Specialists Updates and Celebrations

Athletics Day (Grade 3-6) 

What a day! We had over 25 volunteers, 200 students, 20 staff and plenty of spectators too!  When I was at Primary school we just used a tiny little field near our school. How incredible that our students can use Lakeside Stadium! 

A huge thank you to all the staff and especially the volunteers as they made the day possible. The volunteers had little to no break, improvised to make things better and encouraged our students fantastically. It made organising my first ever Athletics Day so much easier. I can't wait to make some improvements for next year!

Cross Country

Another day with our wonderful SMPS community helping out. Students showed incredible resilience to run 2 or 3km and then walk around the rest of Albert Park Lake. We were treated by the weather and had some lovely views of the lake. Lots of tired and happy faces!

Art

The Grade 3/4’s completed their rainforest project this week. They learnt all about the Element of Art: Colour and explored various colour relationships. Their rainforest paintings were developed through the use of monochrome, where they mixed green with black, grey and white to make various shades, tones and tints of green. Their artworks look fantastic and they should all be so proud of their hard work!

Mandarin

Our Grade 1 and 2 students have been learning about instruction words (for example, stand up, clap hands, sit down etc.) in Mandarin. This week our students enhanced their learning through role-playing. They also practised speaking by working in pairs and giving each other instructions in Mandarin. 

Music

The prep students at SMPS have been engaged in building their sense of steady beat and rhythm in the music program. They have participated in body percussion and auxiliary percussion activities with the aim of developing their skills so that they can play patterns and songs in time with their classmates.

As always, singing is a big feature of the prep program. We have been learning a handful of rhythm sticks songs that involve playing rhythms or keeping a steady beat while singing. Outside of these songs, students have been enjoying fun game based singalongs too.

I am very excited to report that the prep students have made their way onto the marimbas in the past 2 lessons. We are learning a how class piece as well as a short independent melody.

P.E.

Grade 5/6 have been preparing for our Athletics Day and have practiced T-Ball in anticipation for their T-Ball Gala Day on Friday 1st April. In particular, the batting skills have improved greatly! If you would like to volunteer for our T-Ball Gala day please email Callum.Freel@southmelbourneps.vic.edu.au 

Library

We’ve had a great start to the year in the library! Grades 2 to 6 have been attending the library every week to read and browse the books. It’s been wonderful to see so many excited students regularly borrowing and returning their books. We have had two new additions to the library this year; a lovely new rug and a graphic novel section which has been very popular with students. 

Borrowing

Each student is allowed to borrow two books from the library to take home. Students may keep the books for up to two weeks. Students must have a book bag in order to keep their books safe. They are welcome to return their books at any time to the library during these two weeks. Students are able to renew their books for a further two weeks if they are still reading it.

Overdue Books

After two weeks, if a student has not returned their books, teachers will remind students to return their overdue books. If the books remain outstanding after another two weeks, parents will receive a reminder email asking for the books to be returned. Students will not be able to borrow new books until the overdue books are returned.

Lost or Damaged Books

If a book is lost or damaged, parents will be asked to pay a $10 fee to cover the cost of replacing the book. 

If there are any questions or enquiries please contact Ms Zoe on Zoe.Danaher@southmelbourneps.vic.edu.au