Dear Parents,
Steve Whitehead and Graeme Wheaton look forward to working with you and
your children in a partnership to further build on their education.
The
students of Room 7 & 8 work in a team teaching situation. This means that
most times we work in a group of 60, sometimes we work as separate classes and
sometimes we work in smaller groups with the support of teachers, SSOs &
parents. Steve is the school ICT coordinator and has Wednesdays out of the
classroom to fulfil his role. We are delighted to have been able to enlist the
services of Liz Bagley on Wednesdays.
Parent
Communication
We recognise that a student’s education requires
a strong partnership with parents therefore effective communication with parents
is a high priority for us.
In 2016 we will be using a class blog as our
classroom hub. This will serve as a great link between home and school. It will
enable all parents to keep up with the current affairs of the classroom, see
what homework is set for the week, view pictures and much more. You will be
able to view all pages and written material via the link below. However to be
able to comment, provide feedback and ask questions you will need to use your
Google ARDPS Account.
The direct address of the 2016 Room 7/8 Class
Hub is- http://ard78.blogspot.com.au/
or you can access the blog through our homepage, then click on the class blogs
menu link.
In
addition to the Hub, we will be using a small memo book for private parent correspondence
and student’s weekly individual spelling Tests.
Our
school uses Ardtornish Community (Ardtornish+) for correspondence. This is not
only an important platform for whole school information but also a means for us
to directly correspond with all active parents. We hope all parents can become a part of this.
A step by step tutorial can be accessed at http://googleattitude.blogspot.com.au/p/ardtornish-account-activation.html
Curriculum
The
students are taught and assessed according to the guidelines set out by the
Australian National Curriculum. Both Rooms 7 and 8 students will have Science, PE and Music lessons with separate specialist teachers. Japanese lessons will be with Mr Wheaton.
Camp
We have a camp booked at Arbury Park in
Week 7 of Term 1 (14th March – 16th March). We hope all students attend as
this is a wonderful social and confidence building opportunity for them. In the past the camp has
proven to be very beneficial to our classroom. Please check the Class Hub camp page as more information will be given
out in the next few of weeks.
Brain Break
This year
students in our room will be able to graze on healthy food around 10:00 am as
long as it doesn’t interfere with their learning. e.g. they should not be
eating food while on the computer or doing a science experiment. Brain break is not the same as recess and so the
only foods we wish children to eat at this time are healthy, unprocessed,
natural produce. Therefore please provide fruit or vegetables, pre-cut and in a
container for safety and hygiene reasons.
Homework &
Diaries
Students will not be using a diary this year as
Homework will be placed on the blog every Monday via the Google Classroom link on the menu bar at the top of the class home page. However homework may be set
on Fridays sometimes to allow extra time. Mostly students will not be expected
to complete tasks in one night. We do not expect students to
spend longer than 30 minutes on one night.
Students will be using their Google accounts and Chromebooks for a
large portion of their homework and home learning. Accessibility varies
for students; we are happy to discuss and negotiate strategies so that all
students benefit from our 21st century approach to learning.
Teacher /
Students Relationship
We
are committed to maximising learning outcomes for all students. We establish a
warm and friendly class atmosphere where we work as a team and support and
value each other. Our class expectations are based around respect for ourselves
and others;
Do be gentle, don’t hurt anybody.
Do be kind
and helpful, don’t hurt people’s
feelings.
Do be honest, don’t cover up the truth.
Do work hard,
don’t waste time.
Do look after property, don’t waste or damage things
Do listen to people, don’t interrupt
We
encourage risk taking and original thinking. We cater for a wide range of
student learning styles and abilities so all students experience success and
are appropriately challenged.
Behaviour
management
We promote positive and responsible
behaviour when managing students. Students making responsible choices are
rewarded with a Dojos. This online behaviour management allows us to be much more specific about positives and negatives. We will discus their positive progress at our parent teacher meeting later in Term 1. Dojo will be linked with our student financial plan. Each child will earn a weekly salary and receive bonuses for tasks completed, classroom achievements and behaviour.
Steven Whitehead, Graeme Wheaton and Liz Bagley
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