SMPS Family iNewsletter

Class Updates and Reminders

Messages from our Learning Levels...

Prep

Dates to Remember:

  • Monday 15th March- First Aid in Schools visit
  • Friday 19th March: National Ride2School Day
  • Wednesday 24th March- School Photos
  • Friday 26th March- Teddy Bear’s Picnic from 9am-10am
  • Wednesday 31st March- ‘Proud to be Me’ in-school visit
  • Thursday 1st April- Last day of Term 1, 2:30pm finish for all students

 

Reminders:

Teddy Bear’s Picnic

The Prep teachers and students would like to invite families to a Teddy Bear’s Picnic on Friday 26th March. This event is open to all Prep families and will be held from 9am-10am on the front forecourt. The picnic is a wonderful opportunity for students and families to come together as a community and celebrate a successful first term. Students should bring their teddy bear and an additional morning snack to enjoy with families and friends. There will also be some light refreshments and entertainment available on the day. Students whose families are unable to attend may choose to sit with their teachers or with family friends. Note that this event is subject to COVID guidelines. More information is available on Compass.

 

Home Learning Expectations

A big thank you to all families for supporting students with their learning so far. A reminder that each week, students will receive a sheet for practise at home (see below). This sheet lists the letters/sounds and high frequency words that students have learnt over the past week. To support consolidation of this learning, children should practise these letters/sounds/words at least four times a week. 

 

Sheets should be stored in their home learning folder. These folders should be used to store home learning items only. Any student work such as craft can be kept at home. Please ensure students bring their folder to school each day in their bags.

 

Note that we are in the process of setting up our Home Reading system and will provide further information of this in the coming weeks. Thank for you for your patience as we set up for success.

 

Seesaw

We are excited to have Seesaw Family up and running. By now, you should have received an invitation to access your child’s portfolio and have hopefully seen their first post this week. Please get in touch with your child’s class teacher if you have any difficulties connecting. 

 

Parent/Carer Volunteers: Working With Children Check

A reminder to all parents interested in volunteering to please pass a copy of your Working With Children Check to the school office. Please apply via www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au and select ‘volunteer’, please add South Melbourne Primary School as an organisation you will volunteer at, you are able to add as many organisation's as you like so this can include place of Employment, sporting clubs your children may play at, kindergartens and our school. 

Grade 1

Dates to Remember:

  • Friday 19th March: National Ride2School Day
  • Wednesday 24th March- School Photos
  • Thursday 1st April- Last day of Term 1, 2:30pm finish for all students

Reminders:

Arriving to school on time

We would love if all our Grade 1 learners were at school at 8:45am. Some students are coming up too late to swap their books for home reading and to be on time for our first lesson which is Phonics. This learning is so important and we don't want any children to miss out!

 

Uniform 

At SMPS we want to ensure all students are wearing the correct school uniform. We ask that you check your child is wearing the correct uniform (including navy socks and only school colours for hair accessories), and please contact  your child's teacher if you have any queries. 

Grade 2

Dates to Remember:

  • Monday 15th March- Members of our Community incursion (no action required)
  • Wednesday 17th March- Members of our Community incursion (no action required)
  • Friday 19th March: National Ride2School Day - come to and from school in an active way. Enjoy an active activity on the forecourt in the morning.
  • Wednesday 24th March- School Photos
  • Thursday 1st April- Last day of Term 1, 2:30pm finish for all students

Reminders:

Homework- Please record all home reading in your child's school diary. This can include any books that have been read from school, home or on myON. Teachers will be checking diaries on either Friday or Monday morning. This is when we will also be checking to see if they have completed there 1 lesson of Mathseeds for the week.  

Grade 3/4

Dates to Remember:

  • Tuesday 16th March: NAPLAN Information Night (Grade 3 and 5 families only). 7.00 - 8.00pm via Webex (see News Feed for the meeting code)
  • Friday 19th March: National Ride2School Day
  • Wednesday 24th of March: School photos
  • Thursday 25th of March: Proposed Grade 3/4 Excursion to Bunjilaka Aboriginal Education Centre (Museum Victoria)
  • Tuesday 30th of March: Proposed Grade 3/4 Excursion to Captain Cook's Cottage

Reminders:

Proposed Excursions

Please stay tuned for Compass posts regarding proposed upcoming excursions. These excursions are subject to change and require consent from parents. Please ensure that you have paid the Excursion Levy. 

 

Uniform 

At SMPS we want to ensure all students are wearing the correct school uniform. We ask that you check your child is wearing the correct uniform, and please contact  your child's teacher if you have any queries. 

 

Devices 

Throughout the school day students will require their device to access learning opportunities and the programs we do regularly in school such as Maths Invaders and Accelerated Reader.  

 

Please ensure your child brings a fully charged device to school each day.  

 

Homework 

Each week, Grade 3/4 are assigned Literacy and Numeracy homework with the expectation that it is completed throughout the week, and checked by the teacher on Friday.  

 

Assigned homework includes

  • Maths: 200 points on Mathletics 
  • Spelling: Spelling practise of their chosen words 4x a week 
  • Reading: 30 minutes of independent reading 4-5 nights a week, to be reflected in the Student Reading Diary and signed by a parent 

School diaries will be checked by their classroom teacher on Friday. Their diaries should be taken to school every day.  

 

Homework is a key component in ensuring that concepts taught in the classroom can be transferred from working memory to long-term memory. Please support your child to plan and organise when they will complete their homework each week. Thank you for your support in meeting the homework expectations.  

Grade 5 and 6

Dates to Remember:

  • Tuesday 16th March: NAPLAN Information Night (Grade 3 and 5 families only). 7.00 - 8.00pm via Webex (see News Feed for the meeting code)
  • Thursday 18th March: The final session of the Living and Growing Program by Sex Education Australia. Students will have a homework sheet to bring in on the day and discuss in the session.
  • Friday 19th March: National Ride2School Day - come to and from school in an active way. Enjoy an active activity on the forecourt in the morning.
  • Wednesday 24th of March: School photos
  • Thursday 1st April: Easter Hat Parade and the last day of Term 1 (2:30pm finish for all students)

 

Reminders:

Homework 

Students are given Literacy and Numeracy homework each week. This is given on Mondays and checked by teachers on Friday mornings. We have been so impressed with the homework completion rates in Grade 5 and 6. Thank you for your support!

The following are the expected homework tasks:

Maths: 200 - 1000 points on Mathletics. This week, 87% of Grade 5 and 84% of Grade 6 completed their Mathletics. This means 36/42 students did their maths homework.

 

Reading: 30 minutes of independent reading 4 nights a week, signed by a parent or carer in the Student Diary. It was wonderful to see so many students still met this expectation during a 4 day week by choosing to read on the public holiday!

 

Spelling: Spelling practise of their chosen words 4x a week. Students should follow the 'Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check' process with their spelling words.

  • Look at the word
  • Say the word
  • Cover the word with their hand
  • Write the word (without peeking!)
  • Check the word by uncovering it to see if their spelling was correct.

 

Parent/Carer Volunteers: Working With Children Check

Over the next few terms, we are excited to resume going on excursions. For these to be able to run, we seek parent volunteers. You must have a Working With Children Check in order to attend. This can take a short while to come through, so we recommend applying now so you are ready for Term 2. Please apply via www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au Select ‘volunteer’, then add South Melbourne Primary School as an organisation you will volunteer at. When your card arrives, please bring it to the school office where a photocopy of it can be taken and kept on file. We thank you in advance for your time!

 

Library Volunteers:

We have recently placed a huge order for new books in Grade 5 and 6. There are so many that Ms Sandra can't keep up! We are looking for parents who would like to assist in applying contact/covering to the books. It is a great chance to get a preview of the books your child might bring home. Please email your child's teacher if you are interested in assisting with this in the coming weeks or if you think you might be interested later in the year. We will then add you to a mailing list so you receive alerts throughout the year when more books arrive.