Upcoming Events

Professional Learning and Public Holidays

2022 Term Dates

Congratulations to Mrs Gail McLaren, our School Business Manager, on her nomination as a ‘Diamond of Devonport’. The Devonport City Council celebrates International Women's Day with Diamonds of Devonport. Since it began in 2012 the efforts of over 267 women have been recognised. The event was held on Tuesday 8 March and Gail was recognised for her bursary work. Gail has worked at East Devonport Primary since 2004 and before this worked at Reece High School. She has been working for the Department of Education for 32 years.

Congratulations on the elected SRC Executive – Ayden, Zarnie, Indee, Jack, Kyiesha and Elijah. I wish to acknowledge and thank all Year 6 students who nominated. The standard of applications was very impressive and a credit to each applicant. To finalise out leadership roles for 2022, House Captains will be elected at the end of this week.

Reminders:

• Prep to Year 6 Term 1 Primary Progress Reports will go home on Friday 1^st of April.
• Kindergarten Teacher/Parent Meeting (booking sheet and time on the Kinder door).
• School Association AGM + general meeting on Tuesday 29^th of March 5.30-7pm

Our school has many COVID-19 safety measures in place, but vaccination is the best way to protect your child from COVID-19.

As per Public Health advice, vaccination is safe and helps to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Your child will need two doses (eight weeks apart) to be fully vaccinated.

If you haven’t already, please book your child aged 5+ years in for their initial vaccination or second dose vaccination. It’s easy to book your appointment online. Alternatively, call the Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738.

Please know that all children, regardless of whether they’ve been vaccinated or not, are welcome to attend school.

For more information, please visit the Tasmanian Government Coronavirus website or contact the Tasmanian Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738

or Department of Education COVID-19 Support Hotline at COVID19support@education.tas.gov.au or on 1800 816 057.

Hello my name is Rebecca Henricks. I attended East Devonport Primary School from Kinder to Year 6 and am pleased to return many years later as an Aboriginal Education Worker. I am looking forward to meeting/working with the students and families. Please come and say hello when you see me around school. I work on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. In my spare time I enjoy being outside exploring the country with family and friends.

All the House jars in classes have been spilling over with Thumbs Up Cards. We have been unable to hold a whole school assembly to do our student draws. This week, Mrs Marcus and Mrs Whish did class jars. Congratulation to all the students who received one or more Thumbs Up cards. The winners from each class were:

The kindergarten children have started the Animal Fun Program, which helps build strong bodies through gross motor movements. It also has fine motor and social components to the program. In the mornings, we have a mat session and then head outside to do the obstacle course and some Animal Fun activities. Some of the movements we have learnt are Pencil Pine (balance), Dog Walking (crawling), Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree (fine motor), Kangaroo Jumping (two feet landings when jumping) and Cockatoo Dancing (balance).

Learning programs are in full swing in Prep SM and we have been working very hard. This week we have been practicing making and copying patterns using a variety of different materials. We have also been learning about measurement and how to test which container holds more.

We’ve learnt new phonemes in Letters and Sounds and it’s been great to see most children ready to start on time at 9am. We are already starting to see improvements in Prep SM’s knowledge of sounds and lots of our students are zooming through home readers each week. Keep it up!

Students in 2 Portlock have been learning about symmetry and doubles.

Maths

Students have been working on Place Value. We have been exploring Place Value and have been using Place Value cups to create number sentences with addition. Students can rotate the numbers around the cups to make new number sentences to write in their books. They can check their answer by pushing the cups back together. We also looked at creating four digit numbers with MAB blocks and using a table grid to record the answers.

Students recently constructed their own sundial. We are also looking at Time and exploring how a sundial can tell the time.

Narrative Writing

Students have been learning how to organise their ideas by using a visual setting prompt. Students worked in small groups to think about what this visual prompt might be about, thinking about the elements of a narrative story. Students then shared their ideas to the class and talked about what their story might be about.

In 3-4 Scott last week we investigated the inquiry question ‘We have been allocated a new space on our school grounds for some new play equipment!’ We had to collaborate with our peers to design a play space that was suitable for ages Kinder – Year 6. Following the STEAM process, we are now building a 3-dimensional model of the park.

Students in 4S using written text to create images from their novel 'Fantastic Mr Fox' by Roald Dahl.

Students in 6C recently had the opportunity to help organise and run Clean up Australia Day. A big thanks to all who participated to help keep our school free from litter.

In class we have been researching famous Australian landmarks finding out how they were created, where they are located, and their importance.  So far, we have found that Wineglass Bay in Tasmania, used to be a whaler’s beach, and the whale’s blood would turn the bay red, and it would look like a glass of red wine.  We found that there is a natural rock formation called Wave Rock in Western Australia and it really looks like a wave and that the Big Guitar in Tamworth was funded by the king of country music Slim Dusty. (Wineglass Bay image by Siggy Nowak from Pixabay, Wave Rock image wikimedia commons, Big Golden Guitar image source Creative Commons)

Students in 6 Dolbey have been busy working on Commonwealth Country Power Points responding to a range of research questions.

Wowee, what a start in Music! I hope all the children are having as much fun as me. I am certainly having a ball singing, dancing and playing my way through my Wednesdays with the Preps, Year 1s and Year 2s. 

Preps and Year 1s recently completely their first 'orchestra' performance. Students sang "We're Going On A Bear Hunt," and then took turns playing their designated instrument at the corresponding time in the book e.g. the river ("splish splash" sound) was played by a tambourine, the cave ("stumble trip") was a short drum roll followed by the "trip" - a "ding" on the triangle, and so on. A favourite was getting to play the "snowstorm" - this involved playing the "whirly tube" - done by spinning it above your head as fast as your muscles would allow. Everyone has been wonderfully enthusiastic about playing instruments - even the teacher aides! 

Year 2s have had a taster of playing Djembe Drums and learning various rhythms on these instruments. They have also had a taster of playing ukeleles - including the chords 'C' and 'Amin.' 

Throughout all of these activities, students have been learning to 'PLAY' and 'STOP PLAYING' (that's the hardest bit!), to play soft and loud, fast and slow. We have also spent time 'keeping the beat' every lesson. 

This fortnight the younger grades have continued working on their fine motor and cutting skills. It would be great if parents could encouraged this at home by asking their child to cut out pictures from an old magazine or some old junk mail and glue them to a sheet of paper.

We have also started talking about Autumn and Autumn colours and how they relate to the colour wheel. Once again you can reinforce your child's learning by going out and collecting Autumn leaves and identifying the colours they find.

The older students have been working on their Stop COVID Posters. This is a mixed media project which will take students 2-3 weeks to complete. They will be exposed to planning, the use of white space, cutting, gluing, stamping, colouring and the correct use of water colour pencils.

Students are enjoying their art and the different learning experiences they are being exposed to.

Friday the 18^th of March is World Sleep Day

Quality Sleep, Sound Mind, Happy World

Sleep Well to Learn Well

Did you know that most of us spend 30% of our lifetime sleeping!

Just like your phone, your body and mind need to be recharged each day – for us it’s through a good nights sleep!

When we sleep our bodies have time to repair and grow. This helps us manage our mental health, helps us learn better, boosts our immune system, and improves our memory.

How much sleep do our learners need?

Primary school aged: 9-11 hours

High School and College age: 8-10 hours

What happens if I don't get enough sleep?

Without enough sleep we can be more irritable, moody, aggressive, restless, impulsive, be more likely to have accidents, and longer term are at higher risk of obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

School children may struggle with their learning, have poor concentration and memory, and have trouble staying mentally well.

For some great sleep tips and further information…visit these sites:

https://www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au/ (they have many great factsheets)

https://raisingchildren.net.au/toddlers/sleep/sleep-problems/sleep-problems-solutions

https://headspace.org.au/assets/Factsheets/HSP225-Sleep-Fact-Sheet-DP3.pdf

If you are concerned about your child's sleep habits and would like some support, contact your School Health Nurse (Alex) through the school office.

Jesse Brennan from the Children’s University has managed to secure ten free adult tickets from the Rotary Club to the Devonport Car Show to be held on the foreshore this Sunday the 27^th March. Entry for children under 16 is free. If your child is a member of Children’s University and you would like receive an adult ticket, please contact Mrs Whish in person at school or via phone on 6427 8932.