Term 4 Updates

Hi everyone

Term 4 certainly has been very busy in the Year 3 and 4 Team and will continue to be so over the remaining two and a half weeks!

Ancient Civilisations Inquiry Celebration
During Term 3 and Term 4 our Social Sciences Inquiry focus has of course been on Ancient Civilisations, including Aztecs, Romans and Vikings!  The students have learned so many interesting facts and have developed their research and reporting skills over the two terms.  It has also been lovely to watch so many of the children furthering their learning in their own time through design, construction, art and writing.

To celebrate our learning journey, we will be having a fun day in which the children will come to school in costume, share foods eaten by people of Ancient Times and take part in an Ancient Market Place (the Great Muritai Book Swap) using tokens as currency.  All funds raised will of course go towards purchasing items from World Vision's  Smiles Catalogue for Communities in need - a great Social Action experience for the children and such an easy way for them all to make a difference.


Celebration of Learning and Reporting
At the end of last term Miss Savage and of course last week Mrs Skilton and Mrs Smith, celebrated and reported on the Year 3 students' progress to parents through Parent Conferences and written reports.  The Year 4 reports are due to go home at the end of Week 9 - Friday the 12th December.

We are holding a Celebration of Learning afternoon this Thursday 4th December from 3 - 6pm at which your child will have the opportunity to share their work and collections book with you.  It is always a very special afternoon and we hope to see you all there!


EOTC (Education Outside the Classroom) Week: Monday 8th - Friday 12th December
It's getting closer!  You will of course have received an email outlining our planned EOTC activities and timetable. Please contact your child's teacher directly, if you are able to help out on our trips to H2O and/or Eastbourne Community based activities.  Thank you to those of you who have already been in touch and volunteered to help.

 


Class Lists and Meet the 2015 Teachers
On Friday the 12th December Class Lists for 2015 will be sent home with your child. On the following Monday the 15th December students will spend the morning with their 2015 class and teacher.


Year 3 and 4 Christmas Concert
On Wednesday the 17th December, we will be holding our very own Christmas Concert in our School Hall.  The concert will begin at 1:40pm and we would love to see you all there with festive cheer!  As well as Christmas Carols, several students will perform through poetry and music.


Staffing Changes
We have two very special up and coming events for two of our staff members: Annabel Smith will be of course having her baby shortly and Briana Lee is getting married!  On behalf of the Year 3 and 4 team: staff, children and parents, we would like to wish them the very best of luck with these exciting and life changing experiences and we will be thinking of them both in the coming weeks.

We will therefore temporarily farewell Annabel Smith at the end of this week and Ruth Holmes will be teaching Room 10 for the remaining week and a half.  While Briana Lee will complete EOTC week with us and then Richard Dobson will be teaching Room 7 for the last week of this term.


Dates for your Diary:

Thurs 4 Dec     Ancient Civilisations Celebration Day

                        Year 4 Celebration of Learning 3.00 - 6.00

Mon 8 Dec       EOTC week 3/4 

Fri 12 Dec        Reports go home

Mon 15 Dec     2015 classrooms meet together

Wed 17 Dec     Y3 and 4 Christmas concert

Thurs 18 Dec   Last day of the school year / Final assembly 11.00                

                         School finishes at 1.00

Thank you for your ongoing support,

the Year 3 and 4 Team.

Term 4

Hi Everyone!

Term 4 is here already – it’s hard to believe isn’t it?  The year has certainly flown by and Christmas will be here before we know it!

What an amazing Performing Arts Term we have just had, culminating with our spectacular Tall Tales Production.  We were so very proud of all the Year 3 and 4 children and were thrilled at how confidently they sang, danced and acted on stage. We certainly have some budding performers amongst our team!

With Jess Savage now on Maternity Leave we have a couple of Staff changes in the Middle School.  Janelle McKay is now teaching Room 11 Monday – Thursday, while Richard Dobson continues to teach Room 11 on Fridays.  I have taken over the Assistant Principal role, which means I will be teaching Room 9 Monday – Thursday and Sally Velven will be returning to Muritai to teach Room 9 on Fridays.

Term 4 is traditionally a very busy term and this year is no exception.  It will be a term full of athletic sports, pupils’ reports and anniversary reporting, learning celebrations, Eastbourne Carnival, EOTC, aquatics and of course our Christmas Concert!  To help you keep track of all these events there is a School Calendar on our school website http://www.muritai.school.nz/pages/calendar.php

Here is a summary of upcoming events particular to the Year 3/4 Team:

October        

Friday 17^th ~ Sustainable Coastlines Presentation and Beach Clean Up Day

Friday 24^th ~ Teacher Only Day - (School Closed)

Monday 27^th ~ Labour Day – (School Closed)

Thursday 30^th ~ Athletics Day

November

Sunday 23^rd ~ Eastbourne Carnival

Monday 24^th and Tuesday 25^th ~ Year 3 Anniversary reporting will take place.

December

Thursday 4^th ~ Celebration of Learning afternoon

Monday 8^th ~ EOTC Week will be starting

Monday 15^th ~ Meet the Teacher for 2015

Wednesday 17^th ~ Year 3/4 Christmas Concert

Thursday 18^th ~ Last day of Term – Leaver’s Assembly

Be sure to visit your child’s class blog throughout the term, as they provide a wonderful snapshot of your child’s learning journey and the children love to receive and read comments from you all.

The following is an outline of what will be happening this term.  Later in the term an extra email about EOTC will be sent.

Literacy

Our writing focus for this term is poetry.  The children enjoy reading poems and especially love writing poetry, as it often breaks all the conventional writing rules!  We will be identifying visual effects and language features of poetry and exploring a wide variety of poem styles. There will be plenty of opportunities to write and recite poetry aloud to an audience.  We will also continue to write reports and build upon the skills learned in Term 3.  There is still of course, the ongoing focus of embedding effective editing, proofreading and re-crafting skills into every piece of writing the children do.

Oral Language will focus on skills of oral presentation, with an emphasis on using vocal expression, confident body language and addressing an audience.  Children will be have opportunities to present their Inquiry based reports, recite poetry as part of a Reader’s Theatre and will continue to share news and items of interest.

Reading continues in all classes, with particular emphasis on reading for meaning and using expression when reading aloud. As previously mentioned, poetry will also feature in our class reading programmes.

Numeracy

This term we will begin with revising addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and learning fraction skills in cross-grouped classes.  Later in the term, children will return to their homeroom for maths and the focus may include Measurement, Geometry or Statistics.

PE

Every Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday before lunch in the lead up to our School Athletics Day in Week 3, the children will be taking part in Athletics practice.  Children will need to wear running shoes on these days to be able to fully participate. 

Swimming is scheduled to begin in Week 7, however this is of course weather dependent.

EOTC Week Planning for EOTC Week in Week 9 is underway, and we are planning a fun filled week of events, with cycling, arts and crafts, bush walks, and a beach day among other events.  More details to follow!

Integrated Studies

As you will be aware, our Inquiry focus last term was delving into Ancient Civilisations.  This proved to be immensely popular with the students and much to their delight we have decided to continue on with this in Term 4.  We will have a range of focus across the team and unfamiliar civilisations will be explored. This will enable students to further develop the research and reporting skills they have acquired from Term 3.

Te Reo

In Te Reo students will continue to learn Maori vocabulary as part of the Te Kupu o Te Wiki programme.  Alongside Te Reo, the children will be attending weekly Friday arts and crafts sessions where they will learn the significance of arts and crafts in Maori culture and will also be making Manu Tukutuku (Maori kites), Poi, mini Tukutuku panels, Koru designs, clay pendant gifts and weaving.

House Keeping Reminders:

~ drink bottles, sunscreen and sunhats are essential this term.

~ stationary: many children may need a top up of their stationary items. Pencils,  pens, rubbers in particular.  Please check with your child as they will know what they require.

If you have any questions relating to your child or the Year 3/4 team please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher or myself.

On behalf of the Year 3/4 Teachers,

Hayley Skilton

Term 3

It is hard to believe that we are half way through the year already! We hope you have all had a good break and look forward to welcoming you back to Term 3 on Monday.

It was great to see so many of you at the 'Celebration of Learning' afternoon in the final week of last term. Once again, the children showed how proud they were of the work they complete in school and enjoyed having a captive audience in their families to showcase their progress.

The term ahead:

Arts and the School Values
We have an exciting 'Performing Arts' based term ahead as we prepare for the School Production (16th-18th September) and ArtSplash (10th September) to take centre stage as the term unfolds. The school values of 'Self-Confidence' and 'Commitment' tie in very nicely and will be promoted as the children prepare for their performances on stage.

Integrated Studies
Our Inquiry focus this term will be delving into 'Ancient Civilisations'. Many children already have a keen interest in History and choose to read books from the library about Ancient Egypt or Ancient Rome. We wish to further this natural curiosity and equip the children with research skills beyond a quick Google search for an answer! We may have a range of focus across the syndicate as each class will take their research into areas of interest suited to them. There will be many opportunities for a variety of visual arts within these studies.

Again, if you are particularly knowledgeable in this area or have a love of History yourself,  please let us know and you will be readily invited in! 

Information Literacy

The class writing and reading programmes will be closely linked to our Inquiry – we are expecting the questions to flow and the children's research skills to develop rapidly in the quest for knowledge!

We will also have a focus on Narrative writing where the children can unleash their creativity.

Numeracy

In Maths, we will begin to use our knowledge of Addition and Subtraction strategies to further our understanding of Multiplication and Division. This will begin, for some children, by looking at multiplication as repeated addition and division as repeated subtraction. Knowledge of times tables facts will become more and more important as the term progresses and your support at home with this is greatly appreciated.

Sport and Fitness

We will introduce and develop 'big ball skills' this term, focusing around Netball, Rugby and Basketball. The children had multiple sporting opportunities last term with football and gymnastics so this term's sport will be weather dependent and not take place on a set day each week so it is best if children are equipped with sensible shoes on a daily basis.

Housekeeping

We look forward to welcoming the children back on Monday with their slippers once again, especially important if this rain keeps up as forecast. We continue with our ‘shoes-off’ policy throughout the Winter months to make sure the class carpets stay dry and clean and suitable for sitting on. There are shoe racks outside each classroom. It is best if slippers stay at school for the term.

Water bottles each day are still required as the children need to stay hydrated and trips to the drinking fountain can be disrupting to the class programme.

As always, please do not hesitate to get in touch with myself, or your child’s class teacher.

Kind regards,

Jess Savage and the Y3/4 team.

Term 2

We look forward to welcoming you back to Term 2 on Monday.

This term is our big Science term. Across the Syndicate we will be looking at forms of matter and ‘Changing States’ which means there will be plenty of opportunities for practical science.

If you are particularly knowledgeable in this area or have a good experiment up your sleeve please let your child’s class teacher know and you will be readily invited in! We love visitors!

In the meantime, the children may like to spark their interest with this video. ‘Symphony of Science’ very cleverly combine elements of various documentaries to music. The Year 4s will remember ‘The World of the Dinosaurs’ from last year. We wont quite be delving this deep, but it’s a good start to promoting some thoughtful questions.

The class writing and reading programmes will be closely linked to our Science Inquiry – we are expecting the questions to flow as the children’s curiosity is developed.

Our key school values this term are ‘Curiosity’ and ‘Excellence’ and we will be promoting these throughout the term.

In Maths, we will begin to introduce Multiplication and Division elements to our Basic Facts teaching but will largely focus on consolidating and building upon the children’s Addition and Subtraction Strategies and Knowledge.

Not ones to let the children’s fitness lapse after last term’s swimming and running programmes, we start Term 2 with Gymnastics and Football Coaching.

Gymnastics will run each Wednesday throughout the term. Children will need suitably loose clothing to participate fully.

Each Tuesday from Week 2, KiwiSport will be running a football coaching programme for the Syndicate for 8 weeks. Each class will have 45 minutes coaching each week. If the weather is favourable this will be held outdoors, and in the school hall if wet. Again, your children will need trainers and sensible clothing.

We look forward to welcoming the children back on Monday with their slippers in tow. We run a ‘shoes-off’ policy throughout the Winter months to make sure the class carpets stay dry and clean and suitable for sitting on. There are shoe racks outside each classroom. It is best if slippers stay at school for the term.

Water bottles each day are still required as the children need to stay hydrated and trips to the drinking fountain can be quite disrupting.

Towards the end of the Term the children will bring home a written report of their progress and we invite you in to school to a ‘Celebration of Learning’ afternoon where the children will share their artwork and book work from the year so far. Whilst the teachers will be there, this is an opportunity for the children to share their learning with you. The children are very proud of the successes they achieve in class on a daily basis.

As always, please do not hesitate to get in touch with myself, or your child’s class teacher.

Kind regards,

Jess Savage and the Y3/4 team.