NEWS FROM THE CLASSROOMS THE NUTCRACKER MUSICAL EVENINGS ... · NEWS FROM THE CLASSROOMS THE NUTCRACKER MUSICAL EVENINGS ….. ... soldiers who lost their lives in Gallipoli in WWI

IN THIS ISSUE : NEWS FROM THE CLASSROOMS THE NUTCRACKER MUSICAL EVENINGS

….. PLUS MUCH MORE

The Reddam House Primary School Newsletter Volume 13 Issue 8 Friday, 26 April 2013 Page 1

Dear Parents and Caregivers, Welcome back to school where term two promises to provide your children with an exciting array of experiences both within the bounds of the school and outside our gates in the community. This term we see students going on a number of educational excursions to enhance their classroom studies. Highlights include the Stage 3 students’ three-day camp to either Canberra or Bathurst to study government and the gold rush respectively; music events which continue with the wind and brass, and percussion competitions as well as the May Music Festival; the Ballet students who will perform ‘The Nutcracker’ in Adelaide Hall; and our Sports Department which will host the Annual Cross Country at Centennial Park. In addition, after the Year 3 – 6 exams, the Cultural Extension week takes place with the annual Sculpture Day and Inter-House Trivia. Term two certainly promises to be a busy, varied and exciting ten weeks. During the last school holidays, I had the wonderful experience of attending the ‘Gathering of the Tribes’ in South Africa. This event, held every two years, sees students from the five Reddam schools meet for what can only be described as the experience of a lifetime. The trip included music and dance showcases, sports competitions, social events and a great deal of sightseeing. Three primary school students joined the high school students this year and they were outstanding ambassadors for our primary school. I congratulate Rubi Carr, Saphira Moran and Athina Vougdis for their attitudes, behaviour and maturity on this tour. Thank you to Dr Michael McGregor and Ms Liz Collier for accompanying Dave Pitcairn and me on the tour and for their care and supervision of the students. Thank you also to the South African schools for being excellent hosts and providing our students with a world class cultural experience. Today, we held a formal assembly for ANZAC Day in which we remembered the soldiers who lost their lives in Gallipoli in WWI as well as gave respect to all Australians who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations. The assem-bly, although solemn and sad, allowed the students to engage with this very important part of Australia’s history. Thank you to Mr Warren Garrett and the Year 6 senators for their effort in this assembly. The countdown to the performances of ‘The Nutcracker’ has begun. Less than four weeks stand between today and the exciting event and the ballet students from Kindy to Year 9 are rehearsing diligently to make this show a masterpiece. With a live orches-tra and close on a hundred dancers, I urge everyone to mark the dates in your diaries, Monday 20 May and Tuesday 21 May, and come see the first ballet by Reddam House.

During the school holidays, one of our students went out of his way to improve the lives of dementia suffers at a local nursing home. Kai Mashimo in Year 6 gave of his time to play the piano for the patients. Acts of kindness like this are exactly what Reddam stands for and it is wonderful to see one of our students making such a positive contri-bution to the community. Thank to, Kai, for sharing your talent for the pure pleasure of

I would also like to congratulate Tommy Malki in Year 1 who won a gold medal at the recent Camp Wallaby – a rugby camp for aspiring players. He was very proud to be awarded his medal by Robbie Deans, the Australian Wallabies coach. Well done, Tommy. In the final week of last term, Persia Behnia in Year 2 gave her first solo musical performance playing both the piano and the violin. Persia has only recently begun learning these instruments and so to brave a live audience so soon is highly commended. I congratulate Persia for her commitment and effort as well as her brave performance. There are many sports teams training hard for a number of different competitions this term. If any student would like to join a team or training, the sports department will be able to assist with the infor-mation and details. I wish all the sports teams taking part in competitions this weekend the best of luck. I am sure that your sportsmanship will hold you in good esteem on the fields and courts around Sydney.

Dee Pitcairn

Principal

Saturday 27 April 10’s Boys Vs. Maroubra 12pm at Coral Sea Park 12’s Boys Vs. Olympic Eagles 1.30pm at Heffron Park Field No. 53 Sunday 28 April 16’s Girls Vs. Queens Park 3pm at Queens Park Field No. 23 18’s Girls Vs. Maroubra 11.00am at Coral Sea Field No. 2

Reddam House

would like to wish a very Happy Birthday to

Leo Rubinstein. Lachlan Yeung, Tommaso Schisano, Coco Veksner-Shaw, Joshua Amor, Zane Harwin, Zeya Kuban, Kaia Lamont, Nina Song, Sarah Burton, Moustapha Deeb Dasher Stewart, and Felix Hatherall,

who celebrated their special day this week

We hope you had a fabulous day!


SPORT FIXTURES


Kindergarten have returned after their holidays, all fresh and rearing to get back into their learning! We quickly slipped back into our working routine. We spent this week learning about Anzac day. We read stories, listened to the Last Post, tasted Anzac bis-cuits and made a wreath. The children were fascinat-ed by the bravery of the young men and women who went off to war. Hopefully, it will give them a good background to understand why we celebrate Anzac Day each year.

Year 1E Have been talking about the meaning of ANZAC Day in class this week. Everyone took part in making their own ANZAC Wreath to commemorate this very special event in history. We spoke about the significance of the RED POPPIES worn on that day. The whole class took great care in making their wreath look the best. I was very proud of their awesome effort. It is a delight to see the whole class produce excellent work. A teacher’s dream!

KINDERGARTEN

YEAR 1

Year 2 has started looking at procedures for their text-type writing this term. We enjoyed making fairy bread this past week. Goal: How To Make Fairy Bread What you need: Bread Plate Plastic knives Butter 100’s and 1000’s Steps: Place the bread on the plate. Using the knife, evenly spread the butter on the bread. Generously sprinkle the 100’s and 1000’s on the buttered bread. Test: Eat and enjoy!

As part of their talking and listening component in English, the year 3 children began presenting their wonderful speech presentations to a very captive and enthusiastic audience this week. So far we have heard all about Mermaids, Kelp, Moon bows, Hawaii, a cruise on the ‘Voyager of the Seas’ and Polar Bears. Not only have we heard many amazing facts and personal stories from our students, but we have also seen some creative and beautiful posters to compliment these speeches. We look for-ward to hearing more of these speeches as the term progresses.


YEAR 2

YEAR 3

LINES, BOXES, RHOMBUSES & RULES rhombuses Year 4 have come our firing in Mathematics this term. On the back of winning the World Mathletics Weekly Championship in their last week of Term 1, the students have kept their spirits and motiva-tion high and have been having a ball learning all about 2D and 3D shapes. This area of learning is especially hands-on as the students create their own sets of 3D shapes from nets and work on the iPads to identify and label the attributes of prisms and pyramids. A highlight is introducing ‘Euler’s Rule’ for discovering the number of edges a shape has. This simple formula, although a complex concept to start, is one the children pick-up so quickly and use to effectively help their learning and understanding in geometry.

This week sees ANZAC Day, a time when Australia remembers the valiant efforts, bravery and courage of those soldiers who gave their lives during times of war. Although the ANZAC legend was born from the Gallipoli campaign in World War I, today we use Anzac Day to re-member all military personnel who have fought for Australia during the wars that have taken place since. This is a dark yet important period of history that shapes the Australi-an culture and identity and it is important for our students to be aware of the ‘Diggers’ and what they stand for. Fortunately, we have some very talented children’s authors who have written books about war and Anzac Day which focus on the positive values of courage and freedom. I shared these stories with the children this week.


YEAR 4

LIBRARY

All students in Years 5 and 6 English have commenced the term in full speed. Year 5 stu-dents have been busily perfecting their exposition skills, responding to a variety of topics that have asked for their opinions about whether it is cruel or not to keep animals in cages, wheth-er books are better than television and most recently, whether summer is better than winter. Year 6 on the other hand, have been immersing themselves in the wonderful world of adver-tising. They’ve been learning to look at advertisements in a more analytical manner, identify-ing what the advertisement is persuading them to do or believe, and how. To comment on the ‘how’, students have been learning about the most common visual techniques used by the creators of advertisements. In this example here, students were asked to comment on how people were persuaded to purchase Nike products. Although they continue to develop their understanding of the use of visual techniques, they are coming along well. Koshin Thomas commented on the use of the objects, being the people, jumping up high as though they really want the product. He also brilliantly commented on the use of the rhetorical question, “Ever have that dream where you can fly?” to get people thinking that they can fly if they buy the product. Marcus Buckley believed that the symbol of the slam dunk was quite effective because it says to the audience that you can too slam dunk and fly if you buy such a product. He too be-lieved the use of the dark colours in the foreground emphasised the people who are central to the advertisement.

Animals should definitely be kept in zoos. Firstly, while they are in the zoo, they are safe from different dangers out in society. Secondly, in the zoo, they get luxurious accommoda-tion that they would never get in the wild. Finally, while they are being observed by people, it allows us to understand their physical and behavioural habits. First and most importantly, animals are safe in the zoo. While they are behind the walls of the zoo, they are safe from cars, highways and crazed maniacs who try to kill animals. Any-one who wants to try to harm an animal wouldn’t make it past the front gates. Security at the zoo would be able to spot a crazy animal harming lunatic before they could say “I need a new fur coat’. Animals are safest in the zoo where harm is kept away from them. Not only are the animals safe in the zoo, they are also treated to such wonders that they would never be able to find in the wild. An example would be when I saw them giving the polar bears vegetable ice blocks. Not only do they have their own personal chefs, they have personal trainers whose job is to set up their enclosures to max-imize their fitness. When it comes to recovery or sickness, they have a team of veterinarians at their every de-mand. I know I’d choose the zoo over the wild every time. In addition to such luxuries and safety, by having animals all in the one place, people can study and observe them. They can find out new facts and information about animals. This could include stuff like, why monkeys pick bugs off each other and eat them or why does horse poo look like hay and kangaroo poo look like little rocks? Another question could be why do meerkats always look like they are standing up to do a wee? The sci-entists at the zoo are working on these problems as you read this. So when it comes to the question of whether a zoo is important or not, there should be no question at all. The zoo is important for animals’ safety, their health and the ongoing education of people. It is the five star accom-modation of animals that make all of the other wild animals jealous. Without doubt or hesitation, animals should absolutely be kept in zoos. Nicholas Angelou


EXTENSION ENGLISH

ACCELERATED ENGLISH


During the school holidays I went to Sir Moses Montefiore Nursing Home to give a piano concert for the elderly residents in the demen-tia unit. I had thought about doing this because when I visit my grandmother, I always see the elderly people with not much to do. Sometimes when I played for my grandmother, other residents would come and listen, and so I thought that I could volunteer some time to play for more of the residents. The day I performed many people came to listen and clapped enthusiastically, so I hope they enjoyed the music! Kai Mashimo

Reddam will be fielding teams in the Northern NSW Snowsports Championships on the 3rd – 5th July. This year racing will be at Perisher/Blue Cow. Along with this we will also be taking a group of recreational skiers to the snow. Regardless of your experience on the snow you are guaranteed to have a great time. We will be staying at Smiggins Hole where we ski to both Perisher Valley and Blue Cow Resorts. Departing from Sydney on Sunday 30th June and returning late on Friday evening 5th July. 5 days of skiing with your friends and staying on the snow. Students from Year 5 though to Year 12 are welcome to attend. Any parents wishing to join the trip are also more than welcome. For further details please collect an enrolment form from the Sports Department Office at Woollahra or email Phil Kable on [email protected] Students wishing to race should also collect their entry form from the Sports Office.

The Music Department is offering a new class from this term. Tuesday afterschool Musicianship les-sons with Mr Bortolotti are from 3pm to 4pm. This class is for those who would like to improve their musicianship skills generally or who might need some extra help preparing for AMEB Musicianship Examinations

We are excited to introduce our awesome students who successfully passed Taekwondo Grading Promotion test… congratulations, Akash Thomas, Felix Hatherall, Ethan Williams and Leon Va-sington who passed their 9th Gup Promotion test so they are now yellow belt. Ben Simon and Lucas Meldrum passed 8th Gup. Also Niki Giannopoulos and Jaiden Fairhead passed 7th Gup Promotion test. Well done.

PIANO CONCERT

SKIING

MUSIC

TAEKWONDO

mailto:[email protected]






Documents

NEWS FROM THE CLASSROOMS THE NUTCRACKER MUSICAL EVENINGS ... · NEWS FROM THE CLASSROOMS THE NUTCRACKER MUSICAL EVENINGS ….. ... soldiers who lost their lives in Gallipoli in WWI