Crafers Primary School

Newsletter 1 September 2023

From the Principal

Since coming to Crafers, I have written many times about the uniqueness of this community. Recent and upcoming weeks have again been a brilliant demonstration of this!

Last week, we welcomed 94 registered (I'm sure there were more) grandparents and special friends. After hearing a story to get the morning started they were hosted by their little people who shared their school space and participated in activities planned by our Junior Primary Staff and helpers. Our School Leaders and senior students were on hand to make sure everything went to plan, and no one was without a buddy - they were excellent. Grandparents and friends brought in morning tea not to be rivalled and I did wonder how many days so much food would spread over! It was heartening to see so many smiling faces, so much excitement and to receive so much positive feedback. As always, a giant thank you goes to our staff who always go above and beyond - these efforts and this investment from families are just some of things that make Crafers such a special place to go to school!

Not to mention...the Book Week Parade! How sad I was to miss out on this event this year. I must say, I did laugh out loud, truly, upon receiving the photos of Ms Trunchbull leading the school, although I hear she was a little 'less funny' in person. I am not quite sure the adults with me on my course day could fully appreciate this delightful time, but these are the gems of being a primary school Principal. From the photos, I can see it was a costume extravaganza complete with creativity, a few curiosities and many, very happy faces. I know a number of people plan every detail for some time before Book Week (including Carol who is beginning 2024 already I think) and I want to thank you for the time, effort and expertise that goes into this - I feel it is the Sports Day of books and it has me smiling at my desk as I type this, which in no way compares to the children's thorough enjoyment.

In the spirit of community, we also have upcoming events for our parents. Our Fathers’ Day Breakfast is planned for Monday with what looks like sunny and bright weather at this stage. After being rained out in 2022, we will be sure to make it extra special and look forward to seeing Dads on this side of the barbecue!

Back to classrooms, we have some upcoming staffing changes. As many of you will know, Caroline will be heading off on maternity leave at the end of this term to welcome her second child. (I find myself doing more smiling.) In Term 4, Ms Lauren Thorn will be joining Tiarna and the Year 3 class in Caroline's role. Lauren comes with many years of experience in Junior Primary and Year 3 and has been getting to know all of us over a number of TRT days. Additionally Lauren will be working in Reception Room 1 in Weeks 9 and 10 of this term as Ms Kathy Smith heads away on Long Service Leave. Kathy will return to us for the commencement of Term 4. Lastly, I will be on leave and working offsite (a muddled combination) in weeks 9 and 10 of this term and week 1 of Term 4. During that time Mr John Nielsen will be our Principal as he has been many times before. Ms Hayley Phillips will be working with the Year 5/6 class in a full-time capacity over these weeks. I wish Caroline and Kathy the very best whilst they are away. I know Lauren and Hayley will be highly effective with the students and I am without any doubt that John will lead our school with excellence and humility - as he does all things!

Kind regards

Chan

Great Book Swap

A huge shout out to the whole CPS Community. With all of your generous books and gold coin donations we raised a total of $410 for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

Why stop there? There is still time to donate. Jump onto the Donations Page to add a couple of extra $$ https://edu.greatbookswap.org.au/crafersprimaryschoolgreatbookswap

Thanks again, your generosity is appreciated.

Jump Rope for Heart

Our Jump Rope Celebration will take place next week on Thursday morning. We look forward to sharing our final amount raised!

Thank you all for your participation.

An update from Ebony

Recently, all Crafers staff undertook an online course called ‘An Introduction to Regulation’ and it has been so encouraging to see and hear people using common language around the brain and regulation.

The course looked at the parts and responsibilities of different parts of our brain. The main idea in this course used Dr. Daniel Siegel’s Hand Model of the Brain. This model simply discusses the way our prefrontal cortex and amygdala struggle to connect and communicate with one another when we experience big feelings. This phenomenon is referred to as ‘flipping our lid’.

Our prefrontal cortex helps us learn and think, while our amygdala is in charge of our emotions and our hippocampus helps us remember. When we are calm, our prefrontal cortex (thinking and learning) is in control, but when we experience big feelings, we ‘flip our lid’ and our amygdala (emotions) takes over. We are able to help our prefrontal cortex take over again by taking some deep breaths or doing some mindfulness activities.

Using this language with our students has been helpful and I’ve seen some of our students understand how their brain works in a new way and be able recognise and begin to take control when they are ‘flipping their lid’.

Magic Millions Festival of Music Rehearsal

Last week, Thursday, the Crafers Choir joined other primary school Festival of Music Choirs for a joint practice at the Magic Millions venue in Morphettville.

We all had a great time!

"I loved Magic Millions because you got to sing with more people. I will be playing the flute in 6 out of 10 Festival of Music concerts." - Zara

"Magic Millions was an awesome experience to see what the choreography was going to be like, and we are looking forward to the Festival of Music." - Sienna & Gabby

"I absolutely loved Magic Millions! I'm the soloist for Smile in Concert 6 and I'm very grateful. I was so happy I got a call back from FOM as there was many people who tried out!" - Amelie

"This year I got into the Festival of Music Seaview Orchestra playing the clarinet. I have really enjoyed it because you get to make many friends and fun memories. I will be playing in 6 out of 10 concerts at the Festival Theatre. I can't wait to play!" - Yahong

"Festival of Music is a wonderful experience. It has given me many opportunities over the last two years. This year I was successful in getting two solo parts. I will be singing in concert seven, singing Keep on Movin'. I was also privileged to be a guest solo at the East of the Ranges singing Charleston.  I'm extremely excited and very sad that I can't do it again next year." - Ivy

Happy Little Vegemites in Room 13

Exciting news from our budding writers! Our talented students have taken their information reports to the next level by infusing them with humor, strategic paragraphing, and engaging subheadings. These additions not only make the content more enjoyable to read but also enhance its clarity. These are their amazing information reports on Vegemite!

Oliver
Minnie
Millie
Imogen
Oliver
Minnie
Millie
Imogen

Term 3 in Room 3

Earlier in the term the class had a great opportunity to visit Urrbrae House and to dress up as characters and be immersed in the history of the 1890’s. There were a range of house volunteers who were in character and spent time with the various groups - school children, servants and ladies and gentlemen. It was a fantastic day and the class learnt so much about history.

As part of South Australian history, the class replicated the ships that brought the people to SA. They used pencil sketches from a picture and then traced around them with black felt tips and some chose to use paint wash for the background. 

In Science, the class investigated innovations versus inventions, what the differences are and how items can be improved. They also did some outdoor science investigations  such as finding things that are and aren’t magnetic, matter that  might sink and float, any examples of condensation, an organism in an adult stage and the hardest - finding a shadow (tricky in a Crafers winter!)

In English, there has been a focus on using Idioms and having fun using them in everyday speech. (My favourite – you’re walking on thin ice!)

Please take a look at the photos and enjoy!

Kim and the Year 4/5s

Haiku Poetry from Room 7

In English students have been exploring the Japanese poetry, Haiku. They have learnt about using senses and sensory language to enhance their poems about nature. They then chose an animal, and needed to create a haiku about their animal through giving clues in their poem. In art, the students created an artwork of their animal using pen and watercolour.

Sea Turtles

Students have been learning about how to include factual information and use descriptive words when writing information reports. Students gathered information from the Big Book of Blue by Yuval Zommer. Here are some examples of paragraphs about sea turtles. 

Wintery Trees

This term students have created silhouettes of winter trees. Then they added in soft watercolour wash using warm and cool colours.

Crafers Primary School