As promised, the video narrated by Trevor Eissler about the underpinnings of the Montessori philosophy can be found below. When I show this, I do preface it by saying that as a Montessori program operating in a dual-stream school we do compromise on several of the elements shown (we do report on progress, we do complete standardised testing and we do set homework). Enjoy!
-Ang.
Happy Education Week!
We have some special fun bits and pieces coming up this week to celebrate! If you have a chance to get up to Eastland, there is a display for Mitcham Primary School up to have a look at. On Monday from 11:15am to 1:15pm, we have our 'Grandparents and Special Friends' Day where they can come visit 4-6A and have a look at what we do. We have a few special activities lined up but I won't spoil the fun by telling you what they are now! On Thursday from 10am to 1pm, we have our 'Open Working Day' which is an opportunity for people to take a tour of the school (led by Year Six students) and see us in action as we are every day. We are very excited to show the community what makes us so unique! Finally, our robotics slot - for children who have opted in only will be on Thursday morning from 8:45 - so please make sure you are here before the bell so you do not miss out on any of your allocated time! Students who have chosen not to do robotics will be working in the classroom as usual during that period.
Our cycle newsletter for Term Three will be out early this week. In it are the usual reminders which I will reiterate here - please make sure your child wears black shoes to and from school (they are welcome to bring a pair of runners to change into for break times or sport which is on Friday); please make sure your child's jumper is named as we head into the colder weather; please remind your child not to bring valuables to school in case they are lost or damaged. Also, please make sure you have returned 5/6 sport and camp notices (Year 5), and working bee and Premier's Reading Challenge forms with ALL BOXES TICKED (everyone).
Please also ensure your child is logging on to Mathletics to complete their assigned and of-their-own-choosing tasks each week. We have had a slight attrition in completion in the last week so it would be great if everyone could make a big effort to catch up before Week Six. I do encourage you to make time to do a little bit each day (about two tasks, plus some time (as much as they would like to negotiate with you) on Mathletics Live) to ensure they are not faced with an insurmountable number of tasks to complete over the weekend.
Also reminding everyone that Monday, May 26th, is a staff development day - so the school will be pupil free that day.
We are nearly halfway through the term - hooray for us. Please stay healthy and look after yourselves - get well soon to those who have been absent this week! Hope to see you back soon!
-Ang =)
