Our values: RESPECT, Resilience, Excellence, Safety, Persistence, Encouragement, Creativity and Tolerance

Calendonia Drive, Eltham North 3095 Ph: 9431 1599 Fax:9431 0686 OSHC Ph: 9431 2503 www.glenkps.vic.edu.au/ Office Hours: 8.15am– 4.00pm Email: glen.katherine.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

LINKLETTER Issue 16 5th June 2014

DIARY

2014 - TERM 2

Thurs 5th June

World Environment Day Mon 9th June Queen’s Birthday NO SCHOOL Thurs 12th June Rescheduled School Athletics Day Friday 27th June Last Day Term 2 2.30 finish REMINDERS:

Cadbury Chocolate Drive Due back by Thursday 26th June Scholastic Bookclub All orders for issue 4 close Friday 6th June 2014 OFFICE HOURS 8.15am-4.00pm

STUDENT REPORTS Currently teachers have been very busy writing student reports which will go home with students

at the end of this term. At the moment, drafted reports are being read by another colleague who

provides initial feedback to the teacher. Following this and any amendments that may need to be

made, a final proof reading is undertaken by either the Assistant Principal, Leanne Tingwell, the

Student Wellbeing & Intervention Coordinator, Kate Rodgers or myself.

Written student reports are provided to parents at the end of both semester 1 and 2. Student

portfolios which go home at the end of each term are intended to provide some selected samples

of the type of work your child has been doing.

From the beginning to the end of the report writing process, an enormous amount of time and

effort is spent on developing a semester report for each student that will hopefully give parents an

indication about the progress their child has been making in the first half of the year. I know most

parents have been in contact with their child’s teacher throughout the semester and this is always

an advantage as the closer the home-school links are, then the stronger the outcome for a

student. The back up parents provide at home is crucial to supporting the work that teachers are

doing at school. So please keep up the good work!

We know that many parents are not overly keen on the student report format we use.

Unfortunately though, we are obliged to use the reporting package as determined by government

and that’s just the way it is. We do work hard to try and use language that parents can understand

and we do try to leave out teacher jargon. You will be the best judge though of how explicit your

child’s report is and what it tells you or not.

Further information regarding student reports will be distributed in your child’s report package at

the end of this term

MAINTENANCE WORKS UPDATE We’re almost there … the Preps and grade 5/6 classes are all now back in their classrooms. The

Library and staffroom are still under renovation and should be finished early next week. Bit by bit

the job list is being ticked off and we are hopeful that all works will be completed within the next

two weeks.

PFA FUNDRAISING Every second year the PFA conducts a Cadbury Chocolate Drive so boxes have been distributed

today. Please help to sell these and return the proceeds or any unsold chocolates to school by

Thur 26th June. Our PFA does a magnificent job of raising valuable funds for the school, all of

which go back into making improvements for the students. Over the last two years, funds raised

have resulted in installation of the fitness station (near the Science room), a new garden and

seating area near the tennis courts, completion of the lower shelter near the drop off zone and

new tables and seating (grade 3/4 area and outside the grade 1/2 classrooms. These are just

some of the ways fundraising has helped to improve our grounds and facilities for the students.

Please read information about the Chocolate Drive elsewhere in the Linkletter and I strongly

encourage your continued support.

Jill Ramsay

PRINCIPAL’S NOTES:

SPORTS NEWS

Linkletter Page 2

CANTEEN

DAY & DATE NAMES

Tuesday 10th June P Hill

Wednesday 11th June V Galea; N Peerman

Thursday 12th June E West; R Harper

Friday 13th June S McLaren; T Forbes; F Davies

ROSTER

NEW ITEM IN THE CANTEEN:

Unibic Gingerbread Babies – 10c each or 25g pack for 60c

VOLUNTEERS ARE URGENTLY NEEDED for the 1st or 4th Wednesday and from Term 3, the 4th Thursday of the month. If you are able to help out once a month 9am to 11.45am on any of these days, or can put your name on our emergency list, please contact me in the canteen with your details or if you have any questions about what is involved when you volunteer in the canteen. I am available Tuesday to Friday 8.30am to 1.30pm (I am not always able to chat Fridays until we have finished

preparing the lunches).

Look out for the Roman Holiday Feast Special Lunch flyers early next week.. This will be held over two days: Preps to 2’s will be on Wednesday, 25th June and Grades 3-6 will be on Thursday, 26th June (this is the last week of term 2). Please note that no other lunch orders can be ordered over these two days for any

grades but normal lunch orders will be available on Friday 27th - the last day of term.

All orders must be back by 9am, Friday 20th June & please make sure the name, grade & choice of pizza has been completed before sending it back. A heads up that if

you forget to choose your pizza you will get Margherita!

Thanks, Suzi Cunningham

HOUSE ATHLETICS SPORTS RE-SCHEDULED

The House Athletics Sports was cancelled due to the inclement weather and re-scheduled to Thursday 12th June at Meadow

Glenn track for gr 3-6 students. Arrangements will remain the same on the day. Parental assistance is required, if you are

able to assist please contact David Blackburn at the school.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE FOOTBALL TRIALS Congratulations to Gr 6 student Liam M who has been selected as one of the final 42 Victorian

Primary aged footballers to try out at the 2 day State Training Camp to be held at Carey Gram-

mar this weekend. From this camp the final 23 footballers will be selected to represent the big V

in Sydney. We wish Liam all the best.

STATE PRIMARY SCHOOLS TENNIS TOURNAMENT

Congratulations to Gr 6 student Artie L who competed in the State

Primary Schools Tennis Tournament on Monday. Artie performed ex-

tremely well to win 2 out of his 3 matches in the round robin competi-

tion.

SPORT THIS WEEK

GK DARKS vs Laurimer T ( Home )

GK LIGHTS vs Sacred Heart ( away )

David Blackburn

Linkletter Page 3

Cari Genitori (Dear Parents),

Our annual Italian culture celebration will be held Week 9, Term 2, another exciting week of activities for children in Prep to Year 6.

This year’s main events are:

Special assembly: Thursday June 19th

at 2.10p.m It would be wonderful if all children could dress up on this day in either the Italian colours of Verde (Green), Bianco (White) and Rosso (Red) or something typically Roman; a toga, gladiator or an emperor. For the more creative types a typical Roman landmark could include; il colosseo (colosseum), la Fontana di trevi (Trevi fountain), the Pantheon or even Mt Vesuvius!

Spectacular Spettacolo will be opening our assembly with a wonderful song from their show.

Winners of the Italian Family Trivia Quiz on the Italian BLOG will also be announced and prizes and certificates award-ed to the students who answer correctly. (Questions will go up a week prior to the event).

Spectacular Spettacolo will perform “Vacanze Romane” to children in Grades 5- 6 on Thursday 19th

June. Students will be engaged in this interactive show as they become a part of “Roman Holidays”.

Shared activities will be organised by class teachers at each grade level.

The canteen are providing a pizza, gelato and Italian biscuits for lunch in Week 10 (a separate note will follow)

IDEAS FOR DRESS-UPS:

Italy is probably the country with the richest artistic heritage in the world. Everywhere you go there are museums and art galleries, but above all monuments, ruins and buildings, a living testimony of an incredibly rich past. Italian artistic influence spans over 30 centuries, from the Etruscans to nowadays and has embraced every branch of the arts – painting, sculpture, architecture, ceramics, music, cinema, literature etc…- It is impossible to list all the famous buildings and all the famous artists. Works of art include: the Leaning Tower of Pisa (the world’s most recognizable landmark), the Colosseum and Leo-nardo’s famous painting of the ‘Mona Lisa’ .

FAMILY ITALIAN TRIVIA QUIZ

Make sure you check the Italian BLOG to answer questions with your family. Submit your answers online by June 16th. Correct answers will win an ITALIAN prize pack awarded at the special assembly on Thursday June 19th at 2.10p.m.

There will be a winner selected from Grades P-2, Grades 3/4 and Grades 5/6.

Be in it to win it. Buon Divertimento. Enjoy your Italian day ragazzi! Sandra Portaro (Italian teacher)

Whole School Italian Day Celebration

Week 9, Term 2

Linkletter Page 4

In addition to our classroom and home reading expectations, our goal is to extend

opportunities to all children to provide a structure to read aloud to an adult, daily

at school. Parents, grandparents and other adult family members are welcome.

As a helper in this partnership, what could you be doing?

reading with individual students

listening to individual students read

assisting students to choose and change ‘take home ‘ books

chatting briefly about the book: the story; the characters; the illustrations

prompting children while reading

encouraging children to read with expression

We would love to be ready to go by term 3, so please consider a weekly or fortnightly

commitment. Please complete the slip below and return to your classroom teacher by

Friday June 13, 2014. ...............................................................................................................................................................................

Name: ______________________Child’s Name: __________________ Grade: ____

I am willing to help in my child’s classroom / any other classroom. I am able to help

weekly / fortnightly. (Please circle).

Please indicate availability below.

Session

1

8.45am

Session

2

9.30am

Session

3

10.20am

Session

4

12.00pm

Session

5

12.50pm

Session

6

2.00pm

Monday

Tues-

day

Wednes

day

Thurs-

day

Friday

GKabulous Art Show 2014 It is with great enthusiasm and excitement that we announce that this year’s GKabulous Arts Show will be held on

Thursday 28th August, 2014

At the moment students are busily preparing and creating artworks which will be retained to exhibit during the

event. To coincide with this celebration of the Arts we have also been very fortunate to appoint an artist in resi-

dence. Debbi Qadri will be working with myself and all the grade 5 and 6 students in terms two and three. We hope

to create a ceramic and mosaic installation which will be put onto the brick walkway between the administration

building and 6W’s classroom. Debbi is an experienced ceramicist and teacher. She has worked on numerous school

and community projects. These can be viewed on her blog at

http://mosaicprojectsbydebbieqadri.blogspot.com.au/

Please add this date to your diaries and family calendars and stay tuned for more information.

Nadia Cosma and The Arts Team

SCHOLASTIC BOOKCLUB

Catalogues for Issue 4 have been distributed to students this week. If wishing to place an order, please complete order form and return with payment to school in a sealed envelope which is labelled BOOKCLUB and includes the student's Name and Grade.

Delivery is approximately two weeks after the closing date.

Linkletter Page 5

Artist in Residence The Year Five and Six students have been working with the artist Debbi Qadri to create a spectacular clay and mosaic installation for the wall along

the walkway between Mrs Whelan room and the administration building. This project is going to be called “Footprints Our Planet”. Debbi has

worked at many schools and on community projects doing clay and mosaic work. At GK Debbi is going to install at least fifty different sized circular

murals made collaboratively by the senior school students. The circles are going to be linked with clay footprints. The theme for this project is the dif-

ferent aspects of our environment, such as the animals, plants, seasons and weather patterns. Debbi will also be here for our GKabulous Art Show in

August, where she will be assembling the murals.

This week in Art we made a start on our mural with our Artist in Residence, Debbi Qadri. Students worked either by themselves or in small groups of

between two and six people. Each group was required to draw a scaled plan of what their part of the mural would include. Debbie encouraged us to

use a range of ideas, such as animals, landmarks, titles etc… When our plans were completed it was time to start on our clay work. Debbie explained

some techniques on how to make our work look life like and showed us how to join clay. She helped us capture important characteristics of Australian

wildlife which then allowed us to start creating beautiful low relief clay sculptures. Debbie will continue to work with all the grade five and six students

in week ten of this term and she will be assembling the mural in term three.

By Rhiannon Rowse and Brooke Kandell - Art Captains

Follow this link to see more of Debbi’s work http://mosaicprojectsbydebbieqadri.blogspot.com.au/

INCENTIVE PROGRAM

Linkletter Page 6

This years' major PFA fundraiser is a Cadbury Chocolate Drive. A carry box of fundraising chocolates will be

sent home with the eldest child from each family TODAY. Families are asked to sell one box of assorted Cad-

bury Freddo frog chocolates. There are 50 assorted Freddos in a box valued at $1 each. The Chocolate Drive

will run for 3 weeks with all money collected and unsold chocolate due back by Thursday the 26th of June.

Payment by cash, cheque (Glen Katherine Primary School) or credit card (payment slip sent home with choco-

lates).

For each full box sold, and money returned, your family's name will be entered into a weekly prize draw at as-

sembly each Monday. At the conclusion of the Chocolate Drive there will be a MAJOR prize draw at assembly

on Monday 14th July of

1st Prize - $200 Myers Voucher

2nd Prize - $100 Myers Voucher

3rd Prize - $100 Myers Voucher

If you have sold and returned money for a complete carry box of chocolates and could sell another please con-

tact me or the school office.

Incentive selling: 1 box = 1 entry, 2 boxes = 3 entries, 3 boxes = 6 entries, 4 boxes = 10 entries, and so on.

Thank you in advance for your support in this fundraiser for our school.

Any queries please contact or Bridget Ramaekers 0407 243 024. HAPPY SELLING!

THE CHOCOLATES ARE HERE!

Please look out for our page on the GK Website which provides you with all the information you need, and direct links

to each of these companies.

If you have any further queries, please contact Carol Kovacic of the PFA on 0407 367 318.

HAVE YOU BEEN SHOPPING ONLINE LATELY?? DO YOU NEED NEW LABELS?? HAVE YOU LINKED

YOUR AUSSIE FARMERS ACCOUNT TO GK?? DO YOU NEED WARM CLOTHES FOR WINTER FROM

REBEL??

DON’T FORGET our PFA Incentive Program and remember the $$$ you spend will help raise funds for

our school.

The PFA has registered Glen Katherine Primary School with the following organisations to increase our fundraising

opportunities:

Linkletter Page 7

COMMUNITY NEWS

The Department of Education & Early Childhood Development and this school do not endorse the products or services of any private advertiser or notice contained in this

Newsletter. No responsibility is accepted by the Department of Education & Early Childhood Development or this school for the accuracy of information contained in ad-

vertisements or claims made by them.

Would you like to provide a cultural experience, whilst at the

same time enrich your family life?

LONG TERM HOMESTAY ACCOMMODATION

WANTED

Warrandyte High School’s International Student Program is grow-

ing

and we have a need for caring families to provide suitable Long

Term “Homestay”

accommodation for international students between 15-18 years.

Payment rate $260.00 per week.

If you are interested, please ring our Assistant Principal,

Pamela Dunstall on 9844 2749 or email of-

fice@warrandytehigh.vic.edu.au