Welcome back to Term 3!!! :)

Mission statement photoI hope your holidays were everything your family wanted, or needed, them to be!

What bright, happy faces we were greeted with on Tuesday morning, and that included the parents! The children were so happy to see friends and teachers, and so switched on to start learning, that classrooms were alive with conversations, stories and questioning! (Whilst Monday was an extremely productive day for our staff……..work doesn’t feel right without children there!)

Our daily Reading, Writing and Maths routines are in full swing and our Inquiries have started with excitement and enthusiasm…………..children are natural inquirers as we know and the questions have been coming thick and fast already!

Our Preps are being scientists and inquiring into what makes things move! They will be looking at the BIG IDEA of CONSEQUENCES through experimenting with many different objects and discovering what makes them move and why? They will be learning the skills of being a scientist and I can’t wait to share with you their questions and findings over the next few weeks!

Our Juniors are inquiring into the processes that products go through and their BIG IDEA is CHANGE. They are visiting the YAKULT factory this week to see the origins of a product and the process these materials go through to become a useable product. The questions asked by our students at the factory have been amazing- get ready for many questions about how things are made parents!!

Our Middles started with a ‘bang’ also on Tuesday with the provocation ‘what ideas, beliefs, values are important to you’ and ‘if you had to express these to aliens how could you do it?’ Their inquiry is looking at how people express these things to others and how do we know this? The BIG IDEA is REFLECTION and what EVIDENCE can we find to support our thinking!

Our Seniors spent yesterday in Melbourne at the Immigration and Chinese Museums………their inquiry is focussed on immigration and the impact it has on individuals and communities. The students have been asked to put a box together that represents their families’ history including evidence of any movement or relocation they have been involved in.

The teachers also spent time this week inquiring! Our three Professional Learning Teams used Monday as a Project Day’. The Mathematics Team, Literacy Team and Transdisciplinary Team set goals for the day and, after expending the kind of energy you see on the Amazing Race, achieved many of the set goals. There is a common understanding at Kunyung about how we teach our students and Monday was ensuring all of our planning documents, big ideas and skill based continuums, for example, were consistent throughout the school and  all up to date and accessible. It was both a productive and enjoyable day with a clear purpose. In all rooms, where teams were working, it was ‘heads down’ and work, work, work!

As I said at the start of this article, it was ‘hit the ground running’ at Kunyung this week and, when I think about it, it’s only Thursday!!!!photo (11)I

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible throughout the term and just can’t wait for the Musical!!!!

Kim Jackson

Assistant Principal

Curriculum Focus @ Kunyung! :)

IBlogoGood Day Kunyung Families 

Having worked in quite a few schools over a number of years, I have seen many similarities and differences in workplaces.  A similarity in all the schools I have noticed is parent interest and comment on a school’s curriculum. I think that parents, in general, really want to make sure that what their children are learning is the best it can be (Which is awesome!) and I love the fact that parents feel they can share their thinking with the school. (On that note, a HUGE THANK YOU for taking the time to see our school in action for our Student Led Tours- we were so proud of our students and their ability to articulate their learning to you all!) J

We really appreciate the feedback we get from parents and, always consider what has been communicated to us. Does it mean we can, or will be able to, implement every suggestion that we get? No………that would not be possible BUT in the crazy, busy place that a school is……time is always given to consider suggestions and look for possible ways to address ideas! Some solutions are quick and easy and others take time to develop plans for implementation, some are considered and not acted on at all. Please know that we have many hours of discussions and planning per week to ensure we have a well-balanced, rigorous and dynamic curriculum that will allow all of our students to develop and grow!

We recognise that we can always improve on our curriculum and there are many factors that influence this growth and development. Some include:

  1. STAFF: We are our own worst enemies as we push ourselves to be the best teachers we can be- always reflecting!
  2. STUDENTS: Another push to improve comes from our students! As they accept more and more ownership of their learning, they raise their expectations of what we need to provide for them!
  3. PARENTS: Many parents communicate with us the areas they would like to see lifted or focussed on and their thoughts, feelings and questions about what we are teaching.

A couple of areas of focus being developed, as a result of student, teacher and parental feedback, include our School’s Spelling Program and Sustainability @ Kunyung Initiative.

Spelling @ Kunyung

All classes have outlined their current spelling practices in Level Teams and have decided to make spelling (as part of writing) an enhanced focus for 2015 and beyond. As well as maintaining current evidence based practice, we have discussed ways to further develop our spelling program. We want improved spelling results that can be evidenced in student writing not just improved results in isolated spelling tests.

We have decided that all students- particularly Years 1-4 will be using the online program Spellodrome for homework, as a way to support our classroom focus. We would really appreciate parental support at home to help us really lift our students spelling and the quality of their writing as a result. Each class teacher will be outlining their expectation for weekly spelling homework and information will also be available on the Kunyung Level Team Blogs.

Sustainability @ KunyungInquiry

In the coming weeks the KEAST/I See I Care Team will be launching our Sustainability @ Kunyung Program. Dave Walker is our KEAST Teacher and he is going to be supported by Jenny Mann from Bunnings, Lucy (Noah’s mum JM) and Alison (April’s mum JI) to launch our program. We will be looking at ways to authentically link to our Units of Inquiry and make our changes sustainable:

Term 3 Units of Inquiry with a possible Sustainability Link:

PREPS

CENTRAL IDEA

Living things share resources in order to survive and grow

JUNIORS

CENTRAL IDEA

Earth’s resources including water are used in a variety of ways

MIDDLES

CENTRAL IDEA

Earth’s surface changes over time as a result of natural processes and human activity

Our new program may involve activities like (These tasks will be determined by the students so are only a guide at this stage):

  1. The election/choice of 2 ‘eco monitors’ from each class.109179450
  2. A composting process in each class
  3. Development of kitchen gardens
  4. Active use of worms farms and composting bins
  5. Work on reducing the ‘litter’ in the yard/Nude Food
  6. Designing signs to promote respecting our facilities ie. Toilets

Our Units of Inquiry look something like this for the rest of Term 2…………………..the Preps and Middles are looking into ‘How we express ourselves’, the Juniors and Seniors are looking into ‘How we organise ourselves’ The Seniors have a focus on Entrepreneurship.

PREPS

‘How we express ourselves’

Juniors

‘How we organise ourselves’

Middles

‘How we express ourselves’

Seniors

‘How we organise ourselves’

CENTRAL IDEA

People use symbols to be expressive and to communicate.

CENTRAL IDEA

Systems are created to meet the needs of a community

CENTRAL IDEA

Communication facilitates personal and global connections

 

CENTRAL IDEA

Trading depends on the ability to produce goods and supply services that can be exchanged

AN INQUIRY INTO

Different types of symbols

Why people use symbols

How different groups use symbols to express ideas

AN INQUIRY INTO

The needs of a community

Different kinds of transport work
Transport connections  to the needs of the community

AN INQUIRY INTO

Forms of communication

 

Barriers to communication

Local and global Connections made with communication

AN INQUIRY INTO

How trade connects people by providing for their needs and wants

 

Fair trade

 

CONCEPT: Function

RELATED CONCEPT: Communication

CONCEPT: Connection

RELATED CONCEPT:

Systems

 

CONCEPT: Connections

 RELATED CONCEPT: Communication

CONCEPT: FUNCTION,

RELATED CONCEPT:

Trading

Parents are invited to attend a short Parent Forum on Tuesday 9th June @ 5.30 (In Kunyung’s Conference Room). The purpose of the forum is to provide input into our 2015 IB PYP Evaluation process.

Kim Jackson (Assistant Principal)