Teaching & Learning
Parent Teacher Interviews
Save the Dates!
As Term 4 moves rapidly along, teachers are beginning the report writing stage to help capture a snapshot of student learning for the end of year reports.
Over the past few years Buninyong PS has worked to ensure the end of year reports are easy to understand but give a clear picture of student growth over the past 12 months. Part of this process is to provide an opportunity to discuss student progress at an end of year interview.
Parent Teacher bookings will once again run through the Compass portal. Booking details will be advertised in Week 6.
To help this process we ask parents to pop the following dates on the calendar:
- Thursday 29th November – Student Reports are sent home
- Thursday 6th December – Parent Teacher Interviews from 1.45pm (Early School finish 1pm)
- Wednesday 8th December – Parent Teacher Interviews from 4pm.
Academy 1270
During the year we have had 60 students participating in the Maths Olympiads and Maths Games. This included students from both campuses meeting each week to focus on maths problem solving strategies.
We had a dedicated Maths Olympiad team made up of year 5 and 6 students and a Maths Games team made up of Year 4 students. Although the students work independently on the problem solving there is a major team work component of the program where students help each other by talking through the problems and challenging different each other on the strategies used.
The APSMO foundation send through a number of awards for students who achieve the highest scores at the school.
This year the awards go to:
Maths Olympiad:
First – Hillary S
Second – Charlie B
Third – Dan W
Maths Games
First: Hudson A
Second: Cassandra R
Third: Cooper G
Well done to everyone who participated in the Maths Academy program and we look forward to continuing this program in 2019.
eSmart Focus
“This week our eSmart Focus is - If you had no internet for a day, what would you do? We went out into the playground and asked some kids what they would do. It wasn’t too hard for them to think about what other things they could do. The list they have come up with is pretty good, have a look to see what they said."
(Bring Your Own Device) BYOD Update:
Earlier this term we sent out information to our grade 3s regarding their inclusion in the BYOD program in 2019 as grade 4s. Our BYOD program will run again next year for all students in grades 4-6 and has been an exceptional program in personalising learning, developing creativity, learning digital citizenship skills and lifting student engagement in learning.
If your child is in grade 3, they will receive another note soon with more details regarding device specifics for the program.
Summary of BYOD Program for 2019 grade 4 students
- Program to start in term 1, 2019.
- Students in years 4/5/6 will be participating in the program.
- Apple iPad, iPad pro and iPad Mini versions can be used as part of the program.
- A pre-determined set of apps for use at school will be communicated at a later date. Cost is considered when developing the suite of Apps.
- Information and registration afternoons/evenings will be held in the first few weeks of term 1, 2019.
- Compulsory attendance at a registration/information evening is expected prior to your child being able to bring their device to school.
- Students will have their devices connected to the school’s WIFI and monitored internet during the registration evenings.
- When purchasing new devices, please take the time to discuss where your child will use it at home, how often they will use it, what you expect of them when they are using it and what will happen if you don’t like how they are using it. These will assist in developing those core (trust) rules that will assist in using the device effectively at home. At school we want these devices used primarily as educational tools and not entertainment sources.
- Our current BYOD policy and guidelines are available on our school’s website under the BYOD Portal.
Please note that if you chose not to purchase a device for your child, they will have access to a classroom device during school hours.
Tips for Parents
This week our focus turns to counting and fractions. For parents with younger students finding different ways to engage your child in counting is a very important part of becoming numerate. Finding opportunities to model counting in the real world will help students make sense of this skill.
Fractions is always a difficult one for parents to tackle with their child as the language can be confusing. Today's edition looks at the different language used when teaching fractions and the definitions of each. Understanding the terms can make the conversation with your child a less frustrating one.