We had some very close preliminary finals today! Congratulations to the Shooting AFL Stars and AFL Superstars who have a rest next week, and are through to the Semi Finals. Next week’s quarter finals matches are:

Silver Skulls vs Organised Math Workers
Math Monkeys vs Math Darts

The rest of the teams will play in practise matches next week, ready for the semi finals. Good luck!

Here is a comic about our camp to Phillip Island last week. Click on the pages to enlarge them. Keep an eye out on Friday when the students will publish the comics they have made!

Coming up in Week 10 we will be having two whole school AFL activities. These are on the two last days of term. There is more information about these on the poster below.

Yesterday students took home the WOW Newsletter for after camp. You can download it below.

As we have been on camp, this fortnight we included a copy of our group photo from camp instead of a piece of work. Enjoy!

Here is our homework for Weeks 8 and 9, and so the last homework for this term. For the literacy task, you will need to start thinking about the whole school “What I want to be when I grow up” dress up day on Friday, September 10.

Homework – Weeks 8 and 9, Term 3

The article below is from the school newsletter and contains informtion about understanding and developing your child’s reading strategies.

Why is it important for my child to read?

The ability to read is vital. It paves the way to success in school, which can build self-confidence and motivate your child for life. People read for many reasons:

• for pleasure and interest
• for work
• to obtain information that will help them make choices and decisions
• to understand directions (such as those on street signs and in recipe books)
• to learn about the world
• to keep in touch with family and friends

How will my child learn to read?

Learning to read does not happen all at once. It involves a series of stages that lead, over time, to independent reading and to fluency. The best time for children to start learning to read is when they are very young, usually at the kindergarten level. This is when they are best able to start developing basic reading skills. The stages involved in learning to read are listed below.

1.  The pre-reader and the beginning reader:

• likes to look at books and likes to be read to
• likes to behave like a reader – for example, holds books and pretends to read them
• learns about words by looking at picture books and playing with blocks that have letters on them,      magnetic letters, and so on
• learns about words from songs, rhymes, traffic signs, and logos on packages of food
• learns how text works – for example, where a story starts and finishes and which way the print proceeds
• begins to understand that his or her own thoughts can be put into print
• uses pictures and memory to tell and retell a story

2.  The emerging reader:

• is ready to receive instructions about reading
• learns that text is a common way to tell a story or to convey information
• begins to match written words to spoken words and to perceive relationships between sounds and letters
• begins to experiment with reading, and is willing to try to say words out loud when reading simple texts
• finds the pictures helpful in understanding the text, and learns that the words convey a message         consistent with the pictures

3.  The early reader:

• develops more confidence and uses a variety of methods, such as relying on visual cues, to identify words in texts
• adapts his or her reading to different kinds of texts
• recognises many words, knows a lot about reading, and is willing to try new texts

4.  The fluent reader:

• thinks of reading as a good thing and does it automatically
• uses a variety of methods to identify words and their meanings
• can read various kinds of texts and predict events in a story
• relates the meaning of books to his or her own experience and knowledge, and understands what is new

It takes time to pass through each of these stages, and your child will need plenty of time, attention and support as they moves through them. You can play a leading role in helping your child acquire the reading skills they need to succeed!

Stay tunned for ideas you can use in helping your child develop their reading skills.

What an amazing three day adventure camp was! It’s such a shame for it to be all over so soon, but I am sure there will be many years of memories for us all.

This weekend will no doubt be one of rest for most students as they slow down and their bodies realise how much they have done (except for those of you in Grand Finals this weekend – good luck!). You have no doubt heard about the wonderful experiences students had and all of the new activities they got to try (or, more likely, you got to hear about who was in their cabins and how many lollies they ate before breakfast!) Every day brought new challenges and surprises, and I was continually amazed by the way each and every member of our grade approached everything that they did. They were all willing to extend and challenge themselves and demonstrate how independent and mature they could be.

Activities such as the giant swing and flying fox encouraged students to take a risk. Nearly every student gave each of these activities a go, which was great to see. In the team rescue and low ropes courses, students had to show initiative and problem solve to complete the tasks. It was very interesting to see how students worked together to overcome these challenges, and how they applied and used the thinking skills and maths and logic knowledge they have gained in class. Down at the beach, as we fought off the rain we got to have a super sandcastle building competition where we saw some very interesting designs. We also completed a range of other activities including the rock climbing wall, archery, camp cooking and the Trivia Night.

This year more than 190 students and 20 staff made the journey to Phillip Island. Considering these large numbers, everyone worked together and helped to support one another. Many students had not been away from home before, and it is only natural to feel homesick, as we all do. While there were a few tears, it was great to see friends and classmates supporting each other as well as seek help from others when this happened. One of the things I will always remember about this camp will be of one student who went out of his way to help his friend who was upset and stuck in a not so pleasant situation. If only everyone had friends as caring and concerning as him!

Keep an eye on the blog over the next few weeks as we will be publishing a number of activities to do with camp including writing, videos, podcasts and many, many photos of our experiences. These may take us a few weeks to learn how to create and organise however. When we post our work, you may like to comment on what is written, or ask some questions to find out more information. The students get very excited when they see that their parents, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles have read and commented on what they have published.

Have a great weekend!

The Brainy Bunch at Smith’s Beach

Just a reminder for all students and parents that Athletics Day is next Tuesday, 31st August. We are sorry it has been rescheduled so many times but we are looking forward to the day – rain, hail or shine now!

The Athletics Day is for all students in grades 4-6. Grade 3’s will get their chance next year, just like the grade fours had to wait in 2009. Grade 4’s, don’t forget to wear your team colours and bring plenty of healthy snacks and water to drink for the day.

The following information is from the creators of Mathletics and Spellodrome, about the Maths and Spelling Challenges that will be running next Tuesday and Wednesday. While we will not have time to undertake these challenges in class, you may like to participate at home.

The countdown has begun! We are excited to present the Commonwealth Bank Australian Maths Challenge, the national lead up event to World Maths Day 2011. This will be an exciting couple of days as we celebrate numeracy with Australian students as part of National Literacy & Numeracy Week. There are also some cool prizes available, courtesy of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

As the students of Berwick Fields Primary School already have access to Mathletics, they are automatically registered to participate in the Challenge. Therefore, all they need to do is log in to the Challenge website with their Mathletics usernames and passwords next Tuesday and Wednesday. If students don’t have existing Mathletics accounts then they will need to be registered.

The Challenge officially begins at 8:00am Tuesday 31 August and ends at 10:00pm on Wednesday 1 September. Each day will have a different focus on how points are collated for the Challenge Hall of Fame.

• Tuesday 31 August – Curriculum Mathletics
• Wednesday 1 September – Live Mathletics

More information on the challenge format can be found at www.mathletics.com.au/challenge.

N.B. There’s more! Your students are also automatically registered for the Australian Spelling Challenge, which takes place on Thursday 2 September. They can access the Challenge using the same usernames and passwords. For more information go to www.spellodrome.com.au/challenge. You will notice that as part of this, your students will have access to Spellodrome over the next couple of weeks.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Best wishes!

Commonwealth Bank Australian Maths Challenge Team
Australian Spelling Challenge Team
www.mathletics.com.au/challenge
www.spellodrome.com.au/challenge