The Bulletin

Number 12 www.southernmontessori.sa.edu.au Aug 2017

Wakakirri 2017 On Friday the 18th of August, 62 students from Southern Montessori School participated

in Wakakirri at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. This year our item was called ‘Make it Count!’ and was all about friendship, dance and life. The children enjoyed the experience

and I am very proud of the way they performed.

April, Ruben and Huon were our school representatives and spoke with the host at the conclusion of our performance. They spoke beautifully and earned the award of ‘Best

Public Speaking’ for the night.

Our school also received the following awards for our performance.

Performance Awards

Excellent Lead Cast

Excellent Group Dance

Well-Rehearsed Performance

Amazing Moment

Excellent Theme/Concept

Best Public Speaking

State Award

Best Original Story Award – Division 2

Thank you to the school community for all their support in the creation of our item. The excitement and enjoyment that has come from Wakakirri is so special and I can’t wait to

relive it again in 2 years’ time.

FROM THE LEADERSHIP TEAM

Dear Parents and Caregivers

The leaders of the three centres (O’Sullivan Beach Primary School, OSB Children’s Centre and Southern Montessori School) are concerned about child safety and the movement of vehicles at drop off and pick up times. We seek to keep traffic flow to an absolute minimum when young people are present on our property. You may have noticed some flags denoting ‘Staff Car Park’ – these areas are not for drop off and pick up of children at any of our centres.

We recognise some people have disabled parking permits and that sometimes, children might be injured / on crutches and need closer access to gates.

Please help us to reduce the chance of injury to your children. Very well done to the students and staff involved with Wakakirri—outstanding!! Thank you to our Parents and Friends committee for the school disco last Friday night. The dance floor looked amazing and the students, young and a little older, had a ball. I’m sure your children couldn’t stop talking about it when they were picked up.

Regards, Heather and Noel.

Children’s Representative Council

We would like to congratulate our 2017, Semester 2 Children’s Council Representatives:

Leo and Pearl from Rachel and Anne-Marie’s class

Indigo and Felix from Karen

and Maria’s class

James M. from Jo’s class

Lilly-May and Shanzaeh from

Judy and Amelia’s class

Jade and Logan from Kristy’s

class

Callum from Corey’s class

Laura Li from Michelle and

Lea’s class

Kristine from Alison’s class

The Children’s Council Representatives develop leadership, communication and interpersonal skills as they work to make our school a better place.

TERM 3 DATES

Term 3 25th July—29th September

Week 6

Wed 30 Aug Fathers Day Stall 3.20 –3.50

Thurs 31 Aug Fathers Day Stall 3.20 –3.50

Week 7

Tue 5 Sept—Parent Information Evening

Wed 6 Sep SCHOOL CLOSURE DAY

Staff Learning/Show Day

Fri 8 Sep School Photos

Sun 10 Sep Working Bee

Week 9

Thurs 21 Sep Cycle 1 Fun & Fitness Day

Board Meeting 7pm

Week 10

Fri 29 Sep Last day of Term 3

Term 4 17th October—15th December

Week 1

Tues 17 Oct Term 4 begins

Week 2

Mon 23 Oct Cycle 2 Iron Bank Camp

Fri 27 Oct Community Marketplace

6-8pm

Week 3

Thurs 2 Nov Sports Day

Week 5

Mon 13 Nov Cycle 4 Camp– Kangaroo Island

Wed 15 Nov Cycle 3 Camp - Swan Reach

Sat 18 Nov Term 4 Working Bee

Week 6

Mon 20 Nov— 24 Nov Swimming Week

Diary Dates

Dear Parents,

There have been a number of complaints through the office about parents parking across driveways and on corners. Please avoid doing this as it is a dangerous situation for our students and families. The neighbours have been extra vigilant lately so please help to keep our families safe.

Staff will be looking at 2018 class placements over the coming weeks, if you are thinking of not continuing your child’s education here next year, could you please let us know by the end of Term 3. This will ensure that your student deposit can be refunded. A letter or email to the office would be appreciated.

SCHOOL CARD APPLICATIONS – the next return date is by the 7

th September please.

Lately there have been a few small items brought to the office that people have found on the oval or in the yard. I have a small flower necklace, Bikram yoga card and Frozen pendant. If you know the owner of these items please come to the office.

Kind regards,

Danielle and Julie

Montessori Moment

Developing Concentration

“As soon as concentration has begun, act as if the child does not exist.’

Maria Montessori, M. (1949).

In our classrooms we place great emphasis on developing students’ ability to concentrate. The ability to concentrate is an essential skill for independent learning and is linked to higher academic achievement and enhanced social development.

Teachers nurture children’s concentration by recognising and respecting when they are engaged in tasks and allowing them to work without interruption. For parents, this understanding can be liberating as it suggests that parents do not need to continually entertain and stimulate their children. Instead, whilst taking the child’s age into account, children should be allowed space and time to deeply engage with activities they are interested in. Children will soon let us know if they need our help.

Montessori East School provides some tips for parents about how to support the development of concentration:

Respect: Respect the child’s ability and need to discover things for themselves. Value the ‘work’ of the child as we value our own work.

Time: Provide time in the day that is not rushed or time pressured.

Observe, wait and learn: Observation is a powerful tool and we use it to watch what a child is doing before we consider interrupting. The basic rule of thumb is that if a child is engaged in what they are doing, don’t interrupt them.

Environment: A peaceful space, free of distractions (such as the TV) is conducive to concentration.

Order and opportunity: Ensure the child’s environment is orderly and tidy with a place for everything so that children can easily help themselves.

Kind regards, Heather

Reference: http://www.montessori.nsw.edu.au

Classroom News

Playground Improvements

During the school holidays we were very excited to make some improvements to our playground.

In the Preschool, the sandpit was redesigned to incorporate a water feature and a jetty style deck. The retaining wall has been replaced with rocks and logs to provide a more natural look and the area has been planted with natives. The children have enjoyed exploring this new play area.

The Children’s Council have worked hard to arrange for tunnels to be built in our school playground (something children have been asking for for a long time). The Environmental Committee selected fast growing native climbers which will, in time, cover our metal frames. Already, the children are enjoying playing in this space. Thanks to Glenn for all his work constructing the tunnels for us.

Here are some of the children’s comments:

Lena says she likes the plants growing on the tunnels.

Jacinta thinks the tunnels are GOOD!

Lilly likes being able to find the tools she needs to work in the sandpit independently.

Silas enjoys using the water fountain.

Little Book Swap

“Thank you to our families for your generous donations of preloved books. The children were really excited to select a book of their

choice from such a lovely selection. We raised $269 for Raising Literacy Australia.

Research suggests that thirty percent of Australian families own less than ten books.

Last year’s fundraising supported the establishment of 10 new community libraries across SA so we know that our donation is

going to a good cause.

Thanks to Hope, Cooper, Huon and Flynn for

organising and running the Book Swap.

National Science Week August 12 – 20 saw organisations and schools across the country celebrate National Science Week. Many of our classes took this opportunity to focus activities and lessons around science; for some classes this was a one-off celebration with a science focus for the day, whilst others have engaged in longer units of work over several weeks.

Here is a highlight from our week:

The preschool students explored basic circuits. They discussed how the batteries held the energy we needed to light the bulb and some children experimented in ways to attach the battery pack to the bulb. They soon realised that both wires needed to be attached to form a circuit. The children were fascinated to find that when we added a plastic spoon into the circuit the bulb went out, but a metal spoon conducted the electricity to allow the bulb to remain lit. They are continuing this work over the coming weeks by adding elements such as a buzzer and looking at different forms of energy, such as solar and wind power.

Classroom News

National Science Week

The 2 Reception classes have worked with the Friday program students over recent weeks, completing several science focussed activities. Here are some quotes from the students about what they have enjoyed about these lessons:

“We’ve been learning about the parts inside the body with Maria. It was interesting.” Lily W

“We made butterflies with paper towel and pipe cleaners. They were pretty and I did brown and red pipe cleaners. We learnt water gets absorbed.” Tusia

“I’ve been working with Rachel. We made marble rolls. We tested it out and it didn’t work first but then we put some more sticky tape on the cup and it worked.” Hope

“I’ve been learning about the human body. We learnt lungs breathe air. It was interesting to breathe air in paper tubes like straws. The lungs filled up with air.” Shravenn

“We tested how much water a sponge can hold. We used pipettes. I liked squeezing the sponge to make the water come out.” Lenny

Classroom News

National Science Week Corey’s Cycle 3 class participated in a world record event called Moonhack. This gave students the opportunity to create a simulator that demonstrates how someone on the moon can jump 6 times higher than on Earth using a coding program called Scratch.

Michelle and Lea’s class had a science celebration morning working in groups to complete a group design challenge to construct the tallest tower they could that would support a basketball for at least 20 seconds, using only newspaper and masking tape. They had a variety of designs with some being more successful than others. Students also made teabag rockets and learnt about colour gradients with skittles and milk.

Kristy’s Cycle 2 class have shared their science work in their own class article so enjoy reading about their explorations in the separate article in this bulletin.

Science is a significant focus of our Cultural Studies work throughout the year in all cycles. Science Week was a great way to celebrate and focus on some of this work.

There are many books and websites with simple experiments to do at home so you may want to continue the fun at home with your family.

Classroom News

National Science Week

On Friday of Week 4 Kristy’s class had a science day.

We discussed what sustainability meant and brainstormed ways we could create a

sustainable future earth. We also explored ways to get power without using fossil fuels.

Bradley made two sorts of vehicles as part of his learning. One was wind powered and

the other was a battery powered vehicle.

We had races outside and the wind powered car won most of the races. The electric

powered car won two of the races.

Everybody in the class was doing science, it was a really fun day.

By Bradley Fakes

Gifts

Galore

Do you want to spoil your Dad on Father’s Day? Gifts Galore will blow

you away. Cycle 3 made it for you and me. Yummy treats will go a long

way. Come along and buy some today. Wednesday the 30th and

Thursday the 31st. Come after school it will give you a burst. The prices

are low but the products are high, come on down and give it a try.

Make dads day in a yummy way!

Cycle 3 are having a Father’s Day stall to spoil dads on their special day. Located at school.

On Wednesday 30th August and Thursday 31st August after school. We are selling yummy

sweet treats. It’s a fundraiser for our excursion, so come down and support the school as

well as getting a treat for Dad.

Classroom News

For the Parent Notice Board –

see inside the foyer doors

Do you have a Fussy Eater? Free parent information session Thursday 31

st August

2017, 9.30am – 11am Woodcroft. For more information contact Sara on 8381 8005.

Blow Your Mind! Technology and Maker Expo 23rd

September 2017 10am-4pm. Entry

fees apply. To book or for more information call 8384 0050 or visit www.onkaparingacity.com/libraries.

Comfortable talking to your kids about technology and the internet?

Held at the Onkaparinga Technology and Maker Expo, Saturday 23rd

September, from 11am

- 12pm, Entry fees apply to the expo. For further information call 8384 0050.

Game on Chess Club! Thursdays 3.30pm-4.30pm ages 8+ at Woodcroft Library.

Contact 8384 0050 for more information.

Strengthening the Inner Woman. A free 6 week program for women affected by

domestic violence. Information session Wednesday 6th Sept 1pm-3pm. For bookings

contact Bronwen on 0437 460 027 or drinkell2@sa.gov.au.

Healthy Hearts, Healthy Homes Families in Focus. A workshop which focuses

on practical ways to improve relationships. Gold Coin Donation Monday 18th September

6.30pm-9pm. Anglicare SA. Enquiries and registration please contact Joy or Helen on 8186 8900.

Money Matters! Free 6 week women’s only course in mastering your money, Starts

Tuesday 24th October 2017 9.30am-12.30pm. Through Marion LIFE bookings and enquiries to 8277 0304.