Term 1 2015

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Welcome back to the Year 3 and 4 Muritai Team for our Year 4 parents and a warm welcome for those families joining us for the first time this year.  We trust you have all had a lovely Christmas and have enjoyed the beautiful sunny days we have been experiencing while on holiday - what a summer we have had!

Once again we have a very experienced team of creative and inspiring teachers working within Year 3 and 4 this year. As we take a collaborative approach to teaching and learning, your child is likely to see all teachers during various rotations throughout the year.

We have a few staff changes to our team this year.  Jess Savage remains on Maternity Leave with her gorgeous daughter Freya and I will continue to do her role as Associate Principal in her absence.  Annabel Smith will also be on Maternity Leave this year, after giving birth to a handsome wee boy on Christmas Day no less! Richard Dobson is returning to classroom teaching this year, after completing a year of Reading Recovery teaching last year.  Gabrielle Heath returns to our team as my Management Release Teacher on Fridays, as well as fulfilling the role of Muritai's Reading Recovery Teacher.  As many of you know already, Briana Lee got married over the holidays and returns as Briana Treder  - congratulations Briana!  Many of you will know Mikaela Cody and Trish Theobald from our Junior Team and we are very excited to have them join us this year.  We also welcome Sandra Blair, Romy Anderson, Lorna Anderson and Narelle Ferrier who will be supporting us in their Teacher Aide roles. 

Year 3:

Room 10 - Mikaela Cody and Trish Theobald on a Friday

Room 9 – Hayley Skilton / Gabrielle Heath on a Friday

Year 4:

Room 7  (Year 3/4 Composite) – Richard Dobson

Room 8 – Karen Chao

Room 11 - Briana Treder 

On Wednesday afternoon you have the opportunity to meet with your child’s teacher and provide a little bit of background information about your child. We find these meetings invaluable and it is very helpful if you take a few moments to look through and fill out the form that has been emailed to you. We do value your perspective from home. Interviews are each set for 10 minutes. To make an appointment go to www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and enter the code LKQVG, phone Jo in the office 5628409 between 9am-3pm or email bentley@muritai.school.nz 

Our classroom CARE programme will be closely linked to our school values this year. We will be unpacking these values as the year progresses as follows: Kindness and Respect in Term 1, Curiosity and Excellence in Term 2, Self-confidence and Commitment in Term 3, and Integrity and Resilience in Term 4. 

Homework 

• Each night’s homework comprises of 15-20 minutes of practice in Reading, Spelling and Mathletics/Basic Facts. Please tick the appropriate section/columns to ‘prove’ that homework is being done. Older siblings may do this if necessary.
• Our children lead very busy out-of-school lives. For this reason, it is perfectly acceptable for out-of-school activities to count as ‘homework’. All that is required 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.  
• Tick the spelling words and math facts as they are practiced, even if they are yet to be learned correctly. This is supposed to be practice time- not a test time. It is perfectly acceptable for children to write in their home reading themselves.
• Teachers will run the testing at the end of each week, in class. This is the time when teachers will assess the mastery of words. 
• Each week there is an optional ‘extra’ piece of homework to be completed, which may take additional time, spread out over the week. Feel free to email the teacher if anything about this needs clarifying. There are no consequences for children not completing this part.
• Homework books are returned to school every morning. This allows children to use their spelling words during classroom practice time. If the book is left at home, then the child misses this practice time. Teachers may also wish to check home reading and the homework book for messages from home.

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:

Integrated Studies and Literacy

"Life According to Me" is a mini inquiry unit into what is important to us, how we learn and our role in our classroom and community.  This links very nicely with the Treaty work we are covering in class at the moment and of course Waitangi Day. 

"Carnival of the Animals" is an integrated Music inquiry unit that ties in with one of the shows we will be viewing later on in the term, at the Capital E Festival of the arts in Wellington. The children will be learning in, through and about the arts and will have opportunities to express and interpret their ideas through drama, dance and music.  Keep checking the classroom blogs to see what each class is doing.

Maths

We will begin in our home-room classes for maths this year, to enable us to get to know our children as well as assess the children and group them accordingly. The majority 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, where the children are grouped across the 5 classes according to need, will begin in Term 2.

Swimming

Swimming is the main PE focus for the first 5 weeks, followed by cross-country later in the term. We are lucky to have the skilled instructors of Kiwisim again taking each class for 8 lessons over 2 weeks. Their focus is on 'Water Safety and Survival', as well as fundamental swimming skills. Please ensure that all togs, towels and goggles are named. 

Here is our swimming timetable:

Week 1: 

All Year 3 and Year 4 classes will be swimming on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Weeks 2 and 3:  

Rooms 9 and 10 - Monday and Wednesday

Rooms 7, 8 and 11 - Tuesday and Thursday

All Year 3 and Year 4 classes will be swimming on Friday.

Weeks 4 and 5: 

All Year 3 and Year 4 classes will be swimming everyday.

Swimming Sports will be held at Huia Pool on the afternoon of Thursday 26th February (Week 4)

Art

We have a drawing focus this term and will of course be completing self-portraits - it's always a treat to see the finished products and how the children see themselves! Keep popping in to class over the next few weeks to see your child’s artistic talents shine through as the classrooms and corridors spring to life.  

Housekeeping

Please ensure that your child has a sunhat and a drink bottle with them each day for the remainder of this term. The first bell at 8.40am signals a start to the learning day and it is important that your child is here by then.

Upcoming Events

As mentioned above, our Swimming Sports for Y3-8 will be held at Huia Pool on the afternoon of Thursday 26th February. The Y3s and Y4s will be using the smaller pool. You are most welcome to come and watch or if you are keen to help out please let your child’s class teacher know. Further information will follow closer to the date.

Cross-country will be held towards the end of Term 1 this year on Tuesday 31st March. Again, further details will follow. Cross Country training will begin in Week 6 once swimming has finished.

Getting in touch

As always, your first port of call is your child’s teacher. 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 talk 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 staff meeting times.

We all look forward to a great year. Our thanks for your support, as always.

Kind regards,
Hayley Skilton, Karen Chao, Richard Dobson, Mikaela Cody, Briana Treder, Gabrielle Heath, Trish Theobald and Ruth Holmes.

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