Parent Night

I heard wonderful things from last Saturday night's Parent Trivia AKA Coachella event. The hall was transformed to almost be unrecognisable complete with a disco ball and lights. A huge thank you to the Year 1 parents led by Prue Long, Mike Collins, Victoria Hunter, Belinda Allison and Melissa Tiffen. Also huge special Thankyou to Paul Barbaro, the most amazing DJ Ashy Coachella has ever seen and the ‘special guests’  were Opal Essence and Ellectra Kute (the Queens).

Ashy Olympics 

A reminder that this coming Wednesday our Year 3,4,5 and 6 student will head off by bus to Bill Sewart Reserve, East Burwood, for the annual Ashy Olympics. As well as acting as the selection method for the District Athletics Day in September, Ashy Olympics is also a House competition, so make sure that your child has their house colours on!

Parents are welcome to spectate, or indeed assist on the day by time keeping or helping to run an event. If you want to help out, send a Compass Connect message to Mr Worlley. 

Parent/Teacher Conversations Week 8

A heads up for Week 8. From September 8th, teachers will be running Parent Teacher Conversations after school Monday-Thursday. Bookings will open up the week before, so please make sure you book a time! The meetings are not compulsory, but we encourage you to attend if possible. Those students who have regular Student Support Group (SSG) meetings will not have a Parent Teacher, but instead have their regular SSG early Term 4. 

The Year 5s have had a fantastic couple of weeks filled with creativity, learning, and teamwork!

 Our Year 5s and their Prep Pals have been working together to research an animal of their choice. Each pair investigated and drew posters filled with fun facts and information. The preps were so proud of their finished poster! 

In Reading, we have been exploring the novel Blueback as a class. Students have been annotating the text as we read, diving deep into the story and characters. We also watched the movie adaptation and compared it with the book, taking notes on similarities and differences. This led to thoughtful discussions about themes and genre, and how they were portrayed across the two text types.

The Year 5s also enjoyed a special art session, where they used watercolours and fine liners to design their very own birds. The students were amazed to see how their paintings transformed once the fine liner was added!

 We can’t wait to see how the final canvas comes together. 

We’re looking forward to the rest of Term 3, with Ashy Athletics coming up next week!

A big thank you to Miss Whitehead, Miss Newnham, Hong Sensei, Mrs Moukas and Miss Lai for organsing some amazing lunch time activities to celebrate Science Week!.

Monday Make a Constellation

Tuesday- Secret Messages

Wednesday- Paper Plane Contest- Gym       

Thursday- Animal Footprints

Friday- Elephant’s Toothpaste

We can’t believe we are already over halfway through Term 3! The Year 6 students are super excited about the Ashy Olympics next Wednesday and have been practising their skills to ensure they give it their best. It’s been wonderful to see their enthusiasm across all areas of learning. Over the past two weeks, they have been:

• Exploring different cross-sections of 3D shapes. Students have enjoyed hands-on activities to see how slicing 3D objects creates different 2D shapes. They’ve also been using isometric paper to draw their shapes, building both their spatial awareness and accuracy.
  
   
• Refreshing their vertical addition and subtraction skills in preparation for moving onto multiplication next week. It’s been great to see their confidence return as they revise these core number strategies.
  
   
• Nearly finishing their book study of Skellig, which they’ve loved unpacking. Students have been exploring the novel’s key themes and symbols and discussing the deeper meanings behind the text.
  
   
• Completing their narratives, where they have done an amazing job bringing their stories to life. Students are now refining and editing their work to prepare polished good copies.

We’ve had a cracking start to Term 3, and it’s fantastic to see the effort, enthusiasm, and creativity the students are bringing to their learning. There are still plenty of exciting things to come!

From Brooke, Chloe & Kristen

Year 4 has had an exciting and busy few weeks of learning!

In Week 4, students participated in a special Art Incursion organised by the Parents Committee. The session was inspired by the work of artist Yayoi Kusama, and students had the chance to explore layering and dot art techniques. They absolutely loved the experience and produced some very creative pieces.

It was also Science Week, where Year 4 students experimented and investigated a wide range of topics. From exploring the planets, to testing force and motion, to mixing chemicals and observing reactions, students were highly engaged and curious to learn more about the world around them.

In Writing, we’ve been busy bringing our narratives to life, with most stories now in the drafting stage. In Grammar, students have been learning how a variety of sentence types can make writing more engaging.

Alongside reading our class novel, Charlotte’s Web, students have enjoyed learning about E.B. White’s life and how living in 1950s Maine influenced his storytelling style.Students were especially excited to discover that Wilbur was inspired by a real pig!

In Maths, we have been representing fractions on number lines and will soon extend this understanding to decimal fractions, focusing on tenths and hundredths. Students are developing their confidence in linking these concepts to real-world situations.

Alongside our Book Week celebrations, Year 4 also took part in a Walking Excursion around the Ashburton community. As part of our Allies for Inclusion unit, students explored how accessible and welcoming our local public spaces are for everyone.

In Year 2 we have been:

• Using concrete materials to make equal groups.
• Working with our buddy to practise fluency, including attention to volume, tempo, expression and comprehension. 
• Using our knowledge of Indigenous Australians to write an information report.
• Using robots to develop language and understanding of spatial awareness.
• Comparing and contrasting two texts: Anansi the Spider from Ghana and Bunjil the eagle from the Kulin Nations. 

We thoroughly enjoyed our art incursion, helping design a fabulous, unique art piece to be 

sold at our Art Fair! Also, we kept busy during Science Week with a number of lunchtime activities and our very own task of looking for patterns in nature and observe and photograph this in the yard.