Term 3 Week 5 2022
- Principal's News by Tracy Egan
- Team Mango We All Belong!
- Prep News by Melinda White
- Year 1 News by Kylie Vaughan
- Year 2 News by Ellaine Warner
- Year 3 News by Michelle Alcorn
- Year 4 News by Ben Mills
- Year 5 and Year 6 News by Martin Winney
- Curriculum News by Suzette Holm and Danielle O'Brien
- Sporting News by The PE Department
- News from our Partners
Deepening Connection and Clarity by Design
We are continuing to focus on our 2022 Explicit Improvement Agenda on ‘Deepening Connection and Clarity by Design’.
- We are building connection and positive relationships with and between staff, students and their families. We know when students feel connected to their school and have a strong sense of wellbeing, they perform at their best. And when parents partner with our staff we send a clear message to students about how our values align. This Friday we have our Term 3 Team Mango Meet Up and invite all parents to a cuppa with myself and members of the leadership team. This is an informal chat and a great way for us to connect with each other. Please come along!
- We want to provide clarity for students so they clearly know what aspects of the Australian Curriculum they are learning, provide feedback so they know how they are going and what they can do to improve. Our recent visits to classrooms with the Assistant Regional Director was a great opportunity to see this work becoming deeply embedded.
- We want our staff to make clever, precise choices ‘by design’ about the teaching strategies they use so that every student at MHSS can succeed!
Daffodil day
Next Friday 19 August we ask all students and community members to wear yellow for a great cause.
Daffodil day is a chance for Australians to come together and give. We all have the ability to create change in the lives of people impacted by cancer, by funding cancer research.
Sadly, with nearly 150,000 Australians diagnosed with cancer every year, most people have been touched by this heartbreaking disease. That’s why our student council are encouraging you to give hope by helping to raise funds. Please wear yellow and bring a gold coin. We will also have merchandise for sale and all funds will be donated by our Student Council to fund cancer research.
Instead of a whole school parade, students will work with their teachers to learn more about helping others in need.
Wandani Arts Fest is fast approaching!
Across the week of September 5 – September 9, we will celebrate all things arty at Team Mango, culminating in our art show with art auction on the Friday night. This is our first whole school gathering in quite some time and we’re really looking forward to it!
For those new to Team Mango, each class creates an art piece with their buddy class and we auction these pieces during our Friday night Arts Fest event. Our fabulous friends at Ray White, North Lakes provide us with real life auctioneers to set the auction pace! Each child in the whole school has an individual art piece on display and we try very hard for the display to look like a real art gallery. Throughout the Arts Fest week, classes visit the art gallery and see the art displayed.
Last year, we held the event at Gigum Hall. We weren’t able to do our usual real time auction because we weren’t able to gather with such a large group, but this year, we’re excited to be back! “Doors” open from 4.30 pm on September 9, with the official commencement at 5 pm. We anticipate the evening will end before 7.30 pm.
Over the coming weeks, we will seek volunteers for a range of jobs including:
- set up and pack up
- food preparation and food sales
- helping students to engage in a range of activities (supported by our wonderful staff):
Some of the activities on the evening will include the following.
- Maker Space: Range of craft and construction activities and challenges
- STEM activities: Range of Science and Maths challenges
- Calico painting: We’re going to collaborate to paint large pieces of calico! We need helpers on the night to assist with the painting AND enthusiastic sewers afterwards, who can turn our large, painted pieces of calico into tote bags (which we will sell from the café.
- Mandala Art and Henna: We’re going to decorate the paths with mandala and decorate our arms with “henna”. We need volunteers to assist!
- Story Telling: We’ve invited story tellers to come and engage with our students. We’d love parents to assist with supervision and engagement.
- Mosaic Art: Our Italian teaching team need help with their mosaic art activity.
So save the date and keep an eye out on facebook and in upcoming newsletters for information about how you can volunteer to assist.
Book Week
Good Communication, Better Communities
In 2022, Speech Pathology Week is celebrated from August 21-27 and the theme this year is Good communication, better communities. There are approximately 1.2 million Australians living with a communication disability. Children and older people make up the majority of those 1.2 million – they are our children, nephews/nieces, classmates, friends, parents and grandparents. When people can communicate effectively they experience stronger friendships and deeper relationships, have more frequent social interactions, increased autonomy and independence, greater participation in their community and life (e.g. family member, friend, professional, student) and gain more respect from others. But with so many communication disabilities being ‘invisible’, how do we form connections and support good communication?
Firstly, we can recognise the many different ways that people communicate, by the following.
- Using facial expressions, body language, gestures, mime, vocalisations, word approximations, pictures, eye-gaze or real objects.
- Through speech-generating devices such as the iPad or a dedicated communication device.
- Using apps on mobile devices such as Proloquo2Go or LAMP.
- Using symbol boards, choice cards, alphabet charts or communication books personalised to the individual.
- Via a PODD (Pragmatic Organised Dynamic Display) book
- Utilising technology (e.g. devices, keyboards, voice-text/text-voice) to write or read written information aloud.
- Speaking in Sign Language e.g. AUSLAN.
- Using voice output devices such as an electrolarynx or learning to use oesophageal speech.
- People may also use a slower speaking rate and various speech techniques which might make their talking sound different.
If you notice that a person has a communication disability, here’s what you can do.
- Always treat the person with dignity and respect.
- Be welcoming and friendly.
- Ask the person with the disability what will help them to talk or understand.
- Avoid loud locations - find a quiet place.
- When you don’t understand, let them know you are having difficulty understanding.
- If you think the person has not understood, repeat what you have said or say it a different way.
- Try asking the person yes or no questions if you are having difficulty understanding them.
- Ask the person to repeat or try another approach if you don’t understand.
- If you ask a question, wait for the person to reply.
- Allow the person time to respond – be patient.
- Speak directly to the person and make eye contact. (Though be mindful that there are some people who may not want you to look at them, e.g. some people with autism spectrum disorder).
- Speak normally. There is no need for you to raise your voice or slow your speech.
Source: Adapted from SCOPE, Communication for All Booklet, www.scopeaust.org.au
Focus of the Week
The Care Class focus that will be delivered this Friday is ‘Setting Goals”. We will be consolidating this focus throughout next week.
We will be learning to create smart goals to help us achieve and feel successful. It is hard to achieve something if we don’t have an intention. Teachers will work through with students that the best goals need to be Specific – Measurable –Attainable/Achievable – Realistic and Time bound.
It is important to think about the below questions when setting goals.
- What will you do to achieve the outcome?
- Who might be able to help you?
- Where will this occur?
At Mango Hill we believe goal setting is valuable in all aspects of life. You may like to talk to your child about their current goals.
We love being creative in Prep!
This week, we experienced our Raw Art incursion. When we are creative, it helps us to think in a different way. We get to explore ideas through art and then this knowledge and experience helps us, when we turn our attention to our academic learning. To be good at maths, you need to have visual spatial knowledge. You need to be able to estimate and make considered choices. When we make sculptures, we use similar skills! How much clay do I need to use for this piece? How will this look? If I want it to look a certain way from the other side, how will I do this? We use different vocabulary when we explore new art experiences too; we learn new words that we can use to broaden our comprehension when reading and writing.
Art is not only fun, but a way to unlock our potential in so many other areas!
Check out our Raw Art pieces below. On the weekend, I’m sure our Prep friends would love to do a creative activity with their families!
Melinda White
Deputy Principal - Prep
mwhit37@eq.edu.au
Collaborative Learning in Year 1
Collaborative learning is considered an important part of every lesson at Mango Hill. When children are given the opportunity to actively collaborate with one another, we know that their engagement in learning increases. ‘Full student engagement boosts students learning and decreases the achievement gap’ (Kagan, 2019). Collaborative learning also gives students the opportunity to practise using academic language and develop their social skills as they converse with one another.
Take a look at these superstars in 1D and 1S using collaborative learning to practise skip counting. They are also working together coaching one another to solve skip counting problems.
Innovation in Year 1
Not so long ago, I was approached by an enthusiastic group of Year 1 children who were wanting to start a Fidget Club at break time. Over a number of lunchtimes, this group of children have worked hard to develop some rules for the club and posters to advertise it. They even joined me to film last week’s virtual parade to share their idea with all the Year 1 children.
Last Friday was the grand opening of the club, with lots of Year 1 friends attending. Congratulations to Darcy, Myla-Jayne, Oscar, Adam and Patrick from 1W for their innovation in getting this club off the ground.
If your child would like to attend, this club is run out of the 1W classroom on Fridays at first break. Children attending need to bring their own fidgets and have them clearly named. We look forward to having other friends join us this Friday!
Learning in Year 2
Last week, our Year 2 students completed their Transformations Unit in Math where students learned to describe the effect of single-step transformations, including turns, flips and slides. They identified turns, flips and slides in real-world situations and identified half and quarter turns. Students had great fun with this learning. This week, students are finalising their Fractions unit in Math. Teachers are excited to introduce Year 2 Multiplication and Division to their students. Over the next four weeks, students will learn to solve simple grouping and sharing problems, solve simple multiplication and division problems, use multiplication to solve problems, and connect multiplication and division with each other.
Year 2 Excursion and Book Week parade
You will have received the note and permission form for our upcoming Year 2 excursion to Samford Museum in the week starting August 22. We are looking forward to visiting the museum. On Friday of that week, we will also be celebrating Book Week with a year level parade. All parents are welcome to attend.
Term 4 Swimming
Did you know our teachers are already preparing for Term 4 when our Year 2 students will be going for swimming lessons in Week 1 – 6. If you have any particular concerns about your child swimming or have any new information to share that may impact on your child swimming, please make contact with your child’s class teacher. Futher information about swimming lessons to come.
Take care and have a wonderful week
Ellaine Warner
Deputy Principal- Year 2
ewarn23@eq.edu.au
All About Maths
The past few weeks we have been learning about the range of strategies we can use to represent division and multiplication. Our students have done a great job in representing their thinking using strategies such as arrays, groups of, repeated addition and subtraction and inverse operations. Visiting classrooms has been a wonderful opportunity to listen to the students justify and explain their thinking using mathematical language.
However this is not all that we have been learning in Maths. Last week we were lucky enough to have Ms O'Brien join Miss Sodhi in teaching 3D about time. Students worked in small groups as they learned how to read digital and analogue clocks using the terms 'past' and 'to'. Thank you for your visit Ms O'Brien!
PCYC Wrap Up
Super work Year 3! It was great to hear you learned so much from the PCYC Bike Safety excursion and I was very proud with your engagement in the program. You represented Team Mango with pride.
Thank you to our amazing teachers and parent volunteers that made it all happen, we very much appreciated all your support.
Have a great week
Michelle Alcorn
Deputy Principal- Year 3
malco14@eq.edu.au
Bumping up our Writing
There has been a big focus in Year 4 this past week on ‘bumping-up’ our writing. Throughout Term 3, Year 4 students have been reading and writing traditional Asian tales that include a moral. Students have been learning about how to structure their text, use verb and noun groups for effect, and carefully consider when a new paragraph is required.
In 4A and 4B, students have been deepening their clarity about their next steps and where they can go for help through teacher feedback and using resources from the learning wall to improve their work. In 4A, students were collaborating to find examples of text connectives that they could use when writing their own traditional tales. Students in 4B have done the same, as well as unpacking good exemplars so that students can compare their work samples to these.
Building connections and celebrating learning
At MHSS, wellbeing is highly valued as we work towards supporting students to be the best versions of themselves. We have a multitude of ways in which we work to strengthen students’ connections with each other and increase their wellbeing at school. One strategy our classes use is doing a What Went Well at the end of each day. This is an opportunity for students to reflect on their day and celebrate what they have learned or the positive experiences they have had with friends.
This week our care class focus was on Ready to Learn plans. I loved visiting 4Z during their Care Class this week and seeing the class strategies they were developing to help them get ready to learn. It has been wonderful to see across all of the Year 4 classes, that so many students have strategies in place to help them get ready to learn.
Bunyaville
Over the next few weeks, all of our Year 4 classes will visit Bunyaville Conservation Park as a part of the Earth Science unit. Some classes have already visited this week and have learned about the benefits of weeding and the impacts of soil erosion. From what I have heard, our students have been exceptional at demonstrating care for the environment while at Bunyaville.
Have a super week Ben Mills
Deputy Principal – Year 4
bxmil3@eq.edu.au
Year 5 Camp
At the time of writing this article our Year 5 students have enjoyed their first day at Currimundi. Students were so excited (with some nerves) to leave their families for a week. I am sure there were some nerves from families as well. However as soon as students got on the bus their excitement took over. After the first morning some groups enjoyed a bush walk, caving, body boarding and the giant swing.
I look forward to celebrating more memories throughout the week on Facebook.
SciConnect
Our Year 6 SciConnect students have been having an amazing time studying chemistry this term. This week’s learning was about monomers (molecules that can be bonded together) and polymers (a chemical compound made up of a string of repeated monomers). They brought this to life making bouncy balls, a chemical reaction that formed a polymer. When the ball is stretched back out, the polymer chain uncoils. We managed to get all of our balls bouncing!
Year 5 and 6 Debating
Our Year 5 and 6 debating teams had their second debate for the year. The Year 6 teams argued that bicycle riders should be registered and the Year 5 team debated that pets should be banned. It was so inspiring to hear how our students structured their points of view, arguing what would be beneficial for an individual and society. It was also impressive to watch them embody our value of teamwork and work together to craft rebuttal to the other school’s arguments. One of our Year 6 teams won on the night! Our other two teams lost in a narrow debate. Well done to all of our teams!
Martin Winney
Deputy Principal –Year 5 & 6
mwinn7@eq.edu.au
Premier’s Reading Challenge
Don’t forget to return any completed forms to the Hub as soon as possible. There is only a couple more weeks to complete this super challenge!
Book Week
Don’t forget that as part of our Book Week celebrations we have a special Book Week competition. We already have a couple of super entries but would love to see so many more! The theme for Book Week is ‘Dreaming with your eyes open’, so our competition is a great way to share what kind of places you like to dream and read about! Our competition ends on Monday 22 August so there is still plenty of time! Don’t forget to add your name and class to every entry.
Book Fair
We are also excited to announce that our Book Fair will soon be here! Opening on Friday 19 August, Book Fair will provide a special opportunity to purchase some new books for the whole family as well as support our school. For every book purchased, our school receives a percentage of funds from Scholastic to buy new books for the Hub. The Book Fair will be open from Friday 19 August until Wednesday 24 August from 8am until 3.15pm. Book Fair will also be open every first break for these few days! We can’t wait to see you there!
STARLAB Incursion
Last week our Year 3 and 5 students had the opportunity to participate in our Starlab visits. Our Year 3 students explored the Earth's rotation on its axis causing day and night including sunrise, sunset, the appearance of the moon and measured shadows using a sundial. Our Year 5 students focused on Earth's place in space, our solar system, planet orbits, composition, relative sizes and distances, space exploration and technology. The presenter demonstrated these key concepts using visually engaging surround imagery and the full dome show re-iterated the concepts in a fun and exciting way.
Have a fantastic week
Suzette Holm and Danielle O'Brien
shol0@eq.edu.au
Please see below information regarding our Interschool Sporting Events as well as our PE Curriculum for Term 3.
Interschool Sport (Year 5-6)
Students in Year 5 and 6 will again this semester get an opportunity to participate in the Pine Rivers Interschool Sport with 3 more days this Term. Dates are as follows.
- Friday 12 August (Term 3 Week 5)
- Friday 26 August (Term 3 Week 7)
AFLQ Schools Cup Brisbane North-Wide Bay Finals
The Mango Hill boy’s AFL team were placed into a very difficult pool, up against teams Villanova and Perigian Springs.
With results not going our way in the pool games, including a coach-killing goal on the siren to lose our second game by 1 point, this forced our team to take the long road through the quarter-finals.
With a couple of players down going into the tournament, including Daniel, who injured his knee representing our school at the athletics carnival earlier in the week and Angus, who was absent due to state AFL representative duties; it was always going to be a tough battle for MHSS. But their determination and effort was never questioned. A hard fought 14-13 quarter final win lead to a semi-final showdown with Villanova.
Unfortunately, we went down in an absolute nail-biter. Maintaining a lead up until the final minutes and fighting valiantly for the entire game. But alas it was just not meant to be. Finishing the game 17-5 down and one win away from the grand final game and a guaranteed position in the state finals.
On a side note, congratulations to Angus B who was selected as the Vice-Captain for the QLD Schoolboys AFL team. He will be competing in Adelaide this week at the 10-12yrs National AFL competition. Best of luck Angus!
PRD Track & Field Results
Wow, what a week we have had at the PRD Track & Field Trials. MHSS has again bought home some silverware, winning the Team Relay trophy for a 2nd year in a row.
In great conditions at the John Oxley Reserve last Monday and Tuesday, our 41 athletes competed in events including running, high jump, long jump, discus, shot put and team relays.
All students who participated qualified based on their performance at the Mango Hill Athletics Day. Students also completed practice early in the term and I must congratulate those students who turned up each morning. Your commitment was rewarded with these great results.
With 32 schools competing competition was extremely strong.
The four trophy categories included the following.
Overall Points Winner – combined school total points
- MHSS Result – 4th
- A strong result after winning last year.
Field Events – combined points for all field events
- MHSS Result – 3rd
Pine Rivers District Sport Trials
Below is a list of upcoming Pine Rivers District trials. Most trials are limited to students turning 11 or 12 years of age and who are considered at a high level in the sport eg Div 1 or A Grade. If you are interested in your child trialling for Pine Rivers District more information can be obtained from the Pine Rivers District School Sport Website https://prdss1012yr.teamapp.com/?_webpage=v1 or Mr Nick Hills - nhill96@eq.edu.au (MHSS PE Teacher).
Costs
Some Pine Rivers District Trials that occur during the school day will incur a fee to cover the supervision costs of teachers running the trial. Trials which are run after school will be free of charge. All Metropolitan North Trials in 2022 are free of charge as well.
- Pine Rivers District Sports Trial (after school) Free
- Pine Rivers District Sports Trial (half day or full day) $10.00
- Metropolitan North Sports Trials Free
Please Note:
- Trial information and district forms are not available until 2 weeks prior to trial date.
- District forms must be returned by the due date for students to be nominated
- Trial fees must be paid online by 3pm on the due date
|
Event |
Date of Trial |
|
Pine Rivers District U/12 Cricket Trials – Boys and Girls |
18/8/22 |
Physical Education Teachers
nhill96@eq.edu.au
tnewe20@eq.edu.au
