Wednesday 24 February 2016

Middle School Newsletter: Term 1 Week 5

CONNECT WITH YEAR 3/4

Learning and Teaching

In Year 3/4 We Are Learning To....

READING: make predictions and inferences using prior knowledge, linking presented information to form new ideas and attending to text features such as title, diagrams and headings. Good readers anticipate what they will read, try to figure out what is going to happen next and revise their predictions after reading.

WRITING: write and discuss supporting evidence in response to opinions to develop the art of persuasion. 

VCOP (Vocabulary Connectives Openers Punctuation): focus on connectives.  Connectives are words and phrases which join simple sentences to develop a more complex sentence.

MATHS: represent data and interpret a variety of visual representations. What questions can we pose to investigate, how can we record the responses, what types of graphs can we draw to show our information?

UNIT OF STUDY (People Power): Continue to explore the qualities of a good leader. Research and identify the roles and responsibilities of leaders: at a school level and a State and Federal level. The inquiry process will be used: pose a question, research, present information.

SPELLING: use SMART spelling strategies including breaking words into sounds and syllables, identifying the 'tricky' parts of the words and writing the words and sentences from a dictation passage.  Emphasis will also be placed on understanding the meaning of the words with students encouraged to include the words in their writing and oral language.

eLEARNING: use the iPads and Netbooks to support and extend learning through Mathletics and Reading Eggs and for research and publishing purposes.


 Term 1 Calendar Dates
Monday 14th of March: Labour Day Public Holiday
Thursday 17th of March: Curiosity and Powerful Learning Parent Forum (Mentone Primary School)
Thursday 17th March: People Power In visit - community helpers.
Thursday 24th March: Last Day of Term 1

Current notices

Homework: 
Homework in the Middle School is sent home on a Friday and due back the following Thursday. The homework consists of reading (minimum of 4 nights), Mathletics activities and SMART spelling-look, say, sound, spell, write, check.
We would appreciate if parents could record and sign in the student diary when students complete their homework tasks.

Reading Eggs and Mathletics:
All students have individual passwords to access both of these programs.  In Term One we encourage students to explore activities to revise and extend their learning.  These programs are online tools which students use to enhance their learning. 

Students are given set Mathletics tasks to be completed for homework.  This week the focus is on Numeration and Place Value.


Tri Skills: 
Students from grades P-4 are participating in Tri-Skills. Tri-skills is a program which fosters co-ordination, balance, confidence and strength. Lessons are on Friday mornings for five half-hour sessions inn Term 1.  They are part of the extra curricular / in visit program.

Sun Smart: 
As a Sun Smart school students are required to wear a hat when they are outdoors.  Sunscreen and keeping hydrated are also encouraged. We are fortunate to have lots of shade around the school for the comfort of the students. Please remind your child that we do not lend hats or encourage sharing of hats. If a child is without a hat, they are required to play in the shaded area.


Making News

Achievement Awards from Week 4 and 5:

3B: Sam Gatfield for his enthusiasm to complete and extend set tasks in classroom. 
Maya Wolfenden for persisting and participating in a task that she recognised as challenging for herself.

3G: Sonny Swinton Lee for being a Word Wizard finding and using WOW words.
Jasmine Allen for showing excellent place value understanding when renaming numbers in various combinations.

4H: Drew McClure-Roelink for her enthusiastic approach to all tasks.
Katarina Anciferov for being a SMART spelling star and having a go at spelling all of her tasks.

4W: Andjelka Jacob for enthusiastically locating 'Wow Words' to add to the 4W class list.
Angus Haigh for demonstrating a developing knowledge of place value during maths lessons.
_____________________________

 Celebrating our Learning

SMART spelling
We had fun reading stories which included lots of words with our weekly spelling pattern.  Can you guess the spelling pattern we were practising in this text?



Once upon a time there was a savage sausage whose name was Cyril. Cyril lived in a little cottage in a village in a town named Frankfurt. His house was painted blue with a red door which had 2 brass hinges which would creak when it opened and closed. 


Cyril was clever because he could speak many languages. Do you know how he managed to learn so many languages? It was because he liked to splurge his money on holidays travelling on voyages to countries around the world.  He travelled by boat, plane, bus, vintage car, bike and even horse. He showed lots of courage travelling to so many different places.
Now you must be asking what turned Cyril into a savage sausage?  Let me explain. Cyril had a large parrot called Percy who was kept in a cage in his lounge room.  He loved to engage in chats with Percy.  Every morning when Cyril woke up the first thing he would do was walk into the lounge and say, “Good morning Percy.” Percy would reply, “Good morning to you.”
Now imagine Cyril’s surprise when he walked in to the lounge and the cage was empty. Cyril flew in to a rage.
What had happened?
Here are some of the students' ideas about what happened next:
Cyril looked everywhere but he could not find Percy.  The bird catcher had come and taken Percy.  Percy tried to get away but the bird catcher was too strong.  Cyril was so, so angry that he destroyed the whole city.

Cyril ran into the house and ran looking for the bird. There were so many of the same looking birds so he scratched his head BUT............
then the bird catcher came!! 

How would you finish the story?

Mathematics
We have also had fun exploring place value through our open ended maths investigations. 





We are intrepid learners in the Middle School!








  


Wednesday 10 February 2016

Middle School Term 1 Week 3

Middle School Newsletter: Term 1 Week 3

CONNECT WITH YEAR 3/4

Welcome to 2016 in the Grade 3 and 4 classrooms.

Learning and Teaching

In Year 3/4 We Are Learning To....

READING: make connections between the books that we read and ourselves, other books and the world.

WRITING: understand the structure of a Narrative; beginning, middle and end. 

VCOP: Focus on Vocabulary through 'WOW Words' and include them in our oral language and writing. 

MATHS: build on our understanding of the place value system, through ordering, expanding and renaming numbers.

UNIT OF STUDY (People Power): identify the difference between expectations, rules and laws. We are investigating how these are created, who enforces them and why they are important.

SPELLING: use SMART spelling strategies including breaking words into sounds and syllables, identifying the 'tricky' parts of the words and listening to and writing the words from a dictation passage.

eLEARNINGuse the iPads and Netbooks to support and extend learning through Mathletics and Reading Eggs and for research and publishing purposes.


 Term 1 Calendar Dates
Friday 12th of February: 3-6 Swimming Carnival at Mentone Grammar 
(indoor pool)
Tuesday 16th of February: Meet The Teacher Night
Thursday 25th of February: School Photos Day
Monday 14th of March: Labour Day Public Holiday
Thursday 17th of March: Curiosity and Powerful Learning Parent Forum (Mentone Primary School)
Thursday 24th March: Last Day of Term 1

Current notices

Meet the Teacher:
-          Tuesday the 16th February between 1.30pm and 6.50pm.
-        Book online at: www.schoolinterviews.com
-        Enter the code: JYPKJ
-        Select your child/ren, teacher/s and choose your time
-        You will receive an email confirming your booking/s
-        Sessions are 10 minutes in duration. If you feel this is not long enough on the night, you can make another time with the teacher. 

Tri Skills: 
Students from grades P-4 are participating in Tri-Skills. Tri-skills is a program which fosters co-ordination, balance, confidence and strength. It is running this term on Friday mornings for five half-hour sessions.

Sun Smart: 
With the weather warming up students are required to wear a hat when they are outdoors.  Sunscreen and keeping hydrated are also encouraged. We are fortunate to have lots of shade around the school for the comfort of the students. Please remind your child that we do not lend hats or encourage sharing of hats. If a child is without a hat, they are required to play in the shaded area.

Homework: 
Homework in the Middle School is sent home on a Friday and due back the following Thursday. The recommended homework consists of reading (minimum of 4 nights), Mathletics activities and SMART spelling.

Making News


Achievement Awards from Week 3:

3B: Emily Wei
for conversing in a confident manner during a speaking and listening activity

3G: Kade Nicol
for suggesting interesting ideas during class discussions

4H: Dylan Haeusler
for his input into 'What Makes an Excellent Student at MPPS'

4W: Sarah Whitehead
for her valuable suggestions when creating 4W's class expectations


We are proud of your achievements and the thinking you are using in class!

_____________________________

Congratulations also to our 2016
Middle School Student Voice Council Representatives...

3B: Kate Ovenden & Anton Zois

3G: Jasmine Allen & Owen Martin

4H: Eden Lasbury & Matt Giofkou

4W: Ana Botsioulis & Sam Stefanec

PHOTOS

 3G Hard at Work!!!