Term 4 Week 8

November 29, 2020

I can’t believe I only have 6 more teaching days with the wonderful class that is 5H. I will need a whole box of Kleenex to see me through the tears on the last day!

Some important messages for the Week 8 and 9 Countdown….

ST VINCENT DE PAUL CHRISTMAS HAMPER APPEAL

It's that time of the year again where we begin collecting Christmas goodies for members of our community less fortunate than ourselves. 5H students have been asked to bring in toiletries: shampoos, brush, toothpaste, toothbrushes, lip balm, sunscreen, moisturisers, soap, perfume etc. Thank you for helping to make someone’s Christmas a little more special this year.

LEADERSHIP SPEECHES

The children who are nominating themselves for the 2021 Leadership Team in Year 6 will present their speeches tomorrow morning (1^st of December) to the Year 4 -6 students and teachers. These presentations will begin at 9:00am. Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions, parents are unable to attend.

Any child that is using a PowerPoint to support their speech will require it saved on a USB and in a zip locked bag with their name clearly marked.

CHRISTMAS CONCERT

As mentioned in our last school newsletter, the students have been asked to wear Christmas colours to the upcoming concert on Tuesday 8th December. 5H will be joining 5J to sing you a Christmas song that they have been practising with Mrs Sherborne in their music lesson named"Christmas Kindness". It fits in perfectly with our 8 week Kindness Challenge that has been part of our home learning grid this term. More information with concert details will be sent home by Mr Lee later this week.

LIBRARY BOOKS

Please have a hunt around your homes for any books belonging to school as all library books are now due back. However, the children may keep their copy of Wonder until the final week as we will be continuing to refer to it in our reading programme.

HOMEWORK

This is our last week of our Home Learning Grid. It contains a review of personal spelling words that your child has spelt incorrectly in their writing as well as other activities they must complete by Friday. It also contains a list of personal timestable questions that they have incorrectly answered in our weekly tests. Please support your child to keep up with their good homework habits.

PART 2 of OUR CAPE NATURALISTE EXCURSION

written by Lucy, Tilly, Cielo, Pearl, Shaye, Lara, Ellie and Rhavi

Next, Josh told us a Dreamtime story about the whale. The Wardandi people believe that the whale was a land creature, the Mamung, who lived in the South West but was very slow walking on land. The other animals teased it for being so slow. They scratched it. One day the whale got tired of being bullying and followed the river out to the sea. His huge limbs became fins and tails. The scratches became barnacles. When a whale beaches itself it is ready to come back to the land.

Josh told us that the Wardandi people would eat the native apricot fruit and the native tomato. When it is ripe it is yellow. The native rosemary. They would use the succulent parts of "pigface" to take the swelling and itch out of mosquito bites. They used the coastal wattle by crushing up the nuts and seeds for damper. Banksia and Sheoak were burnt to make the hot ash to cook the damper in.

The flower of the banksia was dried out and used to make a firestick to start a fire.

We then gathered at the Bora (the Meeting Place). Josh taught us about the tools the Wardandi used. They made a resin from the grass tree that is the oldest in history. They used the resin on the end of their tools to make them harder and more durable and attached sharp shells with it to cut. Josh found a 1,500 year old axe head rock on one of his walks at a significant site on the Cape. Smaller boomerangs were used to kill small marsupials and ducks. Larger boomerangs were thrown at kangaroo’s legs. Their boomerangs and shields were decorated in artwork. The Wardandi do not use dots in their artwork. Instead symbols are used to represent meeting places, rivers, plants and stories.

Kangaroo skin was used to make waterproof, warm cloaks, shoes, bags and blankets. When families would move, they would carry their tools in these bags but leave heavy things (like rock tools) behind and remake them at their next camp.

Justin, Joe and Tieg tried to start a fire (Kaarla) with Josh's firesticks. Then Josh started one!

Information and knowledge were passed down through song and dance. The emu and kangaroo (jiljut) featured largely in their dance as the Wardandi represented how they moved and lived.

Josh played the digeridoo and made incredible sounds and we played the tapping sticks.

The girls danced as emus and the boys as kangaroos. The girls were wayyyyyyyyyyyyy better!