Mullum Matters

From Marie

TERM 1

After winning the Shop for your School in 2024, we were able to use some of the $10 000 to purchase valuable mathematics resources and program materials that were the basis of our Curriculum Day last week.  All staff spent the day engrossed in learning abouut place value with mathematics consultant, Anna Kapnoullas, using the new program and resources.  Your child's teacher has been able to adapt the new learning and apply it immediately back into the classroom, here are a few highlights:

  • Maths Buddy or Partner - Students have been paired with a buddy of similar maths ability based on a pre-test given for the topic being taught.  During the maths lessons they sit together and the teacher is able to offer support or extension to both students at the same time.

  • Mild, spicy, lemon or herb - differentiating maths tasks to suit different abilities has just got simpler with tasks being graded by degrees of flavour!  A teacher can make a task more 'spicy' by increasing complexity, right there in the moment, for students who are demonstrating a high level of achievement in the skill being taught.  This additional 'spice' could be a jump to working with thousands instead of hundreds, the introduction of a 10-sided dice when others are working with 6-sided dice, using two dice instead of one, and more.

  • Students have bookwork expectations listed in the front of their books, showing them how to set out their books

  • Insisting on accurate recording following a teacher model

  • Lessons are taught twice, with the teacher introducing more support or extension during the second lesson based on what was observed the day before

  • Use of concrete materials in all lessons - counters, blocks, dice, number lines etc... Check out these photos:

 

 

Student-led Walk Throughs

On Tuesday 1 April, we are opening the classrooms for our twice yearly Student-led Walkthroughs.  Your child is inviting you into their classroom to lead you along the walls of their room, look through their work so far, and to experience some of the maths activities and materials for yourselves.  Follow the steps below to book in:

 

1. Click this link to see our SignUp on SignUp: https://signup.com/go/XkaeyKU

2. Review the options listed and choose the spot(s) you like.

3. Sign up! It's Easy - you will NOT need to register an account or keep a password on SignUp.

 

School Council

This week we had our School Council Annual General Meeting and the first meeting of the new School Council.  Your new School Council members are:

  • Erin Boyce (Olivia 2K) - President
  • Bao Nguyen (Jonah 2K) - Vice-president
  • Jono Graham (Indi 5/6C)
  • Poonam Oberoi-Singh (Iraa 5/6G)
  • Emily Shaafati (Mia, Ella, Lily)
  • Flora Westcott (Edward FSC)
  • Karen Hunsdale (Department of Education representative) - Secretary
  • Sonia Cross (Department of Education representative)
  • Jenny Verheijden (Department of Education representative)
  • Marie Beale (Principal)

We look forward working together for the benefit of all students this year.  As we start our new Council, I would like to thank Mark Eames, Olivia Van Der Weyden and Fiona Pumpa for their time on Council and their contributions to this important work.

 

Eastland - Shop for your School 2025 - Can we win again?

We are thrilled to be part of Eastland’s competition, Shop For Your School!  As I write this newsletter our school is top of the leaderboard!  Can we keep our name on top until the competition closes on Thursday 10 April at 10:00pm.  Simply shop at one of the designated retailers, register yourself with the App and then upload the details of your receipt.  Alternatively, you can send along receipts to school and we will upload them on your behalf.  Check  out the 'Shop for your School" page in this newsletter.

 

Easter Raffle Donations

We are collecting donations of Easter eggs and Easter related items, along with raffle ticket sales, for our end of term Easter raffle.  Send items and raffle tickets along to school over the next couple of weeks and join in the fun.  The raffle draw will take place at the final assembly of term, Friday 4 April.

 

Make It & Race It - Fathering Project - now Sunday 30 March

This event date has been changed to Sunday 30 March.  Check out the information in the designated page in this newsletter for more information.

 

House Cross Country - Thursday 27 March

This year the House Cross Country will take place at school due to the renovations at the North Ringwood oval.  Fiona Pumpa has give a lot of detail in her page in this newsletter, however, I wanted to highlight the opportunity for parents to come along and support this event by being a volunteer or spectating.  See you next Thursday!