Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Welcome back to another busy and exciting term ahead.  I hope you have had a restful break and were able to enjoy the beautiful weather we were spoilt with.

Maths Olympiad

This term we have started a fun new initiative: Maths Olympiad.  This is a Math competition that is open to all year 3/4 students and is part of our STRETCH program for year 5/6 students. The Australasian Problem-Solving Mathematical Olympiads (APSMO) is a not-for-profit, professional organisation established in 1987.  The aim of this competition is to:

• promote and improve maths problem solving skills amongst all students.
• support teachers in developing students to understand a variety of strategies to promote flexibility in their problem solving;
• encourage creativity and collaboration in problem solving; and,
• stimulate enthusiasm for and enjoyment of mathematics.

There will be four competitions held, 6 weeks apart.  Weekly morning sessions will occur as a collaborative problem solving opportunity.  We look forward to seeing their confidence grow!

Playberry Tier 3 Intervention: “Reading is Rocket Science” – Louisa Moats

This term, two of our educational support officers will be engaging in Playberry training. The Playberry (Playford & Hansberry) T3 Multisensory Literacy Program is a Tier 3, intensive intervention for students with severe reading and spelling difficulties. Playberry is a highly structured phonetic instruction program emphasising the alphabetic system.  It is a multisensory and sequential program. It entails ongoing repetition to the point of overlearning to ensure it is embedded into students long term memory. This level of intervention is slow and steady: no stone left unturned.  Often when a child requires tier three intervention, they are already puzzled by the business of letters (graphemes) and sounds (phonemes).  Therefore we need to slow the pace and allow for plenty of practice.  The training will occur over the remainder of the term, and we look forward to introducing this as part of our response to intervention model at St. Joseph’s Kingswood in Term 3.

Inclusive Education:

This term I will provide opportunities to meet with any families who would like to review or discuss their child’s personalised learning plan.  It is important to continually review these and ensure that any adjustments in place are beneficial to our students to ensure the best possible learning outcomes.  Please keep an eye out for an email in the coming weeks and I look forward to continuing to work alongside of you.

Auslan:

We are thrilled to begin an exciting new initiative in our Year 2 classes.  As of Week 4, Emma Penno will be teaching our students Auslan. With the inclusion of Auslan as a language option in the Census, the latest survey revealed that over 16,000 people in Australia use Auslan. This is particularly relevant in our community as we strive to provide an inclusive environment for every child. Incorporating Auslan into classrooms has many benefits for both hearing impaired and hearing children.  We look forward to sharing their learning with you and allowing them to educate all of us!

Leaving with a Literacy Tip: The importance of Vocabulary (Adapted from Five from Five)

Vocabulary refers to the word’s children need to know to understand what they hear and read and to communicate.  The early years are critical in building your child’s vocabulary.  There is evidence that literacy success in late primary school is linked to improving vocabulary before the age of six.  Adults play a huge role in developing a child’s vocabulary.  This can occur through daily conversations, reading, listening to music, introducing new words explicitly and the list goes on.  Young children benefit from exposure to lots of words and as they grow, we want the level of sophistication of words to increase. Below are some hints from the Five from Five website when introducing new words to your child:

1. Provide a simple, child-friendly definition for the new word: “Enormous means that something is really, really big.”
2. Provide a simple, child-friendly example that makes sense within their daily life: “Remember that really big watermelon we got at the fruit shop? That was an enormous watermelon!”
3. Encourage your child to give their own example: “What enormous thing can you think of? Can you think of something really big that you saw today? That’s right! The bulldozer near the park was enormous! Those tires were huge.”

Lastly, keep your new words active within your house. Over the following days and weeks, use each new vocabulary word in conversation.  Your daily interactions can have such an impact on your child’s literacy success, hopefully these tips can keep up conscious of this. I have linked the Five from Five website below for further information and resources.

https://fivefromfive.com.au/parent-resources/vocabulary/

As always, my door is always open if you would like some more information or to chat further.

Until next time…

Vanessa Saccardo

Assistant Principal