CSDE Weekly eNewsletter, Week 9, 2nd December 2022
Our School Values
Mission: Supporting every student to reach their highest potential
What's been happening in Primary?
This week saw Primary students and staff converge on Emerald Campus of CSDE for the annual Primary Swimming Carnival, followed by the Primary Awards Ceremony. Our P&C treated our Year 6 students to a graduation dinner and then had everyone coming together after a long day for the Awards Dinner at the Emerald Race Course.
Our 2022 Primary School Captains, Amelia Lawrence, Sebastian Heelan, Darcy Ahern and Ella Geddes, 'passed the batton' over to our new Primary Leadership Team after doing a great job representing their student body throughout the year.
CSDE's Primary School Captains for 2023 were announced after being voted in by their peers.
2023 Primary School Captains for Rockhampton Campus
- Eliza McArthur
- Lachlan Raine
2023 Primary School Captains for Emerald Campus
- Josie Pierce
- Billy Purcell
Wattle House Captains
- Blake Sibson: Emerald Campus
- Mila Van Italie: Rockhampton Campus
Banksia House Captains
- Josie Pierce: Emerald Campus
- Sam Lindenmayer: Rockhampton Campus
Year 6 Leaders
- Sasha Kirkland
- Quade Cock
- Nate Moran
- Cooper York
Thank you Kelly
Tuesday night at the Primary Awards, our P&C President; Kelly McDonald announced that she would be stepping down from her position as President.
We would like to thank Kelly for her contribution to Capricornia SDE as P&C President (and for her entertaining exit speech!)
Primary Swimming Carnival
Splashing, Cheering and Warcries could be heard across the waters of the Emerald Aquatic Centre on Tuesday for the Primary Swimming Carnival. Banksia fought hard, and with each stroke and lap asserted their dominance in the water, coming out with the win , defeating Wattle.
Staff from Rockhampton travelled to Emerald and put together a fantastic staff relay team, that could perhaps have been labelled the 'Rocky Racing Rockets'... except that they were sadly blitzed on the final lap by the Home Tutor's team. So instead we could label them, the 'Return, Regroup and Retry in 2023' team! Let's see of they can put on another good show next year as the 'Home Team'.
Japanese
What a busy term we are having! A couple of the schools I teach in the far west are finishing their school year this week. The rest of us have only one week to go. This is the last newsletter for 2022. In fact, this is my very last newsletter.
From 2023 I will be teaching Japanese face-to-face at Emu Park State School for three days and Frenchville State school for two days. Over the past ten years of online teaching, I have taught students from twenty-five schools. In those wonderful years, I have visited twenty-three schools. It was always nice to hear “Sensei is here.” from the students when they saw me arrive for a school visit. However, as the years went on, I came to miss face-to-face interaction with students more and more. So, I have made the very difficult decision to move on and start a new chapter in my life from next year. I am certainly going to miss all the students of distance learning.
I wish you all the best for 2023 and beyond.
四学期の活動(Term Four Activities)
Thank you to those who handed in their assessment task before the due date. It was much appreciated.
The JAP051A students had their last Japanese lesson with me today. I hope they enjoyed the journey of learning something different. The students in JAP051B and JAP051C will have their last Japanese lesson on Wednesday next week.
Should you have any enquiries about your child’s progress please do not hesitate to contact me at kiwak1@eq.edu.au or 4931 4800 at Capricornia School of Distance Education.
よいお年を。Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
岩倉先生 Iwakura Sensei
日本語教師 Teacher of Japanese
Rockhampton TMG
SAVE the date for Year 4 Camp 2023
Primary Week 10 Timetable
Secondary Week 10 Timetable (Wed/Thurs)
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
Guidance 'Go-2'
100 School Holidays Activities for Kids and Families
- Build a pillow fort… in the living room.
- Have an ice-cream sundae party… on a Sunday.
- Spend the day outdoors, hiking and walking.
- Be a tourist in your city. Hit all the popular tourist attractions and soak in your city’s culture.
- Make cards for friends and family members.
- Bake cookies or brownies for a neighbour.
- Pull out colouring books and pencils and colour away.
- Put on some 80’s music and have a dance party.
- Have a “dress up” day and let the kids dress up as whoever they want to. For added fun, let them choose your dress up outfit too!
- Invite school friends over for a play date.
- Head to the park for a picnic lunch.
- Try out a new dinner recipe together.
- Teach the kids a skill you know. Sewing, knitting, painting, gardening, take your pick.
- Pull out the board games and have an old-fashioned game night.
- Have a homemade pizza party night.
- Put on the sprinklers and let the kids run through them. Join them!
- Play hopscotch and other old-fashioned games on the driveway. Invite neighbourhood kids to join in.
- Have a neighbourhood block party. Everyone brings a dish and all the kids play together.
- Make a photo journal of the school holidays. Take a pic every day.
- Visit a farmer’s market or better still, a farm!
- Make a “ship” or “space ship” out of cardboard boxes. Let the kiddies have a free hand with the decorating.
- Visit the beach and collect seashells. Bring them back and put them into glass jars or use them for the card making activity.
- Build sandcastles at the beach and have a fun contest for the most creative castle.
- Write a story about the school holidays or anything else. Let the kids illustrate it, and then, read it out loud at the end of the holidays. Heart-warming!
- Volunteer! Find the nearest volunteering opportunity and sign up as a family, if you can!
- Have a Bubble-Blowing day.
- Visit the library and let the kids pick a book each.
- Have a family reading night. Every one reads a book they want to, sip on hot chocolate and eat bickies.
- Go biking on a trail. Don’t forget your helmets!
- Spend time in the garden. Don’t have one? Get potted plants and help the kids take care of them.
- Make shadow puppets on the wall and put up a show!
- Create sidewalk chalk art.
- Create leis or garlands with flowers and leaves.
- Pet sit for a friend.
- Make paper boats and have fun watching them float in the bath tub.
- Have a kids-and-you spa night at home. Run a bubble bath. . Diffuse essential oils and let the kiddies soak in. Let the kids go first so you can enjoy yours later.
- Paint toenails. More for the girls, this one.
- Play a backyard game every evening. Badminton, basketball, tennis… take your pick!
- Visit an amusement park or water park close to home.
- Write a letter, the old-fashioned way and let the kids mail it out as well.
- Go rock collecting and then, turn the rocks into pets by painting them.
- Collect fallen leaves and show kids how to press them and then, use them for crafts.
- Visit the local zoo or aquarium.
- Have a smoothie-and-shakes day and blend up yummy and healthy drinks.
- Make cupcakes, complete with fun frostings.
- Put together an “Our Family” recipe book. Include fave recipes for everyone and also, traditional family recipes too.
- Camp out in the backyard at night. Teach the kids to identify constellations.
- Have a movie marathon. Make popcorn and watch a bunch of classic family movies.
- Teach the kids to cook with or without the stovetop, depending on age.
- Declutter the house and hold a garage sale.
- Have a messy, eat-with-your-hands watermelon and mango party.
- Attend on outdoor concert.
- Take a road trip to a place that is close by yet away from home.
- Make fun family videos.
- Play in the rain or snow, depending on the weather.
- Play beach cricket.
- Hand out busy bags to all the kids.
- Have fun with string art.
- Put together floor or giant jigsaw puzzles.
- Have fun with origami. If you know it, teach the kids. Else learn to do it together.
- Learn or teach the kids quilling.
- Build a stick fort with a set of Stick-lets
- Have fun with beads and blocks.
- Organise a scavenger hunt or treasure hunt inside the house.
- Organise a scavenger hunt outside the house
- Hold a puppet show with the soft toys and dolls.
- Have a tea party for toys, complete with cake and ice cream.
- Create family footprint art.
- Have fun with face painting.
- Make a car or train track inside the house with tape.
- Put up a music show, complete with cymbals and ribbon rings.
- Bring out a family idea box and work your way through the ideas.
- Have fun with Lego and Lay-N-Go bags!
- Make sand structures, the mess-free and magical way with Kinetic Sand.
- Make hand or finger-painted gift-wrapping paper.
- Make a set of sock puppets.
- Draw each other. Have kids lie down on large sheets of white paper and trace around their body.
- Go thrift store shopping and pick a treasure each for less than $5.
- Fly kites or watch kite flying.
- Plan a day trip to a planetarium.
- Feed ducks at the pond.
- Have a “work” day and let the kids pick who they want to be. Bring out pretend play toys to help them play doctor, teacher, restaurant owner, fireman.
- Take a train ride from one part of town to the other. Watch out for unique sights and sounds.
- Learn to make pottery.
- If it’s raining, play with umbrellas in the rain and then, get soaked to the skin.
- Have a “Stay in PJs” day and lounge at home, watching a movie, reading books and napping.
- Toast marshmallows in the evening in the backyard.
- Do some cloud watching and try to spot fun shapes and characters.
- Have a story telling session with story cards.
- Take a bus ride to a shopping centre.
- Click funny face photos or selfies.
- Make drinking straw jewellery. Simply cut up coloured straws and let the kids thread them onto yarn or string.
- Host a slumber party for the kids and their friends.
- Set up a lemonade stand outside your house.
- Have a family photo shoot day.
- Organise all your photo albums with the kids and go down memory lane as well.
- Have a “Superheroes Saves the Day” day and let your kiddies don their superhero capes.
- Snuggle up on the couch and tell the kids cute stories from when they were little.
- Find out about free in-store kid’s activities in your area and attend a few of them.
- Do nothing. That’s right. Let the kids figure out what they want to do or let them do nothing. Boredom can be brilliant for inspiring creative thought and letting them come up with their own ideas.
Cultural Snapshot
'Christmas around the world'
Christmas is celebrated differently throughout different cultures all throughout the world. Some cultures/religions/countries don’t celebrate it but have their own special days. For example; The festival of the lights – (Diwali Day) Indian culture or the Muslim Ramadan.
Christmas is an event celebrated by Christians all around the world to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is mostly held in Western countries and Western-affected countries.
Officially, Christmas day is on 24th and 25th of December and most of Christians welcome a new year on these days. However, in reality, each nation and region have different times maybe earlier or later to celebrate Christmas based on their beliefs and traditions. For example, in the little town of Bethlehem, Israel, where Jesus was born, people do not celebrate Christmas on the same day. For example, while the Roman Catholics and Protestants celebrate on 25th December; the Greek, Syrian, and Orthodox Christians choose 6th January.
India
In this country, instead of an evergreen tree, people choose a mango tree to perfect their holiday.
Ukraine
In Ukraine, the Christmas tree will be decorated with spider webs because legend has it that there was a spider once visiting a poor family on Christmas day and turned all the webs in the house into gold. Therefore, decorating a tree with spider webs become a traditional custom and belief.
Australia
On the contrary to the cold and snowy weather in the US, Christmas time in Australia is summer. Therefore, Australians tend to make their Christmas trees decorated with summer theme such as using a lot of seashells and other natural materials.
The United States
In this country, people follow the most traditional way to make decorations for their Christmas trees. They place an evergreen tree inside the house and decorate it together with family members. On the top of the tree lies a big shining star. Besides, several other ornaments are also used to decorate the tree such as colourful balls, light strings, and of course a bundle of beautifully wrapped presents under the tree.
Christians worldwide celebrate Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ, but some religions do not celebrate it. It is always important to remember to respect the beliefs and culture of others even if they are not the same as yours.
Sourced from:
https://www.mageplaza.com/blog/christmas-in-different-cultures.html