Mentone Park Junior School: 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.