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Hello everyone,
Welcome back to Term 3 - and hopes for a drier term! All the staff benefitted from attendance at the Special Education conference in the city on the school development day, and it has inspired many to trial some new strategies and programs.
We preceded the P&C meeting on Wednesday with some time in the Immersive Classroom. It was great to see some parents having fun- don’t forget to check it out next Wednesday during the Education Week open morning. The P&C have been putting plans in place to support our Founder’s Day on September 14th- it looks to be full of special activities and fun plans.
On Friday July 22nd, we had an incursion, when Gibberagong Education Centre came to Karonga to deliver some Aboriginal experiences to our primary age students. They met in the hall and the students experienced kangaroo fur, boomerangs, tapping sticks etc, before heading to the multi-sport court to do some outdoor activities. It is very refreshing to have the students engaging with these experiences on-site, and we plan a related excursion later this term for senior students.
The new behavior consultant Kate visited our school on Monday July 25th to more fully understand our context and to start doing classroom visits. She is a really positive addition to our school and we hope to tap into her knowledge and experience across the whole school. We have also met with an Occupational Therapist yesterday, who will start next week. I will introduce these school-based therapists over the upcoming newsletters, so that you can recognise them when you visit the school.
Education week next week is a very important date in our school calendar. We have consolidated opening up the school to the Wednesday and we are so excited to welcome you all back. Although I will open with a few words at 9.15am, if you can join us earlier it would be our pleasure to offer fresh coffees in the hall from our newly opened canteen. From 9.30am we will have a tour of the school through the new canteen, to the multi-sport court pointing out the Anzac Garden and down to see our new playgrounds. The sensory room and the Immersive classrooms will both be open for you to have a look at, before heading to join your child’s class for around 30 minutes. Be prepared to join in whatever activity they have planned and go with the flow. Please be mindful that some students become highly anxious with a change to their routine, and having unknown (or even family) on site - so please respond to staff suggestions. We ask that you wear masks during your visit and refrain from taking photographs, unless they are purely of your child and others are not in the frame. Heating will be on in classrooms, but we need to be extra conscious of ventilation with so many visitors- we remain as always very conscious of Covid advice, and mindful of health concerns.
Hello and welcome back to term 3.
Room 3 have an exciting term ahead of them. We will be looking at the book Midsummer Nights Dream while writing sentences and focusing on different letters of the day. Yeting chose the letter Y and Brendan was proud of his N picture choices.
We will be continuing our music sessions with Jack (the Music therapist), we enjoy playing with instruments and listening to Jack play the guitar.
For math, we will be looking at different topics like money, data and number. We use technology in the classroom for communication. Elijah is using his Ipad to ask for more food. Yeting is using a cause and effect program to play a song she likes while Brendan is using a cause and effect program on his Tobi EyeGaze. We also have enjoyed spending time in the Immersive Classroom.
Last week we were lucky enough to learn about Aboriginal culture for NAIDOC week. Yeting used Aboriginal counters and numbers and threw a spear while Elijah played with tapping sticks and Brendan touched Aboriginal flora.
It has been a great start to Term 3! Room 12 students have been engaged in physical education activities to keep their bodies moving with swimming and out on the playground. It was lovely to see students have so much fun splashing around in the pool. Students also enjoyed jumping on the trampoline during their play work session on the playground and so did their teacher!
Students have been learning about Aboriginal numbers, reading stories about aboriginal culture and food. We have also been listening to the aboriginal music and using the clapping sticks. We had a great experience using different instruments and performing activities during our NAIDOC incursion.
Room 12 students have had their first Art Therapy session. Students enjoyed doing the hands-on activities. They had a great time using clay and moulding it into different shapes. We anticipate more learning and engagement in the weeks coming!
Until next time,
Kamal and Andrea.
The students at Karonga School were fortunate to have the opportunity to participate in the NAIDOC incursion last week. They were visited by the talented Lisa Tennyenhuis from Gibberagong Environmental Education, who was very enthusiastic and performed different animal dance moves. She provided a range of sensory experiences to immerse the students in Aboriginal culture, including a kangaroo skin blanket, a boomerang, fire maker with sticks, emu cooler and a spear made of natural plants to name a few.
The hands-on activities that Lisa engaged the students in allowed them to make connections to what they have learned about Aboriginal languages, culture and traditions over the course of the year.
The spear throwing activity was very popular, and as you can see from the photographs there were a lot of smiles! Lisa provided a variety of activities and clapping sticks for the students to examine and experiment with, and she explained their cultural significance through dance, action, language and music. A big thank you to Lisa and the Gibberagong Environmental Education Team for a very worthwhile and engaging day, and we hope to see you again next year.
Until next time,
Kamaldeep Lamba.
Bus drivers needed
Do you know anyone who would be interested in driving a Karonga School Bus? Help us get Karonga students to and from school. Casual work available. For more information about requirements, contact our Transport Manager, Colin Pidd at karongapc@gmail.com
Founders Day – Gift bag packing
Thank you to all the families who responded to our request for volunteers to pack gift bags for Founders Day. We are gathering on Tuesday 6th September at 9.30am. If anyone else is available to join, please send an email to karongapc@gmail.com
I look forward to meeting some fellow Karonga families.
Next P&C meeting - Date change
The next P&C meeting has been brought forward a week. It will now be held on Wed 10th August at 6.45pm. All are welcome to attend. If you would like to join via Zoom, please email karongapc@gmail.com
Due to an overwhelming response to our recent live shows and the continuing support of our Sponsors, Circus Quirkus has some wonderful news…. in the current health climate, we are offering a streamed version of our spectacular show for you to watch over the month of August.
The streamed event is happening from the 1st August until 31st August, 2022, and the event is on demand and available to watch as many times as you choose.
Please see the access code to the show below:
Password: 22