Dear Parents, Caregivers and children,
It is difficult to believe that we are half way through the year already! Hopefully you all have had a wonderful Winter break - despite the rain, hail and snow! We are looking forward to welcoming you all back to Muritai School to commence Term 3 on Monday 20th July.
It is difficult to believe that we are half way through the year already! Hopefully you all have had a wonderful Winter break - despite the rain, hail and snow! We are looking forward to welcoming you all back to Muritai School to commence Term 3 on Monday 20th July.
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 completed in school and enjoyed having a captive audience in their families to showcase their progress over terms one and two.
Once again our classroom CARE (Citizenship, Achievement, Responsibility and Effort) programme will be closely linked to our School Values and Key Competencies and will be acknowledged and celebrated at our Team Assemblies. Alongside our CARE programme, in term 3 we will be focusing on the values of Commitment and Self-Confidence, as well as continuing to foster the Key Competencies of Relating to others, Participating and Contributing, Managing Self and Thinking.
Teaching and Learning in Years 3-4 in Term 3
Below is a quick outline of what you can expect your child to be learning this coming term:
Literacy
For written and oral language, the children will further develop their report writing skills from Term 2. News time will continue to take on a more formal stance, where children will be required to orally present informative reports (about their chosen dinosaur) to an audience (their peers). Their peers will then provide written and/or verbal feedback on the report presentation. Children will continue to develop how to use appropriate verbal and non-verbal features to gain attention and how to effectively communicate ideas to an audience. Your child will need support with this at home as it will at times form the basis of their homework 'other tasks' this term. It would be great if you could once again support your child by being their 'practice audience' at home!
Reading opportunities will be varied: teacher directed (reading groups) and independent (personal interest and enjoyment); and will be integrated across all areas of the curriculum. Children will be researching and reading for information, reading for meaning and understanding a range of texts. We will continue to encourage fluency, expression and the reading of punctuation to enhance comprehension levels.
Integrated Studies - We have two Inquiries this term:
Big Idea - Earth is very old and that animals and plants in past times were very different to today.
Children will develop the following Information and Literacy Skills: questioning, collecting and processing and presenting.
Children will:
* Recognise that there are lots of different living things in the world and that they can be grouped in different ways.
* Explain how we know that some living things from the past are now extinct.
This will no doubt be a very popular Inquiry for our children!
Children will develop the following Information and Literacy Skills: questioning, collecting and processing and presenting.
Children will:
* Recognise that there are lots of different living things in the world and that they can be grouped in different ways.
* Explain how we know that some living things from the past are now extinct.
This will no doubt be a very popular Inquiry for our children!
Social Sciences (Social Inquiry) and Science (Living World): Growing a Plant
Children will:
* Explore our environment
and the concepts of ‘Growing.’ * Investigate the parts of a
plant and how they grow. * Design
the new and improved Year 3-4 Garden.
If you are particularly knowledgeable in this area or a keen gardener, please let your child's class teacher know and you will be readily invited in - we love visitors!
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. In weeks 9 and 10 we will return to our home-room classes for the Geometry Strand and will be looking closely at identifying and classifying 2D and 3D shapes, position, orientation and transformation.
Physical Education - We have two units this term:
The Pedal Ready team is returning to our team in Weeks 1 and 2 after a very successful introduction as part of our EOTC week in Term 4 last year. Pedal Ready is a skills based programme designed to increase the bike-riding competency of children and young people.
Core skills for grade 1: • carry out a bike check • carry out a helmet check • understand the legal requirements and safety equipment for bicycles • get on and off the bike without help • start off and pedal without help • stop quickly and with control • steer the bike where they want to go • look behind • signal – stop, left and right • using the gears.
The Pedal Ready team is returning to our team in Weeks 1 and 2 after a very successful introduction as part of our EOTC week in Term 4 last year. Pedal Ready is a skills based programme designed to increase the bike-riding competency of children and young people.
Core skills for grade 1: • carry out a bike check • carry out a helmet check • understand the legal requirements and safety equipment for bicycles • get on and off the bike without help • start off and pedal without help • stop quickly and with control • steer the bike where they want to go • look behind • signal – stop, left and right • using the gears.
Football in Schools is our main PE focus for 8 weeks (every Thursday) beginning on Thursday in Week 2. The ASB Football in Schools Programme is part of New Zealand Football's nationwide Whole of Football Plan and is delivered in Wellington by Capital Football through local football clubs. The approach Football in Schools takes offers our children new opportunities to get active through football. The programme provides children with a fun experience, using football-based challenges and the joy of playing football as motivation for participation. The Football programme covers the manipulative skills component of the KiwiSport Fundamental Movement Skills Project and uses football to develop these skills, as well as agility, spatial awareness and team work.
The Arts:
Visual Art - Printmaking
Visual Art - Printmaking
The children will be experimenting with a variety of printmaking techniques as well as completing a cooperative artwork.
Performing Arts - Art Splash
Many of our Year 3 and 4 children have opted to take part in our Art Splash choir and will take centre stage at the Michael Fowler Centre later in the term - more details to follow. 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.
Housekeeping
As you are aware, we have 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 or inside 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 disruptive to class programmes. Hotdogs recommence on Wednesdays for Term 3 and Food for Thought on Fridays.
Parent Help
Many of you have kindly offered to help out in our classrooms this year - we would like to take you up on your offer this term in the form of listening to children read. This would entail listening to children read for 10 - 15 minutes at a time. If you are able to help out please email me: hskilton@muritai.school.nz with the days (mornings) and times you would be able to help. Thank you once again to all our wonderful parent helpers from Term 2, who assisted us with our trip to Wellington and listened to children read as part of our "Hooked on Books Programme".
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 another great term. Our thanks for your support, as always.
Kind regards,
