REMINDERS

 Open Morning:

This Saturday, 17^th May commencing at 9.00am.  Please come and help if you can, you need to inform the office if you are able to come on the day and assist.  We ask that if possible, you do not bring your children as we have childcare available for our visitors and need to keep the number of children on the premises to a minimum during this particular morning.

 Values Education Forum:

Tuesday 20^th May at Guildford Landing.  Please come to this most informative evening, you will learn all about the Virtues Project and how to gain the benefits from incorporating the strategies into our lives.  Please RSVP urgently to the office.

On arrival, please use the street parking or behind the Tourist Centre.

 Lego:

Lego is a wonderful thing isn’t it?  I still have a large container of it at home, even though my youngest child is now 23 years of age!  I will never throw it away, it never wears out and is a universal item for all children to use and play with.

In some of our classes Lego is used as a technology construction tool.  Unfortunately in some of our classes, children have been bringing Lego to school and there have been a few tussles over possession and use. 

We now ask that you keep all personal Lego at home.  When it comes from home it is deemed a toy and our policy is not to have toys at school.  Some children may have made a complicated construction at home and would like to show this for news in the class.  This is fine, but it must stay complete as a news item and not be dismantled.

Homework:

In our school we provide homework for all children in the Upper Primary class.  This is in order to prepare the children for high school where they will be expected to undertake a certain amount of homework. The need to develop a habit of devoting some time at home for revision of the work they have done at school and this can be started during the last years at our school.

 In the Lower Primary classes there are some children who need to revise their work at home or indeed want to undertake academic work in the home.  In these cases we would like the parents to consult with their classroom teacher so as to ensure the child’s needs are being met in the most appropriate manner. 

The Practical Life curriculum in the Children’s Houses provides the children with the skills necessary for future independent living. In the home environment we can also utilize those skills throughout the children’s primary years.  You might even find they are very helpful in those necessary tasks in the home environment.  Remember our school phrase, taken from the Montessori quote ‘Help me to help myself’.  It is through undertaking real life tasks that children gain confidence and a positive view of themselves.

Here is a list of suggestions:

• Plan and prepare dinner
• Plan and prepare a dinner which would have been typical of what the Ancient Greeks would have eaten.
• Go to a boatyard and learn about the different types of boats, their uses and purposes.
• Interview grandparents about their childhood.
• Make puppets for a home-based performance.
• Learn how to use acrylic or oil paints, bring in the results to show the class.
• Develop a pen pal in another country, another Montessori school.
• Build a model of your house.
• Take on the responsibility of caring for a household pet – feeding, cleaning, bathing.
• Perform an act of kindness.
• Undertake to do the household washing from time to time, from start to finish.
• Design a toy for a child in 1920.
• Design a toy for a child in 2030.
• Choose a city in another country and find out all that you can about it.
• Plan an overseas trip, including all the places you would like to visit.
• Rejuvenate an old piece of furniture.

 The list is endless!

Open Classrooms:

As you will be aware, reports will be due out at the end of this term.  As previously mentioned, we are not providing portfolios for this reporting period but invite you to attend an Open Classrooms session on Friday 27^th June. 

All classrooms will be open from 8.30am to 9.30am.  We urge you to visit not only your own child’s classroom, but also each and every other classroom.  Please take your child with you as you go around the school.  There will be examples of children’s work on display that has been undertaken this past semester. 

We are sure you will be impressed to see not only your own child’s work but that of the children in the other classrooms, both older and younger.  In the  Lower and Upper Primary classes the children use the skills and knowledge they acquired in the Children’s Houses to undertake more complex tasks and projects. 

It is this which makes our school different to mainstream schools – our children get an early start to acquiring both academic and social skills in accordance with their developmental needs.  We are able to carry this through into the primary years and provide them with the supportive, rich and vibrant environment which allows them the freedom to grow and reach their potential.  It is not by chance that our children appear to be more mature when they graduate at the end of Year 7 -  they are more confident and self-assured than their counterparts in mainstream schools due to their years in the primary classes which were founded in the Children’s House.

If you will be unable to attend the Open Classroom session with your child, please inform your classroom teacher who will care for your child during that time

Ineke Oliver

Principal

From the Board of Management

The major emphasis of the Riverlands Board this year are the Infrastructure and Community Water Grants and the Strategic Plan.  The Infrastructure Grant was received at the end of 2006 and is for the construction of an Undercover Area  and improvements to the Primary Playground. $20,000 is for the playground and up to $50,000 for the Undercover Area which will be a roof (as high as is feasible) whose main purpose is as a protected space for school gatherings such as corroborees and physical education. The building is as large as can be in accordance with the grant and associated funds, but can be extended at a later date. The plans, which should be going to Council soon, are available from the Principal.  We also hope to put a floor to the Undercover Area partly with a donation from a parent, if needed.

Ineke is setting up a Playground Committee, please contact her if you wish to be involved.

The Community Water Grant of $49,000 is for a project to improve the capture of water and efficiency of water use within the school. This should commence shortly.

A Strategic Plan is being developed for the next five years. There will be opportunities to contribute to the vision and planning of the future of Riverlands School during the year, mediated through the P & F.

 The Board is delighted to announce the appointment of two new members, who are current parents in the school - Geoff Harris and Joanne Huxtable. They are full voting members of the Board but are not representing the parent community, and they do not carry the responsibility of reporting from the Board to the P & F or the school community. The purpose of having two current parents on the Board is to ensure there is perspective provided from parents who are actively involved in the school community.

Lesley Payne

Chairperson

From the Principal

I find it hard to believe it is the end of first term already!  It has been action packed with excursions, observations and plans for upcoming events.  I am settling in and have been made most welcome for which I thank all the school community.  As you will appreciate, there is much for me to learn about our school but I have found it to be a delightful environment with positive, supportive families and staff with a clear focus on Montessori philosophy.
 
I have had the privilege of undertaking observations in most of the classrooms and am thrilled with what I have seen – children busy in their own environment and encouraged to be independent with a desire to learn.  My intention is to have ‘contact time’ with each class each term.  I thoroughly enjoyed those times with the Children’s Houses this term, we sang songs and got to know each other a little better.  It has been difficult to schedule those times in the Lower and Upper Primary classes this term but it will definitely happen next term!
 
I would like to share the following article with you.  It is taken from The AMI Bulletin 1/2008.  The focus of the article is on a young child but the content is relevant to all children:
 
Question:  What should my 2.5 year old daughter be able to do by herself?
 
Answer:  Dr Montessori urges adults not to be the child’s servant … the child is only able to do what she has been given the opportunity to practise and do, by herself.
 
Since children must adapt to the world around them, they are very keen to do as much for themselves as possible in order to gain their independence.  They have a natural, inner desire to become familiar with their world and to conquer it.  This is a developmental need which can be met by allowing the child freedom to move safely around her physical environment; exploring her world and the activities in it with an understanding adult guide.
 
The Montessori phrase “The hands are the instruments of man’s intelligence” describes how the child’s hands are the external tool of the inner mind and if given purposeful activity, help the child to build intelligence and feelings of capability.  Purposeful activities can include personal tasks, such as washing themselves, cleaning teeth, dressing and the other activities that make up the everyday lives of the adult around them such as cleaning, helping to prepare food, or setting the table.  
 
The adult can aid this self-development in two ways – by maintaining a careful watch on her own role within this development and by creating an appropriate, physical environment for the child.
 
Wherever possible, slow down and give the child as much time as is needed to complete a task.  Sometimes this will mean starting a task earlier than normal, but the sense of achievement it gives is well worth the effort.  
 
Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge:
Congratulations to Ashley, Kevin and Nicole Scott for their participation on behalf of our school.  This is an annual event that reinforces teachers’ efforts to ensure that every young person becomes a proficient reader.  We will provide you with the opportunity to participate again later in the year.
 
Open Morning:
Please see the fliers distributed recently, all offers of help will be very much appreciated.  Please take this opportunity to invite your friends and relatives to come and see our school.
 
Values Education Forum:
Fliers were distributed last week, please try to ensure your family is represented.  You are also invited to bring along friends and interested persons, be sure to RSVP!
 
Primary Playground:
We are in the process of determining our needs for the Primary Playground.  We would like to have feedback from the parent community in this regard and are seeking people to come onto the committee to help us with our final decision.  If you are able to join us, please let Ineke know, through the office.
 
I wish you all a safe and happy holiday period and look forward to seeing you next term!
 
Kind Regards
 
Ineke Oliver

RIVERGUM COTTAGE

As Term 1 comes to a close we can look back and

reflect on a great start to the year.  The children have developed new friendships and enjoyed a variety of new and favourite learning experiences. Recently, the full-day children enjoyed an excellent excursion to the Kalamunda History Village where they gained a valuable insight into life in the ‘olden days’.  

A group of special volunteers guided the children around the village where they experienced a range of interesting activities such as:  washing with a glass wash-board, wringing clothes with a manual wringer, ironing with heavy irons, watching fruit being sorted on a grader affectionately known as ‘Lightning’, and marching into the classroom in lines of girls and boys.  They also played games such as quoits and knucklebones with real sheep knuckles.  There were many more fascinating things to see and do at the village.

Other highlights of the term have been some fantastic cooking experiences with Ian, special music sessions with Ineke, a visit from Emma and some magical Easter experiences.

Our focus this term has been “Time” and the children are becoming more aware the many aspects of this diverse subject and how it influences our lives. Next term we will be looking closely at aspects of climate.

Thank you to the parents who are supplying us with a steady stream of recycled materials for ourconstruction jobs.  Please continue to send small boxes only (no larger than muesli bar boxes) and any other interesting materials for collage and construction. A special thank you to the parents who willingly help with classroom activities such as reading.

We wish everyone a peaceful and happy holiday and look forward to seeing you in term two.

Wynona and Ian