Goodbye, Year Sixes!

Over the past two weeks, we have been celebrating the last few remaining days of our amazing year six students and have held a range of graduation events.

Last Thursday, we had the official graduation ceremony, which saw 66 fine young people on stage, all ready to move on to the big world of secondary education! It was a wonderful evening. The students all looked a million dollars and they deported themselves with dignified distinction. Ava, Gnanadeep and Shreya all gave lovely speeches about their time at primary school, and Fearne helped to MC the evening.

Once the formalities were over and done with, we had the Year Six dance! I could not believe how many skilled dancers we have in Rm 22. Again, I was very impressed by the way they all participated and had a great time.

The very next day, we all toddled off to Fremantle, where we had the graduation lunch at the Esplanade Hotel. Again, the students were all dolled up and a nice time was had by all. The food was excellent and several members of the public (who were likely initially mortified when 66 children marched in to the restaurant) commented on their good manners and positive behaviour. That's the Wattle Grove Way!

We have only one more event left....the traditional 'Ringing of the Bell' ceremony, which will take place on the last day of school (Thursday 13th Dec). There will be, for the students and parents of the graduating students, a viewing of the Year 6 farewell powerpoint in the BER room opposite the kindy classes, followed by the actual 'Ringing of the Bell', which takes place on the grassed area directly in front of the flag poles. We will let parents know the exact times for this early next week. We encourage all to come and witness this moment - we promise there won't be a dry eye in the house!

Finally...I just want to say that it has been a complete joy to teach these students, and a privilege to have had some small part in their life. They are all an amazing group of young people and I know they are going on to big things. A huge thank you to all the parents, who entrusted your precious children to my care. You have supported me, helped me, and I can't thank you enough.

I have told the Year Sixes that they must comeback and visit us at least twice a year, to keep us apprised of their progress.

To all MAC parents, thanks for a great year. I look forward to an equally amazing 2019.

Have a great break,

Carl 'exhausted' Sanderson

Hooray for History!

Last term, our class took part in the National History Challenge, which set students the task of researching and presenting an information product based on a 'turning point' in Australian history.

This could have been anything, like when women were given the vote, or Australia entered the Great War, or when we became a federation in 1901.

Our students were allowed to choose whether they worked alone or as a team. Some chose to create museum exhibits, while others designed their own web page, and others wrote essays on their chosen topic.

The standard of work was outstanding and we sent off a number of entries for consideration. Here is an example of just one of our outstanding entries submitted - this was by Fearne and Samara, who researched the life of David Unapon, who invented many things, including the electric shearing hand piece.

After several weeks of nervous waiting, the winners of the competition were finally announced. We were very pleased to learn that two of our students - Megha and Sandra were both finalists (out of many hundreds of entries) with their individual websites on the dismissal of Gough Whitlam and women's right to vote. Both girls were invited to Applecross Senior High School recently, to be awarded their finalist certificates and to learn if they had won the 'big' overall prize!

Alas, the girls didn't manage to be an overall winner, but we are still very proud of them for their amazing efforts. Well done, ladies - you might be historians of the future!

Year 6 Camp to Kalgoorlie

We're baaaaaaack!

What a week it was! The Year 6 students spent last week exploring the Goldfields, travelling to Kalgoorlie/Boulder and Coolgardie.

After a brisk seven hour trip on the Prospector, the students (along with a small gang of intrepid adult supervisors) muscled our luggage to the Kalgoorlie Camp School, which would be our base for the next four days.

We all had a wonderful time. The students were kept very busy engaged in a variety of activities, including:

• panning for gold
• exploring the Superpit - an engineering marvel
• visiting the Boulder and Kalgoorlie town hall
• Exploring Coolgardie
• Swimming at the Kalgoorlie town pool
• walking through Warden Finnity's house
• Visiting the Hannan's North mining museum
• Visiting the Royal Flying Doctor's base 

Apart from the educational stuff, we all had fun playing games, taking part in a quiz night, and eating lots of food. 

When we finally arrived back in Perth at 9.45pm on Friday night, we were all exhausted but have memories that will undoubtedly last forever. 

Check out some of the photos below. More will be added as I work out how to download them from my phone! Also, Mr Meachem has taken (literally) thousands of pics, which will be placed on the school blog within the next few days, so check them out!

Dancing Divas!

Well, it is that time of year, again!

Dance fever has swept over Wattle Grove and we are all busily learning some pretty slick moves from the good people at Humphrey's Dance Studio.

Our class is learning a range of dances, including:

• The Slosh
• Salsa
• Hip Hop
• Rock Barn Dance
• The Jive 

Additionally, we are going to be learning some slow partner dances...much to the horror of some students! 

I have been very pleased with the way in which the students have enthusiastically thrown themselves into the lessons, and it is wonderful to see them having so much fun. 

The Yr 6's, of course, are learning all of these moves in preparation for the graduation dance, which will follow their graduation ceremony, on Thursday the 29th of November. 

Speaking of the graduation, can I please remind all parents of Yr 6 students that I require 4 - 6 photographs from when they were wee babes and tantrumming (yes, I know I just made up this word) toddlers! I will put these into their graduation powerpoint, so we can see how much...or how little, they have changed over the years.

Here are some photographs of them dancing!

Arts Festival

Well, the 2018 Wattle Grove 'celebration of the arts' has finally arrived, and what a night it was!

While we have always known that Wattle Grove kids are outrageously talented, it still comes as something of a surprise to see just how outrageously talented they are!

Students from Rm 22 were involved in several events, including:

• the exhibition of art work (a HUGE thank you to Ms Randall - unquestionably the best Art teacher in WA)
• Dancing
• a highly amusing performance of 'Cinderella', performed in Italian (another HUGE thank you to Signora Isaiah - irrefutably the best LOTE teacher in WA)
• The Senior Choir, ably led by the incomparable Mr Honey, who is the best...oh, you know what I'm going to say...
• A guitar recital, where the students got to show us their amazing musical skills
• And last but not least...the unbelievable WGPS Circus!

As soon as he provides them, I will be uploading some of the photographs taken by Mr Meachem throughout the evening. I know he took loads of great shots of all our students dressed in their finery. 

I know you all enjoyed their circus performance as much as I did. They have all worked very hard and are great little performers. Despite being a bit rushed for time, we managed to get all our acts into our 15 minute slot. Special congratulations must go out to our Poi, Ribbon and Dance acts, as they worked out the choreography all by themselves. 

I will leave you with two photos of one particular star, decked out in her costume from our skit: 'A sunny day in the park'. A very shy, retiring little thing, isn't she?!

Keep checking out our blog for more circus photos!

Welcome Back for Term Four!

Hello everyone!

I trust you all had a fabulous holiday and enjoyed your time away from school. I also hope you followed my instructions and did not spend the entire fortnight locked away in your room watching TV and playing games!

Term Four is, as always, jam-packed with events, so prepare yourself for the whirlwind.

Some reminders:
Dancing lessons start this week (Week One) and continue throughout the term. Our class, along with Mr Eaves' class, has our lessons every Thursday from 1.10 to 2.10pm. Most students have already paid their money but there are a few who have not, so please send your form and money to school ASAP.

Graduation Photographs - Ah yes...after 11 terms together, our Year 6 students are reaching the end of their Primary School life! As per usual, I need some photographs from each Yr 6 student, for use in the graduation ceremony PPT. I am looking for between 3 - 6 photos from each student, and from when they were babies/toddlers, or cute K-P youngsters! If possible, we would prefer it if the photos are scanned in at home (as a high res JPEG) and then sent to school on a USB. If this is not possible, physical photos are fine. I need them all in by Week 5.

Yr 6 Camp to Kalgoorlie - this is happening in Wk 4. I have been asked to go along, so the Yr 4 and 5 students will have a relief teacher for that week.

Swimming lessons: Having the three year levels makes things a bit tricky! At this point (it may change), it looks like this:

• Year 4 have their lessons from Monday the 19th to Friday the 30th of November, from 10.20am to 12.00pm.
• Year 5 have their lessons from Monday the 19th to Friday the 30th of November, from 1.20 to 3.00pm.
• Year 6 have their lessons from Monday the 5th to Friday the 16th of November, from 12.30 to 3.00pm.

Yr 6 Citizenship Portfolios: The portfolios are due Wednesday the 17th of October - be sure all sections are completed!

Whew! This is just a small snapshot of the whirlwind that is Term Four! I will provide further information as the term progresses.

Here's to a productive and fantastic T4!

Mr Sanderson

Learning Journey 2018

Our school will be conducting a Learning Journey on Tuesday, the 18th of September, from 2.00 to 3.30pm.

This is a wonderful opportunity for parents to see the amazing work that has been completed throughout the term, and to better appreciate the type of concepts and skills that we have been learning.

The students have put together a large poster which showcases their learning from Semester Two. They will then explain the learning behind activity, and the skills that were being developed. 

In addition, we would also like to show parents some of our 'whole group' learning activities. This will provide parents with a greater appreciation of how, in MAC, we endeavour to 'dig deep' into ideas and develop complex conceptual understandings. To this end, we would invite parents to come at 2.00pm, as all the students will be there to participate in our class mat session. 

We are looking forward to seeing you in Rm 22!

Carl Sanderson

Book Week 2018

The students from Rm22 have had a fantastic time throughout book week 2018. We had previously created small book plates that listed our favourite books, the best part of the book, and why we liked it so much. We then invited other classes to do the same and we ended up with over 350 bookplates from students who (apparently) love reading as much as we do! Ms Ryan was nice enough to take these and mount all 350 of them onto beautiful posters, which were designed and decorated by her class. These posters have been on display throughout book week and we have enjoyed watching students share their favourite books with family and other students.

 The book week dress up parade is always a favourite, and this year we had nearly every student dress up as a character. As you can see from the pictures below, we had all sorts of colourful characters represented. Mr S dressed up (again) as a character from ‘Star Wars’ – something he called a ‘jawa’…whatever that is! Our class was part of the first parade and it was wonderful to see so many creative costumes. Wattle Grove parents are way too clever!
 Late on Friday afternoon, we then went across to Mrs Beste’s Yr 1 class and did some shared reading. Each student buddied up with a younger student and then we read to them and they read to us. We were all very impressed with the fantastic reading by the Year One students! It also gave us an opportunity to reread some classic fairy tales, which (despite the boys’ protests) was a lot of fun.
 

We can’t wait until next year!