FROM THE JUNIOR SCHOOL
Reading to Children
The importance of reading to children is widely-documented and no doubt something that most parents do very regularly. School holiday time can be an opportunity to remind ourselves to find some extra moments to share books at home and reap the mutual rewards of these wonderful bonding experiences.
Reading books to children has profound effects on not only their own reading development but also their broader emotional and cognitive development. If this is a daily activity studies show the benefits are significantly greater than if it happens only two or three times per week.
Listening skills, concentration, memory, thinking skills are all important for children’s success in school learning and these are enhanced through being read to. Vocabulary expansion, picking up language patterns and supporting writing skills are some of the more obvious direct benefits. Simply developing a love of reading is an outcome of lifelong importance.
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.“ (Dr Seuss, I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!)
End of Term
Term One finishes for all Junior School classes (3:00 pm) and Outside School Hours Care (6:00 pm) on Thursday 6 April. The Junior School Office closes at 4:00 pm on this day.
Before School Care (7:30 am) and all classes (normal school hours) resume on Wednesday 26 April.
The Junior School Office is closed through the school holidays, reopening at 8:00 am on Monday 24 April. The Penquite Campus Reception is open 9:00 am to 4:00 pm over the term break (Public Holidays excluded) and the Junior School can be contacted via this office if required during the holiday period.
The Vacation Care program commences on Wednesday 12 April and runs on week days until Monday 24 April and full details of this are available online via this link.
On Tuesday 25 April (ANZAC Day public holiday) the College will be represented in the Launceston ANZAC March and students are welcome to participate in this if they wish to.
Winter Uniform
Term Two is the time for all students to be wearing their winter uniform. It is timely now to think about raincoats or japaras which will be needed at school on wet days for transitioning between learning spaces and sometimes for outdoor activities. Warmer uniform items (jumpers, scarves, gloves or mittens and beanies) are also options for young students according to individual preferences as we move into the winter months.
Lachie Wright
Head of Junior School
Aleesah Darlison visits conneXions
Students from Early Learning through to Year 4, were captivated by award-winning guest author, Aleesah Darlison. She captured our attention with her engaging stories and passion for caring for our wildlife and the environment.
Early Learning students were treated to a wonderful storytelling session as they learned about Gouldian Finches. We learned about the luminous dots on chicks’ mouths to assist with feeding, the brilliant colours, and what is happening to their habitat.
The curiosity demonstrated by our Prep students through their thoughtful questions was impressive, as Aleesah’s endangered species picture books captured their attention. “How does algae grow on a turtle’s head?” asked one Prep student. Students were also fascinated by the multipurpose tail and ‘tooting’ defensive mechanism of the woylie!
As part of their investigation into living things, Year 1 explored Coco the Fish with Hands. They learned about the Tasmanian Handfish that lives in the Derwent Estuary and how its habitat is being impacted by invading starfish from the north. Did you know that it is actually a member of the anglerfish family?
Year 2 explored the plight of the Thylacine through Stripes in the Forest. They explored narrative writing, looking at descriptive language. “Why do you make your book so emotional?” was a thought-provoking question. This resulted in a discussion about how you are more interested in a book when it makes you feel things.
Year 3 enjoyed an extremely entertaining League of Llamas session with Aleesah that began with a llama pronking (this is the term given to its jumping gait), and discovering that llamas are related to camels! We looked at the various character attributes of her llama characters, as well as how the names all used the ll from llama, and enjoyed a reading from one of the LoL books. After this, students engaged in a sketching session, where they learned how to draw a llama.
Descriptive and sensory writing was the focus for Year 4. Aleesah guided students on an imaginative journey to set the scene for a story. Closing eyes and adding in detail after detail proved to be highly effective, with every student creating a unique scenario, and gaining new skills for their future storytelling.
conneXions
