Class 6 Farewell
Class 6 Farewell
Class 6 Celebration with Parents
News from Sunflower Kindy
There was much excitement in Kindy this week after discovering a message from the ‘Grandmother of all Dolls’… The message was an invitation for the Sunflower Dolls to spend their summer holiday at the Grandmothers cottage! Grandmother Doll was to send a bus to collect the dolls and asked that they wait at the front office until this time.
The children excitedly gathered up the dolls, and their belongings, and safely delivered them into the arms of Margaret and Lisa who lovingly cared for them until the bus arrived.
I wonder if they will send us a postcard in the holidays!
Lizzie and Emily
Class 1 and 2 swimming
Class 1 and 2 joyously took to the Mullum pool a few weeks ago for their annual swimming lessons. It was Class 1’s first time at the pool and they thoroughly enjoyed it.
The swimming lessons focus on technique and swimming strokes and many of the children picked up new skills. They are looking forward to coming back to the pool for Swim Fun Day.
Class 2 Play
Class 2 completed their play main lesson with the performance of St Francis and St Clare. They thoroughly enjoyed bringing this story to their parents and school friends. The story focusses on two people born into privilege and who give it all up to dedicate their lives to helping others in their home town of Assisi. It was an inspiration to all who saw it and the children’s singing was delightful and touching. Well done Class 2!
James
TIME – Class Three
In Class Three, one of our Measurement blocks is learning about Time. We do this by looking at how the ancient people would have observed the world around them and tallied the sun, moon and seasons.
In the second week, we looked at inventions used to calculate time from water and candle clocks to sundials and hourglasses. Only after this recapitulation of human thinking did we come to reading analogue and digital clocks.
Alongside our book work, we made sundials, modern clocks and calendars.
Naina
Class Four Camp
Class Four enjoyed their camp at Midginbill Hill earlier this term. We spent four days exploring nature, making mud bricks, canoeing, painting with ochre, finding animals in the creek, raft building, hiking, learning archery, playing games and making damper and billy tea over the fire.
Anna
Class Four Teacher
Sunflower Kindy News
Spring is in the air
Tr la la tra la la
Butterflies are fluttering
Little birds are singing……
In Sunflower Kindy we have been witness to the magical cycle of life.
The children have patiently watched with wonder, anticipation and awe as our monarch caterpillars nibbled their way through the milk thistle leaves, spun their cocoons, and finally hatched into beautiful butterflies!
Lizzie
Class Three Camp
Class Three spent most of last week having an enormously fun time at Midjinbil Hill near Uki. The class spent two nights and three days learning about our surrounding environment, going on a night walk, making rafts and billy tea and exploring the creek and rocks of the Wollumbin caldera. The staff were very impressed with the engagement, knowledge and resilience of the children, I saw a lot of friendship, kindness, joy and working together, something so common in Steiner classrooms. But most of all, it was all about getting muddy!
Naina
Class Three Teacher
Kindy Sunflower News
Sunflower Kindergarten has been enjoying the warmth, wonder and energy that Spring has brought…exploring our environment, learning new skills, practicing old ones and just enjoying the sun-shiny days!
Emily
Class 3 & Class 4 gardening programme
Here are some pics from the Class 3 gardening programme with Evan this term. The students planted bulbs at the end of term 2 and you may have noticed that
the jonquils are the first to start flowering! Keep an eye out for them and other bulbs during the next few weeks.
Class 3 & Class 4 have also started planting potatoes and salad greens. They also did a bit of seed saving from the beans while revitalising last season’s garden beds. I think Class 3 got the most joy out of using their pitchforks on the giant mulch mounds near the car park!
Tanja – Teacher Assistant
Class 6 day in the 1850’s
The Students of Class 6 spent a day learning in the ‘old school’ way in a classroom from the 1850’s. Copperplate handwriting, history and grammar formed part of our morning lessons. We learned the importance of manners and the teacher’s favorite proverb “Speech is silver but silence is golden”.
We also had a visit from Dr Benjamin Daly who checked the children for lice and showed them some of his surgical equipment which included a large pair of pliers for extracting teeth. Thankfully, a clean bill of health was declared with the exception of a lass with a suspected case of cholera and one boy who may have a tapeworm.
After reading our Primers and practicing some arithmetic, we met Mrs MaCrae the music teacher who has formed a ‘Bush Band’ with the students and together they played a very jolly polka on their stringed instruments.
After lunch Mrs Nelson arrived to meet the girls as she is seeking to employ a young lady to help in her haberdashery shop. The girls practiced their sewing with Mrs Nelson whilst the boys engaged in woodwork under my supervision.
At the end of the day we debriefed our experience of the 1850’s and how both schooling and attitudes have changed for the better and will continue to change into the future.
Matt Reynolds
Class 6 Teacher
Class 3 and Class 9 news
Class Nine and Class Three shared some time reading together and showing their Main Lesson books. Over the years the two classes have periodically met; something that is beneficial and enjoyable for both ages (and a true joy for Naina who has been class teacher for both.)
Sunflower Kindy News
Sunflower Kindy were treated to a bush tucker walk and talk, by our very knowledgeable friend Gavin.
The children ( and teachers) were treated to a walk and treasure hunt around our beautiful school, discovering all the hidden edible treasures within the grounds.
We got to harvest and sample our own bush tucker along the way!
This was such an enriching and educational experience for our youngest students, and we extend our love and gratitude to our friend Gavin for the sharing of his time and knowledge.
Our Gratitude also to all the plants that shared their food with us, and to our first people for handing down this knowledge over time.
We ended our walk with a blessing for the plants, which the children sang to the trees. Maybe you were lucky to hear us throughout the school?
Blessings on the blossoms
Blessings on the fruits
Blessings on the leaves and stems
And blessings on the roots
Class 2 News
Class 2 have had a mildly challenging time over the last two weeks with my absence. I know they have missed me but Lisa and Kristine have guided them into their next main lesson and they have begun learning their times tables! I was sad to miss book week but Lisa has shared these lovely photos of them all. Here also are some photos of their work in the classroom. I can’t wait to join the class again next week and continue our exploration of counting, multiplication and times tables.
James
Class Three Play
Class Three performed Noah and the Flood, an Old Testament story that we have studied this year.
As a part of our experience, the children made posters to display around the school. This was done in small groups and were composed by the children themselves.
Naina
Class 6 news
In Class Six Art lessons, the students have been learning how to use the contrast of light and dark to create form and depth without the use of colour.
Matt
Sunflower Kindergarten Winter Festival
The Sunflower Kindergarten has been busy the last few weeks preparing for our winter festival. We have sewn snug warm, woollen beanies; painted, cut, glued, twisted, sanded and oiled to shine up our winter lanterns; gone hunting pumpkins for warming winter soup, which we delivered to the canteen pixie; and gathered pinecones and wood for the fire. Such hard working hands, and warm hearts.
Kindy Rose Winter Festival
In the dark cold days,
There shines a light,
To make my heart,
So pure and bright.
The Kindergarten students attended and observed the beautiful Class 3 Spiral Walk. We entered into the darkness of the room where the spiral walk was to commence. We walked past the seasonal table and finally through to the wonder of the laid out spiral. In the centre of the spiral, a single shining light flickered adding to the mood felt by the students. The reverence we felt as we quietly entered and settled while watching and waiting for Class 3 to enter will forever remain with the students. As each Class 3 student walked very slowly and carefully through the spiral to light their candle, I glanced at each Kindergarten face transfixed on the slow inner journey of the Class 3 students holding their apple. It was truly very special and as the seeds in the apples that the students carried, I saw in the Kindergarten students at that moment the seeds of potential waiting for when it would be their turn to walk the spiral. We watched until Class 3 completed their spiral walk and left as quietly as they had arrived. The Kindergarten student then quietly walked around the outside of the spiral, past each flickering candle to the most remarkable music, leaving with the rain drizzling down, reminding us all that Winter is indeed on the way. Thank you Class Three for allowing us to share this moment with you.
A Kindy Perspective on Winter Festival
My son in Rose Kindy returned home from school last week full of wonder at what he had experienced that day, which was witnessing Class 3 do their spiral walk. The darkness of the room, the beauty of the violin, the foliage of the spiral, the candles lighting up one by one as each child took their turn to walk into the centre and return again to the circle of the class. He took it all in and enacted with slow steps and eyes closed what he observed in those just a few years above him. It was a big step for the youngest children in the school to be invited into the quiet of the Movement Room and to bear witness to another class’s festival, and now he cannot wait until he is old enough for it to be his turn. It is very precious as a parent to observe a spirit of reverence being cultivated in your child. Thank you to Jenny, Kim, Emily and Lizzie, and to Class 3 for giving them the opportunity to experience the quiet of Winter Solstice. – Alix
Class 6 News
Class 6 completed their studies of Astronomy this week with the presentation of projects to their classmates. Many of the projects were on planets from our solar system including Eris – a dwarf planet.
Other topics were drawn from a bank of questions that the students came up with at the beginning of the Main Lesson such as ‘What is Space?’ and ‘What is Gravity?’. Black holes, Time and Comets were other topics of interest.
Matt
Kindergarten Rose
As the season slowly emerges into early winter and quite suddenly turns cooler, we have been working together to bring the images of winter into our class. The children have made beanies and are currently making their lanterns. Even the gnomes have made an entrance with beards being created and enacted. The students each day have created a puppet play and we gather together to hear the story so carefully organised by the children and watch as it unfolds. The stories have all been of gnomes and fairies, which fits so snugly into all of the Fairy houses that have been popping up outdoors. Winter songs around the circle and stories of winter have also evolved, threading their way into students play and discussions. The students have created a song which they love to sing throughout the day.
Here it is:
Winter’s coming, winters coming,
Mushrooms coming through.
Can’t you feel the chill in the air,
Each and every day.
