Term 4 Week 2 2020
Performance Success
Congratulations to the students who have recently been involved in performances for dance and public speaking.
On Sunday the dance team participated in the Australian Pinnacle Dance Challenge. They were incredibly successful placing first in Junior Jazz, Senior Jazz and Senior Contemporary. We also received second place in Senior Hip Hop. Special thanks to Mrs Kostoglou and Ms Sheehan for their efforts and to all parents for supporting and assistance.
Last night four students were selected for the Lions Public Speaking Finals. Congratulations to Mia, Jeslin, Ky and Aliyah who made fantastic speeches. We were incredibly proud of them! Special congratulations to Mia who won first place in Year 6. A huge thanks to Mrs Koch who supported our students and to Ms Balaam who was on the judging panel.
End of Semester Awards
Traditionally each semester we acknowledge students with a number of awards. In Semester 1 this year, we did not present any awards due to the disruption of COVID-19.
We have recently reviewed the criteria for the end of Semester 2 awards, making some changes to the previous criteria. This includes withdrawing attendance and contribution to school events as criteria for the Principal Excellence Award. This acknowledges that some students have reduced attendance this semester due to the expectation that students should stay home if ill to avoid the potential spread of corona virus. Please find below the criteria for all awards this semester for Year 1-6 students. We do not present these awards in Prep.
Please note also that we will not be awarding our traditional end of year badges for academic, sporting and cultural excellence in 2020. With the reduced subjects taught and assessed in Semester 1 due to @home learning and the significantly reduced opportunities to showcase talent at special events, the criteria is very difficult to determine in a fair manner.
At this stage we have planned award presentations for Monday 7 December. Unfortunately we will not be able to have parents gather for these awards due to gathering restrictions but I can assure you we will take lots of photos to share!
Term 4 Health Units
At Mango Hill State School we work to create a safe, supportive and inclusive environment for all students and their families. Each year, we teach sexuality education, respectful relationships and child safety in all year levels from Prep - Year 6. With the support of the P&C Association, class teachers teach the program guided by the resources in Catching On Early Program and the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety program as part of their health curriculum.
The parent information booklet outlines the content to be covered in the lessons in each year level and the resources used. This was emailed to all families yesterday. If you wish to receive a hard copy of the lessons, please let your child’s teacher know or collect from the office.
To ensure your child has consent to participate in these lessons, please complete the form sent home Wednesday (and attached below) and return to the class teacher by Friday 16 October. If you choose for your child not to participate in the program, they will work with another class during these lessons. If you have any questions or wish to further discuss the program, please don’t hesitate to contact the class teacher, Sector Leader or myself.
We look forward to working in partnership with parents and carers to ensure all children have the knowledge to grow into healthy adults.
Have a wonderful week
Tracy
tegan4@eq.edu.au
Book Week
A reminder that next week we will celebrate Book Week. Students are invited to dress up as a book character on the following dates:
- Year 4-6 Monday 19 October
- Prep- Year 3 Friday 23 October
We will be having smaller parades for children to parade and show off their costume to other students. Unfortunately, parents are unable to attend due to COVID-19 restrictions.
School Photos
By the end of this week your child should have received an envelope for their upcoming school photos on Tuesday 27 October or Thursday 29 October. A timetable will be distributed next week so you are clear about which day your child’s class will have their photo. We are trying to avoid the day they have PE classes and swimming. Formal uniform should be worn for school photos please.
Focus of the Week
This week, our Care Class lesson addressed caring for our mental health. The timing of our focus aligns with Queensland Mental Health Week which is an annual event that aims to improve community awareness and interest in mental health and wellbeing across the state. Enjoy Queensland Mental Health Week, everyone.
Student Code of Conduct Parent Forum
For anyone who was interested in attending our first offered Student Code of Conduct Parent Forum but unable to attend on the date, we are now taking expressions of interest in offering a second parent forum this term. If you wish to attend, please email Andrea Gleeson at aglee39@eq.edu.au to register your attendance.
New Lunchtime Club – Wunya Ngulum (‘Welcome’)
We have a introduced a new Lunchtime club this week – the Wunya Ngulum Club, which means ‘Welcome’ in the Gubbi Gubbi language. This club has been introduced to share Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural activities. This week, our students drew some of the symbols Aboriginal people have used in the past with chalk. We look forward to sharing many more cultural experiences.
If your child would like to participate, they can meet Ms Elliott (Junior) or Ms Cosmo (Senior) in the Piazza at second break on a Monday. They will be there to encourage sharing.
Student of the Week
Shared Reading and Writing
We are well into our Shared Reading and our Writing units of work for this term.
In Shared Reading, we are using a range of picture books to develop our skills of recall of characters and events as well as our skills of prediction. In writing, we are learning to use our knowledge of a story, to predict what may happen and then we are adding our own events to the story. To be a 4* writer this term, we need to be able to use compound sentences, using a joining word such as ‘and’. We are also focused on making our sentences interesting using time connectives like ‘later that day’ or ‘after’. In class we are building our Bump It Up Walls. These walls help to break down the success criteria for our students and have examples to match, so each child can visually see what they are aiming for!
Our first lesson of swimming last week went super well and the instructors at the pool all commented on our fabulous behaviour and effort. Well done, Preps! Parents, please make sure you pack a rashie shirt (or an old t-shirt if your child does not own a rashie) and thongs each week, as students do move to and from the pool with their towel and swimmers only, getting changed at school both before they leave and when they return.
Have a fabulous week!
Melinda
mwhit37@eq.edu.au
We are Writers in Term 4!
In the last week, the Year 1 and 2 students have completed their writing pre-test in order to check their learning against the success criteria on their scale to understand their next steps to learn. Teachers are explicit in unpacking the success criteria for our Year 1 and 2 students to know what they need to do to be successful. They are also learning how to search their writing tasks for evidence of these criteria. This term, teachers will also be developing the students’ skills as peer tutors. They certainly need to understand the writing criteria to be able to provide feedback to a peer.
Year 1 students are working towards the purpose: To create a narrative with a new problem for Mr Grinling. The students have been reading The Lighthouse Keeper stories and discussing the structure of these narratives particularly the introduction, the problem and the solution. Mr Grinling certainly gets into lots of bother and so he or Mrs Grinling always have a problem to solve! The Year 1 students will have loads of fun imagining their own problems for their stories…
In Year 2, the students are working on the purpose: To continue the storyline of a picture book, describing new events for familiar characters. All of the language features the students have been learning about this year like noun and verb groups using interesting and appropriate describing words and including a variety of sentence structures will be important for the students to use in their stories. I look forward to reading about what their characters get up to!!!
Have a great week!
Gabrielle
gdoug7@eq.edu.au
Deconstructing Advertisements in Year 4
What a week! Our Year 4 students this week have been busy deconstructing advertisements and developing a deep understanding about their purpose and powers of persuasion. It has been great seeing the students using their thinking routine, See-Think-Wonder, to identify how authors use language features, images and text to convince readers to visit their tourist hot spot. It has also helped them think deeply about why the author made those choices and stimulated curiosity and wonder what could have been done differently?
Students have been learning about the selling tactics of promotion and having a go at creating their own travel advertisement and with Runaway Bay now only days away the students of Year 4 are going to experience first-hand the amazing features this venue has to offer. We look forward to seeing how some students use this experience to create their own advertisement encouraging 2021 students to go along and experience the adventures of Runaway Bay!
Have a lovely week
Michelle
malco14@eq.edu.au
Care for Learning in Year 5 and 6
Last week was a great start to Term 4 in which I saw countless examples of Year 5 and 6 students caring for learning. In 5K students did a fantastic job at demonstrating their comprehension skills through their shared reading test. Mrs Linnane enthusiastically reported to me on Friday that it was great seeing the students of 5K using strategies to decode the text and demonstrate their understanding. In our Year 5 and 6 meetings last week the teams moderated maths pre-tests to really get a sense of how their students were tracking. Currently approximately 92% of Year 5 and 6 students are making standard in maths and moderating pre-test samples of work ensure we are meeting the needs of all students to demonstrate year level standard. I look forward to celebrating more achievements as the term progresses.
Electives – Digital Art
It was great seeing students get straight back into electives for this term. Electives is a vital part of our program in ensuring all students have a variety of rich opportunities to engage in other learning areas and to find their unique talents. This week I would like to show off the great work the students, Mrs Penrose and Mrs Linnane are doing in Digital Art. Last week students were given the opportunity to create some self-portraits using Pop Art. I think we have uncovered some young artists!
Year 6 Graduation – Election Day BBQ
Thank you to all of the families who have contacted me to lend their support to the fundraising for Graduation. A reminder, that if you wish to assist, there are multiple opportunities for you to donate money, goods or your time. All help is appreciated and will go to funding the Year 6 Graduation. These opportunities include:
- Volunteering at the Queensland Election Day Saturday 31 October from 8:00am-2:00pm. I will be sending a roster out closer to the day.
- Baking goods (please include a list of ingredients) that can be sold as small goods on Election Day. As well as donating cans of soft drink to be sold at the canteen on the day. Please bring the baked goods to the school the day before and drinks can be donated to the office at any time.
- Donating goods to your child’s class hamper which will be raffled off on Election Day.
- Buying and selling raffle ticks to go into the draw to win a class hamper.
Transition to Secondary School
Thank you to all of the parents who took the time to provide me with feedback regarding our transition to secondary school program that we facilitate collaboratively with the local secondary schools. Your feedback is invaluable in ensuring we provide a supportive transition for our students and ensure their continued success as they enter their next stage of learning. This term, we have a range of transition days at local secondary schools. These schools will provide further information directly to families in the near future. However please be aware of the following dates. These events are for students enrolled at the relevant schools.
- Friday 23 October: Full day transition day at Mango Hill State Secondary College
- Friday 23 - Monday 26 October: Academy days at Murrumba State Secondary College
- Friday 30 October: Full day transition day at Murrumba State Secondary College.
have a great week
Martin
mwinn7@eq.edu.au
Queensland Mental Health Week
As we recognise Queensland Mental Health Week (QMHW), we are all encouraged to think about our mental health and wellbeing. This year’s theme is Take time — for mental health. Take time is about the simple yet proven things everyone can do to boost their mental wellbeing. QMHW provide six prompts:
- get healthy
- keep learning
- show kindness
- connect more
- take notice
- embrace nature.
Huge thanks to Malinda who volunteered her time and expertise as a children’s yoga instructor to raise mental health awareness in Queensland Mental Health Week.
Take Care
Ellaine
ewarn23@eq.edu.au
MONEY at HOME
This Semester students in all year levels have been exploring money and financial mathematics. Our mathematics program plays a significant role in developing consumer and financial literacy in young people. Here, students learn about the nature, forms and value of money. They learn to solve problems involving money, such as counting change; to manage money by creating budgets and financial plans; to explore and calculate percentage discounts and to work out ‘best value’ when purchasing a range of goods and services. Using authentic learning experiences engages students in mathematics, enables them to gain an understanding of a whole range of mathematical concepts and allows them to appreciate the relevance and usefulness of mathematics. The use of real-world contexts as a platform for learning mathematics also develops students’ ability to make informed judgements and effective consumer and financial decisions. We challenge families to use opportunities around the home to continue this learning outside of school. Discuss a budget for buying items at the grocery store, have students count out change required when buying items, create common coin combinations to help students count coin/note collections. Have students develop ‘Christmas gift lists’ using catalogues and sticking to a budget. We would love you to share your real world activities with us. Please email your photos or ideas to Ben Mills bxmil3@eq.edu.au and Jess Rivett jxqui5@eq.edu.au.
Below is the sequence of learning that happens in each year level for money to help you further with some ideas.
Buy Smart Program
This week, our Year 4 and 5 students were lucky enough to have representatives from the Office of Fair Trading come out to present the Buy Smart program. Students in Year 4 learned about going shopping and dealing with money and our Year 5 students learned about budgeting, saving and smarter shopping.
Our students and teachers really enjoyed the presentation and the presenters were very impressed with the engagement of our students! Don’t forget to ask your child something they learned during the presentation.
Have a great week!
Ben and Jess