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)
