Level 1 & 2 Team Classroom teachers 1A – Megan Ferguson 1B - Annie Bala

1C – Dani Pellicori 1D –Jacqui Perdriau

2A - Sarah Peters 2B – Jana Hain & Lisa Fennessy 2C – Simon Hargreaves & Eileen Thompson 2D - Lydia Shortt

Learning support Wendy Arkey

We are all very much looking forward to getting to know you and working in partnership to build an inclusive community where our

children are active learners, critical thinkers and creative

explorers.

Think…Imagine…Become

Level 1 & 2 Newsletter

Welcome Back! Term 1, 2020

Welcome back to what is bound to be another fantastic school year. We certainly hope that you had an enjoyable break.

To our new Sandringham East Primary School families, we extend an extra warm welcome. Our wonderful parent community will help you to feel right at home. Note that we’ll be having 1:1 chats with all parents/carers on ‘Meet The Teacher Evening’ (Tuesday 11th February).

Home-School Communication

The JLC doors will open at 8:50am every morning (except Mondays due to assembly). This is an opportune time for students to independently prepare for their day—unpack their own bags, change their take-home reading books, hand in their diaries, etc. Teachers are on duty at this time for class- room preparation and welcoming and settling the children. Please note that this is not an appropriate time for in-depth discussions with teachers. The student diaries are a key home- school communication tool and you are always most welcome to arrange a time to meet with your child’s teacher. Diaries will be used to communicate between the teacher and parents and as a reading log. Parents and students are required to record the title of the take home book in the diary, make comments if desired and sign. The school also communicates via our weekly newsletter and COMPASS. Be sure to download the COMPASS app.

Term 1 Important Dates

Tuesday 28th January: Student-free day

Wednesday 29th January: Students commence (9:00am assembly)

Tuesday 11th February: ’Meet the Teacher’ chats with parents/carers (from 1:30pm, Students remain at school until 3:30pm) Wednesday 12th February: Welcome Picnic followed by Kaboom sports

Friday 6th March: Curriculum Day (no school)

Monday 9th March: Labour Day (no school)

Friday 27th March: End of Term 1 (2:30 dismissal)

Monday 13th April: Easter Monday (no school)

Tuesday 14th April: Term 2 commences

Arrivals & Departures In the morning… Children need to be on time and not rushed in the mornings. By now, children should be independently unpacking their school bag and completing their take-home folder and diary routine. Good-byes and hugs should occur prior to your child entering the classroom. Parents, siblings and prams should not be congesting the classroom entrances. A reminder that assemblies on Monday begin at 8:50am. After school… The wellbeing and safety of our students is our top priority and as such, we request that you and your child take time to discuss what they will do at 3:30pm, such as going to Extend, meeting you at a particular point, waiting for their sibling, etc. Practise the after-school routine. The yard is unsupervised from 3:45pm.

Teaching & Learning in the JLC Reading: The CAFÉ’ reading program is implemented across the school. Using this acronym, students work towards independently reading texts with familiar ideas and information, some illustrations, predictable structures, un- complicated sentences, a variety of tenses and a small amount of unfamiliar vocabulary. These include imaginative texts such as stories and poems, everyday texts and informative texts in print and electronic form. Students develop strategies for reading texts, for example predicting meaning using a range of cues. They learn to self-correct when reading aloud and retell ideas in sequence using unfamiliar vocabulary and phrases from the text. Students will also participate in Sustained Reading and Buddy Reading daily. The children will be choosing their take home books from a box containing a range of levels. Our aim is for reading to be enjoyable for both you and your child. Your child will be reading an instructional text (harder text) in class during guided reading sessions. Please encourage your child to choose their own book to develop independence and choice reading.

Speaking and Listening Students become increasingly aware of how and why their own speaking needs to be varied to suit different situations and audiences. Students focus on organising their ideas to make themselves understood and, with guidance, develop strategies to improve oral presentations, for example, by

varying volume and pace. Students practise the skills of being attentive listeners in a wider range of contexts. Our Investigations provides the perfect opportunity for students to practise both their speaking and listening skills.

Writing Students write short texts that include several related ideas in sequence, and, where relevant, combine writing with drawings. They experiment with more complex grammatical features, such as ways of linking ideas in sentences using pronouns, conjunctions and adverbial phrases indicating time and place. They begin to spell frequently used words accurately and unfamiliar words with known spelling patterns. They learn to use capital letters, full stops and question marks correctly. They learn strategies for planning, composing, revising and editing their writing. When writing, they practise correct letter formation for handwriting. Students continue to develop their knowledge of a variety of text types. Students are also continuing to develop their skills in relation to the mechanics of writing through the utilization of VCOP. Students will participate in weekly Big Write sessions on Wednesdays. Parents will be communicated the Big Write topic early in the week to discuss with their child at home to provide some prompts or past experiences linking with the topic. At times there will be cold writes which is an unseen topic for students.

Mathematics NumberandAlgebra(Numeracy)· Number and place value · explore connection between addition, subtraction multiplication and division · recognise, model, represent and order number to 1000 · Fractions and Decimals · recognise and interpret common uses of halves, quarters and eighths of shapes and

collections · Money and financial mathematics · count and order small collections of Australian coins · Pattern and Algebra · describe patterns with numbers and solve problems of addition and subtraction

MeasurementandGeometry· Using units of measurement · telling time, ordering months and compare and order length, area, volume, mass and capacity · Shape - recognise and draw 2D and 3D shapes/objects · Location and transformation · investigate and interpret location using key features and positions and sliding, flipping or turning

StatisticsandProbabilityChance· identify practical activities and every day events that involve chance · using language such as unlikely/likely, certain/impossible Data representation and interpretation · gather data and display using lists, tables and picture graphs and interpret them

C – Comprehension A – Accuracy

F – Fluency E – Expression

V – Vocabulary C - Connectors

O – Openers P – Punctuation

· Investigations Sandringham East Primary School implements the Australian Developmental Curriculum into junior classrooms, F-2 then moving into ERP’s (Education Research Projects) 3-6. Through this program: · Children's interests are used as the predominant motivations for learning experiences and are

expanded, scaffold- ed and supported as a means of ongoing engagement in particular learning areas but not viewed or used as a 'topic' or 'theme' on which all experiences are focused

· Explicit instruction in the required domains still occurs, in conjunction with, and complementing, discoveries made during the Developmental Curriculum sessions (Investigations)

· The nature of experiences for the children promotes creativity, imagination and scope for the child to invent and explore, and avoid cloned artwork, worksheets and stencils

· Planning documentation identifies objectives for the child’s development in the first instance, and in addition identifies key learning objectives and children's interests as a basis for planning learning experiences

· The learning experiences emphasise active engagement, provide children with opportunities to explore processes (not just end products) and encourage children to pursue some of their learning experiences into ongoing projects for either short or longer periods of time

· Observation and documentation by teachers of key skills, needs, strengths and interests of individuals is used to fur- ther plan and implement appropriate experiences and set further learning and developmental objectives

· While skill instruction sessions and small and large group times are still used within the classroom, literacy, numeracy, and other areas of learning are integrated within a range of learning experiences

· Teachers still direct, scaffold, extend or intervene with children in order to ensure that children are actively en- gaged and learning

· The notion of 'integrated curriculum' within the Developmental Curriculum refers to all learning areas being recog- nised as integrated and embedded in learning, not discrete parts of the day where a particular content or focus area is used

· A balance is set between what 'emerges' from the child in response to the range of learning experiences and what the teacher wishes to introduce to the child in relation to skills and content

· The Developmental Curriculum uses a mix, throughout the day, of active hands-on play and project based work, alongside group times, personal reflection times, projects, skill instruction and other learning experiences provided by the school.

We love having volunteers in the building, especially during Investigations. Parents that have completed the volunteers training session and have a Working With Children Check will be able to register their interest with their child’s teacher early in the term. For those who missed the training in previous years, some sessions will run.

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

SEPS is a Lead School in the State of Victoria to teach the “Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships” curriculum. The age-appropriate learning material focuses heavily on personal and social ca- pabilities. Lessons incorporate explicit teaching, group work, role-playing, partner sharing and personal reflec- tion. The core concepts that will be taught in term one are ‘Emotional Literacy’ and ‘Personal Strengths’. We utilise a practical methodology for teaching social and emotional skills using guided play, classroom activities and an empowering language. It is a process that gives primary schools a way to develop, improve and en- trench the personal and social capabilities of students. Play Is The Way is:

· a unique program of physically interactive games · focussed on key concepts to guide students through life and learning · centred around specific empowering language to help attain self-mastery · a philosophy of behaviour education and student self-regulation that fosters independent, self- motivated, empathetic, life-long learners.

Assessment and Reporting at SEPS in 2020 Sandringham East Primary School strives to provide a rich, inclusive, student centred learning environment to support the holistic development of all children. Research indicates that learning is developmental; children learn in different ways, at different rates and at different times. At SEPS student learning is continuously moni- tored against the Victorian Curriculum F-10 achievement standards, tailoring learning experiences to address the needs of the child. Teachers make informed, on-balance judgements, based on evidence gained from a range of formal and informal assessment tasks and rich learning experiences. Feedback to students about their learning is an important aspect of maximising student achievement. It has been described as "the most powerful single moderator that enhances achievement" (Hattie, 1999). To opti- mise the effect of student learning feedback contact between all stakeholders (students, teachers and par- ents) is imperative. To support student learning, feedback needs to be: Constructive - highlighting the strengths and improvements of the completed task and information for future areas of focus. Timely - delivered within a reasonable timeframe to benefit subsequent work. Meaningful - targeting individual needs and linked to specific assessment criteria. Regular constructive feedback during the semester empowers students to monitor and direct their learning. Again in 2020 student learning tasks with feedback will be disseminated to parents utilising COMPASS. Class teachers will upload a nominated student learning task each term. Additionally parents will be provided with a learning task from each of the specialist areas over the course of the year. The learning tasks will reflect a child’s performance at a single point in time.

Student achievement mapped against the Victorian Curriculum will continue to be reported to parents biannually through student reports and the semester one three-way conference on June 24th. Reports will indicate student progress and ratings for behaviour and effort. No written comments will be provided, as this information will be communicated through the learning tasks.

Further information regarding student learning tasks will be circulated to parents in the SEPS newsletter throughout the year.

Home learning expectations Children bring take-home books home each night in their take-home folder. The books your child brings home will be chosen by them, from a designated selection of leveled books, and may or may not be read independently at this stage. We will soon send home some tips and information about assisting your child with their reading at home. Children’s abilities vary considerably and some children may like to take more responsibility for reading themselves, whilst others may like the book to be read first by an adult and then shared. This time together needs to be fun and enjoyable, as for many they are an extension of lovely literacy experiences such as bedtime stories. It is important to set aside a special time each day for sharing the books, but try not to make it too late, as the children will be tired. Remember that we read so we can enjoy books—shared reading should be a fun time for both parents and children. Give your close attention and show interest in the story. We all like praise, so don’t forget to encourage your child’s efforts. Please record your child’s reading attempts in the diary daily including the name of the book. As the children are still well and truly getting used to the routines of school, they might need frequent reminding to swap their book and place their folder and diary in the tub/tray. It is impossible for teachers to ‘police’ each child swapping their books so your cooperation and support with this is greatly appreciated as children will gradually become more independent with this. Remember that a ‘reader’ is a person—the one doing the reading. Please do not refer to their books as ‘readers’. Rather, we prefer to call them their ‘take-home books’. To support all areas of literacy, the children are also developing their ‘fluent’ recall and spelling of high fre- quency words. The children gradually work through lists of the most frequency English words, building upon what they learnt in Foundation and Level 1. Students can practise reading these words, finding them in books, spelling them aloud and writing them! All students at SEPS have a Mathletics and Literacy Planet login that they are most welcome to work on at home, too.

School Expectations • Commencement: Children are expected to be on time to school/class and not rushed. This means

arriving with enough time to organise their school bag and independently complete their morning

routines. With the exception of Mondays, classrooms are open from approximately 8:50am for children

to get or- ganised and settled, so that we can begin promptly at 9:00. Monday assemblies commence

at 8:50am. Please ensure students are on time for assembly.

• Absences: Absences must be recorded in COMPASS.

• Late arrivals: Students arriving after the bell has gone at 9:00 must be signed in at the front office.

• Uniform: Children are expected to wear full school uniform, include wide-brim hats in terms one & four.

• Notices: Excursion and other permission notices are published on COMPASS and require timely

authorization from parents/carers. The excursion levy covers school excursions and in house activities,

however events such as swimming are not covered by this levy.

• Behavioural expectations: All school community members (students, families and staff) agree to

uphold the SEPS values of Care, Aspiration and Respect at all times, in all interactions with other members of

the school community. This includes holding high expectations for student behaviour when at school.

• Newsletters: Each term, the year level teams publish a newsletter such as this one, to outline current and

future learning, as well as provide ideas to support learning at home. The SEPS Newsletter is published

weekly, providing families with news, school happenings, messages from Mrs Walton and community up-

dates. The newsletters are available digitally via the link on COMPASS or the school website every

Thursday.

Canteen update:

Canteen days are continuing to be on a Wednesday and Friday in 2020. All orders are made by our canteen manager Jo Whitby, and her wonderful team of helpers. Lunch orders can be ordered via

“FLEXI SCHOOLS”. Our office staff will be able to answer any further questions you have about this.

On the topic of lunches, as an environmentally-conscious school SEPS prides itself on working to- ward being a “Nude Food” school. In an effort to further instill the importance of caring for the environment

we encourage students to bring rubbish free (hence the term “Nude Food) lunch to school. Think of wrapper-free foods such as fruit, and try using reusable containers and options such as using bees wax eco wraps for sandwiches. It also saves money by being able to purchase things in bulk rather than individually

wrapped multi-pack snack

NotethatSEPShasa"NONUTS”policy.Thisincludeslunchesandsnacks,includingNutellaandpeanutputter.

RE-FRAMING AFTER SCHOOL CHATS ~ QUESTION PROMPT IDEAS:

The below list features alternatives to “What did you do at school today?” to which children will often reply with “Nothing!”. These questions will help you to kick off the conversation. An idea is to pop this list on the fridge, in the car, by the dinner table—wherever you have your daily debrief. “Whenwereyouhappiesttoday?”“What made you smile today?”

“Who were you kind to today?”

“What made your brain grow today?”

“Which places did you visit at school today?”

“Did you do anything nice for someone today?”

“Was it a quiet/busy/noisy/fun/relaxing/challenging day today? Why?”

“Tell me some things you saw today.”

“Did you spend time with a ‘new friend’ today? Would you like to become better friends with them/anyone else?” (Possible future playdate)

“Did you mostly work by yourself, with a partner or in a group today?”

“If you could do something from today again, what would it be? Why?”

“Did anything funny happen today?”

“Who did you talk to the most today?”

“Did you spend any special time with your teacher today (in a reading group, working 1-on-1 as a Focus Child, etc)?”

“If you were the teacher today, what would you have done more of or less of? Why?”

“Did you spend any time with kids from other classes today? When? What did you do?”

“What were some good/strong choices you made today?”

“Did you do anything today to show that you are your own ‘boss’ (e.g. of your feelings, actions)?”

“What work are you proudest of from today?”

Specialist Update

Specialist classes for all Level 1 students will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Specialist classes for all Level 2 students will take place on Tuesday and Thursday.

Physical Education Get ready for another great year in 2020! We will start the year by revisiting our routines and respectful interactions to ensure we set ourselves up for success. Term 1 we will be focusing on spatial awareness and practicing of various fundamental movement skills including running, dodging, catching and throwing. Students will learning through movement and start to apply learned strategies to game play. We will also be focusing on sportsmanship, participation, the body’s reaction to physical activity and identifying rules and fair play. Dave Richardson & Jack Rosenblatt

Visual Art Get ready for another fabulous year of amazing art in 2020! In term one the focus for all students will be to start right in art- revisiting our routines, basic techniques and respectful interactions using strategies inspired by Adam Voigt and Play is the Way. All students will need to bring an art smock, old polo shirt or T-shirt, clearly named to protect their clothes. Level 1 and 2 students will explore the provocation of ‘Birds and Butterflies’, looking at different artist interpretations of birds and butterflies, and a fun twist on a classic picture storybook ‘The Very Hungry Butterfly’ for their special Art Learning Task for the year. They will also have a focus on expressing their own ideas and developing art skills and techniques as an integral part of the Victorian Curriculum in ‘The Arts’. We will focus on drawing outlines, creating with symmetry, creating with layers, holding a brush correctly and cutting skills. We will explore how artist works are displayed in an art gallery in preparation for our Artfest in October. Love Art! Julie Van Etten

Level 1 Chinese The focus for Term 1 will be talking about likes and dislikes. Students will learn to say sentences like ‘I like pizza’, ‘I like blue’ and ‘I don’t like cats’. At the same time, students will learn how to say different types of food and animals in Chinese. Throughout the year, students will continue to learn about China and Chinese culture. In Level 2, students will learn in more detail about the Chinese language and how it differs from English. They will learn that Chinese has four tones and recognise how they can change the meaning of words. Students will also learn about Chinese characters and pinyin. The topic for term one will be ‘My Classroom’ with a vocabulary focus on classroom objects and phrases frequently used in the classroom. Students will continue to use words they have already learnt. Josie Briggs

Performing Arts And we are back with another exciting semester of Performing Arts at SEPS! Term one will see our 1 & 2 students diving headfirst into the fundamentals of music, with a focus on creative collaborative compositions. Students will set out to master the musical building blocks of beat, rhythm, pitch and tempo, and experiment with a variety of instruments. This work will be built upon in term two, when they will work with their peers to produce and perform original compositions. Excelsior! Mr Scherpenhuizen