Deputy Principal Update
Dear Parents,
The last fortnight has been special at St Luke’s with the change of seasons. Last Wednesday, 1st March, saw the change from Summer to Autumn. This season is my favourite, watching the change in nature as trees become carpeted in leaves of many colours. The weather in Autumn is much cooler, even though it hasn’t felt like a true Summer this year. It might make for an interesting dinner time discussion one night to share with one another what each family member’s favourite season is and why? One thing is for certain and that is the year already feels like it is moving very quickly.
We are currently in the Liturgical Season of Lent. This might be another opportunity to share with family members what each person knows about Lent, as well as some traditions your family might observe at this time. Over the coming weeks, the children will learn more about this significant Liturgical Season as we journey towards Holy Week and Easter.
NAPLAN 2023:
From Wednesday 15th March until Monday 27th March, NAPLAN assessment activities will be taking place for children in Grade’s 3 and 5. All tasks will be completed online, except for the Grade 3 writing task which is still completed using pencil and paper. Please note that the activities are spread across days during these two weeks:
Wed 15th – Writing Grade 3 and 5.
Fri 17th – Reading Grade 3 and 5.
Mon 20th – Conventions of Language – Grade 3 and 5.
Tues 21st – Numeracy Grade 3.
Wed 22nd – Numeracy Grade 5.
The following link is for parents if they wish for further information regarding NAPLAN:
Mrs Allen has included in her Wellbeing section of the newsletter some helpful tips and conversation starters regarding NAPLAN.
Some Ideas for Promoting Writing at Home:
In the last newsletter, I shared some tips to help support children with reading at home. I hope they have helped to engage children in the love and enjoyment of discovering an exciting adventure, or finding out new and interesting information when reading a book. Children enjoy the opportunity to practise and develop their skills as a writer. It is great to see children doing this every day at school, - especially the younger children as they take great pride in developing this new skill. I know many children like to spend time at home writing. Listed below are some helpful ideas that might help to support children if they wish to practise this skill at home.
General Tips to Support Writing:
- Remember TALK comes first! Children are encouraged to express their ideas clearly and explain their thoughts in order. All of these depend on speaking, and this in turn develops their skills as a writer. Talk to your child - encourage them to express themselves, listen and respond to their ideas.
- Share with your child the times in your day when you need to write. It could be to do with work or it could be times when you enjoy writing for fun.
- Children find it easy to write about topics of interest. Does your child like football, cooking or making things, designing clothes or playing with Lego? Whatever their interest, there will be good writing opportunities around it.
- Some children like to write about personal events and thoughts in a diary. Perhaps keeping a record of participation in a sporting team, such as a football or netball diary, could be a good motivation for encouraging writing at home. This doesn’t always have to be pen/pencil and paper, it could be a digital copy as well.
- Many families have relatives living in other towns, cities or countries. You could encourage your child/ren to write a letter to family members. Grandparents would love to receive a special letter from their grandchild/ren and they could send a reply as well. Children love the opportunity to use fancy writing paper, or write in coloured pens and pencils. Writing emails or typing messages are all also perfectly good ways for children to express themselves in written form.
- Children can help write shopping lists or other messages for family members.
- Make writing fun. You might have some magnetic letters at home. Leave messages with magnetic letters on the fridge for your child to reply to.
- A special writing box could be a perfect gift for a birthday or special event. Include a range of writing items in the box – pens, pencils, rainbow pencils, coloured paper, special writing paper or books, stickers and envelopes.
- Ask your child to write instructions for home routines, such as taking care of a family pet, or the recipe for a favourite family meal.
These are just some tips you might like to use at home to encourage your child with writing. The most important tip is to praise your child for having a go. Read your child's writing, or have them read their writing to you and make positive comments such as, 'I really like the way you've described this'.
Zooper Doopers:
Zooper Dooper continue to be a popular refreshment on Tuesdays and Fridays. They cost 50c each with a maximum of two per child. We ask children to buy zooper doopers for themselves or brothers/sisters only – not to be purchasing for friends/classmates. This will finish at the end of Term One.
Another great quote – to foster in us the love of learning:
“The beautiful thing about learning
is no one can take it away from you!”
B.B.King.
I hope everyone has a great fortnight ahead.
Mr Mac.
BookClub
BookClub Edition #2 is out now. Orders close on Friday 24th March. It's a great opportunity to purchase some wonderful Easter gifts. If you would like the office to hold your order, rather than be sent home (please click gift when ordering online and the office will hold it for you) All payments to be made via the LOOP APP or the following link
https://mybookclubs.scholastic.com.au/
If you require assistance with this please let us know. Every book purchased earns reward points for our school to purchase new books and resources.
