This week we turn our attention to how we Listen as a Learner and as a Global Citizen. Over the past few newsletters, we have looked at the acronym, CALLed to Think and the different components. We have focused on C= Communicate, A= Act and L= Look. This week is an emphasis on L= Listen... Lourdes learners listen as both a learner and global citizen.

Listen as a Learner

When developing the traits of a learner who listens, we are encouraging the student to listen to instructions, listen to understand, listen to others’ ideas and listen to feedback. Just because someone can hear, doesn’t mean they are listening! Listening to obtain information and to understand the key message is important for learning. So too is being a critical listener who can evaluate the ideas heard and form opinions. Particularly in the early years of schooling, listening is an essential building block to developing communication and language skills. Developing the ability to identify and discriminate between sounds, and understand them in words and sentences, are skills crucial for the development of speech, phonological awareness, reading and writing. Effective listening helps a learner follow and complete tasks. Listening to others helps vocabulary, comprehension and language development. These skills are essential building blocks for literacy and learning. Students at Lourdes are encouraged to listen to the teacher, listen to each other and to value listening and learning from others. This is what it means to ‘Listen as a Learner.’

Listen as a Global Citizen

Likewise, when developing the traits of a global citizen who listens, we are valuing the traits of someone who listens to the voice of others and considers their viewpoint, even if different from their own. We help students recognise that people are shaped by their culture and experiences thus it is important to listen critically to understand why people may have a different opinion to their own. When listening we encourage compassion, empathy and concern for others. This is what it means to ‘Listen as a Global Citizen.’

Subsequently, we aim for our Lourdes Learners to Listen as a Learner and as a Global Citizen.

Term 3 Integrated Units of Work eg. METS

It’s hard to believe that we are nearing the end of our third term for 2020 which has certainly looked a lot different to last term! All year levels this term have completed engaging integrated units or tasks, for example, a METS task (Maths, English/Engineering, Technology, Science). It has been fabulous to hear students explain their thinking and learning and to see them apply their knowledge and skills learnt in all the different learning areas, to their designs and creations.

Preps applied their mathematical understandings and skills of counting, tallying and graphing, along with their scientific knowledge of daily changes in the environment to become Weather Watchers. They then created a graph displaying the different weather in August. Wonderful observations made in Prep!

Year 1s designed and created a landscape using what they had learnt in HASS about the types of activities and constructions in the environment, along with their understanding of changing materials learnt in Science, plus their learnings from Maths and Technology about giving and following directions and sequencing steps, to then program a Beebot to travel around their landscape. Great work Yr 1!

After reading ‘George’s Marvelous Medicine’, Year 2s wrote a Procedure and created their own mixtures using knowledge and understandings learnt in English and Science, plus their understandings of multiplication, volume and mass learnt in Maths. Very interesting mixtures indeed!

Year 3s have started to design and create their own game boards involving concepts learnt in Maths and are writing their game rules and instructions for how to play the game. Very clever gamers!

Year 4s used their knowledge of forces and friction learnt in Science, plus their understanding of angles and measurement in Maths, as well as their design skills in Technology, to create amazing marble roller coasters. The most powerful learning students shared was learning how to work as a team to create their designs!

Our chefs of the school tantalised the taste buds of many teachers and students who were made pizzas by the Year 5s. These learners had to create budgets using a spreadsheet and apply their knowledge of fractions and decimals to select items, calculate costs to purchase ingredients and follow a recipe to write a Procedure and make both their pizza dough and pizzas. Delicious!

Year 6 have been investigating and exploring how electrical engineering is a part of our everyday lives with refridgeration, machines and lighting. They will begin looking at the use of formulas and conversions to find out how much electricity we use and compare reneweable sources of energy. Parents are to look forward to a showcase day early next term where students will show their understanding and learnings from Maths, Engineering, Technology and Science. Stay tuned! 

All our teachers and students deserve a break, so too do our support staff who diligently support the learning each and every day. I hope everyone has a safe and relaxing holiday.

Thanks for reading,

Miranda

Miranda Murray

Assistant Principal

miranda.murray@twb.catholic.edu.au