INTRODUCING Ms ELLISON                                          

 (Guest post by Ms Ellison)

My name is Ms Ellison and I’m a student teacher from Edith Cowan University. I’m super excited to be spending the next six weeks working with the amazing Mr Petch and the lovely students of Room 22! Prior to studying teaching, I completed my undergraduate degree in Science at the University of Western Australia majoring in Conservation Biology and Botany. I love animals and spent a number of years volunteering in a wildlife shelter caring for sick and injured wildlife. I chose to pursue a career in teaching after discovering a love for working with children as a volunteer tutor. My first week working in this class has been amazing, and the students are already blowing my mind with their magnificent vocabulary range and enthusiasm for learning. I hope to share my passion for environmental conservation with the class, and provide students with a fun and exciting six weeks of learning. I’ve already met a few parents/carers and I look forward to meeting more, so please feel free to drop in before or after school to say hello. 

GREEN THUMBS AND GOAL SETTING 

(Guest post by Ms Ellison)

This week, each student set to work writing their academic and social goals for the term. Setting goals at the beginning of each term gives students a clear long-term focus and helps them to recognise the short-term improvements that will allow them to achieve their goals. This term we had some excellent goals set, including this academic goal from Samuel “My academic goal is to achieve 80% or more on every test I do this term. I understand that I will need to practise the skills we learn in class and complete my motivational work every week to achieve this”. It’s great to see students pushing themselves to accomplish great things through perseverance.

Our ever enthusiastic green thumbs started preparing the garden beds for a new Spring/Summer crop on Wednesday. This involved pulling out weeds and preparing the soil for the new tomato and lettuce seedlings that were planted on Thursday. After the smashing success of the first market stall in Term 3 we hope to again provide a bumper crop at the next stall, scheduled to happen before the assembly in week 9. Make sure you get in early to buy some incredibly fresh and tasty produce such as kale, basil, silverbeet, thyme, rosemary, tomatoes and lettuce – all grown with love by the students of Room 22. This spectacular garden wouldn’t exist without the care provided by students who generously give up their time during lunch and recess to work in the garden, so a big THANK YOU to all those who pitch in and help.   

100 YEAR FETE

It's time to mark 1st November in your calendar, as this is the day that the Wattle Grove community (past and present) will celebrate 100 years at the school fete. The fete will open at 11 am and run through to 4 pm. The historical event will include many attractions such as a dunking machine, farm animals, a bouncy castle, circus tent, pony rides, rock climbing, face painters etc. The P&C have already done an enormous amount of the planning, organisation and preparation for this event, however, we are looking for help from all members of our school community in the form of donations. Year 3's have been asked to donate plants and Year 4's are asked to donate items for a second-hand stall. These could include games, clothing, household goods (no electronics please), books etc. Any donation would be greatly appreciated. You can bring the plants/second-hand items straight into Room 22 and we'll pass them onto the P&C. Thank you in advance for your support in this area and I look forward to seeing you at the fete.

WORM FARM

Room 22 will be learning all about the importance of worms in our gardens on Monday, 19th October (next week). We will be making a large worm farm for the school and every child will have the opportunity to make a small, take-home worm farm. All your child needs to bring in is a 1.25 or 2L clear, clean (washed and labels removed) plastic bottle. Plastic bottles are due on Friday because some slight adjustments will need to be made to them before Monday.  If you happen to have a few of these bottles at home, and are not needing them, then please donate any extras to the class. It should be a great day! 

These are the types of bottles we are after for the worm farms

MARKET STALL

Wattle Grove's first ever market stall was held on the last day of the term. The produce was harvested the afternoon before, with the help of Room 10, and then all sold for a smashing price of $1. The kale and potatoes didn't last long at that price. We nearly sold out of all of the produce and raised $79.50. The money will be used to buy more plants for the garden so hopefully we'll be able to run another stall at the end of next term. There are many children who give up their free time at recess and lunch to care for and water the garden - thank you to you all. A job well done!

MERIT CERTIFICATES

Congratulations to our Merit Award recipients. Keep up the excellent work!

SCHOOL FETE

The school fete was a roaring success for everyone involved. It was brilliant to see the children having a great time and I am sure that they will fondly remember the experience for many years to come. Every student in Room 22 produced a Business Plan outlining items such as the budget, estimated profits, duties to perform, timetables and so on. The stall was very popular, so much so that we had to close it down three times to fill more water bombs. There seemed to be a lot of students lining up to throw a water bomb at a teacher. Some teachers were unlucky enough to be the target of kids with a very good aim, but they took it on the chin (pardon the pun). Thank you to all of the teachers who signed up and made our stall a success. And a big thank you to all of the families that helped, whether you kindly donated water bombs or created the character boards, every bit helped out a great deal. As the stall cost the class nothing, every dollar earned on the day was profit. Room 22 raised the most (only just), with a total of $301. We now have the opportunity to spend the money and buy resources for the classroom. 

Advertising the fete stall at the assembly. Mr Meachem played a pivotal role.

BIG WRITING

Well done to Room 22 for your excellent skills in writing. Every week, I can see a huge improvement in writing skill, ability and the grasp of technical vocabulary. This week, our topic was ‘Caged or Free? Should Animals be kept in Zoos?” Some of the children were very eager to share their work. In Jack’s words “This is the best piece of writing that I have ever written. When I look back to what I wrote at the beginning of the year, I realise that I have come a long way. I love the VCOP sessions because I get all of the information and knowledge to write all of the beautiful pieces that I have produced.” Well done, Jack. I’m sure that everyone will agree with you when they read the AMAZING text that you wrote on Thursday. Click the link below to find out more.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PgM-Kgb8BXPFNW4jCWdhwC0DgRENKWEjAoC8sJHdxJM/edit?usp=sharing 

DUYFKEN AND SHIPWRECKS EXCURSION

Yesterday we went to Fremantle to visit the 1606 Duyfken replica. A big 'thank you' to Judy, (Ryan's mum) who assisted our class on the excursion. It was a brilliant day out.

Duyfken (or Little Dove) is the first known European ship to visit Australia, approximately 164 years before the arrival of Captain James Cook. In 1606, it sailed from the Indonesian island of Banda in search of gold and trade opportunities on the fabled island of ‘Nova Guinea’ or ‘Land of Gold’ under the command of Willem Janszoon.  They did not find gold, but they did find the northern coast of a huge continent: Australia. Captain Janszoon was the first European to begin mapping Australia. The Duyfken‘s voyage is quite considerable as it marks the beginning of Australia’s recorded history. A small boat, at the length of 25m, yet mighty. She has 16 cannons and was actually considered to be a pirate ship. The act of piracy led to her demise when she went after a Portuguese ship and was bombarded by two other ships that came to the rescue. 

On Monday, 7^th September, Room 22 went on a commendable excursion to the Duyfken, the Shipwrecks Galleries and the Whalers Tunnel in Fremantle. However, the most wonderful and extraordinary of all was the Duyfken. The Duyfken was the first ship to explore parts of Australia. It was also a pirate ship (known as the hunter). Indeed, the marvellous, attractive and ornate ship collected and traded spices. Some of the most valued spices were star anise (which was worth twice its weight in gold as it was sought after for its strong flavour), pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. The spices were all stored in the most important part of the ship, the cargo hold. You could also find the food, water and ballast bricks in this area. The ballast bricks (all 20 tonne of them) allowed the Duyfken to sit in the water without flipping over (due to it being too light) or sinking (if it were too heavy).

Just like any other pirate ship, the Duyfken was also just as evil, demonic and infamous at times when it came to punishments. The forms of punishment ranged from the ‘cat and nine tails’ to being pushed overboard. It made me think how lucky we are today not to have these kinds of punishment. I learnt a great deal on the excursion and had a fantastic time.                         

- Aena

On the 7^th September, Rooms 22, 10 and 20 went to Fremantle to see the Duyfken and the Shipwrecks Museum. On board the Duyfken was my favourite part. I learnt a great deal including the fact that the crew ate seaweed, fish and different kinds of fruits. The Duyfken didn’t have a ship’s helm (steering wheel) instead, it had a steering stick. The steering stick had Roman Numerals engraved upon it and it would control the rudder. I enjoyed going down to below deck where the cargo hold was. Although you had to duck or crawl at times, the area was filled with barrels and chests. The Duyfken traded in spices such as star anise, cloves, pepper, cinnamon, maize and nutmeg. Some of the spices were used for medicine, such as the cloves which were rubbed onto sore gums to make tooth aches go away. 

If you were a child back in those days, you would not go to school, instead, if you were close to a port, you would work on a ship. The children on the Duyfken were called ‘Powder Monkeys.’ A Powder Monkey is responsible for running around the ship or climbing up and down the ropes to give the crew exactly what they needed. They got their name by running around the ship with the gun powder needed for the cannons. As the Duyfken was a pirate ship, the Powder Monkeys would be quite busy at times.

- Jasmine

WGPS Excursion