Clubs

Morning Club is daily from 8am in the library and all students are very welcome.

Maths Club is Monday afternoon after school until 4pm. Students from Year 2-6 are very welcome to attend.

READ every night with your child.

The following link from LearnFast has many useful tips and ideas for parents and teachers looking for resources on a variety of topics including: ebooks, checklists, latest research & studies and webinar links.  They are continually adding to their resource page. There is information on Bullying, Auditory Processing, The Learning Brain, Improving Social and Emotional Learning, Early Reading and Maths skills, working memory and many other areas of your child’s development.

https://info.learnfasthq.com/free-learning-resources?utm_campaign=Free%20resources&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=68357726&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9ucGcpBuq6jm2Lgqton6V3RqZ1JQXDr_sZMGFZ5reH1L_qxhC5nuSODm8f8R9DyDeuTmWZwhkUEbRljIgOjkgY3atuUQ&_hsmi=68357726

Dyslexia

Sometimes students who struggle with reading and spelling have Dyslexia. The main areas they struggle with are learning sounds, decoding words, fluency and spelling. Dyslexia occurs on a continuum from mild to severe. The Australian Dyslexia Association may have some information on their website that might benefit your child. SPELD also has some great resources for students struggling with reading and spelling.

Students who have dyslexia often have an inquiring mind and are very intelligent. They can problem solve, comprehend new ideas and are creative, analytical thinkers. Last year, all our teaching staff participated in an online dyslexia course. This has benefitted many children, not just those with Dyslexia. Strategies to assist dyslexic children include:

Ideas taken from SPELD SA Newsletter, Autumn 2003

To assist students with Dyslexia teachers use many different strategies.

To improve listening skills

• They gain student's attention eg, use name, touch shoulder, gain eye contact, keep still
• Teach student to "stop, look and listen" when the teacher speaks
• Give one instruction at a time and allow time to process meaning
• Keep instructions short and simple. Accompany verbal information with visuals, demonstrations, headings on the board. 

To engage students with different learning styles

• Design lessons to involve:
  • visual -eg, colour-coding, writing key points on the board, demonstrations
  • auditory - eg, explanations, have students repeat, use drama, discussion
  • kinaesthetic -eg, writing, making things, doing things
  • thinking - eg, analysing, organising, proof-reading, evaluating, summarising, asking themselves questions
• Encourage responses which reflect different learning styles
  • Visual: picture, chart, diagram
  • Auditory: oral, cassette, play
  • Kinaesthetic: model, movement

Individual Support Adjustments

• Sit student near a helpful "buddy"
• Ensure worksheets are written simply, in large print (Sasson or Comic Sans, font 12 or 14pts) with clear spacing
• Use coloured overlays/paper
• Have emergency supply of equipment: pen, pencil, ruler, eraser

Improving organisation

• Model, explain and provide a method of organisation for routine tasks eg, getting books/pencils etc, clearing up, giving out homework instructions, collecting parent notices
• Help student to devise checklists to tick off eg, for homework requirements, sports gear, managing complex tasks like research work, setting priorities for assignments
• Teach students a system for completing tasks, eg, tidying their desk/drawer, getting changed for PE, looking for something they've lost, and encourage them to use it as part of a regular routine

Show understanding

• Acknowledge that students with dyslexia have to work harder than most of their peers and even then the results may be disappointing (both to the teacher and the student)
• Appreciate that dyslexics have good days and bad days
• Accept that progress will be slow and praise small achievements
• Recognise signs of fatigue and give a break or change activity
• Appreciate dyslexics' difficulty learning facts by heart
• Don't ask a dyslexic to read to the class unless they want to
• They may lose and forget things however hard they try
• They may be very sensitive to their difficulties and go to extreme lengths to hide them
• Teachers are patient. If one approach does not work, they try something different, work on one-step at a time, go back to a stage they can manage and build from there.

Modifying the task

• Teachers modify tasks, eg, accept dot points instead of sentences
• Teacher often don't ask dyslexics to copy from the board; they find it very difficult and may miss words/lines/whole chunks of information
• Teachers shouldn’t ask students to finish work at recess and lunch or take it home; instead they reduce the amount or modify the task
• Accept that progress will be slow and praise small achievements

Building confidence and self-esteem

• Reward effort
• Captialise on special interests and talents
• Give opportunities to shine
• Help students set manageable goals and work out strategies to attain them
• Look for opportunities to give descriptive praise