Hi Everyone!
Wow, Term Two already! The teachers have been busy during the holidays planning and preparing for an exciting and interesting programme for the next eleven weeks. This term has a specific “Science” focus, with the children learning about the science behind ‘Flight” and ‘Weather’. Speaking of weather, all the rain over the second week of the holidays has allowed the new shrubs in the ‘Poet’s Garden’ to thrive. Thank-you Mr Ray for organising and leading the working bee late last term that put the finishing touches on the Year 3-4 Poets Garden. It looks great, and is a real credit to the vision of the students who, late last year, came up with the concept and got the ball rolling.
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.
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| Room 10 students rapping about the digestive system |
Dates for the diary:
June 2nd: “Jump to it”- Performance in School Hall, 9.30am.
June 7th : School Cross Country at Williams Park, 9.45am start.
June 27th : Vector Orchestra performance at MFC. 9.30-12.30pm
Friday Week 10: reports and Portfolios come home.
Week 11: Parent Interviews during the week.
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| Room 8 students busy creating a mind-map |
Reminders:
• Slippers: Term Two and Three are indoor terms. Please help encourage your child to bring to school a pair of slippers, which can be inside to keep the carpets dry and mud-free, and feet warm and cosy!
• Drink Bottles: Children can still bring drink bottles to class. Encourage you child to regularly take their drink bottle home for a clean.
• Equipment: Some children are now 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. They will know!
• 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 the children are participating in cross-country training. Students who are coming late to school miss out on this important fitness time, so it is important that children are at school by 8.40am. If Children are late to school, they must report to the office and let Carole/Sue know, before coming to class.
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| Room 9 made some amazing musical instruments in Term One! |
What’s Ahead:
There is a major science focus this term. The children will experiment with the principles of ‘Flight’- air pressure, lift, thrust and drag. 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. Later in the term the focus will change to ‘Weather’ – certainly by that time the year there will be plenty of it to investigate!
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 how to write a procedure, or set of instructions, carefully and accurately so others can follow. There is a specific skill in writing ‘how to…’ instructions, so the emphasis will be on writing with clarity and precision. As always, the children will 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 particular 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 we continue using a cross-grouping structure from Monday to Thursdays. This will operate for most of the term. For the first 8 weeks 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.
In Art, the main focus is Painting, with an emphasis on experimenting with colour mixing, using different brush strokes. By the end of the term, Ruth Hooke our Performing Arts teacher, will have worked with all classes for a block of 5 weeks on daramtic skills. The children just love working with Ruth and they certainly benefit from the school employing a specialist PA teacher. There will be 2 perfoming arts experiences this term:
§ Jump To It – this is for Years 1-4 on Thursday June 2nd in our hall. It will start at 9.30.
§ Vector Orchestra – this is for years 1-6 on Monday 27th June at Michael Fowler Centre. It will start at 10.30 and be approx 1 hour long. We will be travelling to/from the MFC by bus.
The Physical Education focus is firstly preparing for the school cross-country, followed by ball skills later in the term. Training for the cross country will be first thing in the morning, from 8.40 to 9.00am. If your child regularly arrives to school after 8.40am, then they will miss out on this impritant preperation for the cross-country.
§ The school cross country competition is on Tuesday 7th June (Week 6), held at Williams Park, Days Bay. Postponement day is Thursday 9th June.
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| Room 11 reflecting on their individual 'term goals'. |
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 email your child’s teacher if you have any questions about 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. Each classroom teacher regularly updates the classroom blog, and these are an important way that teachers can communicate with you what is happening in the classroom. Please visit your child’s classroom blog to see what has been happening, and leave a comment. To get an email alert when the 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 always, feel free to email your child’s teacher if you have any questions about 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. Each classroom teacher regularly updates the classroom blog, and these are an important way that teachers can communicate with you what is happening in the classroom. Please visit your child’s classroom blog to see what has been happening, and leave a comment. To get an email alert when the 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.
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| Dr Beena Hedge teaching Room 7 how their digestive system works. |
Finally, just a reminder to parents of Year 3 children that, from Year 3 onwards, there is no weekly newsletter as there was in the junior school. We feel that a combination of this newsletter, emails from teachers, classroom blog updates, and the fortnightly ‘Birds Eye View’ school newsletter, all contribute information on upcoming events.
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!
Regards,
The Year 3 and 4 teachers.
Richard Dobson (Team Leader, Room 7)
Pippa Grant (Room 8)
Hayden Wyllie (Room 9)
Hayden Ray (Room 10)
Karen Chao (Room 11)
