Wednesday 27 July 2016

Middle School - Term 3 Week 3

Middle School Newsletter: Term 3 Week 3

CONNECT WITH GRADE 3 and 4

Learning and Teaching

We Are Learning To....

READING:
 m
ake connections from the content of the texts we read and relate them to ourselves, the world and other texts. Students will use their knowledge they have gained previously to help build their understanding while reading.

WRITING: continue to improve our understanding of the structure of procedural texts and the language used to write their own procedures based on interesting objects they created in class.

V.C.O.P. (Vocabulary Connectives Openers Punctuation): continue to develop our knowledge of openers and how they can make their writing powerful. The students will use their knowledge to go back and reflect on a piece of writing they have done this year and edit their openers to make their piece more exciting.

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.

MATHS: 
solve division problems using a range of efficient mental and written strategies. The students will explore different strategies to solve division problems and make the link between division and multiplication.

UNIT OF STUDY: (Location, Location, Location / The Olympic Games): This term the Middle School students will use the upcoming Rio Olympic Games as a springboard to study geography and the culture of countries competing. They will also investigate the different athletic events, the history of the Games and the team work and camaraderie they provide.

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


 Term 3 Calendar Dates

July 27 - Maths Olympiad 3
August 6 - Trivia Night
August 16 - Maths Olympiad 4
August 17-19 - 3/4 Camp to Log Cabin Camp, Creswick
August 29 - Swimming Program commences
September 2 - District Athletics Carnival
September 7 - Maths Olympiad 5
September 14 & 15 - School Production


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.  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.


Making News
Achievement Awards for Week 1 and 2 of Term 3
3S
Maya - for making a great start to term 3 by using her growth mindset when tackling challenging multiplication tasks.
Anton - for demonstrating fantastic skills with multiplication and using his knowledge to assist his peers.
3G
Owen - presenting an interesting talk about the Olympics.
Irene - using a growth mindset to complete multiplication questions.
4H 
Sam - using his growth mindset to tackle challenging multiplication problems.
Kosta - his excellent inquiry skills while researching Kenya and their involvement in the Olympics.
4W
Ana - for consistently using her growth mindset to improve in every area of her school work.
Evie - her developing ability to make meaningful connections between what she reads and her own life.



Morning Bell Times
An adjustment has been made to the morning bell times, effective from next Monday. Students are welcome to enter their classrooms to prepare for their school day from 8:50 each morning. A first bell will sound at 8:55 which is a reminder for all students to enter their classrooms. A second bell will sound at 9 o'clock which will signal the start of the day's learning. Thank you.

Middle School Camp - Log Cabin Camp, Creswick - August 17-19, 2016
The Grade 3 and 4 Camp has been booked from Wednesday the 17th to Friday the 19th of August, and this year we are off to Log Cabin Camp in Creswick. This is the second time camp has been offered to both Year 3 and 4 students and is also the first time Mentone Park Primary School has attended Log Cabin Camp. This camp links with our Units of Study for Term 3 and 4 (Location, Location, Location and History), and will be run during the even years with the Angahook Adventure Camp in odd years.

As a part of the camp, students will have the opportunity to visit Sovereign Hill in Ballarat. Here, they will have a tour of the ‘Open-air Museum’, completing different historical activities and attending the Sound and Light show Blood on the Southern Cross.

The cost of the camp is $300. The deposit of $100 was due Friday the 15th of July. Thank you to all those who have paid the deposit. The rest of the payment can either be paid in two installments or one final payment. Final payment will be required by Friday 12th August. If you have trouble meeting the financial payments, please see Anne in the office for further information regarding a payment plan/options.
Payments for Camp are now available on the Qkr app.

Celebrating our Learning

Olympics Mania!

Our unit of inquiry for this term is "Location, Location, Location!" where we will be looking at geography. A great way for students to look at the geography of different countries is to link them to The Olympic Games! The students will be looking at the Olympics and understanding the importance of the Olympic Spirit. They will also gain new knowledge about different aspects of the Olympics. 

Another way the whole school is integrating our unit of study and the Olympics is with each class in the school focusing on a country involved in The Olympic Games. Last term, Miss Laycock came around to each classroom and asked a student to draw a country at random. The countries that the Middle School will be researching are:

4W: USA
4H: Kenya
3G: The Netherlands
3S: Sri Lanka.

So far this term students have been eagerly investigating these countries and have come across some interesting facts about these countries. Some of the things we have investigated are the geographic location of the country, the languages, the climate, the famous attractions and landmarks, and the flag.  We are looking forward to researching and understanding more about the countries this term!


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