Update: Looking ahead at the last three weeks of school

Dear Parents,

With little more than three weeks left in the school year, the Year 3-4 teachers wanted to give an update on a couple of things happening between now and then. It is such a busy time of the year!

Swimming:

While swimming has ‘officially’ started, up to now the weather has been unkind to us and we finally got to dip our toes in the pool only today. The teachers will be making the decision whether to swim or not on a day-to-day basis, depending on the weather. In previous years when we have swum on cooler days we seemed to end up with quite a few children with coughs and colds a few days later. We’d like to avoid that this year as much as possible.

Year 3 children swim Monday, Tuesday and Friday each week.

Year 4 children swim Wednesday, Thursday and Friday each week.

Upcoming events:

Week 8 (2^nd to 5^th December)

Tuesday 3rd December:

“Celebration of Learning”- from 3.00-5.30pm. This is for all classes in Year 3-4 (The BEV may have stated Y4 upwards but it is in fact for Y1 upwards). Similar to the event held during the middle of the year, this is an opportunity for your child to show you what they have been learning during the second half of the year.

Wednesday 4^th and Thursday 5^th December:

Year 1-3 Anniversary Reporting: If you haven’t done so already, please book your interview time online at http://www.schoolinterviews.co.nz/ using the code Q2QYZ.

Regular homework concludes at the end of Week 8. Teachers might set a small, optional task in Week 9.

Week 9 (9^th-13^th December)- EOTC Week

Monday 9^th December:

Days Bay trip- sand sculptures, swimming and games in the annex ground. Please email your child’s teacher if you wish to join us for this popular, fun day out. (11:00-2:30)

Tuesday 10^th December:

‘Smarts’ morning (11:00-12:30) - Using the theory of Gardeners ‘Multiple intelligences’, children will choose from a variety of different activities that match an area of interest (their ‘smarts’). If needed, there may be a further email from teachers asking for parent assistance.

Wheels afternoon (1:45-2:30) - children can bring their ‘wheels’ to school and will have free range on the field in the afternoon to ride to their hearts content!

Wednesday 11^th December:

‘Smarts’ morning (11:00-12:30) - Using the theory of Gardeners ‘Multiple intelligences’, children will choose from a variety of different activities that match an area of interest (their ‘smarts’). If needed, there may be a further email from teachers asking for parent assistance.

Thursday 12^th December:

Kite Day- making kites from 9:30-10:30, followed by a swim at Eastbourne Pool, 11:00-11:45; Flying kites in the afternoon, 1:45-2:30.

Friday 13^th December:

Water Fun Day- Swimming at Eastbourne Pool (11:00-11:45) followed by a variety of water games in the afternoon (1:45-2:45). Last year our water games were so much fun they got a special write-up in the Petone Herald!

NB: Reports and class lists for 2014 will come home at the end of the day on Friday.

Week 10 (16^th to 20^th December)

Thursday 19^th December: Year 3-6 Christmas concert will take place in the Hall from 1:45-2:30. This will be a ‘cushion concert’ with limited seating reserved for grandparents. So please bring a cushion to sit on and find a spot in the hall before the 1:45 start.

Friday 20^th December: The last School Assembly of the year will begin at 11.00 sharp. School concludes for the year at 1.00pm.

Attached to this email is also an EOTC week calendar. As you can see, it is a very busy next few weeks! Hopefully this breakdown of what is coming up will be helpful in navigating that busy-ness!

Kind regards,

The Year 3-4 Teachers

Term 4 Newsletter

Hi Everyone! Well, it’s Term 4 again for another year and hasn’t it come around so quickly? 60-odd days to Christmas… not long to go now before we start practicing singing carols for the end of year carols concert.

As you know, on the school website is a link to the School Calendar, which we teachers are sure you use often. Below is a summary of upcoming events particular to the Year 3-4 team:

Dates for your Diary:

·       Dress-up Day and Antarctica performance: Thursday 7^th November

·       Athletic Day- Monday 11^th November

·       Swimming Starts in Week 7 (November 25^th onwards, weather depending) – Monday-Tuesday: Year 3, Wednesday-Thursday: Year 4.

·       Celebration of Learning will be held on Tuesday 3^rd December, 3:00pm-6:00pm

·       Year 1-3 Anniversary reporting will take place Wednesday 4^th and Thursday 5^th December.

·       EOTC Week will be the week starting Monday 9^th November

Although these dates are accurate at the time of publishing, event dates can change and we encourage you to regularly check the school website calendar for the most up-to-date days and times for upcoming events.

Looking back over the terms this year, it has been such a busy year filled with so many amazing learning experiences. 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, an extra email about E.O.T.C will be sent by your child’s teacher, so look out for that!

READING AND WRITING:

Our writing focus for this term is Argument Writing. There is also the ongoing focus on embedding effective editing and proofreading skills into every piece of writing the children do.

Oral language will focus on the oral presentation of poems and stories orally, with a focus on using vocal expression and confident body language. This will lead up to the Christmas concert, where each year group will be presenting a small poem or Christmas story, alongside the usual singing of carols.

Reading continues in all classes, with particular emphasis on reading for meaning and (out aloud) for expression. Reading and performing a variety of different plays will feature.

NUMERACY:

We start the term in cross-grouped classes, re-visiting the addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and fraction skills learned earlier in the year. Ongoing basic facts practice and learning how to problem solve will also feature. Later in the term, children will return to their homeroom for maths, and the focus will change to measurement, statistics and geometry.

PE:

Each Tuesday afternoon in the lead up to Athletics Day in Week 5, the children will be taking part in Athletics practice. The school’s Athletics Day is Monday 11^th November here at school and at Eastbourne Rec. The PE team, a little closer to the time, will send an email about this.

Swimming is scheduled to start in Week 7, (Monday 25^th November) 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 will start by 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.

E.O.T.C. Week:

Planning for E.O.T.C. Week in Week 9 is underway, and we are planning a fun filled week of events close to home, with a “use your smarts’ theme. The children will participate in a technology challenge, arts and craft, and a beach day among other events. A schedule of events will be posted on this blog over the coming weeks. Most of the events this year won’t require additional parent helpers, but if this changes, we’ll let you know via email. However you are always more than welcome just to come down and join in if you like ☺

Celebration of Learning evening (3.00-6.00pm, Tuesday 3^rd December Week 8)

Once again we invite you to come and share with your child a wonderful year full of learning. Your child will show you around the room, sharing their artwork, then they will invite you to look through their books and talk about the learning that has happened throughout the year. Each classroom will be open from 3.00pm until 6.00pm.

 

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.

Brain Awareness Week

Brain Awareness Week:

Next week is our school-wide “Brain Awareness” week. We will be taking a week-long break form the usual learning programme and instead, your child’s day will be a bit different as we learn about how and why our brains work, how to grow our brains and protect them from harm.

The Year 3-4 children will be employing their grey matter in different ways as they make their own decisions about their learning day. They will be designing their own fitness programme, their own Literacy learning timetable, and have lots of opportunities to be creative.

The children will also be deciding what they will do for homework in Week 6. They might need a little direction to focus on just a couple of activities. It will be interesting to see how they rise to this challenge!

Our Learning Support co-ordinator, Sarah Richardson, has spent some time working with the Muritai teachers, teaching us how the brain can be trained to work at optimum level. Hopefully we teachers can pass on some of this wisdom to your child! Check out Sarah's blog for some more information.

http://muritaimatchbox.blogspot.co.nz/

If you have any questions about Brain Week, please email your child's teacher.

Kind Regards,

Year 3-4 Teachers.

Term Two Newsletter

Dear Parents,

Term Two is now underway with lots of exciting and interesting learning occurring in all four classrooms.

We are heading towards a very busy time at school. Muritai School is introducing Year 1-3 anniversary reporting this year, therefore the Year three students have a different ‘reporting to parents’ timeline than the year four students.

Year 3: The Year three teachers will send reports home at the end of week 9 and have parent interviews in Week 10.

Year 4: The Year 4 teachers have already had a parent interview with you. They will send home a written report at the end of week 9.

All Year 3 and 4 teachers will be inviting you to a ‘Our Learning Journey’ celebration on Tuesday 18^th June (Week 7), from 3:00-5:00pm. This will be an opportunity for your child to share with you all the fantastic learning they have been doing so far this year. Teachers will also be on-hand, to explain anything if required, however this will primarily be a child-led time and a chance for them to celebrate their achievements with you.

Both Mrs. Chao and Miss Savage will be taking leave towards the end of the term. They will contact you directly by email in a little while, as their ‘reporting to parents’ timeline is slightly different from the one described above.

Dates for your Diary:

• Tuesday 21^st  (Week 3) Year 3-8 Cross Country at Williams Park, 9.45 onwards. PP day is Thursday 24^th May.
• Friday 31^st May- Teacher Only Day.
• Monday 3^rd June- Queens Birthday Holiday.
• Tuesday 18^th June Year 3-4  ‘Learning Journey’ sharing afternoon- 3:00-5:00pm 

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 starting to run 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, particularly pencils, rubbers and rulers.
• 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.

What are we doing in Term Two?

The big theme this term is “Earth Science” where we will be learning about our planet and how it is made up. Plate tectonics, Volcanoes and earthquake- all will make for a very exciting term full! At the start of this year, children were taught about ‘multiple intelligences’- that is, the different ways we like to learn.  The year 3/4 teachers have decided this term to teach in a different multiple-intelligence way for one afternoon a week. For example, Mrs Chao has decided she will be teaching in a ‘logic-smart’ way, Mrs Heath in a ‘nature-smart’ way, Mr Dobson in a ‘word smart’ way, Mrs Skilton in a ‘body smart’ way. And Miss Savage in an ‘art smart’ way. Children have chosen what class and what intelligence they wish to learn in, and starting in Week 2, children will swap teachers and classes on a Wednesday afternoon and learn using the intelligence they have chosen. After a short break in the middle of the term, we will repeat this for another three week block, with children choosing a second intelligence/class to learn in. 

In Writing, the focus is on children’s understanding 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 summarizing 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 2-8, we are teaching using a cross-grouping structure on Monday to Thursday, during this time the major focus is on developing knowledge and strategy in Addition and Subtraction. Later in the term the focus will turn to Measurement and Statistics. Each Friday, Maths is in the home-room and has a ‘hands on’ problem solving element.

In Art, the main focus this term is Painting, with an emphasis on experimenting with colour mixing, using different brush strokes.

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 3 (see ‘Dates for your Diary’)

Around the middle of term two, the second major round of data collection occurs in Reading, Writing, Mathematics 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 following ways:

·       Year 4 teachers with a mid-year report,

·       Year 3 teachers with a report and 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.

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,

Year 3-4 Teachers. 

Term One 2013

Hi Everyone!

With the start to the new school year well under-way, it was time to send out our first Y3-4 newsletter for the year.

This Wednesday you will get to meet your child's teacher at Parent Interviews (if you haven’t already!), but you may not know some of the other teachers in the Y3-4 Team...

Room 7: Richard Dobson- Team Leader (Priya Gain on Fridays), Y4

Room 8: Karen Chao, Y4

Room 9: Hayley Skilton, Y3

Room 10: Gabrielle Heath (Sue Steele on Wednesdays), Y3

Room 15: Jess Savage, Y3/4

We are also very lucky to have Sarah Richardson, our wonderful Learning Support teacher, working with a number of our Y3-4 students each day, Ruth Holmes who will be working Monday- Wednesday mornings with some of our Year 3 students, and Narelle Ferrier who will be working Monday- Thursday with some of our Year 4 students.

Upcoming events later this term:

Swimming Sports: We are currently negotiating with Eastbourne pool for a suitable day for the Y3-4 swimming sports. Class Teachers will contact you shortly when we have this confirmed. We will be requiring a number of parent helpers for the morning.

Tuesday 12^th February

Adam Paige, an actor specializing in shows for children, will be performing for Years 3-6 this Tuesday afternoon, in the school Hall.

Tuesday 5^th March

Year 3-4 Hutt Valley Rippa Rugby tournament. We will be entering a team to attend this. We will require parent helper to help transport our team(s) to Petone Rec and back. An email will be sent next week (Week 3) asking for helpers.

Thursday 21^st March- Y3-4 attending the Capital E Arts Festival. We will require 3 parent helpers per classroom- contact your child’s teacher if you would like to join us for a wonder day of entertainment. Because the school will be covering the cost of entry for parents, we cannot accommodate extra parents on this trip- sorry. So get in quick!

Homework

Homework will begin properly in Week 4, after spelling and basic facts testing has been completed in-class. Teachers may start sending weekly homework sheets home before week 4. Each night’s homework comprises of 15-20 minutes work of practice in Reading, Spelling and Mathletics/Basic Facts. Each week there is an optional ‘extra’ to be completed as well, which may take additional time, spread out over the week.

We are aware of the busy out-of-school lives our children lead. For this reason, it is perfectly acceptable for out-of-school activities to count as ‘homework’. All we require is that the activity is recorded in the spaces where the ticks would normally go. For example, if your child has Ballet on Monday after school, write ‘ballet’ in the Monday slot for reading, spelling and basic facts. 

Teaching and Learning in Years 3-4 in Term One

There is lots of great learning happening this term! Below is a quick outline of what you can expect your child to be learning this term:

Literacy

Our focus for writing this term is recounts. Children will be learning to structure their writing by sequencing events chronologically, linking ideas in a variety of ways and adding an introduction and conclusion. During this topic we will also be focusing on the writing process and encouraging children to plan their ideas in a variety of ways before writing. Children will be learning to edit their own work by proof reading to check for meaning and by using simple dictionaries to correct spelling.

Mathematics

The major part of the term will be spent on number knowledge and strategies., particularly Place Value. This will include a focus on problem solving and algebra. Cross-grouping of students during Maths time will begin in Week 5 and continue for the rest of the term. 

P.E. 

Swimming is the main PE focus for the first 6 weeks, followed by large ball skills later in the term. We are lucky to have the skilled instructors of Swimming NZ taking each class for 8 lessons over 2 weeks. Their focus is on 'Water Safety and Survival', as well as fundamental swimming skills. 

Integrated Study:

"Happy Healthy Me" is a term long investigation into what makes us better learners. We will look at different learning styles, optimal conditions for new learning, and how to stay fit and healthy. Keep checking the classroom blog to see what each class is doing. 

Keeping in contact

As always, we can be contacted by our email address (surname@muritai.school.nz), or feel free to pop in before/ after school for a quick chat. If you wish to have a chat about your child’s learning at any stage of the year, you do not have to wait until parent interviews to do so! Your child’s teacher will be happy to talk with you - however be aware that Monday and Tuesday after school are usually teacher staff meeting times.

Thanks for your support so far this year, it has been a wonderful start to the school year.

Kind regards,

The Year 3-4 Teaching Team.