Mount Pleasant Road Primary School & Kindergarten

Leadership Centre

Curriculum

Selamat siang!

Term 3 has been a long and interesting journey for our students in the Leadership Centre. We hit the ground running with our school swimming program where students were engaged from the first lesson. We saw students enjoy the opportunity to participate in debating sessions, online and at school. Our 8 days at school together were fun but unfortunately we know how the story ends up. 

During Remote Learning this term, we have seen engagement levels rise and fall but overall our 5/6 students have been incredible. Some days are harder than others, lockdown or no lockdown however we have been so impressed with students ability to just keep going. A huge thanks to our students for their continued effort. Of course, the effort of our students is encouraged and facilitated by our parents. Thank you for being supportive, open and honest. It is a journey we are travelling along together, sometimes smooth and sometimes bumpy. Remote Learning is tricky and we appreciate everything you have done and continue to do for your child.

Each day brought a different wellbeing focus in the Leadership Centre. Students created Gratitude Mandalas as a way to remind us all that even though things are tough, we have a lot to be grateful for. Looking after our wellbeing is not limited to daily tasks however. We still encourage students to exercise daily, enjoy time outside despite the weather and take some time away from the screen.  

It was also RUOK? Day on Thursday. It is an annual day in September dedicated to remind people to ask family, friends and peers the question ‘Are you okay?’. Students explored the many ways in which we can check in with others and what more you can say, after you ask if some is okay. Remember that it is a day to remind people to check in with others but it is always good to check in with your loved ones regularly! Even just asking this simple question can increase someone’s positivity. Being able to share thoughts and feelings and to be heard is sometimes all someone needs. How can you check in with someone today?

In Maths, students have continued to build their understanding of a range of concepts related to our current topics of Division and Statistics and Probability. We continue to explore a range of different strategies to apply to division problems including the long division strategy with 1- and 2-digit divisors, the ‘In the Ballpark’ long division strategy, as well as dividing decimal numbers. Students have demonstrated great independence through watching a range of explicit teaching videos and sharing evidence of their mathematical thinking. Throughout our Statistics and Probability unit, students have continued to explore how expected probability differs from observed probability, how sample spaces can be identified in one-step and multi-step chance experiments and how we can use the sum of probability to describe complementary events. Everyone in the Leadership Centre has thoroughly enjoyed this unit and there have been many celebrations and achievements throughout!

In Literacy, students created open-minded portraits of characters from the text, ‘The Burnt Stick’ by Anthony Hill, where they put themselves into the shoes of a character of their choice. Using their understanding of the key events and characters, students rewrote a scene from the text within the perspective of the character. Through this, students made meaningful connections with the text and inferences as to how the character felt within the moment. In Writing, students wrapped up their song analysis of ‘Caught in the Crowd’ by Kate Miller-Heidke. Staff are impressed with how well the students have identified and discussed certain themes, quoting specific lyrics to back up their statements. Be sure to be on the lookout for your child’s open-minded portrait and song analysis on Seesaw.

 

Last week, we wrapped up our 'Care for the Kids' Guided Inquiry Unit with students delivering their presentations. We thank our students for their continued positive energy with this task. Completing a group task online could have been a challenge but our students displayed teamwork and leadership when collaborating on this task, just proving that no task is too big for our 5/6 students. It has been wonderful to listen to students display empathy for people around our world who are less fortunate. They have also been very persuasive when sharing about their Aid Agency, sharing how their agency is important to people across the world. We have humanitarians in the making within our MPRPS Leadership Centre!

 

Week 10 Overview:

Terima Kasih,

The Leadership Centre Team

Student Voice

  • "In Writing, I have improved in using literary devices in my Song Analysis paragraphs."- Ollie C
  • "This week, I have shown a growth mindset in maths by always completing every star task. I always do this because it makes me happy and proud about my work. I can also work on my goals when doing all Star tasks." - Samanvi K
  • "This week, I have shown a growth mindset in maths by always trying to improve my work and trying the best that I can to complete the tasks and challenge myself."  - Josiah N

Reminders

  • Morning Check-In Zooms: Daily at 9:00am
  • Students to check and attend their Maths & Literacy small group Zooms
  • Premier's Reading Challenge ends on the 17th of September
  • Footy Day this Friday! Dress up in your favoruite sporting team's gear.

Pupil of the Week

5/6B: Indi P -

For demonstrating the character strengths of perseverance and love of learning throughout our Maths unit on Division. You ensured to ask questions for clarification and showed a strong ability to show your working out. Well done Indi.

 

5/6C: Ella S -

For writing an insightful & detailed response on the song "Caught in the Crowd". Well done, Ella for clearly articulating the purpose behind each verse and identifying key lyrics and themes that send an important message to the audience. Keep up the impressive effort! 

 

5/6SB: Lavinia M -  

For writing an engaging and detailed response to ‘Caught in the Crowd’.  Lavinia, you identified and expanded on the main themes from the song and included relevant lyrics to support your ideas. Keep up the great effort!

 

5/6W: Talya S -

For demonstrating the character strengths of perseverance and love of learning throughout our Probability & Statistics unit. You have displayed a high level of enthusiasm within our Maths Zooms and always look to better understand a range of challenging concepts. Keep up the fantastic work, Talya!