Lunch on the Terrace

Watering plants on the Terrace

Libby has made a Watering Checklist to help us keep track of the watering of our plants on the terrace. Please, if you have even five to ten minutes spare in the morning or afternoon, water some plants, focussing on one ‘group’ at a time, i.e. the hanging plants, back plants or front plants and then tick off the corresponding grid on the Watering Checklist. Our beautiful, inspiring terrace will only stay alive if we all take responsibility for it. Please and thank you.

School Photos - forms and money due Monday 28th May

On this Monday 28th May, we are having school photos.

Please make sure you have returned the forms and money by 9am Monday morning. 
You can also pay online - see your form for details.

Shopping and the Arts - donation request

To scaffold and inspire children’s learning in the Theatre area (some children are preparing a performance) and the shop/maths area, we would love donations of: 

• receipts, 
• tickets, 
• programs, 
• flyers, 
• catalogues,

and anything else you think might be beneficial. 

Some children are also interested in incorporating police, banks and robbers into the shop/maths area so if you have ideas for donations relevant to this interest, please pass them on! Thank you.

Donations of machines

Thank you to the families of EH and LS for their donations to our machines table – we’re off to a decent start now, but we need heaps more donations so families, please keep them rolling in! If you have any old toy cars that you don’t want any more, pull them apart and give us the wheels etc. Old egg beaters are another idea.

Parent helpers - thank you

Thank you to Carolyn (EH’s mum) for taking on the sticky job of removing labels from jars. Now they look more beautiful, we can use them for pencils, coloured water and more.

Thank you to Johanna (LL’s mum), Peta (MC’s mum) and Libby (BB’s mum) for writing in the children’s Daily Diaries this week. Great effort! I’m sure all of the families appreciate your support – we certainly do.

Welcome to Ally, student teacher

A belated public welcome to Ally, a student teacher from Deakin University. She is with us for 11 days. Sadly, one week is already up! The children and teachers have been quick to form very warm relationships with her – she’s a gem!

Carnevale

On Tuesday 22nd May, it was Carnevale at BEPS...

Tips: writing at home and using the children’s diaries

Get the child to re-read their sentence to you. Encourage them to point to the words as they read. If they haven’t drawn the picture yet, get them to do this. 

Further ideas of activities you can do include:

• write another sentence.
• if the teacher or a family helper wrote the sentence, then at home the children could re-write the sentence.
• practice re-writing the sentence to improve writing, ie. view the first time or two as drafts and then do a good copy, working on leaving spaces, forming letters the right way around (if some were back to front initially), using capitals and lower case letters correctly, etc.
• think about other words that have similar letters and sounds.

Most importantly, have fun! Reading and writing at home should be an enjoyable time for everyone.

Tips: reading at home

There are so many reasons why we read and so many strategies that we use. Keep these in mind when reading with your children. They don’t need to do everything at once! It will all come in time. The most important thing though is to ensure that we all, children included, are reading for meaning – comprehension is vital!

Below are some ideas for you to use to support children in developing their reading.

• Make predictions: read the title and look at the front cover, then make predictions of what the book will be about; stop part way through the story and predict what will happen next. You can also draw or write about your predictions.
• Remind them to point to each word as they read.
• Look at the picture and make a prediction – what will this page be about? Choose an important word from this prediction and see if you can find it in the text – the child doesn’t have to read the whole page if it is too much for them.
• Celebrate their reading behaviours - following print in the right direction, using the pictures to gain meaning, etc. Tell the child that they can read, that by looking at the pictures they are already readers.
• If the child still needs to learn some letters and sounds, find letters and sounds in the world around you - go on a letter walk, listening to sounds from words represented in the world around you, eg. b in bin. Always teach the child letters, sounds and frequently used words in context so it is meaningful.
• Be word detectives and find out all the interesting things you can about letter/sound blends and combinations (eg. sh, ch, ing, ou) and new words.
• How many different sounds did the letter e (for example) make in this book? Inquire!
• What was the book about? Summarise and retell.
• Make a connection with your own life.
• Find a word you don’t know the meaning of then work out what it could mean together.
• What is your opinion of the book? Explain.
• What did you learn that was new? What did you already know?
• How did this book make you feel? What was the mood of the book?
• What do you think would have happened next in the story if it had kept going?
•  Make your own book with a similar structure or theme… whatever inspires or interests the child.

Parent helpers - thank you

Thank you to Moira who went and brought several more wicker baskets from Kmart to store our resources in – so much more beautiful than plastic! Moira also spent a while transferring resources into these baskets and, with the help of Jane and Ally (student teacher), improved the labelling of them.

Thank you to those parents who helped take old furniture to the rubbish yard, move furniture and rearrange our learning spaces after school last Thursday. Since then, Jane and Libby have taken initiative and moved a few things around to make things either more beautiful or practical. This is amazing! Please, families, feel welcome to come and do anything you like to improve our learning spaces (both inside and on the terrace). You don’t need to ask us first unless it’s something huge – we trust you and value your own ideas, skills and perspective. Bicicletta belongs not only to the children and teachers, but to you – the families.

Thank you Jane who has offered to take care of this blog for us. Now Genevieve and I put documents into a DropBox folder and then she does all of the fiddling around to put them on the blog. You’re a star! Thank you Genevieve for doing everything on the blog up until recently – I (Nerida) really appreciate it and I know that the parents do, too.

Parent helpers - thanks

Thank you Libby for taking home a big load of pencils to sharpen overnight! A thank you also goes out to Jane for searching (as yet to no avail) for an electric pencil sharpener to make life easier. We encourage as much parent-help as possible, such as keep pencils sharpened so that children take pride in their writing and drawing. Whenever you have a spare moment, please pop in and take a seat with a sharpener!

Daily diaries

We see the daily diaries as a great opportunity to give you an insight into what children are doing during the day so you can discuss it further at night. They also support our reading program as children can read back their own sentences. These diaries are important and we need your help to ensure that they continue. 

We would love volunteers to come in each day and scribe a sentence or two about project time for each child by asking them such questions as 'What have you been doing today' and 'What did you discover/learn?'. Project Time is something children like writing about. Children then read and illustrate this page at home. 

On Thursday Peta (M's mum) volunteered in Project Time which was great and we were once again able to send Daily Diaries home. I know lots of families would like the daily diaries to continue and we ask for your help to make this happen every day except for Monday. If you can help out please come and see us or send an email.

Wind on the Hill

This poem is from the book “Now we are six” by A.A. Milne that we having been reading after recess everyday. 

 A particularly beautiful and fascinating conversation arose this morning after reading this particular poem, Wind on the Hill.  I actually got quite teary as the children shared their poetic hypotheses of where the wind does come from. Please read on.

Where does the wind come from?

• It comes from outer space because it’s really cold out in space. 
• It comes from other planets. 
• I think it comes from behind the hills, because once I went behind the hills and it felt harder than ever. 
• I think it comes from the clouds because the clouds are high up in the sky… because it spreads it all over the world, it’s a lot 'cause there are lots of clouds. 
• I know where it really, really comes from… I agree with [another child].

How do you know that? 

• 'Cause my dad has been in outer space… he studies moon dust. 
• I agree with [another child] because you can’t even walk in space and that must be the wind. 
• My dad hasn’t actually been in outer space but some of his friends have. 
• I think it comes from inside leaves. When you shake a bunch of leaves sort of wind comes from it and other things. 
• My mum told me where, when the trees shake it makes it windy. 
• I agree with [another child] because, in outer space, um there’s gravity.

What does gravity have to do with wind?

• Well in outer space there’s, you can’t actually walk on the moon because of the gravity.

And what do you think gravity has to do with the wind?

• needs some thinking time 
• The clouds.

Why do you think the wind comes from the clouds?

• (not sure) 
• I agree with [another child].

Why?

• It really does come from outer space.

Do you think that or do you know it

• I know it.

How?

• I saw it in a book. 
• Bugs that flap their wings.

Why?

• because they always make air.

How do you know?

• Because when you go near them and there’s no wind you can feel them. 
• I agree with [another child]. 
• And me too! 
• Because sometimes when the suits of astronauts blew air, all of it blows out of the suit ‘cause it’s got special buttons, and that’s why I think it comes from out of space. 
•  I’m doing the same as [another child]. 
• I think it comes from the leaves and also plants because sometimes when the plants whistle round sometimes that’s making wind. 
• From the cloud ‘cause it’s windy. 
• I think it comes from trees because trees blow ‘cause the clouds make wind and then the trees make it.

After this discussion, a few children chose to either draw their hypotheses or do some research on the internet. 

Community Circle - respect

Topic: What does respect mean? What does respectful behaviour look, feel, sound like? How can we be more respectful to our friends? How can we be more respectful in assembly? What are some problems that have arisen due to disrespectful behaviour?

• It’s mean to spit out your lunch.
• Well, I think it means to be good, and I think when you see it, it makes people feel bad.
• Pass
• Pass
• Pass
• Pass
• Pass
• Pass
• It’s for listening.
• Pass
• Pass
• It’s disrespectful to put your hand up in the middle of assembly when someone’s talking except when they ask you a question.
• Pass
• I’m going to show you what you should look like in assembly (sits up straight, still and silent).
• Pass
• When I sit down I see lots of people talking in the middle of assembly. And we’re talking about that in the meetings.
• Pass.

Nerida: I think that it’s disrespectful to do things that are silly, mean or rude when you are with your friends. You need to keep your friends safe and happy.

• It’s bad to poke your tongue at people.
• Don’t play fight.
• Don’t scrunch up other people’s pictures without asking them.
• Don’t draw on other people’s pictures.
• Pass
• Pass
• It means that, pass.
• Pass
• Even though something is for trading, like trashies, you still can’t trade them because you might have the same guys or you could get them mixed up.
• Well, once when [child A] just joined here, [child B] was playing with [child A] and I asked if I could join them and [child A] said ‘no’ and [child B] chose to run away. It made me feel sad because I had no one to play with. [Child B]: I was going to tell the yard duty teacher because [child A] said that.
• No touching people’s card.
• It’s mean to spit at school.
• Pass
• Pass.
• Pass.
• No pretend guns at school.
• Pass.
• Um, I forgot what I was going to say.
• Um, pass.

Nerida: I think it’s really important to respect yourself. If your friends want to do something that you know is wrong, something you think is silly, dangerous or mean, you need to stand up tall and say ‘no’.

• It’s mean to, when the teacher puts your hands on your head or says “1 2 3” you need to put your hands on your head.
• It’s mean to not do anything that the teacher says.
• Otto always draws on my pictures and I don’t like it.
• If you go to the toilet without a partner, I think it’s bad because you might get lost.
• I’ve seen [child] go to the toilet once by himself; and I’ve heard someone turn that card over because that person was here and their card was red. And I heard someone say “you can only touch other people’s cards when it’s playtime”.
• It’s mean to rip other people’s things and to eat other people’s food.
• It’s mean to chase other people round in the playground.
• -if they don’t want you to.
• It’s mean if you disrespect other people’s personal space if you’re to focus up the front instead of them. If you’re still focussing up the front and they’re trying to get their attention on you, that’s really disrespectful.
• Pass
• Pass
• Pass
• Pass
• Pass
• It’s mean, it’s disrespectful to touch other people’s bags and chuck their artwork in the bin, even if you don’t like it.
• Pass
• Pass
• Pass
• It’s rude to chew with your mouth open.
• Pass

.

Inquiry night - thank you

Thank you to all of the people who came to Inquiry night. It was a really interesting conversation that we had and a great opportunity to raise awareness of what we are doing at BEPS as well as further build our Prep community. Thank you.

Inquiry Night 7pm

Inquiry night is at 7pm tonight, not 6.30. Our apologies for the mixup.

Inquiry Night

Dear families,


Inquiry night is this Wednesday. This is an opportunity for us to share with you the experiences that we create for the children and our documentation of our whole L.C. inquiry into movement. We would love to show you how we came up with the concept of movement and get you involved, as much as you are willing. Inquiry is a way of learning, not just a subject. It is a central part of our curriculum at BEPS and we invite you to see how we learn literacy, maths, science art and much more through this approach.  


The evening will start in 456 upstairs at 6.30. After an introduction from Nerida, we will return to our learning community to have a closer look at what we have been working on over the past few months.


We hope to see you there!

Aquarium Excursion part 2

On Friday 4th May 2012, the Bicicletta LC went to the Melbourne Aquarium...

(click on the images below to see them at full size)

The Penguins

"The penguins can slide."

"See? That one had a stream of bubbles coming off its back!"

"Look! Air bubbles up in the rock!"

“They come out of the penguin’s bottom!” (referring to the air bubbles)

“They get stuck in the dents of the rock!”

“See that one? He had air bubbles all over his back.”

“That one’s quite shiny.”

The Sea Stars and Sea Biscuits

“It felt slimy”

“It looks like a leaf”

“They feel spikey”

“They felt scaly”

“It felt like warm, soft in bed”

“It’s called a sea star because it can’t swim”

Reflection back at school: sharks, stingrays and eyes

“I saw the shark and was closed his eyes and he was sleeping walk, but shark is still sleeping because he have to swimming. And he do it slowly, slowly and swimming.”

“When sharks sleep they open their eyes and they still float on the water except they go really slow. Starfish’s eyes are on their backs.”

“I learned that sharks have eyes on their cheeks.”

“On Stingrays their eyes are on the bottom of their body and at the very end of their fins they’ve got poisonous, I don’t know what it is... stingers? And you can only touch them in certain places. And also their gills are on the bottom.”

“The stingrays’ eyes are on its head.”

“They’re both right because the stingray’s eyes are on the top and the bottom.”

“I know because I crouched down and I looked on the top and I saw nothing that looked like eyes.”

Drawing at the aquarium...

“I can’t describe how they move because they move so slowly,” referring to the small, long fish.

and adding water colour back at school.

“It’s blurry ‘cause it’s moving so fast,” referring to the blurry effect the water had on the colour in his drawing.

Aquarium Excursion

On Friday we had our first excursion as a whole learning community to visit the aquarium. As you can see, our students are made of stern stuff.

The aim of the excursion was to help spark and develop the children's interest in movement. After a quick snack on the lawn outside the aquarium, we set off to explore the "weird and wonderful room", which more than lived up to its name.

A "fish that looks like a stone"

Eels - "it's hiding"

Weedy Sea Dragon

Many students in our learning community have expressed an interest in creating a zoo, and have been working hard to create suitable enclosures for all the animals. To support this interest, we had some time to examine the features of various tanks after the weird and wonderful room. Our guides explained that some fish and aquatic creatures need special furniture to be happy and healthy, such as seaweed or rocks for hiding in, and baby toys to keep the octopus stimulated. 

We also had a chance to feel some sea stars and sea urchins in a special feeling pool.  

"It feels funny"

Patting the sea urchin "like a hairbrush"

We discovered that we'd been getting starfish mixed up for a long time.  Because have no fins, they are not actually fish at all, which is why the aquarium staff call them sea stars.  We observed the movement of all the fish in each room, and discussed their anatomical features, in particular their fins and gills.  The children were fascinated to discover that sea stars are unable to swim as they have no fins, and walk along the sea floor instead.  


In the tropical fish room, we paused to record our observations. This proved to be quite difficult as many of the fish swam quickly in laps around the tank. We also had the chance to observe a few new types of sea creatures, such as stingrays which moved different parts of their body in different directions as they swam.

We have had the chance since we returned to Bicicletta to finish some beautiful artwork based on the sea creatures we observed on our visit. We have also used our favourite sea creatures as inspiration for some writing and graphing work - have a look at our new maths board in our room when you have a chance. 

Greening the Terrace - thank you!

A big thank you, as has already been made, to all of the people who made our terrace the beautiful and inspiring place that it is. Whether you made a donation or helped out on the day, we are truly grateful. An thousand thank yous are owed to Kirsty and Libby in particular for initiating and organising it. We feel so lucky, in Bicicletta, to have such a generous and supportive community of families.

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