Students in 34J and 34W are excited about the opportunity of learning from and sharing their learning with a unique school in Calgary, Canada. Piitoayis Family School is a unique school that explores reading, writing and learning through an indigenous lens. Their story is recorded on their website and a fascinating read. Students at Pender's are exploring ways that they can collaborate with people over the internet. Stay tuned!  

This week the year 6's have been training to be peer support leaders. The Peer Support Program is about the year 6's acting as role models, supporting and helping the grade 3's with their journey through primary school. We will help with their problems and teach them to cope with different situations.
We participated in a number of games and many discussions. One of the games was the straw game and that involved active listening and good communication skills. Another game was cars and drivers that were mainly to do with trust.

Now that the training has finished, Jess and James will choose up to 16 students who will become new peer support leaders.

Tara & Angela

Today students in Years 3-6 were invited to consider their participation in answering a survey aimed at learning more about the questioning behaviour of students. They will be returning home with explanatory notes and parental permission notes to ensure that carers are informed about the nature of the research.

Today the students from 5/6 met their Prep buddies for the first time and it was excitement all round and not just from the Preps! The 5/6's had to lead the Preps in an activity answering questions about themselves and the Preps and putting the answers into a Venn diagram to see what they had in common. There was much conversation and laughter as common ground was found where it was unexpected. The Grade 5/6's showed fantastic enthusiasm and leadership when helping their Prep buddies and the Preps showed excellent independence and excitement for the activity. Congratulations is deserved by all!

A special thanks to those students and parents who have taken up the invitation to donate a picture book to help others out during the Writer's Festival this year. A wonderfully colourful collection was donated to a unique literacy program last week. This literacy program invites men to learn to read by reading picture books to their children. "Thanks for not only giving these men a chance to discover the richness of reading," said the organiser of the program this week, "but also for sharing the richness of reading with their whole family."

Today the Pender's Writers' Festival took another turn. Chairs were pushed aside in the Early Years building as students gathered at 11:30am to share in the National Simultaneous Storytime. They joined with thousands of children from across Australia to read the Nick Bland's The Wrong Book!

Hugo explained that, "Every class made a presentation about The Wrong Book. Some drew picutres and the 34's made up a funny song! There were great pictures of what Nicholas Icle was thinking about as well as a reflection on digital literacy by 56J." Michelle thought, "Everyone put a lot of effort into the presentations. It was good fun and well worth doing!" Mohamed said, "every class had great different ideas."

We are all looking forward to who might arrive at our Character dressup day tomorrow!

Yesterday our Writer's Festival kicked off with an amazing afternoon with parents, students and teachers reading in small groups throughout the school. Groups huddled in corners, sat at tables or simply spread themselves across the floor as they smiled and enjoyed a picture book.

Rylie reckons that the day was great fun. "I enjoyed eating the cupcakes the most!" she said with a grin on her face. She read with Carissa, Hananno, Aiden and Jess. Ella read with a parent as well as Tess, Victor, Hannah, Sarah and Jude. "I enjoyed responding with a picture the most!" she reported. Both agreed that the day was a wonderful thrill ... especially the cupcakes!

Thanks to all those parents who contributed their important presence to our wonderful afternoon.

Come and enjoy the richness of books with a cup of tea and a laugh at the Pender's Grove Primary School's premier event - Afternoon Tea With a Book. Parents, carers and friends will be reading with small groups of students and responding to the stories heard. We will be meeting on Monday at 2:30pm in the Early Years' building. 

Thanks to those who have added to the growing collection of donated story books that will not only be read in the afternoon but then donated to an male adult literacy program that teaches men to read by encouraging them to read to their children. If you haven't contributed then please consiider sharing a book. It's a great remind ourselves that the wonder that reading brings can be shared with all.

Hopefully everyone enjoyed a restful and relaxed holiday and have returned today switched on and eager to focus on learning. There are lots of events to share in such as mother's day stalls, weekly swimming, pizza lunches and a special farewell.

Already some exciting learning adventures are planned for the coming term. We are excited to share a whole school focus on story telling as part of our 2013 Writer's Festival.  We're excited to announce Julie Perrin as our story teller in residence over the coming weeks. She will be weaving her stories through us all as well as encouraging us to discover and become tellers of our own stories. Stay tuned to our online updates and register for our weekly online newsletter to keep up to date with the wonderful experiences planned.

To find out more about what is planned go to our Special Projects page.