Volume 26 Issue 15 26 May 2017 1 Sivan 5777

Must-read news and reviews from Primary

Helen Maynard – Director of Studies K-6

Deepening thinking – a parent guide Part 1 by Helen Maynard

The staff at Emanuel School focus on leveraging thinking in their classrooms. They use a variety of strategies, routines and structures to make what is happening in their students’ minds visible. These strategies give us insight into student thinking. It enables us to see the connections students are making, whether or not they can look at issues from different perspectives and reason with evidence.

I thought it pertinent to provide the parent body with some ideas to deepen thinking with your child/ren. It is by no means an exhaustive list but is a starting point. With imagination and creativity you can adapt the initial idea to cater for your child/ren. Next week I will continue with more ideas.

Focus and self-control

Focus and self-control involve paying attention, remembering the rules and thinking flexibly in order to exercise self-control.

Tip for parents:

  • Games: Play simple games like Simon Says and I Spy.
  • Work puzzles: Solving developmentally appropriate puzzles helps your child focus on different perspectives and patterns simultaneously. For older students you might like to use Sudoku, crosswords, board games and card games such as Set and Skip-Bo.
  • Perseverance: Encourage your child to persevere at tasks they may find difficult or challenging.
  • Story sharing: Story sharing is a great activity that can be played anywhere – even in the car. One person begins a story with a short sentence and then the other members of the family take turns adding one sentence at a time.

Perspective taking

Perspective involves thinking about what others think and feel, and forms the basis of children understanding their parents’ and teachers’ intentions. 

Tip for parents: 

  • Reading to and with your child: Ask your child to think about the perspectives of the characters in their books. Why do they think that person acted a certain way and what must he or she have been thinking or feeling?
  • Step inside: Ask your child to step inside the shoes of others such as people on television, in newspaper articles, their lives and those of others.

Communicating

Communication is the skill of determining what you want, expressing this to others and realising how your communications will be understood by others. 

Tip for parents: 

  • Make time to chat with your children
  • Let them know you are listening
  • Engage your children in conversations that extend and elaborate their past experiences by asking ‘wh’ questions: why, what, where or who
  • Answer a question with a question
  • Use the question: “What makes you say that?”.

Making connections

Making connections is at the core of learning. It is the skill of identifying what is the same and what is different in disparate pieces of information or experiences. Making connections also involves transferring an idea learnt in one area of life to another one. Transferring connections is at the core of creativity. 

Tip for parents:

  • Play sorting games with your child
  • Discuss similarities and differences such as holidays, situations, news articles and storybooks
  • Connect a new idea, concept or word with prior knowledge.

Helen Maynard, Director of Studies, Years K-6 

Year 6 Northern Territory trip

On Monday, the Year 6 students returned from the Northern Territory. During this trip the students had an opportunity to experience elements of Aboriginal life and culture and connected with students at Jilkminggan, a remote Aboriginal school. This year we again are running two trips due to the high demand from Year 6 students. This wonderful experience would not be possible without the incredible work of Natanya Milner and Holly Dillon who have spent considerable time this year planning and preparing for the trips. Thank you also to Hugo Adrian and Karon Rom for accompanying the students on the May trip.

Primary incursions and excursions

Over the last two weeks we had a number of Primary incursions and excursions. These are wonderful opportunities for students to further extend their learning with practical, hands-on and real world activities. Thank you to the classroom teachers for organising these events and to the parents who accompanied the children on the excursions.

  • Year 1: Travel Bugs incursion
  • Year 3: Aboriginal Cultural Experience Bundeena excursion
  • Year 5: Science Day incursion
  • Year 4: State Library excursion
  • Year 6: Aboriginal Dance Fusion and Virtual Reality incursions

Emanuel Cup Debating competition

Last Friday we hosted the first round of the inaugural Emanuel Cub Debating Competition. This initiative was led by our Year 6 Debating Leaders, Ethan Zines and Jake Newfield. It is an opportunity for Years 5-6 children who are not involved in HICES debating to compete in a social competition at school. A large number of Primary children attended the debate and were inspired by the students who competed. Thank you to Lauren Wigan and to Ethan and Jake for running this competition. Round 2 will take place on Friday 16 June.

ASISSA Cross Country

On Thursday, 75 students competed in ASISSA Cross Country at Queens Park. The younger children completed a 2km race and the older students completed a 3km race. Schools from across the ASISSA association were involved and there were approximately 150 students competing. Thank you to Stuart Taylor, Adam Ezekiel and Sharon Fairfax for accompanying the students to the competition.

Da Vinci Decathlon

On Thursday two teams of Years 5 and 6 students competed in the Da Vinci Decathlon hosted at Knox Grammar. After several weeks of preparation and training, the teams competed against over 1000 students from schools across NSW. They worked collaboratively to solve a myriad of problems throughout the day.

Congratulations to the Year 5 team who came third in Creative Producers and the Year 6 team who came third in General Knolwedge.

The students completed the academic challenges at a very high standard, solving problems from over ten disciplines. Thank you to Helen Maynard and Colleen Elkins for training the teams and accompanying the students on the day.

Chess success 

Last Friday afternoon the Primary School Team A chess team competed against Mt Sinai. They won 4-0. The Primary School Team B chess team competed against St Therese’s Primary School Mascot. They also won 4-0. Congratulations to the students who competed and thank you to Colleen Elkins for training and supporting the team.

Upcoming dates

  • 29 May: YK-12 Shavuot Kabbalat Shabbat
  • 29 May: ICAS Science Competition
  • 30 May: Erev Shavuot, school closes 2.50 pm
  • 31 May – 2 June: School closed
  • 5-7 June: Music Camp Naamaroo, students arrive 8.30 am on 5 June and return by 5.30 pm on 7 June
  • 8 June: Music Camp at Emanuel School, students arrive 9.30 am
  • 8 June: Music Camp Concert, 6.15-7.40 pm Lehrer Family Multi Purpose Hall
  • 8 June: Y4-6 before school sport training
  • 9 June: JNSW Inter-school Chess competition
  • 12 June: Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday, school closed
  • 15 June: Y4-6 Before school sport training
  • 15 June: CIS Cross Country, Eastern Creek Raceway
  • 16 June: Y6 Light incursion
  • 16 June: Y2 Our Big Kitchen excursion
  • 16 June: Emanuel Cup Debating competition Round 2
  • 16 June: JNSW Inter-school Chess competition

Term 2 K-2 assembly items

  • Week 6, 2 June: No assembly – Shavuot
  • Week 8, 16 June: 2T Class item
  • Week 10, 30 June: YK-2 Music assembly