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

Week 6, Term 1 2014

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 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

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.

Email markelleward@stgerards.school.nz.  Cell phone number:  0278168609

Week 5, Term 1

Sunday 2nd March 2014

Well done to everyone for such enthusiasm and commitment during the school swimming sports last Tuesday. A great effort!

This week's newsletter:  Term 1 - Week 5:

*Important dates:

·      Cricket – Tuesday afternoon, 1.30 – 2pm

·      Ash Wednesday Mass – 5^th March, 9.15 am

·      School Triathlon – Thursday 6^th March (afternoon)

Our learning this week:

R.E. - Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent – What could we give up?

Science – Continuing our unit on Rocks and Minerals…. thanks for the wonderful books, samples and ideas coming from home!

Writing – Writing about the Swimming sports. Proper nouns, Spelling Alive.

Reading – Listening and Reading Comprehension. Silent reading. Reading at home.

Maths – Number sequences. 1, 10, 100 before and after. Times tables.

Te Reo – Learning an action song. Preparing our Mihimihi.

Oral language – Sharing news, Mystery Place.

HOMEWORK

1    Maths - Students have either a maths task or their maths book to bring home.

     Reading – browsing books will again come home on Monday for the week. These can be recorded in the Home Reading Log and signed off by you, as well as checked off by me when they return them with their homework book on Thursday. Remember, if anyone would like extra books for the weekend, please just ask. J

     A Journey through Lent – an R.E. sheet has been included in this week’s homework. The children could fill in a small deed they do each day for the 40 days of Lent, eg. a kind word, a helping hand, caring, loving, praying etc.

Publishing

The published work has been coming in steadily and is mostly up on the wall. Our map wall of holiday highlights is looking great. Soon we’ll be adding the artwork we’ve been doing as well.

Walk ‘n’ Wheel

As part of Walk ‘n’ Wheel week I will be recording the number of students who have walked or wheeled to school each day… so keep moving kids.

Here’s hoping for some warm end-of-summer weather before the cold sets in!

Regards, Markelle Ward