“Time and tide wait for no man.” – Geoffrey Chaucer

And neither, it would appear, does the school term. Even though it sometimes still feels like we have only just returned to school and the year is still young, this Friday marks the mid-point of Term One. One-eighth of our school days are over for the year highlighting the importance each and every day has in the learning journey of our students. Our teachers dedicate vast amounts of time, outside of their classroom contact hours, ensuring our school programs meet the needs of every student. If students miss class time, they miss vital learning time and are placed at a distinct disadvantage to their classmates. Research shows that students who have good patterns of attendance are more likely to achieve at school. Make 2021 the year when your child doesn’t miss a day of school, unless absolutely necessary.

Support our P&C and join the team

Getting involved with our Parents & Citizens Association (P&C) can be a rewarding and enjoyable experience, but many people may be unsure of how it works. If you’ve never been involved in a P&C before, come along to a meeting and see what takes place. Attending a meeting is a great way to get familiar with what the P&C does, and hear the many options available for you to help out. Our P&C will hold their AGM tomorrow night (February 23) followed by the general meeting. The meeting will start at 7:00pm in the Admin Block and new members are always welcome. While we will be electing our 2021 Executive Team at this meeting, please rest assured, there will be no pressure on anyone who attends to take on an official role; however, any support you can give throughout the year will be greatly appreciated.

Student Teachers

Over the next two weeks we will be hosting a group of 13 Griffith Uni first year student teachers who will be making their first school visit as part of their four year teaching degree. These student teachers will visit every year level and specialist teachers in groups of two or three over their 10 day visit. They will generally spend one day in a room with the 13 students spread out over the six year level drafts. I am sure they will be a bit nervous, but will find their time at Rochedale, and teaching as a career, extremely satisfying. Please give them a smile and make them feel welcome if you see them around over the next fortnight.

Interschool Sport

Interschool sport begins this week for Years 5 and 6 as part of our Semester One, 10 week season. Our students will represent Rochedale playing Football (soccer), Netball and Touch Football. As a school, we are very pleased to be able to offer a range of sporting opportunities to our students and give our sporting superstars a chance to excel. My sincere thanks to those staff members who give up their time to take on the coaching and managing roles of our school sports teams, to provide our students with these opportunities. Best wishes for a great season.

Building Works

Work started today on the new ROSHCA building. This building is a prefabricated building which will be transported into school in approximately five sections. The site has been fenced off and we hope in three to four weeks we will be able to commission the new building into our ROSHCA program and eliminate our waiting lists.

Junior Playground: While work on the initial playground project is progressing well, I am very happy to announce that Phase 2 of this project has now been approved jointly funded by the school and the Department of Education. Phase 2 will see the tiered seating and water mitigation work extended right to our school fence and include some new slides for students to use. The final phase of this project is redoing the shade structure to fit the new facility. This work has not been approved or financed yet, I will keep you updated on this progress. Meanwhile Phase 1 and 2 will continue to be constructed over the remainder of the term.

Before school – the Green Zone.

Our school, like many others in Queensland, has a clearly designated area for children to sit before school. This area has been defined with a green line. When children arrive at school they need to remain in the ‘Green Zone’ and not move off until 8.30am when music plays to signal this move. Students should not move out of this area at any time before the music to drop off bags etc, as they should not be around classrooms unless invited by a teacher. The ‘Green Zone’ includes the tuckshop for ordering and drink taps and toilet. Children are expected to wait quietly for the start of school and not run around and play and risk injury; before school is not a playtime. These rules are not designed to make students (or parent’s) lives difficult – it is purely a safety issue. Having your child sit with you in a different area or playing games may seem reasonable to you however, we have found it encourages other children who are not under your care to also be in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing unsupervised. Children can become confused and anxious if parents model and tell them to ignore some rules while staff are saying the opposite. Please help us keep every child safe by teaching children to follow all of our rules while on our school site.

Learner Profile: Attribute focus for the week – Risk Takers – Students should try something new or attempt something challenging in relation to their school work. This may be done as an entire class or as an individual, check with your class teacher. If it is being done individually, children should share their risk taking goals with their class teacher.                

Kind regards
Keith Graham
Principal

Rochedale State School has a relentless focus on Reading. We know that reading well, holds the key to developing deep understandings of all other learning areas. The culture of our school is evident to all – we have a super hero, Captain Readit who comes from the planet Vocab and has a catchphrase, “May the words be with you!” We have Rusty the Reading Dog who encourages even the most reluctant reader to read to him as he patiently listens. Every child has a reading goal and is taught the strategies to help them attain these goals, and the goals are shared with parents, so at home they can continue that support. We have a school mantra that insists Every Child, Every Night – READS!

However, it may be a baffling process for parents to understand how to help their child with reading, especially beginning readers, so I thought I would share a couple of helpful tips…

1. You can never read too many books to your child. Sharing books instils a love of reading, a deeper understanding of the reading process – we read left to right, top of the page to bottom, pictures hold clues – and vocabulary is broadened.
2. Introducing your child to great authors helps them in turn appreciate differences in authors’ styles and encourages them to search for their own favourite authors and books. Much loved authors at RSS are Michael Morpurgo, Pamela Allen, Roald Dahl, Jeannie Baker, Mem Fox, Dr Seuss, David Walliams, Jackie French, Colin Thompson – the list is endless. Public Libraries are a great source of quality reading materials too.
3. Early reading involves decoding the words on the page – this means children must understand letter/sound connection to be able to stretch out a word or chunk sections of a word to decipher what it is. This is phonetic knowledge. At Rochedale, we follow the Jolly Phonics Program and teach letter sounds in a particular order. Children will often bring home letters to learn – this is the foundation to decoding words and therefore intrinsically linked to writing development as well.
4. Sight words are an important part of building early readers. RSS has devised a 300 basic sight words list called ‘Captain Readit’s Sight Words’. These are the most common words found in all books. If children learn how to recognise these words by sight, it helps with reading fluency and therefore comprehension. Children bring home sight words to learn too. We recommend making this a fun time. Some fun ideas for learning sight words are:

• Place the words onto cards, spread them out on the table. Give yourself and your child a fly swatter. First person to swat ‘can’ keeps the card, keep playing until no cards are left. Winner is the person with the most cards.
• Make two copies of the words. Lay them face down on the table. Play concentration.
• Draw around the shape of the word – this helps children who learn visually to remember the shape of the word.
• Get a paintbrush and bucket of water – paint the words on concrete or any surface that works for you. This repetition consolidates knowledge of the word.
• Write the words in chalk on the pavement, wall or any surface. Bounce a ball on the word and say it when the ball hits the word – variations: toss a beanbag on the word, throw a hoop over the word, skip on the word, crawl along the ground and say the word as you kamikaze crawl past it… Often, a physical action helps to cement the words into your child’s brain, especially if your child is a kinaesthetic learner (ie learning by doing).

As always, promoting that partnership between home and school.
Denise Wardle
Deputy Principal (P-1)

Dear Parents/caregivers,

The International Baccalaureate – Primary Years Program is a conceptually based program that facilitates student’s development and understanding of seven key concepts. As the basis for learning and teaching, the children inquire into these concepts through the learning areas from the Australian Curriculum: English, Mathematics, Science, History Geography, Civics and Citizenship, Economics and Business, The Arts, Health and Physical Education, Technologies and Languages.

The reason that concepts are so important is that they, unlike facts, don’t change. When most of us were at school Pluto was a planet, the atom was the smallest matter known and the USSR was the largest country on Earth. Now Pluto is no longer a planet, scientists have found matter smaller than atoms, and the USSR no longer exists. However, the essence of each concept remain stable. For example, change is still about how things alter, connection remains about how they link together and perspective is still about how people look at the same thing differently.

The seven key concepts that are focused upon within the PYP program are: Change, Connection, Causation, Responsibility, Form, Function and Perspective. These are further supported by a range of related concepts that add greater depth to the children’s knowledge and understanding. The inquiries into the concepts are facilitated by the teachers who choose the most appropriate knowledge, strategies and tools for the children to construct their knowledge. For us at Rochedale State School this knowledge is sequenced through the Australian Curriculum.

Building upon the knowledge and experiences they bring to school, all children at Rochedale State School learn about these concepts from Prep and continue to construct a deep complex understanding of them as they progress through their primary schooling. They learn about each one and about how they link this learning to develop their understanding. These are understandings that contribute to the children developing a foundation for life – long – learning.

Have a fantastic week
Paul Kelly
PYP Coordinator

Welcome to Week 5 of 2021!

Brain Teasers

Q. A time when they’re green, A time when they’re brown,  but both of these times, cause me to frown, But just in between, for a very short while, they’re perfect and yellow and cause me to smile. What am I talking about?

A. Bananas

Congratulations to Talia T in 6C for working this one out.

Q. Which of the following words don’t belong in the group and why?

CORSET, COSTER, SECTOR, COURTS, ESCORT,

A. COURTS. All the others are anagrams of each other

Congratulations to Levi E in 3G for cracking this one. 

Captain Read It

Congratulations to our Captain Read It Winners from Week 4

Prep D           Zaki P
1K                  Zahladee F
2H                  Lamisa P
3K                  Mason J
4E                  Ben R
5M                  Luke B
6R                  Kendra S

Have a great week!
Jackie and Lorraine

Next meeting – AGM and General Meeting - Tuesday 23 February, 7:00pm – Staff Room: All are welcome.

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Rochedale State School’s Parents and Citizens Association (P&C) will be held Tuesday 23 February, 7:00pm in the Staff Room (located at the rear of the Administration Building). At the AGM, all Executive positions are deemed vacant and elections are held. Please read last few week’s newsletters for more information on positions.

This will be followed by a General Meeting at 7:30pm where community discussion on current topics happens. Please download your meeting pack from the relevant folder here:

https://rochedalesspandccomau.sharepoint.com/:f:/s/RochedalePnC/EjCz53hqIgVIs5eBCH-5gpoBKnJZbVKkr8MO-ZDhiD8MLg?e=NSDKwp

The most common view of P&C is the efforts and involvement of parents to raise funds to provide better resources for the students. During the year, the on-going commitments are voted on and one-off projects nominated. The P&C meet every fourth Tuesday of every month and all registered members and staff can agenda wish list items by completing the “Project Funding Proposal Form” available through the Secretary. At the February general meeting the motions are the ongoing planned donations to school.

P&C meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of the month unless holidays demand a change. These meetings are held in the school’s staffroom starting at 7.00pm. Please come along. With your support I am sure we can continue to improve our school and its community. If you have any ideas, concerns or suggestions please contact me via the links below.

Regards
Greg Heath
P&C President
For any enquiries please contact us on the addresses below:
Website: https://rochedalss.eq.edu.au/Ourcommunity/PandC/Pages/PandC.aspx
Email: pandc@rochedalss.eq.edu.au

2021 BUS PASS COLLECTION

Parents of student/s that held a 2020 Clarks Logan City Bus Pass that rolled over for 2021 have until Friday, 26 February 2021 to collect their passes.  If these passes are not collected by this date you will need to reapply.  Collection times at our depot are Monday – Friday  08:00am – 10:00am and 2:00pm – 4pm.  If you have any enquires please contact us at info@clarkslogancity.com.au