Middle School: Term 3 Week 9

Middle School Newsletter: Term 3 Week 9

CONNECT WITH GRADE 3 and 4



Learning and Teaching

We Are Learning To....

READING: determine what are the most important parts of what we read. We will practise doing this by using a range of reading strategies across a variety of text types.

WRITING/V.C.O.P.: 'up-level' our Big Write narrative on life in Ballarat in the 1850s. We will use the VCOP student friendly assessment guide to improve our pieces of writing, focusing on things such as vocabulary, connectives, openers, punctuation, descriptive language and paragraphing, to name a few things!  

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. For the next two weeks we will revise the words we have looked at this term.

MATHS: explore the concept of probability through a range of activities. We will explore the possible outcomes of chance experiments, develop our ability to use the language of probability and make links between chance and fractions.

UNIT OF STUDY: (Location, Location, Location / The Olympic Games): For the final two weeks of this term, the Middle School students will work on their in-class project which will answer the key question of 'how and why are places similar and different?' The students will compare and contrast Australia with their country of study this term. They will research and then show the similarities and differences between the geographic features of the two countries.

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

Friday 9th September - Swimming Program concludes
Friday 9th September - Footy Day
Tuesday 13th September - School Production Dress Rehearsal (at School)
Wednesday 14th Sep. - School Production Dress Rehearsal (at Parkdale SC)
Wednesday 14th & Thursday 15th September - School Production
 Friday 16th September - Last Day of Term 3
Monday 3rd October - First Day of Term 4 
(remember that Term 4 is a Sun Smart Term) 

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 Division.

Morning Bell Times
An adjustment has been made to the morning bell times. 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.

Making News

Achievement Awards for Weeks 7 and 8 of Term 3
3S

Emily- for creating an excellent postcard based on her time at camp last week.

Sam- for working hard to improve his handwriting and not giving up! 

3G
Seb- for showing initiative to create a 3G banner to inspire our learning.
Lucy- for answering reading questions comprehensively.

4H
Olivia- for generating excellent ideas for her writing, including a letter to the teachers about why we need new books in the library.
Drew-  for her detailed and insightful narrative about the 1800's and the Gold Rush.

4W
Holly - for her developing ability to read and interpret maps which include direction, key and scale.
Jordyn - for her ability to create a detailed 'open minded portrait' to visualise the thoughts and feelings of a character from Ballarat during the 1850s.

Icy Poles!

To raise money for the Grade 6 Graduation Ceremony, icy-poles will be sold on the following dates:

Thursday 15th September (Recess only)
Every Tuesday in Term 4 (Recess only)

V.C.O.P. Big Write

Thank you for taking the time to chat with your child about the writing topic given out last week. As a result students were excited and prepared for the Big Write session and were eager to write and share their ideas. 

Keep an eye out future Big Write topics!

Swimming Program 🏊

Our School Swimming Program at Don Tatnall Leisure Centre is now well under way! The students have enjoyed swimming each day and their confidence in their swimming skills have developed tremendously over this time! 

Middle School: Term 3 Week 7

Middle School Newsletter: Term 3 Week 7

CONNECT WITH GRADE 3 and 4



Learning and Teaching

We Are Learning To....

READING: use the information presented in the different texts that we read to visualise what is happening.

WRITING: develop our writing skills by writing different transactional texts including letters, postcards and posters.

V.C.O.P. (Vocabulary Connectives Openers Punctuation): use relevant and powerful connectives. 

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: interpret simple maps and identify relevant positions of key features, create and interpret grid maps to show position and pathways.

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

August 22nd - 25th Book Fair
August 24th - Maths Olympiad 4
August 29th - Swimming Program commences
September 2nd - District Athletics Carnival
September 7th - Maths Olympiad 5
September 14th & 15th - School Production
September 16th - Last Day of Term 3

Current notices

SWIMMING 🏊

Our Prep to Grade 4 Swimming Program commences next Monday 29th of August and concludes Friday 9th of September. Parents are invited to come and watch their child/ren swim during their allocated class times (please see timetable below) and may be asked to volunteer to travel to and from Don Tatnell Swimming Pool on the bus. If parents do volunteer, they must have a registered Working With Children Check at the office.

Helpful reminders for swimming each day:

- bag (not school bag) for clothing

-bathers, easiest if worn under school uniform

-towel

-spare underwear

-goggles and swimming cap (optional)

-plastic bag for wet bathers and towel 

Please remember to label all clothing.

Level	Depart MPPS	Lesson	Depart Pool
Grade 4 H	9am	9:30	10:45
Grade 4 W	9am	10	10:45
Grade 3 G	10am	10:30	11:45
Grade 3 S	10am	11	11:45
Grade 2 P	11 am	11:30	12:45
Grade 2 UO	11am	12	12:45
Grade 1 A	12:30pm	1	2:15
Grade 1 O	12:30pm	1:30	2:15
Prep S	1:30pm	2	3:15
Prep B	1:30pm	2:30	3:15

Swimming - Payments WERE due 15th August
Please could all outstanding payments please be finalised for swimming and all notices/ permission forms be completed ASAP. Swimming starts next Monday, the 29th of August and runs for 2 weeks.

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 Division.

Morning Bell Times

An adjustment has been made to the morning bell times. 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.

Making News

Achievement Awards for Week 5 of Term 3 (Week 6 was Camp, no awards)
3S

3G
Olivia - for working to improve her understanding of division.

4W
Angus - for his impressive work ethic and ability to try his best all of the time.

Log Cabin Camp

Last week, the grade 3 and 4 students went on our annual school camp. This time we were visiting Sovereign Hill and Log Cabin Camp.

On Wednesday morning, students boarded the bus for the long bus ride to Ballarat. After a quick and wet stop over for morning tea, we continued on to our first destination of Sovereign Hill. Here we experienced an old classroom where we learnt lots about history and how a classrooms operated in the olden days. We also went panning for gold and on a tour of the Red Hill Gold Mine. The highlight of the day was when we saw how a gold bar was made. It was heated to more than 1000 degrees celcius. Then the melted gold was poured into a mould to cool down. The gold bar was worth $180,000!!! We then got back on the bus to head to Log Cabin Camp in Creswick.

At Log Cabin Camp we were greeted by the owners Grant and Teagan. After sorting out our cabins, we completed our first activity. The activities on offer were... The Giant Swing, Flying Fox, Archery, Orienteering and Frisbee Golf! That night we went on a night hike up some old logging trails and through the bush.

As the sun rose on Thursday morning, we were all up early ready for a big day of activities. We completed 5 more activity rotations throughout the day! That night we got on a bus and headed back to Sovereign Hill to see the sound and light show called 'Blood on the Southern Cross'! It was amazing learning about Australia's History and how the Southern Cross flag came about!

Friday morning, and the good weather ran out! It was pouring! Lucky we didn't have many activities to do! Some students got to make some Billy Tea and Damper, while the others played some games in the Rec Hall. After lunch we said our goodbyes and jumped on yet another bus to begin the long journey home.

Middle School- term 3 week 5

Middle School Newsletter: Term 3 Week 5

CONNECT WITH GRADE 3 and 4



Learning and Teaching

We Are Learning To....

READING: revise our reading strategies and reflect on those we use when reading and use visualising to create pictures in our minds to understand our reading.

WRITING: revise our writing goals and work on strategies to improve our writing and write a postcard based on the activities at camp.

V.C.O.P. (Vocabulary Connectives Openers Punctuation): use relevant and powerful connectives. 

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: interpret simple maps and identify relevant positions of key features, create and interpret grid maps to show position and pathways.

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

August 17-19th - 3/4 Camp to Log Cabin Camp, Creswick
August 22nd - 25th Book Fair
August 24th - Maths Olympiad 4
August 29th - Swimming Program commences
September 2nd - District Athletics Carnival
September 7th - Maths Olympiad 5
September 14th & 15th - School Production

Current notices

Logical Thinking Challenge

This term selected students from Years 3-6 will participate in the Logical Thinking Challenge to challenge their logical problem solving skills.

The Logical Thinking Challenge is an adaptive on-line test which has been developed by the University of Melbourne.  The questions the students will be answering will cover a range of skills including the areas of Logical, Measurement, Numerical and Spatial.

The test comprises of 24 multiple choice questions which will be completed during class time in the week of the 15^th-19^th August.

The school will receive a report of student results. We will notify parents through the newsletter when we receive the results.

Let’s encourage our students to be curious and rise to new learning challenges and opportunities!!

Swimming - Payment Due 15th August
Please could all payments be finalised for swimming and all notices/ permission forms be completed by Monday 15th August.

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 Division.

Making News

Achievement Awards for Week 3 and 4 of Term 3
3S
Amy - for working hard to improve her handwriting and persisting during challenging tasks.
Araiz -for working hard on his joined writing and improving his focus in class. 

3G
Sarah - for using her growth mindset to understand division. Good job!
Anni - for working hard to understand division.  Well done!
4H 
Lua - the descriptive words and diagrams used to improve her procedure writing. Well done!
Evan - challenging himself and persisting while solving difficult division problems. Keep it up!

4W
Luke - for his positive attitude towards developing his reading and writing skills.
Edward - for his ability to use a range of mental and written strategies to solve division problems 

Morning Bell Times
An adjustment has been made to the morning bell times. 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 17^th to Friday the 19^th 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 instalments or one final payment. Final payment was required by Wednesday 10th 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!
As part of our inquiry unit we are investigating the Olympics.  Last week we investigated the mascots of the Olympics.
Here are some facts we learnt about the mascots.

Mascots are designed to represent the country staging the Olympics.  They are used so that people know more about the country and its culture.
This year the Rio Olympics has two mascots.  Their names are Vinicius and Tom.

Tom
I am the Paralympic Games mascot. 
I was born on the 2nd of October 2009. 
I am a mixture of Brazilian animals.
I am a magical creature.
I am a mixture of plants from Brazil.
I have naps on water lilies.
I inspire people to use creativity and determination to try things.
This helps them when they have problems.
I like learning about the world.
I play all Paralympic sports.


Vinicius
I am the Olympic Games mascot.
I was born on October 2009 but my age is not counted like yours. 
 I live in a treehouse in the Tijuca forest.
I live my life playing, jumping, running, smiling - just like all the kids.
I can stretch and stretch myself.
I was born out of an explosion of joy when Rio was announced as the home of the 2016 Olympics.
I love meeting new people all over the world.
My best friend is Tom.
 

If you had to design a mascot for your family, what would it look like?

Do you know any other mascots?

What is Mentone Park Primary School's mascot? 

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: make 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 17^th to Friday the 19^th 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 12^th 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!