Gingerbread tales

Posted on June 22, 2014 by helenotway

Over the last two weeks, the Year 1,2, and 3s have been exploring fairy tales as a lead up to a visit to the Arts Centre Melbourne to watch Hansel and Gretel performed by the Victorian Opera. The tale was told in German with English subtitles on a screen. The Brothers Grimm first published the story in 1812.

The teachers and children explored the tale and created a magical space in the school to prepare the children for the visit. One afternoon as I walked back to my office, I found myself entering a ginger bread house. A few days later, I spotted some interesting pictures of Hansel and Gretel with the witch on my door! I’m not too sure it there is a hidden message there! However, it is most enchanting to have my office so close to this celebration on literature.

Using all the senses to make meaning of the fairy tale, the 1/2 students made some gingerbread men and decorated their delicious treats in the Play and Say room.

And lucky me got to have one 🙂

Who can guess where I started?

V is for Vegetable Soup

Posted on June 18, 2014 by helenotway

Our beautiful foundation students were learning their letter names and sounds today. To make it a little more interesting they made a delicious vegetable soup for lunch.

And by all accounts it was YUM!

Student Reports

Posted on June 10, 2014 by helenotway

With only three more weeks of this term to go we are almost at the end of semester 1 and preparing for our mid year reports. Students have been working hard to be the best learners that they can be and teachers and support staff have been collecting and collating information to ensure a thorough and informative student achievement report is provided for the family.

The reports include:

Clear information on what the student has achieved – this section of the report focuses on your child’s progress on the basis of assessment evidence gathered by the teacher over a semester

Suggestions for areas of improvement the student should work on next – this section of the report focuses on future learning to be addressed in the following reporting period.

Information on how the school will help the student to improve – this section of the report makes recommendations for actions to be taken by the school to help your child’s future learning.

Suggestions on how parents can help the student to improve – this section of the report suggests specific ways in which you can support your child, taking account of the areas for improvement or future learning.

There are five rating marks on the report card:

A= Well above the standard expected at this time of the year

B= Above the standard expected at this time of the year.

C= At the standard expected at this time of the year.

D= Below the standard expected at this time of the year.

E= Well below the standard expected at this time of the year.

If your child receives a C, it is a good result and they are achieving their year level standard. If they receive an A, this means they are working at a much higher year level range for that subject.

Reports will be going home in the last week of term and parent-teacher interviews will be at the beginning of term 3.

More information can be found on the DEECD website.

Enjoying Doxa

Posted on June 7, 2014 by helenotway

Last week I went to visit the 3/4 campers at Malmsbury at the Doxa Camp. As principal, I like to visit the students whilst they are away on camp, and this year it was a surprise for them. When I arrived I was greeted by the camp organiser and it took a little while for the campers to recognise me in my casual clothes and sunglasses. However, once they did, they were very happy to greet me!

The students enjoyed archery, trampolining, hut building, giant swing, night walk (but no drop bears spotted this time), and of course the sausage sizzle.

Thank you to Doxa and the SAHPS teachers and helpers who went along to the camp.

Feedback to improve learning

Posted on June 6, 2014 by helenotway

Today at assembly I spoke about the way we can help each other get better at what we do and learn by giving feedback to each other. On Monday 2nd June, the teachers and support staff, and I attended a professional learning day about the use of feedback, learning intentions and success criteria.

The Learning Intention (or focus) for a lesson or series of lessons is a statement, which describes clearly what the teacher wants the students to

know
understand; and
be able to do

as a result of the learning and teaching activities.

Success Criteria are used criteria used by students and teachers to decide whether a student has been successful in achieving the learning intention. They are equally important for teachers and learners.

When the students know the purpose or intention of the lesson and know how they can be successful in their learning, then teachers and students can provide effective feedback to help the student improve.

The video below was shown to us last Monday by Helen Butler during our Visible Learning workshop.

Austin’s Butterfly: Building Excellence in Student Work – Models, Critique, and Descriptive Feedback from Expeditionary Learning on Vimeo.

If you walk down the corridors of the school you will find our own butterfly pictures.

Day of ‘Rest’!

Posted on June 1, 2014 by helenotway

Even though everyday is a busy day for teachers, Term 2 is particularly busy with extra assessments, NAPLAN testing, Education Week, reports and numerous other requirements and deadlines.

As a teacher, I would often spend most of my weekends preparing for lessons, and at this time of the year, writing the mid year reports.

I take my hat off to all teachers, especially those at St Albans Heights PS, as they work through their ‘day of rest’.

SAHPS Principal Blog

by Helen Otway

Monthly Archives: June 2014