May JAM 2014

Pull Out Some More Adjectives!!

This month my class, along with all grade three students across Australia, will sit NAPLAN tests. If you don’t know what I am talking about, consider yourself blessed. One of the tests focuses on writing. We are trying to help the students improve their writing with adjectives. When was the last time you read something and were transported into another realm, not because of the plot or the philosophy, but purely because of the choice of words? Words are powerful. They move us, inspire us, challenge us, motivate us, captivate us, arrest us, embolden us and empower us – and then there are times when the dictionary and the thesaurus combined do not contain enough or the right words to describe how we feel.

Life In The Big Smoke

Holidays are wonderful! We spent the first week in QLD. It was a rather whirlwind trip with more than 2000kms, a night at the farm in Eureka, visiting Tim and Judith and the girls, the Gollans in Morayfield, the Gollans in Brighton, Mike and Vicki on the south side, and somehow I even managed to help Josh out with a cleaning job and go Vinnies shopping with Essie. Thanks to everyone for a lovely time of connection and special thanks to Marie for managing to keep “Jono pace” for a week. The second week was much more relaxed back in Sydney with a couple of nights spent west of the Hawkesbury on the Upper Colo River. Camping under the stars is just great when you need to get away from the big smoke.

We have found a place to move into with some friends. They will do the necessary renovations and we hope to move in in about a month. It will be cozier (smaller) than where we are now but we are thrilled about the location and the upstairs neighbours and thankful that the search was fairly quick.

School is back with a vengeance. There are always deadlines and report writing is high on the agenda. It is good for me to accurately assess where the kids are at and how they are learning and growing. It is easy to see what could be and therefore we sometimes miss what actually is.

I have started to get some fitness back and am enjoying rugby – a couple of wins making it even more enjoyable. It is also great to have a mate at rugby too.

If you want to visit us on Loftus Road, this is the month to do it. I still have the offer of a home-brewed latte and if you are lucky there might be brownies on offer!

Thanks

To Dave and Sarah for keeping us off the streets. We look forward to many happy memories living in Beecroft with you guys.

Love from Jono and Marie

Proverbs 3:5-6 and Psalm 27

Keep Looking Up