Term 2 Week 6 2023
- Principal's News by Tracy Egan
- Team Mango We All Belong!
- Prep News by Michelle Alcorn
- Year 1 News by Melinda White
- Year 2 News by Kylie Vaughan
- Year 3 News by Ellaine Warner
- Year 4 News by Danielle O'Brien
- Year 5 News by Emma Crawshaw
- Year 6 News by Ben Mills
- Curriculum News
- Sporting News by The PE Department
- News from our Partners
Thank you to our wonderful Volunteers
Last week was National Volunteer Week and I would like to pay tribute to the many, many volunteers in our school community. We have so many amazing parents and carers who assist in classrooms and with events. Your unpaid labour makes a huge difference to our students, staff and community and we thank you!
We also love nothing better than publicly thanking all our hardworking P&C members for the tireless work they do each year to improve educational facilities, resources and student outcomes. In recognition of P& C Day last Friday, I would like to pay tribute and thank our wonderful P & C Executive for their leadership and support - Amy Swalwell, Yanti Weaire, Radhiki Reddy and Melissa Travers are leading the team this year and we are very grateful for all their efforts. I also thank all parents and carers who contribute to the P & C.
Colour Explosion
Our Colour Explosion is coming up on Friday 2 June.
This is the major fundraiser for the P & C and all students can participate.
We need all students to start collecting sponsors. All donations should be made online www.myprofilepage.com.au (Please don’t bring in any cash) This event is the P & C major fundraiser so please donate a little.
Once they have sponsors, the children can choose their prize from the booklet (sent home this week). As little as $10 sponsorship allows them to choose a prize. The more donations, the better the prize!
There is also great prize for the class who raises the most and individual highest fundraiser.
Even if they don’t get sponsors, they can still participate if they have a permission signed on QParents or paper copy printed and handed in. There is no cost to participate.
On the day of the fun run, students should wear a pale coloured shirt and older shorts that they will stay in all day. Please ensure they are old clothes as the colour may not come out.
We urgently require volunteers to assist on the day. Please sign up at https://volunteersignup.org/BM47B
The timetable for the day is below.
We look forward to a fabulous event!
Colour Explosion Time Table
Mini Pizza - Cheese or Ham and Cheese
Jelly Cup or Cookie
Fruit Salad
Fruit Juice
$12.00 - Order through QKR. Orders Close 5pm Monday 29 May 2023.
Primary Schools, Partners in Learning
State primary schools across Queensland whose leaders are members of the Queensland Association of State School Principals, are this week displaying on their school signs the message: "Primary Schools, Partners in Learning".
Primary schools recognise that parents are children’s first teachers. Our school strongly values the partnership with parents and caregivers and we know that united we are best placed to support your child to foster their love of learning. The school/home relationship is integral to your child’s success and we know that together we can make a positive impact for your child’s future.
Have a wonderful week
Tracy Egan
Principal
tegan4@eq.edu.au
Tips for Helping Your Child with Writing - See our Team Mango You Tube Channel!
Last week we shared the link to our very first You Tube Parent Chit Chat clip about reading. Thank you for all the positive feedback! We really also need to thank those parents who have come along to our in person chit chat sessions because these have helped to shape our You Tube clips. We’ve created the clips to directly address the common questions and concerns raised at these in person meetings. If you have any further suggestions about topics you’d like us to deep dive into, please contact your sector leader or class teacher!
This week our clip focuses on the things you can do at home to help with writing. The take away message is this: doing more of the same, often doesn’t get kids there. What you can do at home supports our teachers, but isn’t identical to what the teachers are doing in the rooms - and this is a good thing! Our children are hard at work for six hours a day at school. They need different things in their home environment to help prepare them for the next day and the next six hours of learning. The adjacent learning parents help with in the home; the talking, the listening, the strong routines, the screen time boundaries, the play, the boredom, the chores - all of this learning cannot be underestimated. It does have an impact on the academics!
Focus of the Week
The Care Class focus that will be delivered this Friday is ’Noticing my feelings’. We will also be consolidating this focus next week.
When children learn how to notice their feelings they are using their sensory awareness, using descriptive language and improve emotional and feeling literacy.
A key aspect of effective self-regulation is the ability to identify emotions and feelings. When we can identify and describe our emotions, we can choose strategies to manage them.
At home you can help your child by noticing their feelings and giving them some time to calm. Belly breathing and deep breathing creates a cycle of calm. It is always important to identify the emotion before tackling how to deal with them.
The Mango Hill SS Mid-Year Music Gala is coming up on Thursday 8 June in Gigum Hall featuring the Junior and Senior String Ensembles, Junior and Senior Concert Bands, School Choir and African Drumming Group. We are looking forward to showcasing these hard working and talented Mango Musicians on stage to our school community. The concert will start promptly at 6pm.
The Lakes
Ducks, turtles, lizards and more! What a wonderful week to go on our first excursion to the Lakes.
Our Prep friends were so excited on Monday and Tuesday to go on their first bus trip with their classroom friends. It was a beautiful morning out walking around the Lake and spotting the different animals on our way. We couldn’t believe how many turtles we saw! This made for some great writing back sharing all the exciting things we done and saw on our trip. For us to be a four star writer we need to include some great describing words and to tell the reader how we felt whilst on our big adventure. I can’t wait to read their final pieces!
Lastly, a big thank you to our Prep teachers and all the mums and dad who volunteered to help this week, we very much appreciated all the work and time that went into making sure our day by the water was perfect!
Have a great week
Michelle Alcorn
Deputy Principal- Prep
malco14@eq.edu.au
Year 1 Maths Learning
This week we are finishing off our maths unit about solving addition and subtraction problems and beginning our unit about finding the half. Yesterday at our Professional Learning Community meeting (where our Year 1 teachers meet about curriculum and pedagogy), our teachers brought evidence of student learning that encompassed our last unit and this upcoming unit.
Whilst many kids found the concept of the half tricky (we haven’t taught it yet!), what they have been able to retain and apply from our previous unit of work was admirable! Snaps and cheers to our fabulous teachers for helping our Year 1s make those connections!
The other thing we saw evidence of in the learning was our children’s beginning abilities to explain their thinking. In 1J, nearly every child had had a go at “this is a half BECAUSE …” which is fabulous work. Explaining our thinking is a key part of the maths curriculum and one that doesn’t come naturally to us as parents - it wasn’t the way we were taught at school. We were taught right answer / wrong answer. Now we know more about the way mathematicians think and we know that by explaining our thinking, we actually deepen our learning.
When you have to explain something, to someone else, it really makes you think about the steps. It solidifies your own learning and thinking.
It’s a tricky skill to learn, but our Year 1s are well on the way! Isn’t that amazing?!!
Have a great week
Melinda White
Deputy Principal- Year 1
mwhit37@eq.edu.au
Guided Reading in Year 2
Every week the students in Year 2 are engaged in guided reading. Guided reading occurs when a teacher works with small groups of students who are at a similar point in their reading development. Each student reads, softly or silently, the same text individually. The teacher helps the students to decode and work out the unknown words. They also guide a discussion around the text’s meaning.
Our Year 2 teachers do a wonderful job guiding our students to work out unknown words. They teach the students to use a range of strategies when they come to words they are stuck on. Using these same strategies at home can really help your little one develop their confidence. Below are our whole school reading strategies used in every classroom:
Look at these great readers in 2C.
Top tips reading at home:
1. Explore the book with with your child by looking through the book and discuss what is happening.
2. Invite your child to read the book to you. If your child gets stuck on a word, try one of the following strategies.
PAUSE- Wait five to ten seconds for your child to work it out on their own.
PROMPT- Using the reading strategies, encourgae your child to have a go at working out the unknown word. If your child cannot work out the word after three clue, tell him/her to word- reading should be fu, not a chore!
PRAISE- Listen attentively and encourage your child!
3. After your child has read, ask them to retell the story/information to you.
Check out this video to learn more about Pause, Prompt, Praise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoUHs_wdcGo .
Have a wonderful week
Learning in Year 3
Ms Egan joined me in Year 3 this week for writing lessons in 3L, 3M, 3J, 3W and 3C. We saw lots of mind maps and other routines capturing students’ creativity and ideas ready to support their writing. Their diary entries, as a character in Charlotte’s Web, shared thoughts and feelings. It was a pleasure to listen to students as they discussed how the parts of their writing that really helped show how the character was thinking and feeling eg I used a question (“Why would Mr Arable do this me?”) to show thoughts or I used this verb group (“sleeping peacefully”) to show I feel safe. Well done, Year 3.
Dates to note
Days to mark off are Friday 16 June when Year 3 have their Stay and Play and 21/22 June when the Year 3s participate in their Athletics Carnival (depending on their age). We hope to see you there.
Take care and have a wonderful week
Ellaine Warner
Deputy Principal-Year 3
ewarn23@eq.edu.au
Assessment Time in Year 4
We certainly are hitting the busy, assessment period of the term and it has been great to see students in Year 4 really attending to and representing their learning. This week I had the pleasure of visiting 4H and 4T who were all hard at work in solving multiplication and division problems using a range of efficient strategies. Students were busy collaborating with their peers, reflecting on their scales and justifying why their answers were correct.
In Maths, we use questioning to promote student reasoning - WHAT is the answer? WHY is that the answer? HOW do you know that strategy is correct? Having students justify their answers and prove how they know they are correct allows students to develop depth in their understanding.
Great job 4H and 4T!
Our Year 4 students are also busy investigating the properties of different materials in Science. They are conducting investigations to test their predictions and using their knowledge of material properties to suggest explanations. Check out some photos from 4G this week!
Danielle O'Brien
Deputy Principal- Year 4
dxobr0@eq.edu.au
Care for Learning
Thank you to all of the classes that have welcomed me into their classroom over the last week. It has been a pleasure collaborating with students around their English and Maths learning. Over the last week I had the pleasure of joining 5P for the Maths lesson on learning to answer decimal word problems. I loved seeing how students worked collaboratively, using their knowledge and understanding of decimals and mathematical strategies, to solve a problem. The class finished the lesson by celebrating the way each group solved the problem, considering their use of strategies and explanation using mathematical language. It was so nice to see our students working together, there is a wonderful collaborative culture in 5P!
Emma Crawshaw
Acting Deputy Principal – Year 5
ewils209@eq.edu.au
Learning in Year 6
During the week I had the pleasure of visiting 4 of our Year 6 classes during their writing time to hear from students about their learning and how they were going with their writing. Students shared some of their writing samples with me, explaining how they were going and what they needed to do to improve based on their teacher’s feedback. It was also great to see students using the resources around the room to help them with their learning. While in these classrooms, I was interested to know if the students could show me in their writing where they had improved their work using feedback given by the teacher. It was wonderful to see so many students showing me examples of where they had applied teacher feedback to their writing. Our Year 6’s have such great growth mindsets!
This week I also spent some time observing the learning in 6H and 6W. In 6H, I was able to see a lesson where students were learning about the effect of emotive language on the reader of a persuasive text. Students then had to consider the feelings and emotions they were trying to get their reader to connect with, before working to include this in their own writing. I was particularly impressed by the students using the resources on their digital learning wall to support them with this task.
In 6W, students were working collaboratively to improve a provided text by adding in elements that were missing from the success criteria and writing their own conclusion to a persuasive text. It was inspiring to hear the positive collaboration between students and see the level of engagement in 6W, as they worked. Well done 6W!
eSafety
Last Wednesday evening we had an eSafety presentation by ThinkUknow at our school, targeted at parents and carers. The presentation was very informative and a number of helpful resources were shared. For those who couldn’t make it, but are interested in finding out more about how they can support their child to be safe while online, check out the following links:
Public Speaking
On Tuesday, Mrs Koch and I had the privilege of listening to our first round of competitors for the public speaking competition. Our Year 6 public speakers were exceptional, speaking clearly and confidently on a range of topics. These students all put a lot of time and effort into not only preparing their speech, but perfecting the delivery of it, and it showed. Well done to you all!
Ben Mills
Deputy Principal –Year 6
bxmil3@eq.edu.au
AR Millionaire Readers’ Club!
Congratulations to Amelia who late last week joined the AR Millionaire Readers’ Club! We are so proud of Amelia who has worked hard to reach her goal. We have added her photo to our special display and look forward to seeing some more students join this club in the coming months.
Young Engineers After School Club
Young Engineers offers unique STEM programs where children have fun while learning critical skills for the digital age!
Please see our pictures of our friends at Mango Hill enjoying their afternoon club.
If this is something your child would be interested in please visit https://brisbaneouternorth.young-engineers.com.au/
Have a fantastic week
Suzette Holm, Jessica Rivett
shol0@eq.edu.au
Term 2 PE
Well this term is all about Sports Day (Prep-2) and the Athletics Carnival (Yr3-6). All students in PE from Prep-Year 6 will focus on preparing for these big events which are held at the end of Term 2.
More information will come out later in the term but at this stage our confirmed dates are as follows.
- Week 10 Monday 19 June – Junior Sports Day (all Year Prep, 1 and 2 students compete)
- Week 10 Tuesday 20 June – Senior Athletics Carnival – Discus, 200m/800m Finals (Some Yr 3-6 students compete)
- Week 10 Wednesday 21 June - Senior Athletics Carnival – 8 & 9 Year Old students (Year 3’s and some Year 4’s compete)
- Week 10 Thursday 22 June - Senior Athletics Carnival – 10,11 & 12 Year Old students (Some Year 4’s, all Year 5’s & 6’s compete)
Due to large student numbers at Mango Hill SS, we have a split Senior Athletics Carnival. This is to ensure students get the maximum opportunity to participate, students have enough space to compete safely and we have enough room for all spectators who attend. It will be a busy end to the term but we are thoroughly looking forward to it!
QLD Netball Primary School Cup (Years 4-6)
The QLD Netball Primary Schools Cup will again take place in 2023. The QLD Netball Cup is a state-wide Netball competition played amongst primary schools and is open to students in Years 4-6. Please see the below trial notice if your son/daughter is interested in being selected.
Interschool Sport (Year 5-6)
A reminder that all Year 5 and 6 students will get the chance to participate in the Pine Rivers Interschool Sports Competition. Students compete against teams from other schools in a variety of sports. The confirmed dates for Pine Rivers Interschool Sport in Term 2 are:
- 9June (Friday week 8)
- 23June (Friday week 10)
- 14July (Friday week 1, Term 3)
* Due to cancellation of week 4 and 6 interschool sport, new dates have been set
Pine Rivers District Sporting Trials (10-12yr Old’s)
Pine Rivers District School Sport offers 10-12 year old students the opportunity to try and make the Pine Rivers District team for a variety of sports. If successful, they compete at Metropolitan North trials and carnivals, with the possibility of selection into teams competing at State events. Students must be nominated by their school in order to attend a district trial or carnival.
District trials are held at various venues within the Pine Rivers District (e.g. Les Hughes Sports Complex) and are not attended by MHSS staff. A Pine Rivers District Coach and Manager will facilitate the trial.
Students who express an interest to trial can collect forms from our PE office. They will be given the Pine Rivers District forms and the relevant trial information. Completed district forms are to be returned to the PE office by the due date. Once the forms are collated, students will be nominated for the trial. Forms are then handed back to students and must then be taken to the coach/manager at the District Trials. Students will NOT be allowed to trial if district forms are not handed in completed. Unless specifically organised by the school, it is the parents’ responsibility to transport students to and from district trials.
Most Pine Rivers District trials are limited to students turning 11 or 12 years of age and who are considered at a high level in the sport e.g. Div. 1 or A Grade. Cross Country, Athletics and Swimming trials however are open for students turning 10, 11 and 12 years of age. Sports that students are able to trial for include the following.
- AFL
- Basketball
- Cricket
- Football (Soccer)
- Golf
- Hockey
- Netball
- Rugby League
- Rugby Union
- Softball
- Squash
- Tennis
- Touch
- Triathlon
Mango Hill can normally nominate up to three students for each district sport trial. If more than three students wish to be nominated Mango Hill will select the three best candidates for the trial. The selection of these students may be either based on past performances/current club form or through a selection trial at school.
If you are interested in your child trialling for Pine Rivers District more information can be obtained from the Mango Hill State School newsletter, with regular trial updates listed. You can also contact Mr Nick Hills - nhill96@eq.edu.au (MHSS PE Teacher) so he is aware of your intention to attend the trial.
Mr Hills & Mr Newell, Miss Richards and Mr Lisha
Physical Education Teachers
PCYC Update
At PCYC we love incorporating ideas from the students about what activities they want to do. This week we did a volcano experiment after a suggestion from one of our senior students, Lachlan. The students loved seeing the reaction when the volcano erupted.
P & C
COLOUR EXPLOSION MEAL DEAL - Friday 2 June 2023
Mini Pizza - Cheese or Ham and Cheese
Jelly Cup or Cookie
Fruit Salad
Fruit Juice
$12.00 - Order through QKR. Orders Close 5pm Monday 29 May 2023.