Education News
As part of our efforts to ensure that your child gets the best possible education, CSPS teaches Guided Inquiry units to students through the implementation of MAPPEN (getmappen.com). MAPPEN is a world class curriculum designed by Australian educators for Australian schools and has a strong focus on building your child’s capacity to develop questions and to plan and conduct their own inquiry.
The MAPPEN curriculum represents approximately three hours of teaching time each week. Literacy , numeracy and technology skills are integrated into the learning whilst content is covered from various areas of the curriculum including, History, Geography, Civics and Citizenship, Economics and Business, Science, Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical Understanding, Personal, Social and Intercultural Capabilities.
Over a two year period, your child will investigate eight different concepts, focusing on one Guided Inquiry unit a term. This term the MAPPEN concept being investigated is ‘Creativity’. Each year level will be guided to inquire into this concept with age appropriate content and skills.
At the Foundations level, students will learn about creativity through questioning and using creative thinking tools. They will explore fairy tales and work in groups to build a puppet theatre.
At Years 1 & 2, students will design and build a robot using craft materials. They will write programs for their robots to perform imaginary tasks.
Year 3 & 4, students will develop characters and settings for a story idea and build props for their characters.
Year 5 & 6, students will gain a real-life understanding of the design and production process when creating a brand new product. This will then be marketed and provided for sale at a market.
Parents are encouraged to use MAPPEN units as topics for shared conversations with their children, precipitating meaningful questions and discussions about their world. If you'd like to find out more about MAPPEN you can visit getmappen.com or talk to your classroom teacher.
CSPS Kitchen Garden Update
The garden is growing in abundance! Students have enjoyed planting, caring for the garden beds and watching our garden transform and grow.
We are growing more vegetable seedlings in the classroom but need lots of large pots or old bathtubs to transplant the seedlings into. We are also seeking community volunteers who would be happy to water and maintain our Kitchen Garden on weekends and over the Christmas school holidays. We are also looking for someone who can build a two bay compost bay for whole school composting. If you are happy to help in any way, please see Delvina Waiti or email delvinaw@cranbournesouth.vic.edu.au.
Be an Author 2018
Creative Writing: This includes narratives, recounts and poetry and should express imagination and originality. A rubric is provided to assist the author with expected requirements. Students can create a new piece of work or use a Big Write piece, from this year, to edit/uplevel/adapt/continue as they see fit.
Published: Presentation is paramount. All work must be presented creatively and with pride.
Each classroom teacher will select three pieces of work, to be shortlisted, from their class. The judging panel will select a winner from each class and these will be announced in Week 5 as part of Literacy week. Winners will be awarded a prize at the next assembly.
Due: Wednesday, 31 October 2018
Student Wellbeing
KidsMatter is an Australian mental health and wellbeing initiative set in primary schools and early childhood education and care services.
It's unique because it brings together all the most important people in a child’s life - especially families! https://www.kidsmatter.edu.au
Understanding school refusal - Kids Matter
As well as starting school, some children may have problems with returning to school.
One serious issue families may have to deal with is school refusal, which occurs when a child refuses to go to school and involves a fear of attending school or anxiety about leaving home.
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