PB 1

Primary School Newsletter Issue No.3 8th March 2019

Dear Parents, Guardians and Friends of Alamanda College,

Welcome to our new School Council Members for 2019: Shanti Balakrishnan, Sally Belinda Broad, Deepti Dhillon, Amanda Green, Danielle Rowe, Jason Rowe,

Cameron Scott, Selena Dong-Young (Parent Category), Michael Hick, Carmen Sacco, Camille Willats, Helen Welsh, and Lynette Jobson (Staff Category).

The number of nominations for the parent category did not exceed the number of vacancies so there was no election required. All nominations were received, seconded and accepted.

The final School Council meeting for this current period will be held on April and at this meeting we formally thank our retiring members from the council: Renee Belsey, Kathy Goodwin, and Joris Steeman.

Alamanda Races at the NationalsThis current week sees Alamanda staff preparing for significant events. The Formula 1 in Schools Competition commences this week, and we have Slipstream and Conquest racing teams representing us in these National Competitions. Watch our Facebook Notifications for updates— the teachers and students have been researching and preparing for approximately four months — so we wish Team Alamanda every success.

Alamanda Presents in HongKong at IB World ConferenceLast year a team of teachers presented a paper to the IB World Conference committee and were selected to present a work shop at the 2019 IB World Conference HongKong.

At the time, this seemed like a wonderful opportunity for Alamanda Staff to join the IB world schools and in part celebrate our IB accreditation. Of course, 10 days out from the conference, the excitement has turned to anxiety and pre-conference presentation jitters may be appearing.

2 3

IMPORTANT NOTICE

New CSEF Applications:

Parents are reminded that if you hold a valid means-tested concession card or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible for the CSEF. A special consideration category also exists for asylum seeker and refugee families. The allowance is paid to the school to use towards expenses relating to camps, excursions or sporting activities for the benefit of your child.

The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund helps ensure that no student misses out on the opportunity to join their classmates for important, educational and fun activities. It is part of making Victoria the Education State and the Government’s commitment to breaking the link between a student’s background and their achievements.

The annual CSEF amount per student is:

• $125 for primary school students

• $225 for secondary school students

How to Apply: Please come to the school office to obtain a CSEF application form. Please note that a copy of your concession card will also need to be provided. Applications strictly close on the 21st of June 2019.

*Please note, if you were receiving CSEF last year an application has already been placed for you*

Kind regards,The Office Team

I am very proud of our team and believe that it is the right time for our staff to share their experiences as IB teachers with the large IB family of educators. These next few days are packed fill with conference preparation, including several small film clips of Alamanda students and teachers, exploring the concept of ‘curiosity’, a driver of all learning.

Prep stay with us for a full weekCongratulations to our prep parents and students, the children have settled into the life in the ‘Burrow’ and while a couple of children may need more time to settle into the everyday routines of school life, the prep cohort has made a stunning start in their learning journey. The children’s learning opportunities are exciting and creative and they are responding to the first weeks of school in a joyful way.

Save The Date — 2n April PYP/MYP IB Community Celebration 2019 Curriculum Launch

We are in the planning stages, and excitement is growing as we look forward to our annual community event. At this event, we launch our academic year, the children present their first inquiry to their families and together we support our learners. Children take learning seriously when they know their families are supporters of their school and value their learning. The Alamanda community has always valued their children’s learning experiences and has welcomed this opportunity each year to come together as a parent community to celebrate and show the children how important their school is to their family. Once again we look forward to this event.

Dare to be Wise,

Lyn Jobson Principal Alamanda College

2 3

News from PrepBy Ms Jessica Phillips, Prep L

Through-out the Prep building the excitement of discovering new elements of their learning can be heard and seen in our creative murals and displays! Students are continuing their investigation into what living things are and how they are connected to different environments through viewings and developing their own interest in various environment investigations. Prep J,K and L have been busy collaboratively creating their pod mural, using thinking routines such as ‘turn and talk’ in order to further their skills in speaking and listening. These skills also encourage students to explain their thinking and share ideas with peers. Through these investigations, we were able to make slime! The students were able to describe what it felt like and talk about how slime was similar to the fungus found on the forest floor. Their curiosity has begun the creation of their mural and they will continue to add to it as their learning and interests continue to grow.

4 5

Alamanda College

ACTING LEADING TEACHER’S SUMMARY

As stated in Alamanda’s Mission Statement ‘...In embracing the College motto, we will develop creativity and innovation and encourage students to test the limits of their intellectual and physical capabilities whilst displaying their moral convictions through their actions…’. At the heart of the International Baccalaureate sits ‘student action’ where students believe they are able to grow and succeed, where they are making appropriate choices and take responsibility for their actions. It is important to understand that action comes in all forms, shapes and sizes. Action is the process of doing things to show that we have changed from our learning. Action can involve but is not limited to:

Doing - Are you doing something? Are you helping someone else?

Having - Are you having more of something? Do you have more respect or care?

Thinking - Are you thinking differently? Are you wondering about something?

Saying - Are you saying something? Are you asking or explaining?

Feeling - Are you feeling differently? Are you feeling inspired?

Being - Are you being an improved person? Are you changing your behaviours?

Action - KindnessOver the coming weeks in ‘The Burrow’ the Prep students and teachers will be focusing on demonstrating kindness, with a particular emphasis on friendly greetings and interactions such as ‘Good Morning’ when entering the classroom. We would love for parents, families and the wider community to consolidate this message at home by having regular discussions about the importance of being kind. We thank families for their ongoing support to inspire our Prep students to take action by caring and empathetic inside and outside of the School Community.

Reading and Regular PractiseAs part of our home routines, we encourage Prep students and their families to commit to ongoing and regular reading practise at home to help consolidate learning within the classroom. It is suggested that Preps engage in 10-15 minutes per night of reading with parents, carers or siblings. At Alamanda, we want to nurture the love of reading and quality literature within the hearts of all our students. Beginning readers often enjoyed being read to or reading/exploring texts together with parents. We suggest investigating the PM reading application with short, predictable texts and also visiting the local library to explore more interest based books. On Seesaw, classroom teachers have posted the link to The Department of Education’s Handbook ‘Literacy & Numeracy Tips to Help Your Child Every Day’. We suggest taking some time to look into some strategies and if any clarification is needed, please speak to your classroom teacher.

Entering/Exiting ‘The Burrow’A kind reminder about entering and exiting ‘The Burrow’. We kindly ask that families continue to enter and pick up students from the outside areas near classrooms or through the sliding door next to the Art Room. This Year, the Year 9 ‘Everest’ Program will be held in the Main Building opposite the staff room, which concludes at 3:15pm. Due to the ‘foot traffic’ we kindly ask that ‘The Burrow’ is not entered through the Main Office as this will ensure the Secondary Students are not disrupted during their learning time. We appreciate families ongoing support with these changes. If you are unsure about exit and entry points for your classroom, please come speak to myself or the classroom teacher.

Dare to be wise,

Georgia Bell on behalf of the Prep team

4 5

The Year Ones have been extremely enthusiastic as they have begun to explore their first Unit of Inquiry using the Transdisciplinary Theme ‘Who We Are.’ Students have unpacked the Central Idea, ‘Awareness of our characteristics, abilities and interests informs our learn-ing and development’ through different learning styles when making patterns. In class stu-dents have had the opportunity to investigate their own personal learning characteristics, abilities and interests. This has been supported through collecting data about learning styles (Physical, Auditory, Logical, Social, Solitary, Kinaesthetic), different languages, abili-ties and the PYP Learner Profile, understanding how this can impact our

News from Year 1By Mrs Tegan Ma, 1H

learning here at Alamanda College. Austin One N - ‘I found out I like to work independently.’

Students are making personal connections to the Unit of Inquiry as they continue to bring in Artefacts which reflect their understanding. Leila One L ‘This is my traditional Lebanese dress and drum that I like to play.’ Leila showed confidence as she demonstrated how she plays her Artefact and cooperating with her peers to share this ability.

The students have been developing personal learning goals alongside their teachers. Some of the reading goals include focusing on rereading for clarity,

using punctuation to help with expression and fluency and stretching through the sounds in words.

Numeracy goals include, skip counting by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s, place value and reading numbers beyond 100.

Writing goals include, letter formation, punctuation and referring to resources such as word walls to support spelling.

It has been lovely getting to know all the Year One students and seeing so many returning homework books, iPads charged, items labelled and putting in so much effort towards their learning.

6 7

News from Year 2By Mr Sam Wight, 2E

The Year 2 students have continued to demonstrate curiosity into their first Unit of Inquiry ‘Sharing the Planet’ by exploring the Central Idea ‘Systems of living things may be complex yet fragile’. Students have been inquiring into the characteristics and classification of different animals and habitats as well as investigating the writing style of narratives.

Arin, Aimar and Mishka have demonstrated that they are confident communicators by sharing what they have learnt over the past few weeks.

“During this Unit of Inquiry, we have been learning about classifying animals. We can classify them as vertebrates or invertebrates. Vertebrates have spines and invertebrates don’t have spines. Vertebrates can be broken down into more classes of animals such as fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals. We have also been learning about all of the different habitats around the world in our expert groups! We have been investigating the different living and non-living things in these habitats, the climate and also the human impacts.” - Arin, 2E

“When learning about narratives we have been using Mentor Texts and one of these was ‘Imagine’ by Alison Lester. When reading this book, we realised it has a lot of different habitats in it, so we decided to do a Text Innovation of the book. Each of us chose our own habitat. I chose the river, we then followed the writing style from the book. This meant we all started with ‘Imagine if we were…’ before using our knowledge of ecosystems to include animals found in that habitat as well as verbs to describe their actions. This is my text innovation:

‘Imagine if we were by the river,Where turtles glide and fish shimmer,Where newts climb rocks and frogs

dive.’

I was proud of this work because I used exciting verbs.” - Aimar 2C

“We have learned about ecosystems and how they are found all over the world. We worked in expert groups to research one ecosystem that we chose. I chose the Outback and used Epic to learn about the climate

and location, as well as the biotic and abiotic parts. I learnt that the Outback is only found in Australia and in the day time it is hot and at night time it is cold. Uluru can be found in the Australian Outback, along with animals like kangaroos, emus and koalas.” - Mishka 2A

By Sam Wight, Erin Beardsley, Laura Hawes, Liane Gomez and Sarah Barker on behalf of the Year 2 Team.

6 7

Alamanda College

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL’S SUMMARY

Dear Parents and Carers,

The teachers and students are preparing for a few exciting events in the coming weeks. One of which will be the Primary Years Programme evening launch on April 2. The teachers from each year level

prepare a sample of items for each fortnightly newsletter to share some of the concepts and understandings being developed within the classroom Primary Years Programme. Students are also encouraged throughout the week to share their work with you. The teachers and students are using SeeSaw and OneNote aps to record samples of work. Your child may like to share these samples with you at home, so that you can also have conversations about their learning goals and progress.

Curriculum - Primary Years Programme.Often parents new to the school ask why Alamanda College is authorised by the International Baccalaureate to use the Primary and Middle Years Programme. What is the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP)?The PYP is designed for students aged 3 to 12. It focuses on the development of the whole child as an inquirer, both in the classroom and in the world outside. It is a framework guided by six transdisciplinary themes of global significance, explored using knowledge and skills derived from all subject areas, as well as transdisciplinary skills, with a powerful emphasis on inquiry. Each newsletter and each Curriculum Overview shares details of classroom practice in regard to the Primary Years Programme.

The IB Primary Years Programme addresses students’ academic, social and emotional well-being, encourages students to develop independence and to take responsibility for their own learning, supports students’ efforts to gain understanding of the world and to function comfortably within it and helps students establish personal values as a foundation upon which international-mindedness will develop and flourish.

The International Baccalaureate has developed a poster stating 10 Reasons why the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) is ideal for students to become active, lifelong learners:

1. Encouraging students to inquire – The PYP fosters natural curiosity and learning in creative, supportive and collaborative environments,

2. Understanding a complex and interdependent world – students create meaning for themselves and build understanding through exploring real-world issues,

3. PYP students are confident communicators – students learn to communicate in a variety of ways and in more than one language,

4. Learning how to learn – students work collaboratively with teachers and other students to plan, present and assess their own learning,

5. It encourages international-mindedness – collaboration and understanding of their own and other cultures are an important focus of the PYP – students learn how to be respectful and open-minded.

6. Seeing things from different perspectives – students use critical and creative thinking to develop knowledge, understanding and skills within and across subject areas,

7. Students take action – students believe they are able to grow and succeed. They make appropriate choices and take responsibility for their actions,

8. Thinking about issues – creative learning gives students the agility and imagination to respond to new and unexpected challenges and opportunities in an increasingly globalised and uncertain world,

9. It involves the whole school learning community – together we celebrate our common humanity and the belief that education can help to a better and more peaceful world,

10. Caring and responsible citizens – students can express ideas and opinions, and they can propose solutions that make a difference in their lives and the lives of others.

I am sure you will see links with your ideals for your child’s education within these reasons. Each class will share some of the thinking and learning linked with the current Unit of Inquiry. One of our goals is for our PYP students to direct their learning to build a strong sense of community and awareness of the opinions, values and needs of others. School Assemblies help build this sense of community and we are pleased to welcome parents to the students’ assemblies in the ‘Great Space’. Please note, Year 1 Assembly is taking place on Wednesday afternoons at 2:00pm. The Year 2 assemblies take place for TimetabIe A (2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E) on Wednesday at 8:45am, Timetable B (2F, 2G, 2H, 2I, 2J) on Thursday at 8:45am and Timetable C (2K, 2L, 2M, 2N) on Friday morning at 8:45am.

Please keep April 2 from 4:00pm – 7:00pm free, to attend the International Baccalaureate, Primary Years Programme Launch for 2019.

Partners in Education

Helen WelshAssistant Principal Year 1 & 2

8 9

News from Year 3By Ms Megan Smith, 3B

Over the last two weeks the grade 3s have been working hard to take the next step into understanding their current Unit of Inquiry. It is great to see the students being reflective and bringing in artefacts from home linking closely to our Central Idea and Lines of Inquiry. Students are going home and discussing with their family members ways in which stories from their culture have been passed down from generation to generation. These artefacts are creating rich discussions in the classroom which is not only helping guide our teaching and learning but also promoting student voice.

Students have been really interested in the idea of stories taking on many forms. Based on this interest students are recreating/ retelling stories using a chosen form. Some students are telling a story through dance, song, poem, illustration, video and in a written story form.

In writing the grade 3s are working hard on refining their narratives to ensure their stories begin by catching the reader’s attention and continue to hold their attention throughout their story. The students are taking risks in their writing and incorporating aspects such as rising tension and falling tension around a problem occurring. Students are working on these skills by writing alternate endings for stories such as ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ which they are really enjoying. Students are beginning to focus on editing and proof reading their work ready for publishing. We are seeing great progress in their writing already and are looking forward to seeing great narratives created throughout the rest of this term.

In maths the grade 3s have been continuing to focus on place value and unpacking problem-solving strategies. They have developed a rich understanding of standard form, expanded form, model form and worded form.

Yet another busy fortnight in grade 3 and we look forward to the fun and engaging activities we will complete in the coming two weeks.

8 9

Term 1 is off to an exciting start! Our first Unit of Inquiry for 2019 is an inquiry into the Central Idea of ‘Global Citizens recognise and understand different belief systems’. We have looked into our own beliefs and values including religious, scientific, environmental, political and personal beliefs. We have also explored the beliefs and values of people who have made a difference to the world and stand up for their beliefs such as, Malala Yousfzai. We have been learning about taking key information from a range of sources to help form our own information texts. This is only the ‘tip of the iceberg’ with the learning which has been happening in Grade 4. There is still so much to look forward to and we can’t wait!

Some students have shared a reflection of their learning so far within this Unit of Inquiry:

Samaira – I have understood about not only my beliefs and values but other people’s. I also found it interesting to learn about Cornell note-taking for my information report.

Ashleen – I’ve learned about the history of people who have changed the world, as well as their beliefs and values.

Elaona – I have learned about Malala’s background and her beliefs towards changing the world. She believed that every girl should have an education and people in her country didn’t believe that.

News from Year 4By Ms Melissa Fragiotta, 4G

10 1110

Alamanda College

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL’S SUMMARY

Every day I walk around the school and am so impressed by the fact that almost every student smiles, makes eye contact, and says hello. I feel, despite the size, that everyone is familiar and known to each other. What a wonderful community we have here at Alamanda.

Current UnitsOur current units will finish up over the next week. The children have engaged well with their units, with the Year 3 students inquiring into cultural storytelling, and the Grade 4 students wondering about various belief systems. I have been impressed with the quality of questions suggested by students. These questions create the context for teachers to model research, thinking, and communication skills, and consider curriculum connections in the context of our Central Idea.

Grade 3 NAPLANStudents in Grade 3 and 4 continue to work on personal learning goals in mathematics, reading and writing. These goals are developed by students and teachers based on feed-back from current work samples, and standardised data sets. Next week, we will refresh this data at Grade 3, with students completing standardised assessment tasks in class. These will not be timed, as we aim to give the students every opportunity to show what they are capable of doing. From this data we will be able to identify areas of need for each student in reading, writing and maths. The best preparation for NAPLAN is this focussed and individualised approach to teaching. Alongside this preparation, we are beginning to support the students in their ‘test taking’ skills. They are learning to identify the types of questions that are presented in NAPLAN, and understand the processes involved in taking the test, such as planning and time management. This preparation is done daily in class, as well as through sample questions in their homework.

For students with individual needs, teachers will begin to contact parents early next term, to discuss the NAPLAN assessments.

2019 NAPLAN dates: Language Conventions and Writing 14th MayReading 15th MayMathematics 16th May

AssemblyThe students have now been attending Assembly for two weeks. Assembly takes place in the Great Space at 8:40 on the following days:Wednesday: Timetable AThursday: Timetable BFriday: Timetable C

Assembly is a wonderful opportunity for students to congregate together as a community, celebrating the learning and achievements of their fellow students. Run by Grade 5 stu-dents, the children have the opportunity to develop and practice speaking and listening skills. They ask and discuss questions about their current learning and attitudes, as well as local and global issues. Assembly is also a time to celebrate and recognise achievements of individual students. Classes present awards to students who have demonstrated significant action in the learning community, demonstrating attributes of the Learner Profile such as respect, risk-taking and open-mindedness. These awards are very selective, decided on by the class in Circle Time throughout the week. Parents are welcome to attend assembly, recognising it is a formal event, with high expectations of respectful listening. Please join in with our National Anthem and School Song!

The Grade 3’s in science have been focusing on Forces and how it can be exerted by one object on another through direct contact. Students have been exploring con-tact forces like Friction. Students here are investigating the effects of forces by com-paring and contrasting the effects of friction on different surfaces. They planned and conducted an experiment using a force meter to measure the size of the pull force across each surface. Collected data and plotted a bar graph to compare and eval-uate the results.

Next week they will use robotics to build and program simple machines and relate this to the forces present and its ability to move.

Dare to be Wise

Hannah NewtonAssistant Principal, Years 3 & 4

10 1111

News from Year 5By Mrs. Sue Vandermeer, 5C

Six weeks into term one and we are full steam ahead with our learning and aiming to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves. Staff and students are actively engaged in teaching and learning opportunities with the focus being on NAPLAN preparation and our Unit of Inquiry into the Transdisciplinary Theme ‘Who We Are’.

Students are immersing themselves into the Central Idea ‘Values, beliefs and attitudes define leadership’ and through the key concepts of Form, Causation and Responsibility. They are understanding the different styles of leadership and how they connect locally, nationally and globally.

Students have also created anchor charts about parts of speech and figurative language. These are a great asset to the classroom as they assist in all genres of writing. Students are able to use these prompts to help with persuasive writing functions, narrative writing and writer’s notebook.

In previous years, Year 6 leaders have been responsible for running and presenting assemblies for each timetable. This year, due to the Year 6’s being on their own timetable, the Year 5’s are tasked with the opportunity to run assembly and display their leadership and public speaking skills. Well done to those that have already presented.

Many recent activities within 5C are worthy of mention with student voice and agency at the forefront of these instances of learning and reflection.

THE NATIONAL ANTHEMFor our presentation we were able to research deeper into the history of the Australian National Anthem. This led us to find out that many people did not know the words to the first or second verse without seeing them in print. So, we used this learning opportunity to explain to the assembly what the history, purpose and meaning of the

National Anthem is. Here are some key points:

• The national anthem is sung so everyone feels a sense of belonging.

• The previous national anthem was called ‘God Save the Queen’.

• It was changed in 1973 by public vote because people wanted an anthem that was more inclusive.

• The national anthem is heard at assemblies, ceremonies and sporting events.

• There is ongoing debate that it should be changed again. What do you think?

By Amelia, Madison and Ellie

Clean up Australia Day presentationClean Up Australia Day was officially recognised on Sunday 3rd of March and we decided to put together a presentation about how it is our responsibility as humans to ensure everyday is Clean Up Australia Day. We started by walking around the school and picking up rubbish at

recess and lunch and before we knew it, our large garbage bag was full. We want to encourage everyone to make sure they place all their own litter in the bin and take the time to pick litter up if they see it on the ground. Every little bit helps the environment.By Milla, Zarabella, Nidhi and Heli

Acknowledgement to countryClassroom discussions about leadership have included learning about different cultures and how certain decisions can have a major impact on those cultures. We learnt how previous people in power have tried to resolve these past wrongdoings. We began to discuss the reasons behind the ‘Acknowledgment to Country’, the leaders involved in its conception and significance. We have enjoyed learning about Indigenous Australian Leaders such as Neville Bonner, Adam Goodes and Aboriginal Elder, Gwoya Jungarai, who appears on the two-dollar coin. - Deen, Jasper and Manan

12 13

News from Year 6By Ms. Tiffany Baldacchino, 6A

The students in Grade 6 have continued to delve deeper in into their first Unit of Inquiry ‘Government systems may support the rights of citizens’. In order to immerse the students in their learning about the Australian Democratic system of government, they have been participating in a mock government system where each class is distributed into electorates with one representative for each electorate. Each of these representatives make up the Grade 6 cohort House of Representatives and are involved in making decisions on behalf of their constituents (their fellow peers) which is being over looked by Mr Nelson the Governor General.

The great space was transformed into a voting ‘constituency’ (polling place) where students collated the windows with their campaign posters and had the opportunity to vote on

official ballot papers in official polling booths for the candidate representing their electorate. Following the election, at assembly, the newly appointed Members of Parliament were announced and the party with the most seats “Looks” became the Coalition (winning party) of the Grade 6 Parliament.

The first decision made by the Grade 6 representatives was to vote in the Prime Minister, Opposition leader and fellow leadership members. Congratulations to the following students elected:

Coalition (LOOKS PARTY)Prime Minister: AmelieDeputy Prime Minister : MadelineTreasurer: Gracie

Opposition (BOOKS PARTY)Opposition Leader: AidanDeputy Opposition Leader: EnricoTreasurer: Gregor

Further to the mock government, in order to supports students in their Unit of Inquiry, they have been focusing on article writing, exploring authors purpose, bias and language features. In doing so, they have been composing a range of their own articles that are reflective of the structure and features of articles as well as their own bias on the ‘happenings’ of the Grade 6 Parliament.

Students have also explored Data and Statistics through the collection and composition of survey results by the Grade 6’s in preparation for parliamentary decisions. Students have explored a range of graphs and executed a range of mathematical skills such as percentage and averages to interpret the data and make their own valuable observations.

12 13

Dear Parents.

I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of our new students and their families who have recently joined the Alamanda School Community. I would like to wish you all the very best as you begin your

learning journey at Alamanda College.

Allamanda P-9 College is officially an International Baccalaureate school gaining accreditation in August 2018. It has taken us a few years journeying with the IB to ensure that the fundamental elements of the programmed are embedded in our school culture and our day to day lives. To introduce our PYP curriculum to the community, teachers and students in Years 5 and 6 have been working tirelessly, preparing their presentations to educate the community on a particular aspect of the PYP framework.

Our Years 5 and 6 teams has launched their first Unit of Inquiry under the Transdisciplinary Theme of “Who We Are” (Grade Five) and “How we organise ourselves” (Grade Six). The students will be continuing their journey of lifelong learning, to become internationally- minded citizens of our world, who exhibit the attributes of compassion, kindness and empathy, in dealing with not only their own emotions, but how to deal with others. For the PYP Community evening, each year level will have a half hour time slot for students to present to their parents

Unit of Inquiry One-Grade FiveThe students will begin their first unit of inquiry, which explores the Transdisciplinary Theme: Who we are It’s an inquiry into…

The nature of the self; beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health; human relationships including families, friends, communities, and cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human.

The Central Idea being: Values, beliefs and attitudes define leadership. They will explore this unit of inquiry through the lens of the key concepts –

Form- what is it like?Function- How does it work?Responsibility – who is responsible? Causation- Why is it like it is?

The lines of inquiry that will define the scope of the inquiry are:The different types of leaders (form/function)The development and effectiveness of a leader (causation)

Alamanda College

Responsible leadership (responsibilityUnit of Inquiry One-Grade Six

The students will begin their first unit of inquiry, which explores the Transdisciplinary Theme: How we organise ourselves

An inquiry into…The interconnectedness of human made systems and communities; the structure and function of organisations; societal decision- making: economic activities and their impact on humankind and the environment.

The Central Idea being: Government systems may support the rights of their citizens.They will explore this unit of inquiry through the lens of the key concepts –

Connection- How is it connected to other things?Function- How does it work?Responsibility – Who is responsible?

The lines of inquiry that will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea are:

*Government systems*Human rights and social justice*Responsibilities of governments*Responsibilities of citizens (advocacy)

Our English and Mathematics programs have also well and truly begun, with the primary focus being goal setting. Teachers are using various forms of data to identify students’ entry points and in collaboration with each child, then set individualised goals and focus groups. This ensures that all students are learning at their point of need and are extended to reach their full potential.

HatsAlamanda College is a Sun Smart School and it is a requirement for all children to be wearing their school hat in Terms 1 and 4. Please ensure that your child has an Alamanda school hat to wear when they go outdoors for play and outdoor classes. It would be most helpful if your child’s hat was labeled. Unfortunately, this is an going conversation we are having with the children. Should your child not have a hat to wear at school they cannot be out in the sun and will need to stay in the shade even during Physical Education lessons and sports classes. Please support us in this quest to have your child with an Alamanda sunhat.

Partners in Education,

Carmen Sacco Years 5 & 6 Assistant Principal

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL’S SUMMARY

14 15

Specialist SubjectsArt News

The students have had a fantastic start to the year during their Physical Education lessons. It has been fantastic to see how engaged they are throughout each activity and their ability to apply past knowledge within new situations.

As part of the Framework for Improvising Student Outcomes (FISO), the PE team have been working towards ‘empowering students and building school pride’ through developing their agency and voice within lessons. Students have actively been involved in demonstrating different skill components to class and video tape their understanding of fundamental skills for other students to access through the iPad application Seesaw. We are also collaborating with students to make decisions around what and how they learn and how their learning is assessed. Teachers are also uploading videos of skills prior to lessons for students to watch and build an understanding. We can’t wait to continue watching students contribute to class lessons throughout the year.

By Ms Amy Cicivelli

This year we are participating in the National Ride2School Day, which will be held on Friday March 22ndStudents who ride or walk to school on a daily basis contribute to their minimum physical activity levels of 60 minutes per day. In

doing this, they are also more focused when walking into the classroom each morning, ready to learn than those who are driven. Our amazing Grade 6 leaders will play a pivotal role in promoting this initiative and will provide more information on how you can get involved soon!

On Thursday, March 7th, Grade 4,5 and 6 students will represent Alamanda at the Point Cook District Swimming Carnival. Our swimmers will have their work cut out for them as they face some fierce competition, looking to emulate our form from two years ago where we claimed the title. Our swimmers have been training hard in preparation for the event, attending the Squad training sessions at Aquapulse.

P.E. NewsBy Mr Daniel Gray

We are also very lucky this year to be visited by some of the elite sporting clubs within the Wyndham and West Melbourne area. Players from the North Melbourne Football Club will be making a special appearance for selected primary year levels on April 3rd, while overseas imports from the Werribee Devils Basketball Club will be holding clinics for the Grade 5 students on March 21st. It’s all happening!

In light of last week’s warm weather, students are reminded to bring a hat and drink bottle to all lessons.

Thanks, PE team.

14 15

Specialist SubjectsMusic NewsBy Mrs Donna King

SECONDARY CLASSROOM MUSICWe have begun our year on many high notes as students head into performing mode with our weekly soirees in the classroom. Allowing students with an opportunity to perform for their peers has become an inspiring experience for many. Students from Year 8 and 9 are working towards presenting 15 Minutes of Fame in a bid to bring live music to our school community. Developing confidence and working on collaborative skills students Dare To Perform as they prepare for upcoming competitions and concerts within the Music Department. BEHIND THE SCENESIntroducing our Music Monitors for Semester 1, 2019. The following students have joined the team to support our music space by tuning guitars and ukuleles, cleaning keyboards and repairing instruments each week.

Jaidyn DU PLESSIS Pipper ALLEN

Nihitha ACHANTACaleb PERRY

NEWSFLASH!ANNOUNCING OUR PRIMARY/SECONDARY POP BANDCongratulations to the following students that have joined our Pop Band!

Keys – Rilly GuanDrums – Israel LametaGuitar – Ocean OwBass – Bree KellyLead Singer – Alio TeoBackup Singers – Cecilia Lavae & Miliah Dee

For those students that would like to join the Strings Ensemble please see Ms King on Mondays before or after school in the Secondary Music Room.

REHEARSALS UNDERWAY!VIVACE VOICES – THURSDAYS 8:00-8:40AM STRINGS ENSEMBLE FRIDAYS 8:00-8:40AMPOP BAND – TUESDAYS 1:45-2:15PM, FRIDAYS 3:15-3:45PM INSTRUMENTAL LESSONSInstrumental lessons for piano, voice, guitar, bass, drums and strings (violin, viola and cello) have begun for the year with

over 150 primary and secondary students involved in individual lessons. Lessons being offered by some of Melbourne’s most sought after music teachers are held in the studios near the café and theatre space. Both solo and group lessons are on offer before, during and after school hours. For all bookings please contact Michael on 0414 586 607 or musicafabri.com.au

16 17

Specialist Subjects

LOTE NewsBy Ms Rida Su

Welcome to Week 6 of the Language Newsletter. After a huge celebration of the Chinese Spring Festival and the amazing Chinese lantern display in the Great Space, students from Grade One to Five were involved in more creative class activities to make the language learning purposeful, disciplined and integrative. Let’s check it out!

Grade One students were inquired about the tone marks in Chinese Pinyin, they now understand the differences among these four tones （拼音四声调）

and able to distinguish from the sound. They displayed themselves as a creative thinker in the summative assessment ‘the Chinese Four Tone Marks Chart’ and the drawing of each tone mark were outstanding. Moreover, students also particularly enjoyed singing the Chinese Pinyin song on Seesaw to reinforce their understanding of the spoken language in China. The highlights of the Grade Two learners would be the DIY red envelope (红包), students were able to articulate the cultural features of the red envelope and explained the reasons why a Chinese child would receive a red envelope during the Chinese Spring Festival. In addition, we also focused on the action- how they would spend the money? The feedback showcased their critical thinking and demonstrated a solid understanding of this unit of inquiry. Through exploring the Chinese Art and Craft (中国艺术和手工), Grade Five students have attempted different forms of traditional art/craft which embedded in the Chinese New Year’s theme. To encourage the students’ agency and voice, we let them to choose from the calligraphy writing, ink painting as well as the Chinese paper-cutting for the preparation of upcoming summative assessment. It was impressive to see their delicate art work and enthusiasm throughout this unit. In the next couple of weeks, they will focus on their rigorous summative assessment ‘DIY Art Work/Student ID’,

once they heard about them, they all felt thrilled and couldn’t wait to submit their final product on Seesaw to show everyone.

We are very proud to see more students who demonstrate themselves as a thinker in Language class and other learners keep developing their confidence in this subject. With the school and community promoting and supporting the Language learning in Alamanda, I think, the PYP night this year will be more eventful and international-minded than ever.

W e a r e t h e M u s i c

M a k e r s . . .

. . . a n d w e a r e t h e

D r e a m e r s o f D r e a m s

16 17

W e a r e t h e M u s i c

M a k e r s . . .

. . . a n d w e a r e t h e

D r e a m e r s o f D r e a m s

18 19

STRING ENSEMBLE

18 19

POP BAND

STRING ENSEMBLE

20 PB

vivace voices

ALAMANDA COLLEGE

T H U R S D A Y S 8 : 0 0 - 8 : 4 0 A M