Term 4 Week 4
This Week’s Newsletter Items:
The Magic of Art & Cultural Show
2023 Class Placement – Parent Input
2022 Tabloid Sports Day
Discovery Learning In Prep
Collaboration & Effective Progress Monitoring
A Prayer For Ajak
This Weekend’s Gospel
Great Social Skill Sets
Where Do You Read?
Term 4 Dates
Student Of The Week Awards
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Magic of Art & Cultural Show
Wow…what a fantastic experience it was being part of this year’s Magic of Art & Cultural Exhibition……. Congratulations to all involved, it was magical to see such beautiful, imaginative and colourful artwork which can only be a reflection of the dedication and inspiration shown by our amazing students and our incredibly creative art teacher Mrs Fatosh Kaan who has created a learning environment that is full of growth and encouragement. Thank-you for making our world a more colourful one!
To all our families who participated in the cultural fashion parade, representing your culture and country, you bring such richness and joy to our school community.
One of the greatest reasons for us to organize a multicultural celebration at Resurrection is the opportunity it offers students, teachers, and families to encounter one another in celebration of what we all bring to the table. It's an occasion to have fun while strengthening the connections to students' knowledge, background experiences, and ways of viewing the world.
And finally, to our amazing Olympic quality commentator for the night, Mr Matt Dalton, who did such an amazing job keeping us entertained and introducing 28 countries throughout the parade.
We are very blessed with our staff, our students and beautiful families.
Art Show Article
‘The Magic of Art’ was a fantastic showcase of the talent, creativity and dedication of all of the students here at Resurrection Catholic Primary School. On the evening of Wednesday 26 October, we opened our doors and welcomed our community to take part in a celebration of all things art!
The 2022 art show consisted of an interactive walk through exhibition which began at the Junior School building and finished in the hall where attendees could place a bid in our silent auction of collaborative class artwork from every class in the school. Along the journey through the art show, pieces from our Prep to Year 6 were organised into genres such as paintings, installations, sculptures and textiles with curatorial rationales for the pieces to provide attendees with explanations of the pieces. Inspiration for student artwork was taken from artists like Paul Klee, Dean Bowing, Claus Oldenburg, Wassily Kandinsky, Eric Carle, Pete Cromer and Keith Haring.
Families could enjoy a warm beverage from the coffee van whilst listening to some of the musical talents of our students in the courtyard, and children got creative with chalk drawings on the concrete.
The cultural fashion show was one of many highlights from the night which proved to be a delightful display and celebration of our richly diverse community. 17 different nationalities were represented by over 200 students who paraded in their cultural clothing. This showcased how proud our students were of their backgrounds. Embracing our cultural diversity is a significant part of our school culture.
The quality of the talent and artwork created by the students here at Resurrection is something to be admired. The level of dedication, effort and commitment from our collaborative staff to make these types of events a success is inspiring. A special thank you to Mrs Fatosh Kaan, our fantastic Visual Arts teacher, for bringing her creative vision to life!
We thank you all for your attendance and engagement in such a special event. There is a true sense of belonging and community when we all come together and this is what makes us such a special school here at Resurrection.
2023 Class Placement Parental Input
(Closes Friday 11th November)
Your child’s current teachers have spent an amazing amount of time with your child during the school year. They are aware of most, but maybe not all, of your child’s strengths and challenges from a school perspective. It is their knowledge, observation and insight that provide the basis from which class structures and placement are created.
However, as a parent, your knowledge is far more profound through the simple relationship of child and parent. You hear the story of their daily experiences and know intimately of your child’s strengths, challenges and amazing potential. You know of the relationships they have in and outside of school, the learning and teachers that inspire them to do their best and the friendships that either help them to flourish or, at times, struggle.
It is within this context that we invite you to write about your child’s learning and social needs to assist us in the placement of your child into specific classrooms for the 2023 school year.
When receiving a letter that requests a specific teacher, knowing that the teacher may not be in the same year level the following year, I read it as a parent’s way of expressing the type of teacher your child responds well to. In doing so, it affirms the quality, temperament, characteristics of the teaching staff that we wish to foster at Resurrection.
At the same time, it gives me an insight into the quality of relationship that has been formed between parent and teacher over the year(s). A positive relationship between parent, student and teacher makes a huge difference in the way a student engages in their learning and the school community.
Please note that we may not be able to provide you with exactly what you want, but we do try to do our best given the many and diverse factors that go into making up a class.
Thank you to parents who have begun to email me in regard to their child’s needs and successes. It both affirms and provides direction for improvement.
All emails must be received by Friday 11th November 3.30pm. Please title the email with the heading “Confidential – 2023 Class Placement”.
The email address to use is:
dnoack@rskingspark.catholic.edu.au
2022 Tabloid Sports Day
On Monday, 14th November 2022, we will be hosting the 2022 Tabloid Sports Day for all our students from Prep to Grade 6.
To ensure that we can run as many activities as possible on the day, we need as many parent helpers as possible and are hoping that you will be able to assist us for part or all of the day.
All parent helpers are required to have a current Working With Children Check (WWC). Because of this, we are communicating as early as possible to ensure that if you do not, as yet, have a WWC and wish to assist us on the day, you have time to apply and receive your WWC.
An Operoo Form has been sent out this week.
Kind Regards,
Mr John Hein
Deputy Principal - Curriculum
Discovery Learning In Prep
Discovery-based learning values and acknowledges students’ interests, experiences and the prior knowledge that they bring with them to school. We incorporate these interests and experiences, as well as ‘planting seeds’ to build new experiences in order to extend children’s learning, interest and curiosity.
We believe that this approach to learning is crucial for our Prep students in their ability to develop language and thinking skills.
The following photos highlight the spaces that have been developed and co-constructed in and out of the classrooms to initiate their own or teacher led inquiries to examine and learn. It is through these experiences and activities that our students continue to develop the learner dispositions of collaboration, creativity, persistence, problem solving and persistence.
“Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.”
Fred Donaldson
“The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.”
Mark Van Doren
Collaboration and Effective Progress Monitoring
At Resurrection, we have implemented a multi-tiered system of supports, collaboration and progress monitoring to ensure that our students achieve in their learning as do our teachers in enhancing their teaching skill, knowledge and ability.
Each week, as our students participate in their five specialist classes, teams of teachers gather to collaborate.
The primary purposes of collaboration is to identify and share effective academic, behavioural, and social-emotional instructional practices. This ensures that teaching and learning practices are consistent across all classrooms, and making sure that our students benefit from those practices.
A Prayer for Ajak
Dear Loving God,
At this time, we pause, reflect and pray for Ajak.
So many of us at Resurrection have such a strong connection to Ajak and his family, and so we take this time to offer these intentions.
We pray for Ajak; that his recovery continues as he is given a miracle gift that in turn provides him with a new lease of life. We pray that Ajak uses his inner strength for the road ahead, and continues what is so far a successful journey of recovery.
Lord hear us…
We pray for the Shan family; Ajak’s Mum, Nyanyok, his Dad, James, his sister Mary in 6C and all of Ajak’s siblings. We pray that this family, already being through so much, continues to support each other through these times, as they have for the last four years.
Lord hear us…
We pray for the staff at the Royal Children’s Hospital; for their continued hard work and dedication to their profession, not just for Ajak, but for all children who rely on their care. We offer a prayer of thanks for their hard work and the support they have offered Ajak and his family.
Lord hear us…
Finally Lord, while we offer these intentions for Ajak, we take time to reflect and think of a family in Melbourne that last weekend, while experiencing heartbreak and loss, made the decision to provide the gift of life for Ajak. We thank them and pray as they grieve their loss, they receive the support that they need through this very difficult time. Lord, please support this family in this desperate time.
At times like these, we require strength, our family, and our Faith. Please continue to provide this to Ajak and his family.
We offer these prayers from Christ, our Lord. Amen.
This Weekend’s Gospel
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke
The Son of Man came to seek and to find that which was lost.
Jesus entered Jericho and was going through the town when a man whose name was Zacchaeus made his appearance; he was one of the senior tax collectors and a wealthy man.
He was anxious to see what kind of man Jesus was, but he was too short and could not see him for the crowd; so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus who was to pass that way.
When Jesus reached the spot he looked up and spoke to him: ‘Zacchaeus, come down. Hurry, because I must stay at your house today.’ And he hurried down and welcomed him joyfully. They all complained when they saw what was happening. ‘He has gone to stay at a sinner’s house’ they said.
But Zacchaeus stood his ground and said to the Lord, ‘Look, sir, I am going to give half my property to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody I will pay him back four times the amount.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek out and save what was lost.’
~ The Little Man’s Revenge ~
Gospel Reflection
The Gospel we have just heard is often called, ‘the little man’s revenge ‘. Zacchaeus was the least likely person in Jericho to host Jesus at dinner. In fact, as this marvellous story goes, that was the last thing on his mind as well.
All Zacchaeus seems to have wanted is get a good look at Jesus who was on a ‘walkabout’ in the village.
Jesus, however, seized the opportunity, given him by the actions of Jericho’s chief tax collector, to teach everyone about how God’s Kingdom comes in extraordinary packages. Because of his job, the local Jewish community would have hated Zacchaeus and yet Jesus does two things that welcome into the family of God: he calls him by name and dines with him.
Jesus might have gone in the door of Zacchaeus’ home, but he brings Zacchaeus out through God’s door. He enables Zacchaeus to face up to his extortion and wealth and to claim his salvation.
It’s the same with us. If only we have the eyes to see, the ears to hear and the arms to embrace, Jesus comes to us through the most unusual people, times and places. We are his family, he calls us by name and he dines with us as often as we choose to accept his standing invitation to this table. But there’s a price tag: we are meant to be different people for this encounter, generous with all we have to offer the world and transparent in all our relationships.
No matter how lost we are, how far up a tree we get stuck or even when we are consumed with regret, Jesus calls us by name, invites us to his table and tells us that salvation is near at hand.
Great Social Skills Set Our Children Up For Success
Great social skills set our children up for success. The reverse can be said for children who have not learnt how to read, listen for or enact good social skills.
Therefore, it is vital that we, as parents and teachers, do our best to teach children good social skills whilst identifying and addressing problems related to social incompetence.
There are several types of social skills that must be mastered for a child to be socially skilful. These range from the ability to initiate, maintain and end a conversation to reading social signals to more complex skills such as solving problems and resolving conflict.
The following examples represent some of the fundamental principles of relating well to others.
Children with social skill shortfalls can be taught these skills directly by parents, teachers and/or professionals using the strategies of modelling, role-playing, rehearsal and practice.
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Children develop relationships with peers by interacting with them. The first step in a social interaction is greeting someone. We not only greet others with words like “Hi!” or “How are you?” but with facial expressions, tone of voice and gestures such as a nod or a wave.
Children with social inability may not say hello to people they know. They may walk right past them and not even look at them. If they do speak, they may not make eye contact and may simply look down at the floor. If they do say hello, it might not be in a very friendly tone of voice or with a smile.
The nonverbal parts of greeting someone are just as important as the words.
It’s not so much what you say but how you say it that lets people know you are glad to see them.
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After you have greeted someone, you usually have a conversation with them.
In order to carry on a conversation, a child must be able to initiate the conversation, maintain it and close it appropriately. This requires good listening and attentional skills, as well as the ability to take turns and probe for missing information.
Sometimes children cannot think of anything to talk about. When you can’t think of anything to say, it can be good to ask the other person a question. The question can be about them or what they think about a movie or event that everyone is talking about.
Sometimes when children don’t know what to say, they begin by talking about themselves or about something that the other person is not interested in. If they keep talking without giving the other person an opportunity to enter the conversation, or if they keep talking about themselves or something uninteresting to the other person, the person is likely to get tired of listening. He or she may walk away and even avoid future conversations with the child.
Being a good conversationalist requires turn-taking and reciprocity. You have to listen as well as talk. If you don’t show an interest in what the other person has to say, he or she probably won’t be interested in talking to you. Impulsive children often have trouble knowing when to talk and when to listen.
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Once a conversation is initiated, in order to maintain it, it is important to understand the audience you are talking to.
Children with social inability often have difficulty adapting what they say to their listener.
A socially adept child quickly and unconsciously identifies and categorizes his listener, measures what she planned to say against the anticipated response of the listener, and then proceeds, alters or avoids what she had planned to say.
She knows that you don’t talk to authority figures in the same way that you talk to peers.
Socially inept children can’t change their words or tone of voice to match their audience.
For example, saying goodbye to a teacher with “Catch you later, dude!” would be inappropriate and could result in a detention. Adults often call children who have problems reading their audience disrespectful. Other students may view them as strange if they use stiff and formal language that is more suitable to conversations with adults than peers.
A misread of the listener often leads to a misunderstood message and potential social rejection.
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To converse in a socially appropriate manner, children must be able to take the perspective or point of view of the other person, i.e., think the way they think. To do this a child must pretend that he is the listener and think about what he needs to hear to understand what is being said. For example, a child might say, “I finally got finished.” and not provide the details of what he started.
Many children assume that other people think and feel the way that they do. These children may appear insensitive and selfish, although this is not their intent. They may also appear “dingy” because they seem to be coming from another planet when they speak.
When your audience has to guess what you are talking about, they are apt to feel uncomfortable and may be reluctant to converse with you.
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Empathy is similar to perspective taking but means that you are able to feel what the other person feels.
Empathy allows you to really connect with other people. For example, if a student got an A on a math test and her friend got a D, she wouldn’t brag about her A to her friend because she knows it will make her feel bad because she didn’t do well. She could empathize with her by saying something like “That’s a bummer.” Other children often think of children who lack empathy as mean, unkind or self-centred.
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It is very important to read social cues in a conversation. Cues are the hints and signals that guide us to the next thing to say or do.
Social cues can be verbal or nonverbal. Verbal cues are the words that the other person is saying. Tone of voice is an important part of verbal cues. For example, “Oh, great!” can mean that something is really terrific, or if said sarcastically, can mean that something is awful.
Nonverbal cues are things that we see rather than hear in a conversation, such as body language and facial expressions. For example, if a friend’s facial expression changes from a smile to a frown and his body gets stiff when you are talking about a new toy that you bought, you might want to change the topic or ask him if what you said upset him. Good detectives pay very close attention to nonverbal cues.
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Conversations also require that you preview or think about what effect your words or actions may have on your listener before you say or do them.
If you think that the impact will be negative, you can adjust what you might say or do. Impulsive children often have trouble with previewing and are unable to stop and think before they say or do something. For example, if a group of children was talking about the football game last week, it would be inappropriate to interject a sentence about the math exam next week.
When you walk in on the middle of a conversation, it is always a good idea to listen for a few minutes before entering the conversation. If your friends were complaining about not being able to drive their parents’ cars to the dance on Friday, it wouldn’t win any points with them to say, “Get real! Did you really think that your parents would let you take their car to the dance?” Doing this would be tactless and insensitive.
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Problems and conflict are often a part of social interactions. Someone may not agree with you, get angry at something you say, insult you or become aggressive toward you. How you react to these conflicts depends on how good your problem solving skills are.
Children who are not good social problem solvers have trouble settling conflicts and disagreements. They get mad easily and may not speak to someone because they are mad at them. It has to be “their way or the highway”. They always want to win no matter what the cost, even if that means losing a friend. It often also means making an enemy, which creates additional social problems.
Conflicts cannot be avoided and are often necessary to “clear the air”. Turning a conflict from a “win-lose” situation to a “win-win” situation is the best way to resolve conflict. This requires negotiation and compromise, give and take, but results in a situation that all parties can live with and helps maintain friendships.
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Everyone makes social mistakes at one time or another. A person with good social skills is confident enough to make a sincere apology for his error. This is a courageous act and is the quickest and easiest way to correct a social blunder.
Children with weak social skills may have trouble saying they are sorry because they can’t lose face. They are afraid that others may see them as weak. They might also be too proud, or feel stupid or foolish if they apologize. In reality, other people usually have a higher opinion of someone who apologizes for making a mistake.
Where Do You Read?
Earn Yourself Some Extra Reading Tokens
One of the best things about books is that they are so portable. You can take them anywhere with you. You can read curled up by a fireplace, on a train, in a car, at the park, on the couch, on the beach – just about anywhere!
There is nothing better than having a favourite reading spot. Mine growing up was on a bean bag in my bedroom. I got all comfortable and would lose track of time. The strangest place I have ever read was in the rainforests of Borneo with some wild orangutans crashing overhead.
Recently the staff were asked to take a photo of themselves in their favourite reading spot – and there are some amazing places the teachers of Resurrection like to read. They range from quite exotic to a simple couch – but all have the same thing in common – a love of reading! Outside the Performing Arts room we have a display of all the pictures teachers have sent in. If you haven’t already had a look, please do.
But where do you love to read? Is there a favourite or unique spot that is your reading nook? Is there somewhere that you love to read? Even it is at the kitchen bench whilst watching dinner be prepared – we’d love to see it. It doesn’t have to be your usual reading spot either – you may wish to head down to the park and hang upside down from the monkey bars with a book in hand or climb up a tree (safely) and read in the fork like a koala.
Whatever you do – get someone to take a photo of you reading and email it in to glewis@rskingspark.catholic.edu.au
Each photo received will get 2 reading challenge tokens and the photo judged to be the most unique will get a bonus 10 reading tokens.
Can’t wait to see your photos.
Mr Grant Lewis
Key Upcoming Dates
You’re a Star!
PA - Shelby Nightingale
Xavier T- For being a knowledgeable learner when using a variety of decoding strategies to read unfamiliar words.
Simon N- For being a resilient and reflective learner when writing about your discovery learning whilst focusing on your writing goals.
PB - Anna Druitt
Tha Len S - For being a risker in your discovery writing when recording the initial sounds you can hear. Keep up the great learning!
Maryjones K - For being a reflective learner when listening to feedback and using it to improve her writing goals.
PC - Carla Tirotta
Caterina N- For being a knowledgeable learner when confidently counting on from the larger number to solve addition problems.
Akur L- For being a caring member of our Learning Community and always showing a willingness to help your classmates.
1A - Tina Naumov
Anitelea A - for being a caring learner and displaying respect to his classmates. Your friendly and helpful nature continues to make a huge difference in our class. Well done AJ!
Riley V - for being a resilient learner when displaying a huge improvement in her letter formation and handwriting on dotted thirds lines. Well done Riley!
1B - Aoife O’Flynn
Isaac C. - using his thinking skills to estimate then measure the length of his hand using match sticks. Marvellous measuring Isaac!
Sui Ding T. - for being a great communicator when discussing what happened in our spooky story during reading groups. Well done Sui Ding!
1C - My-Linh Tran
Noah L M - For being a thinker when summarising the complication and resolution of a text. Great learning Noah!
Nathan Z - For being a thinker when identifying the partitions of 5 and 10. Keep up the great learning Nathan!
2A - Barbara Zerzouri
Vihaan K - for applying the principles of COPS and ARMS when editing his narrative. Job well done Vihaan!
Varaoso K - for applying the principles of COPS and ARMS when editing her narrative. Great work Varaoso!
2B - Jake Moloney
Za Lian L - For utilising his spelling skills to create interesting words whilst playing ‘Bananagrams’. Great spelling Za Lian!
Nithatling H - For using her creative skills to contribute to the class canvas. Great brushstrokes Nithatling!
2C - Rebecca Wright
Rhys S - for being a creative thinker when using his senses to write a character profile for a narrative. Great thinking Rhys!
Dylan N - For using his creative skills to contribute to the class canvas for the Art Show. Super design work Dylan!
3A - Joss Coaley
Cung Nan T - for being a dedicated learner who is taking more responsibility for his writing, including checking for necessary edits and punctuation. Well done Cung Nan, keep it up!
Selena H - for amazing growth and progress in her Mathematical knowledge. Well done for taking risks in your learning which are paying off! Great effort Selena!
Liam S - for an amazing week and focusing on your learning while making good choices. It has been a joy to watch, keep it up!
3C - Ella Nowak
Sofia C- For being knowledgeable and taking her time when writing in depth responses to her reading questions.
Madison M- For showing amazing confidence when contributing to class discussions on chance and probability.
4A - Linda Oxley
Noor O-for being a risk taker and using a thesaurus to explore new words and applying them in poems.
Madison M- for being persistant using a protractor and identifying right, obtuse, acute angles.
4B - Lavinia Stewart
Eli H - For showing great eagerness in class discussions about the differences of Natural disasters and the Human Impact on Earth. Well done Eli!
Briella U - For using her creativity when creating a planner to construct an amazing Poem about where she is from. Keep up the great work Briella!
4C - Brittany Davidson
Daniel Y- For always doing his best in his learning, applying his new knowledge of figurative language to write a powerful poem about the isolation of lockdown.
Sebastian B- For taking a risk in his learning, trying out new words and writing an excellent poem about his childhood and heritage.
5A - Dorothy Hall
Jemma C - For being a thinker and inquirer as she reflected on the difference between first past the post and preferential voting.
Regina L - For being knowledgeable, demonstrating her understanding of decimals by connecting decimats to a place value chart and writing the numbers in words.
5B - Malae Suaesi
Christina K - for being reflective when she considered how to write a topic sentence and organising her ideas to structure a paragraph. Excellent learning!
Michael M - for being a risk taker in attempting to record and connect parts of a whole on decimats and place value chart.
5C - Lisa Hughes
Nevaeh M - for demonstrating resilience and determination to improve her multiplication facts to achieve 100% Keep up the great work Nevaeh!
Liam S - for demonstrating his knowledge and understanding of decimals when using a decimat and place value chart. Awesome work Liam!
6A - Katherine Salloum
Thy N - for being a reflective learner and an effective communicator when asking for assistance when writing a letter to a friend.
James G - for being a reflective learner when approaching the teacher to assist him in editing his work authorially to improve his writing skills.
6B - Jane Huang
Carlisle C - for being a reflective learner when he actively shares his ideas about how to achieve social justice by showing kindness to people around us.
Natarshia L - for being an inquirer by seeking support and asking detailed expectations to improve her transactional text.
6C - Matt Galea
Moses Z - for being a reflective learner to ensure that he understands the importance of remaining focussed to complete all learning tasks.
Isla P - for being an open minded learner by finding the author's purpose by identifying different perspectives in a text.
Specialist Awards
Japanese: Yumiko Aiki
Christopher T(4C)-for being a thinker and a risk-taker when introducing his family in Japanese.
Performing Arts: Jody Banks
Arthur P (1A) - for being a knowledgeable learner and displaying excellent musicianship skills when playing the xylophone in Performing Arts class. Great work, Arthur!
Visual Arts: Tosh Kaan
Anne N (PC) - for using her creativity to make vibrant art pieces to express her thoughts and ideas
S T E M: Matt Dalton
Blake H (PC) - For being an inquisitive learner during STEM. You demonstrated enthusiasm and curiosity using the Chatterpix app. Well done Blake!
P.E: Tom Nguyen
Tom Nguyen: Jack I (1B) - For having shown the best care to others while playing in team sports. Great care Jack!