Learning to Learn 2024

Hello families!

This year our teachers are using Student Centred Structured Inquiry or ‘Grapple tasks’ in our Maths lessons as a formative assessment strategy. This lesson structure allows students to experience and explore the mathematical concepts prior to explicit instruction and provides an opportunity for teachers to discover what our students already know. The ‘Grapple’ task is often challenging and is meant to be. We want our students to develop resilience when things are tricky and build strategies when we don’t know the answer right away. We have been very excited to launch this model at TPS in our first weeks of school.

Continue reading how a ‘Grapple’ task unfolded in our Foundation classrooms in Week 2.

Anticipate - Teachers anticipate student responses so they can be prepared to move our students' learning forward, through feedback, enabling and extending prompts. Anticipating allows teachers to be prepared for any situation and a road to support student learning. In our Foundation task, we did predict that students would play with the teddies and make long lightsabres - and yes, they did do this!

Launch - Students were given the task to use 2 different colours to make 3 different patterns. Students explored creating patterns with a range of hands-on tools. Students who were struggling were encouraged to copy and continue a pattern using the concrete materials. Other students were congratulated on their pattern and prompted to use the same colours again but make a different pattern.

Explore - Students were challenged to create patterns beyond red, yellow, red, yellow (ABAB) patterns. Some students congregated around the block tub and began working together and collaboratively creating more interesting patterns. During the Explore Phase, teachers continued to support and challenge students through feedback and encouragement, as well as collecting student examples to sequence the lessons review.

Review - In the Review Phase of the lesson, students come together on the mat to discuss how they have progressed with the challenging task. The teacher projects photos of students' work samples so that the children can talk about their patterns and how they went about creating them.

Mason created an AB pattern with 10 black blocks and 10 red blocks. To continue his pattern, he would need more red and black blocks.

Travis and Eli created ABBB ABBB patterns after mastering the ABAB pattern and one clever cookie spoke to the class about his process. First, he had made an ABAB pattern, followed by an AABB AABB pattern. Finally, he completed the challenge with an AABBB AABBB pattern. Three different patterns with only 2 colours!

Our Foundation students are learning fast and followed this lesson up with a Re-Launch, Re-Explore and Re-review … Could they make 3 different patterns using 3 colours?

Happy learning,

Ms Barnett

Book Club

Scholastic Book Club is a service offered to students, parents and teachers. Brochures advertising a variety of books and computer software are sent home with each student, approximately twice a term.

Purchase of the books is not compulsory and there is no obligation. If you do wish to purchase any goods simply log into the Book Club site www.scholastic.com.au/LOOP and follow the prompts. All Book Club orders must be ordered and paid for via LOOP. Do not send order forms and cash to school. When the order arrives at school, books are sent home with students.

The School earns “Bonus Points” for each order which can be used to purchase new resources for the Library.

The latest catalogue will be coming home this week. Orders need to be placed by Friday 23rd February via LOOP.

Click here for the Scholastic Book Club Parent Log in page or to register for new users.

How to order

Click on ORDER in the top menu or REGISTER first to save your details for the first time. Select Teesdale PS and your child’s class. Add your child’s name and last initial. Enter the item number from the brochure.

You can order for multiple children at once. All orders are linked directly to the school.

Our school receives bonus points, which are redeemed for a variety of books for the children therefore we thank you for your continued support.

If parents wish to collect orders personally from the office, please let the school know.

Please go to www.scholastic.com.au/LOOP and find Teesdale Primary School to order or alternatively you can download the LOOP app via the App Store or Google Play.

Community Groups

Community Groups