Welcome to our third edition of Inspiring Connections for 2019. 

We are often asked what makes an IB Education so great. Our answer is simple, the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) is ideal for students to become active, lifelong learners.

The best start in life
Children’s brains are influenced by our environment from a time before birth. In the early years of education, children’s brains show an extraordinary level of neuroplasticity, the ability for the brain to shape itself to stimulus. Our programme provides education from 4 year olds to the start of the early teen years, shaping our students into the learners they are capable of becoming. We know from research that providing high level literacy, numeracy, social and thinking skills early in life marks success later in life. Providing a safe, stimulating environment in which a child develops a strong identity as a learner is providing them with the best start in life.

Prepared for the future
We know our world is changing, and the skills of today may not be relevant tomorrow. What will the workplaces of our students look like? How do we provide training for them? Our economy is changing and our leaders now need creativity, critical thinking, the ability to problem solve, reflect and adapt, they need entrepreneurial skills, literacy skills, IT skills, people skills. We reject the old model in which the teacher knows all, and the student’s role is to passively listen. This will not provide the skills our students will need to be successful.

The IB’s programmes are different from other curricula because they:

• encourage students of all ages to think critically and challenge assumptions
• use complex, real life examples to teach knowledge and skills
• focus on understanding, not just remembering
• teach students that they are in charge of their learning
• encourage students of all ages to consider both local and global contexts
• develop well-rounded students who can collaborate effectively and act ethically

This produces students who love learning and are motivated to succeed.

We hope you enjoy reading our latest edition. There is so much to celebrate here at Holy Trinity. 

Happy Holidays

Katie and Brendon 

This term in the library, we have had big fun with our Book Week Celebrations.  The theme for 2019 was ‘Reading is my Secret Power’

Over a five-week period the 2019 shortlisted books were unpacked, read and involved in lots of art and craft activities. Voting for our favourite books took place and many discussions were held. We actually got a 50% success rate with our selections for the 2019 winning books.

The Book Week Parade was fantastic and 98% of the children were involved. We clapped, paraded and danced around for almost two hours. The parent support was also very impressive – thank you all, we love Book Week.

Also included in the Book Week Celebrations was a fantastic whole school performance entitled ‘Big Dreams’. The production was put together by a company in Melbourne and focused on the shortlisted books. It was a huge success across all grades.

To finish the celebrations and to tie in with Grandparents’ Day we had our biannual Book Fair. The Book Fair fair was held over three days and raised over $1200 for our school.

God Bless,

Kate Mertz J

Your Friendly Librarian.

2019 Exhibition part one of the journey

This year the students are using the UN goals to guide their exhibition. The students worked collaboratively, sharing ideas and key words and developed their own central idea for their exhibition.

‘Global action can lead to a sustainable future’

The students have just started their research and in the Term 4 edition of inspiring connections we will have a full summary of the 2019 exhibition

Provocation Week

Guest speakers:

Professor Ron Duncan: Ron is an economist who worked in international trade in the World Bank for 14 years and is now an Emeritus Professor at the ANU in the Crawford School specialising in the Pacific region.

David Savage: David is a former Federal Police Officer who has been a UN peacekeeper, aid worker and human rights advisor around the world.

Jeanette Corbitt-Miller: Jeanette is responsible for producing the State of the Environment report for Australia, and is studying Public Policy at ANU’s Crawford School, after a long time in IT.  She works with the Department of the Environment and Energy, and with different agencies and governments to improve our information on environmental issues we have, so that we can find solutions together.  In her studies she is looking at gender and natural resource management. 

Excursions- Hoyts cinema to see “2040”, bus trip to Ginninderry Link - a sustainable homestead - & nearby housing estate                      

UN Sustainable goal experiences

The students viewed several short videos and unpacked confronting statistics related to each UN goal.

We wish to extend an invitation to all members of the school community to attend our exhibition night on the evening of Wednesday 6^th November at 6:30 pm.

Term three has been an exciting term of composing and playing music.

Year one and two students have undertaken an inquiry into rhythmic notation. The students explored different ways of organising and writing music. They used picture cards and developed their own methods for composing and communicating music. What they found was that systems using pictures and other signs were very time consuming to write and could get very confusing when they were trying to put together longer pieces.

The students discovered that the system of rhythmic notation was a great way of writing music.

They brainstormed a list of reasons why it worked so well.

• It’s fast and easy to write
• You don’t need lots of colours
• It’s global, people from all over the world use it.
• It doesn’t take up much space
• It doesn’t matter what language you speak or read and write
• You don’t need much paper
• You don’t need to be a good drawer.

The students then used their new found knowledge and worked in small groups to create short rhythmic patterns which they clapped and played on instruments.

Students in years three to six have been working on units of inquiry based on the theme, How We Express Our Self. Music is a fantastic way to respond to and communicate how you feel about a topic, idea or emotion. Students worked individually and in small groups to compose short pieces on the glockenspiel. We explored the structure and features of well known tunes and tried to include some of these elements in our compositions which were later performed for classmates.

To follow on from this experience students have been working in groups to add musical accompaniment to one of Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes. Students worked cooperatively to develop tunes for each of the roles which reflected how they felt about the character. They also used instruments to create a sound scape to add excitement and bring their poem to life. 

An inquiry into the natural world and its laws; the interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human societies; how humans use their understanding of scientific principles; the impact of scientific and technological advances on society and on the environment.

Central Idea: Individual expression develops from engaging with the joy of creativity.

Learner Profile:

• Risk-taker
• Communicator
• Open minded

Lines of Inquiry:

An inquiry into:

1. Dimensions of creativity
2. Role of the audience in creativity
3. Personal interpretation of expression

Concepts:

• Form
• Connection
• Perspective

Provocation 1: Performances

Learners created skits in groups with props provided, they could do a fractured fairy tale or something their group made up together.

3/4 Learners reflected after their performances…

• Projecting your voice is important to keep your audience engaged.
• Comedy helps to entertain the audience.
• When the audience cannot see the performance, they are not entertained.
• Different voices to mimic characters are important to add entertainment value.
• Creating a new ending to a well-known fairytale make for entertainment.
• The costumes add a character's spirit, so you know what they looked like.
• A hook is important for entertainment.
• When a teammate was stuck for a line, another teammate jumped in to say something.

Provocation 2: Puppet Show & Creative Workshops Incursion

Learners were given insights about the operations of various puppets. Rod puppet, string puppet, glove puppet, hand puppet, finger puppet, marionette puppet, shadow puppet. Imagination, movement, sound and eye focus. Use these four things to turn anything into a puppet.

Provocation Reflections: Learners completed a reflection after the Puppet Show and participating in the Workshop. Learners were able to articulate methods used to entertain the audience. Learners chose five major learnings, many indicated the importance of voice projection, sound effects, body movement and language, and using humour to engage the audience.

Breaking Open the Central Idea: Learners took the central idea and put it into their own words using synonyms.

Tuning In: We looked at how facial expressions convey emotions.

Learners brainstormed and investigated all the different ways we show creativity.

Forms of Creativity

Learners explored various forms of creativity and developed a sample of creativity. Learners then had to reflect on their work and describe how and why it was a form creativity.

Behind the News (BTN) Observations: We watched BTN and made observations on expression, camera angles, visual media and tone of voice. Learners then chose a story from the episode and made a part 2, an interview, a re-enactment or something of their choice. Learners focused on reflecting on what they see within their teammates’ presentations. 

Learners watched various clips on people showing their talents and creativity to entertain an audience. While watching the clips learners took notes on how they were hooked in, what elements of creativity was used and any other noticings. They made some great noticings in their expression, facial and voice, camera angles, body position, music that was used to enhance a performance. Learners were then in pairs and wrote a short story. All short stories were put into a hat and teams had to pick a short story and act it out without using words only expressions and actions. Learners then had to guess what they were doing. We looked at how photography, dance, art and music all entertain and use stories to create emotion with their audience.

Learners made a Personal Inquiry into a form of art that makes them feel something. They unpacked what the form of creativity? How does it make connections to the audience? Does the audience have a role in the performance? If so what? How does it make you feel? Why?

Inquiry into Photography: Learners explored photography as a form of creativity. Learners looked at a variety of creative photographs and investigated how/why these were engaging. Learners took their own creative photographs, incorporating the elements of different angles, light, space, colour and background.

Inquiry into Comics: Learners discussed how humour can create be using to create compelling and dramatic stories. Writing humorously can keep the reader (the audience) interested and engaged. Learners anaylsed different examples of comic strips. Learners considered dialogue, imagery, illustrated and text.

When Music Tells A Story…. Learners viewed two video clips from past Wakakirri performances. We discussed and responded to the following questions: What was the story about? What are the performers trying to teach the audience? What creative elements were used in this performance?

Inquiry into Persuasive Advertising: Learners watched persuasive television commercials and discussed what made these clips effective. Learned viewed samples of persuasive print advertisements from well-known brands (McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Nike, Starbucks etc.). Learners discussed the creative elements that made these ads convincing to buy the product or to do / try something. We also investigated brand recognition, slogans and logos in advertising. Learners created their own persuasive advertisement.

 

Creative Painting & Sketching: Learners were provided with multiple stimulus and textures to develop their own creative painting or sketch. Learners reflected on their peers' creations and describing what they think the form is and how the artwork makes them feel when they view it.

Creative Pieces: Learners chose a form of creativity to make. We had cooking, sketching, dancing, creative writing, puppetry, comics, painting and more! Learners reflected and gave feedback with an assigned buddy in their Buddy Booklets. 

Learners completed an Artist Statement to accompany their creative piece.

Student Voice:

You don’t have to just paint or draw to be creative, you can be creative in all aspects of your life. I have learnt how to engage my audience with something they can relate to. (Freya H)

Creativity is not limited. (William H)

You don’t need a pen, pencil or paper to be creative, all you need is your imagination. (Elliot V B)

You can be creative in many different ways. (Libby F)

I enjoyed the assessment because I got to create a piece on the piano. It was challenging and rewarding. (Izzy M)

I liked the choice in our assessment as it allowed all of us to explore our talents in a creative way. (Dan S)

I learnt how to draw music notes accurately and precisely. (Claire T)

I loved the assessment because I really enjoyed the puppet show so it gave me a chance to make my own puppets while using different voices. (Abbie B)

The audience plays the role of adding a new element to your creative piece such as involving them before during and later. (Robert S)

Showcase of Learning: Learners had the opportunity to share their creative pieces and celebrate their learning with parents and other students. Learners were very proud to share their creative work, artist statements and reflections.

Preschool

Central Idea: Understanding our social responsibility within the natural world

Lines of Inquiry:

• Living and non-living things
• The significance of the natural world for living things
• Our roles as part of the natural world

Key Concepts: Form, Connection and Responsibility

Learner Profile Attributes: knowledgeable, caring and principled.

Living and non-living things

The classes each approached this line of inquiry in different ways; using Venn diagrams, nature walk with magnifying glasses and iPads for photography, a tray of material and magazine pictures to sort. This also incorporated discussion on our Religious Education unit, God's Creation. 

The children defined living and non-living things and the characteristics of living things ie does it breathe air? does it grow and change? does it need food and water?

The significance of the natural world for living things

The preschoolers attended an excursion to the National Zoo and Aquarium as a provocation into animals and their habitats, diet and how to approach animals with respect. This was an excellent platform for further questioning and learning. 

The preschoolers also explored our own natural environment in Curtin, looking for bees and what flowers bees are attracted to. This interest evolved into the importance bees, their role, classifying them and the parts of the bee and designing a bee hotel.

We had the hatching chicks program over two weeks, caring for the chicks and ducks and designing a playground for them.

The children did observational drawings, wrote a prayer of thanks for God's creation and hosted a Father's Day liturgy.

Our role as part of the natural world

The three classes took this in different directions. The Rock Wallabies focused on drought and water conservation in our bathrooms and outside play as well as learning about where our rubbish goes and keeping our waterways pollution free.

The Ground Parrots have focused on recycling, including the Lids for Kids campaign, collecting soft plastics for Coles and a renewed interest sorting rubbish, including feeding our worm farm with their food scraps.

The Black Cockatoos have been sprouting seeds for planting in our newly established vegetable gardens to attract bees, sorting rubbish and avoiding single-use plastics.

All classes acknowledge aboriginal people as the original custodians of the land, each day in our class prayer times.

Preschool

Central Idea: Understanding our social responsibility within the natural world

Lines of Inquiry:

• Living and non-living things
• The significance of the natural world for living things
• Our roles as part of the natural world

Key Concepts: Form, Connection and Responsibility

Learner Profile Attributes: knowledgeable, caring and principled.

This term in Italian Kindergarten has inquired into living and non-living things, how to take care of pets, life cycle of a chicken and habitats. Year 1 studied various types of transport and looked at how people in Venice get around. Year 2 has been busy reading different story books and have written one themselves to read to a friend. Years 3 and 4 have inquired into Italian explorers in particular Marco Polo. 5/6 analysed Italian advertising and have created their own advertisement for an Italian product.

Questo trimestre in italiano l’asilo ha indagato su cose viventi e non viventi, su come prendersi cura degli animali domestici, sul ciclo di vita della gallina e sugli habitat. L’anno 1 ha studiato vari tipi di trasporto e ha esaminato come le persone a Venezia si spostano. L’anno 2 è stato impegnato a leggere diversi libri e ne ha scritto uno da leggere ad un amico. Gli anni 3 e 4 hanno indagato sugli esploratori italiani in particolare Marco Polo. 5/6 hanno analizzato la pubblicità italiana e hanno creato la propria pubblicità per un prodotto italiano.

Sharing the Planet

Central Idea

Protective behaviours contribute to survival in the natural world

Lines of Inquiry

An inquiry into the needs of the natural world (Function)

An inquiry into how communities organise themselves to support growth (Connection)

An inquiry into actions/behaviours required to support survival (Causation)

Provocation

For our provocation each student was given an egg animal to create a safe environment for. They had to use the available resources to make this home with the aim of keeping the egg intact until the end of the day. Students soon realised how important it was to treat their egg animal carefully and gently – being in a safe place was not enough. Actions and behaviours are very important to survival. This was important to know when the incubator arrived full of unhatched eggs.

Following our provocation we explored protective behaviours and how we can support each other and plants and animals in our community and beyond.

 Making Connections to our Learning

We watched and patiently waited for many days while the eggs stayed warm and safe in their special home. Small cracks appeared as the chick pecked and pushed its way out. 

Learner Profile

Inquirers – ask questions, explore new things

Caring – thoughtful actions, helping others, recognising you are part of a group

Using our new knowledge from asking questions, listening to others ideas and reading books we learned how living things organise themselves to survive. We learned that people, plants and animals have lots of similar needs and that they depend on each other to survive. We are interdependent. What we do effects everything around us. We need to look after our own community – pick up rubbish, use water wisely, care for plants in our kitchen garden and recycle and reuse when possible. By doing this we can take care of God’s creation.

Excursion

We went on an exciting trip to Canberra Zoo to learn more about animals and their habitats. We observed lots of animals in created environments and discovered how the zoo keepers have adapted some habitats to support their survival. The caves in the lion enclosure have heated rocks to keep the lions warm in Canberra’s cold winter.

Putting our Learning into Action

Kinder decided to get creative and share our understanding of the needs of animals and their natural habitats. We made dioramas replicating our chosen animal habitat and we then invited our families into our classrooms to share our learning.

How we Organise Ourselves

 Central Idea: Systems are created to meet needs

 An inquiry into:

1. Different types of systems
2. Processes involved in creating systems
3. Systems that support communities changing needs

 Approaches to Learning; Research skills, Communication skills, Thinking skills

Here are 10 reasons why the IB supports our students in the present and also in the future:

1. It encourages students to inquire
2. Understanding a complex and interdependent world
3. PYP students are confident communicators
4. Learning how to learn
5. It encourages International Mindedness
6. Seeing things from different perspectives
7. Students take action
8. Thinking about issues
9. Involving the whole school community
10. Creates caring and responsible citizens

HOW WE ORGANISE OURSELVES
Decisions have a range of consequences

An inquiry into:

1. The process of decision making 
2. Consequences of decision making
3. Evlauating ideas and opinions of others 

We loved learning all about making decisions.

Did you know?

Common Types of Decision-Makers

Making responsible decisions doesn’t come naturally to everyone. It’s a skill that many must be taught. Let’s take a look at three common ways people make decisions. They are:

No Decision

Children fall into the ‘No Decision’ trap when they let their peers or someone other than a trusted adult make decisions for them. They let others tell them what to do instead of making their own decisions.

Many times this happens because children are afraid they will make the wrong decision. They doubt themselves and look to others to decide for them.

Kids who fall into the ‘No Decision’ category need to be reminded that it’s OK to make mistakes. Making mistakes provides an opportunity for learning and growth.

Snap Decisions

Snap decisions happen when children make decisions without properly analyzing the situation. They don’t consider the consequences of their actions and they react to what’s going on.

There are times when snap decisions are OK. Like say choosing between chips and yogurt. That’s not a life altering decision for most people (unless of course you have food allergies or nutritional concerns).

Responsible Decisions

Responsible decision makers think about the consequences of their actions and how it will affect them and the people in their lives.

It’s important that children learn to make responsible decisions on their own.

Sometimes kids need guidance from trusted adults to make good choice. However, there will come a time when they need to rely on themselves to make the right choice.

This is when knowing the decision making process steps comes in handy.

EXCURSION TO GINNINDERRY 

We used Google Earth to measure the courtyard dimensions and then draw the boundaries in their maths books. We sketched the courtyard areas. Taking note of what can and can’t be removed etc.  

Data collection from Kinder students and teachers

Questions:

What play things would you like to see in the courtyard?

What do you think is the most important thing to have in the courtyard?

Would you like to see more seating in the courtyard?

We presented our findings to the P&F. The P&F has accepted our plans and we are now waiting for a contractor to start the work. 

Year 2 are so proud of the inquiry they completed and that real action has resulted.

SHARING THE PLANET
THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE EARTH’S RESOURCES IS ESSENTIAL

An inquiry into:

1. Earth’s finite and infinite resources 
2. The effect of human activity on water 
3. Our responsibility to be good stewards of earth’s resource

PROVOCATION

What are you wondering? 

Early into our unit we went on an excursion to the Cotter Dam. 

It was great to learn all about the how our water gets to our taps. 

As a year we were so thrilled to be able to take action and make our very own beewax wraps. Thank you to Lisa B for being our in-school expert. 

SHARING ALL THAT WE'VE LEARNT ABOUT SHARING THE PLANET