Staff Professional Learning - Number Talks

On Friday 18th June (pupil free day) all staff from St Joseph’s will be completing professional learning on the subject of Number Talks. Fiona Foley, the presenter, is a Professional Learning Consultant with the Mathematical Association of NSW. The workshop will look at "What is A Number Talk?" and "How to create a learning environment where all students are encouraged to develop and express their mathematical ideas clearly”. The aim of the workshop is to support teachers in building a whole new perspective on mathematics and engaging students in creative, open mathematical thinking by establishing Number Talks in the K-6 classroom. This professional learning aligns with our 2021 school improvement plan which focuses on the area of Mathematics.

Positive Behaviour Learning (PBL)

Our final PBL focus this term is Do Your Best – Be A Team Member. This is an important focus area as children learn the importance of contributing to a group goal, rather than an individual goal. They will be discussing the qualities of being a good team player such as sharing tasks equally, being fair, including others, encouraging others, demonstrating focus and displaying a commitment to the task. By evaluating several different scenarios, students will identify how they can become even better team players. If you have an opportunity, please discuss these concepts with your children at home.

Around the school you may notice a poster promoting our 4 PBL expectations. Thank you to Grace Williams (1B) for having the initiative to create it!

Being halfway through the token 5-week block, we look forward to giving students a progress report on a token count next week.

Canberra

Students from our school attended an education tour of the national capital.  Students were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia's history, culture, heritage and democracy.

The Australian Government recogises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of the Civics and Citzenship education.  To assist families and schools in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government contributes $30.00 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards these costs.  The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.

In Week 6, Year 6 had a fabulous time away in Canberra. Even though the weather was chilly, we still had clear and sunny days. After we survived the 6-hour bus trip, the fun began straight away. We started with visiting the National Gallery of Australia where we saw many inspiring artworks. Next, we visited the Royal Australian Mint and observed how coins were manufactured. We could have sat and watched, Titan, the robot all day. After that we went to the Australian Institute of Sport. This was one of our favourite activities in Canberra! Our last activity for this first busy day was at Questacon. We had dinner first and then had great fun with all the interactive science activities. At 9pm we finally made it to our accommodation, and we were all feeling very exhausted.

On Day 2, we first enjoyed a cooked breakfast at our accommodation before we departed for a once in a lifetime view of Canberra from the top of Mount Ainslie. Next, we visited Parliament House. Here we were able to meet our local federal member, Sharon Claydon. 6G were fortunate enough to see Prime Minister, Scott Morrison in the House of Representatives whilst 6B had a great time rolling down the grass. After that we had a great time at the National Arboretum where we used our orienteering skills to navigate and track hidden markers spread across the mountains. The day wasn’t over yet as our next stop was the National Dinosaur Musuem. Here we entered prehistoric times and we especially liked the gift shop. In the evening our Lego activity was based at our accommodation. We were all looking forward to getting into bed at the end of another long day.

We woke up on Day 3 and were feeling a little disappointed as our time in Canberra was coming to an end. For our first activity, 6G visited the Musuem of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House whilst 6B visited the Electoral Education Centre. After that, we drove around the various embassy buildings and America’s was the largest by far. Our final visit on our excursion was the Australian War Memorial. It was very moving to witness the devasting effects of war. Before getting back on the bus we enjoyed a pizza lunch, and this helped us fill our stomachs for the long drive ahead.

On behalf of Year 6 we’d like to thank all the teachers and Roy, our bus driver for providing this great excursion for us. We definitely made memories that will last a lifetime. Overall, we had an amazing time and we all had of wished that we could have stayed longer.

Cate Hayes and Charlie Whittaker

Australian Mathematics Competition