Sunday 9th March 2014
Welcome
to Week 6. The term is flying by. Thank you to all those who helped out at the
triathlon before, during and after school, especially with the challenging
logistics involved with transporting bikes and gear! Everything seemed to go so
smoothly and apart from exhausting themselves the children had a great day.
PAT tests:
This week Year 4 children will be completing PAT tests for Reading, Vocabulary, Listening and Maths. Year 3 children will only be doing the Listening.
Important
dates coming up:
*Cricket – Tuesday
afternoon 1.30 – 2pm
*Year 4 Goal setting interviews: Tuesday 18th March
3–7.30pm, and Wednesday 19th March 3–6.15 pm
*Friday 21st
March - Teacher Day in Dunedin – all staff
*Monday 24th
March – Anniversary Day
Our
learning this week:
R.E.
- Beginning our Caritas Lenten unit. Continuing the Jesus Strand and Lenten
journey.
Science
– Rocks and Minerals…. The Pancake Rocks in Punakaiki, as promised.
Writing
– Reporting on our various projects. Grammar. Spelling Alive.
Reading
– PAT testing for Year 4’s. Stories from the Solomon Islands.
Maths
– Beginning unit on Place Value. Basic facts and times tables.
Te
Reo – Working on our Mihimihi and Place Mat.
Social
Sciences – Caritas and the Solomon Islands – links to RE and Inquiry.
Oral
language – Sharing news, Mystery Place.
HOMEWORK
Homework
routines are gradually becoming established – it can be quite a challenge for
the children to get books home and back (and out of their bag!) but they are
showing signs of taking responsibility for their own learning. Well done J. They should now routinely
be coming home on Monday with the class newsletter, a maths task, reading
books, and one other small task. This week we will be setting up their Spelling
Alive weekly task sheets in class, so as of next week Spelling will be part of
their homework too.
REPORTING
The
first round of Year 3 reporting is underway and I have notified those parents
involved. I will be doing various testing for these children, including reading
records and maths diagnostics. This may happen at lunch times (1 pm after they
have eaten), so let me know if this is a concern for you.
Learning
Games
We
have had interesting discussions around healthy choices when it comes to
learning games, not just on the iPads and computers, but with blocks,
dress-ups, and other activities too. It’s great that our classroom criteria for
‘what makes a game a learning game?’ is being owned by the children themselves,
and of course they love to police it too!
Some
quotes from the kids: Lego/Meccano
blocks are a healthy choice because you have to ‘build’, ‘count sides’, ‘problem-solve’, ‘connect’, ‘share knowledge’,
‘design things from scratch’, and ‘learn patterns’.
‘Dress-ups are a healthy choice because you
have to use your imagination’.
Food
for thought!
On
that note…. If anyone has any puzzles or learning games at home like ‘Scrabble’
that could be shared with us for a period of time that would be great. We
promise to look after them. J
Have
a great week, Markelle.
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