Class Updates and Reminders 

Dates for All Year Levels

Week 5 -  Friday 13th August - Athletics Day

Week 7 - Book Week

• Monday 23rd - Friday 27th August -  Book Fair before and after school
• Friday 27th August - Whole school Book Day Dress-Up

Week 9 - Thursday 9th September - RUOK Day

Week 10 - Friday 17th September - Footy Colours Day 

Looking for a Fun Activity for All Grades?

Note: The deadline will be adjusted if we are not back onsite.

Prep

Dates to Remember:

Friday 6th August- Itsy Bitsy Chef Workshop

Reminders:

In-visits and excursions

Due to the current lockdown and situation with COVID-19, we are unable to go ahead with the following events as planned:

-CERES Farming Our Future Workshop

-Trash Puppets Workshop

-Living Eggs

We are in the process of rescheduling these events so that the children do not miss out on these exciting opportunities. Unfortunately, this does also mean that any recycled materials collected for trash puppets will once again need to be stored until a later date. Thank you for your understanding.

Phonics

We have now learnt all Phase 3 phonemes and will spend the next few weeks revising these sounds. To support your child at home, you can ask them to recall these sounds or watch the Phase 3 revision video located on Seesaw or by clicking the link below.

Click here to view Phase 3 Sounds

High Frequency Words

By the end of Term 3, we expect students to read between 30 and 50 high frequency words independently. You can support your child by practising the first 100 high frequency words at home. There are many different ways to practise these words. See below for some inspiration!

Please click here for the full list of high frequency words. 

Home Reading

Please continue to read to and with your child at least four times a week and record any home reading in your child’s diary. If access to books is limited during lockdown, students can read their own books or explore other types of texts such as recipes, poems or magazines. 

Click here for some tips on how to help your child enjoy reading at home

Grade 1

Dates to Remember:

• Tuesday 27th July  - CERES online Incursion (this will take place in the usual daily Literacy check-in, however it will run from 10am-10:45am).
• Thursday 4th August - Itsy Bitsy Incursion (due to occur when we are back at school and subject to change, please send any dietary requirements to the class teacher).

Reminders:

• Remember your child should complete one Mathseeds lesson per week for homework. We have been so impressed with the number of students remembering to do their homework so far this term.
• When we return to school we would love to see students bringing in the Reading Diary every Monday.
• Can your child already read 300+ HFW? If so, they could focus on spelling these words now. Below are the tricky HFWs from words 1-150 that children will not be able to segment and spell just using their phonics. They could practice spelling these words at home.

Grade 2

Dates to Remember:

• 29th of July - Dazzling Dan the Magic Man Online Show
  More details to come soon.

Reminders:

In-visits and excursions

Due to the current lockdown and situation with COVID-19, we are unable to go ahead with the following events as planned:

-Water and the environment

-Itsy Bitsy Chef

We are in the process of rescheduling these events so that the children do not miss out on these exciting opportunities. 

Homework

Remember your child should complete one Mathseeds lesson per week for homework. We have been so impressed with the number of students remembering to do their homework so far this term.

Grade 3/4

Dates to Remember:

Week 3: Scope Q&A Session 

In this online incursion, students will develop and pose questions about disabilities and what it is like to live with disability.  

Week 4: Guide Dogs Victoria Incursion 

In this incursion, students will meet Maribel and her Guide Dog, Dindi. Maribel is excited to share stories and answer questions about her life.

Reminders:

• As per SMPS homework expectations, Grade 3/4 are expected to earn 200 points on Mathletics each week. Last week, we had 72% of the Grade 3/4 cohort completing assigned homework tasks. The Grade 3/4 teachers appreciate your support in ensuring all students are completing set homework tasks.
• Accelerated Reader is a school program aimed at helping children increase their reading volume and their comprehension of texts. Each student has an individual reading points target. Do you know your child's points target? Have conversations with them, encourage them to read for at least 30 minutes a day, ask them how they're going with the Accelerated Reader quizzes. 

Grade 5 and 6

Dates to Remember:

Unfortunately due to Covid-19, our in-visit from St Kilda mums has been cancelled. The following events are subject to change due to the unpredictable nature of the pandemic. At present, the following events are going ahead:

• 23rd August: Grade 5 Excursion to Emerald Hill Library
• 24th August: Grade 6 Excursion to Emerald Hill Library

Reminders:

Grade 6 - 7 Secondary School Transition

Wednesday 4th August 2021 - You will be notified about your child's secondary school placement offer in writing on this day. You will receive a letter from Miss Jo to inform you which school has offered your child a Grade 7 placement. 

If you have any questions about the transition process, please email Miss Jo who will be able to inform you about what happens next. 

Free Library Books:

It doesn't have to be tough to find exciting books to read during remote learning! You can join City of Melbourne Libraries for free by clicking below. It's quick, easy and completely free. Join today on the link below to access thousands of the latest literature and e-books  from home! Click here

Thank you for your home learning support! 

Your support with Mathletics has been magnificent and we can't thank you enough for the hard work you have put in to ensuring your child practises their learning at home.

Last term, 100% of the students in Grade 5 completed their Mathletics homework every week. Wow!  86% of students in Grade 6 completed their Mathletics homework! This is our best score yet. 

When we met families for Parent-Teacher-Student Interviews, many asked questions about how they can also help out with Accelerated Reader. We have made a video to show you how to view your child's Progress Page. Our students work so hard towards their reading targets all term, so it's a lovely chance for them to show you how they are tracking towards their target.

Note: you must access this via your child's Compass log in.

You may need to click 'Open in new window'.

Junior School Council (JSC)

The JSC had their first ever Webex meeting on Friday. We welcomed 7 new members to represent their class for the remainder of the year. We reviewed the expectations and roles of the JSC before getting stuck into some of the current issues to help make our school even better than it is now. Our final item of business was to review the Rockstar Day Fundraiser that we helped to organise at the end of last term.

OSHClub

OSHClub have included their latest newsletter here for families to access.