Dear Parents and Carers,

It is very easy when the children are at home to encourage them to develop their literacy skills. We can easily have them read their reader to us, read a recipe or set of instructions, or even write a shopping list or note. We sometimes forget that maths is a skill that needs practice and that there are lots of simple things you can do to help your child with their maths skills at home. Below are some examples that you may like to try with your child.

One of the secrets to being confident with maths is having a toolkit of different calculation strategies, and knowing when and how to use them. If your child is in Years 5-6, you can help build their maths toolkit by involving them in the maths problems you come across in daily life, using ideas such as these.

• Ask your child to calculate answers for you – e.g. ‘Could you work out how much edging we need to buy to go around the new garden bed? It’s going to be three metres long and 1.5 metres wide.’
• Ask your child to estimate answers and then check their estimates – e.g. ‘Petrol today costs $1.65 per litre and we needed 56 litres, so how much will that be, roughly?’
• Show how you choose different strategies by talking through maths problems as you work them out – e.g. ‘There are 10 kids coming to your party, plus us makes 14 people altogether, and this recipe makes 6 muffins. Double that is 12, which is not enough, so we’ll multiply all the quantities by 3 and end up with 3 x 6 equals 18 muffins – one left over for each of us!’
• Play the Four Card Century Challenge: draw four random cards (ignoring any picture cards), then arrange them in any order and use mathematical operations to create a calculation which equals as close to 100 as possible. For example, if you draw 2, 3, 8 and 8, you could make ’83 + 28′ [equals 111], or ‘288 ÷ 3’ [equals 96], or ‘(8 x 8) + 32’ [equals 96]. Increase the challenge by drawing more cards and/or raising the target number.

If your child is in the younger years, next time you go shopping with your child, encourage them to be your bargain shopper to save money. This will give them confidence as well as helping with their maths skills.

• How much of a discount? Encourage your child to look out for products on sale. For instance, you might see a beach towel reduced from $12.99 to $6.99. Ask your child to work out how much money has been saved with this reduction.
• Older children can use their fractions skills to solve harder problems. For instance, ask them how much a $20 lampshade would be if it were discounted by 50%.
• Which brand is cheaper? Show your child a range of brands of the same product and ask them to work out which is the cheaper brand. Hint: check the shelf label for unit prices.
• Save in bulk - This exercise is good for an older child who is learning division. Ask your child if it is cheaper to buy in bulk. For instance, a single roll of paper towel is $4.00, but a package of three rolls is $10.00. Is it more economical to buy the paper towels in bulk?
• Have the children collect and count items as you put them in the bag or trolley.

Remember that Mathematics is a skill we need for life and a subject that we need to show our students can be fun to learn.

Thank you for your ongoing care and partnership in your child’s learning.

God bless.

Rachel Smith

Principal

Principal’s Notes

Term 3 Pupil Free Days

As communicated by Ross Fox, Director of Catholic Education, there will be two pupil free days in ACT Primary Schools in Term 3. The dates for these scheduled Pupil Free Days are Friday 5^th August and Friday 9^th September, 2022. OSHC will be providing care for those families if needed on those days.

Lost Property

We had a large number of items in lost property when it was sorted through yesterday, including a number of unnamed items. Please ensure your child’s name is on their belongings and encourage them to look through lost property when they misplace an item.

Hats On!

I remind parents and students all students will be required to wear hats again at school during Recess and Lunch time from the 1^st August.

COVID Update

Please note that the safety and welfare of students and staff will always be the priority for all decision making by Catholic Education and our school. We ask that you support the school by keeping your child/ren home if they are at all unwell. Parents will be notified and asked to collect their child/ren if they are exhibiting any symptoms of being unwell.

Mask wearing for students in primary schools is at the discretion of the student and families, it is not recommended that students in K-2 wear masks. We will advise the community when a significant number of cases are reported. If your child tests positive to COVID please inform the school. Rapid Antigen Tests are available for distribution on request. Please forward these requests to the front office. We thank you for your continued assistance and support in keeping our school safe and open.

Learning Time

Last week I wrote about how valuable learning time is and how arriving on time to school is vital. Below is a graph highlighting just how important arriving time is.