Parkes Public School

2009 Classes

Bushman - Mrs Michelle MacGregor and Mrs Angela Wilson

Hello to all and Welcome back to Term 3 from Bushman class! We are a small but special class and we are very lucky to have 2 teachers and a fantastic SSLO in our room. Our class is taught by Mrs MacGregor on Mondays and Tuesdays and Mrs Wilson on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Miss Quinney, a School Support Learning Officer, is a very valuable helper to both our teachers and us.

Our room is in the Pioneer building and our class has grown from 6 students at the beginning of the year to 7. We now have 4 boys and 3 girls and are always open to welcoming more students into our wonderful class.

We are all very clever and love learning. Each day we do spelling, reading, writing and maths activities. Some of our favourites are Spelling Games, WINK Writing and Targeting Maths which we play on our Interactive Smartboard.

We love integrating with 3/4R for Computers on Tuesdays, daily fitness and Library visits on Wednesdays.

At the moment in Science we are learning all about Space and all the amazing wonders that lie beyond our reach in the Soloar System. We have created some fabulous artworks that have transformed our room in an ‘Out of this World’ way. Come have a look sometime!

If we aren’t in our room we might be participating in one of the other fun activities we get to do each week. We could be shopping at our local supermarket or cooking up a storm in the kitchen as part of our Cooking program. We might even be at the PCYC getting physical at Kindergym!  

We enjoyed bowling so much last term that we have planned another trip for the end of this term and already we can’t wait!

So if you think you can keep up with us, feel free to pop in and see our wonderful class, have some fun and learn something new- that is if you can find us!!!!!

Pioneer - Mrs Allison Pritchard

Welcome - Mrs Narelle Ward

KE - Mrs Judy Elliott

KE is a class of terrific Kindergarten students and is taught by Mrs Elliott, who is an Assistant Principal.

There are 10 girls and 9 boys in KE. Each day, we have 2 great friends from Bushman class visit our room for integration. Mrs Bright, their Teacher support comes with them. We love to help the boys and they are learning lots of things from us. Mrs Hilder is another teacher support officer who visits our room to help for an hour each day.

We love WINK, which means writing in kindergarten. We are already very clever and have exciting ideas for stories. We also love having our mums and dads come in to help us learn Jolly Phonics and play games in Maths. It makes learning much easier when there is always someone ready to help us.

Later in the year we will make Easter hats with year 6, have a sports day and visit the zoo.

KL - Mrs Colleen Leonard

KO - Mrs Lea Orr

(that’s K-Orrsome!! as Mr Crowe calls us!!)

Our class has 18 students, 9 girls and 9 boys, so it’s very easy to pair-up when we walk somewhere!

There is a wide age-range within our class .... the oldest student turns 7 in early April, while the youngest student turns only 5 at the end of April!

Each day, Mrs Orr teaches Reading Recovery with 2  Year One students. At that time, Mrs Earsman teaches KO - she teaches Space and Measurement in Mathematics, Computer and fine-motor activities on Tuesdays, Art on Wednesdays and Sport on Fridays....all the fun things!

Mrs Ryan takes our class for Library on Tuesdays. We love to borrow books and read them at home with our families.

Mrs Kerin teaches us for an hour on Wednesday morning and this term we have been talking about “School Days” with her.

Now that we have been at school for almost a full term, all the students know lots of  Jolly Phonics sounds. We can blend them into words now, so that means we are learning to read! Twice a week, we take home a new Home Reader to read. We feel very proud when we can read the book at home!

Every day, we bring our Sound Books to school and some of our Mums help us to learn our sounds and Tricky Words. We love having them in the room to help us. Some Mums also help us with Maths groups on Tuesdays and Fridays. Mrs Orr likes the help too.

Our classroom has a new SmartBoard to help us learn. It will also help all of us improve our computer skills, including our teachers! It’s fun to write on with the different coloured pens.

That’s all for now. 

From  Mrs Orr   and   KO

KW - Mrs Kath Whitchurch

KW has settled quickly into school life - we are an enthusiastic group of 10 girls and 9 boys. Our classroom is near the Infants playground. We work hard, have lots of fun and are kind and considerate towards each other.

We enjoy learning our new Jolly Phonics sound each day, and take great pride in our workbooks. In WINK writing, we are learning to write interesting stories, with capital letters, word spaces and full stops already!

In Reading To Learn lessons, we have been changing the text around and making new sentences, which makes us all want to be authors one day!

Count Me In Maths groups are always fun, and we love having parents in the room to help us with this twice a week. They also help us by testing our sounds each day, coming to art and computer lessons.

On Tuesday we go to the Library with Mrs Ryan, and Mrs Earsman does fine motor activities with us. Mrs Kerin takes us for Measurement and Values on Wednesdays. So far we have learnt about Kindness, Consideration and Confidence.

KW enjoys fitness and sport and shows great participation and sportsmanship. Some of our favourite games are Jockeys to Wild Horses, Over and Under and Back to Back.

We are very excited about the Fete which is on 20th March and have been working hard on our portraits for our parents which will be for sale in the hall.

1DW -Mrs Vicki Wright and

               Mrs Te Anau Dolbel

1J - Mrs Jane Howard

1J is made up of 13 boys and 8 girls and is taught by Mrs Jane Howard.

I (Mrs Howard) moved back to Parkes last year after living and teaching in Sydnay for 5 years. I am looking forward to a wonderful year with 1J.

We are all passionate writers in 1J and we love writing about what we are learning at school.

Mrs Kerin will be teaching us HSIE, Music and Creative Arts this year.

It has been a great start to the school year and we look forward to all the learning that is to come.

1S - Miss Robyn Smith

1/2H - Mrs Jenny Henry

1/2H is taught by Mrs Henry and Mrs Mill who is a School Support Learning Officer, who works with our class. We have 8 clever Year Two students and 16 illustrious Year One students. 

This term we have enjoyed learning about human and animal shelters and have been involved in an interactive learning competition on the Country Areas Website called ‘Collie Finds a Home’. We came 32nd out of 201 classes in NSW.  Both grades have had an excursion this year. Year One went on a bus trip to Orange to see the musical ‘Millie, Jack and the Dancing Cat’ based on the books by Stephen Michael King. Year Two enjoyed a visit to the Japanese Gardens at Cowra. Everyone had a great time.

Our class is located in the Welcome building and parents of our students are most welcome to come and visit or help with reading and other activities.

2N     Miss Tracey Newbigging

In 2N this semester we are looking at workers in the Community and how they help us. We are currently interacting with numerous other Stage 1 classes from around Australia through the Connected Classrooms. We meet every second Monday and talk to a community worker.

We are also busy doing Reading to Learn units and writing wonderful stories.  2N will be investigating Space and doing a cultural unit about Japan before attending the Cowra Japanese Gardens on the 24th of September. Thank you to the wonderful parents who come in each Wednesday to listen to the children read in small groups. Thank you, 2N.

2P - Mrs Kerrie Peden     

3K - Miss Lisa O'Keefe

Hello and welcome to 3K! We are a class consisting of 30 students with 15 boys and 15 girls. Our teacher is Miss O’Keefe and our wonderful helper is Mrs Mill who is a School Support Learning Officer. We are very excited now that we are in the primary playground. Our classroom is located in the Pioneer building.

We will have a very busy year in 2009 with the NAPLAN taking place as well as learning all of the primary side routines. We take part in Maths groups every day. Mrs Ryan is our fantastic librarian and we visit her each Wednesday for our library time. Miss O’Keefe is teaching us computers every Tuesday where we will improve out typing and learn to use word processing and slideshow programs.

A major unit of work that we will be learning about this year is ‘Understanding Each Other’. This will involve learning about different cultures as well as having a science focus on the Solar System.

We will all be working hard to get many commendations so we can hopefully make it to level nine!

3S - Mrs Judy Shore

Our class is 3S and you can find us in the Pioneer building on the Primary side of the school. Our class has 30 students, 15 girls and 15 boys and our teacher is Mrs Shore.

In year 3, we have Maths groups every day and some of us have to go to different teachers. Maths is fun because we get to learn new things and we also play Maths games.

After recess on Monday and Wednesday we have fitness activities. We rotate every week to a different teacher who teaches us a new game or skill that helps us to be fit.

On Tuesday we go to the library and Mrs Ryan helps us to choose new books. Thursdays are fun because this is the day we go to Computers where we learn to use the internet and to publish some of our English work. Sometimes if we get all our work done we can have some free time to play the games. Many of us really like playing Targeting Maths.

Fridays are great because we have Sport. Sometimes it is class sport but other times we get to go and learn about other games such as touch football, netball, soccer and AFL. Later in the year we can choose our own sport which will be fun. Also on Fridays, we have Assembly and we might get a blue merit certificate and we hear about what the other classes have been doing. The next best thing is that we can go home early on Friday afternoon.

There is something fun and different to do each day in 3S.

3/4R - Mr Mitch Roberts                          

4M - Miss Martina Reitz

4M is a wonderful class, consisting of 17 girls and 13 boys. The class teacher is Miss Martina Reitz and she is ably assisted, during certain times, by Mrs Lyn Hindmarsh. Mrs Lynn Ryan, Mrs Alana Kerin and Mrs Elizabeth Watson also have the pleasure of working with the class. 4M have already started off the year with some great work. Reading and writing are just two of the areas where pleasing work is already happening this term.

A major project that 4M students will be involved in this year will be Waterwatch. Waterwatch is a national water quality and catchment education program involving over 50 000 Australians. The class will be heading out to Bushman Dam at least once a term to examine the quality of the water in the dam. The data that 4M students collect will be used by a variety of government agencies. What an amazing opportunity for the students in 4M to show their care for the local environment. How exciting! Many more excellent opportunities will arise throughout the year where students in 4M can shine! They’re destined to have a super year!

4S Mrs Simone Mackenzie

This year 4S consists of 29 students, 12 boys and 17 girls and are taught by Mrs Mackenzie. They can be located at the top of the first flight of stairs in the Pioneer Building.

The beautiful class has other teachers who are involved in the day to day activities including Mrs Watson, Mrs Earsman, Mrs Ryan, and two fantastic SSLO's, Mrs Mill and Mrs Harris.

The children go to Maths Groups five days a week with Mrs Mackenzie, Mr Roberts or Miss Reitz. On Mondays 4S go to computing with Mrs Earsman, Thursdays to scripture followed by library with Mrs Ryan. Fridays is always busy with sport and assembly.

Creative Art has been a big focus this year with some wonderful artworks  adorning the hallways of the Pioneer Building. The children have also studied “Cycles in our World” and completed a unit about Australia in Library.

Reading to Learn has also been very important this year with the children studying Narratives, an Information Report and a Descriptive Recount through the use of texts including “The 27th Annual African Hippopotamus Race”, “Spitting Fire” and “The Musical Life of Gustav Mole”.

5M - Miss Karen Morrison

14 girls and 15 boys make up the magnificent class known as 5M.

They are taught by marvellous Miss Morrison on the lower level of the Bushman Building. If you were to come looking for us you might find us ‘Busting’ into Andy Griffiths or following the tracks of ‘Jodies Journey’.

We may also be found over the seas at Antarctica or flying through the realms of Outer Space!

Everyday in 5M is an adventure (with lots of learning of course!)

5F - Mr Dan Fredericks

5F are made up of 30 students, 12 boys and 18 girls. Collectively known as the 5F All-Stars, we can usually be found in the Bushman Building. However as learning is not something confined to within the walls of the classroom (indeed learning is lifelong!) we can occasionally be found learning outside.

Our teacher is Mr Fredericks, who is new to Parkes but has been teaching in a variety of different schools for many years. There is no ‘Failure’ in 5F; rather it has been replaced by ‘Feedback’. In any and every activity, we aim to do our individual best.

We have three simple yet far-reaching rules: Be Safe; Be Respectful and Be A Learner – hence all the images of bees in our classroom. As a class we are putting out our own newspaper called Beekeepers’ Gazette where we are writing reports, stories, poems and even drawing our own comics and compiling our own crosswords and puzzles. We have plenty of fun while we are learning, and we’re discovering there’s plenty of learning in our fun too.

5/6S - Mr Scott Ogilvie

5/6S is made up of 28 students – six year 5 girls, fourteen year 5 boys and eight year 6 girls. Our classroom is upstairs in the Bushman Building and by the end of the year all those stairs will have made us a very fit class!

Our teacher is Mr Ogilvie, who is new to the school but has spent the last few years teaching in Wollongong.  

We are exploring many interesting topics in 2009 including Space, Gold and Weather. We also reading some great stories this year such as Busting by Andy Griffiths, Rowan of Rin by Emily Rodda, Wicked by Paul Jennings and Morris Gleitzman and I Am Jack by Susanne Gervay. 

Every two weeks the students in 5/6S prepare a talk on a set topic and must present this talk on their given day. Topics for these talks include ‘current affairs’, ‘a famous Australian’ and ‘my earliest memory’. 

Some of our year 5 students are also involved in an extension class with Miss Sharpe every Wednesday and have been learning about Greek Myths. Creative thinking is also promoted in 5/6S through the use of open-ended thinking activities several times a week.

6B   Mrs Maria Buchanan

Class 6B is a class of 28 students, 14 boys and 14 girls.  Our classroom is upstairs in the Bushman building. Mrs. Buchanan is 6B's teacher.

Twenty 6B students have been inducted as prefects. Whilst they are prefects for the whole year they will, in turn, fulfil their duties of running assemblies, raising and lowering the flag each day and counting commendations weekly. A number of 6B students are, also, sporting house captains.

This semester 6B will study Colin Thiele's novel "Jodie’s Journey", which is an inspirational story of a young girl with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis.  We will use parts of this text to help us write our own narratives.

In HSIE 6B will do a study of an ecosystem – coral reefs, and in particular learn about The Great Barrier Reef. We will learn about where coral reefs are found, how living organisms depend on each other within an ecosystem and the way in which humans have impacted on the delicate balance of that ecosystem. We will refine our research skills (i.e. finding relevant information, note taking and publishing researched information), use graphic organisers to display information and use computer technology, where appropriate, to complete activities. We will write information reports, explanations and descriptions as part of our unit of work on coral reefs.

A highlight for Year 6 students will be the excursion to Canberra to visit Parliament House and the Electoral Commission to help students understand our parliamentary system. Whilst on the excursion we will visit Perisher Blue and spent a few hours playing in the snow. This will be a fun excursion.

Mrs Kerin will teach 6B Science and they are working on a unit called What’s the Weather.

Mrs Ryan will teach 6B library skills on Wednesday afternoon.

6H  Mrs Michelle Hawke

In 2009 6H is a class situated upstairs in Bushman building. There are 14 boys and 13 girls.

In term One we will be looking at a HSIE unit on Japan. The focus will be on the culture, fascinating facts and the language. We will also be reading 'Sadako and a Thousand Paper Cranes.'

At present we are reading 'Busting' by Andy Griffiths and will be completing activities such as detailed reading and text patterning from this short story.

Another of our daily activities is 10 minute power writing where we are given a different, but exciting, topic to write about each day.