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Wishing everyone a safe and relaxing Christmas, New Year AND Winter Break!

Thank you to everyone for their support over the past six months - the next six months will be exciting as we take ourselves up to the next level and ready for 4th grade. Many thanks for the gifts and cards received - they are most appreciated and the children have been delightful when giving them to me.

Can I suggest that a plentiful supply of books, plus writing about where, what and who your family has been involved with over the Break will be fantastic for starting point for the return to school.

We have talked about goals for the next Semester - making sure we have written down goals that are SPECIAL to OURSELVES, making sure that they are also goals that we CAN ACHIEVE.

Enjoy the break and see everyone in 2011.

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MORE CHRISTMAS MARKET  NEWS!!!!


Christmas Land    by Sonya, Olivia, Izak and Kenneth

Our group's name is Christmas Land and we are Olivia, Sonya, Izak and Kenneth. We were selling edible wreaths ( made out of cornflakes)  and Christmas ornaments. At first we had some problems in deciding our products. We thought of gingerbread men, Christmas mailboxes, advent calendar and cookies too. But then at the end we decided on the wreaths and the ornaments.  The price for both the products was 50cents, but later on we had to reduce the price to 20 cents for the ornaments and the wreaths to 40 cents.
Izak was very nervous because the group next door had a very interesting product to sell, but we sold ALL our products. we were very happy when we worked out with Mrs Preston that we had made a profit.

We had so much fun, that we would love to do this again.

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EAFT

Firss, we thought of a Chirstmas title for our group and then we decided to use our initials - Estefania, Agnes, Francesco, Thomas  - E.A.F.T. !
We were looking at christmas ideas in books and Estefania found the Christmas tree idea. When we went into the 4th Graders to ask them questions we showed the picture of the trees, some people thought it would be good, when Thomas asked the 4th Graders all said YES!
Thomas said his Mum had a good receipe for brownies and we all agreed on them. Thomas made a batch of brownie and brought them to school, we tasted them and thought they were yummy and delicious . Francesco was sick so he was disappointed he missed out.  He also didn't think it was a good idea making the christmas trees because for him it was a little hard.  They were hard to make, we tried doing some things but it was tricky, people gave us ideas so we could make them easier.
we went down to the Porta Cabin with Ms van Campen( Francesco was here this time, it was kind of easy to make the Brownies, MUCH EASIER THAN THE CHIRSTMAS TREES.
On the Market day the 4th graders were surprised when they saw the Christmas trees with gummy bears inside and they bought them after they had a quick look at other stalls.

The Christmas trees sold out first, the Brownies nearly sold out until Estefania bought the LAST Brownie and shared it with Agnes " It was yummy in our tummies" at the end we bought some things from other classes too.

Latest Parent News

December 17, 2010

Dear Parents,

Thank you for all your support this year. Here are some final messages before we break up for Winter. This letter can also be found on the classroom blogs.

Frauenhaus: Thank you for your generous support. On Thursday, a representative from this organization received all our gifts. She again expressed her appreciation to the ISD community for caring. This year we will build on this initiative with the help of one of our parents. At regular intervals, we will send all our lost property to Frauenhaus and collect women's clothing too. More information about this will be provided in due course.

Bike Stands: When we return from the Winter Break, we will have a new place to park our bicycles. All the bike stands will be moved so that they stand under the cover of the front of the school building. Apart from the fact that this will keep everything dry, it is a necessary change in preparation for all the upcoming work on the Elementary School Extension. This project will commence on the March 7^th, during Ski Week.

Report Card Changes: Thank you to everyone who was able to join Mrs. Coffey earlier this month. She provided a snapshot of the professional development the teachers recently received as well as an overview and explanation of the newly formatted report card. The feedback we received was extremely positive.

Conference Reminder: Finally, please remember that our next day of scheduled conferences is on February, Thursday 3^rd. These are different to the Student Led Conferences that were held in November. These are adult to adult conferences to discuss student progress, and they are scheduled a week after you receive the report cards.

Thank you again for all your support during this semester. May I also take a moment to thank everyone for all the personal words of kindness I have received in the past few weeks since my family's upcoming move was announced. I wish you all an enjoyable and peaceful Winter Break.

Warm regards,

Alan Lorenzini

Elementary Principal

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Today we have written about our Christmas Market experiences for the blog, we hope you like our photos too. All the children were delighted that many parents were able to come along, one girl said her Mum talked about it "all the home, I had to go to my room to have a rest!"

The Four Rindeers                 Rebecca, Yuma, Lenni & Brooke.

We are "The Four reindeers" who sold Squishies and Cookies at the Christmas market. Our group members are rebecca, lenni, Yuma and Brooke. It was great fun because we had a good time making the squishies and the cookies. But it was also hard to make all our product. we never imagined that we would sell everything in only a few minutes.

We had BIG squishies ans small squishies. We sold the BIG  squishies for 50 cents and the small ones for 20 cents.  we all took part in selling our products. rebecca was selling, Yuma was handling the money, Brooke handed out "Thank you" cards and Lenni gave out little pictures of reindeers as an advertiement of our stall. Some of us thought that it eas a  little bit scary in the beginning and then it wasn't so bad! The fourth graders came to buy from us.

We had a good day and had 40 euros and 83 cents in our money tin at the end.

The Marketers        by Matthew, Philip, Alex and Gabrielle

We were The Marketers and we had pinecone ornaments and marshmallow snowmen. we did sell out1 the first thing to selll out was the marshmallow snowmen. The pinecones took some time. the way we sold out tht pinecones was 3 for 20c, and to make one it cost us 29c! But we still had the profit, because we managed to sell everything. we though our prices were cheap and so did the fourth graders. some of us think that the market was fun but also some think it was not because we also had to answer so many questions from the parents and the fourth graders about the products.

 










The Reindeers.      Jules, Sanjiv, Natasha, Maxime and Hermann.

We felt it was fun and enjoyable because we were using real money and having to get the right change. It was hard when everyone was buying things and we were busy.
Most of the people liked the snowmen on "The Mrketers" stall, but our "Surprise Boxes" were popular on our stall. The boxes were popular because when people asked what was inside, we said" it is a surprise!". It was also tricky because we had a group with exactly the same cookies next to us. maxime was very excited when the fourth graders came in but because she was shy she went behind the board! 
Natasha said her Mum was really proud what she had done at the Christmas market.

Jules was very surprised that we sold out because he didn't think we were going to sell our things. We were the second group to sell out of our things. we were all happy with our effort on our stall and we were pleased we made a profit too!

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group name: E.A.F.T. Group

In the last couple of weeks we have been making our products.  We have been making small decorated Christmas Trees and merry Christmas Brownies.  First we thought it was hard to make the small

decorated Christmas trees but then it became easier and we knew what to do.  Making the merry Christmas brownies was  much easier than we thought, and we had very fun doing both of the products! We were the 2nd stand to be sold out. The four Reindeers were sold out before  us.  We were sold out before the

5th graders came to buy from all the stores.We got alot of money because both of our products sold very good.  Estefania got to buy the last brownie and shared it with Agnes IT WAS YUMMY YUMMY IN OUR TUMMIES☺! All in all, we sold every single thing. And we had success. We had lots of  fun!

We also got to go to the other stalls and bought stuff!

                                                                                  Merry Christmas!

                                                                                                 E.A.F.T.

Estefania,Agnes,Francesco,Thomas.

                                                      

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Christmas Land   Olivia, Sonya, Kenneth, Izak

We have been making Paper Ornaments for the Christmas Tree and Christmas Wreaths we are going to make 35 ornaments and 30 wreaths.The Ornaments are very hard to make because we had to cut out the shapes anddecorate the shape + we had to put a hole though the wet glue.Wefound it hard to decide what we were going make becauseone of the ideas was a Christmas post box. We were planning tomake Advent Calendars but the fourth gradewould have to open 15 doors on one day + that doesn't make sense. Eventually we got the ornaments finished.

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The Reindeers      Hermann, Maxime, Natasha, Sanjiv, Jules.

We think we did very well with making the boxes. Now we are doing our cookies. It is very fun doing our cookies. It was hard to make the boxes because I thought we wouldn't be able to make them all because we had to put the glitter on them and stickers and put sweets inside them and stick them together. When we went to make the cookies the first time we made the dough and put it in the fridge and waited for one day. It was fun making the cookies because we got to lick the icing. It was funny when we were eating things because Sanjiv kept on saying stop eating.

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The Four Reindeers: Yuma,Brooke,Rebecca and Lenni
We have been working hard over these past few weeks on our Christmas Market. We are trying to make our stand attractive! It was hard to make the things because sometimes it got messy. We are working together so our Market will be good! We try to make our stand nice so people have fun and want to buy from us! It was fun working with Mrs.Rana and Mrs.Van Campen! We would love you to come to our stand to buy our products!

GERMAN

News from the German Natives Group

Liebe Eltern,

gerne möchte ich Ihnen einen Überblick über die Inhalte des Deutschunterrichts in den vergangenen Wochen geben. 

Wir haben eine Personenbeschreibung in Form eines Rätsels verfasst: „Wer kann das wohl sein?". Die Vorarbeiten beinhalteten die Sammlung von passenden Adjektiven und Hilfen zur Textgestaltung: Wie kann die Beschreibung interessant klingen, obwohl es sich im Wesentlichen um eine Aufzählung handelt? Die Sätze mussten unterschiedlich lang sein und die Wortstellung darin nicht immer gleich. Die Schüler schrieben eine Vor- und eine Reinschrift und malten ein Porträt der von ihnen beschriebenen Person. Die Texte wurden in einem Rätselbüchlein zusammengefasst und mit viel Spaß wurden die Porträts den Beschreibungen zugeordnet.

Traditionsgemäß haben wir zu Sankt Martin eine Laterne gebastelt und in der Assembly mit der ganzen Schule Martinslieder gesungen. Im Deutschunterricht haben wir eine Geschichte von Sankt Martin und dem Bettler gelesen, die in einer sehr schönen, anspruchsvolleren Sprache verfasst war. Wir haben schöne, ungewöhnliche oder neue Ausdrücke aus der Geschichte gesammelt, Bedeutungen geklärt und einige dieser Ausdrücke in eigenen Sätzen verwendet. Zum Abschluss wurde die Geschichte von den Schülern abschnittsweise ausdrucksvoll vorgetragen.

Nach dem Basteln der Laterne haben wir einen Text geschrieben, in dem wir den Vorgang des Basteln beschrieben haben. Hiervon ausgehend wurde der Begriff der Zeitform „Perfekt" eingeführt.  Es wurden spielerische Übungen zur Wiederholung und Unterscheidung der Wortarten durchgeführt und auch die zum Verb gehörenden Begriffe  „Präsens" bzw. „Gegenwart" eingeführt.

Nach wie vor beginnen wir den Unterricht mit einigen Minuten des freien Lesens. Das  Antolin-Leseprogramm wird weiterhin von uns genutzt.

Bei Fragen sehe ich wie immer gerne zur Verfügung. Bitte kontaktieren Sie mich über meine bekannte Schul-Email-Adresse.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Sabine Laute

Grade 3 German Natives Teacher

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Christmas Traditions in many parts of the world.....

Alex brought along a Christmas CD for us to enjoy, whilst we have been working on our products for the Christmas Market. Many of  the songs are about snowmen, snow or reindeer but Christmas in Australia is generally VERY hot ranging from 20 degrees Celsius (78 F) to over 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) in some parts.
We shall share about our traditions at Christmas time over the next week, here is a song children love to sing in Australia.

This version of Jingle Bells is very appropriate to a typcially Aussie Christmas Day... Enjoy!

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1. Dashing through the bush in a rusty Holden ute,
Kicking up the dust, Esky in the boot,
Kelpie by my side, singing Christmas songs,
It's summer time and I am in my singlet, shorts and thongs.

chorus
Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells jingle all the way,
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summer's day,
Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut,
Oh what fun it is to ride in a dusty Holden ute.

2. Engine's getting hot, we dodge the kangaroos,
The swaggie climbs aboard, he is welcome too.
All the family is there, sitting by the pool,
Christmas day in the Aussie way, by the Bar-b-cue. Oh!

3. Come the afternoon grandpa has a doze,
The kids and Uncle Bruce are swimming in their clothes,
The time comes round to go, we take a family snap,
And pack the car and all shoot through
Before the washing up. Oh!

Elementary News

Please click on the link below to view our 1st Edition of the 'Elementary News'

http://voicethread.com/share/1590175/

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The Marketers
Matthew, Philip, Alex, Gabrielle.

We have been working very hard the last few weeks. Making pinecone ornaments and marshmallow snowmen. We think that our products are going to sell but we don't know. We tried to put our products as cheap as we could none of the products are a euro or over. We have finished all of our prducts and we are one step ahead. The price of the materials to make it costed more than we thought, the bags costed 8.00 and the other stuff all together costed 9.90. Gabrielle thought of a good idea we would always change jobs one job each. Philip was always the person who decorates because he is the artist. We thought that we were going to sprinkle glitter on the pinecone but philip got an idea that we should take a bag and put glitter in it then shake the bag. Alex was the one who thought of doing the marshmallow snowmen he got the idea from his brain and he knew  exactly how to make them. 

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The Grade 3.1  Christmas Market will be held on Wednesday 15th December, parents are invited to come along and look at the stalls about 9am - when children have time to make sure " all is right" - we shall be preparing the stalls fully on Tuesday afternoon, so there SHOULD not be much to do on Wednesday morning. 
The children would love you to buy something - however, the Market is JUST for the grade 4 children to purchase at - and ALL the children are hoping that THEIR products sell. 
ALL of the  "First Product"  have been prepared  - photos and comments by each group will be finalised and on the blog 10/12 ! I am sure you will all be impressed with the creativity and preparations done so far, as well as  the children  talking about the  challenges faced when  working out the price of their product.

How can you get to school ?

Parents we need some information please ..................

During our Maths time today ( 2/12) we were looking at a "double bar graph" which was showing how students went to these two schools- bicycle, bus, car or walking.
After we had sorted out our information and having a discussion on "why" students were using these forms  of transport, we started  sharing how students in othercountries went to school in different ways. In some parts of Australia they ride their horses, Olivia used to go by boat across the lake to school, Yuma tells us, Japanese students are "supposed"to walk .
Then we heard about how some parents used to have to get  to school. Kenneth's Mum used to go by sled in winter, Estefania's dad had to walk a long way each day because their family didn't have a car.

Can we read about how parents  came to school 'when they were young"!!  Please send us a "post"

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The CHRISTMAS MARKET is COMING........

A reflection on our first week of "Christmas Market" activities, excursion to Christmas Market in Dusseldorf; working our talents to be useful in the group;  thinking of a name for our groups; planning out our posters,Survey of Grade 4's; - it has been a very busy time.

We are also realising the challenge that WE are the people who are going to MAKE the crafts & food -  not our Mums !  WE need to ORGANISE the ingredients and materials needed to make our products, as well as PLAN our PRICES, and then PACKAGE them ready to sell.

Our photos show us asking the Grade 4's our questions.

Some thoughts we have written down after the first week.....

I feel confident ad that I trust my group, but I am also a bit scared because something will go wrong.
it's going to be hard to agree on a product.  I think for the food we should have food because everybody loves cookies!  ( Rebecca)

The Market was exciting because we saw lots of interesting things to see and I enjoyed asking all the questions in German. We got lots of ideas fir our group for example. decorations and products. We also found ideas in books, for example decorations.(Natasha).

Before I started the Christmas Market Unit I did not know about the 4P's. i fell nervous and happy.(Brooke)

I do not feel 100% sure for the market. ( Izak)

The first week of Christmas market my talentd are writing and Maths. I thought about my products, I am feeling confident and excited. It is getting kind of hard but easy. ( Matthew)

 

On Thursday we went to the Christmas Market. I don't think those sellers will have as much success as us! If brownies and miniature decorated christmas trees get enough votes then my Mum's brownie recipe is in the oven!  (Thomas)

States of Matter

Our Unit 2 is based on the discovery of "Matter".

Learning all about measuring the Perimeter of objects