Mount Pleasant Road Primary School & Kindergarten

Leadership Centre

Curriculum

There were eager students waiting at the Eugenia street gate last Friday in readiness for their staggered return to onsite learning. The return saw students reconnecting with their peers, engaging in learning tasks as well as settling back into their class routine. 

This week will still see a mix of remote and onsite learning. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, students will still be remote learning but will return onsite to school on Thursday and Friday.

 

 

In Writing, students have been writing their speeches about what brings them happiness, in preparation for the school’s public speaking competition. Sessions have also focused on editing and upleveling their piece by focusing on each part of VCOP. Students have focused on highlighting punctuation, sentence openers, connectives and WOW words. The highlighting aspect helps students to clearly see for themselves what they have included in their writing and assist them in identifying their next steps. Zoom literacy sessions also allowed students to share aspects of their writing and give and receive peer feedback.

 

In Reading, students completed a portfolio task where they demonstrated their ability to locate and summarise information from a non- fiction text. Throughout last week we continued to focus on and analyse a range of non-fiction texts that centred on stereotypes (which included an article about how ‘lego pledges product changes after gender survey’) and racism. When analysing the article about how the Kenyan elephant population is up 12 percent after a poaching crackdown, students used the ‘Peel the Fruit’ template (pictured)  making noticings, wonderings and connections and explaining what the article was really about as well as what the central message was. On Friday students chose their book club book and met in their groups to decide on what page to read up to for next week. The book club groups will meet each week and discuss the content and share their noticings and wonderings. Please ensure your child brings their book to school on Thursday and Friday.

In Maths, we have investigated equations and problems that have involved BIDMAS which stands for brackets, indices, division, multiplication, addition and subtraction. BIDMAS outlines what parts of an equation need to be calculated first in order to reach the correct answer. Can you solve the equations (see 

image). Toward the latter part of the week students investigated volume and capacity using a range of formal and informal units. On Friday students worked outside through a set of differentiated learning tasks which saw unifix and water being used to help calculate the volume and capacity of a range of containers. Students also investigated the surface area of objects by creating them out of paper, with the aid of known formulas.

 

In Science, we are investigating space and the distances of planets from the sun. Students were given the opportunity to make each of the planets and place them in order and relative distance from the sun. A ratio table was provided to ensure that planets were placed at the correct intervals. 

 

Wellbeing has focused on identifying and writing about a role model who has made positive contributions to society as well as being accepting and inclusive of others. There were a range of people that were researched from Greta Thunberg to Isaac Newton. Who would be one of your role models?

 

We hope that everyone has a great week. We are all looking forward to seeing students face to face once again on both Thursday and Friday!

 

The Leadership Centre team.

Reminders 

  • Onsite learning on Thursday and Friday- please ensure that your child has a sunsmart hat, drink bottle, sunscreen and mask.
  • Please check your emails for a Calendly invites regarding student assessment.
  • Year 6 Graduation: We are asking that 3 toddler/baby photos are sent to gradesixgraduation@gmail.com   
  • If your child attended another school before Mount Pleasant then please submit any school photos (correctly labelled with the year would be appreciated). Thank you.
  • We look forward to your attendance at the parents wellbeing session on mental health strategies for families on Tuesday 26th October 7:00pm-8:00pm. Please see 'important information'. Zoom Link:  https://zoom.us/j/93636805210?pwd=UVUva0lnbVRJbFduUWZsMEhjdGR3QT09

Student Voice

  • "I was really happy to come back to school as I hadn’t seen my friends for ages" - Vanessa C
  • "I enjoyed working on my speech because I wrote about what makes me happy" - Lavinia M
  • "Coming back to school was very exciting for me. I enjoyed seeing my friends face to face" - Lachie S

Pupil of the Week

5/6B: Neve L -

For demonstrating creativity and love of learning when planning and drafting your "What happiness means to me..." speech. You confidently demonstrated the ability to use "Show, don't Tell" to engage the audience and specifically describe the moments you have experienced being happy. Well done Neve!

 

5/6C: Noah H -

For showing a thorough understanding of the text 'Thunderstorms' when completing your reading portfolio task. You located specific information in the text to help you answer the comprehension questions in detail. Awesome effort, Noah! 

 

5/6SB: Surya B - 

Well done Surya for challenging yourself when working on volume and capacity tasks. Surya, you have also demonstrated a focused attitude toward achieving your maths goals. Keep up the great effort!

 

5/6W: Bella M -

For demonstrating creativity and curiosity when planning and drafting your 'What happiness means to me...' speech. You confidently experimented with a range of literary devices to engage the audience and thought critically about your word choice. Keep up the excellent work, Bella!