Celebrating our Friends in East Timor

Strong relationships are something we pride ourselves on here at Christian College. The relationship we have forged with the people of East Timor, in particular those in Viqueque, is long-standing, and one we hope will continue long into the future.

Our students here at Surf Coast Campus have been gaining an understanding of this special friendship we have through devotions, teaching them about the Timorese culture, the fight for independence and Christian College’s work in Viqueque.

Surf Coast students have greatly contributed, donating generous amounts of money so we can buy “Bricks for Buikarin” a local Viqueque school supported by Christian College in East Timor.

As a small campus we raised over $1300, this will go towards purchasing nearly 450 bricks for the Buikarin Kinder in Viqueque. What an amazing community we are!

Students also participated in a ceremony, symbolising East Timor’s rise to be an independent country. Local hand-woven fabric called Tais were used in the ceremony to symbolise our continued friendship.

I would like to thank our school community for your support in giving to our friends in East Timor. Stay tuned for some updates on how much we raised as a whole College. Every cent raised will be sent to the Buikarin school to be used for the construction of the classroom.

Obrigada ( Thank you)

What’s Happening at Surf Coast

Is an up to date list of planned activities at Surf Coast Campus that you can use for planning purposes.  Please be aware that these dates are set early in the term and occasionally items may need to be cancelled or dates/times altered.  This itinerary is altered each week to reflect any changes – please check this list of events EVERY WEEK carefully when you read the weekly VINE newsletter. 

TERM 2 2023 

Week 5

Wednesday May 24             Arthur Reed School Photos – All students

Wednesday May 24             National Simultaneous Storytime – 11am in library – All Students

Thursday May 25                Pupil Free Day – No students at school

Friday May 26                      Assembly – 2.45pm – 3.30pm

Friday May 26                      National Sorry Day

Marvelous Maths in Prep!

Over the past two weeks, the Surf Coast Preps have been learning about the many ways we can collect data and sort it.

We have been collecting data on what the most favoured and least favoured ice cream flavour is, what the most popular and least popular colour is, and we also used data to inform us about what we should name our class chicken.

This week was extra special, as the type of data that we used was very tasty indeed! The Preppies were given a mixed bag of jellybeans and a mixed bag of MnMs which they first had to sort into their coloured groupings. Once sorted, the students had to tally and draw their findings and calculate how many there were.

The Preppies’ next task was to use their data to create a bar graph to clearly show how many of each item there were. Each student then stood up in front of the class and presented their findings by explaining the comparisons that were in their data displays and also the differences. Much fun was had by all!

Creation

This term, Year 1 will be focusing on different creation stories throughout our Christian Education studies. We will be exploring the Christian Creation story, the Wadawurrung Creation story and also the Greek Creation story. This week, the kids made the 7 Days of Creation using coloured circles and only representing the days with pictures. These pictures helped them explain how God created everything in 7 days. They were then able to use these pictures to tell the story of Creation and all thew wonderful work God has done. We look forward to exploring more than one Creation story in Year 1 and opening our minds to different cultures and beliefs.

Year 2s as Busy as Bees

Year 2s have been as busy as a school car park in peak hour!

We have been learning about similes and how they make our writing creative, helping readers to visualise the text. Here are some of the similes we have written:

As flat as a piece of paper

As snug as me in bed

As happy as a cat in the sunshine

As fresh as perfume

As cool as Antarctica

As snug as a hug

As cool as a pool

In Maths, we have been learning how to measure the volume of a 3-D shape. We found a classroom object and estimated how many cubes it would take to build it. We then built the object and compared the number of cubes to our estimates. Our classroom looked like Cube Land!

Year 3 Science of Cooking!

It has been another exhilarating week in Year 3 as we have delved into the changing states of matter during our science investigations. The kids were treated to some delectable sweet/sour lemon sorbet and scrumptious pikelets as they examined the differences between chemical and physical changes.

In Mathematics, mental math and manipulatives taught students about the connection between multiplication and division. During literacy classes, we utilised computers to produce how-to tutorials on crafting the delightful treats concocted during our science experiments.

Christian Education is helping the kids to understand significant leaders in the Old Testament as they learn how the choices King Solomon made showed disobedience to God and resulted in division in the kingdom.

We are already halfway through this term but have got so much to fit in before the mid-year break so stay tuned and keep an eye on The Vine!

The Power of Words

The students of Year 4T had a lot of fun making some very special gifts for our very special mums just in time for Mothers’ Day last week. Way back in February, as part of our Integrated Studies unit on plants, the students roamed around the gardens and found beautiful leaves, grasses and flowers to press in their flower presses.

I trust that all the mothers of Year 4T were blessed and spoilt by their children.

Last week in assembly the Year 4 students spoke about the power of words and shared 14 things that we should say more often. Please ask your child about some of the things that they feel they need to say more often and share with them some of the things that you think you need to say more often.

When you talk, do not say harmful things. But say the right thing at the right time – words that will help others, not hurt them.
Ephesians 4:29-32

In our Maths lessons we are currently learning about 3 dimensional shapes. We have had a lot of fun learning about the construction of shapes and learning how many faces, vertices and edges each of the shapes have.

In our English lessons over the coming weeks, we are learning all about the power of persuasion. We are so surrounded by persuasive text forms in our everyday lives and affected by them in various ways. The students have been voicing their opinions and learning to develop their reasons with rhetorical questions, strong evidence, and the concept of cause and effect.

Japanese

The end of April and start of May is an exciting time in Japan, when there is a series of public holidays known as ‘Golden Week’. The last holiday of ‘Golden Week,’ on the fifth day of the fifth month, is ‘Kodomo no Hi,’ or Children’s Day. Earlier this term, our Prep, 1 and 2 classes looked closely at Childrens Day and how it is a time where we celebrate children and hope for their continued happiness and health. In our classes, we celebrated Children’s Day by listening to the ‘koinobori’ (carp streamer) song and created our own ‘koinobori’. 

At the end of Term 1, it was with heavy hearts that we said ‘sayonara’ to Valent Sensei as she travelled back to Japan. She sends her love from Japan to the Surf Coast Campus. With her departure, we have welcomed a new Japanese teacher for our Year 3 and 4 classes for the remainder of 2023. Our wonderful new sensei is Tomimi Suzuzki. I would like to extend a warm ‘youkoso’ (welcome) to Suzuki Sensei. Please say a big ‘hajimemashite’ (nice to meet you) should you see her when she is at school on a Friday!

Camp Australia

ChatGPT, Generative AI and Young People

Information and guidance for parents

Parents may be aware of the news and hype around recent developments in generative AI (artificial intelligence), especially the digital tool ChatGPT that launched in November last year. ChatGPT reached a million users in five days, and by January of this year had 13 million daily users.

By typing in a specific prompt, a person can ask ChatGPT to produce a written response and it will create it in seconds. It can produce emails, poems, song lyrics, speeches, reviews, recipes, stories, social media posts, working program code, and academic essays and reports. It can analyse text and code, and offer advice on improvements, corrections, and alternative approaches for just about any written text.

ChatGPT facilitates a chat-based conversation between the person and the AI chatbot that produces the output, allowing for questions, refinements, and iterations on the original output until the resultant text suits the intentions of the user.