THORNTON STATE SCHOOL Upcoming Events From the Principal Hello Parents and Care Givers, Welcome back to the new semester and to a cold and windy start to the second half of our school year. We have certainly hit the ground running this term with the students getting back into the routine of school and picking up from where they left off last term. Congratulations to our boys and girls whose wonderful work was on display at the Laidley Show over the holidays. Mrs Sutherland and Mrs Emmerson did a fantastic job in setting the display up we were awarded second place in the school display section of the show! This term is another exciting and busy one with ball games, camp and speed soccer/netball day to name a few of the upcoming events. Last Friday saw our athletes who qualified for the next level of competition go on to compete at the Laidley Valley Athletics Carnival. Congratulations to all those who participated and well done to the following students who will go on to compete at the Lockyer Valley Carnival next Wednesday at Lowood: Isaiah Bould 800m Gracie Regan Long Jump Joanah Millard Long Jump See attached Term 3 Overview Jett Emmerson Discus Last Tuesday saw our indigenous students participate in the NAIDOC day activities at Laidley High School. A range of activities were organized from traditional dancing, boomerang throwing, Indigenous games and a rugby league clinic run by former Bronco and representative player, Petro Civenoceva. The staff and students at the high school catered the event with some traditional food including kangaroo and emu rissoles!! Thank you to all the staff at the high school for organizing and running the day. Next Monday our year 6 students are invited to the High School to participate in a transition day. This is open to all year 6 students regardless of the high school they are planning to attend next year and is a great opportunity for them to get a taste of high school life. This time of the year is notorious for the flu and it seems this year is no different. We have seen many children away in the past fortnight with influenza. As the flu is a highly contagious airborne virus it is necessary to keep your child at home if they are presenting flu like symptoms. Apart from getting a flu shot each year there are other preventative measures which can help reduce the risk of contracting the virus. These include: Wash hands regularly Cover nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing Avoid physical contact with others Avoid mixing with other people, particularly those in a high-risk category, while contagious Until next fortnight, Nathan de Mey Behaviour Focus Week 1: STOP WALK TALK Week 2: Keep Hands and Feet to Yourself Jokes of the Week Q. What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs? A. A clock! Q. What is the easiest way to double your money? A. Put it in front of the mirror of course!
Page 2 Photos & Senior News NAIDOC Day Laidley State High School Senior Classroom News Hello to all our families and welcome back to Term 3. It is fantastic to be back with so many students eager to learn and participate in school events. This term we are working on some new learning areas in our senior classes. We are exploring geography, media arts and digital technology as well as business and economics. Our first tasks in these areas establish what the students already know and revision of vocabulary related to each learning area. There are quite a few hands-on tasks such as developing a digital game. The students have worked on similar projects before so they are teaching me and each other what hey know. Our arts focus is on using different forms of media as promotion tools and basic business rules. In geography the main focus is on diversity of people and places and the interconnections between the two. Mapping is also a concept we will investigate this semester. I am looking forward to another exciting term with your children. Mrs Kemp Laidley Show School Display Entry
Page 3 Junior Classroom News (Prep & Year 1) Mrs O Sullivan s Class Welcome to Prep / Year 1 news. Welcome back to Term 3, I hope you are all refreshed after the break and ready for a busy and enjoyable term. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all so much once again for your support on Jump Rope for Heart day last term. The school raised any amazing $800.00 for the Heart Foundation. Congratulations to you all! Well done! What are we learning? In English students will learn about rhyme and poetry, handwriting upper and lower case letters, reading high frequency words and will learn to blend sounds orally using the Jolly Phonics program. The students will also be introduced to reading using the STARS program. This program covers many of the important concepts in reading such as finding the main idea, recalling facts and details and predicting strategies. Students will continue with their daily journal writing and consider how these communicate ideas and tell stories. Digital technology will be combined with media arts. Throughout the term, students will be introduced to various digital systems and their use. Students will be asked to identify software and hardware then demonstrate how to use a digital system for a specific purpose at school. Students will learn simple functions of a keyboard and mouse including typing letters, scrolling, selecting icons and the drop-down menu. DATES TO REMEMBER Thursday 27th July Teddy Bear s Picnic & Pyjama Day (whole school Pyjama Day) Please ensure that your child returns their Homework/ Reading folders every Monday morning. These folders will then go home again that afternoon.
Page 4 Middle Classroom News (Year 2, 3 & 4) Welcome back to Term 3! Two weeks in already and our class has a great energy going. This term we re continuing our Dragon Literacy Unit at the moment we re all creating a storyboard of a dragon show. Some of the creativity shining through these works is astounding! We ve had a change up to some of our subjects for semester two Dance has been replaced with Media Arts and Design Technology with Digital Technology. In Media Arts we re exploring advertisements, which has meant some hilarious video clip watching and some breaking apart of the purpose and audience of each clip. Throughout the term the class will be making a Ninja Class Promo, exploring not only the design of advertisements but also the technologies needed to make them. In Digital Technology we re exploring data its collection, representation and purpose. Many of you may already be aware of our new homework system in the Ninja Class. The Homework Card system in completely voluntary, students can opt out or do as many as they wish. Each card has a different focus literacy, numeracy, arts, science, society and the environment and PE. The tasks on the cards are simple and involve real world thinking and life skills and there are rewards for completing card sets. I would love for our students to share what they ve been learning with you. If you have the opportunity at all please encourage conversation around topics such as advertising, data, everyday events and mental health. So much learning is done through these conversations and they often spark great discussions in the classroom. As always, feel free to drop in or send a message through if you would like to find out more about what s happening in our class! Jess Pitman P&C Meetings: Next Meeting Tuesday 1st August 2017 2:45pm ALL WELCOME (General Meetings: New start time of 2:45pm)
Page 5 NEWS: Library News Book Club Issue 5 of Book Club has been sent home with your students. Please have your forms and payments completed and returned by Wednesday 26th July. Loop is the recommended way of paying for your purchases. An app is available to download on your phone, ipad or computer. There will be an option to chose Mel Sutherland and Library to connect with Thornton State School. A cheque is also acceptable to be made out to Scholastic Australia. Thank you for your continued support. Book Recommendations of the Week This week I asked our senior students to give their fellow students a review about a book or series of books they have enjoyed. This week Damien suggested the Geronimo Stilton series as they were a fun and light hearted read for most ages. He pointed out the bright colours and interesting use of text to his peers. Chad is enjoying the series Hot Dog by author Anh Do. He said the stories are funny and easy to read. It is amazing the love of reading and books that is instilled in our students. Keep the reviews coming. Mel Sutherland. Uniform news Thank you to all those families who collected their jackets after sending in correct change for them. If you are still to pay and collect, please see me before or after school with correct money. During this term I am undertaking more teacher placement prac for my studies. I will be absent from Monday 31 st July until Friday 25 th August. (4 weeks in total) Purchasing of uniforms can still be done through any of the remaining staff here. If you have any uniform queries which need my attention, please pass onto the staff, who will get in contact with me. Mrs Emmerson
Page 6 NEWS: OFFICE SCHOOL BANKING School Banking commenced this term and our school banking day is every Tuesday. If you are interested in starting school banking please contact the office for a start pack as well as more information. Samantha Harch Office Administration THORNTON STATE SCHOOL Principal: Erika Hassett Phone: (07) 5466 7141 E-mail: the.principal@thorntonss.eq.edu.au Website: http://thorntonss.eq.edu.au P&C Email: pandc@thorntonss.eq.edu.au
Term 3 Overview 2017 Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Sat/Sun 1 10/7 11/7 12/7 13/7 14/7 15-16/7 2 17/7 18/7 19/7 20/7 21/7 22-23/7 3 24/7 Year 6 Experience Day @ LSHS 25/7 26/7 27/7 Teddy Bear Picnic Day & Pyjama Day 28/7 29-30/7 4 31/7 1/8 2/8 3/8 4/8 5-6/8 5 7/8 8/8 9/8 10/8 School Photos 11/8 12-13/8 6 14/8 Public Holiday Ekka 15/8 16/8 17/8 18/8 19-20/8 7 21/8 S C H O 22/8 O L C A M 23/8 P A T 24/8 M I L E S 25/8 26-27/8 8 28/8 29/8 30/8 SCHOOL REVIEW 31/8 SCHOOL REVIEW 1/9 2-3/9 Father s Day weekend 9 4/9 5/9 6/9 7/9 8/9 Ball Games 9-10/9 10 11/9 12/9 13/9 14/9 15/9 16-17/9 Last day of term 3