Upcoming Events

Professional Learning and Public Holidays

2022 Term Dates

We are currently halfway through this term and the cold weather is definitely here! We encourage students to wear/bring their school jumpers to school of a morning. While in class students will be asked to remove coats and non-school jumpers. School jumpers and jackets are available from the office, including our new soft-shell jackets without logos. Prices below. Please ensure your child's clothing is labelled as this ensures if they are left outside they can be returned to them.

• Half Zip Jumpers - $27 (or adults $32)
• Full Zip Jumpers - $30 (or adults $35)
• Soft-shell Jackets (no logo) - $45

This week, teachers are finalising summative results for English, Mathematics and Science. A reminder that these results will be on the new 9-point scale. All subjects (including PE, Music, ICT, HASS, Music and Health) will have an indication of the child’s effort, behaviour, organisation and attitude. Reports for students in Years 1-6 will be sent home on Wednesday 15^th of June and Kinder students will receive their Kinder Development Check 1 (KDCs) on Thursday 16th June. Parent/Teacher/Student three-way conferences will be held Monday 20th to Thursday 23rd June for Kinder and Years 1-6. Bookings are open now and can be made via https://eastdevonportps.schoolzineplus.com/term2parentteacher2022 or through the office in person or on 6427 8932. 

Last year in June we purchased several items for installation around the school. These items have been arriving in recent weeks. The front of the school has now three flag poles, which will fly the Australian, Tasmanian, and Aboriginal flags. The construction of the flagpole bases was completed by Mr Dave Hall with our Groundsperson, Mr Steven Gardner. The Year 3-6 playground is sporting new monkey bars. The height should ensure the tallest upper primary school student is able to use it without touching the ground. Our long-awaited basketball backboards have the foundations completed and we hope to have the posts erected and in use by the end of this week. The only outstanding piece of equipment is the four-post spider which will be erected in the Prep to Year 2 playground. When this will happen is currently unknown.

To the Cross-Country representatives competing at the NWSPPA Cross Country event at Penguin tomorrow, I wish you all the best. We will publish results in the next newsletter and acknowledge students in our Term 2 acknowledgement assembly.  Miss Tegan Sharman and student teacher Miss Samantha Shannon will be supervising the team.

Recently I was called to the Merseylink morning bus due to unacceptable behaviours, language and attitude. I am extremely disappointed in a handful of students who think they can ‘own’ the back seat and bully students into moving if they take up a seat. Also the unsafe behaviour of moving while the bus is moving. To help solve this issue, in the afternoons, the bus line up will have turns for Years 3-6 and Kinder - Year 2 to get on the bus and sit where they want to (including the back set) on alternative days. I fully support Merseylink issuing formal warnings and have asked that bus drivers issue more if the behaviour, language, and attitude is not acceptable. East Devonport PS community show respect and anything less will not be tolerated nor accepted. Merseylink has offered to talk to students about bus safety. All students who travel on a bus and myself will be in attending the bus safety talk on Friday 17^th of June.

Finally, I wish Mrs Eve Marcus a great holiday (and catch-up with the in-laws) over the next 4 weeks, in England. Mr Nico Toorenburg (Mr T) will replace Mrs Marcus on her Prep teaching days. Mrs Marcus will return to EDPS for term 3.

Have an enjoyable, safe and fun long weekend. We will see everyone back at school on Tuesday 14^th of June.

East  Devonport Primary School’s daily average attendance is running at 83%. We are aiming for our school attendance to run at 90% each day as we know every minute counts for your child being at school. We follow the Department of Education attendance protocol where a letter is automatically generated and sent if your child has unexplained attendance for five days or more. It is extremely important that your contact the office via phone or respond to their text explaining the reason why your child is absent from school. Remember we are in partnership together so give your child the best possible education so if you need help in getting your child to school for whatever reason, please contact Karen Whish-Wilson via the front office.

Friday 27 May was our school Cross Country. Congratulations to all students who participated on the day. Our winning House was Tasman, with Spirit in second and Empress in third.

Our LIL room has recently had some new resources purchased including new furniture and discovery equipment for the room.

We are looking to see more of our families (or if you know families with children 0-5) join us on a Thursday afternoon and give us some feedback! Bring your child/children along have a cuppa and play with your children and create some arts and craft.

It has been fantastic to see our families coming along to Play & Learn and Pre Kinder on Wednesdays.

What an excellent couple of weeks we've all had in Music! All of my classes have had their first two lessons learning the basics of playing marimba (the big, big one - example pictured below courtesy of wikipedia), xylophones (the wooden ones) and metallophones (the metal ones). I have been thoroughly impressed with everyone's respect for these instruments, their listening skills and their participation. Up, up and away!

In Kinder we did a Coke bottle rocket experiment. We used a bottle of Coke and some Mentos. We put the Mentos in the Coke and watched what happened. Next week, we are going to repeat our experiment with Diet Coke to see what happens. We used one Mentos and the Coke, and when it didn’t work very well, we put more Mentos in. Even so, you can tell from our faces we were quite excited to see the reaction between the ingredients in the Coke and in the Mentos.

Kinder students using their imaginations at play.

We have been working in the kitchen garden with Bonnie. Here we are harvesting artichokes and counting out 5 each to take home with an info sheet on cooking them or planting them.

In Prep we have been learning to write simple sentences and CVC words. CVC words are words that we can sound talk and blend. Each student in Prep is working towards their own learning goals and we are so proud of the progress they are making. Here are some examples of Prep's independent writing.

2P have been doing some amazing handwriting work in class. It was interesting to see what words we used for V. I wonder if Billy and Bob were glad they weren't with their bananas near the volcano?

3M have been working on Persuasive writing.

Students first designed their donut and brainstormed different words and labelled adjective words to describe the flavours, taste and colours. Then students had planned their ideas to write a Donut Persuasive text. Once they had planned their ideas they had written a draft using Persuasive language features to write a persuasive text. The students then edited their work, looking for spelling, punctuation and higher modality words of persuasion. Finally, they all published their work focusing on neat writing and updating their work from the editing they made. After the students had finished their Donut writing they were given the opportunity to construct their Donut Design. The below photos are some of the examples.

Mrs Whish-Wilson and Mrs Woodberry then judged the best Donut Writing and Donut Design creation. Skyla took out 1st place for the best Donut Design creation and Suvannah took out the 1st place for Donut writing. 

The students did a great job with their Donuts!

3-4 Scott have been fortunate enough to work with our new garden specialist Bonnie McGee with the 24 Carrot Garden Program. Students were introduced to the garden and learned the process of planting mint and potatoes. Throughout the term, Bonnie will work with the students to maintain the garden.

Students in Year 4 have had coding sessions using Scratch. See the ICT article below for the link if you would like to try this free app at home.

In 5W we have been learning about figurative Language during our reading block. We learnt about similies and how they can describe something by comparing it to something else using 'like' or 'as'.

6C have been developing business ideas for an imaginary place called Paradise Island. Students were had the task to think of a potential business that would suit the tropical location, attract potential customers and make money. After preparing a business proposal, students began the task of developing a logo and then using their logo in a poster to attract business. As you can see from the logos and posters below, there is a wide variety of business on offer on our tropical island.

In science, 6C made ice cream from flavoured milk. They achieved this by lowering the freezing point of ice to -3 by adding salt. After lots of manipulating the bag of flavoured milk around the ice and salt, it set creating ice-cream. Many hands were very cold but their taste buds welcomed the creamy mixture.

Chemical Reaction - Making Ice cream without a freezer!!

Our primary classes enjoyed a special, “thank you” science experiment in the last couple of weeks which was to turn a liquid into a solid. In our case we used flavoured milk and turned it into ice cream without using a freezer or ice cream making machine. How you ask? We used the principle of lowering the temperature of ice by applying salt. We measured that the ice was around 0 degrees but when we applied ice it dropped to -15 degrees and turned the ice into a slush. Each child had one bag of ice/salt with a smaller bag inside the larger bag of flavoured milk. By applying pressure for about 5 minutes(hands were very cold) the milk liquid turned into solid ice cream. Yum!!!!!!

Controls and Variables

The two year 6 classes are focusing on control and variables. Last week they performed an experiment using a control and variables and to discuss their observations between the different groups in a conclusion. Ayden did a great job with his conclusion. The students in pairs then had to design their own experiment using a control and variables including a hypothesis which they will be conducting this week. Some hypothesis are:

• Small bottles freeze quicker than larger bottles
• Plain chocolate frogs will melt quicker than chocolate frogs with fillings ie strawberry frogs
• Ice will melt faster in a Sports drink than in lemonade or Powerade
• Gummy bears expand quicker in Coke than in other liquids

Calling All Passports

We have 30 students registered for Children’s University this year. This is fabulous. The cut off for collecting hours is September 19^th. This means we have 14 weeks left to gain hours which is incredible! If your child is a member of Children University, could you remind them to bring their passport to school and give to Mrs Whish-Wilson for auditing purposes. Next Tuesday, Mr Brennan and Mrs Whish-Wilson will have an quick 5 minute catchup with each student during the afternoon to set some goals on how to accumulate more hours and to also give them a folder which they can use as a portfolio to showcase their work. To help this process, students are asked to please bring back their passport.

Wonder Weekly - Issue May 30, 2022

This issue talks about voting in Australia. After our recent election Australia has a new Government. Counting of votes for the Senate is a more complicated process than the system for the House of Representatives and may take several weeks before all the votes are counted and the final result is known. 

CU Challenge 1: Find out facts about the House of Representatives election result. 

Here's some questions for your research

• Which electorate do you live in
• Who has been elected to represent this electorate
• Are they a member of a party, or an independent?
• What other facts can you find out about them?

CU Challenge 2: Create your own election poster. 

CU Challenge 3: Create your own ballot papers, using the example in the link below.

The-Wonder-Weekly,-May-30,-2022.pdf (utas.edu.au)

Wonder Weekly - Issue June 6, 2022

This issue talks about dogs. It is often said that dogs are our best friends.

Fun Facts about dogs

• Scientists believe dogs have evolved to better communicate with humans? 
• The Basenji, an ancient African dog breed, is also known as the 'bark less dog'.
• While dogs have been domesticated for more than 15,000 years most breeds have arisen in the last 200-300 years.
• Maremmas are a large dog with a thick white coat and loud bark, they originated in Italy where they have been used for centuries to guard sheep from wolves.
• A dog's nose has about 300 million scent receptors, compared to a human's 5-6 million.

CU Challenge (If you have a pet dog at home, and with a family members permission): Set up some obstacles in the backyard and see if you can train your dog to conquer them using their favourite treat OR have some fun designing an obstacle course on paper.

The-Wonder-Weekly,-June-6,-2022.pdf (utas.edu.au)

Looking for something fun and free to do after school?

Do you like doing different physical activities and games?

Well if you do, we would love to see you after school at the East Devonport Primary School gym on Tuesday June 21^st at 3pm where a group of Don College Certificate 3 Fitness students, supported by their teacher and the University of Tasmania are running an activity session. The session finishes at 4pm. Sessions are free and we will be running additional sessions on Tuesday June 28^th and Tuesday July 5th from 300-4.00pm 

Please wear your sports clothes and sandshoes and bring a water bottle as well .

Any questions please feel free to contact Rob Soward, Project Officer on 0402-357-536

East Devonport Primary School is part of the 24 Carrot Garden Project. This means the school has a grant over the next 4 years to fund garden and kitchen infrastructure. On Friday 3 June some of the students met with Jo who is the manager of the project and brainstormed some ideas for the garden. An architect will take all these ideas and come up with a plan for our new garden. If you would like to know more information about this program you can go to https://www.24carrot.mona.net.au/ 

Prep and Year 1 students are just starting to learn about coding using an app called Scratch Junior. This is a free app and if you have a tablet/iPad or smartphone at home you can download it for your children to use at home. With this program children can program their own interactive stories and games whilst learning to solve problems, design projects and express themselves creatively.

For more information you can follow the link https://www.scratchjr.org/