Hi Middles Students!

Here are some links to interactive games that will help you learn about time. Please have some fun exploring!

Rainforest Maths – Time 1

Rainforest Maths – Time 2

Time Games – 3

Dear Parents

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) will be conducted this week for students in Years 3, 5, 7 & 9 from all Australian States and Territories. The following is an outline of the tests and the corresponding dates:

Tuesday 10^th of May: LANGUAGE CONVENTIONS  (spelling, grammar and punctuation)

Tuesday 10^th of May: WRITING

Wednesday 11^th of May: READING

Thursday 12^th of May: NUMERACY

The children in Grade 3 have had an opportunity to do practise tests, in each of the areas, to familiarise themselves with the format of these types of tests.

Please be aware of the dates and times of tests because if a child is absent they will only be permitted to ‘make up’ a test within the week of the tests.  This may mean they are completing more than one test in a day and this can be quite tiring for our students.

It is important that your child gets plenty of sleep over the testing time and leading up to it (so early bedtimes are encouraged). Please pack plenty of healthy snacks and lunches to keep them going throughout the week.

If your child is involved with a lot of after school activities it may be wise to restrict these this week.  They do have to focus for long periods and spend a lot of time writing.  To assist with a calm and relaxed week at home, no Homework for Grade 3s will be given, apart from the expectation that Daily Reading will always take place.

Kind Regards

Middles Teaching Team

Dear Parents,

You may have noticed that our weekly homework table contains much of the same information each week. To minimise paper consumption we have made the decision to switch to electronic forms of communication where possible. One tree is needed for every 17 reams of paper used!

If your child’s teacher wishes to alter the weekly homework grid, they may choose to print an alternate version of the table below to send home with your child. If the sheet becomes lost, you may refer to the default information provided here.

Thanks

Middles Team

 

 

Reading: 15-20 min each night (min 5x) This will not be too hard if you are reading a fabulous book.  Parents don’t forget, your children have not yet passed the stage of you reading to them. Good literature not only improves a student’s ability to comprehend, but also their  vocabulary and ability to write well.

Spelling: 10 min each night (min 4X) Work towards achieving your personal goals as set out on the weekly homework grid.

Maths: Work on times tables. By now you will have been assessed at school and should know where you are up to. If not, mum or dad can quickly ask you a few times tables (starting at twos) to help you work out what you need to learn. Remember the order is 10, 5, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9. Here is an activity that might assist you in learning tables. Experiment to see if it works for you.

You will need 10 cardboard or paper strips cut into approx 7cm x 3cm and 10 smaller strips approx 3cm x 3cm . On each of the longer strips write a times table. eg If working on twos, you will have 1 x 2, 2 x 2, 3 x 2 etc. On the smaller strips, write the answers. Line up the sum cards on the carpet or table, in order to begin. Shuffle the answers and place randomly beside you. Get someone to time you, as you rush to put a correct answer next to each sum. When confident, place the sums randomly out of order and keep practising until you get your time down to one minute. You should then be ready to take on mum or dad. I wonder if you can beat your parents at this. Keep the strips and stay tuned for next week’s idea.

Inquiry: Technology impacts the world of work and leisure:

BIG TALK with parents about how your inquiry is going. What are you trying to find out? How have you collected your information? Do you need to interview your parents to gain more data? Perhaps a phone call to a relative will help? Some of you will already have enough information to answer your research questions. Perhaps you can share what you have learnt so far, and what you think you still need to learn regarding the impact of technology on our lives.

 

If you have a particular artistic ability, or knowledge you can share with young children, then we would love to hear from you.

As part of our Inquiry process, the Middles are planning a special day on Thursday, the 19th of May from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm. We hope to be able to offer our students a wide range of different art experiences. In the past we have had people sketching, cartooning, graffiti drawing, displaying & talking about paintings, writing and illustrating children’s books, singing, playing instruments, more dancing than you can imagine and even more. Whether you are fascinated by pottery, poetry or pretty mosaic designs, we would love you to be involved. A notice of interest will soon go home so stay tuned. Remember, you don’t have to be an expert, just someone with a love of art who might be able to pass some of that passion onto our students.

Dates for your diary!

Wednesday 20th to Friday 22nd April

Swimming continues at Somerville

Wednesday 20th April                          

Forms due back for Cross Country

Thursday 5th May                            

House Cross Country at Baxter Park

Tuesday 10th May                            

NAPLAN testing begins and continues on the Wednesday and Thursday of  that week.

Thursday 19th May                         

Tentative date for ARTIST IN RESIDENCE program (Middles Incursion)

Thursday 23rd June                       

Incursion: Alpha Theatrical Show

            

Homework has officially started again for the Middles. 

Reading: It is your responsibility to find a book that you absolutely love to read so that it won’t be difficult for you to read for 15-20 min a night. In fact, the only difficulty should be putting the book back down when you need to. (Don’t forget about the parent signature each night in the diary, and signatures in the overall grid for the term.)

Spelling: Learn your personal sounds/words (based on individual goals). Some children like to try out the activities from the menu in your homework book.

Maths Operations: This term we are inquiring into the four operations used to solve number problems. This week you may use MATHLETICS either to revise last terms place value work, or to make a start on your times tables. Mathletics has a special section for the multiplication tables which you might find helpful. Each week we will post a new idea for learning the tables so that you can experiment to find what works best for you. Just so parents are aware, the benchmark for end of grade 3 requires children to thoroughly know their twos, tens, fives and threes with related division facts. Grade 4 children are expected to know all times tables, with related division facts, up to ten times ten. We generally learn them in the following order of difficulty-twos, tens, fives, threes, fours, sixes, sevens, eights, nines.

Inquiry: Technology impacts on work and leisure around the world

Big talk with parents about your personal/grade inquiry. What type of technology are you looking into? What are your questions? You will probably be busy over the next couple of weeks collecting information to answer your questions, and parents may be helpful. That is, children might come home with a questionnaire or survey for you to fill out. Alternatively, they might be searching for information on the internet, and while not taking over the task, you might be able to guide them towards sites that are kid friendly with information that they can readily absorb.

 

Oh! I forgot to say welcome back, and what an exciting fun-packed term we have in store for your child. First off there’s the swimming lessons-beginning this Friday, the 15th. The Cross Country Carnival is coming up fast-on Wed the 20th of  April and towards the end of term the Alpha Show will visit our school with yet another wonderful theatrical performance…and who could forget the NAPLAN tests taking place in week 5 this term. More details to follow next Tuesday regarding each of these latter three events.

With your help, the Middles are also hoping to run an Artist In Residence experience for the children during the second half of  the term, as we have done in past years.We will be seeking help from any parents, relatives or friends who have a particular artistic expertise in some field. Actually, you don’t really need to be an expert-just someone with a love of art who feels they have something to share with the children. More information to follow-just giving you something to think about in the meantime.

 

For those who have been wondering about the homework, just letting you know that we have given your little darlings a weeks grace to settle back into school, and homework will formerly start up again next week. It doesn’t hurt though to encourage reading for pleasure and talking with your child about what he/she is learning at school.

Just a friendly reminder that swimming starts this Friday, the 15th of April. If you have not yet paid and handed in permission notes please do so ASAP to ensure that your child does not miss out.

Swimming Times as follows:

MW & MN Leaving school at 9.00am.  Returning at 11.00 Parent helpers who are not travelling on the bus, meeting at the Somerville Aquatic Centre at approx 9.40.

MH & MA  Leaving school at 10.00am. Returning at 12.00 Parent helpers who are not travelling on the bus, meeting at the Somerville Aquatic Centre at approx 10.40.

MV & MM Leaving school at 11.00am. Returning at 1.00pm Parent helpers who are not travelling on the bus, meeting at the Somerville Aquatic Centre at approx 11.40.

MB Leaving school at 12.00am. Returning at 2.00pm Parent helpers who are not travelling on the bus, meeting at the Somerville Aquatic Centre at approx 12.40.

Children are expected to come to school with bathers underneath their school uniform (MB who are leaving so late in the day might choose to change at play-time instead)

Children generally bring a pair of thongs or “easy to slip on” footwear to change into at school. This makes the process of getting children ready at the pool and back onto the bus much easier and saves a great deal of time.

Don’t forget to pack the underwear with the towel. Goggles are optional but most children prefer to wear them.

Each double grade requires one parent helper to travel on the bus. If you are available please contact either your grade’s contact parent or the teacher.

Middles