6 June 2017

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Hello everyone,

This year’s Swimming and Water Safety Program concluded last Friday. The feedback from instructors and class teachers was overwhelmingly positive in regard to student participation and their attitude to learning. All students in government schools have access to this excellent program in years 3, 4 and 5. We have also been fortunate to have access to the Launceston Aquatic Centre for this program which ensures maximum participation and fewer bus trips to and from Launceston. Well done to all our students who participated. A special thank you to Mr Habel who has been coordinating this program from the pool for the past 2 weeks.

After School Steam Challenge Performance of Understanding

This week saw the culmination of our first After School Steam Challenge. Parents and families were invited along on Monday afterschool to watch their children present the outcome of their group challenge. It is has been wonderful to see how enthusiastically the students have participated in the program and how well they have worked together to produce their prototypes. A big thank you to Mr Clark for instigating this program. We look forward to hearing about what is happening next in the STEAM space!

Learning Intervention Programs

At Exeter Primary School we work hard to ensure that the learning needs of all students are being met. Part of this process includes the range of learning intervention programs that are provided. In Prep and Grade 1 students are screened and when necessary students have access to an Oral Language program and the ELF (Early Literacy Foundation) program. These programs provide students with explicit instruction to support vocabulary knowledge and phonemic awareness (letter sound relationships). These are essential pre-reading skills and need to be mastered before students can progress as readers. In Grades 1, 2, 3 and 4 identified students have access to Levelled Literacy Intervention and the PAL program (Phonological Awareness for Literacy). These programs are aimed at students who need some extra help to become independent readers and focus on extending vocabulary, spelling, reading comprehension, fluency and consolidate letter sound knowledge. Our aim is to have all students reading independently by the end of Year 2. If you have any concerns about your child’s reading progress please talk with your child’s class teacher to discuss how you can help.

LOTE Program

This week we begin our LOTE program for 2017. After a review of this program and its effectiveness we are now pleased to have Mrs Sigrid Nelson join our teaching team. Mrs Nelson is a highly qualified language teacher who comes to us with extensive experience in the field of teaching a second language. Mrs Nelson speaks and teaches both German and French and will be introducing the German language to some of our classes this term.

Growth Mindset

At each assembly we celebrate and acknowledge students who have demonstrated a Growth Mindset. These students have come to the attention of their teachers for making significant gains in their learning after putting in a considerable amount of effort. These students are not always the highest achieving students, but they are students who have persisted when learning has been difficult and as a result have made great leaps in their learning. Typically students who adopt a Growth Mindset are proud of their achievements, understand that without effort and persistence nothing will be gained and welcome mistakes as a normal part of the learning process. This week we acknowledge Grace Burns and Zara Wignall for their Growth Mindset. These 2 students have been identified by their teachers for using their Growth Mindset to make important progress in their learning. Well done to these students.

Naomi Massage

Last week our staff were privileged to have Naomi Mathews visit our school and offer free neck and head massages. Naomi is one of our parents and runs her own massage business in the local area and we were very grateful (and relaxed) for her generous offer.

Road Safety and Morning Drop off

I would like to remind people that between 8.30 and 9.00am daily we have 17 buses dropping off students in the bus zone outside the school. It is important that this area is kept free for buses and is not a drop off zone for cars. Many mornings there are problems when cars pull in in front of buses or are parked in the area designated for buses. This compromises the safety of our children. Please use the marked drop off zone in front of the Prep classes or the kinder car park if dropping your children off at school. I thank you for you cooperation in this important matter.

Kind regards

Lift

Steve Biddulph supporting our families

Last chance!
The Secret of Happy Children
Thursday 8 June, at 7-30 pm.

This will be your last opportunity to hear Steve speak in person as he is winding down his public speaking commitments. The topic of this community talk will be The Secret of Happy Children and will be held in our Performing Arts Centre. Tickets are $20-00 each (or $10-00 for our Exeter Primary School & Exeter Child Care families which are subsidised by our LIFT Program). Please contact our school office or follow the link on the flyer below to purchase your tickets.

We still have copies of Steve’s books, Raising Girls, Raising Boys and 10 Things Girls Need Most for sale through our school office, copies are $20-00 each. We are looking forward to seeing our families at this Thursday’s session The Secret of Happy Children.

Bed Time Stories

Following our very successful Dad and kid’s reading night in 2016 we are advising the date of this year’s event early. Mark it in your calendar and be sure not to miss it! Further information will be shared closer to the event. Thursday August 31 at 6-00 pm in the Performing Arts Centre.

Home Reading

Reading at home for 20 minutes a day can change life outcomes for our students.

Respectful Schools

Growth Mindset

At EPS we work with our students to help them develop a Growth Mindset. A mindset is a perception that people hold about themselves. Believing that you are either “intelligent” or “unintelligent” is a simple example of a mindset. Students with a growth mindset believe that intelligence can be developed and focus on learning over just looking smart. They see effort as the key to success, and thrive in the face of a challenge. Students with a fixed mindset believe that people are born with a certain amount of intelligence, and they can’t do much to change that. These students focus on looking smart over learning, see effort as a sign of low ability, and wilt in the face of a challenge. Evidence has shown that students who adopt a Growth Mindset do better in school.

This short YouTube clip gives a clear understanding of the differences between a Growth Mindset and a Fixed Mindset and is easy to watch.

In Kinder Howell our students have been learning strategies to add to their Tool Box to help them self-regulate. After recess and lunch you will often find them doing yoga to help them transition from the busy playground back into the classroom, calming themselves so they are ‘Good to Go for Learning’.

Glossary

Toolbox: A collection of calming and alerting strategies a student can pull from depending on their present need.
Tools or strategies: Used interchangeably to refer to a calming or alerting technique that aids the student in self-regulation.

Launching into Learning

What a busy couple of weeks it’s been at Launching into Learning. It has been wonderful to see so many families and their children involved at many of the Launching into Learning sessions. All families with children from babies to 4 years are welcome to come along.

Our Learning Community

L.O.T.E

Introducing Mrs Sigrid Nelson – German Language Teacher

Since coming to Tasmania – I’ve been here 4 years – I’d only done a little bit of relief teaching, so I was really delighted to be asked if I’d be interested in teaching a foreign language at Exeter Primary.

Before coming to Tasmania I had a long and successful career teaching German & French in London, teaching all levels from complete beginners to pupils preparing for university entrance.

Both languages have been part of my life for as long as I can remember. As my mother is German my first language was German and I was brought up bilingual in German-English, (most of my childhood was spent living in Germany too). I first learnt French at primary school and then always followed courses in both languages throughout my time at school. After school I studied German & French at Glasgow University. This included a year teaching as a language assistant in France and my degree course was followed by a post -graduate teacher training course in Edinburgh.

Now I’m looking forward to the new experiences and challenges that teaching at Exeter Primary will bring. I hope that pupils will have as much fun & enjoyment learning German as I did and that (for some at least) it will be the start of a love for foreign language learning.

Sigrid Nelson.

Canteen

Literacy

Mathematics

Problem Solving at Exeter

At Exeter Primary we foster a Growth Mindset in which mistakes are accepted as a necessary part of the learning process and provide opportunities for new learning. Across our school all students partake in Problem Solving lessons designed to develop mathematical understanding and skills in practical and creative ways. Across the years students learn a range of Problem Solving Strategies to help them tackle problems. New strategies are introduced across the years with a focus on the simpler strategies introduced in the early years of primary school.

Throughout the remainder of the year we will be sharing with you each of our strategies and providing an example of each strategy. The Problem Solving Strategies taught at Exeter Primary are:

• Draw a Diagram or Picture
• Act It Out
• Guess and Check
• Draw a Table
• Create an Organised List
• Look for a Pattern
• Solve a Simpler Problem
• Work Backwards

Today we will be looking at an example of solving a problem using the strategy, Draw a Diagram or Picture.

UTAS Education Pre Service Students

Our UTAS Pre-service students have enjoyed their first week of working in our school. They will be with us at Exeter until the end of Term 2. Our Pre-service students are Samuel Langley who is working in 1/2 Johns, Susan Skinner in 1/2 Gray/Crawford, Kirsten Cooper-Head in 3/4 Gee and Jacqui Tehan who is working in Kinder Howell and our Early Learning Programs.

S.T.E.A.M

STEAM at Exeter Primary School

Part 3

I had the opportunity last week to sit and read an email that came into my inbox. After reading the article twice, I thought how well it fits with Exeter Primary School’s STEAM ambition of developing 21st Century Learners with Design Capabilities such as: collaboration, knowledge-construction, skilful communication and to actively inquire and pose questions to generate possibilities, design and test out ideas. It also highlights the important role that parents and guardians have in nurturing these capabilities.

Curiosity Starts with a Question

“Izzy, did you ask a good question today?” Each afternoon on the way home, Izzy’s mother asked that question. “Izzy, did you ask a good question today?” It was in New York over a hundred years ago, but life hasn’t changed much.

Asking questions to make meaning and solve problems are central to the practices of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM). In preschool, children ask a lot of questions and it is great to tap into their curiosity. Questions help set up personal experiences and playful explorations, guided by what matters to a child. Valuing children’s questions is important, and you can support curiosity by asking children questions too.

Questions are a key tool in the STEAM toolbox. Asking questions is easy, but asking good, thoughtful, productive questions is a skill that requires practice.

What's a good question?

Good questions include, “What do you see?” or “What happened there?” When you ask these questions, you encourage children to observe more closely. Children also build communication skills. “What?” questions are powerful because they make children the experts. In contrast, “Why?” questions can disengage when the answer is “I don’t know.”

Another great question is “What do you think will happen if we…?” This is an invitation to make a prediction – and one of the first steps in a STEAM inquiry. Later in school a prediction can become a hypothesis. In early childhood, it all starts with a question.

Izzy, or Isidor Rabi, went on to win the 1944 Nobel Prize in Physics. Dr Rabi later said, “My mother made me a scientist without ever intending it.”

Article: Curiosity Starts with a Question from Early Learning STEM Australia (ELSA) e-Newsletter

Our After School STEAM Challenges have been a real success with lots of creative innovations and problem-solving happening. With the Challenges just at an end, let's have a look at the progress they have been making.

Thomas Clark
AST STEAM

Parents

Book Club

The fourth issue of book club for 2017 has been sent home. If you would like to place an order, please put your child's and teacher’s name on the front of an envelope, place the order sheet and money inside the envelope and bring to the school office by Friday June 13th

What’s Happening in Our Classrooms?

School Association

Ladies Night Out, July Friday 28th in our Performing Arts Centre. Watch this space for exciting details!