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Junior School Bulletin Issue 6 / 6 May 2016

From the Principal J Block Fire Update It has been a challenging past couple of weeks for the College as we come to terms with the destruction that the fire on ANZAC Day has caused to J Block. Whilst it has been hard on everyone in our community, particularly our Senior School students and staff, the very best of what makes St Andrews such a special place has been evident. We have witnessed the very best of the human spirit in these trying times - people coming together to care for and support one another. Teaching staff have been very intentional in endeavouring to make sure that the learning program of our students has experienced minimal disruption. Our students have taken the events in their stride, remained focused, and just got on with things. Thanks to the efforts of senior staff, interim plans were quickly developed and the Senior School students experienced the loss of just one teaching day of school – it could have been so much more if not for the work of the Senior Leadership team. As much as humanly possible it has been business as usual.

I know that senior students are keen to be able to access lockers to see what personal possessions may have survived. Unfortunately this cannot occur until the ‘make safe’ phase of the recovery process is complete. This phase is underway and should be completed in the immediate future. Plans for the medium term, including the ordering of portable/relocatable buildings are now underway. These portable buildings will be of good quality to ensure that our students continue to have access to quality learning environments. The College has also commenced planning work on the rebuilding of the spaces destroyed. The process of rebuilding will take time, and people’s patience and understanding in this process is asked for. The College is confident that the facilities once completed will actually be enhanced and add to our community.

The response from both our internal community and the wider external community has been overwhelming, and for that the College is deeply appreciative and humbled. It is understandable that people feel helpless at this time, yet at the same time want to provide help in any way they can. Many people have asked about helping with practical things like the clean up. As always, the safety of people comes first, and so modern Workplace Health and Safety legislation prevents us from asking for assistance for things like this. At this stage the efforts of the College needs to be on keeping the learning of students focused, and working methodically through the initial steps of the recovery process. The College is conscious of involving the St Andrews community in the recovery process, and as we navigate our way through the initial phases we will look for ways to do this. One initial way of engaging in this process might be to attend the P & F Meeting on Wednesday 8 June 7.00pm in the CRC. Part of the focus of the meeting will be how as a Parent Body the P & F might be able to assist the College going forward. Thank you for your ongoing prayers as we move forward together. In closing, congratulations to our Combined Troupe and Percussion Ensemble that were awarded 1st place at the Starbound Dance Eisteddfod – all with borrowed costumes and equipment. It was an amazing moment for all concerned, especially after dealing with the loss and devastation of the past week, but one that typified St Andrews Lutheran College. Tim Kotzur Principal

Junior School News St Andrews Community Last week we awoke to the devastating news that part of the College (J Block) had been severely damaged by fire. Since that time there has been a roller-coaster of emotions and a flurry of activity as we begin the recovery process. Mr Kotzur will continue to keep you updated on any new developments. The day after the fire a number of students asked me what they could do to help. They offered to conduct fundraising stalls, donate items or even give up their classrooms to help. In times like this we want to help, but we don’t know what to do. What has happened as a result, is that the Junior School students have written beautiful cards and prayed for the staff and students directly impacted. This has been very well received, occasionally bringing tears of pride. In times of tragedy we often see the best in people and in the past two weeks we have seen the best in both St Andrews and the wider community. It is a true blessing to be part of this community. Your continued prayers are appreciated.

Maths Rotations One of the great highlights each week for me is to get into the classrooms and assist where possible. Many of the teachers are implementing Maths rotations. There are a number of parents also assisting by working with a small group of students. By running these Maths rotations this is one way our teachers can differentiate the content for the students and provide what they need to help them be successful. Another important consideration for working in small groups is that the teacher can provide immediate feedback to the students they are working with. One other reason for the small group rotations is to allow students time to reinforce the skills and knowledge that they have just learned from the teacher through intensive practice.

Year 3B had a lovely visit from Year 10,11 and 12 LAGS last week to thank them for the cards that they made them. It was a great chance for the children to connect and for 3B to ask lots of questions!

NAPLAN Just a reminder that NAPLAN testing will be held on 10, 11 and 12 May. As parents, one of the best things that you can do to help your children prepare for these tests is to make sure they get a good night’s sleep and that they are provided with a nutritious breakfast. Please note that these tests give only a point in time snapshot of your child’s progress. For a full and complete picture of your child’s progress, please consult with their teacher. While we don’t teach to the

test, the College will spend some time preparing them to take a test that is in an unfamiliar format, so that they feel comfortable sitting it.

Chaplains Chat

ANZAC Day It was great to see students from the ELC through to Year 12 marching at Burleigh on ANZAC day. There were also a large number of students who participated in other services around the coast. The focus of the services was on commemorating the sacrifices of our servicemen and women, and remembering the past so that we can learn from what happened. “Lest We Forget”.

Mufti Day The upcoming Mufti Day on Tuesday 17 May is to raise money for East Timorese communities still impacted by the independence movement of last century. In particular, we will be raising funds to construct houses in Bahareduk. Please encourage your child/children to collect sponsors for the East Timor Walkathon from family and friends. It would be great to be able to celebrate building two houses in this community. It is one small way we can take action to help others. Thank you to the P & F for the Mother’s Day stall. It was very well attended by the students. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of the Mothers a very happy Mother’s Day on Sunday. Darrin Schumacher Head of Junior School

ELC News With Mother’s Day around the corner we would like to wish everyone a happy Mother’s Day and please take the time to enjoy those special children in your life. The “little people” in the ELC are raising money for the “big kids” in the College to help them recover some of the personal items they have lost in the fire. We are holding a raffle and have some amazing prizes from our ELC community. Tickets on sale in the ELC $5 each. Please see flyer at the back of the bulletin for more information. Please help the “little people” of the College help the “big kids” of the College. Bronwyn Waters ELC Director

Over the week gone by I have shared my version of how the morning of Tuesday 26 April played out for me. Mine involved my eldest son coming out from his bedroom at 5.58am to share that school is off today – “I’ve just been messaged that school is cancelled”. “What are you talking about?” I replied “They’re pulling your leg, why would school be cancelled?” and then it began “A fire” was part of the message and in the next 5 minutes it all became so horribly real – on the television news – a phone call from a Brisbane relative at 6.03am… I found myself in the kitchen dumbfounded. How could this happen to our school? Our school that is such a good place to be – a place of learning and growth – a place where people look after each other – a place where we even endeavour to look out for others outside of our community… Why would this happen? As I run this question through my mind I have been unable to come up with a response that is adequate. We have just finished a unit on evil and suffering in Year 9 CS and ultimately, it is very difficult to make sense of disasters that afflict us in this life, particularly ones that we have no role in creating. People have expressed to me that they cannot understand what would possess someone to do what they have done. What can we say? It makes no sense. We are left wondering. We are left needing to move forward as best we can, devastated by an event that is so pointless, so needless. And yet, in amongst all the despair and pain, goodness abounds. The messages of support from Junior School students to the Senior School classes, the offers of support to our students from students of competing schools at sport on Thursday afternoon, and Lutheran school student bodies across Australia planning ways to be of assistance. Our immediate community rallying with offers of equipment and expertise to see us through this huge challenge. There has been all manner of interruption, upheaval and change in our community over the past days. But in amongst all this, one thing has remained - God’s love for us through Christ. The fire within our College reminds us that nothing is permanent and this is the same for each of us. Our time is but fleeting but thankfully, God has us in His hand and no matter what comes our way, His love is unfailing. God’s love is in action all around us. We have the privilege of going forward hopefully and peacefully because of this unchanging fact. Graeme Schache Chaplain

From the Deputy Head of Junior School & PYP Coordinator At St Andrews we value quality education and as educators we are always seeking opportunities to continually learn how to facilitate a significant, engaging, relevant and challenging curriculum. This year the Junior School is involved in an action research project supported by Independent Schools Queensland (ISQ). Mrs Julia Boulton (Innovation & e-Learning Leader/Teacher Librarian), Mrs Kizzie-Kate Hinze (Year 2 Teacher) and myself are researching into how can a Makerspace support Higher Order Thinking (HOT) in students through the use of technologies and modify teacher pedagogy. As part of our research project we have been collecting data (teacher surveys, student reflections) and completing a literature review on Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) and technologies. This week we have implemented some of our findings into the Year 2 unit, “Sharing the Planet”, to ensure students have the opportunity to analyse, evaluate and create (levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy). We are building on the understanding that the effectiveness of teaching HOTS will only eventuate when we offer a constructivist approach which encompasses active learning and meaning-making throughout the learning process. The Year 2 students are inquiring into how human actions impact on the Earth’s resources for the Sharing the Planet unit. The unit commenced with a gallery walk of images (various resources were depicted in the images) and students were able to reflect with ‘I see…I think…I wonder…’

Students recording their reflections for the images displayed in the classroom gallery walk.

Year 3 News Year 3 Indigenous Workshop As part of our “How We Organise Ourselves” UOI, Year 3 were involved in an action packed Indigenous Workshop. During this time, the children listened to Rick Rosser share a Dreamtime story about the creation of emus, experienced this story being painted on their body using ochre, attempted to make fire, played a didgeridoo, threw a boomerang and watched the woomera being used. This wonderful experience allowed the children to experience first-hand what they have been learning in class – the importance of country and place to Indigenous people and how for them spirituality, language and the land are all connected. Mrs Boulton facilitates a water evaporation experiment in the new Makerspace area in the Junior School ‘library.’ (Water was identified as one of the Earth’s resources.) Students added to the Graffiti Wall (word wall) with new understandings or questions using the strategy Think – Puzzle – Explore. This strategy aims to identify current understandings and identify directions for further inquiry.

After the frontloading activities, students reflected on their new understandings and demonstrated their knowledge of the water cycle through collaborative tasks of creating a triorama and a claymation (animated story). After identifying the stages of the water cycle, the students created a story about a water drop and the journey that it encountered. The students used the app istopmotion to create the animation. As a group they established roles and discussed the problems that arose in the design process. The design process is a higher level critical thinking task as it allows for the transfer of knowledge and application to new situations. It is exciting to observe the students on this learning journey as they use higher order thinking skills and creative processes to develop new and in depth understandings about the impact human actions can have on our world. I wonder what action the students will take as a result of their learning? Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. - Romans 12:12 ESV Jacqueline Faulkner Deputy Head of Junior School PYP Coordinator

Terese Sheers Year 3 Teacher

Our Year 2 students have been inquiring into the central idea - “Communities have Famous Landmarks.” Using Google Earth we have been able to take virtual tours of Japan .

Japanese News Students in Pre Prep classes are busy learning the story - ‘Where is the Green Sheep?’ in Japanese. We plan on presenting this story in Japanese towards the end of Term 2.

Our Prep students have been inquiring into the central idea - “Many Celebrations are Linked to the Seasons!” Students have been learning about spring time in Japan and the celebration of flower viewing. Year 4 students have been inquiring into natural disasters in Japan! The recent earthquake in Kumamoto, Kyuushuu has raised many questions from our students as to why this has happened and what were the effects of the earthquake.

Please remember to go to jsjapanese.weebly.com to see what we are learning in Japanese this term. Sharon Taki Junior School Japanese Coordinator

Shake it Up: Designing an earthquake proof building Materials: playing cards and ½ metre of masking tape

Junior Library News

In the JS Library Makerspace, we aim to develop students love of learning through hands-on learning by challenging the thinking process. CREATE – CONNECT - COLLABORATE It is “a holistic approach that links the disciplines so that the learning becomes connected, focused, meaningful, and relevant to learners” (Smith & Karr-Kidwell, 2000, p. 22). To celebrate our first week of our newly renovated library (which includes the Makerspace) the students were offered the opportunity to participate in the Global Day of Design (26 April). Over three days, we offered three design challenges based on literature.

As a part of the Design Process, the students worked in groups to complete the challenge and then reflected on the learning (all in 30 minutes!). The students were also exposed to the engineering design process which includes identifying a problem, developing ideas and solutions, and sharing these solutions with others. They planned before actually designing the structures. The Challenges Huff n Puff: Designing a bridge for the Billy Goats Gruff Materials: toothpicks, masking tape and 3 marshmallows

The Sky is the Limit: Paper plane designs (Stealth: longest flight time in air) Materials: paper

Some of the students’ thoughts: • Need to keep it stable and safe and so we used two cards per wall • We thought of strategies to keep the building up • All the parts have a function • Triangles have more stability than other shapes. • Thought about the ways to stabilise and use all the cards. • To use the triangle method not the cube.

The ICT Mentors for 2016 were introduced to the concept and were available as support for the groups. They exhibited a wonderful enthusiasm and attitude to their role. Well done. Julia Boulton Innovation & E-Learning Leader Teacher Librarian

P & F News P & F General Meeting The next general meeting is on Wednesday 8 June 7.00pm in the Cecile Ryan Centre, all parents and guardians are more than welcome to attend. Please note that the date of the meeting may be brought forward in light of the recent fire. You will be advised in due course. A focus of this meeting will be how we as a P & F community might be able to assist the College going forward. P & F meetings are a great way to meet other parents from all age groups throughout the College and to find out more about what is happening at the College. There is a Principal’s Report which gives you an overall summary of the College’s performance in all activities from education, the arts and sport. At the meeting parents are able to voice ideas on what might enhance St Andrews Lutheran College. We look forward to seeing you all at the next meeting with an update on all the events and projects the P & F are involved with around the College. P & F Commitee

Dates to Remember Sunday 8 Mother’s Day Monday 9 Year 1 Fire Safety Incursion Tuesday 10 NAPLAN Testing for students in Years 3 & 5 Chapel, Worship Centre – 1.40pm Wednesday 11 NAPLAN Testing for students in Years 3 & 5 Thursday 12 NAPLAN Testing for students in Years 3 & 5 Tuesday 17 Mufti Day, East Timor Flag colours - Yellow, Black, White, Red Walk For East Timor ICAS Competition - Digital Technologies (Years 4-10) Year 4 Incursion - Australian Lutheran World Service Assembly, Multi Purpose Hall – 1.40pm Wednesday 18 Year 5 Camp – Luther Heights – departing approx. 7.50am WC carpark Hinterland Cross Country Carnival Thursday 19 Year 5 Camp – Luther Heights Friday 20 Year 5 Camp – Luther Heights – returning approx. 2.40pm WC carpark WEDNESDAY 8 JUNE P & F General Meeting - CRC 7.00pm

From Little Kids To Big Kids RAFFLE! Raising funds for students affected by the fire in the College

TiCkeTs: $5 eaCh Drawn: Monday 16th May 2016 PRiZes: *$600 Premium Scratch Removal for Car *$600 Chanel Sunglasses - Luxottica *$300 Billabong Suitcase *Billabong Backpack, Towel & Headphones *$250 Pilates Voucher - Pilates & Co *$110 Carpet Cleaning & Pest Control Service PHJ Cleaning Services *$100 Event Cinemas Voucher *3 x $100 Myer Giftcards *$50 Manicure & Spa Pedicure *$15 Bakery Voucher - Fosterâ€™s Bakery *Hamper of Goodies

get clicking!

Prizes to be won, and selected entries will be entered into the QiEU art awards in Brisbane in July.

See Oliver Waddingham (Cultural Captain year 12), or mrs harman for further information.

Entries due: Friday 20th may at 12pm Send your entries to: ngaireh@salc.qld.edu.au Digital Exhibition: Friday 27th May - Venue to be confirmed

theme: â€œIn the Gardenâ€? interpreted any way you like, our garden here at school, yours at home, the Botanic gardens, the surrounding landscape. Let your imagination run wild!

Open to all St andrews students from ELC to year 12

SCOPE PhOtOgraPhy COmPEtitiOn

SCOPE

INSIGHTS Building parent-school partnerships WORDS Michael Grose

Don’t threaten, bribe or deal – breathe & act Five great discipline habits to add to your parenting repertoire. Getting kids to cooperate is tricky. One

battle with kids for their cooperation.

in radar for knowing if a threat is real or

method doesn’t necessarily fit all children

This type of bribe can work wonders to

not. “If you continue to argue with your

so as a parent or teacher it helps to have

get some peace and quiet and is infinitely

sister I’ll cancel your birthday” is the sort

a broad repertoire of responses to draw

better than engaging in a slanging match

of threat that many of us have made in

on when kids are less then perfect or you

while you’re driving. Well, it may seem

desperation just to get some peace and

want more cooperative behaviour.

that way!

harmony at home. Again, threatening

Disciplining a child can also make many

However, it’s easy for both parents and

all types of dastardly consequences can

parents feel decidedly uncomfortable,

kids to become hooked on bribes. As a

become a habit, particularly when we

as it doesn’t generally fit an idealised

parent you can easily fall for the trap of

don’t have many other options at our

picture of parenting that many of us

offering a bribe to induce good behaviour

disposal to get better cooperation.

may have. Discipline is about helping

because it often works. A child learns to

Most of us will default to our lowest

kids stay safe, become social and also be

cooperate on his terms and soon learns

level of skill when we are tired, stressed

savvy and astute when they interact with

to think, “What’s in this for me?” Soon

or under pressure. When a child yells,

others, which makes discipline a positive

kids learn to wheel and deal to get better

“I hate you! You never listen to a thing I

and very necessary part of the parenting

terms so today’s ‘quick 10 minutes on

say” just when you’re trying to get her to

process.

an iPad’ becomes tomorrow’s shiny new

bed you’re likely to return fire in spades.

Bad discipline habits

piece of technology bought in return for

“What do you mean I never listen to

Unfortunately, it’s easy as a parent to

cooperation. Bribery and dealing almost

you! I always listen to you. You never...”

develop bad habits to get cooperation

always escalates in scale. The stakes rarely

and away you go chastising a child in

from kids. For instance, it can be easier to

get smaller.

a way that only exacerbates her lack of

offer a simple bribe such as “I let you use

Similarly, idle threats of withdrawing

my iPad for 10 minutes if you can be quiet

co-operation if a child won’t behave well

in the back seat of the car”, rather than

soon fall on deaf ears as kids have a built-

cooperation.