TERM 2 NEWSLETTER No. 10 – 23rd JUNE 2016

CALENDAR

Term 2 2016

Year 1/2 Concert

Thursday 30th June

6:30-7:30pm

Orienteering Friday 1st July

8:30-12 noon

ELECTION DAY

Saturday 2nd July—See Page 13

Garden Working Bee

Sunday 10th July

10am-3pm

RAN TRAINING

Wednesday 3rd August

6pm

End of Term 2

Friday 8th July

2:10pm finish

PRINCIPAL:

Linda Weetra

DEPUTY PRINCIPAL:

Leanne Prior

SENIOR LEADER:

Joel Catchlove

PHONE …….…. 8293 1204

FAX ………..…….. 8293 1673

OSHC: …...…….... 8293 8085

E-MAIL:

admin@blforest.sa.edu.au

WEBSITE:

www.blforest.sa.edu.au

Inspiring optimistic, successful and sustainable futures for all

Creativity Respect Endeavour

Collaboration Responsibility

Principal’s News

Dear Families I can’t believe it is Week 8 of Term 2 already!! We have had a busy couple of weeks since the last newsletter, with teachers working diligently on reports and children attending excursions and performances and being challenged in a range of exciting learning experiences. Read on for more detail!

Reimagining Childhood Project This is our third year in this EcHO project and our learning has over that time, been regularly shared in the school newsletter. This year, Cindy Fishwick (Yr 1-2 teacher), Edie Porter (Rec/Year1), Emma Bennett and Dora Loukidis (Rec) have all been involved in collaboration with our colleagues at Clarence Park and Glandore Kindergartens, with our inquiry focussing on the Reggio Emilia principle of “The Image of the Child”. Last Friday, June 17, this team visited Brighton Primary School to observe a highly skilled early childhood practitioner who has been working for many years with the child as capable and competent as her image. There is a wonderful opportunity for parents to attend a FREE workshop with Paola Strozzi – Pedagogista, Massimo Ghirardi – Atelierista and Jane McCall – interpreter from Reggio Emilia, Italy through The South Australian Collaborative Childhood Project in collaboration with Reggio Children. The title of this workshop is The Capable, Competent Parent –parents as protagonists in their children’s learning, and fits brilliantly with our own staff learning. Please check out the details in the flyer in this newsletter. I encourage you to book asap if you are interested as places will fill fast.

Collaborative Moderation This was the focus for our Pupil Free Day on June 14, with our colleagues at Unley and Glen Osmond Primary Schools. This partnership initiative provided staff with an opportunity to use a ‘collaborative moderation protocol’ to reflect on evidence (work samples) of children’s work in Maths as a tool for quality assuring AC achievement standards. The intent is that all staffs will continue to use this protocol back in their sites on a regular basis to assist in providing consistency of professional judgement when assigning A-E grades of achievement. This means that as a site we will be building these opportunities for staff collaboration on a regular basis in the future.

Volunteers in after school sports It has been brought to my attention that some our sports co-ordinators have been subjected to negative (and at times abusive) comments/feedback. This is very disappointing and I would like to take this opportunity to remind all parents whose children participate in after school sports, that those who take on the roles of coach, team manager and co-ordinators are VOLUNTEERS. Please respect that these people give of their time to ensure your child can play after school sport, as without them there would be no after school sport.

Congratulations Congratulations to Anastasia who spoke with maturity, confidence and clarity at the Governing Council meeting on Monday night as she presented the GRIP leader’s report. Well done Anastasia!

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Boys and Brains workshop 47 parents attended this workshop on June 9th with positive feedback. For me, this is about helping parents understand the “PLUS”, which I eluded to in last week’s newsletter. This builds on the understanding of the importance of having a growth mindset and understanding that intelligence is not fixed and that the brain is ‘malleable’, that is able to change and take on new learning. This, at times means that we need to fail, and from this learning will grow, especially as we see failure as enhancing, enabling learning and growth.

Reports On the Thursday of the last week of term, your child will be bringing home their report summarising their learning from Semester 1. Accompanying this report will be a letter about how parents can have a “learning conversation’ with their child about this report. It includes further information about growth mindset and some ‘conversation starters’. We strongly encourage families to focus on the effort and learning dispositions of their child, rather than the achievement standard, all of which are documented in the report. These things are more of a predictor of long term success than the ‘grade’ that your child receives. Please refer to the letter for more information.

Building resilient learners Here is my latest inspiration from my favourite blog: http://creatingalearningenvironment.com/15-ways-to-teach-resilience-to-your-child/ It considers the reasons why resiliency is so important to a child’s development and ways parents can help their children develop this important skill in life. I especially was pleased to see Challenge Number 4: Do not eliminate risks! This is so in sync with what we have been working with children on for some time now - it is important that children can identify risks, assess the potential impact of the risks and then decide how to minimise the risks for themselves. If we see children as CAPABLE and COMPETENT they will be able to make these decisions, and if they fail, it will be an opportunity for learning and growth (which links to Challenge Number 7 and 14!). I hope you enjoy this article!

15 Ways To Teach Resilience To Your Child

In such a fast moving, busy society where we demand information straight away and do not want to wait for anything why is it so important, more than ever before, to teach children to be resilient?

So many children have an undeveloped sense of resiliency. It is at an epidemic level compared to the past decades. Why are so many children of this generation unable to display inner strength to deal with everyday challenges that arise and have under developed coping skills? Research tells us, that it is due to the lack of opportunities that children are given to practice this skill when they are young.

As parents we want our children to be happy, successful and have a strong sense of personal worth. We want them to aim high and reach their potential. Unfortunately this can be confused with giving our children everything and doing everything we can to protect our children from undesirable feelings of despair and stress.

We need to give our children many opportunities to practice coping skills when they are aged 2 – 12 years old in order to set them up for a solid emotional foundation for the older years. We need to expose them to challenges that allow them to practice these developing skills.

Below is a list of 15 challenges that we can use to help our own children develop their own resiliency.

1. Do not aim to accommodate their every need straight away

Sometimes in life our needs cannot be met straight away. There are times that we need to wait for food to be prepared or wait for transport to take us somewhere. Children need to learn how to wait for things even if they believe they are dying of starvation.

2. Children need to serve others

Sometimes it feels like everyone has an “every man for himself” mentality. Children need to learn that there are many people in this world and the world does not revolve around them. (wise words from my mother) It is very hard when children tend to be the centre of everything in their family. They are the most special gifts for parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles. Encourage children to let others have a turn first or give other people food first before themselves.

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3. Waiting without entertainment

Think about when you were a child. If you went to a restaurant and had to wait for food after your parents had ordered it, how did you cope without an entertainment device? (I-pod, I-pad, DS). Or when you were driven by your parents for 20 minutes in the car, how did you survive not watching a movie in that time? We all survived and are well adjusted adults. Some of us anyway :). Children can only learn to wait if they are given opportunity to wait.

4. Do not eliminate all risks

Eliminating every possible risk that may pose a danger to your child will do more harm than good. Children need to assess the risk, problem solve and accept responsibility for their actions. If you take all the risks away they will not get the opportunity to practise these skills.

5. Children need to give

It is important that children understand that material possessions are not essential to happiness. This sentiment contradicts what advertisements are trying to convey to our children. Encourage your children to regularly give some of their clothes and toys to the less fortunate.

6. Problem solving skills

When children come to you with a problem it is important that you help them work out the solution instead of just telling them what to do. Children need to have many opportunities to go through the problem solving process in order to understand how to solve problems successfully. Pose lots of questions to your child to guide them through this process.

7. Do not rescue your child straight away

This is an area that most parents find difficult to do. Let your child get frustrated when they cannot do something, so you are able to talk about how they are feeling and what they can do about it. They need to experience these emotions in order to learn how to deal with them.

8. Children need to help younger children

Children need to be given many opportunities to help younger children. They could help with doing up shoelaces, reading a picture book to them and helping the younger child solve their own problems. This will help children develop their leadership skills and realise that all people are different and require different things.

9. Do not provide all the answers

We need children to be able to discover answers for themselves. Children need to learn how they can answer their own questions through research and collaboration with others. Sometimes parents need to say to their child “I don’t know. Maybe you could find out and come and tell me what you found” to encourage their child to work it out for themselves.

10. No interruptions when adults are speaking

Children need to learn when it is okay to talk and when they need to wait before talking. So many children are allowed to interrupt conversations that they learn quickly, if they are loud, they will get the desired attention straight away. You can work out a simple way between you and your child, so you know that they need to ask you something while you are talking. When you have finished the sentence, you then can turn to them and encourage them to say “Excuse me” before asking you something.

11. Do not give in

If you have set an expectation ensure that you follow through with what you have said. Children need to learn that there are rules and consequences if you do not abide by them. Eg If you said that your child must turn off the television after the show that they are watching has ended, then make sure this happens.

12. Identifying emotions

Children need to learn to identify the emotions they are feeling. Read lots of books that deal with a variety of emotions and discuss how the characters handle these emotions.

13. Children need perspective

Children need to realise how fortunate they are compared to others. Give older children the opportunity to volunteer at a charitable organisation to gain a perspective about their own reality.

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14. Allow your child to fail

Children need to experience failure to learn valuable skills. Children who are always successful have not developed their coping skills when a stressful situation arises. One simple way is to beat them at a game that they really want to win. Help them work through their feelings and encourage your child to have some positive self-talk sentences to get them through their disappointment. eg It is only a game.

15. Model resiliency

Actions speak louder than words. Model the behaviour that you want your children to display in everyday situations. Have lots of conversations with your child about your own emotions and how you cope with stressful situations.

Children who are resilient become very adaptable adults. They have a strong sense of worth and are able to learn from mistakes and look forward to the future.

Leanne Prior

Deputy Principal’s News

Parent feedback opportunity – GOVchat

The South Australian Government wants to help parents support their children to be actively involved in learning

from birth onwards.

Research shows that children become better learners when parents are actively involved.

Call the GOVchat line to provide feedback directly to government decision makers, including Education and Child

Development Minister Susan Close, about how the department can better support you in understanding and

participating in your child’s education.

When: Monday 4 July 2016

Time: 5:30pm to 7:30pm

Find out more at www.yoursay.sa.gov.au/govchat4

A request for wood!

If any parents can access small pine off cuts for the Junior Primary children to use in woodwork, please send to Greg

Dorey (Room 2)

Mathematics improvement Based in analysis of data, students abilities in mathematical problem-solving remain an area for focus at Black Forest. We have begun to address this through a process of developing Whole School Agreements in mathematics, designed to ensure consistency of teaching and learning experiences across classrooms. A focus of these agreements in 2016 is the adoption of the STAR problem-solving framework, now commencing implementation in all classes, and a sequence for problem-solving strategies across year levels. This process continues as one element of Black Forest’s numeracy improvement journey.

Tech Cadets The Tech Cadets student leadership program has begun in Term 2, with a significant new influx of student participants. The Tech Cadets have responsibilities to maintain elements of the school’s technology infrastructure, together with supporting Junior Primary classes in their engagement with technologies. In Term 2, the Tech Cadets have also been trialling mBots, exploring the connection between programming and robotics in preparation for its implementation in classes as part of the Technologies curriculum.

Children’s University A number of school-based activities are currently undergoing validation as official Children’s University events. Family Maker Workshops and Tech Cadets are currently validated, while Banrock Station, Orienteering, Years 3-5 Choir and all school-based sports are pending. Further non-classroom learning opportunities will be added as they arise.

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Family Maker Workshop The second in the series of ‘Family Maker Workshops’ was held in week 7, Term 2. These workshops provide an opportunity for family members to collaborate with students on a design and technology-based making experience. The first workshop focussed on exploring ‘paper circuitry’, while at the second students and their parents and grandparents constructed catapults to fling marshmallows. Our next workshop will introduce Scratch, a powerful computer programming language that many students at Black Forest have used to build video games, animations and more! We'll also have a play with robots that can also be programmed with Scratch-based programming. Each activity is chosen to demonstrate the kind of learning students experience in their Technologies subject and to provide practical experiences in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) for family members. Joel Catchlove

Senior Leader’s News

Awesome Artists Club Each Thursday with a group of children identified by teachers; focus on building self esteem and using art as a means of expression and communication

‘What’s the Buzz” This program focussing on developing social skills being implemented in a class as a trial

Walk and talk This process continues to be implemented and monitored across the school; in addition we have tightened the structures and processes

Building Resiliency Project This initiative came from the Partnership and our school decided to be involved. This project, headed by Andrew Fuller, required Year 3-7 students to answer a series of survey questions focussing on strengths, general health and children’s hope in terms of their ability to initiate and sustain action towards goals and their capacity to carry out goals. This data was provided to us at the workshop with Andrew on June 20th and will support us in identifying future directions and support around children’s wellbeing.

Parking and School Drop Offs School drop offs and parking cars to take students into school can be a problem due to a range of factors ; congestion, rain, not enough spaces etc.

While some of these factors are out of our control there are some rules that need to be adhered to in order to keep our students safe.

Some problem hot spots are:

1. Staff car park . This car park is for staff of our school and OSHC ONLY. Students use the car park area for valid reasons such as moving the bins, emptying recycling, and there have been several near misses.

2. School Avenue. Some parents are electing to park on the OSHC side of the road blocking traffic and restricting movement of cars legally parked.

3. Oban Ave Drop Off Zone. Some parents are parking in this zone or standing longer than necessary to complete such tasks as checking their phones, applying make-up. This is causing congestion and restricting access to other drivers.

Please be considerate of all members of our school community.

Liz Galloway

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Room 12 has had a fun time learning in Term 2 which included

studying Plants, making a plant journal of their growing seeds using

Book Making guidelines while incorporating knowledge gained from Term 1’s topic ‘The Weather’. This term the children also researched

African Animals which incorporated investigating the globe and the

countries in which their parents and grandparents were born. The

children were keen to investigate African animals and decided which were carnivores and which were herbivores. During Sharing Time they

presented their findings to the class.

They were VERY excited to go to the Monarto Zoo and had a magnificent

day viewing the animals from the safety of the bus, making shelters for

themselves, having lunch around the campfire and running in and around

nature. In one of the activities the children were asked to make a shelter for themselves. It was quite a task they had to undertake as they had to

drag large tree branches to a tree and prop them up against it, while

allowing enough room for their group to fit in!

It was quite a long journey with lots of chatter and laughter on the way to

the zoo. The return journey resulted in a much more placid atmosphere as

they reflected on their excitingly hectic day!

Group work in the class is encouraged and thoroughly enjoyed by the

children. We are currently discussing how to construct a shelter of a

chosen animal which they will make out of clay. They are using many strategies including drawing a plan, delegating jobs within the group,

coming back to and revising their plans when a problem occurs,

supporting each other and using math language. During this process,

some end products may not be as productive as others, however all students will be successful in the dispositional skills gained during the

planning, collaboration and making which is the ideal outcome. Their clay

figurines will also be represented in their shelters in which a lot of math

language and composition will be involved.

The children’s Garden lesson incorporated using natural materials for

weaving and planting seedlings. It was encouraging to hear the children

spontaneously deciding which of the African animals would eat the garden plants! At the end of Term 1 the children partook in the Mud

Festival and what a glorious time they had. It was hard for the adults to

stop smiling throughout. There was lots of squeals and laughter,

exploration, cooking and painting! At the end children were hosed down with a final bucket foot splash to remove the mud. Some children took

the foot bath literally!

What a wonderful first 2 terms in Room 12!

What’s been happening in Room 12?

Lesson on animal shelters

Making the shelter

Completed shelter

Lunch around a campfire

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Classroom music lessons are a weekly occurrence for all Reception to Year 5 classes.

With an increased expectation of music theory as part of the curriculum, the children from

Reception onwards learn the musical elements of pitch, rhythm, tempo and dynamics, along with

different styles and cultures.

This year the Year 4/5s have been using the Blues as a basis for their music learning, and have

been working in small groups to workshop and perform short pieces, while the Year 3s have learnt

about the format of a symphony orchestra. The Year 3s are also just starting to learn how to play

ukulele and trying to draw treble clefs!

The Junior Primary classes have had two

performances at school this term, for which we

learnt songs and dances; the first, Bush Concert,

featured members of the Adelaide Symphony

Orchestra and had an environmental message and

the second, The Skeleton Crew, was presented by

the Bone Health Foundation and was about healthy

eating and exercise, In both cases we were able to integrate

learning across other curriculum areas.

All classes have also learnt a little about Aboriginal and Japanese

music and instruments.

The two Junior Choirs are very busy at present, with the 40 members of the Year 1&2 choir

preparing for a concert next Thursday evening 30th

June at school, and the 60 members in Years 3-5s

rehearsing for our upcoming production of

Snugglepot and Cuddlepie which will be held in

August. Choir rehearsals occur in the children’s

lunch times.

This year I have also started a Year 4/5 Boys’

Percussion Group, which gets together before

school on Thursdays. This group will have its debut

next Thursday as guest performers for the Year 1&2 choir, along with the students who are

learning Strings at school.

PENNY BAKER (Music Teacher)

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SCHOOL VALUES

C o n g r a t u l a t i o n s

Mitchell P, Will A, Callum C, Riley R,

Scarlet C, Yana F, Christian Y, Scarlett M, Madison M, Neve C,

Scarlett S, Callum G-C, Jackson B,

Lachie K, Mia V, Oliver R, Mahlia P, Beth O’S, Oscar W, Cesar M, Nathan L,

Jemma McA, Matthew F, All Room 11 students

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Garden News

School Garden Working Bee

Sunday 10th July 2016

10am – 3pm

Come and learn to prune a range of trees and

bushes, help build a chook mobile, plant some seeds

& much more!

Including drinks and lunch

(with organic produce from our wonderful school garden)

Please RSVP to dani.austin@blforest.net

or 0423 172 386 * Please note this working bee will include the use of sharp tools therefore not all tasks are

suitable for children

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