School News & Gallery 

BIG WRITE TALK HOMEWORK WEEK 2 

Next week, students will be doing their first Big Write for the term. To prepare for the Big Write, we would like the children to talk to their family about the topic and get some ideas that could help them with their writing. 

This is called “Talk Homework.” 

Before the Big Write, the children will choose an area to focus on with their writing and set their goals. 

They might choose: 

● Vocabulary: use some WOW words and other interesting vocabulary to make your writing engaging.

● Connectives: and, and, and, and…. You might choose to find out other ways of joining sentences and ideas. 

● Openers: A sizzling start is always useful to draw people in. How will you start your writing? 

● Punctuation: Remember to use correct punctuation. 

The children will have to persuade the reader why their choice is the best. 

They will need to give: 

1. an Opinion 

2 a Reason why they have this opinion 

3. Some Examples that support my reason 

4. Their Opinion again using different words. 

Year 5 & 6 Friday Language Program

RESOLVING CONFLICT AROUND HOMEWORK

Some of the most common arguments at home (related to schoolwork!) lead to statements like this:

• “Stop playing computer games and do your homework.”
• “I told you, get off your phone, I can see you are on Facebook.”
• “Why haven’t you started your homework yet?”
• “What do you mean you have no schoolwork to do?”

If these are common refrains in your household there are some simple steps that can be taken to deal with this.

Step 1: Family meeting. Both students and parents get a chance to explain what is bugging them.

Step 2: Agree on how much time will be allocated to schoolwork per day or per week.

Step 3: Agree that during this time homework will be the first priority, then assessments and any remaining time should be spent on independent learning (e.g. reviewing difficult work, making summaries).

Step 4: Allocate set times for schoolwork and write these out and put them on the fridge e.g. Monday 4-5 pm, 6-6.30 pm.

Step 5: Agree that in these blocks of time, there will be no personal technology use (preferably phones switched off and put out of sight).

Step 6: Decide on rewards and consequences if the agreement is not honoured.

LIVING WELL, LEARNING WELL

                                'I am safe.  I am respected.  I am a learner'. 

The Living Well, Learning Well framework presents three 'Rules for Living and Learning' which define the behaviour expectations we all strive to have for ourselves and others.  These are:

1. I am safe  = I am kept safe and keep others safe
2. I am valued, respected and cared for = and I value, respect and care for others
3. I am a learner =and I support my learning, the learning of others and the work of my teacher and other adults.

DENTAL VAN VISIT

Today we had the Australian Dental Health NSW  - School Dental Initiative Van visit. The parents who returned the student permission notes were seen today and have a letter for their parents in their bag.

Kindergarten

Kinder have been making fairy bread. We have been learning about wholes, halves and quarters.

Contacting Your Child's Teacher

Teachers welcome contact from parents, if you would like to talk with staff please either contact the class teacher by phoning the school – 67772328 or email the school on spwadmin@arm.catholic.edu.au