Education News

BOOK WEEK @ CSPS

CSPS traditionally celebrates Book Week during  Cup week. The celebration of Book Week will be held on Friday 6th of November.  All students will be invited to dress up as their favorite book character. Due to ongoing COVID restrictions, parents and families will be unable to attend onsite at this stage. This will not prevent the CSPS staff and students from celebrating. Photos, videos and the celebrations will be shared via Compass, Seesaw and Compass. 

Who or what is your favorite book character?

See some photos from last year for inspiration!

Writing @ CSPS

Percy and Squeaky by Kacey D 2A

On a peaceful tropical island with sparkly light blue water and golden sand lived an old Grandpa who had a mysterious dark secret, he was after treasure!

He found a dolphin called Squeaky down by the water which gave him an idea. He made a potion so that he could change bodies with Squeaky so he can swim under the water to look for the treasure. He couldn’t go under the water because he would drown, so he fed the dolphin the potion and  

then ….. they switched bodies!

Now Percy could go to find the treasure. The spell only lasted for 10 minutes, he found the treasure but the time ran out and he couldn’t take the treasure back up to land.

Boom! They switched back into their own bodies, Percy didn’t get the treasure but the dolphin did!!!

Attention Year 4 students 

Attention Year 4's - We will soon be asking for applications for the isea icare ambassadors for 2020/2021.  You will need to prepare a letter and a speech about why you wold be the best person to represent CSPS in this program. 

Here is a message from Chloe one of our current isea icare ambassadors about our program this year. 

Hi I’m Chloe and I was an I sea I care ambassador this year. Because of this year being a little bit different we haven’t been able to go on all of the excursions and do all of the activities that we had planned for this year. But the activities and excursions that we did get to do were all extraordinary experiences. The first excursion that we went on was a boat trip to seals rock. It was amazing to see what seals looked like in person and what type of environment they live in. We all made some friends on the boat, and had a great time learning. The second activity that we did was a presentation to the grade 1’s. We taught them about different types of sea creatures, how you can help the environment, why it’s important that the animals are safe and loads more! All of the activities related to these topics were interesting and definitely made us all laugh and have fun. Having this experience of talking in front of people also helped us learn. We learnt how to get people to engage in what we’re saying, how to be confident and how to present our information in an entertaining way.

Throughout remote learning the leaders of the i sea I care organisation still had weekly

meetings online, these sessions were so cool and it was so kind of them to run these meetings for us during the tough times we were in. I definitely encourage all of you to go up for this position as it will be an incredible time for you. I couldn’t be any more grateful to have this position and I hope that whoever gets this position next year enjoys this experience as much as I did! 

Be An Author

CUST Teacher Professional Development

The staff of CSPS recently attended Cultural Understanding and Safety Training (CUST) virtually. The CUST trainings, as outlined in the Marrung 10-Year Plan (2016-2026), are a method to assist educators and schools with helpful information to better understanding. The sessions which are hosted and presented by members of the community associated with the Local Aboriginal Education Consultative Groups, as well as the appropriate Koorie Engagement Support Officers, help give a clearer understanding on the cultural issues and boundaries that affect Koorie learners attending mainstream services. This training is aimed to encourage everyone to challenge their understanding of Aboriginal culture and entertain a conversation which presents both sides of the story. With NAIDOC week coming up from Sunday 8th November to Sunday 15th of November, this was a timely training. NAIDOC week's theme for 2020 is

ALWAYS WAS, ALWAYS WILL BE. It’s about seeing, hearing and learning the First Nations’ 65,000+ year history of this country - which is Australian history. We want all Australians to celebrate that we have the oldest continuing cultures on the planet. Stay tuned for some fantastic activities to celebrate this week.

Using Seesaw 

whilst onsite learning

Whilst CSPS staff and students have returned to onsite learning, Seesaw continues to be an avenue of information for parents and students. Please continue to check Seesaw for items of news, celebration and tasks for Home Learning.

The Junior School has recently posted this item.

Reading @ Home 

To support your child developing fluency in reading, we ask that you support them in reading at home. Each week your child will be assigned a task on Seesaw with links to readers that align with the unit they are currently learning. Please use these books as home reading for your child to engage in each night. We ask that you fill in the yellow reading log book and bring it to school each Monday so we can monitor their reading at home. We will be awarding positive points to those that are participating in reading every night. 

Kind Regards, The Junior School Team. 

CELEBRATIONS

Cooperative Learning

Did you know that Cooperative Learning has some great structures to engage students with their writing!

When completing a writing piece an essential component is in the planning.  

The majority of planning is in the talking. 

There are many structures, including a Round Robin to assist in planning a writing piece. 

Teachers use a Round Robin as a stimulus to promote thinking before students put pen to paper. 

You might like to use some of these ideas at home to promote family talk at the dinner table or after reading a story or watching a movie. This is a great stimulus for writing. 

Round Robin 

How to conduct a Round Robin! 

You need 4 people (If you only have 2 people then it would be a Rally Robin).

1. Teacher announces a topic or poses a question and gives 5 seconds think time.
2. Teacher nominates a person to start (1,2,3, or 4) and students answer 1 at a time in a clockwise direction. Answers are short and concise.
3. Sharing continues until all students have shared once. To allow students to contribute more than one answer, continue answering in turn (this becomes a continuous Round Robin).

Try this at home with your family!

The key is in all participants having  ‘think time’, listening to each other’s responses and being empowered and supported to contribute in a safe and supportive environment. When finished give each other a team cheer