News From Mr Smith

Dear School Community Members,

Literacy and Numeracy Week: Next week is Literacy and Numeracy Week at Mano! It is one of my favourite weeks of the year as I get the opportunity to model my love of ‘books’ and reading, as well as showcase my fascination with numbers and mathematical problems. Among other activities, we have two significant events on to celebrate the week:

Wednesday, 4th September, 2:30pm:  Grandparents/VIP Open Afternoon

Friday, 6th September:  Come dressed in pyjamas with a favourite book

Literacy and Numeracy Week enables us to model to students the fun and learning books provide. Research indicates children are engaging with ‘books’ much less and accessing information online more frequently. Whilst ‘books’ in their traditional form are in competition to the masses of information available online, the experiences and enjoyment of reading a book can never be replaced. We, as role models (parents and teachers), have the opportunity to model the fun, excitement, learning and fulfilment reading a ‘Book’ offers.

Please see the information attached to the newsletter for further details, along with the message on Seesaw from your child’s teacher.

Teacher Professional Learning – Maths Model: This week, our staff engaged in another professional learning session to further develop our capacity to accommodate all learners in Maths. Led by Rachel McLeod, our Maths Learning Specialist, the session focussed on an aspect of our Maths pedagogy, the Launch, Explore, Summarise (LES) Model. Rachel modelled a LES lesson and staff had the opportunity to plan their LES lesson for next week. The Launch, Explore, Summarise Model is a numeracy pedagogical approach that supports an inquiry-based, problem-centered type of maths teaching. Teachers are expected to shift the ‘doing’ of mathematics to the students, while they guide, interrogate student thinking, and facilitate sensemaking. We will continue to support our teachers with professional learning and coaching in the Launch, Explore, Summarise Model.

School Pride – Uniform: I again remind families to please ensure your child/ren is wearing the correct uniform at all times. We have a Student Dress Code Policy that clearly outlines our expectations. We have a huge amount of ‘Lost Property’ (lost uniforms), so please check this next time you visit the school.

Father’s Day: Happy Father’s Day to all our dads for Sunday. We hope you are all spoilt and get to spend some quality time with your loved ones. Thank you to our wonderful Parents & Friends Committee and our group of volunteers for providing the Father’s Day Stall for our students.

Thank you for supporting our school and have a great week.

Christian Smith