6 June 2019

NEWSLETTER ARTICLES

Principal’s Comments

The progress towards the new senior secondary curriculum is evident in our school as the first cohort of students (year 11) engage with the new curriculum, assessment forms and requirements. Over the next few months further changes at the school level (e.g. timelines for the various units, Year 12 courses and of course the new format of reporting) will be evident in our school.

For more information on this initiative in Queensland education, may I suggest you investigate the following web sites:

Also in this issue, research led by Dr Joanna Sikora from Australian National University is presented that shows the lifelong value young people derive from living in homes that are full of books and value ideas, vocabulary building, discussion and imagination. It should come as no surprise that having books in the home during adolescence goes with higher adulthood literacy and numeracy; but Dr Sikora’s study shows the extent of this benefit across 31 countries, and suggests that having books in the home may improve digital skills as well. I trust that this short article may encourage any parents to immerse their homes from their children’s early age in books and print materials and to share some family time reading and exploring the world of thought together.

Last weekend I was waiting for a flight to return home after meetings in Brisbane. I noticed sitting at a table near me a man that could have only come from a western Queensland environment – from the brown RMs, clothing to the broad brimmed hat – it was clear he did not belong in the urban south-east! What was glorious (and perhaps a little surprising) was here he was reading a story aloud to a (about) seven or eight year old boy in public without any care. The boy (assuming his son) was engaged and hanging off every word; the man (assume father) was right into reading the story aloud with the delightful rising and lowering of his voice without a care for the public display occurring in the airport. What a great inspiration for the young boy – a clear signal that learning and reading are important and enjoyable. My one disappointment – I did not go up and congratulate the man for his leadership and far-sighted understanding of what was great for his child. Instead I rushed off to catch a plane.

Enjoy this newsletter and perhaps we all can do something little to show that reading and other learning can be enjoyable, normal and of great value regardless of when and where it may occur.

Mr John Clark
Principal

NAPLAN Online

Australian education ministers have agreed that schools will transition to NAPLAN Online.

Moving NAPLAN online has been a goal of all states and territories for several years now and that shared commitment continues.

Queensland schools have begun transitioning to NAPLAN Online.

Training and familiarisation activities are being offered to schools to support their transition to the online assessment platform.

Moving NAPLAN online will result in faster turnaround of information and more precise results through a tailored test design.

Useful websites:

(Access key is NAPLAN)

Mr John Clark
Principal

Surround Your Children with Books and Ideas

Recent research shows that people born between 1950 and 1990 who didn’t go to university but grew up in homes surrounded by books had similar levels of literacy and numeracy to their bookless peers who graduated from university. While the world of learning is changing, it is a reasonable assumption that the importance of books in the home will continue into the future.

The study is based on data from 31 countries, including Australia, and 162,955 participants. Its lead author, Dr Joanna Sikora, is an educational sociologist based at Australian National University.

The exact mechanisms through which having more books improves literacy and numeracy are not yet fully understood, though Dr Sikora has some ideas. She emphasises that the results are not just because wealthier and more educated parents have more books; this was accounted for in her study.

Forty percent of books’ positive effect, said Dr Sikora and her co-authors, “is not explained by socio-economic attainment or demographic factors”.

Yet it’s not just about putting the books on shelves and leaving them there.

The books absolutely are important, but it’s also the kind of lifestyle they’re woven into: one in which ideas, vocabulary building, discussion, and imagination are valued. Books, said Dr Sikora, form “part of a culture of learning”, in which learning is pursued for its own sake.

This culture could manifest in social interactions between parents, children, extended family and family friends—such as storytelling and imaginative games like charades. At the same time, a crucial part of it is making space and time for reading itself.

“Parents who encourage their children to read and enjoy books contribute to their educational success through stimulating children’s cognitive skills,” said Dr Sikora.

With this in mind, anytime is a great opportunity for parents to model the joy of reading

Admittedly, if your entire house is already swimming in books, it may be less important to get more. According to the study, “each additional book in a home library has much larger benefits for families that only possess a few books than for families that already possess many.”

A possible reason why is that “the first book you read opens a whole new set of operational skills and cognitive possibilities; each subsequent book continues to offer vocabulary expansion, new experiences in cognitive complexity and intellectual flexibility, but at a reduced rate.”

“But why” one might ask should we bother with books, when so much is available online?” While it is great if children are getting absorbed in reading a novel on an e-reader, Dr Sikora suggests that printed books are far from obsolete.

While bookish homes’ biggest benefits were for literacy and numeracy, they led to greater digital literacy too, making books as relevant as ever in an age when digital skills are increasingly important.

What’s more, Dr Sikora and her co-authors point to other studies showing that reading books rather than text on screen is better for “deeper comprehension of complex content,” “retrieving specific information”, and “facilitating shared family reading time.”

To find more information on the benefits of books and a culture of learning, and to get some ideas of ways to build a bookish culture in the home, see:

Joanna Sikora, MDR Evans, Jonathan Kelley. ‘Scholarly culture: how books in adolescence enhance adult literacy, numeracy and technology skills in 31 societies’. Social Science Research.

Kucirkova, N., Littleton, K., 2016. ‘The digital reading habits of children: A national survey of parents’ perceptions of and practices in relation to children’s reading for pleasure with print and digital books’. Book Trust, London.

Mangen, A., Walgermo, B.R., Brønnick, K., 2013. ‘Reading linear texts on paper versus computer screen: Effects on reading comprehension’. International Journal of Educational Research 58, 61-68.

Zhang, Y., Kudva, S., 2014. ‘E‐books versus print books: Readers' choices and preferences across contexts’. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology 65, 1695-1706.

For help with choosing good books, see:

Middle Park Kindergarten

Best wishes to drought affected areas

Our school was blessed to receive a hand crafted book with illustrations from the four and five year old kindergarten children from Middle Park Kindergarten. The illustrations demonstrate their understanding of their discussions on drought and flooding and they wish all the best for all of our affected students and their families.

Deputy Principal’s Report

As the school continues to grow and evolve, consistency of culture, pedagogy and service remain at the core of how we operate as a school. To ensure that there are common understandings around these areas and to provide ongoing, continued professional support through collegial coaching, Melinda O’Connor will step into a new role as HOD Teaching and Learning. Taking her place as HOD Primary will be Andrea Franklin (previously HOC Primary). I would like to thank Melinda for all of her efforts and support during her tenure as HOD Primary and I look forward to continuing to work with Andrea in her new role. Andrea can be contacted on 4754 6922.

Mr Burke
Deputy Principal

Parent Liaison Officer

McKindley Shire Sports Camp

Clermont Show Display

Lesley Griffin
Parent Liaison Officer

School Calendar - Updated

Please see an updated school calendar. The adjustments are displayed though highlights.

Athletics Carnival – Reschedule

Important Notice!

We have been advised that the Interschool Athletics will now be held next Tuesday, the 11th June. The venue and times for commencement and events remain the same.

Quilt Raffle

Woolworths Earn & Learn

We are excited to be taking part in the 2019 Woolworths Earn & Learn program.

During the previous campaign, we were able to purchase some great resources with the points we earned, thanks to you.

From now until June 25th 2019, you can collect stickers at Woolworths that go towards Earn & Learn points. For every $10 you spend at Woolworths (excluding the purchase of tobacco, liquor and gift cards), you will receive a sticker. These stickers can then be given to your children to collect on a special sticker sheet. Once it is completed, they can simply bring it back here to school or you can drop them into your local Woolworths collection box.

The more points we earn, the more we can redeem from a choice of over 10,000 educational resources including mathematics and English resources, art & crafts materials and much, much more!

We are grateful for your support and look forward to a successful program. If you have any questions, please ask at the Distance Ed Office.

Mrs Purdie
Primary Teacher

Questacon Science Circus

The Circus is Coming!

Not your average kind of circus, the Shell Questacon Science Circus is a great opportunity for parents and children to share, discover and explore science together. You can encourage a fascination and enjoyment of science by exploring hands-on exhibits. Come along and spin like an ice-skater, discover how fast you can throw a ball, freeze your shadow on a wall or test your reflexes.

This pop-up science centre will be in Charters Towers from 4.00 pm to 7.00 pm, Tuesday 11 June and is a fantastic opportunity if you can make it in. If not, they may be visiting near you – see at the link below for other locations including Mackay and Townsville.

Admission - 4.00 pm to 7.00 pm, Tuesday 11 June, 2019, 101 Mosman Street, Charters Towers

• Adult - $6
• Students/Concession - $5
• Family - $18
• Children under 5 and Q Club Members - FREE.

Children under 12 MUST be accompanied by an adult.

North Queensland Cross Country

SDE had 3 students represent Charters Towers at the North Queensland Cross Country trials in Townsville on the 28th of May.  All students should be proud of themselves for making it to this stage of the competition, for the sportsmanship they displayed on the day and their effort. Sally Broad competed for the 12 year old girls and came 24th, Charley McClelland competed for the 11 year old boys and came 9th and Charlotte McLean competed for the 10 year old girls and came 6th. All students did an excellent job!

Charlotte McLean has now qualified to represent North Queensland in the state Championships in Toowoomba next term. We wish Charlotte the best of luck!

Sports Committee

State Championships

Louis Maxwell – Letter to Mr John Clark

Dear Mr Clark

I am writing this to tell you all about my exciting trip to Brisbane to compete in the Queensland State Championships on the 25th to the 27th of March.

I am very happy with my results from only 6 weeks of training before the event. There were lots of really good swimmers that I hope one day I can be as good as them and be selected to compete at the Nationals and then one day the Olympics if I am good enough.

I am very lucky to have had this opportunity now twice and I look forward to it again one day.

I was selected to compete for 7 events

• 50m Freestyle my time was 34.11
• 50m Backstroke my time was 42.03
• 50m Butterfly my time was 39.53
• 100m Freestyle – 1.15.19
• 100m Backstroke – 1:31.87
• 200m Medley relay – 2:35.24
• 200m Medley Freestyle – 2:15.72

I know that with training I can do much better but I am very proud of myself and would like to thank my school for supporting me.

Louis Maxwell
Year 7 Student

Cape River Outreach

We had an exciting three days at Cape River Outreach.

We made volcanos, exploded pop tops, created a mural of Charters Towers, wrote a song with Mr and Mrs Price, rehearsed the school song, learnt how to play the Taiko drums with rhythm and even found time to do our Maths and English.

Science

Mr Purdie taught us about chemical reactions. We created our own eruptions and explosions by experimenting with vinegar and bi -carb soda. Gosh did they go off with a bang.

Music

Our special guests Mrs and Mr Price introduced us to a whole new world of music. We used descriptive language to create a musical masterpiece (also known as a song) about horses. Yeehaa!

A special thank you to the Taiko Drummers who shared their musical talent with us.

Art

The lovely Katie Jones travelled all the way from Pentland to help us create a beautiful mural of Charters Towers. Everyone was able to share their own personal style of artwork.

Miss Nelson
Year 3 Teacher

Ewan Outreach

Throughout our 3 days at the Ewan Outreach, our 14 students and 3 teachers were involved in various activities, from Maths, English, Art, Science, Singing, Sport and Technology.

Year 1 and 2

Year 1 and 2 students were in dinosaur mania, with a variety of activities that revolved around these prehistoric creatures. We also had lots of fun completing a colourful science activity, a tasty art piece and even got to test out the school’s BeeBots. Safe to say we had a ball!

Year 3, 4 and 5

During the Outreach, we had a combination of grades that came together as one – Lucy, Josie, Daniel, Joseph and Will worked incredibly well together and independently on their work. Our English tasks varied from spelling, grammar activities, feature articles, sentence and paragraph writing. During our maths sessions we combined together to play various Maths games to warm our minds up for our set tasks – addition strategies, place value, multiples & factors and symmetry. We even had a game of Uno to finish up before lunch.

Wednesday afternoon we teamed up with the Year 1 and 2 students to eat skittles! Not really, we attempted to create artworks on paper plates using skittles and water. The students loved making their patterns and spraying the water onto the skittles before watching the colours come to life on the page. Unfortunately, they did not work out too great but we had fun creating them! After our Art experiment we came back to create our very own lava lamps. We spoke about why the oil and water were not mixing and made predictions on what would happen when we placed our fizzy tablet in. We could not believe our eyes when the food dye bubbles danced around the bottle. We loved it!

Thursday afternoon we also joined with the junior students to conduct a Science experiment involving water, cups, food dye and paper towels. We had some brilliant predictions about how the tea towels would absorb the coloured water and stain the paper towels. When we returned an hour later, we could not believe our eyes, we had beautifully coloured paper towels and the water had transferred into the corresponding cups! Later that afternoon we experimented with the BeeBots and programmed them to follow different routes on our mats. Some even programmed the BeeBots to create their name on the alphabet mat. Look out world, Distance Ed is going to take over!

Although our days were jam-packed, we had a great time bonding and building relationships with our mates.

Year 6

At Ewan Outreach this term, the Year 6s - Ingrid, Tom, Willis and Sally, put their arguing abilities to the test and wrote speeches passionately persuading people to change their ways. They addressed the impacts on health, money and safety to declare that we should all be exercising every day and growing our own vegetables.

In Maths, they wrapped their heads around ordering operations (BOMDAS) and calculating integers (negative numbers). Can you solve some of their operations?

• Which is bigger: 140 + 4 x 7 or 32 x 5 + 5
• What’s the answer to: 14 + 10 x 11 x 9 + 15

Wednesday afternoon, we put our coding skills and problem solving abilities together to program some BeeBots (bee-shaped robots) to follow particular directions to achieve different effects. Using a rotation of stations, we had the BeeBots spell out our names, match up similar shapes, navigate its way safely around a dangerous island and do an addition sum to calculate a specific amount.

Renewable energy sources are the way of the future, and the Year 6s are learning all about it in their current Science unit. At outreach, we focussed particularly on wind energy and created an artistic image using oil pastels of a tornado at work. If we could just harness the amount of wind energy generated by cyclones, we could probably power all of Australia for a year!

Answers to maths problems:

• Which is bigger: 140 + 4 x 7 or 32 x 5 + 5 ANSWER: 168 > 165
• What’s the answer to: 14 + 10 x 11 x 9 + 15 ANSWER: 1019

Year 6 fun

Student Council

We were fortunate enough to have Sally, Willis, Ingrid and Tom to mend our hungry stomachs with their delicious milkshakes and popcorn. These were a huge hit! They were also busy with their lolly jar, which was won by Sierra. Such a lovely student who as soon as she won it offered everyone there some of her winnings. The parents also had a mystery raffle won by one of the Governesses. Overall, the Student Council walked away with a nice profit for the school.

The lucky winner of the lolly jar – congratulations Sierra!

Afternoon Activities

Our two afternoons consisted of an enjoyable clay-moulding activity and some classic games of tee ball. Our lovely parents organised a local artist to come out and show our students how they can make perspectives drawing using modelling clay. Students experimented creating roads, paddocks and even a cow! Thursday afternoon we got our sneakers on ready to take to the field in the annual ‘Ewan tee ball championships’. We had too much fun in our first game (won by the boys) that we just had to play another! The parents then became quite jealous, so we then had to have 2 games of teachers/parents vs students (we both won one game each!)

A huge thank you to our wonderful families for supplying such amazing hospitality and ensuring we were fully fed (or over fed). Overall, our Ewan Outreach was an absolute success! We all had such a great time and cannot wait for our next one in Term 3!

Sport – Tee ball championships

Enjoying the fresh air out at Ewan!

Miss Ruthenberg and Miss Hardy
Primary Teachers

Year 1

Wow, Term 2 has been full of change and new experiences.

Our Year 1 Teachers for Term 2 has seen a change with Mrs Amanda Cottle joining Mrs Genevieve Copelin to teach an awesome group of Year 1 students. Mrs Cottle comes from New Zealand and has had wonderful opportunities to meet students, their families and home tutors at the Hughenden Outreach, as well as, students attending Cape River and Naplan in-reach.

These occasions have been very important to Mrs Cottle as this has provided her with an understanding on how Distance Education meets the needs of so many wonderful students.

Mrs Copelin and Mrs Cottle have enjoyed working alongside the Year 1 students on lessons and are very impressed with their dedication in their learning. A big thank you to Mrs Melinda O’Connor for working on Unit 3, while Mrs Cottle was out and about at the outreaches, getting to know the students and families. Mrs Cottle will now be working with Year 1A from Week 6 – Unit 4 onwards. Mrs Cottle sincerely thanks the tutors for their support and guidance on her online lessons as she embraces the new technologies.

Hughenden Outreach

Mrs Cottle’s 2nd week at CTSDE was given the opportunity to meet and greet Year 1 Students and families at Hughenden. This was a good opportunity to observe how well the students in PREP – 2 participated and were so engrossed in learning about Dinosaurs, led by Mrs Simatis.

NAPLAN – Inreach

Naplan Week, while many students at different year groups were involved in Naplan, Year 1 students were learning about characters and how to describe them with more detail using adjectives. Students were also very busy focusing on learning about positional and directional terms. They got the opportunity to play with BeeBots, which all students enjoyed. The last day of NAPLAN inreach, the students were excited to dress up as their favourite characters and were challenged by ‘Patricia the Pirate’ (Mrs Cottle) to find some treasure in the school sandpit. It took quite a bit of digging to find the treasure, as Patricia the Pirate forgot where she buried it. All students had a great time, going home with their ‘treasures’.

Cultural Visit:

Chinese teachers, teaching students how to do a cultural dance.

CAPE RIVER OUTREACH:

Cape River Week students focused on the theme of ‘The Three Little Pigs’, students revised character writing, maths as well as doing a STEM activity. This pertained to constructing a house of their own design. Each student constructed one house each for ‘The Three Little Pigs’ and ‘Mr Wolf’. The children thoroughly enjoyed this activity.

Students were also provided a drumming demonstration, in which, all students were given an opportunity to test their skills. All students were also provided an opportunity to create some art based on ‘CHARTERS TOWERS’. All students were well engaged in this activity.

We are looking forward to a stimulating year ahead with all Year 1 students and families. If you have any questions or concerns about our program or your child, please do not hesitate to contact us and we can make a time to meet. It is so important to have strong partnerships with families and Home-tutors and it is the key in providing the best support for your child.

Looking forward to working with you all.

Mrs Copelin and Mrs Cottle
Year 1 Teachers

Year 2

Term 2 Snapshots!

This term, year 2 students have been involved in a variety of great activities that have not only involved feathers, furs, scales and claws, but also the creation of a brand new line of toys!

During the NAPLAN Inreach, Year 2 students had the opportunity to meet a number of different pets. We began our week with a visit from two guinea pigs as well as a fish. We were also fortunate enough to have our resident Vet, Mrs Caspani drop by. She was able to answer a number of questions relevant to fleas and ticks, itches and bites, eye infections, skin conditions and paw ailments. There were no questions too big or small for Mrs Caspani, and she certainly gave Dr Harry Cooper a run for his money.

As the week went on, the pets seemed to become a little noisier with a visit from a squawking parrot named Quakers and an obnoxious chicken named Rosie Bok-Bok. The week wrapped up with our most exotic visitors of all, Abbey the Albino Python, Sandy the travelling pooch and Billy the costume wearing Cavalier King Charles. A special thank you to all of our wonderful teachers and their pets for helping to make this Inreach so memorable.

This term in Science, Year 2 students have been busy creating toy designs to help support their learning of the concepts “push” and “pull”.

Students were required to design a toy that functioned with either a push or pull motion and then present their new toy to the class.

We saw a variety of toys ranging from cars and trucks, to robots and elephants and even a hand powered helicopter! We were blown away by the superstar effort that students put into this task.

With the creativity, precision and quality designs on offer, you are bound to see some of these designs offered through your local Fisher-Price stockists in the near future.

Thank you to our parents and home tutors for your ongoing support this term.

Yours in education.

Ms Simatis and Miss Ohlson
Year 2 Teachers

Year 5

Year 5s Strive!

Our Year 5 students have been working incredibly hard this term learning all about Space, Feature Articles and a range of mathematical concepts – cool right! On top of all that, we even had some of our students participate in the annual NAPLAN testing – some came into Charters Towers, however some completed it at other schools and even in different states.

During our time at the Inreach, our mornings involved completing NAPLAN testing and the rest of the day consisted of a range of activities and experiments. Wednesday afternoon we put our Science knowledge to the test as we worked in groups to create our very own Space Landers. It was great to see students working together, thinking outside the box to ensure a safe landing for their aliens. Out of the four landers, we had a 100% success rate!

Thursday afternoon we were feeling quite exhausted after three big days of NAPLAN so what better way to finish off the Inreach than by making ice cream in a bag. Yes, you read correctly, we made ice cream in zip lock bags! We were quiet confused as to how this would work, however as we began tossing and mixing our liquid in with salt and ice (yes they were separated – well some were) we witnessed our liquid turn into a cold, icy ice-cream. I am surprised we even had time to take some photos, they disappeared rather quickly! We had such a great time together here at the inreach.

Currently we are finalising our feature articles where we are trying to persuade our readers that either the flying foxes need to be relocated or they should be left alone. We have come up with some fantastic arguments for both and we definitely have some future journalists on our hands!

Keep up the amazing work Year 5, we are proud of the effort you are putting into all of your work!

Miss Hardy & Mrs Larson
Year 5 Teachers

Year 7

Scientists investigate balloon power

This term as part of the Science moving right along units, year 7 students have been applying their knowledge of forces and motion to design, build and test vehicles powered by a single balloon. As part of this task, students analyzed the forces that affect vehicle designs such as friction and air resistance. They were then required to use their creative abilities to find everyday materials from around the home such as straw, bottle tops and bottles to build a car that they believed could be moved using only the air from one balloon. Once the vehicle was built, students designed a fair test to measure the success of their design. Following the first test stage, students needed to choose one element of the design to change in an attempt to improve the performance of their vehicle. Although some cars were unsuccessful on both trials, students reported that they enjoyed creating their vehicle, with some still making changes to improve performance outcomes and others decorating their vehicle to be more visually pleasing, even after the task has been completed.

These are some of the many great designs that were created.

Miss Macdonald and Miss Watherston
Year 7 Science teachers

Year 8

Bid Decision-Makers

This term in HPE, Year 8 students have been asking, and seeking to answer, questions about what happens (part of it involves electricity) inside their brains – especially when a brain has a problem to solve, or a decision to make. Many of the decisions we make (both adults and junior secondary students) are relatively minor, and some even happen automatically. Or at least, it feels that way. As Year 8 have been learning, the brain’s design and development allow it to handle increasingly complex challenges as time passes. However, the teenage years are a risky, as well as exciting phase of this growth. On the one hand, networks in the nervous system are undergoing the human equivalent of getting lightning-fast broadband after using a WWII Morse code machine for a few years. Sounds terrific, doesn’t it? On the other hand, the adolescent brain’s capacity to evaluate risks and compare solutions doesn’t sharpen up at the same rate. The engine has been upgraded, but the steering is still significantly wobbly. Moreover, adolescence introduces children and young adults to lifestyle and dietary choices, and social pressures that can have minor or major effects on how their body, brain, and relationships develop. Part of the challenge and value of the current HPE Unit has been in practising evaluative skills that help students size up and decide how to approach realistic decisions. For example, how to manage caffeine intake – something numerous teachers can always stand to learn a little bit more about.

Mr Enright and Mrs Steenson
Year 8 teachers

ICAS Competitions

Each year, our students in grades 2 to 6 have the opportunity to complete ICAS Assessments through the University of New South Wales (UNSW). ICAS Assessments are designed to recognise and reward academic excellence in subject areas such as Digital Technologies, Science, Writing, Spelling, English & Maths. These assessments are based on the curriculum for the student’s current year level. Each student who participates receives a certificate and students with the top score in each subject and each year level, receive a medal.

This year, the UNSW has changed how these assessments can be delivered. In the past, we had access to paper copies for students to complete. This year, the majority of the assessments must be completed online and are only “open” on particular days.

If you would like your child to participate in these assessments this year, please see the table below for the dates these tests will be held and the costs per student. Please note students will be required to come into the school to complete the assessments.

Subject Area Date of Online Test Cost

• Offline Assessments are available for Years 3 & 4 writing only. These assessments must be completed at school and supervised by a registered teacher.

If you would like your child to sit one of the above assessments, and your child is able to come into the school on the above dates to participate, please email Tash Weston at nwest26@eq.edu.au before Thursday 1st August so the school can register.

Miss Weston
Primary Teacher

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