Year 7/8 News 

~ WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN YEAR 8 ~

The end of term two is coming closer and closer each week; the thoughts of sleeping in, not worrying about homework, tests and CATs becoming reality in the near future. However, as the end term comes to close it is also a perfect opportunity to reflect and remember the things that occurred not only this term but in term 1 as well.  

It is quite obvious that classes (in particular for this article, year 8’s) have become more familiar with each other after recurring encounters we have with one another every (or most) weekday(s). The recent introduction of classes presenting and running their own assemblies with year 8 level leaders and class captains add a newfound independence and work ethic (outside of academic and athletic work/studies) within the cohort. These kind of achievements, good behaviour, 90% attendance and positive behaviour cards lead to rewards days which are exhilarating experiences, where students get to go to a leisure activity.  

Multicultural day and Dress Like a Rock Star day were amazing and are never more popularised and participated in then before; with more diverse clothing and costumes being on display. The Shakespeare play (a production giving brief but descriptive message conveying insight on the stories of Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet, not to mention the free popcorn was an added bonus) and Medieval Day (a presentation on the weapons used in Medieval times in order of century/years), also being a success, as they depicted the daily life, plays and weaponry usage of the Middle Ages.

 As a little remainder don’t forget Marketing Day is occurring in term 3 (so remember to save up money during the holidays).

So that concludes this article thanks for reading.

Flourish (8C)

U14 Boys AFL

Article about our footy team on 12 June

On  the 12 of June the U/14 school boys AFL team played their two games at Berwick Springs.

The boys played against Alkira Secondary College and Cranbourne Secondary College. First game we played was against Alkira. Last year we lost to them by 40 points and we were looking to get them back. Siren goes and we get it into our forward line really easy. At the end of the game we end up winning by 60 points.

Second game we played against Cranbourne Secondary and after watching them play their first game they weren’t much of a side. After the game we ended up beating them by 40 points.

Next term, week three the boys will be going to Regionals to play the finals. Wishing them all the luck.

CESC MATHEMATICS

Dear parents,

Let’s say that you are using a recipe to make a cake. The first step of the recipe is to cream the sugar and the butter. You have never learnt how to do this or didn’t really understand how to do it when you first learnt it. So, you skip that step and move to the next step instead. When the cake comes out it doesn’t look right or taste right! OR you buy a do-it-yourself book shelf and when you get to a step you don’t know how to do, you skip it and move on to the next step. You put something heavy on the shelf and the shelf collapses because you missed an important step.  

In both examples you need to go back and learn how to do the missed steps, otherwise when you do it again you will get the same result – it won’t work out right.

Mathematics is a bit like making a cake or assembling a bookshelf.  If you don’t not know how to do a step and you leave it out, when you get to the end it won’t work.

At CESC we are trying to take your child back to the part they didn’t know so that the result works.  This will then improve their mathematical understandings, so that they can successfully solve problems in everyday life today and in the future.

For a variety of reasons, students come to our Mathematics classes with different levels of understanding; they are at different stages of learning. Even if they are all in the same year level!

We, the teachers, pre-test the students to see what they already know and what they need to learn.  Then we try to help each student to fill the gaps (or steps) in their learning, so they can use their understandings and follow the right steps towards getting the right end result.  This takes time.

We record the pre-test date on a document like the one in the picture below. We talk to the students about this document.  What do the colours mean? What level are you at right now? What do you already know? What do you need to learn? We let the students look at their results on the document so they understand what it is they need to learn…….to be able to follow the steps. We then plan tasks around these results; they help to inform the teacher of what to teach.

Student growth is what is important here at CESC.  Growth to fill the gaps, growth to improve understandings. Sometimes students show wonderful growth but because they had many gaps in their learning, they still aren’t quite “at standard’.  Despite this, their growth should be celebrated BECAUSE THEY ARE GROWING……..getting closer to greater understanding of the right steps towards the right end result.

If you would like to talk about Mathematics at CESC further, please call 59900200 and ask to talk to Mrs Amanda Werner.  She can even try to arrange a time to meet with you and discuss the colored document in detail.

Example: