Thursday 26 April 2018



Term 2 2018, Volume 5, Weeks 1 & 2
 
Splish Splash I was taking a bath....

What a start to the term! Swimming has kicked off, ANZAC day has been and gone and the students continue to engage in our inquiry topic for the term!

Congratulations to the Middle School students below who have qualified to represent Mentone Park Primary School at district Cross County:

U9/10 Girls: Isabella E, Molly B, Molly M, Tara W, Alana G, Elly B, Emmy J and Tara H.

U9/10 Boys: Adam B, Cy R, Lewis M, Caleb A, Luke A, Corey S, Bam B, Christopher L, Stratos, Sergej

As some of your may have heard, this year we are reintroducing the Student Voice Council. This will give students an opportunity to have an impact on school happenings and voice their opinions and concerns. Last week the students in the Middle School nominated themselves and then participated in a vote. We would like to thank all the students who put their hand up to represent the Middle school and congratulate the four students below who will be representing the Middle School:

Grade 3 Boy: Stratos S
Grade 3 Girl: Emme J
Grade 4 Boy: Kirby A
Grade 4 Girl: Isabella E

On the 8th of May, the students will be participating in an incursion called, 'Captains and Convicts' which is closely linked to our inquiry unit, 'We Are One We Are Many'.


Please note that AFTER this week, we will be looking at the weeks ahead instead of what has past. We hope that by doing this, it will encourage parents to discuss what their children are learning about in the weeks to come.

 

April
Monday 23rd - May 3rd: P-4 Swimming Program
 
May
Wednesday 8th May: Captains and Convicts Incursion
Wednesday 15-17th May NAPAN (Year 3 and 5 students)
Tuesday 22nd May - Italian Day
Thursday 24th May- Open Night 6pm-7:30pm
 
June
Monday 11th June - Queen's Birthday PUBLIC HOLIDAY- NO SCHOOL
Tuesday 19th: Excursion to the Melbourne Museum
 
August
22nd-24th Log Cabin Camp, Creswick. More information will be available soon.

WEEKS 1 & 2
In READING during weeks 1& 2 we have been using our synthesising skills to create summaries and answer comprehension skills. This week we have also been looking at ANZAC day and learning about the role that Anzac biscuits played during WWI.
 
Last week in WRITING we completed our first Big Write for the Term. We have also been focusing on using paragraphs to organise our writing. This week the students have had the opportunity to further develop their skills through free choice writing.

Over the last couple of weeks in MATHS we have completed a number overview on Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division. This week we have taken a closer look into Subtraction and the strategies that we can use to solve different sums.

Students continue to be engaged in our INQUIRY topic and have been investigating who lived in Australia first and how we know. We have also began to explore why the great journeys of exploration began.

Our focus in SPELLING in Week 1:
G3- The trigraph /air/ making the sound “are” as in square
G4- The digraph /wr/ making the sound “r” as in wrist.
 
Due to swimming, we haven't had a focus for Week 2 however, we have been looking at some of the key words from our inquiry unit.

 

 The PITW key concept we have been focusing on being brave and participating to progress. We played a game called Islands where the students had to work as a team, with people they wouldn't normally work with to get to an island in time.


 
WEEK 3 & 4

In READING we will be focusing on identifying the important parts of a text.
 
Next week in WRITING we will be revisiting the structure of a persuasive piece of writing.
 
In the next couple of weeks in MATHS we will be continuing to use different subtraction strategies.

Our key question that we will be look at in INQUIRY is why the Europeans settled in Australia.
 
Our focus in SPELLING:
 
Due to swimming, we won't have a focus for Week 3 however, we will continue to look at some of the key words from our inquiry unit.
 
Week 4:
G3- ear as in ear
G4- ou as in famous 


 The PITW key concept we have been focusing on treating others the way we would like to be treated.  
 



  • Wear suitable shoes for 3/4 sport each Thursday.
  • Please encourage your child to record their nightly reading in their diaries and bring both their book and diary to school daily.
  • There will be no Spelling homework during weeks 2 & 3 however, students will be expected to complete their nightly reading and the allocated Mathletics Tasks.
 
Italian Day      Tuesday 22rd May, 2018

Ciao everyone,

For those families new (and ‘old’) to Mentone Park Primary School, this is an invitation for your child to attend our Annual celebration of Italian Day and enjoy a day full of Italy-inspired activities and fun!
There will be a Parade in the morning. Children will then be rotating in ‘across grade’ groups during the morning period, followed by a PFA ‘Pizza and Gelato combination’ lunch, if desired, and ending with the day’s reflections in students’ classroom.
Prep children will be looked after by their grade 6 ‘Buddies,’ who will take them to each new rotational activity. Groups will be a blend of girls and boys from all grade levels and approximately the same in number.

What to wear? 
As it is a very special day, children are encouraged to come dressed in Italian-inspired clothing- Italian chefs, Italian food, opera singers, sports people, actors, Ancient Roman soldiers, Gods/Goddesses, Pinocchio, Mario Brothers…Otherwise, simply in the colours of Italy-Green, white and red! Do NOT feel costumes need to be bought. Simple is best.

What to bring?
Sensible footwear for playing in, Play lunch, own lunch, if not purchasing the ‘Pizza/Gelato’ combination being ordered through Parents and Friends, and a big SMILE.                                     

 
Any queries, please see Signora Beer