Response to Need (RTN)

Response To Need (RTN) is a process that ensures students receive responsive, high-quality instruction according to their needs, determined by regular assessment. At Ngunnawal Primary School we have a multi-tiered framework for differentiating instruction to support learning for all students.

At Tier 1, school wide prevention efforts are established to promote learning for all students, anticipating that most students will respond to these strategies and will not require additional intervention. Classroom teachers currently implement the Readers Workshop model, 10 Essential Instructional Practices in Literacy, as well as ongoing conferencing, assessment, and goal setting procedures for students.

At Tier 2, students who are identified as being at-risk of experiencing problems receive supplementary or small-group interventions. Tier 3 is an additional layer of intensive supports which aim to address the needs of a smaller percentage of students (5-15%) who are experiencing difficulty and are at risk of developing more severe problems.

If your child is participating in Tier 3 supports, you will be contacted by their classroom teacher or a member of the RTN team. The focus area and goals will be shared with families to ensure there is consistency of approaches and alignment of goals.

The RTN team currently consists of the following teachers: Monica Dray, Gina Harrop, Stacey-Anne Cook, Erin Salleo, Stephanie Tyler and Emma Davidson.

National Day of Action Against Bullying

The theme for 2022 is Kindness Culture. By building Kindness Culture together, we can promote inclusion, respect and community belonging for all students in schools across Australia.

Rebecca Turner

Principal

Reading

Readers Workshop is part of our daily routine and a wonderful way to start the day! At the beginning of the term, we established our expectations around what makes a good reader and what is a ‘good-fit’ book for each of us. Next, we focused on the skill of ‘making connections’ to other texts, to personal experiences and the wider world. We have learnt to find connections in our texts whenever we read independently and we record our connections in a variety of ways to share within our classes.

Writing

This term, we have been learning how to write narrative texts. We have learnt about the structure of the narrative arc. We have used descriptive language to develop interesting characters and settings, and children have learned to correctly use quotation marks to demonstrate speech. We illustrate our knowledge through deconstructing texts in our  ‘Bump it up’ lessons. We collaborated and used a rubric to grade and order the texts. Writing samples and marking rubrics have been displayed in the classroom to support us to ‘bump up’ our writing.

Spelling and Grammar

Students have been exploring digraphs and trigraphs in spelling. Each week the students identify ten words using the focus digraph or trigraph blend. Throughout the week we engage in fun hands-on activities to help remember the spelling rules of the new words. Each word is segmented into its morphemes then students choose a word to investigate further in their word of the week activity. This consists of locating the definition of the word, identifying synonyms, antonyms, and prefixes that give meaning to words. 

Maths

Our first number unit for the year is complete. This unit required students to investigate several key features of whole numbers. Learning tasks engaged students in how to identify ‘odd’ and ‘even’ numbers; representing, recognising and ordering numbers up to five digits; partitioning numbers into their place value and expanded notation; as well as rounding numbers to the nearest tens, hundreds or thousands. Our learning tasks involved a range of whole class, small group, paired and independent activities that provided both support and extension opportunities for students.

HASS

We have been investigating rules and laws, how they are made, by whom and who they are made for. In Civic and Citizenship, students have created their own ‘country’ and have decided on their mode of governance, based on their knowledge of Australian democracy. Students created their own ‘elections’ using Google Forms, and have voted for each other’s leader. They have also drafted a set of rules, and consequences if broken, with which to govern their country.  We may have some future leaders among us!

Chief Minister's Reading Challenge 2022

I can read 30 books!

Ngunnawal Primary School students have entered the Chief Minister's Reading Challenge which commences in Term One each year and concludes in Term Three.

To complete this challenge students will need to read 30 books. Students can make their own book choices, including novels, non-fiction, poetry, or books in a language other than English. Books read to students may also be recorded. If your child is up for a super challenge there is the option to read from a list called ‘Challenge yourself to read something different.’
Please support your child by checking in with them asking them how many books they have read so far? Or by visiting your local library and borrow additional books for them to read at home.

If you would like further information, please visit the following link or contact me on mary.aranguiz@ed.act.edu.au

Happy reading ~ Mary Aranguiz CMRC coordinator

https://www.education.act.gov.au/public-school-life/additional-programs/chief_ministers_reading_challenge

Australian Women’s football team the Commonwealth Bank Matildas will play New Zealand at Canberra’s GIO Stadium on 12 April 2022. 

The Matildas are a huge inspiration for our aspiring young female athletes in Canberra. $1 (plus GST) from every ticket will be donated to the women’s CP national football program for female footballers with cerebral palsy, acquired brain injury or symptoms from stroke. Ticketing information is available from the official Commonwealth Bank Matildas website. The match will also be broadcast live and free on 10 Bold and simulcast on 10 Play and Paramount+.

The ACT Health Directorate has alerted the Canberra and surrounding community to protect themselves against mosquito bites. Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) has been detected in samples from pigs in commercial pig farms at locations in regional New South Wales, northern Victoria and southern Queensland, indicating the virus is likely circulating in the mosquito population.

The alert includes more information about the symptoms of JEV and a list of simple actions to avoid mosquito bites. Public Health Alert: protect against mosquito bites.

Contact Health Media on 0403 344 080 or healthmedia@act.gov.au.