Welcome everyone back to school.  Term 3 so far has been very busy for teachers and students.  Teachers are implementing our new curriculum, Explicit Teaching, CAFÉ, and Daily 5.  These additions to our curriculum support our students in English.  The focus of Explicit Teaching is following a set of clear instructions – I DO, WE DO and YOU DO.  These instructions are guided by a Learning Intention:  

• We are learning to write compound sentences:

The Learning Intention is measured by Success Criteria:

I can write a compound sentence using:

• Two related facts
• Two independent clauses
• An appropriate conjunction ( and, so, but)

Teachers are able to use this instruction and accurately identify an area of their English curriculum that requires specific attention.  For example, blending and segmenting sounds or focussing on vocabulary and sentence building to develop skills in Talk for Writing as used in Mr. Sean’s Junior Class.

CAFÉ is used in our classes and focusses on 4 key components of successful reading. Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Expanded Vocabulary = CAFÉ. These areas provide strategies to support our curriculum focus.  The CAFE system is an efficient and effective way to assess, instruct and monitor student progress.  This process is further enhanced by teachers listening to every student read twice every day using a strategy identified from the CAFÉ board to assist students in their reading development. Teachers use a weekly calendar to keep a record of their reading conference with students.

DAILY 5 is a simple but powerful structure that increases the amount of time teachers spend with students one-on–one and in small groups.

The DAILY 5 tasks are:

1. Read to Self
2. Work on Writing T4W and journal activities
3. Read to Someone focussing on blending/ segmenting and word attack skills
4. Word Work; and breaking the alphabetic code
5. Listen to Reading

All 5 tasks are used in teachers literacy block.

Other News

We have had some great highs already this Term.  Congratulations to Rihanna Schwarze for her First place receiving a scooter from GRAMS Geraldton for her art work on the dangers of smoking to our lungs. Well Done Rihanna.

We had a visit from Nagle School.  They were wonderful ambassadors for their school and enjoyed their stay with us. Our students loved their company and activities.  One activity was painting plant pots and painting these along with a small plant.  This was a keepsake for our students to have in memory of Nagle schools’ visit.  Our visitors donated three fruit trees.  These were planted with everyone’s help.  Thank-you Nagle School we wish you well and look forward to your next visit.

Many more Thanks

I would like to extend my thanks to Rodney our Post Man who delivers and takes our post with him back to Geraldton every Friday.  He is one of our unsung heroes.  Thank-you Rodney.

Many thanks to Mr John Nicoletti who has kindly donated two magnificent books to our school.  The Grower Series of Books.  The Heart-beat of Australia and The Roots of Australia. I have sent a thank-you back to John with an image of students looking at his books.

Beth Teal, mother of Mark Teale of Mid-West Freight, brought with her a collection of Beanies from the Geraldton Knitting club.  Here you can see Trinity and Eliza wearing their very colourful head gear.

I had the privilege of attending a Sounds–Write course last week.  I was fortunate to receive a scholarship to attend.  It was made available by the Maslin Foundation.  Rin and Maz’s  children were on the MH17 that was shot down over the Ukraine.  Their foundation sponsored my attendance.  Many thanks to Rin and Maz and Mr. Steven Watson our Regional Executive Director for giving the go-ahead to attend this course.  In the image I am with Karinda Lobb who works  part time for the Maslin Foundation and Ms Joanne Keemik from Rangeway school who also received a scholarship to attend. 

Other activities that continue on in our school are Melissa Firth  running our community cooking program every second Tuesday,  This is very popular with the ladies from the community.

In week 2 we had our surprise fire evacuation drill.  Everything went well.  The children followed instructions. Our next drill will be scheduled for next Term.

Alana Bech's [the school Psych] school visits are always appreciated as she works closely with staff, students and community.

Many thanks

Ted

As part of our attendance program each student at Pia Wadjarri receives one full set uniform for free which includes a jacket, track pants, hoodie and t-shirt. Additional uniforms can be purchased from the school. Payment can be in the form of cash (pay the Principal and they will give you a receipt) or by directly depositing money into the school bank account. Please contact the Manager Corporate Services for these details on 9923 5204.