Term 2, Week 1

Sunday 4th May, 2014

Welcome back to a new term. I trust you have all had a refreshing holiday break, though it is more likely that the kids had the break, not the parents! I look forward to lots more fun and learning in Room 4. What a beautiful sunny start we had to the netball season yesterday and the Room 4 girls all looked to be having a great time on the court. Good skills girls!

Publishing:

Please keep the publishing coming in. A small piece of writing came home at the end of the term called ‘My Life in Central Otago’. It is to be typed up and emailed in to me. We will edit and add to these at school if necessary. We need to have our class booklet for the Solomon Islands completed in the next three weeks, ready to be delivered to a class there in June.

Browsing Books:

Please remember to return all browsing books from last term, to make way for fresh ones coming this week.

Integrated Music Unit:

This term we will be working on an integrated Music unit based on a project started by Ben Whitaker, who works with children in Buenos Aires. We will be making a musical instrument from rubbish, researching how children of a similar age live in a number of countries around the world, and learning an action-song just like in Ben’s project overseas. For this unit we need lots of large plastic fizzy bottles (2 per student), as well as a selection of ‘rubbish’, eg. cling film rolls, old buckets, containers, and boxes. No pressure of course!

Important Dates:

* This Tuesday, 6^th May, and Wednesday 21^st May, will be CRT Release days for me. Kate Donaldson will be relieving in Room 4 on those two days. I will be using this time for testing Year 4 students in preparation for their end-of-term reports.

* We have the swimming skills programme again this term, starting Tuesday 3^rd June and ending Friday 4^th July. I will provide more specific details closer to the time.

*The same goes for Ice Skating, beginning 24^th June and running till 2^nd July – more information later.

*Remaining Year 3 reports will be sent home throughout the term in line with the children’s birthdays. Parent interview times can be arranged immediately after the report arrives.

Let’s take a big breath as the winter term kicks in. Keep in touch.

Regards, Markelle Ward. J