Wednesday 24 October 2018

Junior School Newsletter - Term 4, Week 3

 
 Term 4, Week 3






We have had a wonderful first few weeks with students this term, and their curiosity during our Inquiry sessions has been fantastic! Learning about the world around us, with a focus on maps and geographical features, has been of great interest to the kids and we were lucky enough to have a real life pilot visit us on Thursday afternoon! We learned about the different locations planes can land, what happens when a plane breaks down, why we have to turn our phones off when we get on board, and how weather can affect flying conditions. It was wonderful to hear all the insightful questions being asked by our clever Junior School students! Thank you Captain Chris for your brilliant presentation! We are looking forward to the excursion on Monday afternoon to the Duck Park - we are leaving at the start of lunch and eating there, so please send along lunch as usual with as little plastic/rubbish as possible. Parents/siblings are welcome to attend the excursion, feel free to walk with us or meet us there!
 We were sad to farewell Brendan this week, but we wish him all the best and we look forward to hearing about his new adventures!







Friday October 26: Halloween Disco
Monday October 29: P-2 Inquiry Excursion to Duck Park
Wednesday October 31: Halloween Fundraiser







In READING this week, we are learning how to make connections between a text and our own lives.

During WRITING this week, we are working on persuasive writing - look out parents, we have been writing to you with some very compelling arguments!

Our latest topic in MATHS is Time and we are working in Maths Groups across the year level to focus on specific skills on a more individual basis.

This week we continued our INQUIRY topic, 'Location, Location, Location!' moving onto Word Maps and we even had a special visit from a real life pilot who told us all about the places he has travelled and answered all our questions about being a pilot!

 



  • Please ensure that all students wear helmets if they are riding or scooting to school. If students are not wearing a helmet, they risk serious injury in the event of a crash.
  • We always welcome parent/family helpers in the classroom. If you are interested, please ensure you provide a copy of your Working With Children Check to the office. More information can be found at: http://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/   
  • If there are any parents/families that would be able to help us out with covering our 150 brand new Take Home Books, please see your child's teacher - we need all the help we can get. You can come in, or take some home, any help is appreciated!
  • Term 4 is a SunSmart term - please ensure your child has a MPPS wide brim hat for recess and lunchtimes. Students without hats will be asked to play in the shaded areas.
  • Have you signed up for the Colour Run? It's happening on November 18 and we are super excited! See FlexiBuzz for more information.
  • Have you thought about adopting a garden at MPPS? Check with the office for more information




























Foundation Term 4 Week 3

Foundation Newsletter - Term 4 - Week 3
Connecting with the Preps

Language


Spring is the best time of year! This was the focus for the introduction of persuasive writing last week. After much discussion, which in itself is always a valuable learning experience, the children were encouraged to share in writing their opinion and reason/s why or why not Spring is the best season. Their work is displayed in the hallway for all to see. 













The children have also been sharing their ideas and expressing their opinions about the best takeaway food, and debating whether cats or dogs make better pets. Despite being introduced to the genre of persuasive writing, the children have also continued to have free choice writing when a number of children LOVE to write imaginative narratives.

The children are encouraged to reread their own work to edit for mistakes, to ensure their writing can be read by others and to make sure what they have written makes sense. They are prompted to ensure their handwriting is neat and correctly formed. Remembering the correct starting points and direction  of letters can be a challenge as often children are super eager to get their ideas onto the paper and forget about their letter formations. However, the children continue to practise to form letters appropriately and they are encouraged to take pride in the presentation of all of their work.

The children’s reading skills continue to develop admirably. As Cameron Agars mentioned in last week’s newsletter, it is vital that they read every day. At school they are learning the strategies to decode unknown words and are working on improving their fluency and phrasing. The children also practise retelling a story in logical sequence, with increasing depth, as well as answering both  literal and inferential questions.
                                                  


Maths
This week the students are completing a revision week on Addition. The students have been involved in a range of activities using dice and spinners to create a range of addition sums. Some students are using counters and drawings to 'count all' while others are able to 'count on' to find the total. Next week we will move onto a two week unit on Subtraction.

Inquiry

This past week we have spent time learning about the seasons. Each of the junior grades reflects a particular season. Our season is Spring. This week we have also drawn maps of Australia and learnt a little about the states and territories. We know Canberra is the capital of Australia and Melbourne is the capital city of Victoria. And we also know we must never forget that Tasmania is a part of Australia even though it is not connected by land!











Buddies
This week saw the children again spending Wednesday morning with their buddies. It is wonderful to see the connections between the two year levels. The children  played games together as well as spending time listening to stories written by their Buddies as well as writing their own sentences/stories.

Cormac
We played Chain Tiggy and then we had a second round of the same game. Next we played Octopus and then we went into the Grade 6 building. The Grade 6s wrote down some stories using the computers. I wrote a sentence in Katarina’s story about Halloween.

Cooper
We played two rounds of Chain Tiggy and Octopus so we all got a turn of ‘being it’. Then we did some writing with the Grade 6s. My idea was about a dinosaur attacking a dragon and it was written down by two Grade 5s because my buddies were on holiday.

Nadeem
First we played Chain Tiggy.  We then went to the atrium and we started writing about our buddies. Jon K’s story was about World War 3. In his story there was a time machine and the characters went back to 2016. They saw two people planning World War 3 but the goodies caught them and so there was no World War 3.

Jordan
After we played games, we went to the Buddy’s grade and we wrote stories. I wrote about Rapunzel and Holly wrote about “What’s for Lunch, Mum?” I also wrote another story called the ‘Biggest Marshmallow in the whole world’.

Kiara
After the games we drew pictures and wrote stories. I only drew pictures – I drew a rainbow with a flower and I also drew a unicorn with love hearts surrounding it. I feel happy about unicorns.

Pippa
We all went into the Grade 5/6 rooms. I was sitting in my sister’s chair! I wrote about a humpback whale and Lua wrote about three bunnies. A shark was following the humpback whale and she didn’t notice there was a shark behind her. Then she did. Next she looked behind and it was safe!

Colour Run

We are very excited about the Colour Run. Mrs Struthers, Mrs Drummond and Sarah have bought their tickets and are ready to take on the preppies!! How about joining us in the inaugural event? There should be plenty of fun and laughter!! ….and a few tired bodies!! And let's see how much money our grade can raise for next year's STEM program.

Reminders

The time has come....this term the children will be encouraged to walk into the classroom and organise their belongings independently.
  • Could we please remind all parents and grandparents that students are to remain outside of the building until the bell goes at 8:50 unless an arrangement has been made in advance with a member of staff.
  • Our Library day is Thursday.
  • We continue to encourage the students to practise their MIOOW words at home and to put them into the tub when they are ready to show us their hard work!
  • Could Reading Journals be signed each night and black pockets be at school each day. Thank you.
  • Hats must be at school everyday otherwise your child will need to stay under the sails for recess and lunch.


Dates to Remember!

Friday 26th October - Halloween Disco
Sunday 18th November - Kingston Community Colour Run
Stay tuned for more dates for exciting happenings in the Junior School

We Love our Buddies!