Term 4 Newsletter for Year 3 and 4
The year has flown by so quickly! The Rugby World Cup excitement over the last couple of months is much missed as the moment, particularly by Mr Wyllie, but with Christmas just around the corner, there are at least other things to look forward to.
At school, we are looking forward to Athletics day, E.O.T.C week, the silent art auction, ‘Child Labour’ day and the end of year Christmas concert.
Dates for your Diary:
November 15th: Athletics Day
November 18th: Y3-4 "Child Labour" Day
November 28th: Swimming begins (depending on the weather, not all classes may start on this date)
December 2nd: Silent Art Auction, 7.00pm. Money raised goes to The Green Gecko Project.
December 5-9th: EOTC Week
December 15th: Year 3-6 Christmas Concert, 1.45pm
December 16th: Last day. School finishes at 1.00pm
Looking back over Terms 1,2 and 3, 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. Rocket building and launching, Dinosaurs, the digestive system, all have been very popular learning topics this year.
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| Room 7 enjoying "The day it snowed at school" |
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.
“Working Hard”
Term 4 is traditionally the time of the year when we look at the wider world and think “how can we make a difference” in the lives of others less fortunate that ourselves.
This year we are taking a look at the issue of ‘child labour’ in other parts of the world, and how this prevents children from going to school and getting an education. After investigating why child labour is not desirable, the children will be given an opportunity ‘make a difference in the lives of others’ by engaging in ‘child labour’ of their own. Unlike the children they have been learning about, the labour involved will be making a piece of collaborative artwork with other children. The Enviro-school group, lead by Mr Ray and Miss Berry, are organising for later in the term a ‘Silent Art Auction’ where these pieces of artwork will be auctioned off with money raised going to benefit the Green Gecko Project. Green Gecko is an organisation in Cambodia which takes street kids engaging in child labour off the street and gives them housing, an education and a safe place to play and ‘be children’.
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| Room 8 celebrating New Zealand becoming Rugby world champions! |
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.
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| Room 9's amazing tie-dye T-Shirts! |
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.
PE:
Each Tuesday and Thursday mornings in the lead up to Athletics Day, the children will be taking part in Athletics practice. The school’s Athletics Day is Tuesday 15th November (Week 4) 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 6, however in reality this date is weather dependent and we will not begin swimming until the weather has warmed up a little.
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| Room 10 painting the set, ready for the Wearable Art show. |
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.
E.O.T.C. Week:
Planning for E.O.T.C. Week in Week 7 is underway, and we are planning a fun filled week of events close to home, with a ‘Beach Fort’ technology challenge, a ‘make a fishing rod and fishing off the wharf for a fish’ challenge, as well as an arts, craft and science morning, 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 ☺
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| Room 11 dressed all in black for "Black-Out Day" in support of the mighty All Blacks! |
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.
