very good day and we learnt a lot about forces.

Daliah Smagarinsky

Year 4 Author, James Roy Visit 

On Tuesday we had James Roy visit Year 4. First he told us a lot about his books and some stories about where he got some of his ideas for his characters. Some of his books are based on things that have happened to him or his relative and friends. For example in Miss Understood some of the characters were suffering from depression and he wrote that at the time that he was also suffering depression. Also in the story Captain Mack, he thought that the character Danny reflected him because he was also bullied a bit in school. But he always had a good friend like Jared in the story to help him. We were very fortunate to be able to ask him lots of questions about his books. It was really interesting learning about all the different ways to write a book and how to do it from a real author’s perspective.

Miri Stubbs-Goulston

CIS Athletics

Last Thursday we had ten students compete at CIS Athletics. The students represented Emanuel proudly and competed at a very high standard. Congratulations to Shai Farhy who came fourth in the 100m and is the reserve for the State competition. Congratulations to Alexander Kirievsky who came third in discus and will represent Emanuel at the state competition. Thank you to Stuart Taylor for organising and supporting the team on the day.

Primary Handball Competition

Congratulations to Jake Fleischer and Ethan Hirst who won a very close game against Julian Baruch and Gabriel Stiassny in the Primary Handball Competition. This competition began last year, lead by Jonathan Schach. The Primary Madrichim this year did a wonderful job of continuing this legacy and once again ran a very popular competition. Thank you to Jonathan for spending time with the Madrichim to support and mentor them this as they ran the competition.

Upcoming Dates

  • 13 October: Term 4 commences, Years K-6 Lice Check
  • 19 October: Year 2 Pathways Parent Evening, 7:00-8:30pm, Angles Leadership and Learning Centre
  • 17-18 October: Sukkot, school closed
  • 20 October: Year 1 Anna Fineberg Incursion
  • 24 October: Shemini Atseret, school closed
  • 25 October: Simchat Torah, school closed
  • 26 October: Year 6 Allwell test
  • 26 October: Primary BBQ Day
  • 26 October: 6H Word Expo, 6:30pm, MPH
  • 27 October: Year 5 Knowing Me Knowing You, 6:00pm, MPH
  • 28 October: Primary Bandana Day
  • 28 October: Parent Connect Club, 2:55-3:35pm, Angles Leadership and Learning Centre

 Term 4 K-2 Assembly

  • 14 October Week 1: no K-2 assembly
  • 28 October Week 3: Music assembly
  • 11 November Week 5: K Eilat (Mrs Buzo’s class)
  • 25 November Week 7: no K-2 assembly
  • 9 December Week 9: K-2 Puppet club