17 May 2023

Newsletter Articles

Upcoming Events for Term 2 2023

Please refer to our live calendar link on the Schoolzine App for all upcoming events

Spotlight – Trust

Trust have had a wonderful start to their learning journey at Banks Public School!

It has only been 13 weeks since Kindergarten students in Trust stepped into their classroom for the very first time.

Trust have been working hard each day. In Term 1, we were understanding the routines of our new classroom and school, getting to know teacher’s names, making new friends and trying our best to follow our school values of being safe, respectful learners.

It’s now Term 2 and we are writing about what happens in the beginning, middle and end of shared stories and enjoy illustrating our writing just like real authors! We have recently read ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle and wrote about a food that we think the hungry caterpillar would like to eat. We also read ‘The Big Book or Bugs’ and wrote about our adventures and what creepy crawlies we saw after going bug spotting around our playground.

Other activities that we are really enjoying in class include learning to say and write our Jolly Phonics sounds, learning to read at the jelly bean table, playing number games, sharing activities with our friends and making our classroom colourful and bright by filling our learning space with lots of fun craft activities.

Here are some snap shots of our busy days in Kindergarten. We love stretching our brains and filling our days with new learning in Trust!

Thank you to all the Trust parents and caregivers for all your ongoing support with your child’s learning journey.

I can’t wait to see what else lies ahead in our first year of big school at Banks Public School!

Mrs Tith
Trust Classroom Teacher

Learning at Banks

How you can help your child with reading at home

(taken from the New K-2 English Syllabus)

Phonic knowledge

Phonic knowledge focuses on the letter symbol in the alphabet (grapheme) that is used to represent a spoken sound (phoneme) in a word.

You can help your child at home by:

• reading books with your child most nights
• stretching some simple words into sounds, such as d- o- g, while you are reading and writing together. Make sure you say the sound, not the letter name
• starting an alphabet book and choosing a new word to add after each book you read. For example, your child loves the word ‘pudding’ that they have found in a book. Discuss what sound the word starts with and then they can add the word pudding to the ‘pP’ page of the alphabet book
• playing ‘I spy with my little eye, something beginning with …’ Make sure you use the sound, not the letter.

Reading fluency

Reading fluency focuses on developing a reading style that is smooth and expressive. Frequently used words are recognised straightaway.

You can help your Kindergarten child at home by:

• using a steady speed and expressive voice when reading with your child
• re-reading favourite books with your child to encourage confidence and instant recognition of familiar words
• reading a variety of everyday materials with your child such as street signs, shop names, food labels or shopping lists.

Reading comprehension

Reading comprehension focuses on understanding the meaning of words and sentences that are read, while recalling information about characters, events and ideas.

You can help your Kindergarten child at home by:

• talking about the front cover, title and illustrations before reading begins
• asking questions about a story while you or your child are reading. For example, Why do you think that happened? or What might happen next?
• drawing pictures together about the main events in a story in order
• discussing the meaning of new words found in books and around your everyday life.

Pause, Prompt, Praise

Some tips for successful home reading:

When your child is reading and encounters words that are difficult for them, you could use the Three Ps technique ‘Pause, Prompt, Praise' to support them.

Pause: When your child comes to a word they don't know, try not to jump in straight away. Wait and give your child time to work out the word.

Prompt: If your child successfully works out the unknown word, suggest they go back to the beginning of the sentence and re-read it (to recap meaning) before reading on.

If your child has not worked out the unknown word, prompt them with some quick, low-key suggestions. Say things like:

• Think about the story.
• Can you use the picture to help you?
• Are there any sounds or parts of the word that you know?
• What word would make sense there?

If prompts like these are not working, simply tell your child the correct word. Try not to spend too much time prompting, as your child will find it difficult to maintain the overall meaning of what they are reading.

Praise: Remember to praise your child's reading efforts and successes. Reading should be an enjoyable experience

Prompting for Success – questions you can ask to promote reading skills

Monitoring

• Are you right?
• Does that make sense?
• Does it look right? Check it with your finger.

Decoding

• Say the first part and check the picture. What would look right and make sense?
• Can you break it into parts?
• Do you know another word that looks like this one?

Fluency

• Try reading it without pointing.
• How would the character say that?
• Put some words together so it sounds smooth.

Vocabulary

• Is there a word you don’t understand?
• Are there clues in the sentence or illustration to help you?
• Is there a part in that word that can help?

Comprehension

• What’s happening on this page?
• Is there a confusing part? What don’t you understand?
• Why do you think the character did (or said) that?

Year 4 Camp

Wow! What a fantastic two days we had at Year 4 camp. Last week on Thursday 11th and Friday 12th May, Year 4 went on their very first overnight camp at YMCA Yarramundi.

The activities that the students were able to participate in included archery, rock climbing, the giant swing and a task called initiatives. Rock climbing and the giant swing required the students to challenge themselves by thinking about their comfort zone and attempting something in their growth zone. All the students were able to do this and challenged themselves to participate in activities that at the beginning they were unsure about because of heights.

The students enjoyed archery as well with the goal of getting the arrow in the bullseye. This was a challenge as it can be tricky loading the bow with the arrow. This did not stop them though. The students showed perseverance and commitment to get the target. We even had some bullseyes.

Initiatives required the students to work together to solve a number of tasks. We explored the meaning of the word initiatives and used this understanding to solve the activities together. They needed to sort each other into height order and alphabetical order. The trick was to do it without speaking. There were lots of mumbles as they were trying to communicate to each other. They were able to solve the tasks though as they worked together exceptionally well.

The standout activity over the two days though was our campfire. We were lucky enough to participate in a campfire and roast marshmallows to make s’mores. While the fire kept us warm and the food filled our bellies, we had a little friend come to visit. A bilby! The children were very excited and were able to see the bilby as it came around the fire and even stayed under some of the logs we were sitting on.

It was a very busy two days filled with fun and challenges, but we all had an amazing time. I am sure everyone slept well on Friday night as we had some sleeping children on the bus ride home!

Mrs Casis, Miss Struthers and Mr Shannon.

Bounce Back! Family information: Looking on the bright side

Looking on the bright side will be taught from K-6 in weeks 4-6.

Thinking optimistically means that you expect things to mostly turn out well. You focus on the positives rather than the negatives in a situation. It also means that you understand that setbacks and difficult times happen to everyone but that things get better. Teaching your child to be optimistic will help them to ‘bounce back’ when they face difficulties, frustrations and problems. It means that when they are faced with a problem, they will be more likely to look for solutions rather than stop trying and give up.

✦✦Key messages to communicate to your child about being optimistic

Look on the bright side.

This means being positive and expecting that things will work out well or get better. When you look on the bright side you believe that good things CAN happen to you and you don’t give up easily.

Be a positive tracker.

A positive tracker looks for the good things in themselves, in others, and in what happens in their life. They are more fun to be with and others like them more and want to be their friend.

Look for the good parts in the bad things that happen.

Sometimes things happen that you don’t like. But you can usually find something good in the situation if you try. Sometimes the good things are that it could have been worse, the lesson you learnt from it or a small good thing happened even if the rest was bad.

Bad times don’t last. Things get better.

When a bad thing happens in your life, it isn’t forever. Bad times and bad feelings always go away again although sometimes it might take time for this to happen. Things will get better faster if you talk to someone you trust about what’s worrying you.

It’s important to stay hopeful when you have unhappy times.

You will get over unhappy times in your life more easily if you stay hopeful that good things will happen again and the difficult parts will get better. If you stay hopeful then you don’t give up.

Be thankful and grateful.

Being thankful for the nice things people do for you and the good things that happen in your life can help you feel happier. Letting people know that you are grateful for how they have supported and cared about you makes them feel happy, too.

Good memories of things can help you to bounce back.

When you are feeling sad because you have lost someone or something you love, it helps to remember the good times you shared with them to help you feel a bit better.

When one unhappy thing happens in your life it doesn’t spoil everything else.

When one thing in your life goes wrong or you feel unhappy or worried, try to remember all the things that are still good in your life. It’s just one thing that is going wrong for a while, not everything.

✦✦What can you do to help your child to look on the bright side?

Three good things in your day

At the dinner table, ask your child, ‘What were three good things that happened for you today?’ With younger children you can do this just before they go to sleep. If they can’t think of anything ask them some prompting questions (e.g. Did anything funny happen? Did you enjoy being with anyone? What did you do well?).

The positive tracking game

Challenge everyone in the family to identify the three best things about your family, your home, your holiday, your suburb, about being their age, about this time of the year etc.

Showing gratitude

Encourage your child to say thank you to someone who has done something kind for them (e.g. by sending a note or card, text, email or by calling them on the phone).

Good memories

Help your child to make a photo album, slide show or little book of their favourite photos and to look at the photos to help them remember the good times when they need ‘brightening up’.

Modelling

Let your child see and hear you using positive tracking, showing gratitude, saying ‘things will get better soon’ and expecting that good outcomes are possible.

From the Bounce Back team