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Shannon Street Birdwood SA 5234 P: (08) 8568 5329 F: (08) 8568 5284

dl.0547.info@schools.sa.edu.au Principal: Cassie Ackland

Birdwood Primary

Term 3 Week 9 19th September 2019

NAPLAN and PAT

NAPLAN results have arrived and parents of years 3, 5 & 7 students will receive

the results this week. Overall we have achieved very pleasing results particularly

in Reading. In Year 3, 92% achieved the Standard of Educational Achievement

(SEA) and 58% were in the top 2 bands, Year 5, 85% achieved SEA with 27% in

the top 2 bands and in Year 7, 86% achieved SEA with 22% in the top 2 bands. In

maths 88% of Year 3 students achieved SEA with 42% in the top 2 bands, year 5

students 71% achieved SEA with 9% in the top 2 bands and for year 7, 83%

achieved SEA with 15% in the top 2 bands. Writing results also showed a big

improvement on 2018.

If you have any questions regarding NAPLAN results for your child please make a

time to discuss this with their teacher.

PAT Reading and Numeracy testing is currently underway in all classes. This is

another data source we use to track and monitor student growth and identify

areas for improvement.

Staff Professional Development

On Thursday the 29th of August our teaching staff worked with Sheena Cameron

and Louise Dempsey to explore what a balanced writing program looks like and

to focus on the explicit teaching of proof reading and editing skills. The day was

very productive and evidence of this learning is already very apparent in

classrooms. SSO’s across the partnership attended a SPELD workshop with Sandy

Russo learning about ways to improve working memory and how to support

students with their writing.

In the week following this training we met with the teaching staff at Gumeracha

Primary, moderating maths and ensuring we are making well informed,

consistent judgements around student work.

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SCHOOL NEWS

Cassie Ackland

PRINCIPAL

Sun Smart Policy

At our recent Governing Council meeting we discussed our school Hat Policy. The recommendation from the Cancer

Council is that hats should be worn when the UV is 3 or higher. After some discussion it was decided that from 2020

hats will be required from the beginning of the school year until April 30th and then again from September 1st until

the end of the year. This will mean that students will need to bring their hats for all of first term, as per the current

policy and for approximately 2 weeks of 2nd term and then from approximately week 7 of term 3 and all of term 4.

Farm Day Funds

Earlier this year the staff spent time discussing and planning upgrades to our Library to improve how students can

best access and utilise this area. As this project will benefit all students we thought it would be a good use of Farm

Day funds. Rosemarie Shearing and Bianca Laister have been gathering quotes and ideas from a number of

companies this term. They have sourced some really nice dual purpose shelving and seating ideas and wall shelving

to open up the Library and make it a great space to learn in. This furniture has now been ordered and should arrive

in term 4.

SAKG Disco

Last Friday night we had 2 very successful discos. I’d like to say a big thank you to the staff who stayed back to

supervise the evening and acknowledge the hard work of Mel Rosenberg who spent all day setting up and ensuring

it was such a hit with the students.

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MISS BITTNER

Marcel – This term the Bittner

Team has had a special visitor in

the class – Marcel the monkey!

The students have been taking

turns of having him for a

sleepover and documenting their

adventures together.

Time – In mathematics we have

been learning about time, telling

time to the hour and half hour on

analogue and digital clocks, and

in HASS we made a timeline to

show the history of toys.

STEM – As part of our

investigation of toys, forces and

movement, the Bittner Team

have undertaken a series of STEM

challenges, including paper

spinners, marble runs, and boats

with Miss Price’s 6/7s.

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MRS PLUMMER & MRS JONES

Comic Strips

The students also produced comic

strips about the ‘Super Heroes’

they created. A popular graphic

novel that many of the students

have been reading is the ‘Wings of

Fire’ series. As this novel begins

with a prologue to the story and an

epilogue at the end, we thought

our comic strips should include

them as well.

It is hard to believe that another term is almost over!

Book Week was a huge event.

Everyone enjoyed the opportunity to dress up for the parade. As there

were so many different characters in the room that day, we used the

opportunity to write our own class story; ‘Super Heroes win and the

Bad Guys lose!’ After much discussion, it was decided that the ‘Bad

Guys’ would try to take over the world. A story was drafted. It was a

class effort to improve our story by adding describing words and

checking that everyone was happy with how they were included in the

story. Of course the ‘Good Guys’ won!

Kaitelyn, our preservice teacher has been

with us this term and has helped us with our

water experiments.

Floating and Sinking.

We tested many items to see if they

would sink or float.

A ball of plasticine sinks, but we were

able to make it float and hold marbles!

Surface Tension

How many drops of

water could sit on

top of a counter?

We were surprised

how the surface

tension kept the

water on the

counter.

How many pins can you drop into a full cup of

water before it spills over?

We were amazed that we could drop 100 pins into

the full cup and it still didn't spill over.

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MISS CARLA

CHICKENS, CHICKENS, CHICKENS!

We have been enjoying having an incubator in our classroom for the last three

weeks and have been patiently anticipating the arrival of the baby chicks.

During this time, we have been building on our knowledge about chickens and their

life cycles. We have researched fun facts about chickens and have recorded and

shared our findings with our classmates.

“A chicken can run up to 9mph” – Rex

“A chicken takes approximately 21 days to hatch” – Jackson

“Chickens are related to the Tyrannosaurus Rex” – Keisha

“A chicken clucks after it lays an egg” – Torah

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Garden Monday and Wednesday

Kitchen Recess - Lunch

Week 1 14/10 – 18/10

Monday 2/3K 11.10 R/1B 12.00 Wednesday 6/7P 12.00 1/2H 1.40

R/1M Monday 3/4P Wednesday 2/3R Thursday 5/6H Friday

Week 2 21/10 – 25/10

Monday 2/3R 11.10 5/6H 12.00 Wednesday 3/4P 12.00 6/7N 1.40

4/5H Monday 6/7F Tuesday 2/3K Wednesday 6/7P Thursday

Week 3 28/10 – 1/11

Monday R/1M 12.00 Wednesday 4/5H 12.00 6/7F 1.40

R/1B Monday 1/2H Tuesday 6/7N Thursday

Week 4 4/11 – 8/11

Monday 2/3K 11.10 R/1B 12.00 Wednesday 6/7P 12.00 1/2H 1.40

R/1M Monday 2/3K Wednesday 2/3R Thursday 5/6H Friday

Week 5 11/11 – 15/11

Monday 2/3R 11.10 Wednesday 3/4P 12.00 6/7N 1.40

4/5H Monday 6/7F Tuesday 6/7P Thursday

Week 6 18/11 – 22/11

Monday R/1M 12.00 Wednesday 4/5H 12.00 6/7F 1.40

R/1B Monday 1/2H Tuesday 3/4P Wednesday 6/7N Thursday

Week 7 25/11 – 29/11

Monday 2/3K 11.10 R/1B 12.00 Wednesday 6/7P 12.00 6/7N 1.40

R/1M Monday 6/7P Thursday 5/6H Friday

Week 8 2/12 – 6/12

Monday 2/3R 11.10 5/6H 12.00

4/5H Monday 6/7F Tuesday 2/3K Wednesday 6/7N Thursday

Week 9 9/12 – 13/12

Monday R/1M 12.00 Wednesday 4/5H 12.00 6/7F 1.40

R/1B Monday 1/2H Tuesday 3/4P Wednesday 2/3R Thursday

SAKG Timetable Term 4 2019

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Term 3 Planner 2019

WK Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

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16/9

- Cricket Cup

- 2.20pm Assembly

2/3R + 6/7

- 7pm Governing

Council

17/9 18/9 19/9 20/9

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23/9 24/9 25/9 26/9 27/9

Pupil Free Day

Pedal Prix

21st to 22nd

SAKG Timetable Term 3 2019

Week 10 23/9 – 27/9

Monday 5/6 12.00 Wednesday 3/4P 12.00 6/7F 1.40

R/1B Monday 2/3K Wednesday 6/7N Thursday

Wakakirri is coming!

Yes, Wakakirri is happening again in 2020! We will be starting work in Term 4 of this year. All students in

years 2-7 are invited to come along to a lunchtime meeting in week 9, where we will explain what the

event is all about.

In short, Wakakirri Story-Dance is a 3-7 minute performance by a group of students that theatrically tells

a story using a combination of dancing, creative movement and acting to pre-recorded music. Within the

performance, we can tell any story and use any combination of dance, acting, music, sets, props and

costumes.

Birdwood Primary School has participated in Wakakirri six times since 2012. In 2016, we decided to

participate on a bi-annual basis to give our students and staff adequate time to prepare for such a large,

public Arts event.

We are looking forward to starting our next story together.

Stay tuned for more details!

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COMMUNITY

Begins Friday 18th October,

2019 @ 4.15pm

Birdwood High School Oval, Birdwood.

Ages 3-100 years,

everyone gets

2 FREE Come and Try sessions

Contact Dave on 0421 133 283

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COORDINATOR - LEARNING IMPROVEMENT LITERACY AND NUMERACY

TAMRA MARDLE

We learn by doing.

This caption is so true of how as humans we do learn. Our focus as Educators, is to

provide our students with authentic, hands on learning experiences that connect

our students to the real world.

As I reflect, on our PD session with Sheena Cameron this is how our student’s best

learn and develop the skills of a writer (an author). Our learning as a staff team

focused on providing our students’ with many opportunities to build their skills as

writers.

The writing process is a complicated group of skills but all students can be

successful writers. Sheena demonstrated to staff the; I do, we do, you do model

which scaffolds our student learning and enables them to develop independence

as a writer.

One of the learning principles taken from our learning was that it is vital that students develop their skills to

self-edit in the writing process. This will be a skill that teachers focus on with their classes and build students

confidence to write.

As a community, we need to encourage our students to have a growth mindset that focuses on learning from

mistakes and taking on

feedback.

Writing is a lengthy process

in which we encourage

drafting and editing skills.

You will notice in students

work books, teachers

focusing on some structures

of the writing process and

encouraging our students to

work and learn harder with

a focus on the students

being editors. We want our

students to develop self-

editing and partner editing

skills as independent

writers.

What skills am I learning as a writer?

How can I improve my writing?

How as a writer have I used words to generate ideas for the reader?

As a reader, does my writing make sense to others?

What punctuation have I used in my writing?

These are the questions we will be asking our students as they continue their writing and learning journey.

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WK Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

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October 14 15/10 16/10 17/10 18/10

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21/10 22/10 23/10 24/10 25/10

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28/10 29/10 30/10

31/10 November 1

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4/11

Governing Council

5/11 6/11 7/11

8/11

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11/11 12/11 13/11

9am - 10.45am Reception Transition Parent Meeting

14/11 15/11

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18/11 19/11 20/11

9am - 12.45pm Reception Transition

21/11 22/11

Transition seminar for Yr7’s including a BBQ lunch

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25/11 26/11 27/11

9am-1.35pm Reception Transition

28/11 29/11

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December 2

Governing Council Dinner

3/12

4/12 5/12 6/12

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9/12

10/12 11/12 12/12

Reports sent home

13/12

Early Dismissal 2.10pm

Term 4 Planner 2019

R - 5 Swimming

R - 5 Swimming

End of year concert

Yr 7 Graduation

Hand, Heart,

Mind expo