St Mary's School

News from around the school

Laptops For Sale

Secondhand lap tops are still available to purchase - $500, if you are interested please contact the school office.

Specifications listed below -

MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015)

Storage 128 GB

Processor 1.6 GHz Intel Core i5

Memory 4GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Graphics Intel HD Graphics 6000 1536 MB

New - Chatter Matters

Pragmatics and Social skills - (From Vic Curriculum Personal & Social Capabilities.)

  • Developing resilience; Self-awareness: Identifying personal Strengths and skill sets, their likes and dislikes, needs and wants.
  • Identifying Strengths & skills in others, acknowledging, giving praise.
  • Emotions – identify these & how they impact on others

Extend their vocabulary through which to recognise and describe emotions and when, how and with whom it is appropriate to share emotions

  • Conflict resolution
  • Working effectively in a team
  • Describe the characteristics of respectful relationships and suggest ways that respectful relationships can be achieved. Look at diversity in gender, sex, culture etc.
  • Strategies for coping with difficult situations. They persist with tasks when faced with challenges and adapt their approach when first attempts are not successful.
  • Students recognise and appreciate the uniqueness of all people. They are able to explain how individual, social and cultural differences may increase vulnerability to stereotypes.
  • Describe ways of making and keeping friends, including how actions and words can help or hurt others, and the effects of modifying their behaviour.

Pragmatics and Social skills

Focus: Identifying emotions and their impact on self and others.

Go to the following website and ask your child to select their favourite emotions poster.

https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/271060471300243889/?lp=true

Print this off or write down this list of emotion words to guide your discussion.

Proud, angry, sad, confused, shy, surprised, content, happy, excited, embarrassed, worried,

Scared, frustrated.

You can turn this into a memory or bingo game by making pairs of these words into cards.

Both of you make a face that shows this emotion. Discuss a time when you felt this way. Write down the types of words that make you feel this way. For example: “I can’t believe you can’t spell that word” – “Frustrated”. Discuss ways of dealing with this emotion. For example; Ignoring hurtful comments or using phrases such as “That’s ok I’m working on it!”

While watching television or reading books discuss some of the emotions and reactions displayed by various characters. Ask what made them feel like that and did they react/ respond in the best way possible. What would they do differently?

Focus: Working effectively in a team

Teamwork is a necessary skill that provides children with the opportunity to form relationships, develop empathy and problem solve with others. Try the following problem -solving activities with your child/children making sure that everyone has equal amounts of speaking and listening. You could use a talking stick/object to ensure nobody takes over the conversation. The no put-downs rule needs to be followed at all times ie: positive comments only.

  • Jigsaw puzzles or any board game where families can work together to reach a final goal
  • Developing a plan of action for 
    • table setting
    • weekend trips
    • party’s/social gatherings
    • responsibilities around the house e.g. keeping room tidy
    • solving problems e.g. school lunches, tv programs, time on the computer
  • Don’t forget to celebrate together when you reach your goals!

Focus: Conflict Resolution

Conflict can arise for any number of reasons. As adults we can model and guide our children to solve conflicts in the most effective way possible. Don’t forget not all conflicts can be resolved and we simply need to just agree to disagree. However it is important to agree/disagree in a respectful manner.

Here are some comments you might like to promote around your house when not everybody is on the same page.

Agree: “ I think that’s a great idea, let’s go with it!” 

Disagree: “I can see what you’re saying, but I think this because…”

                  “That’s a good idea but how about …..?”

               “I can sort of see your point of view, but we’re going to have to agree to disagree”

Have these phrases written and placed around the house for reminders

Here’s some conflict resolution topics you might like to discuss as a family (remember no put-downs);

  • dogs are better than cats
  • children should make their beds everyday
  • children should go to bed by 8 o’clock
  • children should only have 1 hour of tv each night
  • Collingwood is the best football team.

Don’t forget to praise your child/children when you hear them agree/disagree in a respectful manner.

Focus: Developing resilience

Many children have difficulty adapting to changes or difficult situations that arise throughout life. For example; Starting a new school, making new friends, completing homework on time etc. Providing children with the tools to succeed during these situations will not only build resilience but may prevent those awful melt-downs.

  • Providing Visual schedules and timetables for your child will let them know ahead of time what’s happening and what is expected of them. They relieve the child’s anxiety as surprises or changes can be timetabled in.

The following link outlines the benefits of visual schedules and provides excellent examples.

             https://ahrc.eq.edu.au/services/fba-tool/help/visual-schedule)

  • Social stories also helps the child to go through the steps involved in order to complete a task successfully. Go to this link for good examples of social stories and how to use them to guide your child’s behaviour and/or social skills.

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/learningneeds/Pages/supportmaterials.aspx#link35

Books that focus on resilience in children include ‘Oh the places you’ll go’ by Dr. Seuss and ‘The little engine that could’ by Watty Piper

 UPDATED - Book Week

Book Week will run from 17th to the 23rd of August.

The theme for this year is 'READING IS MY SECRET POWER'. 

We are having a dress up day on Monday 19th August, with a parade in the Marian Centre from 9.00am.

As the theme is 'READING IS MY SECRET POWER' we would love to see as many children dressed up as super hero's as possible.