Term 1 Week 7

Sunday 16th March, 2014

Important dates:

* Cricket – each Tuesday afternoon 1.30 – 2pm

*Cyber Busters – Wednesday afternoon: Yr 4’s from 12-12.40pm, Yr 3’s from 1.30–2.10pm

*Year 4 Goal setting interviews: This Tuesday 18^th March 3–7.30pm, and Wednesday 19^th March 3–6.15 pm

*Friday 21^st March - Teacher Day in Dunedin – all staff

*Monday 24^th March – Anniversary Day

Year 4 Goal-setting interviews:

Thank you for the interview times that are coming in.  Please discuss with your child what they think their main goals are in terms of their learning, and complete the short Goals form that will be brought home today. Please note I haven’t put the Goals form in their homework books for privacy reasons. You can bring this completed form to the Goal-setting interview with you. If for any reason this Goals form doesn’t make it home today (eg. it gets swallowed by a huge angry bear on the way home), just jot some notes down under the following headings: 

*My learning goals – reading, maths, writing, curriculum

*My self-management goals – bookwork, homework routines, organisation

*My social goals – cooperation and participation, behaviour, leadership

I look forward to meeting with you at this early stage of the year regarding your child’s learning. J

HOMEWORK

Homework will now also include a weekly Spelling sheet. We are working on these in class too, and it is important that the children don’t just ‘copy’ out the spelling lists. They need to cover each word and do the sounding out and tooling, and practise the part of the word they are focussing on the most. The more careful they are with this process, the more likely it is that each word will be learned fully and accurately.

CARITAS UNIT – The Solomon Islands

There should be a brief letter from your child to you in their homework book this week, asking if they could do a few extra chores during Lent in return for a $2 coin. We are saving this money for the Caritas Lenten Appeal. In our study of the Solomon Islands we are also planning to make a class booklet about ‘Our lives in Central Otago, NZ’. I have a contact who will deliver this book and a small gift from us to a school in the Solomon Islands in June this year. Hopefully this will initiate some communication with children their age which could then continue throughout the year.

Thank you for continuing to let me know who will be away from school this Friday 21^st March. It will help the school plan for relievers in the various classrooms. Have a great week, and a nice long weekend at the end of it.

Markelle J