Student online safety and digital citizenship

This week we have spent some time discussing online safety and digital citizenship. Today, students unpacked and signed our school ICT Agreement (embedded at the bottom of this post for your information).

Stage 3 were very lucky today to receive a visit from our Head of Senior School, Mr Nigel Wickham.  Mr Wickham presented on topics including Cyber Safety, Social Media, Digital Citizenship and our Digital Footprint.  The students were all extremely engaged and learned a lot about staying safe online and being responsible with their use of devices both at school and at home.

One of the more powerful analogies that Mr Wickham presented to the students was the fact that they would never go to bed and leave the front door and windows wide open for anyone to get in.  He likened this to being online, and that privacy settings on apps and devices are incredibly important, they are like 'locking your front door' in order to be safe.

The main points from his presentation included;

• If you would not say something to a person's face, you should not write it online.
• It is actually against the law to take a photo of someone without their permission and post it online
• Your device (phone, iPad, computer, etc) actually belongs to parents, they paid for it and signed all the contracts associated with it.
• Social media has age restrictions of mostly 13 years +
• If /when you do go on social media, remember to 'lock your doors and windows' so that you have control of who can come in.  Use the privacy settings and re-set them every 6 months.
• Always talk to your parents if anything makes you uncomfortable - take a screenshot and show your parents or teachers.

The students had some good questions for Mr Wickham, mainly around the use of apps.  I have included below a link icon to an excellent site that helps parents and children navigate the appropriateness of content.  It is called Common Sense Media, and it gives you reviews from parents and from children, and details of what the app offers.  It is certainly worth reading up about any app your child might ask you to buy.

Please do ask your child about their session with Mr Wickham today. We take student online safety and responsibility very seriously at school and want all students to use their devices to enhance learning.

Mindsets in Mathematics

Today year 5 watched this compelling video about the power of mindsets in Math. In a Canvas discussion, students were asked to highlight one thing that stood out to them.

Some of the responses include:

Harrison: The thing that stood out to me most was that if you have a growth mindset you get better and that if you have a fixed mindset you stay how you are.

Otto: Speed does not matter because lots of very smart people were slow when they were young.

Annie: Your brain grows when you make mistakes

Orlando: What stood out to me was that there is no such thing as smart and not smart

Dexter: What AMAZED me was that it’s better to be slow in maths

Amalie: What stood out to me most was that speed is not important and also if you get something wrong, you learn't more than if you got something right.

Desert Dwellers

The poem ‘My Country’ by Dorothea Mackellar is rich in poetry techniques. This week, we have examined stanzas of this poem to find examples of alliteration. Using their investigation into desert dwellers as a stimulus for writing, the students experimented with alliteration in their poems.

Sand Goanna

Slowly the sand goanna crawled across the sandy desert

Searching for prey

Past the spikey spinifex

Celebrating when food found

Now to seek shade

Jamie

The Desert

Sandchill canegrass creeping up its stem

Soaking up the sunlight, shooting through the sand

Sizzling sand, waves of heat

Emus pecking

Fanning their feathers

Thundering feet

Kaysha & Olivia

Show it, don't tell it!

In Drama, the students have been learning about the importance of focus.  Understanding and staying in role is an important part of focus.  The photos depict scenes from the students’ improvisations of The Lunch Box Thief – Part 1 & 2.

Fund raising for drought relief

Uniform Reminders

Mrs Bennett shared a uniform reminder with the students at Assembly on Friday, in regards to appropriate earrings. It's always great to check the 'little items' too, at the beginning of a new School year. Here is a list of a few items which we will  be reminding the students about over the next couple of weeks.

Girls:

Hair must be tied back if longer than the shoulders. Only navy blue or black hair elastics may be worn.

Hair ribbons – School ribbons only; white with Summer uniform, blue with Winter uniform.

Earrings are to be either plain gold or silver ball studs (No coloured /shiny stones, patterns or designs).

Nail polish is not to be worn to school.

Boys:

Hair is required to be off the collar and not falling in eyes or tucked behind ears.

Ice Cream Day

Welcome to the Learning Hub in 2019

Welcome to the Learning Hub in 2019

The Year 5 class visit the Learning Hub (library) on a Wednesday this term.

Our goal is to encourage a love of literature and the children will be engaged in a wide range of reading material covering various themes connecting with family, the community and the world.

Students begin with ‘learning to read’, followed by ‘reading to learn’ - please encourage your children to read every day. Library bag are required for borrowing to protect the books.

The 2019 Premiers Reading Challenge (PRC) is being launched on 4 March 2019 and students in Year 4-6 are encouraged to read 20 x books, on their own, in order to be recognised by a PRC certificate.

You can find the book lists here: https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/booklist/home.html.

Happy reading!

Home Learning Term 1, Week 4

Microscope Marvels

This week, the students had the opportunity to look down the lens of a microscope to answer the question: How do leaves lose water? Not only did they view a beautiful pattern of the underside of the leaf, but they also identified the stomata which, according to one student, ‘looked like lips’. The students concluded that when these ‘lips’ are open, the plant loses water. The next question will be: Why do the stomata open and close?

Olivia's precise and accurate scientific drawing demonstrated that she was able to recognise the importance of 'noticing' in Science and use this muscle effectively. 

‘A goal without a plan is just a wish’

Next week, the students will be formulating two goals and devising action plans to follow in order to achieve their goals. We would very much appreciate your assistance in discussing goals and action plans (2 – 3 dot points) with your child and perhaps helping them draft a copy by Wednesday Week 4.  Thank you.

Parent Information Evening PowerPoint

Home Learning Term 1, Week 3

Swimming Carnival Fun!

Year 5 had a great day at our Swimming Carnival today! Congratulations to everyone who competed. We love to see our students giving new things a go and persevering  when facing uncomfortable or challenging situations. A special shout out to Macarthur, who won the carnival!

Performance Poetry & Science Investigation

Performance Poetry

This week, in Spelling, the students have been extending their knowledge of Greek and Latin number prefixes. We had some fun composing raps which would help us understand the meaning of words which contain these number prefixes.

Our Rap

Unikitty, uniform and uni, uni, unicorn!

He’s got a monobrow

She performs a monologue

And she wears a monocle.

We’re all bilingual

We’re building biceps

And we all ride bicycles.

We run in the triathlon

We all have triangle glasses

And we have trillions of dollars!

By Kaysha, Harper and Amelie

Spelling Rap

I’m a monobrow, a monologue, a monocle

I’m a monorail

All Aboard!

I’m universal, a unicorn, a unikitty,

I’m a university

Ready to learn? Noooooo!

I’m a biped, I’ve got biceps, I can bisect

I’m a bicycle

Climb on!

I’m a trillion dollars, a tripod, a trilogy

I’m a triathlon

Run! Run! Run! Done!

Arne, Charlie B, Dexter, Harrison W

Science Investigations - Transpiration

THRASS Parent Information Evening

HOME LEARNING Term 1, Week 2

Term 1, Week 1 Update

We have all had a great start to the year already in Year 5!

This term, the school-wide focus is on the learning power of Resilience. Absorption is one of the muscles which we need build to become more resilient learners. This week, the students have been thinking about what it means to be absorbed in learning - here are some of our class responses.

On the first day back, we shared our holiday news and described to our partner one of our best experiences. We then captured that memorable moment in a Haiku poem.

As the wave towered

Surfers scrambled to catch it

Spectators in awe

Gus

Wind catches the sail

The boat tips from side to side

Oh no! I fell out.

Ella 

We have already immersed ourselves into our learning this term.

Across the week we spent some time planning our class Core Agreement. Year 5 students collaborated in small groups discussing what they would like their learning environment to be like and how they want to feel about themselves at the end of the year. Students pondered questions like:

• What helps me learn best?
• How do I want to feel when I'm at school?
• How do I want to be remembered by others?

Book Club 2019

Dear Parents,

Welcome to Book Club 2019 at St Luke’s Bayview Campus!

A Scholastic Book Club order booklet went home with this week your child.  Each booklet contains the entire range of books available which enables you to purchase for all ages, siblings, relatives or gifts for friends.

You order online using LOOP – and DON’T need to return any paperwork to school!  Easy and paperless!  When asked for the school name enter “St Luke’s Grammar School” and it will come up with the Bayview option.

Purchases will come home with your child when they are delivered to the school.

Last date for this month’s orders is Friday Feb 15.

Here’s to a great Book Club start! 

Wait! There’s more….all your purchases build up a fund for the school and we receive books as well.  Win-win!

Kind regards,

Darine Groch

Welcome Back!