Thank you to all the families who purchased gifts from this year’s Mother’s Day Stall.

The students were very careful when trying to select your special Mother’s Day gifts.  We hope you loved them!

Thanks to the amazing parents and Year 6 leaders who were able to help out with planning, setting up and serving on the day of the stall.

We hope you all had a lovely Mother’s Day.

Fundraising Committee 

On Monday 2^nd May Mitcham staff engaged in professional learning in the area of Numeracy during our Pupil Free day. All staff members at Mitcham Primary including SSOs and some TRTs attended this valuable professional development “Teaching through problem solving”

By introducing problem-solving skills in the classroom, children learn to think in terms of manageable steps as they

• Identify the problem
• Brainstorm possible solutions
• Test appropriate solutions
• Analyse the results

Problem-solving is an important way of learning because it motivates children to connect previous knowledge with new situations. It develops flexibility and creativity.  Engaging in productive struggle is one of the most effective ways teachers can help develop conceptual understanding in students.

Students use strategies in problem-solving that makes sense to them. If they are not using the standard algorithms, the skills are still there. They might approach the problem differently based on their understanding, not just memorisation. Standard algorithms might be one technique, but mathematically proficient students have access to multiple strategies so they can select the most efficient strategy in any given situation.

Some questions for parents/carers to help the student if they are stuck on a Maths problem at home might be:

• What do you need to figure out?
• What is the problem about?
• What words are confusing?
• What words are familiar?
• Did you solve problems like this one in class today?
• What have you tried so far?
• What else can you try?
• Can you make a drawing or chart to help you think about the problem?
• What terminology or processes do you use in your class?
• Does your answer make sense?
• Is there more than one answer?
• How might you check your answer?

Mitcham Primary School's STEM Extension group offers opportunities for identified high achieving students to be further challenged and extended in their learning. In this first semester, students are working on creating a computer game that connects to their learning in another subject.

After building their foundational coding skills last term, students began this term by focusing their thinking on their game design. Students brainstormed different possibilities to connect with their in-class learning and narrowed that further to select their main game idea.

This week, each student took part in a brief check-in interview to explain their game's purpose, curriculum connection, and challenges they are facing that they might need support to overcome. 

In the coming weeks, students will be involved in testing their game prototypes, seeking peer feedback from their STEM Extension colleagues, and then bringing a friend from their class to have a trial of their game. All this feedback will be collated, and students will utilise it to inform their next design and refinement steps.

We are also lucky to be welcoming a special guest in the coming weeks, award-winning Adelaide based game designer, Kathy Smart, who will be talking with the students about her experience as a game designer, and the processes that she has used within the industry. Kathy will also be assisting students with their games and will be offering STEM Extension students a sneak peek at her own upcoming game. You can read more about Kathy on her personal website: https://kathysmartgamedesigner.com/index.html.

Lachlan Norman

Digital Technologies Coordinator

National Simultaneous Storytime

Next Wednesday a number of our classes are participating in National Simultaneous Storytime. Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country.

To help celebrate National Simultaneous Storytime the library is holding a competition with a number of prizes to be won. To enter students need to create a collage for display in the library. Entries close Wednesday Week 5 and winners will be announced on the Friday.

We are also creating our own Mitcham Primary family tree in the library. There are cardboard leaves on the library front desk for children to write their own treasured family memories on and add them to our growing tree. 

Student Author

One of our new books this week is 'The Three Little Pigs' by Reception student Sam. Classes visiting the library have enjoyed reading this interpretation of the classic tale with a Covid twist. It's certainly received a lot of laughs!

Citizenship Committee in the Library

The Citizenship Committee is helping in the library on a regular basis. The Committee consists of year 6 students: Abby, Abigail, Roman and Zain. The Committee will be:

• Helping with the Scholastic Book Club orders and deliveries;
• Purchasing books for the library with Book Club rewards;
• Meeting with book retailers to hear about new books and choosing some for the library; and
• Promoting Book Week and the Premiers Reading Challenge.

Yours in reading

Sophie and Vasi 

Purpose of the school library

The library strives to provide a warm, welcoming environment for the school community where staff and students feel connected to the library and can influence its’ direction.

It supports the school’s mission of providing a ‘nurturing community where children love to learn and achieve their potential’ by:

• * encouraging students’ desire to read by providing a balance of current quality and popular literature
• * providing a safe place where they can interact with books in a way that sparks joy with the aim to develop a lifelong love of reading
• * providing and facilitating independent access to quality information resources that stimulate a love of learning and reflect:
  •   - students’ needs, abilities and interests
  •   - the curriculum
  •   - school directions
  •   - classroom programs

Borrowing

Students can borrow:

• Reception to Year 2 – 4 books
• Years 3 to 6 – 6 books

The school acknowledges that all students are different and will seek different text types at different times. Students can borrow a range of age appropriate books for class activities and home reading. Some students will choose a picture book or novel to share with a caregiver. Others may choose a non-fiction book on a topic they are interested in and want to learn more. We have all sorts of books to spark a child’s interest: picture fiction, graphic novels, fiction books for all year levels, magazines and non-fiction books on topics from animals to Minecraft to zoos and everything in between.

Overdues

Loan periods are:

• All books – 2 weeks
• Senior Fiction books – 4 weeks

Overdue emails are sent to parents and older students and hard copy slips distributed every three weeks. Please help your child locate the overdue book and return it. Students can renew their loan if they are still reading a book.

If a book is lost please email library staff or the teacher to advise the book cannot be found. Library staff can remove the lost book from your child’s record ensuring they can continue to borrow.

The canteen staff would like to thank all our volunteers for their ongoing support. We really appreciate your invaluable assistance. New volunteers are always welcome so if you would like to help, please come in to the canteen, say hello and we will help you to get started.

We have been made aware that there are children in the school who are not eating all of their lunch order. Could you please talk to your child/children and ask them to bring home any uneaten food or unopened drinks? Rather than going in the bin at school, food scraps can then be used at home for chickens or composting, as well as giving you an idea of whether your child is eating their lunch. You may therefore prefer to order another menu item for them to help minimise food wastage. Thank you for understanding!

We will be dropping the price of Sushi to $3.00. As a canteen we regularly check prices of our products with our food suppliers. Most times prices go up but we have been able to reduce the price of this delicious item. Enjoy!
Have a lovely weekend.

Anita Viskic
Canteen Manager

Registration of interest for year 6 students starting secondary school in 2023 is now open and closes on Friday 27 May 2022. This is the first step in transitioning to secondary school. 

Families with students enrolled at government primary schools should have received a unique URL (or web address) by email from Mitcham Primary School. The URL is sent to the person who has legal responsibility for the child and can only be submitted once. Use this URL to access your online registration of interest form and nominate the public secondary school you want your child to attend in 2023. You can nominate up to 3 schools. If you have not received your email, please contact the school office. 

You will receive an enrolment offer between Wednesday 10 August and Friday 12 August 2022.

A sea of orange and cultural dress welcomed us on Monday 21^st March as Mitcham Primary celebrated Harmony Day. Auntie Elaine began our assembly with a welcome to country. She shared with us her family’s diversity and history.

Every teacher and two representatives from each class were asked to put a gum leaf into a collection basket, signifying working together towards reconciliation. We heard from the school leaders about the cultural diversity at Mitcham and learnt more about the message ‘everyone belongs’. To conclude the assembly, the M3 Reception students led us as we sang I am, You are, We are Australian.     

Over the course of the day, classes had the opportunity to meet with their buddy class for 2022. It was wonderful to see the excitement and enthusiasm as children worked collaboratively on Harmony Day activities, including a ‘Diversi-tree’ made with hands representing individual students’ culture and sense of self.

We had a great day celebrating the diversity of our Mitcham school community.  

Our uniform helps to create a sense of community and belonging in all students and proudly identifies our students. It ensures that students are well presented and dressed appropriately for a wide variety of school activities.

We ask for your support in ensuring that students wear the correct school uniform at all times.

Dress Code

The colours of the uniform are royal blue with gold trim, and navy and gold for Year 6 students.  The uniform consists of:

• Navy blue long pants for both boys and girls
• Knee to mid-thigh length navy shorts for boys and girls
• Knee to mid-thigh length navy skort
• Royal blue polo t-shirt and jumper with MPS logo - Year R-5
• Navy blue polo shirts and jumper - Year 6 only
• School summer dress (Term 1-4), skirt or pinafore in MPS plaid
• Navy blue hat with a wide brim

Jewellery

• One set of studs or sleeper earrings only
• Coloured nail polish and makeup are not to be worn
• Hair should be a natural colour and neatly tied back if shoulder length or more (boys and girls)
• Hair accessories may be worn in school colours only

Footwear

• Supportive and comfortable closed shoe or sandal in plain colours. Black, white or navy blue is preferred for shoes and socks.
• Navy tights may be worn under the winter pinafore.

Please be aware that leggings and short sports shorts are not part of the uniform and should not be worn. Long sleeve MPS polo shirts may be worn in cooler weather, however skivvies and long sleeves should not be visible underneath short sleeve polo shirts or summer dresses.

Thankyou to these students from G1 for showing us how fantastic they look in their uniforms!

Please find below important dates and school events for the end of Term 1 and the start of Term 2.