Newsletter Term 1 Week 5 - Arcadia Valley State School

Five weeks down, five to go! It’s hard to believe that half of the term has gone already. So far this term, students
have learnt a lot about reading, spelling, writing stories, counting, adding, subtracting, multiplication, shapes, life
cycles, environments, adaptations and plenty more. These new skills will be further developed in the coming
weeks as well as a whole range of other concepts. It has been great to see the continual enthusiasm by all
students and staff.
This week, the AGM for our P&C was held in our school library. I am pleased to announce the executive committee
for 2014 P&C is as follows.
President– Jamie Peters
Vice-President– Claude Sylvester
Treasurer– Brigid Price
Secretary– Anna Sylvester
It was great to see other staff, parents and community members present at the meeting. Thank you Sigrid Peters,
Owen Price and Amber-Lee Donahoo. It would be great to see their attendance continue throughout the year.
Having additional personnel contributing towards the P&C meetings is always beneficial. Other community
members are encouraged to attend P&C meetings across the year.
During the P&C meeting, I presented the idea of going on a school camp to ‘The Retreat’ in Peregian Beach on the
beautiful Sunshine Coast. Sigrid Peters was able to elaborate on the details and the P&C were very supportive.
Due to large cost associated with this camp, the school and P&C will hold a range of fundraising events across the
year to reduce the costs to families. Please keep your eye out for these events and support our school.
Thank you to Miss Amanda for taking the class for the occasional day which has enabled Miss Sigrid and myself to
develop our school plans for the year. Our improvement plan and school budget for 2014 has now been complete.
Miss Sigrid has also been in Roma for most of this week attending a range of professional development.
AVSS is looking forward to participating in the Small Town Culture with Josh Arnold. Please read page 6 for more
information. We would love for the community to get involved with project when it begins.
Bon voyage Chris and Elisa. We wish you all the best back in Brisbane. We hope that you make it back out here
one day.
Regards,
Mr Jeremy Donahoo
PAGE 2
Arcadia Spirit
Happy Birthday Miss Sigrid!
The Arcadia Spirit award winners for this fortnight are listed below.
Weeks 4 & 5
Term 1 2014
March
 7th– Swimming
 14th– Parade &
Newsletter
 18th– P&C Meeting
 21st– Swimming
 28th– Parade &
Newsletter
Be an active learner
Brody Sylvester
Be respectful
Maddy Price
Be responsible
Brody Sylvester
Be safe
Rob Price
Arcadia Spirit of the
week
Brody Sylvester
Next P&C Meeting
April




4th– Last day of School
18th– Good Friday
22nd– Term 2 begins
25th– Anzac Day
18th March at 3:15pm in the
school library. Parents and
community members are
welcome. Please come and
support our fantastic school.
May




13th– NAPLAN
14th– NAPLAN
15th– NAPLAN
19th– Teaching &
Learning Audit
Arcadia Valley SS and its
community hope you had a
fantastic day!
Last fortnights award winners
I just want to wish you well
Congratulations to the
soon-to-be-newly weds,
Rowan and Maddie!
Live long and prosper!
Homework
Homework is due every
day. Students are to read
and practise sightwords
with parents and learn their
weekly spelling words.
Have you seen your child’s
homework today?
Mummies and kiddies catch up
Mums and bubs playgroup 9am Monday
the 3rd of March (held fortnightly). Meet in
the community hall for a bear hunt
obstacle course. Bring some morning tea to
share. All are welcome. See you there!
Award winners
Our class award winners are:
Weeks 4 & 5
Busy Bee
Awards
Brody Sylvester
Riley Sylvester
Does you Arcadia Kitchen Rule???
Calling all keen cooks… seeking expressions of interest to be a part of our own
friendly cooking competition in Arcadia Valley. The groups would be 4 teams of 2
plus 2 guest judges. It would be required to host a dinner party with an entrée,
main and dessert for your 8 guests. Each meal would be judged out of 10 by the
surprise judges and then each attending team would give an overall score out of
10. Sound like fun?? That is about as much detail as I have come up with so far,
but I am sure we can work out some great prizes to be taken home by the
winners. Contact Sigrid if you are interested. PH: 46267177 or
[email protected]
PAGE 3
Term 1 2014
March
 7th– Swimming
 14th– Parade &
Newsletter
 18th– P&C Meeting
 21st– Swimming
 28th– Parade &
Newsletter
April




4th– Last day of School
18th– Good Friday
22nd– Term 2 begins
25th– Anzac Day
Community Garden Update
Operation 'Community Garden' has commenced with
the Sylvester and Peters families generously donating
soil and manure for the garden beds. Thank you! We
also owe a very big thank you to Jamie Peters and Brigid
Price for providing the bobcat and labour to dig some
holes and remove the old garden bed.
During Technology lessons, students have investigated
and discussed how to create a sustainable vegetable
garden. Based on their findings, they have designed the
community garden that is being constructed.
Students have been learning about the abiotic
(non-living) factors that contribute to the quality
of plant growth, with a particular focus on soil
quality. To aid with improving the quality of the
soil in the garden beds, students have been
composting their food scraps all term in our new
compost bin. Our aim is to have a sustainable
organic fertilising system for our community
garden, as well as guiding our students towards
environmentally friendly practices regarding
waste.
We are excited to see how our community
garden develops over the coming weeks. There
is still time to get involved - the AVSS staff and
students would love to share this experience
with you! If you have knowledge in either
irrigation or gardening we would love to hear from you!
PAGE 4
Craft Corner with Miss Amanda
As many of you might know I love to scrapbook and am a little bit crafty. So I
decided that I would share some of my crafty ideas and fun with the community
every fortnight in the newsletter. My first idea I found a little while ago on
Pintrest and it is not really crafty but it is definitely fun for the kids and all the
materials can be found lying around your house.
Term 1 2014
How to make a Rainbow Bubble Snake:
What you need:
March
An empty water bottle
 7th– Swimming
 14th– Parade &
Duct tape or a rubber band
Newsletter
 18th– P&C Meeting
 21st– Swimming
 28th– Parade &
Newsletter
A sock that is missing its match
Dish soap
A shallow container (breakfast bowl or similar)
April




4th– Last day of School
18th– Good Friday
22nd– Term 2 begins
25th– Anzac Day
Food colouring.
1.Cut the bottom off of the water bottle.
2.Slide the sock over the end of the bottle and
secure it with either the duct tape or rubber
band.
3. Pour some dish soap in the shallow container
with a little water and mix.
4.Dip the sock covered bubble blower into the
solution and gently blow.
5. Now to make the bubbles look like a rainbow
snake add a few drops of each colour food
colouring you want onto the sock and let the fun
begin.
It will be messy but a lot of fun! Just make sure your kids blow into the bubble
blower and not suck air in…they will get a mouthful of bubbles if they do.
Visit http://www.housingaforest.com/ for more fun ideas to keep your kids
entertained! I have this page bookmarked on my computer at home. I just love
it.
Health and Physical Education Update
In Health last week with Mr Cant at Injune the children continued to learn about
water safety in and about their local area. They looked at rules for different
places that they can swim and who made and enforced these rules. During the
swimming lesson the students worked towards strengthening their strokes,
everyone is improving we can see the difference already. In the afternoon
swimming session the students looked at the best ways to conserve their
strength when they are in trouble in the water. They started to learn the basics
of floating, what objects make the best floatation devices and the best way to
use them. They tried out a number of objects including balls, kick boards and
water noodles. When they were not in the pool the children were working on
their ball handling skills under the big covered area.
PAGE 5
Term 1 2014
March
 7th– Swimming
 14th– Parade &
Newsletter
 18th– P&C Meeting
 21st– Swimming
 28th– Parade &
Newsletter
April




4th– Last day of School
18th– Good Friday
22nd– Term 2 begins
25th– Anzac Day
Sig’s Fit Bitz
Water…Are you drinking enough water each day?
It was so hard for me to decide what to write about this week… where do I start,
there is so much information I want to share. But I figured water is probably the
most important nutrient we can give to our bodies so this topic is up first. Water
helps cleanse and hydrate your entire system; as well as help maintain normal
temperature. It also helps to cushion and lubricate joints and protects spinal cord
and sensitive tissues. We cannot live without water and so many people just
forget to drink it…
Your first challenge…. Aim for 2L of water a day – 3L if you perform large amounts
of physical activity during the day in the sun. If you are not accustomed to
drinking lots of water, initially you will feel bloated and be needing toilet breaks
regularly however this will pass once your body reaches the right amount of
hydration – enjoy!
Footy Tipping
Is anyone interested in running or being involved in an NRL footy tipping comp
this season? Please contact Mr D if you are keen!
PAGE 6
Term 1 2014
March
 7th– Swimming
 14th– Parade &
Newsletter
 18th– P&C Meeting
 21st– Swimming
 28th– Parade &
Newsletter
April




4th– Last day of School
18th– Good Friday
22nd– Term 2 begins
25th– Anzac Day
Roma Cluster Small Town Culture
(Josh Arnold Music Workshops)
2014 - 2015
Josh Arnold is a singer/songwriter and ex-teacher aide, who has worked with a
number of schools and communities in western Queensland under his label, Small
Town Culture. Working with students from Prep to Year 12, songs are written &
produced for CD’s, YouTube clips, and for school and community concerts. Josh
works with students from culturally diverse and Indigenous backgrounds,
encourages school engagement and attendance and connects with students. Josh
delivers workshops, acts as a mentor, and helps to foster pride in school and pride
in community. Josh’s work has seen students grow in confidence in all areas of
their school and personal lives.
Josh has received funding from the USQ Schools Engagement Team as part of their
University Participation and Partnerships Program (UPPP), Schools Partner
Program in 2013. The USQ Schools Team has engaged Josh Arnold to work with
schools in western Queensland in 2014/15, to continue to strengthen his work in
local schools and communities. Schools have also sourced RREAP (Rural & Remote
Education Access Program) funding and contributed school funds.
From August to November 2014, Josh will work with students within the school
communities of Roma (Roma State College & St John’s), Wallumbilla, Yuleba, Surat,
Bymount East, Arcadia Valley, Injune, Mitchell (Mitchell State School & St
Patrick’s), Mungallala and Dunkeld. Over 2000 students will be involved in the
joint production of a “Roma Cluster Small Town Culture” album featuring 12-15
songs with some video clips. Filming & rehearsals will be held from Feb-March
2015. This album will be launched at 2015 Easter in the Country with Josh and our
students being a part of the main entertainment, a concert not to be missed!
Evidence of the work of Josh and Small Town Culture can be seen in:
Small Town Culture website:
http://www.smalltownculture.com/index.html
Small Town Culture Facebook site:
https://www.facebook.com/SmallTownCulture?ref=hl
Small Town Culture You Tube site:
http://www.youtube.com/user/SmallTownCulture?feature=watch
The following link showcases the work of Small Town Culture across a number of
schools in a show reel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAQwsIyAkEU