Wednesday 12 December 2018

Senior Report - Term 4 Weeks 8 - 10


 Senior Report - Term 4, Weeks 8-10

As the end of the year draws near, we find ourselves busier than ever leading and preparing the school for many exciting events. Our Grade 6 students are splitting their time between being leaders of MPPS and celebrating their time here, whilst also attending orientations for their Secondary schooling. Our Grade 5 students are busily preparing themselves for leadership opportunities next year and helping setup for the Carols Night and classroom changes next year. 
In amongst all of this, we are still managing to complete the following:
- Compile our own newspapers
- Budget for weekly groceries 
- Review books through various reading strategies
- Explore the geography of a foreign country and compare it to Australia


Team Building Incursion
On Monday the 26th of November the senior school had an incursion about team building. Mel and Sebina showed us some activities to help us build up our teamwork! There were times that we had arguments but we had time after every activity to talk about our strengths and weaknesses and what worked for us and what didn’t work for us. Some of the activities were very challenging but we had to encourage each other to do our best. Some of the activities were in small or large groups. The best thing is that we all came out of there more confident and more friendly towards each other.  
By Olivia H  

Bike Ed Assessment
On Friday the 30th of November the grade 5 and 6 students had a Bike Ed assessment day to assess our skills learnt on the road. We first went out of the school and down a side street, around a roundabout and turned left onto Southern Road. We then turned down Acacia Avenue and back into the school for two laps. We also did mapping activities and finished off filming our road safety ads. At the end of the day we all got a certificate and some people won prizes for their efforts. It was so fun!
By Morgan
                                                                          
House Sports Day
On Friday the 6th of December the whole school had House Sports Day. At the start of the day we gathered all of the students in our houses and went to our meeting places. When we had settled in our house groups we started practising our chants. After we got everyone excited with our chants we went out and got put into our age groups and started our sports. We didn’t get to do all of it because of the heat. After that there was a sausage sizzle and ice poles. At 2:00 we played some games in our houses and then we went to the hall to find out who one. KINGS WON!!!!! Everyone did a great job!
By Lucy   

Projects
In the senior school we were assigned with two major projects, making a newspaper/magazine and a project about a chosen country! The newspaper involved writing a book review, an opinion piece, an information report, a narrative, a crossword, meal recipes and their costs, a puzzle, a page about our geography project and a quiz about our country! There were also a few additional tasks to do if we had finished early! We were also asked to make a front cover! In my opinion this was a really fun and interesting project to do!
The second project was a project that involved us to use the internet along with books! We were given a page of activities that involved comparing and contrasting our chosen country with Australia and its education and lifestyle. We even had to plan a day of traditional activities for someone to do if they ever went! We also had to make detailed maps and then say what we noticed about the two! I’m pretty sure we all really enjoyed learning and making these amazing projects!
By Anni

Carols
On Tuesday the 11th of December the whole school came back at 5:00pm for the Christmas Carols. The year fives were setting up after lunch for the carols by putting up the tents and paper chains people had made to decorate the trees. We also set up the sound equipment.
When everyone came back  they each did a song and one of the STOMP dances from the production. There were lots of people!  
This years carols was special because it was MENTONE PARK PRIMARY SCHOOLS BIRTHDAY! MPPS turned 50 years old! We finished by singing happy birthday, having a snack and a visit from SANTA! He came and handed lollies out to the kids at school.
By Irene


Important Dates
Tuesday 11th December - Christmas Carols Evening
Thursday 13th December - Year 6 Big Day Out @ Luna Park
Tuesday 18th December - Year 6 Graduation Night
Thursday 20th December - Senior School Party and Kris Kringle
Friday 21st December - Last day of Term 4!

Absences
If your child is absent from school, you must notify the school via flexibuzz of this in the morning. If not, you will now be sent this message from your child's teacher via flexibuzz:

Dear Parents/Guardians.
Your child has been marked as absent from school today. Can you please contact the office to notify us of the reason for this absence.
Kind Regards,
Mentone Park Primary School/Your Child's Teacher

Reading
What has been your Reading highlight this year?
I have lots of highlights in reading, my biggest was focus groups. We read Tashi and shared our thoughts about what had happened. I also liked News for Kids, a program on Google where we watched clips and answered comprehension questions. We also got to take words from our text and make crosswords for our friends.
By Liam

Writing
What has been your Writing highlight this year?
Writing a procedure for my newspaper was my highlight. My procedure was about 'How to make a souvlaki'. I chose to write about this because it is a food of my culture, I could use the knowledge from my family shop and it is also my favourite food!
By Angelo

Maths
What has been your Maths highlight this year?
My highlight of maths was the financial math project. It was a bit stressful, but now I know how much my Mum spends on our family. We had to buy healthy dinners, breakfasts and lunches for a week for our whole family from either Woolworths or Coles. We had a a maximum of $250 to spend and a minimum of $200. It was so fun and I hope we do more things like this project next year!
By Jake M

Inquiry
What has been your Inquiry highlight this year?
Oh inquiry! What education you give and the things that we've done together is unforgettable! From looking at Parliament, to researching Peru. But out of all the loving moments, my favourite of all is my volcanic project. My mind was filled with eruptions, smoke, magma and tectonic plates.
By Carla




Team Building




Bike Ed




 Inquiry projects






















Thursday 22 November 2018

Senior Newsletter - Term 4, Weeks 1-7


 Senior Report - Term 4, Weeks 1-7

Here in the Senior School we have had a fantastic first half of Term 4 filled with many exciting things going on. Read to find out what fun and exciting things have been keeping the year 5 and 6 students and staff busy this term.

Science Works Excursion                                                                              In the first week of term we went to Science Works. I loved science works because of the planetarium. In the planetarium we learnt about different star constellations and where our 8 planets and Pluto sit. We were told facts about these planets and what ones we can and can't see. We also got to look at all the other areas in Science Works two and there was a sport area as well that the year level liked as well.
By Alex

District Rugby
In week 2 we participated in a rugby tournament. 
Boys: The first game we lost by 1 try. The scores were 3-2 in the other teams favour although we did put up a good match. In the second game the score was 2-3 in their favour but again we did improve from the last game offence and defence. In the third game the scores were 1-2 but we should of got a try we didn't get. The last game we didn't win however we had fun going into it and most of our team didn't have experience with rugby. Some of our scorers were Billy with two trys and Euan with 7. 
By Charlie

Girls: In the first game it was 6-0 and we won. The next game was 12-0 and we won again which made us feel very happy because we had a chance to make it to state. The third game was 5-0. The last game was the finals and we lost by 1 try unfortunately. Everyone played really good and played as a team to try and get as many trys as we could. We even had a saying "Don't attack the girl, get the tag"
By Jasmine and Alannah

Project Rockit Incursion
A few weeks ago the guys from Project Rockit taught us about cyberbullying and how it can spread very very easily. First they told us about themselves. Then we did an activity where Emma had to act out an octopus riding a skateboard chopping up veggies and every person that came in after had to describe what it was from the last person. This taught us that messages can change and spread really quickly and how this can hurt people. Some hot tips they told us to stay safe online were don't give other people your personal information such as iphone passcodes and snapchats, if you see stuff happening you don't have to be a bystander you can step in and say something nice to support others and to try and be part of the solution, not the problem. Overall it was really really fun and entertaining.
By Andjelka and Angie

Bike Education
This term in Bike Ed we have learned all the different safety rules about riding your bike such as pedal power position, headchecks, use your arms to tell your direction to drivers and always stay to your left on a roundabout. We have been learning how to ride on the road, we have been filming ads for bike safety about what to do and what not to do as well as making directions to one place to another place avoiding busy roads using Google Maps. I enjoyed learning learning all the different safety rules and how to ride on the road. 
By Morgan

Maths Olympiad 2018
Throughout this year, 14 dedicated Year 3-6 students have voluntarily given up their lunchtimes and time at home each week to represent our school in the 2018 Maths Olympiad. The Maths Olympiad is a challenging competition for high achieving maths students. It allows individuals to ‘put their talent to the test’ and compete against other students from across Australia and New Zealand.
These students have worked hard to develop their maths problem solving skills in this challenging competition. The students are:
Senior School
Anton Z
Oscar C
Kate O
Edward L
Victoria C
Anna H
John T
Holly J
Matt G
Hongkai Z

Congratulations to these students for their dedication and efforts throughout the year. Special mention goes to Kirby who finished within the top 50% of all students, John and Anna who finished in the top 40%, Edward who finished in the top 25% and Victoria who was our highest achieving student who finished in the top 20%. Well done!


Important Dates
Friday 30th November - Bike Education Assessment Day
Friday 7th December - House Sports Day
Tuesday 11th December - Christmas Carols Evening
Thursday 13th December - Year 6 Big Day Out @ Luna Park
Tuesday 18th December - Year 6 Graduation Night
Friday 21st December - Last day of Term 4!

Absences
If your child is absent from school, you must notify the school via flexibuzz of this in the morning. If not, you will now be sent this message from your child's teacher via flexibuzz:

Dear Parents/Guardians.
Your child has been marked as absent from school today. Can you please contact the office to notify us of the reason for this absence.
Kind Regards,
Mentone Park Primary School/Your Child's Teacher

Reading
What have you been learning for Reading so far this term?
For Reading we have been learning how to do literature responses and we finished off Boy Overboard. I learned how to do the TEEL structure which stands for topic, example, evidence and link. I used the TEEL structure to make my literature response better - Kate

What has been your Reading highlight so far this term?
My highlight was doing the book reviews and literature responses to Boy Overboard. I liked it because we got to state our own opinion about it and say if we liked it or not, as well as what we would change - Olivia P



Writing
What have you been learning for Writing so far this term?
I really enjoyed creating our own newspapers that featured multiple text types. I liked the newspapers because we could include everything in it such as literacy, maths and inquiry into it. My favourite piece for the newspaper so far is my narrative about my teachers being animals - Harper

What has been your Writing highlight so far this term?
My highlight has been writing narratives to make picture story books for the junior school because I got to express my feelings on the page and use all my ideas. My story was pandas who become friends - Evie

Maths
What have you been learning for Maths so far this term?
I have learning about money and budgets. I learnt about how a lot of things are very expensive to buy. I've enjoyed making my shopping list and finding the cheapest price and I found good discounts such as $2 off - Oscar

What has been your Maths highlight so far this term?
My highlight is definitely division and trying to understand more about division. An activity I enjoyed was working on my booklet with my timetables goals which was good because this helped me to get better at my high timetable sums - Jake B

Inquiry
What have you been learning for Inquiry so far this term?
We have been learning about what different countries live with. I learnt that we are lucky compared to other places in the world. I'm doing my geography project on Sweden and it's interesting how cold it gets there - Angus

What has been your Inquiry highlight so far this term?
My highlight has been learning about different countries and all their differences even their toothbrushes. I'm doing my geography project on Mexico. I've learnt about all the people in Mexico and how their are rich and poor people. There is even a family in Mexico that only earn $35 dollars a month - Tikki



Science Works














District Rugby






Thursday 13 September 2018

Senior Report - Term 3, Weeks 8-9


 Senior Report - Term 3, Weeks 8-9

Production
Last Tuesday the whole school went to Kingston Arts Centre to perform our production of 'Under the Big Top' for an afternoon and evening performance. After weeks of rehearsals, every student put on a fantastic show for everyone. It was an amazing show that everyone enjoyed. Well done!

What was your favourite part of production?
"I enjoyed showing all the parents and friends what we got to do and what we have been doing for the past few weeks. I enjoyed my role as Ringmaster!" - Darcy

District Athletics
Last Monday many of our 3-6 students represented our school in the Mordialloc District Atheletics. Every student gave their best effort in their event and showed fantastic sportsmanship towards each other. Well done to everyone who participated on the day. Congratulations to those students who placed 1st or 2nd in their event on the day and will be moving onto the Division level. We wish you the best of luck!

What was your highlight at District Athletics?
"I liked running in the relay because I was running with my friends and I got to talk to them while waiting for the race. I am proud what I placed too. I placed first in high jump and hurdles, and second in relay." - Sam


Important Dates
Term 3
Thursday 20th September - Staff vs Student Netball game @ 2:30
Friday 21st September - Footy Colour Day. Wear your favourite team's colours. It's also last day of Term 3!

Term 4
Friday 12th September - Scienceworks Excursion

Absences
If your child is absent from school, you must notify the school via flexibuzz of this in the morning. If not, you will now be sent this message from your child's teacher via flexibuzz:
Dear Parents/Guardians.
Your child has been marked as absent from school today. Can you please contact the office to notify us of the reason for this absence.
Kind Regards,
Mentone Park Primary School/Your Child's Teacher


Reading
What is your favourite activity Reading from the past few weeks?
"I liked making spelling word comics in my reading strategy goal group for the spelling activity. It was very fun and I got to learn what all the different phobias in my spelling words meant because I didn't know them before" - Kate

Writing
What did you learn in Writing over the past few weeks?
"I learnt all about debates. I learnt that you have to be very persuasive to get the audience to your side. You can win your debate by using strong language and evidence such as 'YOU MUST VOTE FOR ME' and it was extremely fun to do my debate. My team won our debate" - Andjelika


Maths
What is your highlight from Maths from the past few weeks?
"My highlight for maths is probably when we got to find out all different kinds of data using spinners, card, dice and M&ms. We used the data to look at the different chances and transferred what we did into fractions, decimals and percentages once we got the results. It was quite fun." - Holly

Inquiry
What are you most proud of with your inquiry project?
"I am proud of getting lots of work done in my project about Tornadoes and Sinkholes. I learnt that sinkholes can get so large that they can be bigger than the school. I've made my project into a booklet and I will be making a video to explain my project for the presentation" - Tikki



Production