Archive | October 2017

Happy Halloween!

To celebrate Halloween, we continued the OC tradition of writing some 2 sentence horror stories.

CAUTION: Don’t read before bedtime.

My mother always serves up a strange meat for dinner. It tasted good until I discovered what it was. – Jules

I went to my friend’s house for dinner and waited for the main course. It was me! – Ember

I smiled at the sound of the familiar tick-tock of my grandfather’s only-working watch. My smile faded as I remembered that the watch was buried with him. – Emma

I set the ringtone on my phone to the sound of screaming for Halloween. I heard it ring, but then realised with horror my phone was switched off. – Chelsea

It’s midnight, I’m tired and about to fall over as I lean against a tall pole. However, I realise this pole has arms and is staring at me. – Eliza

My mum never told me how my dad died. But I saw how my sister died. – Eleanor

I used to think clowns were funny. That was until one appeared in my closet. – Jules

I don’t want to do it, it just happens. I love the look on people’s faces as they die and so does my doll. She told me to do it. – Celeste

I went to take a look, just in case I hadn’t imagined it. My eyes never closed again. – Emma

There’s a knife on your bed but you don’t worry. Until it’s in your head. – Blade

I fell over and grazed my knee. I was about to get up, but something was holding me down. – Griffin

“There’s nothing under your bed, go back to sleep!” “He’s behind you now.” – Amie

A noise behind me, I turn. It was nothing, I try to reassure myself. Again it rings out. I turn my face frozen in shock, it’s finally found me. – William

My mum walks into my room and says ‘look behind you’. It is only now that I regret falling for her trick. – Oscar

At first I thought the knocking was coming from my window. Then it came again, but from the mirror. – Layla

I hear a soft singing coming from the room next to me. My roommate passed away two years ago. – Mika

My favourite toy is a knife. My favourite colour is red. – Ember

My mother always told me to be nice to strangers. Now I’m having a friendly conversation with the stranger from my closet who’s holding a knife. – Noah K

I made my little brother a paper boat. He was never seen again. – Ty

I reach for the covers of the bed. Then realise that I’m not in my room. – Fin

I was sitting on my bed one night, waiting for my parents to say goodnight. But they never came. – Dexter

I carefully placed a flower in front of my wife’s grave. ”Is that for me?” someone says behind me. – Chloe

I reached for the lamp in the dusty bedroom. Someone had already done it for me. – Fin

I used to love watching werewolf movies. I stopped when I heard howling next door. – Jules

I wake up in the dark with an unsettling feeling that someone is watching me and realise with horror that I am not where I went to sleep. I stand and walk towards a disturbing rustling noise and suddenly hear a piercing shriek and feel an excruciating pain vibrating through my body as I flop to the ground. – Raquel

I saw my favourite colour once in a dream, it’s red. I woke up the next morning to see it splattered all over my bedroom floor. Lying amongst it was my father’s body, the front door slammed shut. – Ellen

I usually sleep alone. Now someone sleeps next to me. – Liana

My brother hates chess but tonight he decided to play with me. Every time I took a piece, he winced and another cut appeared on his face. I won the game. – William

My mum is very secretive about her job. Last night I discovered she’s a serial killer. – Ember

I smile at the familiar teacher, writing up tomorrow’s lesson on the board. He’s the teacher who never seems to grow tired of his job, even after he’s been buried in the ground. for years. – Emma

My Mum just finished washing the dishes. So why are the knives dripping with blood? – Mika

I knocked on the glass. My reflection merely blinked at me. – Layla

Maths Stars!

Well done to all of our Stage 3 students who took part in the Newcastle Permanent Mathematics competition last term. Students received their results at yesterday’s assembly and they performed exceptionally well!

Merits (top 45%) – Dexter, Mika, Jules, Grayson, William, Ty, Chloe & Duncan

Distinctions (top 15%) – Raquel, Hamish, Edie, Noah G, Emma, Fin, Chelsea, Ellen, Eleanor, Liana, Sam & Blade

High Distinctions (top 100 – out of 9,146 year group participants) – Celeste (70th), Amie (97th), Layla (54th), Oscar (12th) & Noah K (5th).

A special mention also to Noah K, whose amazing achievement earned him a District Prize award. 

Term 4 overview

Welcome to Term 4! It’s already been a busy and exciting few weeks, with lots more to come. Below is an overview of some of the opportunities and learning programs students will be involved in. Remember to visit the OC Events page, as I will be updating it throughout the term when dates and information become available.

CEP Outdoor Digital Media Festival

This annual event showcases short films from all 17 schools in our local cluster. Tickets are on sale before school for this great event, held on Thursday 9th November at Wallsend campus. There’s lots of entertainment, food, drink and a performance from our aerobics team. Don’t miss the premiere of our entry ‘The Other Side of the Door’. This year’s winning film wins a drone! Make sure you visit our fundraising stall where we will be selling popcorn and slushies.

Thinkfest

Students have begun working on their Thinkfest projects for this term. Thinkfest is an OC event where students work in groups on a problem from a key learning area. For each problem, students have to write and perform a skit, create a backdrop, design a key prop, maintain a visual process diary and film a short trailer.

In Week 7, New Lambton South PS is hosting this year’s Thinkfest event, with OCs from around the region attending. A note will be sent home later this term once the details are finalised.

Mini EV Solar Cart Festival

Our new solar cart kits have just arrived and students will begin designing and constructing their carts this week. The race day will again be held at Cameron Park Raceway on Wednesday 29th November. A note for this excursion will be sent home soon. Parents and families are very welcome to attend.

Homework

Homework for students began last week (Week 2). Included in our homework menu this term, students will have the option to work on their Thinkfest project for additional points.  This term’s speaking and listening task is free choice and has also been sent home (due in Week 6).

Mastery Core Value

This term students have the opportunity to earn mastery ribbons for all 3 core values – Respect, Responsibility and Quality. Our Hall of Fame assembly will be on Monday Week 9. Students who have achieved Hall of Fame in all 3 core values this year will also be invited to a special end of year reward day.

Reading

This term students will be concluding their Literature Circle for Bridge to Terabithia, Flora & Ulysses, Once and Parvana. We will then move on to our whole-class novel, Mao’s Last Dancer (Young Reader’s Edition).

We will hopefully get to share some more Reader’s Theatre podcasts.

As we’re approaching the end of the year, it’s a great time for students to think about completing their OC Reading Challenge.

Well done to everyone who took part in this year’s Premier’s Reading Challenge. Our certificates will be arriving soon and I will present these at our weekly assembly.

OC Book Club

A note will be sent home this week about our end of year book- a fun adventure story by Matthew Reilly called Troll Mountain.

Well done to everyone who read our last novel, A Wrinkle in Time.

Writing

This term we’ve begun a new writing challenge (#OCWC), with a mixture of visual and vocabulary prompts. NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month – kicks off in November. Students have the opportunity to set a word count goal and write their very own original novel. Can’t wait to see all the exciting ideas!

Mathematics

One of our major projects this term is to create a poster for the Statistical Society of Australia National Poster competition. We started this project last term and students have  been busy working in groups, writing surveys and collecting data. Once the research and data collection is complete, students will create a poster to present their findings and hopefully prove their hypothesis.

Well done to everyone for their fantastic efforts in the APSMO Maths Games and Olympiads last term. Our final results have been sent in and we should be receiving our awards and trophies soon!

Other content we will be looking at later this term includes area, chance, patterns and algebra and time.

Geography

Miss Hibbert will be teaching our Geography unit this term – A Diverse and Connected World: Anthropology.

Science

This term our unit is The Structure and Function of Cities. During this unit students will explore different types of built environments, the systems that allow our society to function and the effect humans are having on the environment.

Colour Run

We’re having a whole-school fun run on Friday 17th November. Parents and families are very welcome to join in the fun at Islington Park. Well done to those who have already set up their sponsorship page and started raising money. There’s lots of great prizes available and the proceeds will go back to our school.

Events

There are lots of events and excursions taking place this term!

We have an incursion in Week 6 this term from the World of Maths roadshow. Notes went home today and the cost is $6 per student.

Mrs Bowman is organising an excursion for Stage 3 to go and see the film adaptation of one of our favourite novels – Wonder. This excursion will take place on Thursday 23rd November. Notes will be sent home soon.

Year 5 students will be participating in our student leadership program later this term in preparation for the selection of our 2018 student leaders. Parents and families are invited to watch their leadership speeches on Thursday 30th November.

Our class will be hosting our weekly assembly in Week 6 as well as sharing some work. All welcome to attend!

Our annual Carols evening will take place on Thursday 7th December.

Presentation Day will be held at the Grainery on Tuesday 12th December.

Our Year 5/6 students will receive their invitations in the coming weeks for the Year 6 Farewell, which will also be held at the Grainery on Thursday 14th  December. (Year 6 – please bring in your kindy photo so we can scan it for our farewell presentation)

 

Finally, well done to all the students who have had a fabulous start to the term and for their excellent effort and commitment to all the projects we’ve got taking place.

Survey time!

This term we have been working on a project for the SSA (Statistical Society of Australia) National Schools Poster Competition. Students have devised a hypothesis and started collecting data for their projects. One of our groups is investigating the reading habits of adults. It would be greatly appreciated if you could take a minute to complete their survey, as the more responses we receive, the stronger our data. All responses are completely anonymous. We would greatly appreciate your participation – our survey closes this Thursday 26/10/17 at 8pm. 

Click on the link Reading Survey  or scan the QR code. 

Thanks!

Dr Karl visit

Yesterday the OC were fortunate enough to be invited to attend a Skype session with the amazing science guru Dr Karl Kruszelnicki! We had a great time asking lots of interesting questions and learning about all things science. A huge thank you to Mrs Elsley and 1E for inviting us to take part. 

And the Oscar goes to…

Congratulations to Oscar, Noah G and Noah K who were announced as the winners of our Stage 3 CEP Film competition – Best Script and Storyboard.

Last term all Stage 3 had the opportunity to work in groups to produce a film script and storyboard for this year’s Digital Media Festival. Films had to contain a key and the line ‘how hard can it be?’ Our prizes included their very own THPS Oscar statuette, movie tickets and the opportunity to have their film screened at the CEP Festival later this term. Make sure you buy your tickets (on sale each morning before school) and come along to watch our amazing short film. The winning school on the night wins a drone! We will also be selling popcorn and slushies at our fundraising tent.