24 May 2017

Newsletter Articles

Across the Principal’s Desk…

Safety in our Stop, Drop and Go Zones

Windsor has two ‘Stop, Drop and Go’ Zones in Harris Street and Constitution Road, which are clearly sign posted and marked with yellow lines painted on the road and curb. Hours of operation are 8am – 9am and 2.30pm – 3.30pm. These zones allow a maximum of 2 minutes to drop off and pick up children before and after school. THEY ARE NOT PARKING AREAS during these times so please remain with your vehicle at all times when using these zones and keep moving forward in the queue as cars leave.

The correct way to use the Stop, Drop and Go zones is;

• Please be respectful towards the crossing supervisors at all times. Their main priority is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all students and families when crossing the road. Your cooperation and understanding is greatly appreciated.
• Ask your child/ren to be ready and waiting at the gates
• Enter at the top of the zone and proceed like a taxi rank towards the front of the line. Please do not wait for a park and stop the ‘flow’ of traffic along Constitution Road as this is not only very dangerous, but quite frustrating for the drivers behind you. I know it will take a few more minutes, but please drive around the block and come back to pick up your child/ren.
• Only the first two or three cars in the line should un/load their children. Any subsequent cars are asked to wait patiently and move to the top of the line once able and un/load from this point.
• Please don’t cut in to the queue or double park to un/load.
• Drivers who are offensive and/or repeatedly endanger our students and parents will have their registration number and names passed on to the Police and Council.

Windsor participates in the Brisbane City Council’s active school travel program and we promote ‘Walking, Wheeling Wednesdays’. The kids love telling me each week how they ‘actively’ got to school, not to mention collecting their stamps for their books and prizes! If you would like to get involved in this initiative and be a part of the ‘Active School Travel’ committee, please contact Mr Keong or myself.

Under 8’s Day

This coming Thursday morning, we will be celebrating Under 8’s Week with a morning of fun for our Prep- 2 students from 9-11am. Massive thanks to all staff and families involved in coordinating and/or planning a variety of activities for the students. We welcome parents to come along and join in and we hope to see you here!

GALA DAYS

This coming Friday our year 4-6 students begin their first of three rounds participating in a variety of sports at a range of venues. Our expectation as always, will be that our students display outstanding behaviour and sportsmanship as representatives of Windsor and your family. I have heard a lot feedback from the students and teachers about gala days and am looking forward to seeing the students participating in these activities. Naturally, parents are more than welcome to attend and spectate at the various sports. Good luck to all participants. For more information about venues and times, please contact the school office.

The Learning Pit

The ‘learning pit’ is a great concept that I share with the students, as sometimes learning can be tricky. I suggest that at home if they are finding something difficult, it is important to share this visual with them, with further effort, practice and persistence they will accommodate new knowledge.

LEARNING POTENTIAL & CREATIVITY

I like to consider the learning potential of simply shifting the way you ask children questions.

One of The Melbourne Declaration of Education Goals for Young Australians, 2008, that guides us as educators is “to support all young Australians to become successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens”. Below are some great spots to explore if you are looking for ways to encourage creativity at home.

from the Deputy Principal…

UNDER 8’s DAY 2017

This Thursday May 25th, the children in Prep to Year 2 will be participating in an activities morning to celebrate Under 8’s week. This day is dedicated to celebrating the early years of school and the theme this year is “Children are playing Country to Coast- Inspiring Learning in the Early Years through Play”. Parents of children in Prep-Year 2 are invited to come along and have some fun with your child while they take part in the morning. The cost of the day will be $5.00 and parents will be invoiced to cover the costs of the morning.

It is important that this money is paid ASAP for students to take part!

Some of the fun and exciting activities that will be running on the day include face painting, a jumping castle, fruity necklaces, a local guest author…and lots more!

This year, the children are invited to wear free dress. Due to the nature of some of the activities, it would be great if they could come dressed in clothes that they can get messy in. This year there will be a cake stall running to help raise funds for P-2 resources. After all the fun activities you are invited to share morning tea with your child at school. A Coffee Van will also be on-site throughout the morning.

As teachers are responsible for a particular activity, children will require supervision. To ensure the day’s success we need as much parent assistance as possible. If you are able to come along on the day to assist your child or a small group of children, please complete and return the form sent home by your child’s teacher. The festivities will begin at 9am and will finish at 11am (first break). We look forward to seeing everyone at the festivities.

Gala Days

Sport is an integral part of our school curriculum. The next three Fridays of Term 2 are Interschool Sport Gala Days. Each student in Years 4-6 must pay $12 per day, for each Gala Day, and have returned a completed permission slip to participate in Gala Days. It is crucial that the buses leave on time so that students do not miss games, so we ask that all Year 4-6 students arrive at school promptly on these mornings. Supervision will be provided from 8.30am. We will begin boarding the buses at 8.50am and the buses will be unable to wait for late arrivals.

Please remember to send sunscreen with your child to reapply throughout the day. It is important that they take responsibility for their personal sun-safety.

Students who do not pay for Gala Day will not be permitted to attend on Friday.

Australian Curriculum: ICTs General Capability

The general capabilities play a significant role in the Australian Curriculum in equipping young Australians to live and work successfully in the twenty-first century.

In the Australian Curriculum, capability encompasses knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions. Students develop capability when they apply knowledge and skills confidently, effectively and appropriately in complex and changing circumstances, in their learning at school and in their lives outside school.

The Australian Curriculum includes seven general capabilities, one of which is ICT capabilities.

In the Australian Curriculum, the general capabilities are addressed through the content of the learning areas. General capabilities are identified where they are developed or applied in the content descriptions. They are also identified where they offer opportunities to add depth and richness to student learning via the content elaborations, which are provided to give teachers ideas about how they might teach the content. Icons are used to indicate where general capabilities have been identified in learning area content descriptions and elaborations.

Teachers are expected to teach and assess general capabilities to the extent that they are incorporated within learning area content. State and territory education authorities will determine if and how student learning of the general capabilities is to be further assessed or reported.

In the Australian Curriculum, students develop Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capability as they learn to use ICT effectively and appropriately to access, create and communicate information and ideas, solve problems and work collaboratively in all learning areas at school and in their lives beyond school. ICT capability involves students learning to make the most of the digital technologies available to them, adapting to new ways of doing things as technologies evolve and limiting the risks to themselves and others in a digital environment.

To participate in a knowledge-based economy and to be empowered within a technologically sophisticated society now and into the future, students need the knowledge, skills and confidence to make ICT work for them at school, at home, at work and in their communities. Information and communication technologies are fast and automated, interactive and multimodal, and they support the rapid communication and representation of knowledge to many audiences and its adaptation in different contexts. They transform the ways that students think and learn and give them greater control over how, where and when they learn.

The nature and scope of ICT capability is not fixed, but is responsive to ongoing technological developments. This is evident in the emergence of advanced internet technology over the past few years and the resulting changes in the ways that students construct knowledge and interact with others.

Students develop capability in using ICT for tasks associated with information access and management, information creation and presentation, problem-solving, decision-making, communication, creative expression and empirical reasoning. This includes conducting research, creating multimedia information products, analysing data, designing solutions to problems, controlling processes and devices, and supporting computation while working independently and in collaboration with others.

Students develop knowledge, skills and dispositions around ICT and its use, and the ability to transfer these across environments and applications. They learn to use ICT with confidence, care and consideration, understanding its possibilities, limitations and impact on individuals, groups and communities.

ICT Capability has been identified in learning area content descriptions and elaborations throughout the Australian Curriculum.

Read more at http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/generalcapabilities/overview/introduction

RESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOUR & CODE OF CONDUCT

Activities that investigate the “Blockers” have been a main focus of Pastoral Care. When the children refer to “BLOCKER THINKING”, they will talk about:

Feeling Very Down - (like “Sad Sally”) means that when something negative happens to you – such as when someone is mean to you, you have a break-up with a friend, you have not achieved a good result in your school work, sport or other extra curricula area, and you feel very unhappy – you can, at these times, feel lonely. You might feel hopeless and inadequate believing that everything is bad and will always stay that way. Sometimes, if you feel very down for a long time, you can lose your motivation to work, lose your appetite, and find it hard to get out of bed.

Feeling Very Worried - (like “Worried William) means that you worry a lot about whether other people like you and what your friends and others think about you. You can also feel anxious about your school work or other achievements and you can spend a lot of time worrying about mistakes or having to do things perfectly.

Feeling Very Angry - Misbehaving (like “Angry Annie) means that you may lose your temper easily when faced with people who block you from getting what you want. You may act defiantly towards people in authority. You may break important rules at home and school even if property is destroyed or people get hurt.

Not Paying Attention - Disturbing Others - (like “Nathan Nuisance) means that you may have trouble paying attention for a long period of time, listening and following instructions, and may find yourself easily distracted. You may or may not have a lot of energy with the result that you may be fidgety, move around the classroom at inappropriate times, or talk excessively, and you may have difficulty working or playing quietly. You may blurt out answers, interrupt others, begin an assignment without waiting for instructions, and have trouble waiting your turn.

Procrastination (“Feeling Lazy”) - (like “Larry Lazy”) means that you put off doing tasks and chores because they are frustrating, boring, or hard even though you see the disadvantages of delaying. You give up easily after having started something that is difficult or boring to do. You may rush to finish your work so that you can do fun things.

We talk about and discuss strategies for eliminating Blocker thinking! Each “Blocker” has negative habits of mind associated with it. Negative habits of mind have corresponding positive habits of mind. We use these “positive” habits of mind to help eliminate the blockers!

Michael E. Bernard, Ph.D.
Professor, Melbourne Graduate School of Education
University of Melbourne
Founder, You Can Do It! Education
Check out https://youcandoitparents.com.au/ for more expert parenting advice.

iPad Learning Apps @ Windsor SS!

Check these great learning apps out at home too!

Book Creator

Book Creator is the simple way to make your own beautiful ebooks, right on your iPad. With over 25 million ebooks created so far, Book Creator is ideal for making all kinds of books, including children's picture books, comic books, photo books, journals, textbooks and more. Check out Book Creator via the link below:

Green Screen by Do Ink

You know what a "green screen" effect is, right? It's used in the movies to make it look like the actors have landed on an alien planet, and it's used on TV to make it look like your local news announcer is standing in front of an animated weather map. Green Screen by Do Ink makes it easy to create green screen videos using your iPad. It emphasizes ease-of-use and simplicity while still enabling you to achieve excellent results. See more via the link below:

ACTIVE SCHOOL TRAVEL

Well done to everyone who actively travelled to school last Friday. The annual National Walk Safely to School Day (WSTSD) was a great success with many students, parents and community members walking, carpooling and riding safely to school.

Prep C were the winners of the AST, Walk Safely to School, competition with 87% student actively travelling to school. They will win an extra 30 minutes of playtime at the discretion of their teacher. Well done also to 1B and 4D who came second and third respectively.

Follow Windsor SS on Facebook & Twitter!

Get the most up-to-date information and school alerts by following Windsor State School on Facebook and Twitter @Windsor_SS

You can also access important school information and alerts, including Facebook/Twitter, via the QSchools app! Download it now and keep informed of everything that is happening at our school.

QParents…please get on board!

Our school also has QParents. Parents will receive an invitation email or letter to register this week. Prep parents will also receive a Student ID card containing an EQ ID number to register.

If you do not receive an invitation (QPAO), please advise Admin ASAP. QParents is one of the ways we communicate with parents, get on board to enjoy the ease and convenience that QParents offers.

QParents is also the means by which parents access Student Reports. It is important to register now as printed reports are no longer sent home at the end of each Semester. Help us become more ‘paper-less’ by registering for QParents now!

Master Teacher’s Report

Master Teacher / STLaN Update

Reading:

When talking about reading, we refer to decoding age, comprehension age and reading age. Decoding age is the ability to read text; comprehension age is the ability to comprehend text; and reading age refers to the ability to comprehend as well as decode what is written.

A child may be able to decode texts at a higher level but his/her ability to comprehend may not match and similarly a child may be able to comprehend but cannot decode.

Below is a table showing what good readers do before, during and after reading.

In our classrooms, you will see the CAFÉ menu with the strategies being taught and posters with the QAR comprehension strategies. Comprehension must be taught. At Windsor, we explicitly teach comprehension in our reading program through modelling, practice and guided reading. Explicitly teach means that we tell readers what the strategies are, why and when we should use them, and how to apply them. The table below shows the four types of comprehension strategies.

To guide our reading, we use two forms of diagnostic assessment. When a child is beginning to read, we use the PM Reading Assessment Kit to guide our teaching and when they begin to become independent readers, around the age of 7-8 years, we use the PROBE assessment Tool.

Age Appropriate Pedagogy (AAP):

Research states that young children learn best in active, engaged, constructive and interactive environments where learning is meaningful to them. As part of my Master Teacher role for 2017, I am leading our Prep Teaching Team in this area. We are currently looking at the latest research and ensuring that we have a balanced program, to include pedagogies that respond to the learners and attend to holistic and curriculum goals.

On Monday 22nd May, we have a PD session after school based on play-based learning. This is just one approach recommended by AAP. Later in the term we will travel to Boondall State School for a session on the inquiry approach.

Keep watching this space for more information on AAP.

Our Playgroup, the Windsoroos

The rainy weather kept many of our families away last week, but those who did come had a wonderful time dancing in Prep D’s classroom and enjoying the story, “Ready, Steady, Hatch’, written by a very talented local author, Ben Long. We are very honoured and proud to say that Ben is a very big part of our Windsor community, as he has children who attend our school. Next Thursday, 25th May, Ben will be sharing his books with the children who participate in our Under 8 Day activities.

Everyone who has children under 8 years and live in our Windsor catchment are very welcome to join us in the Early Years Precinct from 9:00 – 11:00am.

Under 8’s Day

The flyers have been sent to many of our local early years providers. We are looking forward to meeting many of our younger children and their parents.

For more information about our playgroup, please click on the attachment below.

We look forward to having fun and growing with you and your child/children at the Windsoroos Playgroup.

We welcomed our new principal, Grant Baker to our playgroup last week. He spoke with many of the Windsoroos and their parents. He also participated in our Story Time session.

Indoor play was also very productive. Playdough, construction, craft, home corner and puzzles were popular today.

For more information about our playgroup, please click on the attachment below.

We look forward to having fun and growing with you and your child/children at the Windsoroos Playgroup.