Blue Gum News 11 Hope Road Bibra Lake WA 6163

Phone: 9417 4060 Email: enrolments@bluegummontessori.wa.edu.au

Page 1 Volume 10, Issue 16 17 October 2013

Important Dates to Remember

22nd Oct 2013 Open Evening—Tuesday 7.30pm to 9.30pm in Mallee

23rd Oct 2013 Emergency Evacuation

24th Oct 2013 World Teachers Day

30th Oct 2013 Snake Alert Drill

30th Oct 2013 Parent Evening—Planes/Cycles of Development—Wed 7.30pm

Frivolous, Fun and Final Term 4

Welcome back to the fourth term of 2013 – the finale of a fun filled year that has been full of chal-

lenges, success and the inevitable mistakes. As I have been known to say, if you are not making mis-

takes you cannot be learning and Blue Gum is all about learning.

Our grateful thanks to the parents who brushed up the school at the Busy Bee. It is always lovely to

come back to a sparkling clean school.

One of the term events in the Melbourne Cup Hat Parade. The race that ‘stops the nation.’ In prepar-

ing the activity board for the children’s challenge on the Melbourne Cup I discovered that the Mel-

bourne Cup history is older than the gold rush, the establishment of Qantas, the first public perfor-

mance of ‘ Waltzing Matilde’ and the production of the first Holden car. It is a race that reflects the

history of the country in the trophies from the hand beaten watch in 1861 to no trophies from 1868

to 1875. Subsequent trophies reflected the design features of the time ranging from Etruscan cups

to, horse figures, female and male figures, a golden horse shoe, tankards, tea and coffee sets to the

‘Loving Cup’ design of the 21st century.

To achieve a ‘golden horse shoe’ your children have a history and design challenge to complete and

we hope that they join us in the spirit of the day and create race day hats at home with you. On the

day the children will parade their hats; their teachers are preparing some chance and data activities

and the day will finish off with viewing of the race.

For the privilege of wearing their designer hats to school, the children are asked to bring a gold coin

donation for Princess Margaret Hospital for Children. This charity has been chosen by the staff; it is a

hospital that many children have needed at one time or another.

I am looking forward to seeing the children’s creations and excitement on the big day, Tuesday 5th

November.

Lee and Catherine will be presenting a parents evening on Wednesday 30th October – Planes of de-

velopment. They will be explaining why children do certain things at particular ages and the teachers

do particular things at certain times. Come and be informed and entertained!

The term will end with a Graduation Assembly on Thursday 19th December. I encourage you to join us

in wishing our graduates well as they move on to their high schools.

Janet

Blue Gum News Page 2 Volume 10, Issue 16 17 October 2013

Middle and Upper Primary Sports Day

The Sports Carnival was eagerily anticipated by Boab class. The children had completed les-

sons on what skills and attitudes were needed to be a good leader, a valuable team member,

how to lose and how to win gracefully and how to show support for your team.

The children were given different colour teams by Mike and Johno and the games began. The

Captains Josh R, Josh V, Conor, Hanzalah, Matt, Nathan, Noah, Anita and Grace (Co-captains)

and Amelia demonstrated amazing leadership and kindness to their teams.

All the children from Middle Primary and Upper Primary had a wonderful time participating in

every race, despite the torrential downpour at the very end.

Anita” I worked so hard before the Carnival, but sadly I was sick, so luckily Grace was there to

be the Captain on the day”

Grace” I am really proud, we did a great job without Anita, because she was ill”

Amelia: “I am so proud of my team, and that we were lucky to win and the other teams tried their

hardest”

Nathan: “ It was so much fun”.

Matt: “ It was a good and fun Sports Carnival”

Conor: “I am proud of my team even though we came eighth!”

Josh V: “ I think my team did really, really well because they listened to my instructions and they

were fast”

Noah: “I thought the Sports Carnival was great. I thought my team participated and listened re-

ally well”.

Hanzalah : “ I had lots of fun and my team worked really well together”

Sports’ Day, on the last day of Term 3 2013, turned out to be an exciting one for the Middle Pri-mary children. As every year they collaborated with the Upper Primary children to work as part of a team to compete in the various events. The children supported the others in their team, even though some were intensely fierce about winning. Overall the competition was friendly but completely enjoyable. The weather gods were very kind sending rain only at the very end!

Estella- I thought the sports carnival this year was first rate because participating in the baton relay was really fun.

Isabelle Clarenc- Running in the rain was pretty awesome

Ethan Sun- I got a lot of exercise that day!

Jayden- it was good as we did a lot of training before the sports day.

Leon- In the tug of war my team captain slipped and fell and I stepped forward and took over but I slipped and fell too and my team lost but it was still fun.

Fletcher- It was interesting as I saw stuff that I did not know was going to be there like the egg and spoon race and the jumping bags.

Blue Gum News Page 3 Volume 10, Issue 16 17 October 2013

Blue Gum News Page 4 Volume 10, Issue 16 17 October 2013

Woolworths Aussie Animals

We are collecting the Woolworths Aussie Animal cards to make up eleven sets for the

classrooms.

Two young men – Guiseppe and Joshua in Wandoo have taken responsibility for this

project.

Please drop your cards in at the office for them. Thank you

Blue Gum Montessori School 2013 Year Book

Melody, mother of Paula, and the staff have produced a beautiful memento of the thir-

ty years of Blue Gum’s history and in particular the children who attend the School in

this momentous year.

Every child appears in the book and often in several pages. Each class has their own

section, with photographs and text illustrating activities throughout the year; other pag-

es show sport, French and art, and there is a special section of the 30th birthday party.

All the illustrations are in glorious colour with quirky text and pictures.

The year book will be available from Monday 2nd December and will make a wonderful

gift for grandparents.

Orders can be placed with Shelly in the office. Each book will cost $35

Blue Gum News Page 5 Volume 10, Issue 16 17 October 2013

Your P & C needs you!

BBB Memories

If you enjoyed the BBB as much as we did, you’re bound to want a keepsake or two. How about some lovely pic-tures of your little ones having a blast with their friends? Our BBB roaming photographer Tom Dobrzanski has cre-ated some great images which are available for you to buy. Photos are on display in the BBB album in the office. Orders close November 1st. All proceeds will go towards paying for our BBB poster on display on the foyer notice boards. This poster will be donated to the school by the P & C as memorabilia of our 30th Big Birthday Bash.

‘Tis the season to....eat!

Get ready for Christmas with Your Inspiration at Home, our fundraiser in Term 4. You’ll be receiving a brochure and order form in your pigeon hole soon, with yummy selections of dip and spice mixes to make your taste buds tingle. Make entertaining during the silly season easier, not to mention delivering tasty meals to your family with these all natural products to pep up your dishes. The best part is that you’re helping the P&C to raise money for the school, since a portion of the profits will be coming to us.

....and shop!

As in previous years the Educational Toy Catalogue will also land in your pigeon hole. Lots of lovely age appropri-ate toys to fill stockings. Our playgroup receives the profits, so shop ‘til you drop.

Making a Splash

We told you we raised lots of lovely dosh at the BBB, we know you’re going to buy lots of delicious dip and spice mixes and we’ve had fantastic results at recent muffin sales and sausage sizzles, so what, you ask, are your P & C up to with all that moola?!..... We’re going on an all expenses paid cruise J....

No, seriously:

We were delighted to have been able to buy Boab their new video camera and software for our budding movie makers, and now we can focus on an exciting project we’ve had in mind for some time. An enthusiastic group of parents have recently formed our Water Play Team. Their mission is to plan and build an interactive water play ground for our children. With P & C funding we hope to have it operational for the Term 1 heat.

If you have skills or energy to offer the WPT, or you would like to contribute to this project in any way please email Jemma at jemmadoak@hotmail.com.

The next party is coming! In the last newsletter we asked you to save the date of Friday 13th December for our End of Year Celebration. We can now be more specific. The party will start at 5pm, and after it gets dark we will be screening a movie. There will be stalls and activities round the edges. We’re bringing back a lot of old favourites: 2

nd hand Book stall

Tie dye T’Shirts Bake stall Popcorn, coffee, food vans, slinkies