By Harry

A man riding in muddy water

He is feeling cold and tired

He can smell fresh air and dirty water

He can taste the sea water

Coming home from the beach

He's probably going to get changed when he gets home

because he's very wet.

Surfboard | By Saoirse

I waggled my legs in the water.  

‘This is so cool!’

The sunset was gleaming.  I heard a hum of noise while I was balancing on my board. I saw fish swim by. With the bubbles floating up, I was like an iceberg.

Skydive | by Jet

It was a blur rushing down to the ground.  My cheeks were flapping around like a bird. When I looked down I could see a wrecked ship and a massive pile of blue liquid. I tried to reach out to the string.

I started to go down slower, slower and slower.

Desert riding | By Joe

My best friend and I were skateboarding down the abandoned highway at midday. We were alone. We watched mounds of dirt zoom by as we went by. We saw the skidmarks of cars that had gone down this road. My friend was trying to do a trick but failed. I went over to him to see if he was okay. Luckily he was fine. Then we got up and started skating again. We heard dingos howling like the wind as we skated by. In the distance we could see mountains of stone towering over us, putting us in the shadows. It was a hot and dry day. We viewed dead dry bushes as we passed. We were focussing like mad, trying not to fall over. I could smell the dust under my nose. The rolling of the wheels echoed across the valley.

The Land Changes

Here are some of our first ideas and wonderings about how the land changes...

Silent reading!

Here we are devouring new library books purchased during the holidays... Listen to the silence! We're going to create book reviews for the new books for the library so the other kids in the school can learn about them when they come to the library.

Term 2 Newsletter

Monday 5^th 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.

Mathletics

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 16^th 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 16^th May:        Cross country at Houghton Valley School

Monday 2^nd June:      Queen’s birthday

Tuesday 1^st July:       Portfolios come home

Friday 4^th 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

amyaustin@islandbay.school.nz