Welcome to 2023. We are the Heads of Department Curriculum at Mareeba State School (commonly referred to as HODCs). Head of Department Curriculum Years 1 - 3 is Mrs Valerie Dayes, Head of Department Curriculum Years 4 – 6 is Ms Teresita Nastasi and Head of Department Curriculum Prep is Mrs Nadine Apps. We are looking forward to working with students and teachers in these year levels.
Here is a quick overview of the English units that students will be studying in Term 1:
Prep – Explore a range of stories – orally retell their favourite story
Year 1 – Exploring how narrative stories work and providing a response about their favourite story
Year 2 – Creating a new narrative using a familiar animal character
Year 3 – Write a persuasive text to convince the audience that a native Australian animal would make a great pet
Year 4 – Write a diary entry from the perspective of a person on the First Fleet
Year 5 – Write a narrative on the theme 'Gold Rush'
Year 6 – Write an imaginative narrative on a topic of their own choice.
The Reading Café is up and running for Term 1, although we had a short break in week 4, due to a Book Fair. Thank you to everyone who supported our Book Fair. Funds raised allowed new resources to be purchased for the library.
This term we will be conducting the MSS Spelling Bee Competition for students in years 2 - 6. The competition will be held in week 10. Interested students have organised their team of 3, completed their nomination form and returned this to the HODCs. The winning team for each year level will receive a prize and all competitors will receive an encouragement award.
The dates of the Spelling Bee competitions are:
Tuesday March 28th
Year 5: 10 – 11am
Year 4: 12:20 – 1:20pm
Year 6: 1:55 – 2:55pm
Wednesday March 29th
Year 2: 9 – 10am
Year 3: 10 – 11am.
Mareeba State School subscribes to the online maths program Matific.
Matific switches kids on to maths as it is engaging and highly supportive with activities targeted to the Australian mathematics curriculum for both primary and secondary students. Students can access Matific at home by googling 'Matific' on your device and then using their individual user name and password they use at school.
Students already have this information and are using it to access Matific at school – ask them to bring their details home with them. If your child is unsure of their Matific log in details contact your child's class teacher, or Valerie or Teresita in the library, and we can assist with these.
Valerie Dayes (HODC 1 - 3) Teresita Nastasi (HODC 4 – 6) Nadine Apps (DP 1/2 and HODC Prep)