APS Round One

Today was round one of our sporting competition and saw us travel to AB Patterson. Although the Year 8 & 9 Volleyball teams did not win, they played with great sportsmanship and gentlemanly attitudes. I hope the boys enjoyed their first round, and I look forward to watching them improve throughout the season.

Readers are Leaders

During this term I have been working with the students to develop some healthy reading habits. I have been a little surprised at how resistant some students have been to commit to a regular reading schedule. We have spoken may times about the importance of reading with regard to the exercise and stimulation it provides for the brain and thinking processes, and we have set goals of independently reading for at least 15-20 minutes each day. This should then easily translate into at least one book each month.

I wonder how the students would feel if England's Education Secretary, Michael Gove, could make his suggestion that high school students should read 50 books each year come true.

Read the article here.

Part of the joy of reading a book is taking time to immerse yourself in the story, as well as spending time reflecting on the story, the characters, the plot and the messages being communicated by the author. I am not sure that I agree that reading a book each week will allow you the time to do this. So while I may not agree with putting strict numbers on how many books need to be read, I certainly do subscribe to the notion of regular reading as a way to exercise the brain, and as a great way to relax and slow down our busy lives for a while. 15-20 minutes each day is all it takes.

RaVE

Today in RaVE (Religious and Values Education) the students shared some belief statements about stewardship and we placed ourselves along a human continuum to show whether we strongly agreed, strongly disagreed, or felt somewhere in between.

I was very impressed with some of the statements that the students came up with and how much thought they put into deciding where to stand on the continuum.

Some of the statements were:

• We are responsible for all the animals and therefore should not kill any animals for any reason


• We should have a no car day where everyone is forced to walk, ride a bike, or take public transport to school/work


• As good stewards of our environment we must stop littering


• Plastic bags should be replaced with compostable environmentally friendly bags


• We should treat all other people how we want to be treated

I am looking forward to our next lesson when we will have the opportunity to discuss these statements in more detail.

Earth Hour

Tomorrow , March 26, is Earth Hour - an Australian led initiative to encourage people around the world to reduce their resource consumption. You can participate by turning off all your lights between 8:30pm and 9:30pm tomorrow night. What will you do beyond Earth Hour to reduce your consumption of our precious resources? Read more about Earth Hour HERE.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Next week we will have an opportunity for parents and teachers to come together to reflect on the students' learning during Term 1 and to discuss ways that further progress can be made during Term 2 and beyond. Although the interviews are only short, this time in invaluable in strengthening the home-school partnership. Make sure you click on the Parent/Teacher Interviews link on the College website. I am genuinely looking forward to talking with you next week.

Talking With Your Children - a message for parents

With the recent spate of natural disasters and the ensuing media coverage and graphic images, it is important that we take the time to talk with our children to see how they are dealing with and processing what they are seeing and hearing.

How to Talk with Your Children about the Disaster in Japan contains some great ideas on how you can help your children deal with their emotions and thought processes. Dr Prideaux, the College counselor, is also available if you feel that you and/or your child/ren need someone to talk to.

Keeping Up With The Latest From Japan

Last Friday, March 11, the students of 9P submitted essays that detailed the causes and effects of the 1995 Kobe earthquake. They also explored the lessons learned and proposed some strategies for the future. It seemed quite surreal as I marked these essays on Friday night while at the same time watching the drama of the Sendai earthquake unfold.

When natural disasters occur, keeping up with the latest and trying to avoid misinformation and media sensationalism can be a challenge. I have found the following links helpful:

How to follow the Japanese earthquake on the web - this site provides links to a number of resources that can help in keeping you up to date.

BBC News - the BBC site provides a Live blog, loads of pictures, video news reports, and some before and after satellite images.

I am sure that there are a lot more valuable resources on the web and I encourage you to share them in the comments section of this post.

Photo Day

The annual photo day took place last Tuesday, March 8. This was a great opportunity to freeze time and create a snapshot of how we looked at that moment in time. Part of the fun is taking a silly shot, so I was very pleased when the photographer agreed to one of our student's request for a silly shot. You can see the result of this below:

What a good looking bunch!

The Reading Room

As a parent it can be quite challenging to satisfy the insatiable reading appetite of your children. With so many books and authors how do you keep abreast of good (and appropriate) reads for your children. The Reading Room is a site that contains hundreds of reviews that are categorised according to genre and interest age. This site may be a great tool in helping you to find new and interesting books that will maintain your child's love of reading and assist in developing positive life-long reading habits.

Cybersafety Resource

Last week I posted about digital footprints and the importance of maintaining a positive online presence. Cybersafety is an important component of this. The Australian Government has created the Cybersmart website to help parents and children (including teenagers) become more aware and informed about staying safe online. Take some time and explore this site with your child/children as this could be a great way to begin enjoying the internet together.

Field Trip Photos on Flickr

The photos from yesterday's field trip can be viewed by clicking HERE.

Joala National Park

Our last stop today was a visit to Curtis Falls in Joala National Park, Tamborine Mountain. The students discussed how humans are impacting this environment and what the council is doing to conserve and preserve this area.

Amongst the Mangroves

The students had a great time exploring the Mangroves at Jabiru Island. It was hot and steamy but Mr Holtsbaum did a great job sharing his knowledge of the area.

Coastal Vegetation

We are now leaving the Spit where the students had the opportunity to plant spinex, pig face, and beach bean.

We're Off

We are on our way for a great day of exploring the wetland environments of the Gold Coast to learn how we can live more sustainably with nature.

Mobile Blogging

I have just added the Blogger app to my phone which will enable me to blog easily from wherever I am. I am looking forward to utilising this on our grade eight field trip tomorrow.

Digital Footprints

At yesterday's assembly Mr Jorgensen spoke to the students about the importance of online safety and maintaining a positive online reputation. The messages contained in yesterday's presentation are very important for students in today's 21st century learning environment. A student's online reputation is an important tool that can potentially enhance their future choices - evidence of a positive and productive digital footprint is something that employers will increasingly be looking for from their prospective employees. On the other hand, evidence of inappropriate behaviour, images, and language may be detrimental to a student's future choices. The partnership between schools and families is vital in ensuring that our young people are using technology in poweful and positive ways while helping them to avoid the pitfalls by understanding the potential hazards.