15 November 2018

Newsletter Articles

CQ University Study Hub

Lesley Griffin – Parent Liaison Officer

Charters Towers:

Ayr:

Cricket - Tully

Primary Interschool Swimming

As well awaited rain fell from the sky the Primary Interschool Swimming Carnival commenced on Friday the 9th of November. Our competitors Emmerson O’Sullivan, Hayley Hill, Alanie O’Sullivan, Sally Broad and Tom Kirkwood competed and put in a tremendous effort for the school.

Emmy competed in the 9yrs girls 50m Freestyle and 50m Breaststroke. Tom competed in the 11yrs boys 50m Freestyle, Backstroke and Breaststroke events. While Hayley, Alanie and Sally competed in all events for their respective age groups which is quite a wonderful achievement in itself.

A massive effort was put in by all with several students making it to the final for their events. Well done to Emmy for competing in the 50m Breaststroke final, and Alanie for competing in the 50m Butterfly final. Well done to Sally for competing in the 50m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke and 50m Butterfly final, with a final well done to Hayley who competed in all final events for her age group.

The School of Distance Education scored 35 points for the day leaving us in 8th place for the carnival however great sportsmanship was shown throughout the day from Distance Education and all schools. Congratulations to all of those who competed and thank you to the students, parents and grandparents who took time out of their week to travel in for this carnival and be a wonderful cheer squad as well as to Mrs Milton for her wonderful time-keeping skills and Miss O’Brien for her organisation of the team.

Mrs Purdie
Primary Teacher

Library

As Christmas is just around the corner, Mrs Currin thought of the excellent idea to create our own stockings that can be displayed around the fireplace in our library. Can students please colour in a stocking and make sure your name is on the front so we can hang them up for display. We look forward to seeing your creative stockings!

Stockings

Education Support

Joshua, Rheannon, Charlie & William headed up to Paluma with the other year 6s. What a great time they had!

On the way there they played basketball with some of the Townsville Fire. Did you know they were the first regional sporting team to bring home a National trophy (even before the Cowboys!).

“When we got to Paluma, we were up in the clouds – you could hardly see, it was awesome! We did lots of walking through the rainforest. We saw and heard some cool creatures, but sadly, not one platypus.

Thanks Ms Ruthenberg & Mr Purdie for taking us!”

Ms Skowronski
Primary Teacher

Asian Cultures Showcase at Mini School

During Mini School, our students had a wonderful opportunity to experience a variety of authentic Asian cultures provided by Languages teachers, as well as visitors from St Patrick’s College in Townsville and Jake from Townsville Kungfu Academy.

Chinese Lion Dancing

Jake from Townsville Kungfu Academy presented Chinese traditional Lion dancing to our primary students. Lion Dancing is a form of traditional dance in Chinese culture and other Asian countries in which performers mimic a lion's movements in a lion costume. The lion dance is performed during the Chinese New Year and other Chinese traditional, cultural and religious festivals. Jake’s visit was coordinated by our Languages teacher, Mr Fan Zeng.

Japanese Taiko

Japanese traditional drumming known as “taiko” was performed for our students with all age groups throughout Mini School Week. The taiko is a kind of drum that has been used in Japan for well over one thousand years. Taiko is made out of an open-ended barrel with animal skins stretched over each end. The drum is played with two bachi, or wooden sticks. Taiko feature in Noh and Kabuki theatre productions and are played regularly in folk music and at festivals throughout Japan. The activity was coordinated and conducted by the following teachers:

St Patrick’s College in Townsville:

• Ms Miyoshi and her students

Languages Department:

• Norihiro Yamada
• Kaori Waerea
• Fan Zeng
• Gawai Cheng

Secondary and Special Education Department:

• Karen Smith
• Jacky Coffison
• Theresa Simshauser
• Robyn Switzer

Japanese Tea Ceremony

Mr Tilly presented the traditional Japanese tea ceremony to our primary students. The tea ceremony is called sadō, chadō or chanoyu in Japanese. It is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of a Japanese tea called maccha, a powdered green tea. The manner in which it is performed, or the art of its performance, is called (o)temae. Zen Buddhism was a primary influence in the development of the Japanese tea ceremony.

Kendama

Mr Yamada presented a traditional Japanese toy called, kendama and students learnt how to play with kendama. Kendama is a Japanese traditional wooden toy which has three cups and a spike in a main part. The main part is connected to the wooden ball with a string. The principle of the toy is to either catch the ball with one of the three cups or slotting a spike in a hole of the ball. The modern kendama style takes influences from a diverse range of skills including yo-yo, diabolo, and juggling.

Origami

Ms Doi, Mrs Waerea and Mr Gwon presented Origami skills to our students and their families. Origami is the art of paper folding, which is often associated with Japanese culture. The word “Origami” made out of two parts; “ori” meaning “folding” and kami (gami) meaning “paper”. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a finished sculpture through folding and sculpting techniques. Modern origami practitioners generally discourage the use of cuts, glue, or marking techniques.

Congratulations once again for those who contributed to the activities and we hope all students who participated in these activities enjoyed their experience!

Primary students enjoying Japanese Taiko presentation

Students enjoying Japanese Taiko presentation on Under8’s Day

Secondary students enjoying Japanese Taiko presentation

Primary students enjoying Chinese Lion Dancing presented by Jake from Townsville Kungfu Academy

Primary students enjoying Japanese Tea Ceremony presented by Mr Tilly

Enjoying Origami with Ms Doi

Origami by Yeong

Mr Moritake
Language Teacher

Mini School Education Support

Recently some of our students enjoyed participating in the October Mini School with several of our year 6 students being able to spend the week in Paluma with Ms Skowronski. We were all experiencing the very hot days in Charters Towers whilst these lucky students were enjoying being in a tropical rainforest setting. Our younger students had the wonderful culminating activity that was Under 8’s day.

The students in our program have been producing some excellent schoolwork. Hugh Homshaw and Brophy Burke in Mrs Hunt’s Year 9 English class produced these posters in their media unit.

Under 8’s Extravaganza

Our school is amazing as teachers, from all year levels, and staff unite and help each other; Visitors donate their time and efforts AND then there are the energetic STUDENTS and their dedicated families that break from their busy schedules to attend!

We can’t thank you enough!

It is a wonderful school event that brings Prep-Year 2 students, and their siblings, together for an exciting morning to celebrate the joys of being young and under 8 years old.

Students all looked FANTASTIC in their costumes!

The Teachers were hard to recognise as they transformed on the day hidden by their costumes too!

We had 33 places for the students to visit and explore!

Our generous visitors to the school include:

• Bunnings
• North Queensland Wildlife
• Department of Agriculture and Fisheries
• Emerald RAFS
• PCYC
• Charters Towers Police
• Charters Towers Fire Brigade
• Rural Fire Fighters
• Prospect
• QCCU
• Mick Blacklock – Flight Simulator
• TAIKO Drumming
• Ron Sellars – School Song
• Tableland Vets
• Rory Rhodes
• CT Show Society Jumping Castle

Kind donations made by:

• PCAP Funding
• PCAP Funding
• Student Council Funding & Time
• Woolworths
• Crazy Creations
• Prices Plus
• Teachers

YAHOO! What a terrific morning!

Huge smiles from the big kid herself! Alias…Lyn Simatis

Ms Simatis
Year 2 Teacher

Mini School Prep

Many of our fabulous Prep students were in attendance at the school for Mini School week and what a week it was!

Students practised their writing, spelling and Maths skills while also participating in hands-on activities. Students grew “Cress Heads” in Science reflecting on their unit which taught them what things needed to grow, they also learnt coding with Bee-Bots as well as painting, water play and learning the Macarena to the months of the year.

A special thanks to our special visitors from the Fire Brigade, RACQ and all those in attendance at Under 8’s for their fantastic presentations and stalls. Also thank you to Mrs Milton, Miss Hobbs and Miss Theresa who helped out in Prep throughout the week. Mrs Price and Mrs Purdie had a wonderful time and the Prep students said goodbye to Mrs Price who will not be at Celebration Day as she will be getting ready to have her baby (as Miss D did this year).

We all hope you had a fantastic time at Mini School and enjoy the last few weeks of Prep!

Mrs Purdie and Mrs Price
Prep Teachers

Mini School Year 2

Year 2 were hooked and reeled in at Mini school…

The Year 2 students packed their snorkels and flippers and dived head first into a breathtaking Mini School “Under the Sea.” Upon their arrival, the students were surprised to be greeted by several familiar characters such as Dory, Nemo and Bruce. Dory and her friends kept a watchful eye over our Year 2 students who had a swimmingly good time.

In English, the students were champion swimmers learning sea poetry, sea songs and sharing sea stories and facts, they found in the sea books. We sang regularly about our friend the Octopus’ garden in the shade! Our school of students also shared some information they had researched on interesting sea creatures.

In Maths, we skip counted our way to the water where we baited our lines and took a chance at fishing. Each group tallied up their catch to record and graph which group were the better anglers. Let’s just say it was impossible for Dory to decide!

At the end of our deep sea diving into knowledge each day, we chilled out in our coral reef and completed some jaw dropping artwork. Looking out of our portholes, we watched our seahorses float past us as we dreamed what it would be like to be a mermaid or merman.

The Year 2 students also had the opportunity to experience some different activities throughout the week with some very valuable teachers with some hidden talents. The Luna Circus Troupe shared some tricky moves with the children. They became quite expert at stretches, somersaults, twirling batons, hoola hoops and colourful netting!

Ms Geisel came and introduced us to some Drama where the students acted out a scene from Shakespeare. We decided we didn’t know how to speak whale as such but we were able to recite some Shakespeare.

We danced like jellyfish as Miss Heath taught us some groovy moves and a hip swinging dance!

Mr Patrick was like a strong current guiding us all to cross the streets correctly, safety in a car and on our bikes.

The Charters Towers Fire Fighters took us through Fire Education and we got to squirt Ms Simatis with the hose as she tried to take our photos. Cooled everyone down. It was GREAT!

Year 2 went for a trip to the Library to visit Mrs Currin. To much of our surprise she was not the Mrs Currin we remembered; she was a rocket surrounded by an amazing solar system and floating space students. With the help of Mrs Milton, the Year 2s were photographed with a jet pack, as what appeared to be floating astronauts! After an entertaining story from Miss Hobbs, our student teacher, we ventured out into the sunlight and back to our classroom.

By the end of the week, the Year 2 students were ready to hang up their flippers, rinse out their snorkels and head off to our UNDER 8’s Morning - a great way to finish a successful week together. Between the jumping castle, joey petting, ninja moving, slime touching, cheer stick waving and face decorating… to name only a few…we would have all slept well that night!

We as teachers had such a wonderful time with our students and we hope you all enjoyed your last Early Years Mini School.

Year 2’s UNDER WATER GUIDES,

Miss Chantel Micallef and Ms Lyn Simatis

Ms Simatis & Miss Micallef
Year 2 Teachers

Mini School Year 3

Zooom! AKOY318 flew off on our around the world adventure with stopovers in China, Germany, Japan and we even explored outer space.

On our visit to China, we were lucky enough to taste the culinary delights of traditional Chinese dishes. Mr Clark tested us on our knowledge of China and to our teachers’ relief we passed! Xie Xie! (Thank you in Chinese).

After a fun filled cultural experience in China, we headed off to Germany. We learnt many interesting facts about Germany and even made our own German pretzels. They tasted delicious! Danke Schoen! (Thank you in German).

Now it was time to head back to Asia and visit Japan. We immersed ourselves into the Japanese culture. We watched lion dancing, taiko drums and participated in a traditional tea ceremony. Arigato! (Thank you in Japanese).

Thursday afternoon we headed back to Charters Towers for our sleepover. Unfortunately, our plane detoured and we ended up in outer space.

Miss Nelson and Miss Ralph have thoroughly enjoyed teaching our students this year. We wish them the best of luck in Year 4. Do not forget to come and say hi boys and girls!

Miss Nelson and Miss Ralph
Year 3 Teachers

Mini School Year 6 Excursion to Paluma

Mini School for the 2018 Year 6 cohort involved a week in the beautiful town of Paluma, located north of Townsville. The students spent five days and four nights immersed in world heritage listed rainforest located 1000m above sea level.

On the way to their destination, the students were very fortunate to spend a session honing their basketball skills with the only professional women’s sporting team in North Queensland, the Townsville Fire Basketball team.

Following are some recounts of the Mini School Excursion by some of the Year 6 students:

This year fourteen students went to Paluma. My three favourite activities were Ozobot’s, the Environmental Sensory Trail and the Giant Swing. The atmosphere at Paluma is amazing and relaxing, but exciting. It is as eco-friendly environment bound to keep the family entertained. With a variety of activities, it’s sure to keep all ages interested in learning about its fascinating ecosystem. Programming the robots is a fascinating task to keep students of all ages interested. High ropes is great for all adventurous kids and is really fun. Lastly, the Environmental Sensory Trail means that teams of two have to wear blindfolds (one at a time) and the other directs them through a path suitable for all. (Matt)

During Mini School in 2018, I went to Paluma on a bus with all of my friends. On the way up we stopped at Little Crystal Creek to have a look at the amazing views. When we got to Paluma we were introduced to Mr Smith and Mr Murphy. We were all amazed at the clouds being so close to the ground. The food at Paluma was outstanding!

On the Wednesday we went rock climbing and went on the high ropes course. Sam at the Outer Limits High Ropes course made sure we were all in our harnesses properly. I went on every activity, even the leap of faith, where I almost touched the big red ball which was suspended 14 metres high off the ground. At the end we all tried the big swing, which is here you run as hard as you can while the rest of the class run as well and pull you up into the air from the ground.

Also on the Wednesday we went on a trail with a partner through the rainforest. One of us was blindfolded and you had to trust your partner to guide you through the rainforest. At stages we had to stop and feel a letter on a post. When my partner and I had finished we could hear some screeches of laughter from the others still on the course. (Mickey)

For Mini School this year the Year 6 class took a trip to Plauma. Fourteen students attended this trip along with Miss Ruthenberg, Mr Purdie and Ms Skowronski.

All week was jam-packed with fun activities, but my favourite by far was the high ropes course. It was made up of two high ropes courses and four rock climbing walls, these were all fourteen metres off the ground. It also included a giant swing. In order for it to work, ten other students had to pull you up.

We also did a sensory trail. For this you needed a partner. The sensory trail was a long winding path through the rainforest with lots of letters carved into wood which when joined together, made a word. You and your partner had to make it through the path with one person blind folded.

In conclusion, this year camp was the best by far. (Miranda)

This Mini School (Year 6, 2018), my class went to the Paluma Environmental Education Centre.

My first favourite activity of this trip was visiting Little Crystal Creek on the first day. I really liked exploring the rocks and climbing to the water fall.

My second favourite activity was walking through the rainforest with a blindfold on.

My third favourite part of the trip was meeting some new friends who I had not met before in Year 6.

Overall, I found the Paluma Trip the best ever!

My trip to Paluma was amazing because we had teachers at Paluma (Mr Murphy, Mr Baker and Mr Smith) who helped us with the activities. We also saw the Townsville Fire Basketball team on the way to Paluma and did a training session with them.

At Paluma we walked through the rainforest with a partner with a blindfold on and we discovered the hidden message with the letters on the post which spelled out ‘Environmental Sensory Trail’.

Throughout this trip to Paluma I have thought it is amazing here. We got to go on a night walk in the rainforest and see glowing fungi. We also got to go to the high ropes and do rock climbing.

We also got Prince Harry from a river. He had a red head and a clear body with six legs and four tails. On the way to Paluma we stopped at Little Crystal Creek and had some lunch and discovered a waterfall. It is an amazing place at Paluma. (Chloe)

Mini School in 2018 brought the chance for all Year 6 students to go on a trip to Paluma. There were fourteen really excited children bouncing off the walls and three poor teachers trying to find peace (one even turned to crochet trying to rid her mind of prying questions).

Our first stop was in Townsville where we met up with the Townsville Fire who gave us an amazing training session where we were tested at our shooting and running skills. We then travelled to Paluma where we had an awesome walk through the rainforest at night (with the glowing algae and a leaf tailed gecko making it unforgettable).

The other highlights of the week included the high ropes/rock climbing/leap of faith. Fishing for macro-invertebrates (where Sophia and Maddie found a red-headed bug which we named Prince Harry, we later found out he was a scorpion fly lava). We also did camp fires and marshmallows, rainforest robotics (where we had to colour code a path for an Ozobot to save cassowary’s), sensory trail (where one person is blindfolded and the other one has to guide them through the rainforest, through ‘possum pee’ and a ‘crocodile infested water’ where poor Mr Purdie lost his leg).

Overall the 2018 Mini School trip to Paluma was unforgettable. (Sophia)

In 2018 the Year 6 class of CTSDE went to Paluma for Mini School. The teachers that went with the 14 students were Miss Ruthenberg, Mr Purdie and Ms Skowronski.

On Wednesday we did a high ropes course. The course was 10 metres in the sky. When I was on the first course I nearly vomited and passed out in mid-air. The second course was even scarier because they had islands in the sky which were actually wooden pallets.

Also on Wednesday we played with Ozobots. They are tiny robots that are really dumb and they can only understand colour codes. We had to complete a maze that led the endangered Southern Cassowary to safety.

On Tuesday night we had a campfire and some of us sang songs. Matt sang ‘Phantom of the Opera’ which was surprisingly good. Charlie sang some made up opera which wasn’t so bad and I sang ‘I’ll see you again’ by Carrie Underwood.

Altogether the whole camp was really, really fun. I sure hope we can do it again some time. (Jollea)

For Mini School in 2018 the year 6 class went to Paluma. There was 14 students who attended the trip with the hard working Mr Purdie, Miss Ruthenberg and Ms Skowronski helping keep them controlled.

On the trip we did many activities such as:

• Many rainforest walks including a night walk where we were lucky enough to see a leaf tailed gecko, a frog and glowing fungi.
• A session with the JCU Townsville Fire
• High ropes and rock climbing
• Built a shelter
• Played with Ozobots

But the highlight of the trip was the sensory trail where your partner was blindfolded and you had to give them directions.

On the second night of the trip we got to have a camp fire while we heard the trees whistling and the birds calling while sitting under the stars. We got to sing a couple of songs and we toasted and ate a whole packet of marshmallows.

On Tuesday we also went into the rainforest down to a creek where we searched for macro-invertebrates. As we searched we found a type of scorpion fly larvae and named him Prince Harry because he had a red head. We found all types of larvae that we didn’t know what they were so that night our field guide, Mr Murphy identified some of them and it turns out we found water treaders, dragonfly larvae and a stonefly larvae.

Overall the year 6 2018 Paluma trip was really fun and it was great to catch up with friends and enjoy and cherish every moment of the trip. (Maddie)

This year we went to Paluma for Minschool! On the way to Paluma we stopped in Townsville for a training session with the Townsville Fire. It was great!

At Paluma we went on a high rope course. I tried to do the leap of faith but since Rheannon and I were the first to jump, I got scared and I didn’t jump. I just slid off (after a lot of coaxing!).

We also went on a lot of walks through the rainforest. We say ‘The end of the world’. We also caught macro-invertebrates. Sophia’s group found an insect in Wet Creek and it had a red head and a clear body. Because of his red head the creature was named Prince Harry, he later died though. It was also Sophia’s birthday, she had a great cake. We all had a great time at Paluma!

For Mini School this year the year 6 class were treated to a week-long trip to Paluma, high up in the mountains. Fourteen children attended, all of whom have immensely enjoyed the variety of activities we have participated in. From my perspective, the three best activities were the high ropes course, fishing for macro-invertebrates and building shelters.

I really enjoyed the high ropes course, it promoted teamwork, resilience, confidence and was an overall great experience. First we did the rock climbing where one person had to climb a fourteen metre high pole, which was studded with hand holds and foot grips. While they climbed, another year 6 stood at the bottom and belayed, so no-one was in any danger of falling, then there was the high ropes course, where we went solo attaching our lanyards to a thick cable and navigating our way through the course 10 metres up. The final two activities (which were also the best) were the leap of faith and the big swing. In the leap of faith, we climbed to the top of a pole, stood up and jumped, desperately hoping our belayer was trustworthy. The last activity was the big swing, where 10 people lifted another into the air where you flew like superman!

Another great task we participated in was fishing for macro-invertebrates. The year 6 student were set loose on a small creek with sieves and paint brushes, determined to find these tiny creatures. Small water treaders or Bonkers Bugs, skimmed across the water to be caught in sieves, while others like “Prince Harry” had to be found under rocks, to then be lifted into ice cube trays to make our observations and learn about creatures of the forest. But this was not all – on the long journey there and back, we learned about the logging and tin mining industries that once thrived in Paluma.

However these wonderful activities are to be joined by one more. On Tuesday, we were given the task to build a shelter that would be able to withstand rain and storms. Split into three groups, we first individually planned what we thought would work best. Then we proposed our ideas to the group to build. We would build our shelters learning lessons of resilience, teamwork and problem solving. For materials, we didn’t have many. Only one tarp, 8 tent pegs, 6 pieces of 3m rope, 18 pieces of 1.5m ropes and 15 pieces of wood. Each groups’ shelter was different, with each having its own faults, quirks and successes. One group built a tent like structure, and another built something resembling a lean-to. With yet another building, an almost house-like shelter!

This camp has been wonderful, with us all learning lessons about teamwork, resilience, confidence and having a good time. We have all had the times of our lives and would encourage anybody to attend this wonderful camp. (Morgan)

Miss Ruthengerg & Mr Purdie
Year 6 Teachers

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