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STAY CONNECTED AND DON’T STRESS
Seeking Feedback
Now that we are mid-way through the fourth week of remote and flexible learning, we’re keen to find out how we’re doing in meeting your needs. Yesterday we circulated a survey; Remote Learning Feedback, which we encourage you to complete. Your replies are anonymous.
We have already received some feedback that there is “too much work”. I would like to reiterate as teachers have already mentioned, that some of that work is ‘optional’ and is provided for students who would like to complete it, rather than core work. We also understand there are good days and bad days – pick your battles and don’t stress!
All schools have been advised that:
- For students in Grades P-2, schools will provide learning programs that include the following:
- literacy activities that take a total of about 45-60 minutes
- numeracy activities of about 30-45 minutes
- additional learning areas, play-based learning and physical activity of about 30-45 minutes.
- For students in Grade 3-6 schools will provide learning programs allocated as follows:
- literacy: 45-60 minutes
- numeracy: 30-45 minutes
- physical activities: 30 minutes
- additional curriculum areas: 90 minutes.
The Winters Flat PS website Teaching and Learning tab-Learning from Home has all the work set by classroom and specialist teachers as well as links to some excellent additional resources.
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Additional Telstra data
Telstra users on a mobile plan are being offered additional data at no cost on mobile services. The My Telstra App gives you access to apply for the extra data.
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Pen Pals for residents of Ellery and Thompson House
The Castlemaine Rotary Club is promoting the idea of students from the primary schools in Castlemaine connecting with residents from Ellery and Thompson House during this isolation period. Leading teacher Kate Ward from Castlemaine PS is coordinating the matching of a student to a resident with the expectation that they will send a card or letter 1-2 times a month. We invited student in the JLC but if older students would like to participate please email me: Suzanne.Kinnersly@education.vic.gov.au and I will liaise with Kate.
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Students to practice gratitude as a form of connection during COVID 19
Whether we are learning from home or school during COVID 19 one of the biggest changes is the lack of physical social connection. For some this is tougher than others, however we are all in it together.
As a way for the children to connect to themselves and with others we will be creating a gratitude collage which involves each student to draw/write about a situation or person that they are thankful for.
Each student will receive the collective gratitude collage via email or you can request a laminated copy to be sent to your home for display!
ACTIVITY
- Think about something or someone you are grateful for, something that made you smile or that you are thankful for.
- Draw a picture and or write words/story on a piece of paper to express your gratitude. Some examples could be, I am grateful for;
- My dog as he plays with me
- The bright colours of flowers
- My sister who makes me laugh
- Being healthy
- Spending more time with my family
- The sunshine
- Once the picture is completed please take a photograph of it.
- P-3 and Marie’s students email to winters.flat.ps@education.vic.gov.au by Friday 15th May.
- Karen and Keenan’s class can either email the photograph or put the picture into the drop box by Wednesday 13th May.
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YEAR 6 TRANSITION
The Year 6 to Year 7 transition Information pack and the Application for Placement 2021 for students currently in Year 6 at Winters Flat PS should be delivered in Drop boxes today. Applications are due back by Friday 29th May 2020.
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YARRAME HELP DESK
The purpose of this service is to provide parents and carers with the opportunity to discuss your child's behaviours, which may be impeding their ability to learn at home.
The Help Desk can also help parents and carers to successfully navigate potential intervention pathways for their child.
YarraMe's Help Desk http://www.yarrame.vic.edu.au/help-desk.html can assist with:
- understanding a child's behaviour
- providing personalised one to one telephone consultation with a special education teacher
- discussion of a pathway for the family to seek formal diagnosis of learning disabilities
- discussion about behavioural support strategies
- advice on setting up learning environments
- providing targeted resources
- referral to external services.
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BIRTHDAYS
Atticus B – 8 in the last week of April
Huckle – 10 in the last week of April
Eisa – 8 in the last week of April
Archie S-M - 7 in the last week of April
Suzie – 8 in the last week of April
Me – 40ish ;-) in the first week of May
Jane – 25ish ;-) in the first week of May
Lola – 8 in the first week of May
Archie K – 10 in the first week of May
Milla – 12 in the first week of May
Jess D – 12 in the first week of May
Lucinda N – 12 in the first week of May
Hip Hip: Hooray
Hip Hip: Hooray
Hooray: Hip Hip
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BUILDINGS UPDATE
Demolition and Construction is still going ahead. The old portable that was Terry’s workspace is being demolished on Friday and fencing has gone up around our main admin building for work to commence on replacing sections of the roof – the very last stage in the refurbishment process. Access to the main building will be limited in the next week or two but we will work around that.
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HAVE SOME FUN WITH GOOGLE DOODLES
At the moment Google is daily revisiting some of their past Doodles which you can access on the Google home page (better with Chrome). They are interactive and two of last week’s had a musical theme. Fischinger is an opportunity to experiment with colour and sound changing notes and instruments. Oskar Wilhelm Fischinger was a German-American abstract animator, filmmaker, and painter, notable for creating abstract musical animation many decades before the appearance of computer graphics and music videos. Rockmore is an interactive theremin which has some cool setting and key changes once you pass the initial tutorials. Clara Reisenberg Rockmore was a classical violin prodigy and a virtuoso performer of the theremin, an electronic musical instrument. She was the sister of pianist Nadia Reisenberg.
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Suzanne Kinnersly
Principal
Remote Learning Survey
We are now into Week 4 of Remote Learning. We would love to hear from YOU about how we are going. The survey will take less than 5 minutes to complete.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdapMlRSWtdrb9wp2c25FNr5z2S_cj0GmNqM678m6c4IEdoXQ/viewform?usp=sf_link
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Additional Telstra data
Telstra are offering additional data for Telstra customers during Covid19.
https://www.telstra.com.au/covid19/supporting-you-during-covid-19
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Emerging Minds
This curated selection of resources will assist parents and carers to best to support their children and reduce worry and distress. It contains a video, factsheets and tips about what you can expect and how you can help children cope.
https://emergingminds.com.au/resources/supporting-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/
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Hard copies of learning packs
Hard copy 'learning from home' packs are available for collection from 9am on Monday from the office for families who have sent us a request.
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CSEF
CSEF
A reminder that if you have a current Health Care Card and have not yet applied for CSEF, please contact the office.
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Karen Mahoney & Renae Wilson
Office
KITCHEN & GARDEN...
Below are the activities for Weeks 3-6 of Remote Learning. These can also be found on the school website, along with a video demonstration for Basic Pizza Dough.
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Week 3
Propagation: Softwood cuttings
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Week 4
Chinese Greens stir-fried with soy sauce and ginger
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Week 5
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Week 6
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Jane & Terry
Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden
JUNIOR LEARNING COMMUNITY
P/1 J | Franklin M
For showing Care for Self by working hard to complete home learning tasks. Fantastic thinking, especially in Maths!
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P/1 J | Oscar M
For showing Care for Others during class Webex chats and being a 5 star listener. Great participation Oscar!
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1/2 A | Tanmay B
For showing Care for Self by showing a great commitment and dedication to his home learning. Keep up the great work Tan!
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1/2A | Brody H
For showing Care for Self by keeping up an amazing attitude and doing all set tasks at school. Fantastic effort Brody!
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2/3W | All 2/3 students
For showing Care for Self by being so committed to their home learning. Thank you for the time, effort and creativity you are putting in. I am really proud of you all.
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SENIOR LEADERSHIP COMMUNITY
Loretta L
For showing great Care for Self by being resilient and creative by making an amazing newspaper called the “positive news”. It was thoroughly enjoyed by many of the teachers and we look forward to the second edition.
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Levi M
For showing Care for Self through his Reading and Writing skills improving as his confidence gros. Well done Levi, keep up the good practice.
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Jess D
Care for self- Congratulations Jess on the wonderful job that you are doing to be organised and work hard on all of your work tasks. You attend all of our online meetings with everything that you need on hand, ready to go. Thank you Jess.
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Lila D
Care for self and others- Thank you Lila for the enthusiastic and resilient way that you are managing our remote learning timetable. It is awesome to receive photographs of your activities, especially your cooking efforts, that Jane is very proud of. Thank you for your positive attitude and willingness to share with others.
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Ryan B
Care for others- Ryan, thank you SOOOO much for sharing your screen, with your group, and helping others to negotiate the changing of passwords and the steps needed to get people into our google classroom. You were calm, focused and patient. Great skill sharing Ryan.
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Tenzin O
Care for others- Tenzin, thank you SOOOO much for sharing your screen, with your group, and helping others to negotiate the changing of passwords and the steps needed to get people into our google classroom. You were calm, focused and patient. Great skill sharing Tenzin.
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Hello
As we enter the colder months of the year our bodies may want to slow down, so how do we stay motivated to keep moving?! A great way to support children’s physical, mental and emotional wellbeing is to find fun and interesting ways to move their bodies. EASE has developed a number of resources to support parents and caregivers to help children manage anxiety and worries at home in response to COVID-19 and one of the topics is Helping Children Move Their Bodies (Kindergarten to Grade 3 and another for Grades 4-7).
Spending time in nature is also a fun and interesting way to keep moving. So why not rug up and spend some time outside each day doing one of the following activities “24 things to do outside today”. You could even ask your children to create their own set of Things To Do Outside cards.
If you would like to chat more about activities to support your families wellbeing please do not hesitate to call me.
Don't forget that I have also added resources on the website here. Included on this page is a Yoga series which will be updated each week :)
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Take care,
Belle
Wellbeing Officer
**Please note Belle's working days will be Tuesdays and Thursdays commencing this week**
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Below are some more wonderful pictures shared that show all the great set ups and all the lovely work students are completing! Feel free to keep sending them in to the school email :)
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‘This article is reproduced from Learning Potential, a product of the Australian Government Department of Education. For more great articles visit www.learningpotential.gov.au and download the app.’
Busy making, busy baking!
Cooking with your child is a fantastic literacy and numeracy activity, giving practice such as reading lists, measuring ingredients, and understanding that we use different language for different purposes.
Cooking also teaches your child planning, patience, and the pleasure of eating something you’ve made yourself. So choose a recipe together, head to the kitchen, and ‘Talk. Cook. Learn.’ with ideas like these:
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- talk about the ingredients – eg names, textures, smells, tastes
- talk about the equipment and utensils you use – eg what they are called, what they do, how they work
- involve your child in counting and measuring
Could you wash three carrots?
Let's measure two cups of flour.
We need a dozen of these muffins for the fete. How many is that? Twelve! Let's count them out. - ask your child how to share the food that you've made
How can we share these eight cakes among the four of us? How many would each person get? - ask your child to arrange containers by size.
Which container holds the most? How could we check?
Last chance to order on the virtual Book Club catalogue.
Check out the HOT new titles and great activities to be doing at home—PLUS, as there are 46 titles @ $5 or under, we're sure Book Club has something for everyone!
Place your order on LOOP as normal. Once your school has processed the order, the books will arrive back at your school as usual, and they will contact you to arrange a safe way for you to collect your order.
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WHAT'S HAPPENING IN OUR COMMUNITY...
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Community pantry up and running for Mount Alexander Shire residents
Local volunteers, community groups and organisations are working together to provide much needed food relief for residents in need in Mount Alexander Shire. Mount Alexander Community Pantry is a centrally coordinated food relief system which aims to provide assistance in the absence of a local foodbank.
“We’ve all been impacted by COVID-19 and many people are finding it difficult at the moment. Some people have lost their job or regular income, and others may not be receiving the same levels of support due to things like social distancing rules,” said Martyn Shaddick, Manager, Castlemaine Community House.
Volunteers, community groups and organisations has worked quickly to set up the Mount Alexander Community Pantry to offer prepared meals and food packages
"It is time to come together as a community, a giant family. Like we do as Aboriginal people. It is also time to adapt and deepen support for each other and focus on what is the same,” said Kath Coff, Coordinator, Nalderun.
The Castlemaine Church of Christ and Maldon Community Centre have donated their space to use for storing, cooking and packing of foods, under strict hygiene standards.
Volunteers from the Church of Christ, Castlemaine Community House, CHIRP Community Health, Maldon Neighbourhood Centre, Nalderun, The Salvation Army, St Mary’s Parish and St Vincent de Paul have been recruited for packing, kitchen and delivery duties.
Other organisations are providing Donations or in-kind support including Bendigo & District Aboriginal Co-operative Bendigo Foodshare, Central Victorian Primary Care Partnership, Lions Club, Mount Alexander Shire Council, Mount Alexander Disability Advocacy Group (MASDAG), Rotary Second Bite and SuperCold Coolrooms.
“It’s been fantastic to see so many organisations and groups come together and create this service so quickly,” said Emma Shannon, Prevention and Planning Manager, Central Victorian Primary Care Partnership.
“The Salvation Army is used to providing food relief packages,” said Captain Annita Allman from The Salvation Army.
“With an increase in demand for food relief, it is great we’ve been able to create a system that can be coordinated in a sustainable way for the duration of the COVID-19crisis.”
To access pre-prepared meals or food packages, please contact the Mount Alexander Community Pantry Intake Coordinator on 0472 537 866, or email mtalexcommunitypantry@gmail.com or order online at www.cch.org.au/communitypantry
Pick up can be organised from Church of Christ on Blakely Road in Castlemaine or delivered between 10am -1pm the following day.
Please call the central number to register before attending. Mt Alexander Community Pantry will also be operating in Maldon, with deliveries of frozen meals on Tuesdays and Fridays starting from Tuesday 14 April.
We are calling on community members to donate to the new service through PayPal, please call or email for details.
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