NEWSLETTERS

Each week, we produce a weekly newsletter that is part of our Homework Sheet.  You will find copies of the newsletter on this page.

TERM 4 WEEK 9

REMINDERS

• Please return any school reading books
• Choir performance at Knox Church TONIGHT (Mon. 7th Dec.)
• Christmas Craft Wednesday - 11am.
• 
  

Dear Families

It is hard to believe we have reached our last full week of school. This year has flown by! The children are still working very hard on their poetry activities, learning to tell time and making art folders to bring home the amazing art they have produced this year. This will be our final class newsletter and the children do not need to return their home/learning books to school.

Singing Concert

Tonight we will be having our Christmas Concert at the Knox Church. You should have returned the permission slip by now. We look forward to seeing you there.  We would like the children to be there by 6:15.

Beach Education

We had a great day at the beach - the weather was awesome and the children really made the most of getting into the water, developing confidence and learning about being safe at the beach. Thank you to the wonderful parents who joined us for this trip.  Check out the blog for photos.

End of Year ‘Tidy up’

We will begin sending things home from today onwards. We will be moving classrooms and this will happen MONDAY next week, so we hope to have our room ready to go by then. If you have some spare time next Monday morning we would love some help with moving furniture and resources. Please let us know if you may be available and we will confirm times once we know the  final timetable for classroom shifts.

Athletics Day

The children had a great time on athletics day and we could certainly see the progress they had made and the skills they had gained as they participated amongst their peers.  Well done to our two relay teams!  Two second places!

Reports

School reports will go live next MONDAY. Please take time to read them and to share them with your child.

Dry Ice

Did you manage to find out anything about dry ice over the weekend?

Home Learning

Please keep using links to websites on the school blogs, Studyladder and Oxford Owl during the holidays. It is important to keep working on basic facts, maths concepts and to keep up the reading during the summer break!

Swimming

Please have your swimming togs and towels at school EVERY day.  Although we don’t have a slot everyday, we do try to join another class if the day is particularly hot!

Christmas Craft

We plan to do some christmas activities this week.  If you are available to join us on WEDNESDAY at 11.00am for this, we would love to see you.

Enjoy the week,

Adela and Julie

TERM 4 WEEK 8

REMINDERS

• Reading folders must be at school
• Please return any school reading books
• Beach Education Trip this THURSDAY
• Choir performance at Knox Church next Monday (7th Dec)

Dear Families

We have an active week ahead of us with the Year 2 and 3 Athletics today and our Beach Education trip on Thursday. We also hope to get a few swimming sessions in this week as well! Please can the children bring their swimming togs to school each day.

Reading

In class we will be continuing with our poetry activities, with the goal of trying to complete all 9 tasks by the end of the week. It is important that the children continue reading books of personal interest.  They can always use the online texts on Oxford Owl and use the time to visit the local library.

Maths

This week and next week will be learning about ‘Time’. Maths Interchange has now finished for the year. If you would like some basic facts sheets for your child please let either of us know.

Homework

This will be the last week of homework. We have decided not to give any spellings this week, as we anticipate quite a few tired children. We appreciate all the help you have given your child in supporting their learning at home. It really does make a difference.

Singing Concert

Your child should have brought home a letter about our Christmas singing concert at Knox Church on Monday 7th December starting at 6:30. We are hoping that as many of you as possible will be able to attend. We would like the children to be there by 6:15.

Athletics Day

If you have any good photos of the children from Athletics Day please email them to us so we can add them to the class blog. Thank you.

Beach Education

This THURSDAY we head to South Brighton Surf Club  by bus to learn about safety at the beach. We will be hopping in the water so the children will need to bring their named togs and a towel and if possible we encourage the children to bring a WETSUIT, as it is cold in the water! They should also wear suitable mufti clothes.

Also remember to pack:

·    A good lunch

·    A big drink of water

·    A sunhat/sunblock on

·    A warm jacket incase it is cold

Thanks for the parents who have offered to join us – please be here early Thursday morning so we can get ourselves organised and ready to go!

Enjoy the week,

Adela and Julie

TERM 4 WEEK 7

REMINDERS

• Hats at school
• Reading folders required at school EVERY DAY
• Swimming togs at school EVERY DAY
• Athletics Day - Monday 30th November
• Beach Education Trip - Thursday 3rd December

Dear Families

The term is flying by. This week Kirsty Ford will be in our class on Wednesday as we work on completing and editing our reports.  

In last week’s school notice, you will have seen the changes that are happening in the middle team for 2016.  A reminder about the meeting in the hall on Tuesday at 6pm, which will give you information about what to expect for next year.

Swimming

Please can the children bring their swimming togs to school everyday from now. We will have set swimming days, but with trips and camps across the school we may get other opportunities to swim.

Reading

For the next two weeks we will be reading poetry as part of the reading programme.  The children will have a poetry booklet and associated tasks to complete.  We are required to return all school instructional readers by the end of next week.  If you have any at home, please send these along to school.

Beach Ed Trip

Have you returned your slip! Please do so if you haven’t yet. Details regarding the trip will come out later this week.

Maths

We completed our maths assessments last week.  A real highlight was the need for children to keep working on their basic facts - addition and subtraction and their tables.  They are both crucial in being able to work out problems quickly - particularly as they become more complex.

Cotton Wool Balls

This week we plan to begin making some Penguins in Construction.  The children will need some cotton wool balls.  If you have some you can send to school that would be great - as many as possible!

Athletics Day

The Year 2 and 3 Athletics Day is next Monday (30th Nov) with the postponement day being Wednesday (2nd Dec) starting at 10:30. The children need to wear suitable clothing and footwear for the event and are encouraged to wear their house colours.

Head Lice

Head lice continues to be a recurring problem in our class. Please can you check your child’s hair regularly and treat if required.

Enjoy the week,  

Adela and Julie

TERM 4 WEEK 6

REMINDERS

• Hats at school
• Reading folders required at school EVERY DAY
• Swimming information will be sent home soon - we are driven by the weather!

Dear Families

Welcome to Week 6.  We are now into the second half of the term - where has this year gone.  We are well underway with our end of year assessments and report writing.  This week Nicky Simmons will be in our class on Tuesday.  Julie and myself will be doing our 1:1 GLOSS maths assessments with the children in our maths class on this day.

Poetry Competition

A big congratulations to the children from Room 16 who took part in the Year 3-4 Poetry Competition on Thursday.  You did a great job and showed such confidence in front of a large audience.  Well done to Rory for your 2nd placing in the Year 3 category - we were very proud of you!

Swimming

The school pool is scheduled to open this week - weather permitting.  More information will come closer to the time, but just to keep in mind the children will need their togs, towels and goggles if they have them, in a NAMED strong bag.

Beach Ed Trip

We have a small number of children we are still awaiting permission slips from for our Beach Education trip in December.  Please return these to the classroom or school office as soon as possible.  We have a lot of parents who wish to help, so will let parents know soon who will be coming.

Reading

The final weeks of reading will focus on comprehension, retell and deeper understanding of what we read.  You can help your child with this by asking them to tell you about what they are reading and to recall the main points of the story.  Inferential meaning - or reading between the lines - is a very important skill that we focus on. See if you can ask questions about the text your child is reading, that is not there in black in white.  Can they justify their answers?

Enjoy the week,

Adela and Julie

TERM 4 WEEK 5

REMINDERS

• Black vivids for art
• Hats at school
• Reading folders required at school EVERY DAY
• Please keep toys - including lego - at home
• Year 2/3 Athletics Day - Monday 30th November
• Beach Education - Thursday 3rd December

Dear Families,

Hopefully most of you were able to make it to the school market day on Saturday. I am sure we will soon hear how much the PTA have raised for the school. A big thank you to everyone who supported this event.

Poetry Competition

By the time you receive this newsletter we will have held our class poetry competition, with the 3 finalist going through to Thursday’s Year 3 and 4  final. The children have been doing so well in memorising their poem and it is always difficult choosing just 3 children.

Assessments

We will be continuing with our end of year assessments for the next few weeks.

Swimming

The school pool is scheduled to open shortly.  More information will come closer to the time, but just to keep in mind the children will need their togs, towels and goggles if they have them, in a NAMED strong bag.

Twenty Questions

Thanks to the children who brought a Mystery Item to school for our Twenty Questions last week.  The children will know if it is their turn this week.

Beach Education - Thursday 3rd December

Please can we have signed permission slips for our Beach Education trip returned as soon as possible. The Year 3 classes are having a competition to see who can be the first class to have all their slips returned.

Enjoy the week,

Adela and Julie

TERM 4 WEEK 4

REMINDERS

The class poetry competition will now take place on Monday 9th November at 2pm.

• Black vivids for art
• Hats at school
• Reading folders required at school EVERY DAY
• Please keep toys - including lego - at home

Dear Families

What an exciting game of rugby!  Well done to the All Blacks!  We are all proud of them and their great spirit!  It has been great learning about different countries through the RWC.

Poetry Competition

Our class poetry competition will be on Monday 9th November at 2pm.  We hope you can join us. Please help your child learn their poem, and to focus on the criteria they have been given. Learning to speak in front of an audience is a great skill!

School Market Day

The school market day is this coming Saturday 11am-1pm. It is a great fundraiser for the school and we would like to see as many of you there as possible. The PTA could still do with a few more helpers on the day; if you are able to assist please pop into the school office.

Swimming

The school pool is scheduled to open after Show Weekend.  More information will come closer to the time, but just to keep in mind the children will need their togs, towels and goggles if they have them, in a NAMED strong bag.

Vivids

The art we are doing at the moment requires a black vivid.  Many children are now without one or it is almost run out.  If you can please ask your child if they need a new one - that would be greatly appreciated.

Twenty Questions

Thanks to the children who brought a Mystery Item to school for our Twenty Questions last week.  The children will know if it is their turn this week.

Reading

This week we are beginning to do our reading assessments.  The children may bring home a book that they have read independently in class - please support them with this through lots of discussions.

Enjoy the week,

Adela and Julie

TERM 4 WEEK 3

Dear Families

We hope you enjoyed the long weekend - with some lovely weather.  A great result for our boys in black - this weekend will certainly be nerve racking!

A huge thank you for making such an effort for our shared lunch on Friday.  There was such a variety of food and some very clever thinking involved!  It was great to see children trying new foods they may not have otherwise eaten before!  Check out our blog for some photos!

Poetry Competition

Most children have now chosen their poem and are busy memorising it!  They will have received the criteria for what we will be looking for in our class competition - with three children going through to the Year 3 final from our class.

Hats

These are now compulsory or children will need to play in the shaded areas.

Maths

We are continuing to work on basic facts and the times tables in Room 16’s maths class.  Knowing these quickly and accurately is very important as they transfer into many areas of maths - particularly problem solving.  Please work on these at home - we have sheets we can give you for practising each night.

Headlice

This continues to be a problem throughout the school. Please continue to check your child’s hair and treat if necessary.

Calendars, Diaries, Notebooks and Cards

Orders close for these this Friday. You can check out your child’s artwork at the school office.

Disco

The school disco is this Friday from 5:30 - 6:15 for Year 3 children. Tickets will be on sale at the door from 5:15.

Enjoy the week,

Adela and Julie

TERM 4 - WEEK 2

This Thursday we will be heading to the museum to take part in a session on Magic Mirrors - looking at Light and Reflection.  The bus will leave school at 12.00pm, so if our parent helps can be here about 11.50 - that would be great.

Reading

We have been looking at our countries and sportsmanship as part of our reading.  This week we are looking at a famous sports person - any code is fine!  Your child will have an information sheet that they need to complete.  They will be working on this in class, but may bring it home to ‘research’ the questions they get.

There are still too many reading folders not being brought to school, which means no book comes home.  Please support your child’s learning by making sure your child has a reading folder for school.  

Shared Lunch

This Friday we will have our shared lunch to celebrate the different nations of the RWC.  It has been interesting to hear what the children think they might bring!  There will be some interesting recipes being used!  Please do not stress about this - if you are busy or can’t find something from your nation, something to share from the NZ cuisine is fine!  It may also include a drink.  Please could the children also bring a plate to use for eating their food. You are welcome to join us for this at 12.00 this FRIDAY.

Poetry Competition

This term the Year 3 Poetry Competition will take place in Week 5.  We will hold our class competition at the end of Week 4.  Your child will need to choose a poem that they can learn ‘off by heart’ if possible.  We will give out some criteria in class for your child to think about when they are reciting their poem. Please ask if you have any questions regarding this.

Hats

These are now compulsory or children will need to play in the shaded areas.

Art

This term we will be doing a little bit of construction in art.  Can you please send along any of the following items:  the Countdown Signature Range 600ml water bottles or other kinds you may have, some cotton wool balls and egg cartons, clean 2l milk containers - any stickers taken off if possible please.


Term 3 Week 10

REMINDERS

• READING FOLDERS MUST BE AT SCHOOL!
• Please top up on any stationery that is required
• Showcase this WEDNESDAY. Please make sure that the children are back at school by 4:30.
  
  

Dear Families

We are all really excited about this week’s showcase.  The children have been working hard in creating their costumes and putting our performance together - it has been great to see the collaboration going on. We also really appreciate the help of all the mum’s with costumes and assisting the children at both the dress rehearsals and performance.

The children will be performing at 1:30, 5:00 and 6:30 on Wednesday. We would appreciate the children being dropped off in Room 16 at 4:30 prompt, as we are the first class to go on stage. They can then be collected from our class at 7:30. We ask that you sign your child out before leaving the classroom, to ensure that we know they have  been collected. Please could you supply your child with something to eat during the time between the two evening performances. The children will be in costumes, so no potentially messy foods like yogurts please!

Reading

It is important that the children continue reading books of personal interest over the holidays.   They can always  use the online texts on Oxford Owl and use the time to visit the local library.

Maths

We will be doing our final week on measurement. New tasks have been added to studyladder which the children can access over the school holidays.  Keep up the basic facts practise - we have plenty of sheets we can give your child to keep this up during the holiday break. Please just pop in and ask or send either of us an email.

Rugby World Cup Country

The children have all selected a country involved in the 2015 Rugby World Cup to find out information about. They all have their own booklet which we will be working on during the week. They will be encouraged to complete their booklet over the school holidays and return it to school on the first Monday back. The children will then be using the information that they have gathered to present/share with others, in the first couple of weeks back.

Head Lice

There have been further cases of head lice in our class. Please can you continue to check your child’s hair and treat if necessary. Hopefully we can start Term  4 head lice free!

Stationery

The children will be asked to make a note of any stationery they require at the end of the week and we would appreciate it if these can be topped up during the school holidays

Enjoy the holidays,

Adela and Julie 

Term 3 Week 9

REMINDERS

• READING FOLDERS MUST BE AT SCHOOL!
• Please check stationery - we are still low on pencils and glue sticks.
• Head lice - there have been a few cases of head lice in our class. Please continue to check your child’s hair and treat if necessary.

Dear Families

This week will focus a lot on the rehearsal for our Showcase, happening in Week 10.  By now, you should have received information about buying tickets.  PLEASE let us know if your child will not be at the performances for any reason, as our children have set spots in our dance that would need to be accounted for, if they are away.  You can help us at home by making sure your child is going through the words to our song - the more volume we have with this on the night the better!

Many thanks to the mums who came to help with our final costume making session last week - things are falling into place!  We now have all the clothing at school we require - so thank you for organising this.

Showcase

We would appreciate some help with getting children changed for the dress rehearsal this Friday at 8:30 ready for a 9:00 start and again on the Wednesday 23rd September at 1:00 and 4:30 (half an hour prior to the performance start). If you are able to assist please add your name to the notice in our cloakroom or email either of us. We would appreciate the children being at school by 8:45 on Friday, as our class is the first to go on stage. A letter with further details about the performance arrangements for next Wednesday will go home this week.

Girls’ Soccer Session

Today the girls will have taken part in a soccer session at English Park, as a promotion to encourage girls into football.  This was organised by Mainland Football - we are sure they had a lot of fun!

Reading

We have enjoyed watching the children perform in plays the last two weeks.  We are now moving onto a fun Rugby World Cup focus in reading, with this world event beginning in just a few days!  Keep an eye out for some fun activities that we will be setting!  It’s a great way to develop knowledge about other countries and cultures.  Go the ALL BLACKS! (sorry Mrs Worthington!)  With our rehearsals taking place this week, our timetable is a bit crazy!  Keep up the nightly reading - even if a new book does not come home!

Maths

We are doing strand maths in our class - looking at Measurement. Making sure we start at the ‘zero’ to measure was a big focus last week!  Please make sure you child has a ruler at school.  We move onto weight and capacity this week.  Keep up the basic facts practise - we have plenty of sheets we can give your child to keep this up during the holiday break.

Enjoy the week,  

Adela and Julie


 Term 3 Week 8

REMINDERS

• READING FOLDERS MUST BE AT SCHOOL!
• Check your child’s home learning book - it may be getting near the end. A 1I5 can be purchased at the office.
• Arts Session this WEDNESDAY - 11.00am
  
  

Dear Families

Welcome to Week 8.  Last week we worked hard at piecing together our showcase performance!  It is coming together!  This week we will be doing a final costume check! Thanks to those of you who have sent items in or let us know that you will need to borrow something - we appreciate your support!

This Wednesday, we will be holding another art session to complete our waka and sea costumes.  We would really love your support with this.  If you can, please join us at 11.00  on Wednesday to paint, glitter and glue!

Lost Puffer Jacket

Jacob Dillon has lost a black Macpac puffer jacket.  It is named.  Can you please check this has not come home with your child by mistake.

Spelling

For the next two weeks we will be focusing on contractions, where two words have been ‘squashed’ together and an apostrophe goes where some of the letters are missing.  E.g. did not  >  didn’t

‘Caught Reading!’

Well done to those children CAUGHT READING!  We have added your photos to the blog.  We have been  practising  plays in class for our reading, to tie in with our Showcase Performance.  It is great to see the confidence that children have performing in front of the class.  Making sure you visit the library for additional reading books is really important! Keep sending us your photos of you reading a favourite book in an interesting place!

Email us at adela.brown@stalbans.school.nz or julie.worthington@stalbans.school.nz

Stationery

Most children are running low on the following items - we would appreciate you restocking and clearly naming these:

• black vivid
• glue stick
• whiteboard pens
• pencils
• ruler

Enjoy the week!

Adela and Julie
Term 3 Week 7

REMINDERS

• READING FOLDERS MUST BE AT SCHOOL!
• We need pencils for the class - please check your child has enough!
• Check your child’s home learning book - it may be getting near the end. A 1I5 can be purchased at the office.
  
  
  Dear Families
  This term is flying by and we edge closer to the Arts Showcase happening in Week 10.  A big thank you to the mums who came to help with our costumes and props last week - your help made a significant difference!  We can now confirm the items we need for our performance, so please check the list below and send these into the classroom.  If you can provide something for another child in the class, that would be much appreciated. These items will be returned at the end of the term, so please clearly name them.
  
  
  We need:
  Girls:
  • white  tights/leggings/bike shorts
  • white or blue tshirt
  Boys:
  • black shorts
  • black t-shirt
  Please send in any of the following:
  • coat hangers to hang costumes
  • cat-gut/fishing line for hanging shells to our sea costumes
  • newspaper
  • glow in the dark stars
  
  
  ‘Caught Reading!’
  We enjoyed a visit from two Christchurch City Librarians last week.  They reiterated the same message we encouraged at our interviews - use the local library! With our school library closed, it is even more important to use the local facilities to support your child’s reading.  We’d love to see your child enjoying their reading at home. You can send us a photo of your child ‘CAUGHT READING’ in the most innovative places!  It could be in a hut, in the car, on the tramp, in the bath or in the garden!  Email us at adela.brown@stalbans.school.nz or julie.worthington@stalbans.school.nz - we will add them to the blog.
  
  
  Spelling
  We continue to focus on the different rules for changing words from singular to plural. This week we will be looking at words that end in a’y’ where you have to first change the ‘y’ to an ‘i’ and then add ‘es’ to make it plural eg. one baby, two babies.
  
  
  
  Enjoy the week!
  Adela and Julie 

Term 3 Week 6

REMINDERS

• Please bring in any white/blue t-shirts we can use for our class item.
• Black shorts for the boys would be appreciated.
• Check your child has enough stationery please!

Dear Families

We all enjoyed taking part in the FUTSAL sessions last week.  Check out the class blog for photos.

We are now well into our thinking for our class performance in the Term 3 Showcase! See below for the ways you can help us out!

Arts Showcase

In week 10 this term we will presenting an Arts Showcase to you all.  We will begin making our costumes and props this week.  In the meantime, if you can help with the following items, we would love these to come into school named, in a plastic grocery bag:

·   White t-shirts

·   Blue t-shirts

·   White leggings

·   Black shorts

We will be having a costume making session which we hope you may be able to join us for this  THURSDAY 27 AUGUST. This will take place in our classroom from 10.30-12.30.  If you have a glue gun you can bring with some glue sticks in it, we’d be very grateful.  

We are also looking for:

• paua shells

• beach shells

• ‘cat gut’ for tying shells onto our costumes

• glow in the dark stars

The shells will NOT be returned - so please don’t send any in that are precious.

If you can help with sewing we would love to hear from you!  We are learning two songs - of which one will be chosen for our item.  Please help your child learn the words - check out the blog for the youtube clip of one of them.

Reading Folders

A few children are leaving their reading folders at home - which means that we do not send books home with them that day.  It  is important that reading folders are at school, so the skills we learn in the guided reading session can be practised with you at home.

Enjoy the week!

Adela and Julie

Term 3 Week 5

REMINDERS:

·       Make sure you are checking our blog regularly – for all our news and updates!

·       FUTSAL Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

·       Bring in any of the requested items you can for our Arts Showcase.

 

Dear Families

We are almost at the halfway mark of this term! Wow!  Where has the time gone!  The weather has been very wet and miserable the last week and we have still got a lot of sickness in the class – take good care of yourselves!

Oral Language

This term we are each practising a Mihi to present to the class – preferably off by heart!  Look out for this coming home on a laminated card to learn at home.

Arts Showcase

In week 10 this term we will presenting an Arts Showcase to you all.  We will begin making our costumes and props next week.  In the meantime, if you can help with the following items, we would love these to come into school named, in a plastic grocery bag:

·       White t-shirts

·       Blue t-shirts

·       White leggings

·       Black shorts

We will be having a costume making session, which we hope you may be able to join us for on THURSDAY 27 AUGUST.  The time is to come – but most likely from 10.30-12.30.  Pencil this date into your diary!

If you have any ideas on how we can represent/make a waka and oars, we’d love to hear them!

Futsal

This week we will be taking part in some Futsal sessions with Mainland Football. These will be on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon and on Thursday morning.  Sensible shoes required.

Calendars

Come in and see your child’s two pieces of art.  They will be choosing the one they want to reproduce for their calendars this week.

Enjoy the week!

Adela and Julie

 Term 3 Week 4

REMINDERS:

·       Return any reading books to school that belong back in the classroom.

·       Please check the reading log in your child’s home learning book each week.

Dear Families

Thank you to those of you who have bought your child the required stationery – it really does help make our job in the classroom a lot easier!  We are having a lot of reading folders not coming to school. This means that books will not come home, which means your child is not able to continue their learning at home, reinforcing what we are doing in class. Please check this item is with your child before they leave for school.

Maths Week

This week is Maths Week.  We will be doing a lot of problem solving activities in class and as a Year 3 Team.  Check out the class blog and school maths blog for additional maths activities you can be doing at home. Each morning in class there will be a problem for the children to solve and get house points. The children can also come up with their own challenging maths problem to share with the class on Friday.

SOLO

We had a very valuable day with Pam Hook last week, revisiting SOLO and looking at ways to incorporate SOLO into our class programmes.  We used it to discuss ‘what makes a good friend?’  Talk to your child about SOLO and see what they can teach you.

Calendars

We are busy producing pieces of art to then turn into our end of year calendars.  It is going to be tricky to choose.  You may want to see these ‘draft’ pieces and think about which piece you would like to have your child turn into a calendar, cards, diary or notepad, that you can purchase later in the term.

Term 2 Arts Showcase

During the last week of this term, our class will be performing in the Year 3-4 Arts Showcase.  During the next few weeks, we will be creating our class performance – and will be sending home information about what we will be wearing for costumes.  We will likely be doing some costume making sessions later in the term and will definitely require help so keep an eye out for up and coming notices!                

Headlice

We have had one case of headlice in class. Please can you check your child’s hair and treat if necessary.

Sickness

Last week we were plagued with a lot of sickness!  Winter bugs are circulating – keep warm and healthy!

Enjoy the week!

Adela and Julie

 Term 3 Week 3

REMINDERS:

·       Please check the highlighted stationery items your child needs.

·       Return any reading books to school that belong back in the classroom.

·       Please check the reading log in your child’s home learning book each week.

·       Adela and Julie on a course within the school this Wednesday.  We have a reliever in the classroom.

Dear Families

Welcome to Week 3.  Our new look classroom is becoming a great place of learning!  We have spaces for children to work in larger groups, smaller groups, pairs and even on their own.  We have high desks and low desks and beanbags that will be great as the weather gets warmer and we can go outside to read.  We are still awaiting the arrival of our tote trays!  It is likely to be mid August. Until then some children have a tray that is being kept in various places within the room.  If you have any file boxes that we could borrow until our trays arrive, they’d be very much appreciated, as they will take up far less room!

Stationery

Your child has highlighted the stationery items that they need for school.  We would really appreciate them being at school ASAP.

•  Blue Pen 
•  Whiteboard Pen
• Pencils 
• Whiteboard
• Ruler
• Red Pen
• Highlighter
• Glue Stick

Reading

This week we are moving onto Maori Myths within the classroom and in our reading programme.  The children loved learning about the Greek and Roman myths and have been writing some great retells of Perseus and Medusa.

SOLO

This Wednesday we have Pam Hook working with our staff on SOLO. SOLO looks at children’s levels of understanding, empowering them to think about their own learning outcomes.  It is a great way for children to engage in their learning – hopefully your child can tell you some things they are learning about SOLO.

Spelling – Suffixes

We are now moving on to suffixes, initially focusing on adding ‘ing’. If a word has a short vowel followed by one consonant at the end of the word you must double the last consonant before adding ‘ing’ (run – running). For words that end in an ‘e’ you must drop the ‘e’ before adding ‘ing’ (hope – hoping).

Magnus – Scout Fundraiser

Magnus is fundraising for repairs to his scout hut. There is an order form on the notice board in our cloakroom for pies from the ‘Naked Baker’ if you would like to support his cause.

Enjoy the week!

Adela and Julie

Term 3 Week 2

REMINDERS:

·       Please check stationery

·       How is your terrarium going at home?

·       Return any reading books to school that belong back in the classroom.

·       Please check/complete the reading log in your child’s home learning book each week.

Dear Families

Well our first week in our new look classroom went well!  The children are learning to make good choices about where and who  they work with.  These are very important life skills – skills our children will definitely need in the future. 

This week is Maori Language Week.  We will be introducing a ‘word/phrase of the day’.  Hopefully your child can teach you this at home!

Myths and Legends

This topic is proving to be a lot of fun and capturing the interest of all!  Each day we have been reading myths and also looking at the different types of folktales that there are – see if your child can tell you about them.  This week we will be choosing characters to find out more about.  Your child may want to continue this at home – your support is always appreciated!  Remember to keep up the reading at home – even if a book/text does not come home from school.  We are always reading in the classroom – but the children may not bring that text home, as some resources are personally owned by us and we want to keep them together in a set.

Stationery

We don’t know where it goes, but we seem to be short on stationery in the class!  Too many children were without pens and pencils last week.  This is all part of being able to manage our own belongings.  Can you please check that your child has the resources they need – ask them - they’ll know what they need – as a lot of precious time is wasted searching for pens and pencils. It is really helpful if these can be named, vivid pen with sellotape over the top stops the names from rubbing off.

Spelling

This week the children are asked to write their spelling words in sentences using VCOP.

V – vocabulary (the goal is for the children to use interesting, higher level words to add detail to their sentences).

C – connectives (to use connective words to link two ideas together in a sentence e.g. because, but, however, despite).

O – openers (to use interesting words to begin their sentences e.g. time words, verbs, adverbs).

P – punctuation (to use basic punctuation correctly, as well as using a greater variety of punctuation marks e.g. “ ”, ? !

Enjoy the week!

Adela and Julie

Term 3 Week 1

 

REMINDERS:

·       Make sure you are checking our blog regularly – for all our news and updates!

·       Maths Interchange restarts this week – please check the blog for home learning ideas/activities in Maths.

·       Can you check your child has the stationery they need for the classroom – whiteboard pens, glue-sticks, pencils and pens need checking!

Dear Families

Welcome back to Term 3.  We hope you have had a great holiday break – the weather has certainly been cooler!  This term you will see some exciting changes in our classroom.  A range of new furniture has arrived – high and low tables - as we move into developing a classroom that caters for a range of diverse learning styles. We aim to move away from children each having their own desk – but instead working in a variety of places within the room, with a variety of people.  We have ordered tote trays and when they arrive, the children will have a tray to use instead of a desk tray, to store their belongings.  As these are smaller than a desk tray, we ask that only small pencil cases be brought into the classroom.

Modern learning environments aim to develop more collaboration amongst children and teachers and we aim to have children who know the ways they best learn, who are able to self manage and self regulate their learning and who work in meaningful ways to develop their learning with others.  Sometimes, children may want to work on their own, and quiet spaces will be set up in the class and the corridor to cater for this. We plan to take this slowly – we are learning as the children do too!  We will be encouraging children to  ‘make good choices about where they work – or we will make choices for them’ motto!  Please come and see us if you have any questions.

Family Treasures

We only have a few children left to share a Family Treasure this term.  This Wednesday we will be having Bailey, Magnus and Hunter sharing.  Please remember to bring something special to school.  After the Family Treasures we will be presenting a Mihi we have learnt off by heart.  More information on this will follow.

Myths and Legends

This term has an Arts focus throughout the whole school.  You will hear more about the exciting events planned as the term begins.  We are beginning with Myths and Legends as our reading focus.  Some children will not bring their legend home that they read in class, as these are part of a laminated set. As discussed in the class interviews last term, we encourage children to have their own choice of reading for home each night.  Our school library is now CLOSED for the year so it is important you take time to visit the local library each week to get new books to read.

Enjoy the week!

Adela and Julie

Term 2 Week 11

REMINDERS:

·       Please return any school library books to school this week.

·       Please return any instructional readers to school that you find at home!

·       School photos this Wednesday – correct school uniform please!

·       Glass jars for terrariums to be at school this Thursday.

·       Early finish on Thursday – 2pm.

·       School finishes for the term on Friday at our usual time – 3pm.

Dear Families

What a busy term – it has raced by!  Last week the children performed so beautifully at the Alpine View Retirement Village – we were very proud of their singing and their behaviour!  Thank you to the parents that assisted us with the trip.  This Friday the children will perform for the Grandparents, here at school.  Hopefully you will have received a notice about this, (sent home last week) and have been able to encourage nana or poppa to come along 11-11.40 this Friday.

Reading

We had a great time last week celebrating Book Week in our class and in our school.  The Reading Bingo was a great success and it was wonderful to see children reading so many different books in so many places.  There must be a lot of very happy soft toys out there! 

Spelling

There are no spellings for home learning this week with it being the last week of term.

Terrariums

This Thursday we plan to put together our terrariums.  Thank you to Ginny Pope for supplying us with the materials we will use. If you would like to join us with this, then come along on Thursday from 11.30-12.30.

Interviews

This week we will be having our Parent Interviews.  Please make sure you have read your child’s report online before coming. We finish early on THURSDAY at 2pm as interviews begin at 2.15pm this day.

School Photos

These are happening Wednesday.  Please remember to wear clean, winter school uniform.

Library

Our school library is now closed.  We really encourage you to make visiting one of the council libraries a regular family activity so that your child can be choosing their own choice of literature to read. If you have a school library book at home, please send this to school ASAP as we will be packing our books away. Boxes of school library books will shared around the classes for the children to use at school.

Enjoy the week!

Adela and Julie

Term 2 Week 10

REMINDERS:

·       Alpine View Trip this Friday – please return your forms.  Clean and tidy correct uniform is ESSENTIAL.

·       Final day for getting library books was last week.  Please return any school library books to school this week.

·       Please return any instructional readers to school that you find at home!

·       School photos next Wednesday – 1^st July.

Dear Families

This week is book week!  It is such a highlight of the school calendar, as there is so much to be gained from books, as well as so many fun activities to be had here at school! The children will have taken part in the parade by the time you see this newsletter – check out the blog for photos.  Thank you for supporting your child with their costume! As well as taking part in book week activities, we will be learning about Matariki – the Maori New Year.  Make sure you discuss this with your child.

Reading

This week the children will have some homework activities/challenges related to book week.  The first one is a Reading Log Challenge.  Your child will have a sheet glued into their home learning book to record the books they read this week.  See if you can help them complete the whole sheet!

The second one is a Reading Bingo sheet.  This is to be completed both at home and at school.  Your child will need their home learning book in their reading folder EVERY day AT SCHOOL.  Please have lots of fun completing these tasks.

This week we ask the children to bring a book to school for their own leisure reading.  Books will only come home for some groups. We now encourage our avid readers to be finding their own reading material to read for pleasure each night.  This means that we can focus on reading skills in the classroom – comparing, contrasting, researching, using higher order thinking tools and showing increasing comprehension of what is being read.

Our Garden…

Following on from making our succulent garden, Joe’s mum has given us the idea of making terrariums with the left over plants.  Each child will need to bring:

·       A glass jar (jam jar/sauce jar – please wrap this carefully)

·       Some ornaments to put into their jar

·       Any shiny stones you may wish to use or donate to the class

Please bring these items to school by this FRIDAY.  We plan to make these next week! The jar needs to be big enough for them to get their hands into! 

Spelling

This week the children just need to learn their spelling words, no sentences are required. We would like them to focus on their reading with it being book week.

Maths and Pea Sculptures

This week we will be returning to our own classes for Maths.  We will be working on the Geometry Strand – 2D and 3D shapes. This Thursday we will be making 3D shapes from peas and toothpicks.  Please send any toothpicks you can spare before Thursday for this activity.

Interviews

We will be having interviews next week – Wednesday and Thursday afternoon/evenings.  Please make sure you have read your child’s report online BEFORE you come to the interview.  This way you already have a picture of where your child is at and may have questions/comments to discuss regarding their report.

School Photos

These are happening next Wednesday.  Please remember to wear clean, winter school uniform.

Alpine View

We will be visiting Alpine View this Friday.  Thank you to those who have offered to help.  If you HAVE NOT returned permission slips, please do so TOMORROW!

Enjoy the week – it’s a busy time of term!

Adela and Julie

Term 2 Week 9

REMINDERS:

·       Library books to school on THURSDAY

·       Make sure you are checking our blog regularly – for all our news and updates!

·       Wacky mufti this Wednesday

·       Book week – week 10 (next week)

·       Please remember to make your booking online for parent/teacher interviews.

Dear Families

Welcome to Week 9.  The last few weeks have been very busy assessing children in maths, reading and writing and we look forward to sharing this data with you in the reports you will receive in Week 11.  Please make a time for an interview for the last week of school.  This will be an opportunity to discuss your child’s report and progress.

Paper Planes

We had a great time testing our planes last Thursday! Well done to everyone who made one to bring.  If you are making planes at home, we encourage you to use recycled paper to do your part in looking after the trees!!

Our Garden

You will hopefully have had a chance to see the garden we are working on outside our class.  Thank you to Jules for helping a wee group of children weed and plant the lovely succulents provided by Ms Ashby. We have more plans so watch this space….

Spelling

This week we are focusing on the vowel ‘o’ and its short sound, as in the word ‘orange’ and its long sound, as in the word ‘ogre’.  Please check that your children can hear the difference between the two sounds. It is really important that the children can distinguish between the two sounds, before we move on to some of the spelling patterns for the long ‘o’.

Book Week

The school will be holding its annual book week from the 22^nd June – 26^th June. This commences with a book character dress up parade on the Monday, so you may want to start getting your costume sorted and if possible have the book with your character in to bring along to the parade.

School Photos

The school photos had to be postponed and will now take place on Wednesday 1^st July.

Mufti Day

This Wednesday is Wacky Wednesday Mufti Day.  Come along dressed as wacky as you can!  Gold coin donations go towards school camps for the Years 4-6 children.

Enjoy the week!

Adela and Julie

Term 2 Week 8

REMINDERS:

·       Library books to school on THURSDAY

·       Make sure you are checking our blog regularly – for all our news and updates!

·       Please ask your child if they have enough pencils – we seem to be lending out a lot!

·       Keep up the skipping at home!

·       School photos this FRIDAY!

·       Please remember to make your booking online for parent/teacher interviews .

Dear Families

Week 8 is upon us already!  It has been a very busy term and the next few weeks are jam packed with activities!  This Wednesday morning Rachel Kelly will be in our class.

School Photos

This Friday will be school photos.  Please make sure your child has the correct winter school uniform for these.  

Author Study

We have had a great time looking at different authors. This week we plan to write blurbs about authors and move onto comparing authors and their books.  It is a great way to expose children to genres or authors they may not have read before.

Family Treasures

We continue to be spoiled with such great treasures.  Thank you for all the support you are giving your child.

Wind in the Willows

You may have heard that we have been writing pieces based on the Wind in the Willows in Room 16, during the last few weeks.  The children are really enjoying listening to the book and learning about the characters. We began by writing descriptions of the woods and last week we pretended we were Mole writing to our mother about our wonderful adventures.  This week we are looking at speech bubbles then moving into using speech marks.  You are most welcome to come in and read your children’s books at anytime.

Reports and Interviews

Parent interviews are happening in Week 11 and you should have received information about how to book these online by now.  Your child’s mid- year report will go live before the interviews, so you will have seen these and can discuss them at the interview. 

We are experiencing a lot of indoor lunchtimes with the weather being so cold and wet.  A good book to read during this time, or maybe a colouring in book is a great idea to have at school!

Enjoy the week!

Adela and Julie

Term 2 Week 6

REMINDERS:

·       Library books to school on THURSDAY

·       Make sure you are checking our blog regularly – for all our news and updates!

Dear Families

Thank you to the wonderful parents who came in to help with our flax fish last week.  They proved to be a lot harder than we thought!  There is still a set of instructions on our blog if you would like to try these at home with paper!

Library

We visit the library on a Thursday for exchanging books.  Please encourage your child to have their books here so that they can choose their own choice of reading material.

Reading Books

This week some children will not have a reading book.  Instead they will be reading ebooks from the Oxford Owl website.  They can access these both at school and at home via our blog.  Take time to get them to share these books with you, as it is important you still hear them read and support their reading at home.

CRT Days

Next week we will have release days to assess the children’s reading and maths. Lillian Glasson will be in our class on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Stationery Items

Can you please ask your child if they need any stationery items.  We seem to have a shortage on pencils, whiteboard pens and blue pens for writing.  If these could be named it makes it easier to return them, when they get misplaced.

Spelling Activity

This week the children have been given an activity sheet on the long and short ‘i’ sound, instead of writing sentences. It is important that the children can hear the difference between the vowel sounds e.g. the long ‘i’ as in icecream and the short ‘i’ as in insect.  It would be great if you could support your child with this activity and check whether they can hear the difference between the sounds.

Icecream Containers

If you have any spare icecream containers with lids, please could we have them, thank you.

Adela and Julie

Term 2 Week 5

REMINDERS:

·       Library books to school on THURSDAY

·       Make sure you are checking our blog regularly – for all our news and updates!

Dear Families

Thank you to those of you who supported your child with bringing in a Family Treasure last week.  We have added some photos to the blog.  We had such interesting items and the children were very well prepared with what they wanted to say – what a great start to the Oral Language focus this term.

Flax Art

We had a great time working collaboratively with a partner weaving flax last week.  These are on display in our classroom.  This week we plan to make some flax fish.  The success of these will depend on the number of helpers we get! Thanks if you have offered already!  Come join us Thursday afternoon if you have the time!  If you can send flax in for Thursday that would be great!

Writing

At Year 3 we work on extending your child’s writing ability across a range of genre.  We have a school wide focus on using the PIGS in our writing process – ask your child if they can tell you what this acronym stands for.  We are also getting the children to self evaluate each week what they feel they have worked hard on in their writing.  This is a great way to develop self-managing learners – always looking at ways to improve our work.  We are focusing on ‘hooks’ to engage readers with our writing by using a variety of sentence starters and deliberate use of rich vocabulary.  You are always welcome to look through your child’s writing to see how they are progressing.

Skipping Ropes

It was good to see some skipping ropes come from home last week.  Skipping is a difficult skill for some children, but is a great way to develop co-ordination.  We encourage this to be worked on at home too.

Road Patrol

We are on road patrol duty after school this week and have to leave the classroom a few minutes before the 3pm bell. A couple of parents have kindly offered to wait with the class until the bell goes.

Adela and Julie

Term 2 Week4

REMINDERS:

·       Library books to school on THURSDAY

·       Make sure you are checking our blog regularly – for all our news and updates!

·       Pam Hook sessions this Wednesday and Thursday – we will have a reliever in the class for those sessions.

·       Bring a named skipping rope to school if you have one at home.

·       No more egg cartons please – we have HEAPS!

Dear Families

We have been blessed with such amazing weather so far for May! Lets hope it continues.  We have now started our Inquiry this term into Electricity – thank you to the parents who helped with the Science Alive visit last week.  Make sure you talk to your child about what they are learning in this topic.

Current Events

Starting Wednesday, we are going to be having an
Oral Language sharing session on a special ‘Treasure’ from home to share with the class.  This could be a family heirloom, a special book, some special photos from a trip – something your child is keen to share with their peers.  Please do not send TOYS along as we would prefer that children are sharing items with greater significance! This week’s children are Charlotte P, Jackson and Tim.  We look forward to seeing what you share – more details will come home with each child when it is their turn.  Please have this item at school on WEDNESDAY.

Skipping Ropes

This term we are doing a fitness interchange with the Year 3 classes, where the children are working in multi-class groupings.  The children will all take part in skipping/elastics, folk dancing and jump jam throughout the term.  If your child has their own skipping rope, it would be a great idea to bring it to school – named, so they can use it during fitness and playtimes.

Maori Art – Harakeke

We are going to be doing some weaving with flax this term as part of our Maori Art unit.  If you have access to flax on your property and can donate this to our class we would be very grateful.  In keeping with maori protocol, the outer leaves or tupuna (ancestors) should only be used, as the middle leaves or matua (parents) are left to protect the inner leaf, the pepe or baby.  If you have a particular skill with flax weaving we would love to hear from you.  Next week we plan to make flax fish so some parent help would be appreciated Thursday afternoon (21^st of May at 1.30) if you would like to join us!

PE Interchange

We are doing a PE interchange on a Tuesday afternoon with the Year 3/4 team, involving winter sports.  Suitable shoes are encouraged for these days.

Spelling

This week we will be focusing on hearing the long and short ‘e’ sound e.g. the short ‘e’ in egg and the long ‘e’ in eagle. Then the next two weeks we will move onto looking at different spelling patterns for the long ‘e’ sound.

Road Patrol

Next week it is our turn to be on road patrol duty after school. We will need to leave the classroom a few minutes early to ensure that we are out there on time. If there is a parent who wouldn’t mind waiting in class with the children until the 3pm bell goes, it would be appreciated. If you are able to be of assistance please let us know.

Adela and Julie

Term 2 Week 3

REMINDERS:

·       Mufti Day this TUESDAY

·       Library books to school on THURSDAY

·       Make sure you are checking our blog regularly – for all our news and updates!

Dear Families

Welcome to Week 3.  Today we took part in a session taken by an educator from Science Alive, which was a great ignition into our new Inquiry unit on Electricity.  Check out our blog for photos of the lesson.

What fantastic effort by all the children in the cross country last week.  There are photos on our blog if you have not seen these already.

Mufti Day – Tuesday 5^th May

This Tuesday we are having a Mufti Day to raise funds for the people of Nepal. We ask that children bring a gold coin donation which will go to UNICEF, who will oversea the disaster relief fund.

Reading

We have had two fantastic weeks reading and researching about ANZAC Day.  Our posters are now complete and the children will be sharing them this week and then they will be displayed in our classroom.  Come in and see what we have produced.

The children will now return to a daily/weekly instructional reader. Please make sure you read this with your child each night, with a focus on:

·       Reading with fluency and expression

·       Using strategies to work out unknown words – reading for meaning is important

·       Discussing what the text was about – ask lots of questions!

Make sure you are visiting the library so your child can choose books of their own interest too.  Still reading to your child is very important – they learn to follow and understand longer texts and you are able to role model good reading skills to them to!

SOLO sessions with Pam Hook

Next week we will be having Pam Hook visit our school to do professional development with the whole staff.  We will have a reliever in our class Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. SOLO is a way of getting children to think more deeply about what they are learning and we are using the ‘I see, I think, I wonder’ concept often in our writing and oral discussions to get the children to go beyond what they already know.  We know we will gain a lot from these sessions.

Enjoy the week,

Adela and Julie

Term 2 Week 2

REMINDERS:

·       Library books to school on THURSDAY

·       Make sure you are checking our blog regularly – for all our news and updates!

·       Cross Country this WEDNESDAY. Please come to school in your house colours.

Dear Families

What an amazing amount of learning we have been doing on the ANZACS.  This week we will complete our research posters and hope to have these up ready for you to come and see next week. Thank you for supporting this topic.  A big thank you to Nicky Dyer for organising the making of ANZAC biscuits last week.  Thank you to the mums who also came in to help – the results were yummy!

Cross Country

This Wednesday (pp Thursday) is the school cross country. The children need to be wearing suitable running shoes, their house colours and have a warm jacket to have on before the racing begins.  Keep an eye on our blog to whether the weather postpones the event! The race times were printed in last week’s school newsletter. The year 3 girl’s race will be at approximately 12:15 and the year 3 boy’s race will be at approximately 12:25. Families are welcome to join us at English Park for the event.

Maths

We are into our interchange programme with a focus on Number.  Please talk to your child about what they are covering in class – and see if they are able to show you what strategies they are using to problem solve.  Knowing your basic facts is VERY important at year 3, with some children well on their way with their tables as well.  Do come and see us if you would like some basic facts sheets to work on at home.

Spelling

This week we are focusing on one of the spelling patterns for the long ‘a’ vowel sound, where it is spelt with a magic ‘e’. E.g. If the word was ‘mad’ the ‘a’ would be making the short sound, but when you add an ‘e’ after the consonant you can not hear the ‘e’, but it changes the sound of the ‘a’ to say it’s long sound, as in the word ‘made’.

Request for Parent Help

Next week we will begin our new Inquiry on Electricity. To introduce the unit will be having some educators from Science Alive take a session with the children at school and will require 2-3 parents to assist with this. If you are able to help on Monday 4^th May between 9-11am please could you let either of us know.

Adela and Julie

Term 2 Week 1

REMINDERS:

·       Library books to school on THURSDAY

·       ANZAC resources – do you have any we can use for the next two weeks?

·       Make sure you are checking our blog regularly – for all our news and updates!

·       School cross country next Wednesday (29^th April), further details to follow.

Dear Families

Welcome back to Term 2.  The holidays have gone by very quickly – we hope you all managed to get in some good rest! Term 2 is a long term – 11 weeks filled with lots of great learning!  We will begin the term by focusing on ANZAC DAY – with this year being the 100 year commemoration of the landing at Gallipoli. We would love any resources that you may have to share.

Reading

This week the children will be working in ‘research groups’ to learn about different aspects of war.  We will be focusing on ways we commemorate our soldiers today, symbols and ceremonies, the life of a soldier and the roles animals played in wartimes.  The children will bring home reading books that they may not have read in class with the teacher, so will need your support with sharing these at night.  Take some time to talk to your child about what they are learning – we plan to present our findings in visual posters. Check out our blog for any websites that you can find information on.

Spelling

This term the focus will be on long and short vowel sounds. It is really important that the children can hear the different sounds that the vowels make. This week we will be focusing on hearing the long and short ‘a’ sound e.g. the short ‘a’ in animal and the long ‘a’ in acorn. Then the next two weeks we will move onto looking at different spelling patterns for the long ‘a’ sound. We will continue to have parents testing their children on a THURSDAY.

Home learning

It has been great to have your support with the class home learning programme. Children are awarded house points on a Friday for completing their homework, with additional bonus points available for quality work.

ANZAC Art

Do you have any red or black wallpaper or textured paper we can use for some Anzac art? If you do, please send it along on WEDNESDAY. We plan to make some ANZAC biscuits this week – do let us know if there are any allergies we may not know about.

Enjoy the week,

Adela and Julie

Term 1 - Week 9 - Final week of the Term

Dear Families

Today we finally got to take our trip to Orana Park!  We have had a great day!  Keep an eye on our blog to see some of the photos from our experience!

The term has flown by at a very fast rate!  If you are going away, we wish you safe travels and will look forward to seeing you after a well deserved break!

Outstanding Stationary Costs

Please check that you have paid for the additional stationery costs at the office.  $6.50 was required for extra books ordered.

Maths Homework

The children will be given a basic facts sheet this week, based on the facts they need to learn.  It would be a good idea to copy it if possible so that you have several copies you can work on throughout the holidays.

Easter Activities

This week we will be doing some Easter fun activities with our buddy classes and a whole school Easter hunt.  It should be lots of fun!

Anzac Day

If you have any precious resources we can use based on Anzac Day, we would love to borrow them.  We will be focusing on ANZAC day for the first week of Term 2.

Swimming

This will be the final week of swimming – weather permitting!

Enjoy the week and have a fabulous and safe holiday period!

Adela and Julie

REMINDERS:

·       Swimming on this week – remember your togs!  This will be the last week for this term!

·       Please return any instructional readers to school that you find at home!

·       Library books to school on THURSDAY

·       ANZAC resources – do you have any we can use for next term?

·       Have you paid the office the additional stationery costs?

TERM 1 WEEK 8

REMINDERS

·       Library books to school on THURSDAY

·       Orana Park Trip next MONDAY. Remember to wear suitable footwear and  
       clothing and have a large packed lunch and water bottle.

Dear Families

The colder weather has arrived!  Our trip to Orana Park was postponed last week due to the weather being very cold and then we had to move the date to next Monday, as Orana Park had difficulty securing educators.  We now plan to go on MONDAY 30^TH MARCH. It is important that your child has a waterproof jacket/coat if there is any possibility of a shower on this day. If your child does not have one, maybe you could try to borrow one for our trip. The children are allowed to wear mufti to ensure that they have suitable clothing to keep them warm/dry.

Parent Get Together

Emma Gifford has organised a parent night out at Bailies on Friday the 27^th of March at 7pm. This is a nice way to get to know the parents in our class!

Maths

Please make sure that whiteboards, whiteboard pens and dice are at school for using in maths each day. An odd sock would also be a good idea to have as a duster for the whiteboard.

Swimming

The pool will remain open until the end of the term and we will make decisions on our swimming days as to whether we think it is warm enough to swim.  Continue to bring togs to school.

Cloakroom

The Heather Trophy is an important part of the Year 3 team. It is awarded to classes who keep their classrooms and cloakrooms tidy!  Please help us to do our best to win this by encouraging your child to hang their bags, hats and swim bags on their hooks, to put their drink bottles on the table outside our room and by asking them to keep their belongings in their bags!

Artwork

Come and check out our self-portraits in our cloakroom – they look amazing!

Enjoy the week!

Adela and Julie

TERM 1 WEEK 7

REMINDERS:

·       Swimming on this week – remember your togs!

·       Please return any instructional readers to school that you find at home!

·       Library books to school on THURSDAY

Dear Families,

Orana Park Trip

Our trip to Orana Park has now been postponed until next Tuesday, 24th March. Lets keep our fingers crossed for a more promising weather forecast next week

Studyladder

Well done to those from Room 16’s maths class who have accessed their Studyladder account and have already completed their set tasks.  Children in Room 16 who attend a different class for maths will have brought home a studyladder login and password today, give it a go this week!

ASB

On Wednesday we will be having a session at school with an educator from ASB on financial literacy, where the children will learn about money.

Parent Get Together

Emma Gifford has organized a parent night out at Bailies on Friday the 27^th of March at 7pm. This is a nice way to get to know the parents in our class!

Maths

Please make sure that whiteboards, whiteboard pens and dice are now at school for using in maths each day!

Enjoy the week!

Adela and Julie
TERM 1 WEEK 6

REMINDERS:

·       Swimming on this week – remember your togs!

·       Please return any instructional readers to school that you find at home!

·       Orana Park slips to be returned this week!

·       Library books to school on THURSDAY

·       School Disco this Friday 5:15-6pm. Tickets can be purchased from the Oak Leaf Café.

Dear Families,

We are now into the second half of the term – where do the weeks go!  It has been great to have use of the school swimming pool with the days still being very warm!  We will enjoy the use of the pool until the weather decides it’s time for us to stop!

READING/LIBRARY

Well done to those of you who have tried the Oxford Owl Reading site.  On a Thursday our library time is during our reading sessions so your child may not always get a new book on this day.  This makes for a great opportunity to use the Oxford Owl online books.

Remember to bring library books to school on a THURSDAY in a reading folder.

MATHS

Last week we began our Maths interchange.  We have grouped the children with others working at similar levels. These groupings do change from time to time and we would discuss the need for changes with you.  Check out the class blog of the class your child attends for Maths, to see the homework that is set for their maths class.

ORANA PARK

We will be going to Orana Park on Tuesday next week.  Thank you for returning your permission slips – please do send these to the class/office if you haven’t already.  We seem to have a very keen group of parent helpers in our room, which is great!  This time we took the first four parents to offer help – Ginny (Jackson’s mum), Sue (Lily’s mum), Nicky (Charlotte’s mum) and Aloma (Saskia’s mum). We will try to give all parents a chance to help with trips throughout the year.

Enjoy the week!

Adela and Julie

TERM 1 WEEK 5

REMINDERS:

·       Swimming on this week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday) – remember your togs!

·       Please return any instructional readers to school that you find at home!

·       Library day is THURSDAY – remember to return your books.

·       No reading folder – no instructional reader to go home!

Dear Families

What a fabulous event the middle team Tryathlon was.  Well done to all our children for taking part and for getting back up when things didn’t go as planned!

SPELLING/HOME LEARNING

Thank you for your support with the home learning.  Developing good routines for doing homework is just as important as the tasks the children do as part of the homework. Set aside time each night to work on the spelling and reading in non-distracting spaces!  It’s not always easy, but it does help set your child up for good study skills later in life!

READING

Our focus in reading at the moment is finding facts.  The children will be reading non-fiction material to look for facts and to record these in our books.  They should know that facts provide us with information.  They are also then working on recording their facts by using the text to help them spell accurately – not as easy as it sounds!  See if they can tell you some facts from their reader each night – if it is non-fiction.

Maths

We will be starting our Maths Interchange Programme this week.  This means that your child may not be in Room 16 for maths, but with another teacher in the Year 3 team.  This ‘interchange’ worked very successfully last year, with the children being grouped with other children working at their ability.  The homework for Maths will be put on the blog of the teacher’s class they go to.  These are now added onto our blog, under the Maths Homework Page.  Just click the link!   Can your child please have their whiteboard at school this week for maths starters and group sessions.

FOR THE CLASSROOM

We would love the following for our classroom:

·       Newspaper

·       Egg cartons – cut into groups of six would be very helpful

Enjoy the week!

Adela and Julie

TERM 1 WEEK 4

REMINDERS:

·       Swimming on this week (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday) – remember your togs!

·       Please return any instructional readers to school that you find at home!

·       TRYATHLON

You should have received the notice about the Tryathlon planned for THURSDAY.  There is a notice on our class notice board in the cloakroom.  Remember to have a practise on your bike this week! If your child does not have a bike and you are unable to borrow one, please let us know and we will try to arrange one.

Dear Families

What a VERY big week we had last week, with visiting Aquagym each day.  The children certainly make good progress by going on consecutive days and we do hope that this transfers into our own school pool sessions.  We had a bit of sickness in our class last week!  Fingers crossed for 25 happy and healthy children this week!

READING/LIBRARY

We visited the library on Thursday for our first school library session.  As shared in our Meet the Teacher evening, it is great to encourage your child to choose books for their own pleasure.  The children are allowed two books each week and must return these before getting new ones.

We have a link to Oxford Owl on our blog.  This is a great site for children to pick books to read or be read.  Our login details are (My class login) Username: room13stalbans Password: mrsbrown.  This was setup last year but can still be used even though we are not room 13!

MATHS

We are finishing our Statistics unit this week and will begin our Maths Interchange/Collaboration next week. Remember to keep an eye on the blog for the homework set by each class teacher.  We’d love to hear from you about any great maths websites you may have discovered.  The children who do maths in Room 16 will each get a Study Ladder login – more details to follow.

SPELLING

Your child will bring home spelling words this week.  We are starting the year focusing on some of the more difficult digraphs.  Each week your child will find two ‘corrections’ from their own writing that they will add to their list to learn.  We have attached the Essential Spelling lists 1-6 in your child’s book.  It is very important that your child knows these words as they make up a large amount of all the words they will use in their writing.  Please test/check your child on these words regularly.  We ask that you test your child on a THURSDAY night and record their results on their home learning sheet.

REQUEST FOR HELP

We would appreciate help in putting away reading books once a week. If you are able to assist us please let either of us know. Thank you.

Enjoy the week!

Adela and Julie

TERM 1 WEEK 3

Dear Families

This week is a VERY busy week with us swimming at Aquagym each day.  We will be leaving school at 10.30 for our session, which runs from 11-11.30 each day this week.  It is important that children have their togs and towels at school every morning in a sturdy bag. Goggles are encouraged.  Please name your child’s clothing as things can easily be mixed up in the changing rooms. 

Learning Information Evening

Tonight we will be holding our Year 3 Learning Information evening at 6pm in the hall.  This is a new format for 2015 and will give you an opportunity to meet the teachers in our team who will all work with your children at various stages throughout the year.  We will also outline our team expectations and the focus of our class programmes.  We look forward to you joining us.

Reading/Spelling/Homework

Last week the children will have started bringing home reading material.  We are still tweaking the groupings and hope to have these more settled by next week. We will continue with some testing this week and will begin sending home spelling words next week. Make sure you write in the daily reading that you are doing at home – this can be your own choice of reading material too. This week your child has brought home a basic facts sheet to practise at home. The goal is for the children to improve the speed and accuracy at which they can recall the basic facts. They should complete 1 column a day, with the focus on trying to beat the previous days

total/time. 

Peter Pan

Try to pop along to the free summer production of Peter Pan at Riccarton Bush this week, if you haven’t already done so. Ben Ashby, a former pupil of St Albans School, is playing the lead role of Peter Pan. Later in the term we are hoping that Ben will come in and talk to the children about his experiences in the production.

Favourite Books

Thank you for supporting your child by bringing a favourite book to school.  We enjoyed sharing them and writing reviews about them.  We will finish these to share later this week.

Goal Information Sheets

Please remember to complete the goal setting information sheets on-line for your child. This is instead of the paper copy that you would have received in previous years. Information on how to complete this can be found on the school website under ‘Changes to Goal Setting Practices’.

Have a great week,

Adela and Julie

TERM 1 WEEK2

NOTES AND REMINDERS

·       Swimming – Tues, Thurs, Fri

·       Please return AQUAGYM notices to school ASAP

·       Make sure your child has a reading folder at school each day – no reading folder – no book!

·       Check out our blog for things we are doing in the classroom

·       Dice and handwriting books to be paid for at the office

·       MTT evening Monday February 16^th – 6pm

Dear Families

It was great to get the school year off in such a positive way last week.  The children are settling into a new class and team very smoothly.  Over the next few weeks we will continue to focus on getting to know your child and establishing the routines and expectations in our class.

Stationery

A HUGE thank you for having your child’s school stationery at school last week.  It was great to see that we were all so well prepared and ready for school! There are a few children who may be missing 1-2 books – we will let you know if this is the case. Dice and the handwriting books can be paid for at the school office.  We encourage the children to be responsible for looking after their dice – with 50 ten-sided dice in the class, they can become easily misplaced or mixed up!

Hats

We are now enforcing the ‘hats rule’ for Term 1.  Children must have a named hat at school to wear, or they will have to play in the shaded areas. We learnt last year with our UV bead experiment that the sun is always present - even when it is overcast! 

Reading/Homework

This week the children will receive a reading book as we begin our reading programme. It may be one they have had before.  It may also be one they find easy or quite challenging.  After a long holiday break, we are immersing ourselves back into instructional reading.  Groupings will be re-established over the next week or so. Our focus is on establishing effective routines and to develop independence and self-management from your child as we use a MUST DO/CAN DO system.  Books will only come home if your child has a Reading Folder to transport books to and from school.  This comes into the classroom BEFORE school each day – as part of the children ‘managing self’ – one of our key competencies. Please fill in the Reading Log each night to show what reading your child is doing.

This WEDNESDAY we will be looking at favourite books we love.  Please get your child to bring a book they enjoy to school for sharing.

Swimming

This week we are swimming Tuesday, Thursday and Friday – togs required!

Meet the Teacher

The Year 3 Meet the Teacher Evening will be held on Monday 16th February at 6pm.  More details will follow. 

Have a great week – come in and say hello if we haven’t met yet!

Adela and Julie

adela.brown@stalbans.school.nz

julie.worthington@stalbans.school.nz

TERM 1 WEEK1

Dear Families

Welcome back to Room 16 in 2015! We hope you have enjoyed a fabulous summer break and like us, are excited about the year ahead!  We have a fun, interesting classroom filled with lots of exciting programmes and events!  We hope you and your child will enjoy the learning journey with us!  We are part of the Year 3 team and will work very closely with Anna Ashby in Room 17 and Nikki DeVries in Room 18.

Our Teachers

Room 16 operates as a job-share classroom. Mrs Julie Worthington will be teaching Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays and Mrs Adela Brown will be teaching on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  We have complimenting strengths and interests, common philosophies, consistent practices and are in constant communication with each other.  Please feel free to approach either teacher with any queries that you have.

Stationery

Thank you to those of you who have sent your child’s stationery along to school today.  We are already using our books in the classroom, so please send them along to school as soon as possible if you have yet to do so.  In Year 3 we expect the children to be responsible for looking after their own pens, pencils etc. so they may wish to bring a small pencil case to school with the essential items from the stationery list.  Labelling belongings will hopefully prevent things from being lost! Your child will have also brought home a note about additional stationery that is required in Year 3. Class teachers already have the books and the dice will be given to the children once the $6.50 is paid at the school office.

The School Day

Our school day begins at 9.00am, with children being able to enter the classrooms from 8.30am.  We ask that your child arrives earlier than 9.00am so that they can be ‘ready’ prior to the school day beginning.  At Year 3 we expect the children to organise themselves independently before school and hope you will support us with this.

Reading Folders

The children will begin bringing home a reading book in Week 2, from Monday to Thursday. In Year 3 it is important that children are reading books of their own choice, in addition to the guided reading books. If you find any school readers at home – please return them to our class. Books must come to and from school in a reading folder every day.  

Class Blog

Our class blog is http://room16stalbans2015.blogspot.co.nz. We believe that the blog is a great way to share our learning and to celebrate our successes.  We update the blog regularly with class events, the weekly newsletter, our Stars of the Week and our special achievements.  Please make sure you check it regularly – you could make it the homepage in your browser settings!

Homework

The first few weeks of school are about us getting to know each other, with a large emphasis on ‘Learning Habits – the ways we learn best’.  We do not expect homework to be too onerous, instead a focus on supporting your child in what we are learning in the class. More information on homework will follow in the next few weeks.

Sunhats

Sunhats are to be worn everyday in Term 1.  A full brimmed hat is encouraged and must be named!  With the weather being so amazing at the moment (hopefully) we encourage lots of water for drinking throughout the day. We are so fortunate to have air conditioning in our classroom that will make the hot days more bearable!

Swimming

The school pool will again be in use this term.  Our swimming days for this week are Tuesday and Thursday. We ask that the children bring their swimming bag containing togs, a towel and a rash top if they have one on these days. We will be swimming at Aquagym during Week 3.  You will receive more information regarding this shortly.

Whiteboards

Last year your child should have purchased a whiteboard that was used in the classroom for various subject areas.  If you still have these at home, could they please be sent back to school as we plan to use them again this year.  They can be purchased at the school office if you are unable to locate it.

Enjoy the week - we look forward to meeting you all!

Adela and Julie

Julie Worthington  (julie.worthington@stalbans.school.nz)

Adela Brown  (adela.brown@stalbans.school.nz)