28 June 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

As the term draws to a close, the preparation is already well and truly under way for next term.

Like our preparation, education is a continuum. We continue to gain knowledge and develop throughout our lives and there is no end point for this learning no matter at what stage of life we are at.

We often forget this simple fact in the day to day grind that overtakes all of us.

Each of us learn at different rates and the rate is not a constant. We all experiences good days and bad days and sometimes we all have ups and downs.

The challenge for each of us is to continue to chip away. During the downs, it is sometimes too easy to throw our hands in the air in frustration and think that we are never going to make forward progress.

This is where persistence comes in. It is persistence that leads to success. To persevere and continue to seek solutions to tasks is what ultimately leads to success. While we each define success differently, there is no doubt that persistence is a key part in achieving success and reaching our small and big goals.

We all have different goals, learn at different rates, and have differing levels of persistence. While for each of us these things will vary and will fluctuate depending on interests, if we continue to chip away, we can make headway.

We are now halfway through the school year. What does this really mean? Well if only we could answer that question easily.

For some, it will be that we are happy with what we have achieved. For others, it will be small steps on a bigger journey. For some it may be that things have not progressed as planned or that life may have gotten in the way as our priorities change.

Shortly students will receive their report cards. What these will mean to each student depends on where they sit on the continuum of lifelong learning.

As parents it is sometimes easy for us to be critical of our own achievements, let alone the achievements of our children. It must be remembered though, that they each progress in their own unique way and at their own unique rate.

What does a report card grade mean? Well in a lot of ways not really very much. It is a set of measures that someone has imposed that really shouldn’t even pretend to be a measure of our children’s overall achievement.

Every student is unique. What they do and what they achieve at school should never be a measure of who they are. Keep that in mind when you consider where your child is on their learning journey.

This week, we say goodbye to one school term. We end the term with an athletics carnival, say goodbye to our visitors from Tokyo and finalise last minute preparations so we can start next term as smoothly as possible.

When you reflect upon the term and what has been achieved, remember that it is just one step on the continuum.

Have a great break and we look forward to working with you next term.

Mr Smith
Principal (Acting)

Deputy Principal’s Report

This term is a little longer than usual by an extra week, but boy was it needed. Between public holidays, Outreaches, NAPLAN and the athletics carnival, not to mention reporting; we needed every extra day this term!

The friendly rivalry between Shelton and Traeger has continued from Term 1’s Interhouse Swimming Carnival onto our school Athletics/Early Years Carnival on the 27th and 28th June. It was a wonderful two days full of so much house spirit and great sportsmanship.

The carnival was a great way to cap off a very full term and I must commend the Sports and Early Years Committees for their time and effort in coordinating these events. In addition, we appreciate the effort many families make to travel and support their athletes. The dedication of our parents is a brilliant thing to behold.

Mr Burke
Deputy Principal

Lesley – Parent Liaison Officer

Mrs Griffin
Parent Liaison Officer

Language Team

My name is Shingo Suematsu.

I’m originally from Tokyo, Japan and moved to New Zealand when I was 18 years old in order to study English initially, and enjoy surfing. I’m married and have 6 year old son who speaks Japanese, Russian, English and Maori. I taught at secondary schools in Gisborne, New Zealand for over 20 years prior to coming to Charters Towers. I’m passionate about surfing and also enjoy various things such as acoustic guitar, architecture, music, coffee, travelling, interior design and movies. I would like to enrich my experience in Australia and would love to know more about Australian jokes and indigenous stories from you. I am looking forward to travelling and surfing in Australia in the near future.

This is where I came from

One of the nearby beaches

NRI Robotics

The Japanese technology company, Nomura Research Institute have almost completed their four week research trial into the use of robotic technology to facilitate distance education. This experience has forged international connections and enriched the teaching and learning experiences for all participants. The School of Distance Education would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the research team at NRI for giving the community an opportunity to work with world-class technology. Distance is no barrier; without a doubt, outback classrooms are classrooms of the 21st Century.

“This experience has been an incredible eye-opener to expand the way I teach my students... It has opened a window of opportunity to visually evaluate and analyse how my students learn while on lesson.”

Sheree Heath - Year 5 Teacher

“If this is the future I truly look forward for the day it comes and if anything, it just shows we are one step closer to living with the Jetsons… To be able to see and talk to our teachers even though we are so far apart brings our school closer together. I am very grateful that I was able to join in and participate in something that may play a huge role in our future.”

Montana Spurdle – Year 11 student

“The possibilities from this trial are very exciting… While it was only in a trial phase, I thoroughly enjoyed my sessions using ‘double’ the robot due to the personalised contact it offered. I am very excited to see what the face of education looks like in the coming months, years and decades.”

Leanna Power – Junior Secondary Teacher

“It was lovely seeing what my students were doing through the robot and I really enjoyed having face-to-face interactions. The robot was quite useful to read their body language.”

Akira Goto – Japanese Language Teacher

Mr Goto bowing to Giru students.

Miss Johnson
Primary Teacher

Literacy Links

Readers develop five skills to help them read and understand. The essential components for learning to read are as follows: Phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary knowledge and text comprehension.

Reading is a skill which is built upon through stages. Children develop understandings and skills when they are presented with many opportunities to practice, refine and enjoy reading experiences.

Stage One – Before Reading:

Reading is a thinking process. Effective readers use strategies to understand what they read before, during and after reading.

Stage Two – During Reading:

The pause, prompt, praise strategy will help your child to monitor their comprehension and develop self-correcting strategies.

Stage Three – After Reading:

This is where you can ask questions or discuss with your child about what they have just read to help your child understand the book once they have finished it. These statements and questions can be used if a child is reading to you or you are reading to your child.

Please see below the attached PDF for further information on Literacy Links:

Student Council

It is time to meet the TERRIFIC TRAEGER HOUSE CAPTAINS!

We hope you are all dressed in your house colours and enjoying the 2018 Athletics Carnival.

Today we are up close and personal Chloe & Callan.

Name: Chloe Mclean.
Role on student council: Traeger House Captain.
Why you wanted to be a leader? I wanted to be a leader because I wanted to organise activities during mini school and outreaches.
Goals for the future: I want to be a Hairdresser so I can have an apprenticeship in year 12.

Name: Callan Burgoine
Role on Student Council: House Captain
Why did you want to be a leader? I wanted to be a house captain, so I could help more with events and help plan events, also to help the younger kids out.
Future Goals: I hope to get an apprenticeship in either boiler making or diesel fitting.

Next DIRT we will meet the Primary School Captains.

Busy Term for the Student Council

Student Council has had a busy term; but would not be successful without the assistance of some very dedicated enthusiastic students. Students have participated behind the scenes to help make the activities of the school run smoothly.

Students participated in an online ANZAC Day, remembrance ceremony, which was a huge success and received much positive feedback. Being online, it was available to students, parents and teachers, alike. Students and Staff also participated in the ANZAC Day ceremony in Charters Towers to commemorate the ultimate sacrifice Australian people have made, both service men and women and the ones left behind.

Furthermore, Charters Towers School of Distance Education is to be the recipient of some donated trees from Charters Towers Toyota (thank you Toyota). Students will plant these trees during a tree ceremony early next term.

Perhaps the most important news this term, from the student council, is the ongoing lessons on leadership the students have participated in. It has been a forum for the students to learn about the responsibilities of Student Council student representatives. Students have been able demonstrate their skills, and indeed perseverance. The students have shown themselves to be dedicated representatives of the Council and credits to their respective cohorts.

Student Council would also like to thank all the parents and teachers who purchased tickets for the $100 board during our outreach.

Cold Weather Strikes the Students of SDE

The weather took its turn last week reaching temperatures below 0º. Here are a few reports from our students:

• Tanasee – Year, 6, reported minus 7º.
• Izzac – Year 4, reported minus 6º.
• Mickey – Year 6, reported that it was colder OUTSIDE the cold room than inside!

Most students experienced temperatures at or below 0º last week.

Year 1

English

In Unit 4 for English, students have been working with poetry, identifying the rhyming words, alliteration and repeated words within a poem. For their assessment piece students needed to choose a poem and recite it while being video recorded. The Year 1 students have all done a great job with their poem recitations. As our unit and assessments have finished early we have moved along to look at other types of poems in particular limericks and acrostic poems. During the online lessons students have put on their poet hats and have finished writing limericks which have left Miss Weston and Mrs Langham with proud smiles on their faces. Some of the limericks can be read below.

Toby’s Limerick

There once was a silly old goat
Who thought he could sit on a float
He fell on a pig
And made a jig
That silly old goat and his coat.

Pippa’s Limerick

There once was a fat old cow
Who thought she could sit on a sow
She fell on her head
And made the bed
That looked like it would go ka-pow!

Mackenzie’s Limerick

There once was a fluffy red chook
Who thought she could sit on a book
She fell on her knee
And saw a big bee
That fluffy red chook with a hook.

Rachel’s Limerick

There once was a fast horse
Who thought it could run around a course
He fell in a hole
And hurt his soul
That silly horse showed no remorse.

Kyle’s Limerick

There once was a sleepy dog
Who thought he could sit on a hog
He fell on a bindii
This made him windy
That sleepy dog hit a log.

Addalyn’s Limerick

There once was a silly old dingo
Who thought he could sit on a flamingo
A branch fell on his head
And made him go to bed
Then that silly old dingo wanted to play bingo.

Science

In Science this term students investigated different materials and the actions that they could do to physically change those materials. At the end of the unit, and for their assessment, students needed to choose a material and physically change it to make a boat that floated and held two marbles in it. There seemed to be a lot of aluminium foil boats floating around but the designs were all different. It was great to see the students’ minds flowing with creativity when they had to make a change to their boat to make it either float or float holding more marbles. See below for some of our expert designers with their boats.

As Term 2 wraps up we would like to thank all our hard working students, tutors and parents for an amazing 11 weeks. You all deserve these holidays to recharge the batteries and to come back next term feeling refreshed. We hope you all have a happy, safe and warm holidays!

Mrs Langham and Miss Weston
Year 1 Teachers

Year 2

Year 2 have been quite busy this term putting their imaginations and creativity to the test. If you do not believe us, read on.

This term has seen our awesome students design and construct their own toy for Science which required either a push or pull force (or if they were clever both!). All students created a unique toy to reflect their understanding of forces and the toys have just been incredible. You can check them out when you visit the school on the way to the mailroom!

Our English units this term have also encouraged us to be creative by taking a traditional story character and changing that character to become the opposite of what we all know but placed back into the same story. Who knew how horrible Cinderella really could be? Or a cute little girl who danced in her pink tutu and with her pet egg! You see, now is not the time to argue with these Year 2s, as they have become exceptional with their persuasion skills. They will convince you that their opinion on various topics and images are indeed the correct view to take, so Ms Simatis and Miss Micallef are working on their skills not to be so gullible!

Maths has taught us some life skill concepts this term focusing on money and time. Year 2 love working with money and have come to understand its value (unfortunately, not to save it but what they can buy!). Clocks have now become of interest and time phrases are being used around the clock. As we have learned this term time is precious so we thank you for taking the time to read about our Year 2s.

Check out our hard work from Term 2!

Year 12

Communication at work – Year 12 English Communication

Can you believe the semester is almost over and we are now half way through the year? That is an exciting, but also quite sobering thought. That means that for many of you, there is only a term and a half left until you finish your high school years. Twelve years of work is coming to a close. Only three more assessments to lodge and then the world is your oyster! To get you prepared for the world that awaits, we have been looking at the processes of applying for jobs. This has involved prepping a résumé, writing a letter of application and sitting a mock interview. For some, it has even meant being successful at actually securing a part time position! Well done!!

For the remainder of the year, we will be continuing our foray into the working culture and looking at possible issues that may occur during your working career. This is a great foundation of knowledge to have at the beginning of your working life. Miss Watherston and myself are extremely proud of the effort that our students have shown towards this subject and have been quite impressed at the quality of work presented.

16 more weeks to go. Hang in there!

Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today. – Malcom X

Yours in education

Miss Mroz and Miss Watherston
Year 12 Teachers

IT Support

Computer Requirements

The minimum specifications for computing requirements for Distance Education are listed in the PDF document available below. Additional recommendations are also listed to improve your digital learning experience.

Voice Recordings

If you need to create a voice recording to be sent to the teacher or uploaded into Blackboard, you can use the free Hi-Q application. It will record your voice to a .mp3 format file which creates a good quality recording that is small enough to email as an attachment. Additional information on voice recordings will be found in the PDF document below.

Audio Setup

There are two parts to configure for your audio settings to make it work for your best learning experience. First part is setting it up in Windows and then second part is inside of Blackboard Collaborate. For the full audio set up guide, click on the PDF document below.

Internet Security

The internet will open you up to a wealth of great information and learning options, however being connected can also put your computer at risk from malicious people. You must make sure you have internet security / antivirus software installed to protect yourself. The following PDf will highlight the most suited internet protection software for your computer.

Microsoft Office 2016

While enrolled at Distance Education, you can download and install Microsoft Office 2016 on up to 5 devices (Mac or Windows) for free. Microsoft Office 2016 is the most current version and is backwards compatible, meaning it will open office files from a previous version. To find out how this is done, click on the following Microsoft Office PDF.

Outlook Webmail

While enrolled at Distance Ed you will receive an Education Queensland or EQ email address that is paired to your username. Additional information on an EQ email is found in the PDF document below.

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