Monday 5th May
Kia ora parents, caregivers and children,
I hope you’ve had a happy autumnal Easter
and ANZAC break. It was great to meet with you at the end of last term to talk
about how your child’s learning is going and to set goals for their next learning
steps. This term is shaping up to be a great term, kicking off with cross
country training and swimming.
Inquiry
We are looking forward to a
science-focussed inquiry this term, investigating how The Land Changes, exploring how land changes affect us and how we
affect the land. We have planned lots of hands-on experiments, and are
particularly focusing on developing children’s scientific skills of observing,
pattern-seeking, and modelling. This will involve lots of observation of
erosion in the school playground and in the community: the sea wall, the
effects of the deforestation above the golf course and bike track, landslides
in the area… We will explore the concept of kaitiakitanga
and learn about traditional explanations for changes to landforms through
legends like Ngake
and Whataitai. In groups, children will create learning
stories to chart their growing and changing understanding of changes to the
land. If you are, or anyone you know of is, an expert in landforms, erosion, or
the changing environment, and would like to share your knowledge with us, we
would love to hear from you!
Our maths
focus areas this term are Number: Addition
& Subtraction and Multiplication & Subtraction, Problem Solving, Basic Facts, and Measurement.
In reading,
we will continue to develop comprehension
strategies through reading texts about changes to the land. Our writing programmes will flow from this
as we write reports, explanations, procedures, and scientific investigations,
interspersed with ongoing recounts, character writing and poetic writing.
This application is a great way to support
your child’s maths learning. Teachers can tailor each child’s profile so that
questions are aligned to their level. We plan to use this in class as well as
encouraging children to use this site at home. If you haven’t yet signed up and
would like to, you can contact the office – the school subscription offers you
a much-discounted price of $21, rather than $100 for a yearly subscription.
PE
This term we will be swimming each Thursday
– children will be assessed on the first day and grouped according to their
strengths and needs. Children always need a particularly substantial lunch on
swimming days! We are also focussing on gymnastics in the first 5 weeks of term
on Mondays; children need to wear suitable clothing for leaping and balancing! We are also training daily in the first two weeks ready for the school
cross country day on Friday 16th May; children need to wear (or
bring) suitable footwear to school.
Blogging
We’re really enjoying sharing our learning
with you through our blog. Thank you for your support in commenting on
children’s writing – it is a wonderful form of immediate feedback and a real
incentive for future learning.
Parent
help
If you can support our class
programme with either regular or one-off parent help, we’d love to hear from
you. We really enjoyed hearing from those parents who came in and shared a
favourite story with us last term. We always welcome parents
visiting; even if you’ve already read one story, we’d love you to come back and
share another!
Home
learning
Because Fridays are such a busy day of
extension and enrichment programmes, we have decided to change the day for
returning home learning folders to Monday.
Children should bring home a new list of ten spelling words, an updated Reading
log (if needed) and basic facts to be learned off by heart.
Dates
this term
Mondays: Gymnastics in the school hall
Every Thursday: Swimming at Kilbirnie Pool
Friday 16th May: Cross country at Houghton Valley School
Monday 2nd June: Queen’s birthday
Tuesday 1st July: Portfolios come home
Friday 4th July: Last day of Term 2
To be
confirmed: a school trip to observe
landforms
Thank you for your ongoing support. As
always, if there is anything you would like to discuss about your child’s
learning, please get in touch to make a time to talk.
Nga mihi,
Amy
Exciting times! Really like the sound of the inquiry
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