Term 3 Week 10 2020

Term 3 Success

As Term 3 draws to a close, it is wonderful to reflect on all that we have achieved. My highlights this term include

• Watching and talking with students about their learning as they work to be their best!
• Celebrating the success of our teachers working hard to provide clarity in lessons and engage students with our new lesson design framework.
• Having the opportunity to learn from others about how we can do our work better based on research and evidence.
• Standing at the front gate in the mornings, seeing the independence of our little ones as they confidently make their way to school as independent learners.
• Seeing students have a go at new things and learn from their mistakes!
• Meeting each Friday with my Care Class Mystery group to talk about our focus of the week and how we can support each other and work together to feel happy and safe.

I was recently chatting to Isla and Alan who are two students who joined our school community in 2020. I asked them how they were going at our school and I felt such pride as they described our school from their point of view. Below are some of their comments.

I love our school because I have good friends and great teachers.

We use iPads to learn which I really like.

I am proud that I have achieved my million words in AR this year!

MHSS is a friendly, caring school.

I really like all the different things I have tried since I came to this school.

Thank you to Isla and Alan for sharing their thoughts. I hope every one of our students feels the connection, care and pride in being a student at MHSS!

Wishing you all a safe, happy holiday. I look forward to seeing you again when school resumes on Tuesday 6 October!

Kind Regards
Tracy
tegan4@eq.edu.au

Focus of the Week 

This week students are participating in fun activities with their year level for Behaviour Celebration. Gold, Silver and Bronze students will all participate in a range of fun activities. 

Students who have earned Gold will receive a healthy fruit ice-block treat. Students that have reached Gold and Silver will play and have the whole of celebration time with their chosen activity. Students that have reached Bronze will play in a small group initially then join their chosen celebration activity. Congratulations to students who have worked hard to make appropriate choices this term. 

Stranger Danger

We have had a few reports recently of students feeling like there are strangers in cars that are potential threats as they are walking to and from school. Whilst the police have not contacted us with any specific concerns, it is important to revisit this topic with your children, especially with the up-coming school holidays. We have asked our staff to also remind students of the importance of their personal safety and to never go with a stranger.

Performing Arts News – no 2020 concert

At the end of this semester, we had planned to provide our students with a performance opportunity at our Semester 2 concert. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 restrictions, we are unable to proceed with this event.

Each class currently participating in Performing Arts lessons will be filmed by Ms Kostoglou at the end of Term 4 (providing students have consent to be filmed) and this will be shared with parents via Showbie. Please let Ms Kostoglou know if evnen though your child does not have filming consent, you wish for them to be filmed with their class performing their concert dance. Students will be filmed dancing in their school uniforms.

To ensure that our Year 6 students have a chance to experience a real performance, we would encourage students to wear a costume, please find the Year 6 costume. Please find the Year 6 costume guide attached below. Each class will be filmed and a montage of these performances will be shared at the Year 6 graduation.

Student of the Week 

Resilient and Persistent Learners

And we’re three quarters down, with one quarter to go of our first year of school! Our youngest learners (and their parents!) have shown themselves to be resilient, persistent learners, who have adapted so well to all the different changes that have come their way this year.

We are especially grateful to our Prep parents for embracing this new way of arriving and departing the school and striving to connect with their child’s class teacher in different ways, via email, phone calls, notes and meetings. We appreciate your support and we do understand how challenging it is not to be able to just “pop in” each morning to the classroom. 

What we have all observed through all of this “new normal”, is that our youngest students are so very capable when we show them how and we give them the opportunity to try – without their parents stepping in too quickly to assist (something all of us parents find tricky!). This term we’ve seen…

• Preps unpack and pack their own bags, very capably!
• Preps waiting so well each afternoon for older siblings to collect them.
• Preps visiting the tuckshop at breaks to purchase treats, keeping their money safe and making clever treat purchasing decisions.
• Problem solving in the playground, students working hard to compromise, take turns and share.
• Preps sharing a short, funny poem they have created, with their classmates.

Term 3 is traditionally when we see our youngest learners SOAR and this group is no different! So much learning and progress to celebrate! I hope you have all taken the time to meet with your child’s class teacher, to see your child’s learning and to discuss their next steps. Parent teacher interviews are just one of the many ways you can connect with us at school. When we partner together, our children benefit!

Have a lovely break 
Melinda
mwhit37@eq.edu.au

Parent Teacher Conferences

It has been great to see how many parents have taken advantage of our Parent Teacher conferences in Year 1 and 2. Thank you to the teachers who have prepared these conferences. It is a great chance for you to catch up on your child’s progress academically, socially and behaviourally.  The partnership between parents and teachers is crucial in helping our little people reach their potential.

If you have not had a chance yet, I would encourage you to follow up and make an appointment with your child’s teacher to discuss their achievements and of course, where they could still use support.  Teachers’ aim is to be proactive and share with you your child’s next step in their learning journey. 2T’s Parent Teacher conference will be in the first two weeks of Term 4.

Celebrations!

Super celebrations for Behaviour and Homework this week. Congratulations to all the students who strived to follow the Four Cares this term and also work hard to complete their Homework. We congratulate our students for their commitment in Term 3.

What a way to end the term!

This week students have been enjoying the chance to work with their peers on their speaking and listening tasks. It has been great to see them work together to give and receive feedback to make their presentation clear, precise and entertaining. 4M this week loved using the microphone for their live presentation in front of their peers. Each student took on a role within the performance to either share their learning, ask questions, clarify or give feedback.

However, 4M weren’t the only busy ones. In every classroom in Year 3 and 4 this week students were all working together to help each other be the best speaker they could be! Well done all.

Thank you to all the students and families for a wonderful term . I hope you all have a safe holiday with lots of quality time with loved ones. We look forward to seeing you all back, ready to learn in Term 4!

Happy holidays
Michelle 
maclo14@eq.edu.au

Care for Learning in Year 5 and 6 

Over the final two weeks of term I have had the opportunity to meet with Year 5 and 6 students who are both studying poetry units as part of their speaking and listening task. It has been great reading poems crafted by students and discussing with them the choices they made to gain the attention of their audience. I have also loved reading poems about key social issues plaguing our news.

Great work Year 5 and 6!

Transition to Secondary School

Last week saw another step in our program to transition students effectively to secondary school. As part of RUOK? Day Mango Hill State School opened the doors of Year 6 classrooms so that our students had the opportunity to work with the Mango Hill State Secondary College leadership team and student support team. The aim of this experience was to ensure students knew and started to build relationships with key people that will offer mental health and wellbeing support during their time at high school. Students participated in a range of activities that helped highlight the skills needed to balance good mental health and how they can care for others that may need help. 

Year 6 Graduation – Fundraising

To help support the 2020 Year 6 Graduation the P&C have kindly provided the Graduation Committee with the Billy G’s Cookie Dough Drive. Last week all students across the school received a letter on how they can purchase Billy G’s Cookie Dough and also how they can fundraise. Also, a reminder to all Year 6 classes that your teacher is accepting donations for their class hamper. These hampers will be raffled off at election day. If you would like raffle tickets please email me at mwinn7@eq.edu.au. All funds will go to ensuring that this year’s graduation, despite our challenges, is a wonderful event.

Have a great week and a safe break 
Martin 
mwinn7@eq.edu.au

Mental Health Week 2020

Mental Health Week aims to activate, educate and engage Australians around mental health and related issues. The week is designed to encourage all of us to think about our mental health and wellbeing. It also gives us the opportunity to understand the importance of mental health in our everyday lives and encourages help seeking behaviours when needed.

World Mental Health Day is held on October 10th each year. This year’s theme will be Take Time for Mental Health. At Mango Hill State School, we will be participating in Mental Health Week with a number of fun awareness raising activities for staff and students, and our Care Class focus that week will be Mental Health Week. 

Further information about Mental Health Week is available at:

https://www.qldmentalhealthweek.org.au/about/

Take care and best wishes for a safe and restful school break
Ellaine 
ewarn23@eq.edu.au

Term 4 Curriculum

While the end of Term 3 provides us with a chance to celebrate new learnings and achievements, we are also preparing for Term 4 and considering our learning goals for the next phase of the school year. Teachers have been busy learning about the new units of work and we look forward to lots of learning in all areas.

In English, students will continue their work with comprehension as they read and view picture books, novels, films, TV shows, poems and advertisements. They will have plenty of opportunities to apply their learnings as they write their own narratives, poems and persuasive advertisements.

In Maths, students will continue to develop their understandings as they explore efficient methods and strategies for calculating, as well as increasing their number fact fluency. Across the school, students will explore a range of topics including fractions, time, money, problem solving, probability and chance.

Students will also extend their learnings in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), HASS (Humanities and Social Sciences) and Health, where they will explore how our bodies grow and change. Further details for specific year levels will be available in the Curriculum Overview early in Term 4.

Congratulations

As part of the Premier’s Reading Challenge, QSuper hosted a Top 5 Book Competition. Last week we were informed that Prithuvi from Year 6 had been chosen as a runner-up. This means the school has won $500 worth of free books! We are very excited and look forward to purchasing these (with help from Prithuvi to choose some favourite titles) in the coming weeks.

Accelerated Reader

This week has been an exciting one for celebrating AR achievements. Roma and Isla are two very committed readers who this week reached one million words! They were both very excited and we are so proud to add them to our AR display.

Also this week we have added another photo of Finley, who reached two million words! Finley has been working consistently throughout the year to reach this outstanding milestone. We look forward to seeing how many more words he might be able to read before the end of the school year!

Don’t forget now is also a great time to set some AR goals for Term 4. Would you like to read one million words or perhaps reach a specific level? Pop into the Hub if you would like some help to find some books to read over the holidays, and get a head start on your Term 4 reading goal!

Happy reading 
Suzette 
shol0@eq.edu.au

2020 Science Competiton 

Congratulations to our winners of the 2020 Mango Hill Science Competition...

Year 1/2 - Quinn, Mia, Ariella and Deetya

Year 3/4 - Nesandi and Johan

Year 5/6 - Isobel, Laura and Jacob

Family Award - Gorman Family - Madi, Ky and Cruz

At the time of prize collection and photos Laura and Jacob were absent from school and are welcome to come and collect their prize. 

Mr Mills, Mrs Rivett and our STEM team found it extremely difficult this year to select our winners due to the amazing projects we had enter in this year's competition. All our entries were of high standard which made the task of selecting winners a tricky one. We again THANK all our participants who entered this year. 

Thank you 
Jess
jxqui5@eq.edu.au

Italian Carnevale Celebration

This term, Year 1 students have really enjoyed learning about “Celebrations”.  They have explored Celebrations that are specific to Italian culture and compared them to celebrations that are familiar to them.  Students designed and created their own mask for the Italian Carnevale Celebration. They were able to take photos and describe their masks using Italian language.  The Year 1 students really enjoyed creating their masks!  Bravissimi ragazzi!

Please enjoy the below pictures of some of the students enjoying this celebration. 

Thank you 
Shona 
smcev13@eq.edu.au

Purple Day Gold Coin Donation Friday 18 September 2020

 Did you know that you can pay your Gold Coin donation via our QKR app? 

QKR is easy to download following is a guide to get you started.