10 Years...

Year 4 had some questions about our 10 years at Peregian Springs State School:

1. What have you enjoyed the most about being at our school for 10 years?

2. What have you found challenging?

3. If you could change anything what would you change?

4. What is different from when we first opened to now?

5. What skills do you think that you have bought to make this school the way it is now?

And they made a fantastic video which was too large to upload here, unfortunately. I enjoyed the kids coming to interview me. It enabled some reflection on the last 10 years at Peregian Springs.

The things I've enjoyed the most is the children - they are all different little personalities with something to say. I love they feel comfortable enough to always come and say hello and tell me a story. The other thing I've enjoyed is working closely with the best teachers I've ever seen!

The growth of the school has been challenging - I've had to continually lobby for buildings and resources as the state planning could not keep up with our enrolments.

What would I change? I can't think of anything. I walk around the school and feel so happy with everyone's effort, our buildings and classrooms. Maybe I would have liked some of the big trees left in the playground so kids could climb them.

So many things are different - the size, the numbers, the buildings, our curriculum, our strengths and talents, the make up of our community. Nothing ever stays the same.

My skills? Hmmmm - well, I'm very organised and future focussed. That really helps us be prepared. I know the curriculum really well and I have a clear vision of what helps children and their teachers learn best. I get on with everyone - I never hold a grudge; just deal with the problem and move on. And I can see things from a kid's perspective - this is so important in a school because all kids need a champion, and that's me!

Don't worry if you're new and you haven't learned any Japanese...

 A post from our Senseii

Konnichiwa everyone.

In Term 4, I have welcomed 15 new students to learn Japanese. Out of those, only a couple of students have studied Japanese at their old schools for a short period of time. I always tell new students not to worry about having no experience of studying Japanese at all and encourage them to have a go without worrying about making mistakes. As I have written in one of the newsletters this year, it is very easy to pronounce Japanese since the five vowel sounds; A, I, U, E, O, are always pronounced exactly the same no matter what consonants come before them. Every time I explain this to new students, they immediately relax a little and have a smile on their faces and say, ‘that’s good to know’ or ‘better than English!’ Also, comparing to most of the European languages, I think Japanese is a logical language (Japan as a nation is very logical too, in my opinion!). Therefore, once you remember 1 to 10, you can count up to 99 easily. Once you know 100, you can count up to 999 easily too.

Digital Dialects has basic Japanese in Romaji. Romaji is the romanization Japanese words into English letters. You can click on the headphone icons and listen to the actual sounds before playing language games on this site.  Numbers, colours and phrases are good to start with. There are 40 languages altogether to learn on this site. Why not having a go with these language games at home, even your children are not one of the new students. Try speaking in Japanese with your family members. Try counting in Japanese in front of your dog and see what it says!

If you like doing origami, have a look at Origami Club website

Leilani and Alexie from 6WS made an origami stegosaurus in class!

"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart"

Nelson Mandela Former president of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Year 6 students wearing sumo suits on Day for Daniel