Thursday, November 4, 2010
Athletic Day, Thursday November 11th.
Below is the schedule for the Y3-8 Athletics day on Thursday 11th November at Petone Rec. Click on it to enlarge.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Term 4 Newsletter
Term 4 newsletter for Year 3 and 4
The year has flown by so quickly! It is now Term 4 and thoughts are turning to Athletics day, E.O.T.C week and the end of year Christmas concert.
Looking back over Terms 1,2 and 3, it has been such a busy year filled with so many amazing learning experiences. Ancient Egypt, Fizzing and Foaming (and in some classes, yeast and Breadmaking), writing competitions, the kitchen garden Matariki harvest, Artsplash…. And this is only scratching the surface! The teachers hope that you are able to visit your child’s class blog from time to time and see for yourself some of the wonderful learning opportunities that happen in their classroom.
The flowing is an outline of what will be happening this term. Later in the year, extra emails about E.O.T.C week and Athletics Day will be sent by class teachers, so look out for those.
“ORPHANS OF NEPAL”
Every two years, the Year 3 and 4 team aim to make a small difference in the day-to-day lives of the children at Brighter Future Children's Home (Bistachap Orphanage) in Nepal. For those of you who don’t know, Muritai School has a strong and ongoing relationship with this orphanage in Nepal, thanks to the ‘Orphans of Nepal Trust’, a local Eastbourne charity organisation. Their website can be found here: http://www.orphansofnepal.org.nz/
After spending some time investigating how the movement of continental plates made Nepal, and looking at the flora and fauna of the Himalayan Mountains, we will explore a ‘typical’ day of a child living at Brighter Future.
Our children will then be given an opportunity to plan, prepare for and run a small fundraising event at the Year 3-4 mini-carnival in late November. This year, money raised will be used by the Orphans of Nepal trust to build chicken coups and buy chickens for the orphanage. Two years ago the Year 3 and 4’s raised close to $800.00, this year our goal is to do even better!
Closer to the time, your child’s teacher will email you to keep you up-to-date with progress being made on the fundraising plan. As this is a ‘child driven’ inquiry, we may ask that you, at home, provide a bit of assistance here and there, if your child needs it.
READING AND WRITING:
Our writing focus for this term is Poetry, where we will be exploring the ideas of descriptive, figurative language. There is also the ongoing focus on embedding effective editing and proofreading skills into every piece of writing the children do. Some of the poetry created will be shared in a 'poets walk', to be created in the Potato garden under the Eucalyptus trees behind Room 2.
Oral language will focus on the oral presentation of poems, with a focus on using vocal expression and confident body language.
Reading continues in all classes, with particular emphasis on reading for meaning and (out aloud) for expression. There will also be a strong emphasis on ‘reading for meaning’ as children read about continental shift, the Himalayas, and Nepal.
NUMERACY:
We start the term in cross-grouped classes, re-visiting the addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and fraction skills learned earlier in the year. We finish the term by learning about the features of 2D (Year 3’s) and 3D shapes (Year 4’s).
Ongoing basic facts practice and learning how to problem solve will also feature.
PE:
Each Tuesday and Thursday morning, the children will be taking part in Athletics practice. The school’s Athletics Day is Thursday 11th November (Week 5) at Petone Rec. The PE team, a little closer to the time, will send an email about this.
Swimming is scheduled to start on Monday 22rd November (Week 7), however in reality this date is weather dependent and we will not begin swimming until the weather has warmed up a little.
ART:
We will be teaching your child how to sew this term! Most classes have already started teaching children how to thread a needle, tie a knot and sew a simple stitch. As the term progresses, children will learn to cross-stitch and sew some simple patterns on material.
Please check our class blogs! We would love to have you visit and leave a comment. Your child will know how to do this and will be able to guide you through the process. It’s easy! Just follow the class blog link at the school website www.muritai.school.nz
As you can see, it is a very, very busy term. To contact us, the easiest way is to email us (teachers surname @ muritai.school.nz), or just pop in.
Kind Regards,
The Year 3 and 4 Team.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Short Story Competition winners
Late last term the Y3-4's had a homework short story competition, which many children entered. Thanks to everyone who entered! The teachers just LOVED reading all the stories, and were so very impressed with the huge variety of story ideas.
The standard was so high it was a bit tricky to judge the winners!
However, the judging has taken place and the winners are as follows:
Y3 Competition:
3rd- Andrew Sutcliffe
1st equal- Charlotte Goble, Olivia Palmer Smith.
Y4 Competition:
3rd equal- Willow Forbes, George Mirfin-Newman
2nd- Jasmine Stock
1st- Sally Bird
Congratulations!
L-R: George, Willow, Olivia, Charlotte, Sally, Andrew. (Jasmine is on holiday in the UK) holding their book prizes, kindly donated by Scholastic.
The standard was so high it was a bit tricky to judge the winners!
However, the judging has taken place and the winners are as follows:
Y3 Competition:
3rd- Andrew Sutcliffe
1st equal- Charlotte Goble, Olivia Palmer Smith.
Y4 Competition:
3rd equal- Willow Forbes, George Mirfin-Newman
2nd- Jasmine Stock
1st- Sally Bird
Congratulations!
L-R: George, Willow, Olivia, Charlotte, Sally, Andrew. (Jasmine is on holiday in the UK) holding their book prizes, kindly donated by Scholastic.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Year 3 and 4 Newsletter Term 3, 2010.
Dear Parents,
Term 3 is now well underway, and we all hope you had a lovely time with your children over the school holiday. Teachers were busy planning the term ahead, and we have some exciting learning ahead this term centred around “Ancient Egypt”- mummies, pyramids and lots more!
Term Three, as always, is a big performing arts term. We are building up for 2 major events- the Art Splash Choir performance on Thursday 19th August at the MFC, and the School Production “The Life of Riley” which will happen in Week 9. There will be further emails about both these events; in the meantime, the children are working hard at honing their performing arts skills.
Reminders:
• Slippers: Term Three is an indoor term. If your child does not yet have slippers at school, please help encourage them to do so. Slippers are worn inside to keep the carpets dry and mud-free.
• Drink Bottles: Children are still to bring drink bottles to class. Encourage you child to regularly take their drink bottle home for a clean.
• Equipment: Some children are running low on essential supplies such as rubbers, rulers, pencil sharpeners, colour pencils. Please check with your child to see if they require a top up of supplies.
• Lost Property: It is crucial to have all clothing named so that it may be reunited with its owner quickly. Encourage your children to look for their missing clothing as soon as it is lost. If you go through the lost property after school, please ensure this is left in a tidy state. It is being left in a shambles quite often, and Room 7 children are having a hard time keeping it neat and tidy.
• Beginning of the school day: When the bell rings at 8.40, it is time to get ready for fitness. The focus changes as the year progresses, but at the moment on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we will be taking part in Jump Jam. Students who are late miss out on this, so it is important that children are at school by 8.40am.
Reading, Writing and the “Ancient Egypt” Integrated Study.
Reading and Writing will be strongly integrated with our Ancient Egyptian study as the term progresses. Writing information reports and reading of non-fiction texts will be the main focus during literacy time, along with spelling and handwriting skills. Key information literacy skills, such as skimming and scanning for key words and ideas, note-taking and note-making, summarising and questioning, will be a big focus in both literacy and integrated study time.
The study of Ancient Egypt is going to be a highly motivating and exciting topic for most children. However, it won’t be all mummies and pyramids! There will be some very solid teaching and learning occurring in the area of questioning (open vs. closed questioning skills), gathering and interpreting information from more than one source, and making judgements on the usefulness of the information gathered.
Maths
In Term 3, children will be consolidating understanding of multiplication and division, and apply this understanding in problem solving situations. Recall of timestables features strongly this term, and you can assist your child by helping them practise their timestables as part of the homework programme.
The Arts
This term we will be building on the painting skills we learned in Term 2. Classrooms are now bursting with beautiful paintings, so come in a have a look! Term 3 traditionally has a BIG arts focus. The Art Splash Choir performance is on Thursday 19th August at the MFC, and the School Production “The Life of Riley” will happen in Week 9. A classroom music programme called ‘Music Room’ has started in each classroom this term, and will run for the rest of the year.
Physical Education
This term we will be participating in a Y3-6 Jump Jam fitness programme each Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning at 8.40am in the Hall. Jump Jam will be lead by the our very talented student Jump Jam leaders. We ask that if you do come into the Hall to watch you stand well to the back, since with 9 classes participating at once space will be at a premium.
During our PE sessions this term we will be teaching ball skills through games of Boot-Ball (football skills), Hockey, Netball, Cricket and Handball (Four-Square). PE will happen on a Thursday, but as always in Term Three, is weather dependent. Please help by making sure that on a Thursday your child is dressed appropriately to take part in PE.
Class Blogs
Please visit the class blog to see what has been going on recently in your child’s classroom. Feel free to leave a comment too!
The children would love to receive comments on their class blogs from family and friends all around the world.
Here are the instructions so that you know how to do this.
1. Go to our school site www.muritai.school.nz
2. On the home page click on class blogs.
3. Click on the classroom number you want.
4. Have a look at the posts (the writing and photos) and decide which ones you would like to leave a comment on.
5. At the bottom of the post are the words “__ comments”.
6. Click on the word ‘comments’
7. A box will open and you now write a comment in it. Please try to give the students positive feedback about what they have been doing. What did you like? What did you find interesting? What did you learn? You could even ask the class or a student a question.
8. Sign your name.
9. Choose an identity – If you have a Google account you can sign in using this. Or you can click anonymous.
10. Now click on ‘Publish your comment.’
11. Your comment will be sent to the classroom teacher for moderation. Once they have approved it, your comment will appear on the blog.
Slippers and excess clothing.
Slippers can be worn at school during the day, and we encourage all children to have a pair they can wear while in class. The current cold, miserable weather means many children are bringing to school extra layers of clothing. Sometimes this is left in the cloak bay or classroom after school. Please ensure that your child’s clothing is labelled, so if it is left behind, we can find the correct owner, asap.
As you can see, Term 3 is going to be an incredibly busy time!
As always, feel free to contact your child’s teacher at school by either emailing (surname@muritai.school.nz) or popping in before/after school for a chat.
Kind Regards,
The Year 3-4 Teaching team.
(Richard Dobson R7, Vita Collier R8, Sarah Drinkwater R9, Hayden Ray R10, Karen Chao, R11)
Term 3 is now well underway, and we all hope you had a lovely time with your children over the school holiday. Teachers were busy planning the term ahead, and we have some exciting learning ahead this term centred around “Ancient Egypt”- mummies, pyramids and lots more!
Term Three, as always, is a big performing arts term. We are building up for 2 major events- the Art Splash Choir performance on Thursday 19th August at the MFC, and the School Production “The Life of Riley” which will happen in Week 9. There will be further emails about both these events; in the meantime, the children are working hard at honing their performing arts skills.
Reminders:
• Slippers: Term Three is an indoor term. If your child does not yet have slippers at school, please help encourage them to do so. Slippers are worn inside to keep the carpets dry and mud-free.
• Drink Bottles: Children are still to bring drink bottles to class. Encourage you child to regularly take their drink bottle home for a clean.
• Equipment: Some children are running low on essential supplies such as rubbers, rulers, pencil sharpeners, colour pencils. Please check with your child to see if they require a top up of supplies.
• Lost Property: It is crucial to have all clothing named so that it may be reunited with its owner quickly. Encourage your children to look for their missing clothing as soon as it is lost. If you go through the lost property after school, please ensure this is left in a tidy state. It is being left in a shambles quite often, and Room 7 children are having a hard time keeping it neat and tidy.
• Beginning of the school day: When the bell rings at 8.40, it is time to get ready for fitness. The focus changes as the year progresses, but at the moment on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we will be taking part in Jump Jam. Students who are late miss out on this, so it is important that children are at school by 8.40am.
Reading, Writing and the “Ancient Egypt” Integrated Study.
Reading and Writing will be strongly integrated with our Ancient Egyptian study as the term progresses. Writing information reports and reading of non-fiction texts will be the main focus during literacy time, along with spelling and handwriting skills. Key information literacy skills, such as skimming and scanning for key words and ideas, note-taking and note-making, summarising and questioning, will be a big focus in both literacy and integrated study time.
The study of Ancient Egypt is going to be a highly motivating and exciting topic for most children. However, it won’t be all mummies and pyramids! There will be some very solid teaching and learning occurring in the area of questioning (open vs. closed questioning skills), gathering and interpreting information from more than one source, and making judgements on the usefulness of the information gathered.
Maths
In Term 3, children will be consolidating understanding of multiplication and division, and apply this understanding in problem solving situations. Recall of timestables features strongly this term, and you can assist your child by helping them practise their timestables as part of the homework programme.
The Arts
This term we will be building on the painting skills we learned in Term 2. Classrooms are now bursting with beautiful paintings, so come in a have a look! Term 3 traditionally has a BIG arts focus. The Art Splash Choir performance is on Thursday 19th August at the MFC, and the School Production “The Life of Riley” will happen in Week 9. A classroom music programme called ‘Music Room’ has started in each classroom this term, and will run for the rest of the year.
Physical Education
This term we will be participating in a Y3-6 Jump Jam fitness programme each Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning at 8.40am in the Hall. Jump Jam will be lead by the our very talented student Jump Jam leaders. We ask that if you do come into the Hall to watch you stand well to the back, since with 9 classes participating at once space will be at a premium.
During our PE sessions this term we will be teaching ball skills through games of Boot-Ball (football skills), Hockey, Netball, Cricket and Handball (Four-Square). PE will happen on a Thursday, but as always in Term Three, is weather dependent. Please help by making sure that on a Thursday your child is dressed appropriately to take part in PE.
Class Blogs
Please visit the class blog to see what has been going on recently in your child’s classroom. Feel free to leave a comment too!
The children would love to receive comments on their class blogs from family and friends all around the world.
Here are the instructions so that you know how to do this.
1. Go to our school site www.muritai.school.nz
2. On the home page click on class blogs.
3. Click on the classroom number you want.
4. Have a look at the posts (the writing and photos) and decide which ones you would like to leave a comment on.
5. At the bottom of the post are the words “__ comments”.
6. Click on the word ‘comments’
7. A box will open and you now write a comment in it. Please try to give the students positive feedback about what they have been doing. What did you like? What did you find interesting? What did you learn? You could even ask the class or a student a question.
8. Sign your name.
9. Choose an identity – If you have a Google account you can sign in using this. Or you can click anonymous.
10. Now click on ‘Publish your comment.’
11. Your comment will be sent to the classroom teacher for moderation. Once they have approved it, your comment will appear on the blog.
Slippers and excess clothing.
Slippers can be worn at school during the day, and we encourage all children to have a pair they can wear while in class. The current cold, miserable weather means many children are bringing to school extra layers of clothing. Sometimes this is left in the cloak bay or classroom after school. Please ensure that your child’s clothing is labelled, so if it is left behind, we can find the correct owner, asap.
As you can see, Term 3 is going to be an incredibly busy time!
As always, feel free to contact your child’s teacher at school by either emailing (surname@muritai.school.nz) or popping in before/after school for a chat.
Kind Regards,
The Year 3-4 Teaching team.
(Richard Dobson R7, Vita Collier R8, Sarah Drinkwater R9, Hayden Ray R10, Karen Chao, R11)
Friday, April 23, 2010
Term Two Newsletter
Term Two is now underway with lots of exciting and interesting learning occurring in all four classrooms. Doesn’t the Year 3-4 garden look great? Many children helped keep this watered over the Easter holiday so we have many healthy looking veges growing strong at the moment!
Term Two is a very busy time. Student portfolios will come home on at the end of term, and will be discussed at Parent-Teacher interviews. The children put a lot of time and effort making each ‘artefact of learning’ that make up each portfolio, to provide a snapshot of what they have been learning so far this year. We hope that you will take advantage of the opportunity to meet with us and discuss your child’s progress and celebrate their achievements.
Reminders:
• Slippers: Term Two and Three are indoor terms. If your child does not yet have slippers at school, please help encourage them to do so. Slippers are worn inside to keep the carpets dry and mud-free.
• Drink Bottles: Children are still to bring drink bottles to class. Encourage you child to regularly take their drink bottle home for a clean.
• Equipment: Some children are running low on essential supplies such as rubbers, rulers, pencil sharpeners, colour pencils. Please check with your child to see if they require a top up of supplies.
• Lost Property: It is crucial to have all clothing named so that it may be reunited with its owner quickly. Encourage your children to look for their missing clothing as soon as it is lost.
• Beginning of the school day: When the bell rings at 8.40, it is time to get ready for fitness. The focus changes as the year progresses, but at the moment on fine days we are going out for cross country training. Students who are late miss out on this, so it is important that children are at school by 8.40am.
• ‘Hooked on Books’ and ‘Hooked on Basic Facts’ begins in Week 2. Thank-you if you have volunteered you time to work with children on their reading or basic facts here at school.
The major focus for the term, after the ANZAC DAY study concludes, is “Permanent and Temporary Changes”. This is a major science focus for Term 2. Students will experiment with a wide range of familiar and unfamiliar materials and observe the changes that occur when such things as heat, cold and chemical energy are applied to them. It should be a very exciting and stimulating investigation! The key skills we aim to develop with the children are: principles of fair testing, prediction, observation and questioning skills.
In Literacy, news-telling is the focus for oral language development. The children will be learning how to ask open and closed questions, and know the different purpose of each. In Writing, the focus is on children understanding of, and their increasingly independent use of, the language features of Narrative writing. As always, the children also work hard at learning how to improve their writing by editing and revision. Your child’s teacher will provide your child with honest feedback on what they are doing well, and what skills they need to develop next. In Reading, the key skills of self-monitoring, questioning and summarising are a focus this term. These skills are taught within the context of Reciprocal Reading, a reading strategy that encourages and scaffolds deeper reading of text.
In Mathematics, from weeks 1-6, we are teaching using a cross-grouping structure on Monday to Wednesday, with ‘home room maths’ on Thursdays. For the first 6 weeks the major focus is on developing knowledge and strategy in Addition and Subtraction. Later in the term the focus will turn to Fractions and Geometry.
In Art, the main focus is Painting, with an emphasis on experimenting with colour mixing, using different brush strokes. Each class is teaching a music programme called ‘Music Room’, which teaches key musical concepts, such as beat, pitch, tempo and dynamics.
Our PE focus this term is firstly preparing for the school cross country, followed by ball skills. Training for the cross country has already started, leading to our school cross country competition in Week 5 (Tuesday May 18th).
Around the middle of term two, the second major round of data collection occurs in Reading, Writing, Maths and other key areas. This information will be used by teachers to give you accurate and up-to-date information on your child’s progress in the end of term report, and the mid-year interview.
As always, feel free to pop in and see your child’s teacher if you wish to discuss any aspect of your child's progress at school. Email is a very handy way of communicating if you are unable to get to school- each teachers email address is surname@muritai.school.nz. Over the last few years, classroom blogs have become an important way that teachers can communicate with parents about what is happening in their classroom. Please visit your child’s classroom blog to see what has been happening, and leave a comment. To get regular email alerts when a classroom blog is updated, become a ‘follower’ of the blog by simply clicking the 'become a follower of this blog' link on the right hand side toolbar.
As you can see, we are planning to have a very busy term with a very solid academic focus. Thank-you for your support so far this year, especially is you have volunteered your time to help in different ways. We really appreciate this!
Kind regards,
Richard Dobson, R7 (Team Leader Y3-4)
Vita Collier, R8.
Sarah Drinkwater, R9.
Hayden Ray, R10.
Karen Chao, R11.
Term Two is a very busy time. Student portfolios will come home on at the end of term, and will be discussed at Parent-Teacher interviews. The children put a lot of time and effort making each ‘artefact of learning’ that make up each portfolio, to provide a snapshot of what they have been learning so far this year. We hope that you will take advantage of the opportunity to meet with us and discuss your child’s progress and celebrate their achievements.
Reminders:
• Slippers: Term Two and Three are indoor terms. If your child does not yet have slippers at school, please help encourage them to do so. Slippers are worn inside to keep the carpets dry and mud-free.
• Drink Bottles: Children are still to bring drink bottles to class. Encourage you child to regularly take their drink bottle home for a clean.
• Equipment: Some children are running low on essential supplies such as rubbers, rulers, pencil sharpeners, colour pencils. Please check with your child to see if they require a top up of supplies.
• Lost Property: It is crucial to have all clothing named so that it may be reunited with its owner quickly. Encourage your children to look for their missing clothing as soon as it is lost.
• Beginning of the school day: When the bell rings at 8.40, it is time to get ready for fitness. The focus changes as the year progresses, but at the moment on fine days we are going out for cross country training. Students who are late miss out on this, so it is important that children are at school by 8.40am.
• ‘Hooked on Books’ and ‘Hooked on Basic Facts’ begins in Week 2. Thank-you if you have volunteered you time to work with children on their reading or basic facts here at school.
The major focus for the term, after the ANZAC DAY study concludes, is “Permanent and Temporary Changes”. This is a major science focus for Term 2. Students will experiment with a wide range of familiar and unfamiliar materials and observe the changes that occur when such things as heat, cold and chemical energy are applied to them. It should be a very exciting and stimulating investigation! The key skills we aim to develop with the children are: principles of fair testing, prediction, observation and questioning skills.
In Literacy, news-telling is the focus for oral language development. The children will be learning how to ask open and closed questions, and know the different purpose of each. In Writing, the focus is on children understanding of, and their increasingly independent use of, the language features of Narrative writing. As always, the children also work hard at learning how to improve their writing by editing and revision. Your child’s teacher will provide your child with honest feedback on what they are doing well, and what skills they need to develop next. In Reading, the key skills of self-monitoring, questioning and summarising are a focus this term. These skills are taught within the context of Reciprocal Reading, a reading strategy that encourages and scaffolds deeper reading of text.
In Mathematics, from weeks 1-6, we are teaching using a cross-grouping structure on Monday to Wednesday, with ‘home room maths’ on Thursdays. For the first 6 weeks the major focus is on developing knowledge and strategy in Addition and Subtraction. Later in the term the focus will turn to Fractions and Geometry.
In Art, the main focus is Painting, with an emphasis on experimenting with colour mixing, using different brush strokes. Each class is teaching a music programme called ‘Music Room’, which teaches key musical concepts, such as beat, pitch, tempo and dynamics.
Our PE focus this term is firstly preparing for the school cross country, followed by ball skills. Training for the cross country has already started, leading to our school cross country competition in Week 5 (Tuesday May 18th).
Around the middle of term two, the second major round of data collection occurs in Reading, Writing, Maths and other key areas. This information will be used by teachers to give you accurate and up-to-date information on your child’s progress in the end of term report, and the mid-year interview.
As always, feel free to pop in and see your child’s teacher if you wish to discuss any aspect of your child's progress at school. Email is a very handy way of communicating if you are unable to get to school- each teachers email address is surname@muritai.school.nz. Over the last few years, classroom blogs have become an important way that teachers can communicate with parents about what is happening in their classroom. Please visit your child’s classroom blog to see what has been happening, and leave a comment. To get regular email alerts when a classroom blog is updated, become a ‘follower’ of the blog by simply clicking the 'become a follower of this blog' link on the right hand side toolbar.
As you can see, we are planning to have a very busy term with a very solid academic focus. Thank-you for your support so far this year, especially is you have volunteered your time to help in different ways. We really appreciate this!
Kind regards,
Richard Dobson, R7 (Team Leader Y3-4)
Vita Collier, R8.
Sarah Drinkwater, R9.
Hayden Ray, R10.
Karen Chao, R11.
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