Learning in Year 3

The Year 3 classes are learning how to create compound sentences and writing persuasive texts.  

Year 4 Book Study

The Year 4 students are currently doing a book study on The Twits by Roald Dahl. They are enjoying reading about the practical jokes that Mr and Mrs Twit play on each other.  

For some school holiday fun go see The Twits at Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) 

Parent Teacher Interviews and Report Cards

Parent and community members play an important role in their children's education and a strong partnership between parents and schools enriches the learning experience.

There are both formal and informal opportunities for parents to find out about their children's progress at school.  All Education Queensland Schools, provide parents/carers with a formal written report on their child's performance twice a year. In addition to this formal parent teacher interviews are also held twice a year. 

This year at Craigslea, the Semester One Report Card will be sent in the first week of Term 3.  The reason for this change is to allow the students and teachers an increased opportunity to engage in the teaching and learning of the curriculum.  The Semester Two, Report Card will be sent in the last week of school in Term 4. 

The parent-teacher interviews are held twice a year.  These will be held in Term 1, Week 10 and Term 3.  Additional information on parent-teacher interviews held this term will be be provided soon. 

PBL & Social Emotional Learning

At Craigslea SS we explicitly teach children self-regulation and emotional control to help them better understand their emotions, sensory needs, and thinking patterns.  We use a program called the Zones of Regulation. The Zones of Regulation uses four colours to help children self-identify how they're feeling and categorise it based on colour.  They learn different strategies to help them cope and manage their emotions based on which colour zones they're exhibiting.  Next fortnight, we'll unpack what each of the colours (zones) indicate.

Peer Mediators

Last Thursday, our 2022 group of Peer Mediators had their day of intensive training in preparation for their important roles in working with children in the playground.  Jocelyne Chirnside (the program developer and trainer of Bridge Builders) was glowing with praise about the skills shown by the group of Year 6s who worked with her on Thursday.

This week our mediators have teamed up with a peer and have began to venture out into the Year 1 and 2/3 playgrounds.  The weather hasn't been on our side, but all mediators will have been out at least once by the end of next week.  In week 7, they will also be making their way to the Prep playground to help our youngest students!  Peer mediators are tasked with the responsibility of guiding children through the process of conflict resolutions when they encounter problems in the playground. They only deal with the small conflict - friendship issues, games disagreements etc.  Anything major such as physical or strong verbal misconduct, will be referred to an adult on duty.  Our Peer Mediators can be identified in the playground by the yellow hi-vis vest they wear. 

Please talk about the Peer Mediators - commonly known as the Bridge Builders - with your child at home.  Building familiarity by talking about it means they are more likely to seek help and ultimately build their conflict resolution skills. 

Teachers of Years 1, 3 and 5 have almost set up the Bridge Builders online learning program. There will be some explicit teaching around the lessons in class time with follow-up in homework time.  I have heard a number of stories where families have adopted the language and strategies with great success. Spending time with your child as they work through the follow-up learning, really helps set them up with successful conflict resolution skills. 

Our Prep, Year 2, 4 and 6 students who are not subscribed to the online learning will continue to receive explicit teaching on a needs basis. This includes proactive learning, as well as responsive teaching of skills. 

Sarah Abdy and Natalie Marhinin