Here we go again.....
Welcome to Melody who has joined our Room 13 family. Melody has settled in beautifully and our gorgeous girls are making her feel so welcome.
Thank you to everyone who brought along water balloons and water guns last Friday. It was just too cold after lunch to have a water fight. We will have our water fight this Friday provided the weather improves. I have Charlotte and Billie's water balloons safe and sound at school.
This week we will be spending some time working on our Christmas Nativity Play. The children have done very well learning their lines, now we are focusing on where to stand on the stage and how to make sure our parents can see our gorgeous faces when we speak. The Angels have a poem to learn which we have pasted in their poem book, please help them with this. All the children should be aware what their role is in the play. It is up to parents to provide costumes for them. If you have any trouble, please let me know and I can help.
In writing we will be completing our last assessment task on Narrative. The children have great imaginations and have really enjoyed the freedom this topic allows them. We have some amazing writers in our class who are well and truly ready for Year 2.
In Maths we will continue to solve word problems by using a variety of maths strategies. Those we are familiar with are doubles and halves, counting on and back, adding 10, equal sharing, skip counting in 2,5 and 10. During the Student Led Conferences next week, the children will be able to show you just how they do this. Very clever.
In Reading we will continue with our guided reading sessions for the younger children and our independent program for those more able readers. I am so impressed with the level of comprehension and focus this group have. Some of them could go straight to Middle school I think! Please keep up the reading at home and do start thinking about how you will maintain their reading during the Christmas break, particularly those who have struggled somewhat with reading. It is so important to keep up the momentum while on such a long break from school. The Library has some great readers available for all ages.
Our Student Led conferences are on Monday the 30th. These are not parent/teacher interviews. I will not be able to discuss individual children on that occasion. The idea is that the children discuss their learning and next steps with you. Also that they be given the opportunity to show off some of their great learning. All those children who have recently turned 6 will get the opportunity to meet with me before the end of the year.
Unfortunately the Museum was double booked on the day we were supposed to visit. We have had to cancel our trip. Luckily, Claudine and Tony Bradley have offered to take our whole class to Ten Pin Bowling on December the 9th at 12pm. We will need parent helpers for this trip so if you would like to come, a note will accompany the children home shortly.
We will have our annual picnic on Tuesday December 15th at school. A note will come home about this picnic during the week.
Have a great week
Annie
Week 6, Term 4, 2015
Hi everyone and welcome back to week 6. Hopefully you have all had a wonderful weekend with your families and the children are ready for a great week of learning. We had our daughter Lilly's 14th birthday on Saturday where we held an Amazing Race for her and 12 of her friends. The weather was beautiful and the girls had a super day.
There is not much extra going on this week. We will have a super week of learning focusing on the following...
*Mathematics - we will be working on using different strategies for problem solving. The younger kids will be counting on and back and using doubles and halves and the older kids will be practicing adding on teens by splitting the numbers and adding 10 and then some more. We will use maths games, Topmarks on the computer and problem solving to help us figure this out.
*In writing we will be writing letters. We will begin with a letter to Santa then move on to letters to parents inviting them to our Student Led Conferences, Nativity Play and Our end of year picnic. The Picnic will be at school on the 15th December from 9am until 12:30 pm. All parents are invited for some or all of the day - more information will be included in the invitation.
*In Reading we are focusing on our current learning goals. The big kids will be working on comprehension and vocabulary exercises as well as continuing their buddy reading and home reading. The younger children will be focusing on maintaining their teacher led programme and their home reading programme. The big book is a big part of their learning including punctuation, retelling, comprehension and predicting the text.
*In RE we are continuing our learning on Holy Spirit and will shortly be looking at the beginning of Advent. We are also practising our Nativity Play, learning our lines and the songs. The Nativity Play will be held on Friday the 11th December at 12pm followed by a shared lunch. All parents are invited to Room 13 for this very special event.
*No swimming this week. Golden Time will be a water fight.
Have a great week
Annie
Week 5, Term 4, 2015
What a great day on Friday for all our children and their Grandparents. The kids sang beautifully at Mass and we had great weather for our outside concert. Thank you for your support with our shared morning tea, it was yummy!
We are motoring through the term and before we know it we will be packing up the classroom, hanging our Christmas fire place and presenting our Christmas Nativity Play - I can't believe it and I can't believe I'll be sending your kiddies off to their new Year 2 classroom either. Gosh the older I get, the faster the years seem to go. Please keep up the encouragement of your children over the next few weeks. We will be continuing our programme of learning right up until the end to ensure the kids are well and truly ready to move on.
*Reading - Most of our kids are reading at or above standard which is pleasing. I have completed the reading testing and I am very pleased with the results. None of the children will be moved up a level from now, those reading above standard will be working on comprehension and vocabulary activities and those reading at or just below will be focusing on reading strategies and building their bank of high frequency words.
*Mathematics - this week we will be looking at position and rotation as our strand maths. We will be using maths language to describe where things are, what they are beside, under, above etc.
*Writing - this week we will write and send our Santa Letters. We need to make sure we send them early to ensure the kids get one back before school goes on holiday. We usually walk down to the dairy to post our letters to the North Pole so we will do that one day this week when all the letters are completed. It's a very exciting time as we begin talking and thinking about Santa.
Claud (Billie's Mum) and I have been discussing our end of year class break up. I usually try to do something fun with the class to reward them for working hard all year. If anyone has any super ideas about a fun group activity we could engage in, please let me know.
*Next Saturday we are having a school working bee to tidy up our lovely environment. If anyone is free to help, please come along with a spade and a smile.
Thank you all for your ongoing support. Lets make these next few weeks amazing for our kids.
Annie
Week 4, Term 4, 2015
Go The All Blacks!!!! Wow, what a game that was and our boys did us proud. Such a great coming together of a nation as family and friends met to watch and support our team take the cup. Awesome stuff. (albeit a bit nerve wracking in the second half!).
This week we have Grandparents Mass on Friday. We will celebrate Mass in the morning, as well as some shared time in the classrooms and a shared morning tea. More information will follow.
I will continue with the reading testing this week. Please keep up the home reading as we head into the final weeks of the year. It is really important that we keep the momentum going and make the most of the time that is left.
This week we are making masks to accompany our amazing Narratives from last week. The masks will be displayed next week and then the children will be able to bring them home.
In Mathematics we are working on equal sharing. This is the beginning of multiplication and involves the children being able to separate objects into groups.
eg Rosie had 6 chocolates. She divided them equally between her 2 friends. How many chocolates would each friend get? Children need to be able to either use doubles and halves or physically share the objects out equally to get the answer 2. It is tricky but we are working really hard.
Our RE topic is the Holy Spirit. We are currently talking about what it means to have Faith - believing without seeing. We will continue to work on the Holy Spirit then Advent and Christmas closer to the end of the year.
Have a great week everyone
Annie
Week 3, Term 4, 2015
Hi everyone, here we are in Week 3. Goodness wasn't that a game on Sunday morning! I think I aged 10 years. Good old All Blacks came away with the result and now we can look forward to beating the Aussies in the Weekend!
Thank you for your support of Black Out day on Friday, the kids looked awesome. In support of our boys, this Friday we will be holding another Black Out Day. Thank you in anticipation of your support of this fun event. On another note, I will be absent on Friday and there will be a reliever in the class for the day. I am not sure who this will be but I am sure the children will have a wonderful day.
*China Day - Friday will be China day. The children will be engaged in some fun events that will teach them a little bit about life in China.
*Swimming this week at 1:30 every day.
*Testing - this week I will complete the Maths testing and begin testing the children's reading levels. They will bring home books this week that they have read with their buddy so I will not have discussed stories with them. Please support them in their reading and give them the opportunity to talk about what is happening in the story.
*We will continue our learning around Narratives - these are all made up stories and good examples are Fairy Tales. We will be learning about beginning, middle and ends in stories and how we can make our story interesting to read.
Have a great week and GO THE ALL BLACKS!
Annie
Week 2, Term 4, 2015
Welcome back to week 2. We had such a super week last week with everyone working hard, remembering their manners and how to be a good friend and showing some great swimming skills. Thank you for sending your child's swimming gear every day, they had such a ball in the pool on those nice warm afternoons. Just a reminder that we will swim at 1:30pm every odd week (week 3,5,7,9).
*This week we will begin learning about Narratives which will go nicely with our Symbols concept focusing on Drama, dance and visual art. Narratives are made up stories that investigate plot, characters and setting. They are great fun to write because the children can let their imaginations go wild. We will have a pre test this week prior to teaching and I will test the children again near the end of the term.
*In Mathematics I have identified the areas that need some extra attention before the children hit year 2. We will be working hard every day to ensure we have it sorted by the end of the term. I will let you know if there is anything specific you can do at home to assist your child.
*In RE we have been learning about the Rosary and it's significance to us as Catholics. We all know how to pray the Hail Mary in Room 13 and each day at prayer time we are praying a decade of the rosary using our rosary beads. Each Wednesday the whole school will meet in the hall at 8:45 to pray. The Junior schools week is Week 3. Following that we will begin learning about the Holy Spirit.
*We will be visiting the Museum on Friday the 4th December at 9:30am. There is a Maori language exhibition that we have been invited to attend. The free bus will transport us there and back but we will need parent helpers. I will send more information closer to the time.
*We have begun practising our Christmas Nativity songs and the parts have been allocated. The children will be given a copy of the songs to practice at home as well as their words pasted into their poem book. Each child needs to learn their word by heart but don't panic, they have plenty of time. We don't perform the play until the last week of school.
Keep up the great reading at home and thank you for such an organised start to the new term. They all look gorgeous in their summer uniforms. (Hats and water bottle every day please).
Have a great week everyone
Annie
Week 1, Term 4, 2015
Hi everyone, welcome back to the final term of 2015. We have ten weeks left so lets make every one count and get our kids ready for Year 2.
This term our Concept is Symbols and we will investigate the use of symbols through the arts. We will be reciting poems, putting on puppet shows, presenting plays and of course working on the famous Room 13 Nativity throughout the term. We will be writing Narratives and telling stories and will identify the symbols that give us information and help us make sense of stories.
During this month we will pray the Rosary both in class and as a school. The Junior school will be leading the prayers in Week 3. Details will be in the school newsletter.
In Mathematics we will be consolidating the knowledge needed in Year 2 as well as working on some basic facts and early multiplication.
Our Oral Language will be around presenting poems to our peers which will relate nicely to Narrative and our Concept.
In Reading we will continue our Guided programme, developing independent strategies and investigating different texts with particular focus on plays.
Religious Education will be around the Rosary first, Holy Spirit and finally Advent and Christmas. We will be working on our Nativity play during he Term and regular information will come home regarding this.
Spelling lists will be pasted into the Homework books and we will have regular weekly tests. Please spend some time each week practicing the five weekly words and we will practice them in class as well.
We will be swimming this term and we will begin in week 1 if the weather allows. Please send the children's swimming things in weeks 1,3,5,7 and 9 in a plastic bag. I will make a judgement on a daily basis while the weather is unpredictable.
Term 4 is a very busy term with an awful lot going on. My goal is to maintain a structured programme of learning so that I can be sure the children are ready to move on next year and succeed in Year 2. Thank you all for your ongoing support and remember to read the blog during the week as I may add to it as new information comes to hand.
Annie
Week 9, Term 3, 2015
As I typed that date, it occurred to me that we only have 12 teaching weeks left this year! Lord! The year has zoomed by and it's not until you look back that you realise just how far the kids have come. What a great bunch of learners we have in Room 13. This week we have a special event lined up so here we go....
*Fire Station visit Friday at 11:00. Yes we are taking the kids to visit Grant at the Fire Station on Friday. A note will come home Monday. If you are able to help on that day, we do need parent helpers and we will be back at school at 12:30. I will actually be on a course on Friday but I will be leaving it to accompany the class and then heading back afterwards.
*The Cross Country will be next Wednesday, Week 10 at 1:30pm. Please do come along and support our runners. We have some super fit kids in Room 13 so I'm sure we will see some Podium finishes. (not that I'm competitive at all).
*Mr MacMillan was "dunked" on Friday as part of our Daffodil Day fundraiser. I thought it important to mention what a great sport he is. It was an excellent afternoon of fun and a great way to get some community spirit going in our school. See the blog for photos.
*Next Term will be focusing on "the Arts" with our Nativity Play, puppet shows and poetry recitals. We will also be having a visit from some Senior dancers from AMJAZZ Dance Studios. They will be holding some mini workshops for our Year 0/1 children and teaching them a basic dance that you can come along and watch. This is a great opportunity for our kids and in the past, all children have enjoyed very much the experience. The dancers will also show the children a couple of the dances they are working on for their trip to Disneyland next year. Perhaps some of our Room 13 Divas will be inspired. There will be a cost of around $3 per child for the workshops (just so you know in advance). A letter will come home closer to the time in Term 4.
*Mathematics - this week we will continue our maths learning around Probability. Our focus is to decide the likelihood of events occurring based on our prior knowledge. An important aspect of this is being able to justify the decisions the children make so this week we will be concentrating our efforts on that.
*Writing - We have produced some amazing writing this term. Some of our kids are writing at a Middle school level already! This week we will be focusing on Recount writing - stories about something that has already happened. Next week will be free choice, imaginative writing.
*Reading - I have analysed the Reading testing and have identified a few areas we need to work on over the next few weeks.
#vocabulary - we need to continue building the children's vocabulary. Reading together is a great way of doing this, especially newspapers, Non fiction texts and articles. In order to keep moving through the levels, the children must continue to build their high frequency or sight words. Each child at level 12 or below has a word mountain in their poem book. These are the words they must be able to read instantly to achieve reading success at their level. Please practice these. We are also going to have a few short homework activities based around vocabulary eg finding words that will finish and sentence and ensure it makes sense
eg Under the child's messy bed was an old rotten ___________________. (what would make this sentence make sense? apple, banana, pear....)
#self monitoring - listening to our own reading and hearing when it does not sound right. When a sentence does not sound right to a child, they need to go back to the beginning and have another go, chances are they have read a word incorrectly. Please prompt them if they do not hear the error themselves.
#strategies for unfamiliar words - what to do when I cannot read a word????? First try to chunk the word - look for groups of letters that make certain sounds eg th, sh er, oo. If not, go back to the beginning of the sentence and reread. It might come to you. Last, skip the tricky word, read on to the end of the sentence and then go back and think about what word would fit.
#fluency, expression and accuracy - fluency is reading with a lovely smooth voice, just like when we speak. Accuracy is not making mistakes. Expression is making our voice sound interesting when we read by putting on voices, making our voice loud and soft etc.
All children in Room 13 are currently at or above standard but there are a few who need a wee push. Please continue the home reading, please read to your children and please talk to them on the way home in the car and when they are in the bath or having tea. Development of their oral language will certainly improve their reading and writing.
RE - we have completed our study on the Church and Belonging. The assessment tasks were very well done and the children obviously have retained lots of knowledge. Thank you for your lovely support of the Whanau Prayer bag. Tai Waititi sent in a gorgeous photo of Christian praying at his altar. Check it out on the blog.
Lastly, thank you for all your "well wishes" for my Dad. He had surgery on his spine on Wednesday last week, a nervous time for us all. He is at home now recovering and grateful it is all over.
Have a great week and long may this lovely spring weather last.
Annie
Week 8, Term 3, 2015
Hi everyone, welcome back to another week of great learning in Room 13. I had a super weekend, the day was gorgeous on Saturday and we spent lots of time outside with our animals. Sunday was lovely also, sharing some special time with my Dad. This is the week ahead....
*Assessments - this week we will complete our Portfolio Assessments. Please ensure your child is at school unless they are genuinely unwell. I cannot go back and resit assessments if your child is absent and it is a shame to have blank spaces where their work should be.
*Writing - this week we will complete our Explanation Assessment on Monday. The rest of the week will be some narrative writing and cool art work.
*Mathematics - the big kids are working on how to use doubles and tens to help solve maths problems. Some of the younger kids are working on counting back from 20 and using that counting back skill to solve maths problems.
RE - we visited the Church last week which was lovely. There were some very interesting questions asked regarding what happens when we die and what is Heaven like. The children were so well behaved in God's house, I was very proud of them. This week we will begin to wind up The Church and Belonging and next week we will have the assessment task.
*Reading - we are chugging along very nicely in Reading. If your child is in the higher levels and you feel they are not making progress, please don't be concerned. I don't like to push Year 1 children too high as there is so much around reading that it is important to understand. Once they get up to 19/20 they engage in independent reading programmes and begin tasks like skim reading, finding information in texts, understanding vocabulary and building it, fluency and expression. The reading is going very well in Room 13.
*On Thursday we have a visit planned from the Royal New Zealand Ballet. The children will get to see them dance a little as well as hear about how they came to be ballet dancers. It is very exciting and a great opportunity for our children.
Have a great week.
Week 7, Term 3, 2015
Hi everyone, we are already up to Week 7, can you believe that soon we will be heading into Term 4 and then your kids will be big Year 2 students! Amazing how time flies when you're having fun. Here is the week ahead....
*This week we will finish our amazing Reports on the Seasons. Most of the kids completed their accompanying art but those who did not will get a chance to finish that too. After that I will be assessing the children's writing. We have been learning how to write an explanation this term so on Wednesday the children will have a go on their own. Their writing will be in the Portfolio which will go home at the end of the term.
*In Week 9 we have Student Led Conferences. These meetings between you and your child are an opportunity for them to talk to you about what they are learning and what the next steps in the process are. I will be there to support the children but it will be student led. Some information will come home for you to explain the process shortly.
*In reading this week we will be focusing on identifying how we can become better readers and developing our goals. These goals will be discussed with you are the Student Led Conferences and will show you how good your kids are at self driven learning and self assessment. The reading programme will continue as normal this week. Unfortunately because there are simply so many children in the Junior school, it is no longer possible for me to leave the readers in the kids bags all week. So, they will bring Monday and Tuesdays books home, then I will empty the book bag and they will bring Wednesday and Thursdays books home. If you do want some extra reading, let me know. We have some browsing boxes in the resource room which are older texts. The kids can keep these for a week at a time.
*In Mathematics this week we will continue to use doubles to solve maths problems. We will also be working on the strategy of counting back to solve maths problems to 10 and 20. The older kids will be solving maths problems using a variety of strategies. Please practice counting back from 20 with your children in the car, bath, before bed or when on a walk.
*Religious Education continues to focus on the Church. Because I was away two days last week, we did not get to visit the Church. We will do this during the week. There is Mass on Friday and you are all welcome. I have to say it is delightful to see Gabrielle and her family each week at Mass. I have lead the children's liturgy the last two weeks and her lovely smiling face and that of her sister Sam have been there both times. Well done Guevarra's.
The Prayer bag is currently being taken home by the children. There are instructions in the bag for families. Please encourage your child to have a go. Sharing prayer with your children is wonderful.
*Mr MacMillan won the "Daffodil Day Dunking" last week. We raised $186.30 and when he returns after a week away, he will indeed be dunked! Well done to everyone who took part.
Thank you for making a super effort to get your children to school on time. It certainly helps them settle into the day when they have a chance to get organised and spend some time with friends before the bell goes. Now that they are older, I allow them to come downstairs at the end of the day by themselves. If anyone is going to be late or is worried about their child after school, please let me know and I can keep them with me until you arrive.
At the moment, we are experiencing a wee power struggle in Room 13 amongst the boys. There are some unkind words and some unkind hands being used instead of kind words. I am aware of what is happening and we are working on it together as a Learning Community during Circle Time. There are expectations at school, particularly in a Catholic School with Christ as our centre. Please remind your child before you leave them in the morning, what those expectations are and check in with them at the end of the day. No one person is to blame but we can all take responsibility for what comes out of our mouths and the way we treat others. We are a group of very different personalities in Room 13, it really is just a matter of appreciating difference, accepting that we are a member of a group and it is not always our turn and treating others the way we would like to be treated. We are, some of us, learning the hard way but we will get there.
Have a great week
Annie
Week 6, Term 3, 2015
Welcome back to another week of learning in Room 13. After a very busy weekend of hockey, (still in mourning as my Year 5/6 team lost to Rotokawa in the final - worse than losing the Rugby world cup!) here we go for Week 6.....
*Photos today.
*I completed all the reading testing last week. Wow we have some amazing readers in our class, many way above standard and none below. Go us!
*Writing this week will be Report writing. Last week we wrote gorgeous Sun Reports and this week the writing will be around the Seasons.(continuing with our concept cycles).
*Maths this week will be Number. We did some great learning last week about Probability. We will follow up later in the term with some more learning around whether things will, might or won't happen. The language around this is certain, possible, impossible.
*RE: we focused on belonging to other groups last week and looked at similarities and differences. This week the focus will be the Church.
*Golden Time this week will be making outside candle holders.
*Winter sports will continue on Wednesday - shorts for the girls please.
*Please be aware when allowing your child to bring their dominoes to school it is impossible for me to monitor what belongs to whom. We had some issues last week and I had no idea who the dominoes belonged to. The kids need to be reminded that dominoes are their responsibility and need to be stored away safely in their bag.
*I will be on CRT release on Friday so Mrs Dinis will be teaching the children.
Have a super duper week.
Annie
Daffodil Day fundraiser - vote to have your favourite teacher dunked under an ice bucket. Vote as many times as you like. Votes cost 50cents each. Before and after school outside the hall.
Week 5, Term 3, 2015
Hi everyone, what a beautiful weekend we have had. It started out a bit rocky on Friday night with some wild weather but came right and felt a little bit like Spring on Saturday and Sunday. A great opportunity to get out in the garden and start preparing for the warmth. Yay!
Congratulations to the All Blacks, what a great game and a lovely celebration of Ritchie's contribution to rubgy.
We are already into Week 5, cannot believe it! Here is what week 5 will look like....
*Monday is a Teacher Only Day. Thank you for keeping your children home, I know this can be really tricky for working parents. We will be spending the day learning about Scripture.
*Reading - we will continue with the testing this week. Children will still bring books home but may not have read them with me prior. They will have shared the book in a buddy reading situation but some parts might be a little tricky. Please encourage your child to have a go independently but support them if you think it is simply too hard. Remember the importance of taking about the book eg what do you think of that? why do you think he felt that way? what do you think will happen next, can you retell that story thinking about the beginning, the middle the end.
*In writing we will be looking at Report writing which will fit well with our Concept study on Cycles. The topic for writing will be the Sun. Report writing is based around knowledge of facts and recording them. We will continue to look at paragraphing in writing and researching to find facts that we can prove. We published and illustrated our Explanation writing last week. They are hanging in the classroom, check them out I think you will be quite impressed.
*RE will continue to be around Belonging (Church). We have looked at how we belong to our family and extended whanau. Now we will begin to investigate how we belong to God's family. We will visit the Church either this week or next week.
*Mathematics this week will be around our Strand topic which is Statistics:Probability - deciding the likelihood of events taking place using mathematical language, certain, possible, impossible.
*Golden Time this week will be hockey. The weather was so poor on Friday that we couldn't have our game. Hopefully we will have a fine day on Friday.
*Winter Sports rotation will take place on Wednesday afternoon.
*The Cross Country Race is yet to take place for the Junior school. We were hoping to have it this week but that is not going to happen. We are hoping to hold in near the end of the term. We will let you know asap what date it will be.
*A lot of our kids are bringing toys to school. Please keep their toys at home. There is plenty to do at school without needing to bring our home toys. Unfortunately we end up with broken and stolen toys and very upset children.
*Sean and Jmarie are no longer attending St Mary's and with Lola away for three months, that takes our number down to 17. As a result of this, it is likely that we will have new children join us in Term 4. This is quite normal and I am sure our super kids will make them all feel very welcome.
Have a great week everyone.
Annie
Week 4, Term 3, 2015
Welcome back to week 4. I have had a very busy weekend with hockey all over the countryside while Craig settled 20 calves into their new home. I hope you all got to spend some time with your family whether on the side line of a winter sports field or at home. Here is the week ahead....
*This week I will be carrying out Running Records to ensure your child is reading at the appropriate level and that I am aware of their particular needs in reading. Because this can take some time, particularly if I need to try the children on several levels, we will use most of the weeks reading time to complete the testing. The books your child brings home this week will only have been shared in buddy reading so please support them where necessary.
*Writing this week will be around Explanation. This is where the children use their writing skills to explain why. Eg why we have day and night. There is a process for this writing and we are currently looking at how we can successfully follow this process.
*Mathematics this week will be around Number, including an observation by our maths specialists and some teaching points to help us all be more successful in mathematics.
*In Religious Education we will continue our learning around The Church and Belonging including a visit to the Church. The Whanau prayer bag will begin coming home this week. An explanation of this bag can be found inside.
On Friday at 10am we will have a Liturgy to celebrate the Assumption. All are welcome.
*On Thursday evening the PTA are running a disco from 5:30-7pm. The theme is fluro. All children are welcome to attend. Food and treats will be available to purchase.
*We will have our Winter sports afternoon on Wednesday after lunch. Please send shorts for the girls.
*Because of our Mary MacKillop day we did not have Golden Time on Friday. We will have hockey for Golden Time on Friday.
Have a great week,
Annie
Week 3, Term 3, 2015
Hi everyone, hope you are all having a lovely, albeit damp, weekend with your children. Today our friend Lola leaves for her big trip to Canada and Germany. She will be back at the end of October and we will miss her very much. Safe travels Telfers. xxxxx
I have had a very quiet weekend with both mini ball and hockey cancelled for Charlie. Lilly is currently training in Taupo with her Bay team but I was lucky enough to stay home this time and Craig has taken her. School work beckoned! This is the week ahead....
*Golden Time: hockey by popular demand - nothing needed from home.
*Parent Interviews: If you missed an interview and really want to catch up, please let me know. I am free some Wednesdays after school and every Thursday and Friday. I am happy to meet with you to discuss what is happening for your child at school. If there are concerns, I will most definitely organise a time to meet with you myself but at this stage, I am very happy with the progress of our class in general.
*Winter Sports - the children enjoyed hockey last Wednesday. This Wednesday they will go with another teacher and have a go at another Winter code. I know they will make me proud with their manners and great listening ears. Shorts for girls please.
*Mary MacKillop feast day - on Friday we will celebrate Mary MacKillop day. She is very important to our school and is our Patron Saint. Mary came to NZ from Australia and realised there was a need for Catholic education in our area. She started our school in the early 1900's and is a figure for us all to look up to. The day will start with Mass at 9am followed by some cool sharing and learning experiences. We will have a shared lunch so please bring a plate on Friday. There will be no sausage sizzle this day.
*Writing - this week we will begin learning how to write an explanation. We will start on Monday with an assessment task to see what they can do and then follow that up for the next two weeks focusing on the specific aspects of Explanation writing. Our topic this week will be "why we come to school".
*Reading- the reading is going so well in Room 13. We are all at or above standard now and I am so pleased. Thank you for all the great reading you do with your child. They have many opportunities to read during the day but need that extra practice at home to so keep up the great work. One of our Readers, Lester Opiana moved from Level 1 at the beginning of Term 2 to level 8 by the end, only 11 weeks later. Woohoo Lester! Congratulations. It just goes to show what hard work and support from home can do.
*Mathematics - this week we will continue with our learning around Number. Number is two fold, the first part is knowledge and the second part is strategy. Knowledge is counting forward and back, identifying numbers, counting in 2's, 5's, 10's, halving and doubling etc. Strategy is how we use that knowledge to solve problems eg
Kate had 6 goldfish and she got 6 more. How many does Kate have now?
I would expect the children to say "well 6+6 is a double and it equals 12 so it must be 12 goldfish.
or
If I have 6, I can count on 6 more 6,7,8,9,10,11,12.
We have been working on doubles and halves in the classroom and will continue that this week. We will also be working on using doubles and halves to solve maths problems. You can support at home by giving them some little problems like the ones above.
*RE - we began our Church strand last week by looking at belonging to our family. We did some lovely koru art for Maori language week which will be displayed in the classroom this week. We will continue looking at belonging this week with our family trees. The children may bring some homework home for this task.
Homework - I don't believe young children should have a lot of homework but a bit of reading and spelling is great at this age. The spelling will begin this week and tests will be on Friday's. Say the word, sound the word, write the word and check the word is our system for spelling.
Have a great week everyone
Annie
Week 2, Term 3, 2015
Tena koutou katoa, welcome back after the weekend. Hopefully you have all had a great couple of days with your children. We travelled to Auckland for a Bay of Plenty Hockey Tournament with our daughter Lilly. It was a big weekend but we were lucky enough to stay with our oldest daughter in Birkenhead which was great fun. The week ahead will look like this.....
*Tuesday at 9am is the Ted show - a notice came home last week to explain this show. You are all welcome to attend as are preschoolers.
*Parent Interviews will be held on Monday and Wednesday. The process to book these was also in the school newsletter. Parents of children working at or above the standard are not required to attend an interview and if I have met with you recently for a 6 year old interview, attendance is also not necessary. However, if you would like to meet with me to discuss the Portfolio or Report, I am happy to see you.
*Wednesday is our Winter Sports day so please send girls with shorts.
*This week is Maori Language week so we will be attempting to use some Te Reo in our classroom.
*This week we will be baking on Monday then writing a recount - a story about something we have seen, done or experienced. Look on the wall for some super clever writing at the end of the week.
*In maths we will be continuing with our Number work on counting on and back and also separating numbers into tens and ones for addition and subtraction.
*In reading we will continue with our guided reading programme as well as buddy reading, shared reading and independent silent reading. The buddy reading programme is going so well, the children are all very supportive of each other and are working hard to improve their reading. It is lovely to see.
*Last week we started our concept/topic work on Cyles - night and day. We began by sharing the knowledge we already have on the topic. This week we will decide what we would like to find out. The idea being that the children drive the learning and get excited about how to answer the questions.
*In RE we have been looking at personal prayer. The children are learning that personal prayers come from their hearts and have a thank you, an asking and an I am sorry aspect. They have written some gorgeous prayers which I will put on the wall for you all to see. A copy will also go into the Portfolio. I love listening to their prayers in the morning, they are so heartfelt and honest. Really gorgeous.
Congratulations to Kincade and his family. They welcomed a new baby in the holidays, Marcus. Some of you will know how much I love bubba's so I cant wait to meet the new addition this week. Well done you guys.
Golden Time will be advised after we have circle time on Monday.
Thank you everyone for a super duper start to the new Term, have a great week,
Annie
Week 1, Term 3, 2015
Hi everyone, didn't those holidays fly by. I didn't achieve half of what I had planned but did get to Whakapapa so the girls could have a ski and managed to "Spring clean" my attic which was awesome. Our two older daughters were stuck in Bali with the volcano so a 10 day trip turned into an 18 day overstay which was a little worrying. Both back safe and sound now though - that stuff is character building! So Term 3, Spring just around the corner and here we go.....
*This week.....
PE Wednesday, Golden Time to be advised after Circle Time Monday, Portfolio's and Reports home Wednesday. Parent Interviews next week.
*Interviews - if you have met with me recently regarding your child's learning or your child is at or above standard, it is not essential that you make a time for an interview. I will meet with all parents on their child's 12 month anniversary. The interviews in Week 2 are specifically for parents of children who may be working slightly below the standard or are having some difficulty at school. However, if you would still like to make an interview time, I am happy to see you and the process for booking interviews will be in the Newsletter Wednesday.
*Reports - the school are embarking on a new system of reporting to parents. Each child will receive a National Standards report at 6 month intervals from the time they start school, as well as an end of Year report on what they are like as a learner. Because we have begun this process half way through the year, some children will not receive their report on Wednesday. They will bring home their Portfolio and their report will come home at their 6 month, 12 month or 18 month anniversary. The reports comment on their achievement against National Standards and their next steps in learning in Reading, Writing and Maths.
*This term our concept is Cycles and we will be looking at Night and Day as well as the Seasons. We have a living world focus and will be finding out lots of interesting information about what cycles are and how they affect us on Earth.
*Our main focus for writing is always Recount but this term we will also be assessing Explanation writing. We will also touch on poetry and Report writing again.
*In Reading we will continue with our guided, buddy, independent and silent reading programs in the classroom. Hopefully you have all filled in your child's holiday log. Room 13 would love to win a prize for 100% returns.
*In Mathematics we will be continuing with our Number focus, drawing particular attention to dialogue in maths and being able to explain what we have done, why and other ways we could work out our problems. Counting on is the next big step for a lot of our kids - this is being able to hold a number in our head and count on or back for addition and subtraction instead of needing to always start from one using materials(fingers/counters/beads). Some of the bigger kids will continue their work on breaking down numbers to make addition and subtraction easier with 2 digit numbers. We will also look at some equal sharing which is the beginning of multiplication.
*Our Religious Education focus this term is the Church and more specifically belonging. We will take a trip over to the Church to discuss what items are there and what special meaning they have.
*Homework will continue to be reading, spelling and at times some maths practice, but not every week. The children work so hard at school and it is a big day. I don't think they should be spending hours at home in the evening on homework. That is your time with them where they should be playing and talking and getting plenty of sleep. Thank you for your great effort with their reading. We are nearly all reading at or above standard now. Lets keep it up for the rest of the year.
*Just a few reminders, please have your child at school by 8:30. If they are late, it would be appreciated if they could wait at the top of the stairs until we have finished prayers. That way they don't interrupt those children reading and leading prayers. All our kids are big school kids now and many of them have been at school over a year. Please encourage and remind them of their jobs in the morning but do not do it for them. I require a certain level of independence from the children and they are keen to do things for themselves too. It is very empowering for them. Lastly, on Wednesday afternoons we will be having a Winter Sports Rotation with the whole of the Year 0/1 team. The girls will need to bring shorts on this day please.
On Thursday afternoons we will have Jo Mitchell with us. She is in her first year of teaching and is interested in the Year 1 age group. She will be helping with some reading and getting an idea of what a busy Year 1 classroom is like. Please make her feel welcome if you see her at the end of the day.
I hope you all had some lovely family time in the holidays and are ready for 10 weeks of learning, fun and friendship. As usual our busy classroom can always do with a hand so if you have any free time for pasting, putting books away, mending etc, please let me know.
Have a great week
Annie
Week 11, Term 2, 2015
Hi everyone, the end of another term, can you believe we are half way through the year? I can't, goodness it is going fast. This week will go as follows.....
*The Fire Service will visit on Wednesday to reinforce some of the lovely learning we have been engaging in around Fire Safety. We have already practiced our school escape plan and the children have hopefully talked to you about your family plan in case of a fire emergency. We are looking forward to wearing the Fire hat and checking out the fire truck. There will be plenty of photos on the blog after Wednesday.
*Our trip will go ahead on Thursday. Thank you to the parents who have offered to help on the day. My apologies that the note has not gone home yet. I was out of the classroom both Thursday and Friday but the information note will come home Monday.
*Thank you to all the parents and Grandparents who bid on their child's art this week. The idea around the art exhibition has been received so well by you all, so thank you. Tomorrow the winners of the bidding war will be notified by blog and the winners will be able to take their art home. We have made enough to take our kids and parents to the Lion Park as well as for lunch on Friday to celebrate the last day of term. Yippee and thank you again for your support.
*The Bishop will visit on Friday so we will have a Powhiri in the morning and he will come into the classrooms to see what amazing learning is happening at St Mary's.
*School will close at the normal time on Friday. Please ensure your kids are at school all week. We are still learning in Room 13, right up to the last hour.
*Reports and Portfolios will go home in the first week of Term 1. Following that there will be an opportunity for parents to meet with me to discuss the progress of their child so far. I will send a note home to the parents of children I would like to meet with along with the portfolio.
*Thank you for your continued support this term. We have had a super term of learning and the children are all making great progress. If you would like to have some readers over the holidays, please let me know.
Have a great week
Annie
Week 10, Term 2, 2015
Hi all and welcome back to the second to last week and Brooke's final week in our class. I would like to have a shared lunch on Wednesday (I am away Thursday and Friday), to celebrate her wonderful practicum and for the children to say good bye. I will be buying a small gift for Brooke, if you would like to contribute, please catch me (in stealth) in the morning or after school. Thank you all for your support of Brooke over the last 7 weeks. She has done an awesome job with your children and the learning opportunities have been excellent. Please ensure you say goodbye during the week.
This week we have a few extra bits and pieces on. Other than that we will be focusing on completing assessments and getting our Portfolio's completed by the end of the term. To this end, please don't keep your children home unless they are genuinely unwell. It is almost impossible for me to catch up with assessment tasks when they are not at school which means their portfolio may be missing a few pages. Thank you for your support, I know they are all tired, it is a long term... I am tired too. But we just have to soldier on for another 10 days together! We can do it team!
*We have a Whanau Pot Luck Dinner planned for Thursday evening this week at 5:30pm. Everyone is invited to attend and share a meal with some of the many other cultures we have at our school.
*Todd McClay, National MP will visit the school on Friday and stay with us for morning tea. He is interested in seeing what is going on in our local Primary schools.
*Bishop Stephen will also visit, next Friday the 3rd of July. We are all looking forward to meeting him informally, I hear he is a great story teller and a wonderfully down to earth
man.
*Writing - this week we will complete our Persuasive writing assessment. This will take three days to plan, write, rework, edit and publish. The writing will be in the Portfolio.
*Reading will continue as normal with me at the helm. If it would help you to see what I do at Reading time, I am happy for you to sit in and observe. Sometimes we don't know how to help our kids until we have seen someone else doing it. Our readers are making some fabulous progress so we must all be doing something right! Keep up the super work and if you would like readers over the holidays, please let me know by the end of this week.
*Mathematics - this week we will be working on Measurement - capacity and weight. On Thursday we will complete this strand with our end of topic assessment task. It has been great fun measuring and comparing and learning how to use maths language. It has been very good for cooperative learning as well - that means learning together as a team.
*RE - our topic on God is now completed and our assessment task is ready to go into the Portfolio. Over the next two weeks, we will be using our circle time to discuss and deal to any social issues we may be experiencing in Room 13. The use of circle time, puppets, positive affirmations and "I" statements can really help when we are all getting a bit tired finding it hard to share, communicate and use kinds words.
*Our trip to Paradise Valley Springs is to go ahead on July 2nd. If you would like to come along as a parent help (we do require 4), please let me know. A note will go home Monday.
*We have completed our artworks using recycled materials. What a fun day we had (photos to be uploaded to the blog). The art looks amazing and I know you can't wait to make a bid on your child's masterpiece. Please take the time to look at the art work displayed in the hall. Your child's name is underneath their piece. You can take a piece of paper from the box in the foyer, write your child's name and the price you are prepared to pay for it on the paper, and place it in the box. (please be sensible here). The auction will be drawn at the end of the week on Friday. Please remember, the reserve price is $7.50 (no coincidence that its the price to enter the lion park). Any extra made on the artwork will be put towards trout food and a treat at the end. Thank you all for making this such a worthwhile venture. The children loved the process, are very excited about the outcome and have had some valuable learning along the way.
Have a great week
Annie
Week 8, Term 2, 2015
Hi everyone, can you believe it is already week 8? The term is flying by, only 4 weeks to go! Brooke will continue her full control this week and next week, thank you for your support of her. This is what week 8 will look like....
*Gymnastics Tuesday at 1:30 pm, shorts for girls please.
*Reading - Brooke will continue with the reading programme this week. Each group has their own Learning Intentions (Walht - we are learning how to). Check in with your child and see if they know what they are learning in reading this week. Remember to keep practising the poems and word mountains in the homework books, they are great for getting fluency (smooth, accurate reading) and they can be fun for rhyme, alliteration, and rythm.
*Writing - we will continue our learning around Persuasive writing - talking others into believing our point of view. This week our statement will be "sun is better than rain". It is great fun because the kids get to decide what they think and write about the reasons they think it. Persuasive writing is also great for debating.
*Mathematics - Brooke will continue with the 3 learning groups. Each group is focusing on different learning around number. Keep practising those maths skills like counting forward and back, skip counting in 10's, 5's and 2's, making 5 and 10 and solving maths problems. We also have our Maths guru's in this week so I will be taking a lesson and being observed.
*RE - we are nearly at the end of our unit on God. We have looked at God's creations and the importance of caring for them. Soon we will begin our section on Recycling. Please send in any recycling you have so that we can get started on our recyclable art. We are hoping to have an art exhibition in week 10 to help fund a trip to Paradise Valley Springs. More info on this will follow.
*I will be out of the classroom on Tuesday but the programme will continue with Brooke.
*Golden Time this week is to be advised.
Thank you for your ongoing support and have a great week.
Annie
Week 7, Term 2, 2015
Well Winter is here and so is the rain. AAARGH! Luckily we have a lovely warm classroom so the learning will go on! Here is the week ahead...
*Miss Canning is on full control for the next 3 weeks. This means she is responsible for the day to day running of the classroom and the planning, teaching and assessing. Of course I will be here to observe and help where needed. Please remind your children about the expectations in the classroom in support of Brooke. Listening ears, hands up to talk, kind words and hands.
*Writing will be around the story of Rangi and Papa. As the Creation story is a big focus this term, we decided we would look at other stories that explain the creation of the world in order to compare and contrast. The children will be retelling the story and engaging is some super art activities.
*Reading will continue as normal with the Big Book, Poem of the week and guided reading with the teacher. I leave the books in the children's bags for the whole week so they can revisit them in order to get fluency - smooth accurate reading. Please encourage them to go back to these books often during the week.
*Mathematics will be around Number for the next two weeks. The big kids are working on part/whole which means breaking numbers up for easy addition and subtraction. They need to understand Place value(tens and ones) to be successful in this area. The younger kids will be working on counting all from one and some imaging which means they can add and subtract by counting all the objects in the sets and they can mentally imagine the initial set without having to count them all. This is the beginning of counting on - holding a number in our head and add on to in eg 7 + 3 = 7....8,9,10. There is lots of knowledge necessary for maths at level 1. Counting on and back to 10, 20 then 50, identifying numerals, identifying finger patterns, dice patterns, skip counting in 2,5,10, one more and one less, teen numbers. Please take some time to practice some of these skills at home..... counting in the car or the bath, counting while setting the table and clearing it etc etc.
*This week Gymnastics will continue in the hall on Tuesdays at 1:30pm. Please send shorts for the girls as it is very difficult to do forward rolls and beam exercises with their tunics on.
*Golden Time this week will be a teddy bears picnic. Please send $1 along by Thursday so we can make cupcakes for this activity.
Have a great week
Annie and Brooke
Week 6, Term 2, 2015
Welcome back to another week of learning and fun in Room 13. In the weekend I attended Miss Canning's 21st. She has been friends with my daughter Georgia since they were 2 years old so it was lovely to celebrate her special day with her. She had a great night and I caught up with lots of JPC old boys and girls who spent many weekends at our place growing up. It was very nice. Unfortunately, Miss Canning sprained her ankle rather badly in the weekend so she will not be at school Monday or Tuesday. EEEEK.
On to the learning for this week....
*Reading - this week we will continue with our guided, shared and individual reading programmes. The children are all making good progress in reading. Just remember, if your child is stuck on a word in their story, don't jump in too soon with the answer. Give them a chance to figure it out themselves by.....
- reading on to the end of the sentences then going back and rereading
-rereading the sentence from the beginning
-chunk and blend the sound
-think about the context of the story and decide what would fit to make the story sound right
*Writing - this week we will be writing a recount. The focus is on recounting an experience using past words and using a beginning, a middle and an end. The children will write a story over the whole week practising planning or brainstorming, grouping ideas to make paragraphs, reworking and editing and publishing. The topic for writing will be the visit from our St Michael's friends on Friday.
*Mathematics - we will begin our first unit on measurement this week. We will be looking at capacity, volume and weight and will carry out some interesting experiments to help us understand the concepts around measurement. Next week Miss Canning will begin her full control for 3 weeks and will continue with Number.
*R.E -tomorrow we will make our Pentecost head bands and carry on with our God strand.
*Golden Time - we will be voting on our activity on Monday after circle time.
Have as super week everyone
Annie
Week 5, Term 2, 2015
Hi everyone, I hope you enjoyed the lovely (albeit chilly) weather in the weekend. Thanks to Mrs Waititi, we have tracked down Charlottes jersey and PE gear. It's a long story but does show the importance of naming children's gear. I am sure Charlotte's Mum and Dad will be very happy. This week Miss Canning will be taking over a good part of the organisation of the class in preparation for her time on full control. Please support her by greeting her in the morning and reminding your children of the importance of keeping the Golden Rules. I will be in the classroom with her during the week but a lot of the day to day management will be up to her.
Here is the week ahead...
*Tuesday - gymnastics at 1:30. Pe gear for girls please.
*Friday - Mass at 9am with St Michael's. All family are welcome to attend. Following this Mass the Junior school will have a shared tabloid sports day with our friends from St Michael's while the big kids go to the Redwoods for their Cross Country Race. More information on this will follow.
*Writing - this week we will continue our learning around persuasive writing. The writing is coming along nicely now, I will get some more published work on the walls for you to admire. Check out the body cut outs hanging in the classroom. These stories are all about being the most amazing thing God created.
*Reading - I have completed the reading testing so this week we will be back to normal. We have some super duper readers in Room 13 and we are working hard to get those younger readers moving up the levels too. If you are not sure how to help your child with their reading or if you are worried you are doing the wrong thing, please let me know and we will work through it together.
*Mathematics - Miss Canning has been working with Group 1 for the last week and will continue her lessons for the coming week. I am working with Group 2 and 3 focusing on number patterns eg how many fingers make 5, how many counters make 5, how many different ways can I make 5, if I have 5, how many more make 6,7,8,9,10. This knowledge needs to be instant and will really help your child with problem solving. We will move on to 10 +..... and then adding 10 to solve problems. It is important they continue to practice these skills at home so any chance you get to quizz them (in the car, bath, in bed, waiting at the doctors) please do so.
R.E - we will continue our learning around God and his creations this week but will also look at the Ascension. I am a leader at Mass on Sundays for the children's Liturgy and it was lovely today to see Gabbi and Raigan there yesterday. Mass is a lovely way to consolidate the RE learning at school and also a big part of the reason you chose St Mary's for your child. It would be lovely to see more of our kids at Mass on Sunday.
Concept - our concept is Sustainability with a "God's Creation" focus. As we move through the term our focus will move from the creation story to Recycling as a way to ensure we take care of and respect the gifts God has given us. Please could you send some recycling along during the week. Cereal boxes, muesli bar boxes, yoghurt containers, glad wrap rolls etc would be most welcome. We will use them to sort into categories and then design and create a lovely piece of art work to see how some peoples trash can be another persons treasure. Reduce, reuse and recycle will be our mantra. Near the end of the term we will have an art exhibition where parents will be invited to come along and view the pieces of art. You may even get to take them home! LUCKY!
Thank you all for the amazing effort getting your children to school on time with good lunches and all they need for learning. Room 13 is a great community of learners and it is my pleasure teaching them.
Have a great week
Annie
Week 4, Term 2, 2015
Welcome back to another week of fun and learning in Room 13. This week we are looking forward to Gymnastics on Tuesday and Three legged races on Friday for Golden Time. We are also looking forward to getting Charlottes PE gear back. Please check your child's gear and ensure everything is named. The children simply do not recognise their own gear and the only chance we have of returning it to you is if it is clearly named. Remember, everyone dresses the same at St Mary's.
Here we go, week 4......
*Circle Time: Part of the Golden Time Behaviour Management Programme is Circle Time. This is when we gather (once a week) to discuss social issues that might be problematic in our classroom. Last week we discussed what a good friend looks like. The children have a really good idea of what a good friend is, however, usually that only applies to everyone else and they can't always see when they are not being a good friend. So, during circle time we discuss it, role play it and make some decisions about how we can show we are good friends in room 13. Circle time can be very powerful and has the power to sort out many social issues in the classroom. It is, however important to remember that as children grow and learn together, there are going to be rocky times. Please be patient as your child learns to deal with these issues themselves. All children are generally very honest and this can come across as being cruel. We need to equip them with the skills to deal with this "stuff" themselves. If we jump in and "fix" every little issue they have at school, they will never learn how to manage themselves. I can assure you, everyone in room 13 is very happy during the day and if there were any problems, I would certainly not hesitate in contacting you.
*Reading: We will continue with the last of the testing this week, as well as our regular reading programme. This week our more able readers will be working with Miss Canning. She will assist them in choosing their readers, carry out some guided reading with them and support them in their Independent Reading Programme. Lucky them!
*Writing: This week we will begin our unit on Persuasive writing - talking people into believing what we think. Following this learning, the children will be engaging in class debates. It helps them understand what argument is and that it needs to be supported with evidence and it is a lot of fun. I will attempt to video and upload the debates onto the blog.
*Mathematics: We will continue with our Number learning. At the moment we are working on problem solving and being able to discuss and explain what we have done to solve the problem. Most of the class are working on joining and separating sets by counting all the materials. Group one is working on counting on using 2 digit numbers and early part whole strategies. This means they are learning to see that numbers can be split to make it easier to add and subtract - very clever maths. Miss Canning will be carrying out 5 lessons as part of her teaching requirements, beginning later in the week. She will work with Group 1 for these lessons.
*RE: We will continue our God strand as well as incorporating the Maori Creation story of Rangi and Papa that we started last week. The children have some great ideas around creation and this week we will begin working on understanding our role as caretakers of God's creations.
*Golden Time this week will be 3 legged races. If you have any pantyhose at home that are no good, please send them in to school. Thank you to those parents who remembered their hard boiled egg last Friday. The races were great fun. It became apparent fairly early on that not all the eggs were hard boiled, but we had a great time nonetheless. It also became apparent who reads the blog!
*Thank you all for your ongoing support. It is great to see the kids develop their skills and practice at home is a huge part of that. Thank you also for your support in maintaining a positive learning environment at school. It is important to remember that I cannot manage 20 kids in the same way as you guys can with 2 or 3 kids at home. Your children are going to occasionally break the rules and there will be consequences for that. I have to maintain a strict programme of discipline in the classroom or no one would ever learn anything and that is why I am here... to teach them. It is great if you can check in with your kids at the end of the day and talk about expected behaviours with them. Ask them what went right or wrong and why and also discuss with them ways they can ensure they are a valuable member of their learning community.
Have a great week everyone
Annie
Week 3, Term 2, 2015
Hi everyone, welcome back to our third week. I hope you all had a great weekend, we were very busy. The week ahead will go as follows....
*Reading - this week I will be testing all the children. It is important to test the children's reading regularly so that I can ensure they are at an appropriate level but also so that I can ensure I am meeting their individual needs. Please ensure you continue reading with your child every day. They will be choosing from their rocket boxes for home reading for the entire week. If you find the book is too hard, please assist them by reading to them, reading with them and supporting them with the tricky words. If the book is too easy, tell them how clever they are and share a book that you have at home.
*Writing - this week we are rewriting the Creation Story from the bible. This writing is called Retell. Last week we painted a beautiful setting for the creation story. Check it out on the wall.
*Mathematics - we have a wonderful Maths specialist working with us in Room 13 and she has given us some great pointers on how to maximise the children's acquisition of maths knowledge, maths language and maths ideas. I will give you some pointers when we meet to discuss the maths programme later in the term.
*Religious Education - We are learning all about God and in particular the Creation Story. The idea is that we acknowledge that God created all living things and that people have made (out of the gifts God has given us) things that help us in our everyday life. The children have some great ideas in this area.
*This week and for the next 6 weeks, we will have GO4IT every Tuesday at 11am. This is a programme run by Sport Bay of Plenty to support the fundamental sports skills in Kiwi Kids. Please ensure the girls have shorts.
*This week we also welcome Miss Brooke Canning to our class. Brooke will be with us for 8 weeks and is in her final practicum before becoming a real life teacher. She will spend this first week getting to know the routines in our class and of course your lovely kids. Please make Brooke feel welcome.
*On Friday we will have egg and spoon races for Golden Time. Please send a hard boiled egg to school on Friday.
Have a great week
Annie
Week 2, Term 2, 2015
Hi all, here we are in week 2, following is the "stuff" you need to know this week....
*Tuesday @ 10am Anzac Liturgy in the Hall - all welcome.
*Also Tuesday a visit from our Student Teacher Brooke Canning. Brooke is an old girl of St Mary's and JPC and she will be spending a good part of Term 2 in our classroom on her last Practicum. Brooke will begin her placement on Monday 4th May, please make her feel welcome.
*Reading - we will continue our reading programme as usual with some extra help Monday - Thursday by Julie Stevenson, one of St Mary's most experienced teacher aides. Julie will be working with 3 of our children to accelerate their reading progress. If you are unsure of how to support your child at home with their reading, please let me know and I can help you with some strategies.
*Writing - this week we will be working on Autumn recounts. We will go an autumn walk, taking particular notice of what is happening as Autumn sets in and then we will write about what we saw. Our focus will be on using where, when, who, why, what and how to help us plan our recount writing so that we don't miss out any important parts. Keep your eye out for our lovely stories and art work on the walls.
*In Mathematics we will be working on numbers to 20 and in particular teen numbers being made up of 10 and some more and finding tens and ones in any two digit number. This is place value and it will help your children understand that numbers can be separated to make them easier to add and subtract.
*RE - we have started our strand on God and this will be our focus for the whole term. In particular we will focus on God as creator of living things. We will use this focus throughout the other curriculum areas such as Maths - Measurement, Science, Technology, Writing and Oral language. We will also learn about the Sacred Heart of Jesus in conjunction with the feast day later in the term.
*Golden Time - this week we will be making picture frames using pasta.
Have a great week everyone and remember to check the blog during the week as I often add to it as more information comes to hand.
Annie
Week 1, Term 2, 2015
Hi everyone and welcome back to another exciting and fun filled learning time in Room 13. Hopefully you have all had an awesome holiday with your kids and everyone is ready to get stuck into some great learning. It seems like the holiday has gone super fast but here we go for week 1.....
*Reading- hopefully everyone kept up the lovely reading in the holidays. This term the big kids will be on an independent reading programme where they are able to choose their own books and carry out activities particular to what they are reading. They will also have spelling homework each week and a test on Friday. The younger children will continue with our guided reading programme as well as shared reading using the big book, phonics, blends and word study. They will have a new group of sight words to learn every week. (not spelling, just reading words).
*Writing - in writing we will focus this term on both recount and persuasive writing. This is when the children try to talk their audience into believing what they think. It will work well with our Concept for Term 2. The children will be learning how to rework their stories and how to edit using their dictionary. Each child needs a dictionary that can be purchased from Office Max for around $4. "My Words".
*Mathematics - we will be continuing with Number Knowledge all through the term, this includes, counting, adding, subtracting, identifying numbers, putting numbers in order, identifying what comes before and after any number, what makes 5, what makes 10 etc. Our strand focus will be Measurement. We will look at capacity, volume and weight which will go very well with our Concept.
*Concept - this term we are learning about Sustainability. We will use God's Creation as the basis for this learning and will move into recycling - reduce, reuse and recycle. The learning will incorporate RE, science, technology, maths, reading and writing. We even have a trip planned for later in the term.
*Please continue to support your child with their classroom responsibilities. These include:
*carrying their own bag in and putting their book bag in the bucket
*putting the chairs down
*checking to see if they are the prayer team on duty and setting up the altar
*signing in and putting their spider on the web
The kids are all capable and love to get things done themselves but a gentle reminder is great.
*This weeks iPad monitor is Noah.
*This weeks bloggers Neela and Billie.
*This weeks Golden Time Activity is "dance party" - dance clothes please.
*Resurrection Liturgy Tuesday.
*Please keep up the great reading and comment in the Reading Log.
Have a great week,
Annie
Week 9, 2015
I am writing this as my husband yells in the other room at the Black Caps. My nerves won't allow me to watch the game. Not a great innings from our guys, hopefully they can pull it out of the bag in the fielding and bowling.
We have had a very busy weekend with fundraising, hockey tournaments, Palm Sunday Mass and catching up with friends. I am looking forward to a nice break beginning Thursday. The last week of Term 1, here we go.....
*This week the focus is obviously Holy Week. This is the most important time in the Catholic calendar and while it is exciting for the children to think about their Easter eggs on Sunday, I will be reminding them of the sacrifice Jesus made when he died on the cross and the special events leading up to Good Friday. Please encourage the children to talk about this at home.
On Wednesday we will re enact the Last Supper. Please send along the children's Jesus clothes on this day.
On Tuesday at 10 am we will have the Stations of the Cross and on Thursday at 10am the washing of the feet when Jesus showed his disciples that he was no better than them, but was there to serve them. These are both very special events in Holy Week.
On Thursday we will be creating some Easter craft and making Easter chocolates. Could all children please bring a boiled egg on this day.
*Assessments
We will be completing all assessments for Portfolios this week. These will come home in the second Term. It is not possible for me to go back and complete assessments when children are absent so please try to ensure children are at school each day.
*Absences
There have been some regular absences this term. It is very difficult for me to ensure the children continue to move forward in their learning if they are not at school. Please have your child at school every day unless they are unwell. Some children have many incomplete assessments that we simply cannot get done before the end of the term. Their learning is dependent on them being at school for instruction and you supporting and practising that learning at home. Even though they are only 5 and 6, they need to be at school every day. Thank you.
*There has been some wonderful learning and great bonding between the children this term. We are still focusing on kind words, kind hands and treating each other as we would like to be treated. Please encourage this and keep up the reading over the holidays. I will send home reading packs for the children in the lower levels these holidays. The older, more able readers can read books of their choice. Make sure you fill in the Holiday reading logs for some nice prizes in Term 2.
Thank you all for your support in Term 1. Have a blessed Easter and a wonderful holiday with your families.
See you in Term 2.
Annie
Week 8, 2015
What a gorgeous weekend we have had, a great opportunity to get into the garden and soak up the last rays of sunlight before Winter takes over. Hopefully you have all had a super weekend and your children are ready for some great learning as we head to the end of the Term. Here we go...
*Testing - this week I will test the children's reading levels. This means that they may not have read their book with me prior to bringing it home. Please support them by discussing the cover, walking through the book and checking comprehension at the end by asking them some questions about the story. I am pleased so far with the progress made in reading. Ideally, the children should move up a level every 3 weeks. Once they move beyond level 12, this may slow as we work on independent reading based activities and focus more on detail in the stories. If you are concerned your child is not where they should be, reading is the best way to become a better reader.
*Reading evening - thank you to the parents who attended this evening. Remember that these information evenings are for your benefit and ultimately the benefit of your child. The purpose of the evening is to help you help your child at home, with this in mind, an information sheet will be pasted into the poem book this week.
*Easter - the two weeks leading up to Easter are busy ones beginning this week with the donkey parade, rice day and our Liturgy on Wednesday. All children will need Jesus clothes this Friday and next week when we re enact the Last Supper. A dressing gown and tea towel are perfectly fine but if you do want to put together a Jesus outfit, it will get plenty of use over the next couple of years. Room 13 will lead the Liturgy on Wednesday, readers and children involved will bring information home on Monday.
*RE - this week the children's RE books will come home. Please go through the books and discuss the contents with your child. Incomplete worksheets indicate times when your child was absent from school. There simply isn't time for me to go back and re do lessons missed so the sheets are pasted in to show what we have been working on.
*Porfolio's - during the week we will be completing Portfolio Assessments on writing, Printing, Mathematics, Concept, RE, Maori Language, PE and Life Education. These Portfolio's will be sent home in Term 2 and are a great record of your child's learning at school.
Any further information will be added to the blog as the week commences.
This week Golden Time will be Wheels - bikes, skates and scooters can be stored in the cupboard upstairs. This activity is weather dependent.
Have a great week
Annie
Week 7, 2015
What a turbulent weekend we have had, hearing of the poor folk in Vanuatu and preparing ourselves for the onslaught of Cyclone Pam. Our prayers go out to the people affected in the Islands, hopefully aid arrives quickly. On a more positive note, I spent the weekend in Auckland with our oldest daughter where we attended the Eagles concert. Having grown up listening to songs like Hotel California and Long Run, it was a great trip down memory lane. I think Courtney was singing louder than Don Henley!
Here we go with week 7.......
*Reading Evening: This week on Thursday all parents are invited to a Reading Evening in Room 13 where I will demonstrate a reading session and give you some tips as to how you can help your child at home. It will not go beyond 6 pm and will certainly benefit those children who have not quite consolidated the skills and strategies around reading.
*On Thursday we have our second session in the Life Education Caravan with Bernie. Our first session on Thursday last week was awesome - the children talked about safety, healthy eating, energy and what it takes to be a good friend. It is pertinent to Room 13 at the moment as we are all forgetting at times what good friends look like and how to use kind words and kind hands. Please continue to encourage the children to share, treat others kindly and support each other in the classroom.
*This week we will not swim - remember we have moved our time to even weeks 2:30pm.
*RE: over the next few weeks we will talk about Lent, Easter and the death of Jesus on the cross. Please ask your children about what they are learning at school. It is so great if they can share their learning and you get the opportunity to take part in what is going on for them.
*Reading will continue as usual in the class this week. We are seeing some great success with many of the children moving nicely through the levels. I do try to push them along and encourage them to take a risk in their reading. Level 12 is the goal after a year at school and it is a big achievement. Keep up the great reading at home and remember:
*when they come across a tricky word, don't jump in too quickly. Give them the opportunity to use their strategies and have a go themselves before you help.
*let them use the picture as a cue and remind them to look at the beginning and end sounds of the word to figure out what it could be.
*reread the sentence to get fluency(smooth voice with no mistakes).
*Mathematics will be around number - counting forward and back, identifying numerals and the one that comes before and after, making and separating sets and finding the tens and ones in 2 digit numerals. We will begin our Portfolio assessments next week on Number and Strand Maths which this term has been organising, recording and displaying data.
*Writing: we will be carrying out a unit on recount writing which is a story about something we have seen, heard or experienced. We might write about our swimming lesson, a fun activity we have taken part in, a weekend experience, a great game or outing we have taken part in. The idea is to use past words, order ideas in sequence and include all the main parts of the experience. An example of this will be in the Portfolio.
*St Josephs Mass Friday at 9am.
*Lunchtime change - after careful consideration, we have decided to change the format of our lunch times. Children are in such a hurry to get out to play that they are not eating their lunch. Therefore, from Monday all children will play first and eat last. Please ensure your child has a hearty breakfast as they will be eating at 10:50am and 1:15pm from now on.
Hopefully everyone had a super weekend with their kids and we are all ready for another great week of learning in Room 13.
Annie
Week 6, 2015
Hi everyone and welcome back to week 6! The highlight for last week was of course the Gala. St Joseph kept the rain away for us and the evening was a huge success. The final amount will be announced this week as will the winners of the Pizza lunch for most Gala "stuff" brought from home. Thank you to all the parents of Room 13 kids who brought goods in - it really is your children who benefit from the efforts of the PTA with events such as the Gala.
The dental truck has been parked in our driveway this term and all your children will at some stage be called to have their teeth checked. Please check their book bags each night as they will bring home a form to sign which must be returned to the dental technician before any work can begin on their teeth.
This week we have Harold and the Life Education Caravan visiting. Yipee! This is always a high light for kids young and old (I mean me). Our visit this week will be on Thursday and our focus will be "All Together", investigating feelings, impacts of choices we make, empathy, differences and being unique and adapting to situations. We have chosen these topics to help the children learn about thinking before acting and understanding how what we do affects others. Please follow up on Thursday evening with a chat about what they have learned.
Last week I spent two days on a Literacy Course. Literacy is my passion and I believe in order to succeed at anything at school, we must have a good grasp on Literacy - spoken language, written language and reading. I got some great ideas and will be trying some of them over the next 4 weeks in Room 13. We will be having a slight shuffle around so swimming will now be in even weeks from 2:30pm.
As a result of a super discussion between myself and your children, it has become clear that I need to offer more opportunity for investigation, building, doing, finding out and having fun. So, Room 13 are going to be engaging in some cool Science learning over the next 4 weeks, beginning with glow in the dark jelly and sugar crystals. They are very excited and I am sure the lovely learning will inspire some great reading and writing too.
Keep reminding the children about kind hands and kind words please. We are all a bit tired at the moment and some of us are forgetting to think before we act. The Golden Rules is:
"We are kind and gentle" and if the rule is broken either in the class or outside, there will be consequences. If we are proactive and have high expectations, the kids don't have to learn the hard way and super fun activities like Golden Time are not missed.
There was no Assembly on Friday so there are no Super Kids to report. However, this week there will be 4 so keep reminding them what they have to do to be considered:
*eyes on the teacher
*hands to myself
*walking feet
*inside voices
*working hard
Reading is going well, however there are some children who have not yet consolidated their letter sounds. Knowing how each letter sounds is how your child will read and write in the early years. If they do not know the sound, they can not use that strategy in reading or writing and they simply will not accelerate in either area. Please help them achieve their goals by practising these at home. If your child does not have a phonics book in their book bag, let me know and I will give them one. Also, Jolly Phonics can be accessed via the internet and the songs are a great way for the kids to practice their sounds. Please let me know if you need any support with this. We do phonics every day at school, however it is essential, like anything, that they practice. Keep up the great home reading, the reading logs are awesome and please don't forget the word mountains pasted into their poem books. They need to be able to identify the words instantly in any order before they can move onto the next mountain. All of this is really important for reading, writing and maths believe it or not.
Mathematics will be moved to first thing in the morning this week rather than after lunch. It is very warm in Room 13 in the afternoon and the kids are tired so it is a very difficult time to teach. Focusing on maths first thing in the morning will certainly help. Remember our goal is to know instantly what makes 5, what makes 10, to be able to count to 20 and back for the younger ones and to be familiar with numbers and their value up to 100 for the more able kids. It is really difficult for young children to understand that maths is all around them and it is the same in any context so encouraging them to count out items in the groceries or practising basic facts in the car (if I have 3, how many more to make 5? etc) as you travel home is super important. It helps them see that maths is everywhere and it never changes. Board games are great as are card games for numeral identification, counting and seeing patterns (dice).
I hope you all have a wonderful week,
Annie
Week 5, 2015
Holy Moly, week 5 already and sadly, the end of Summer and beginning of Autumn. While Autumn is a beautiful season and does lend itself to some lovely writing and art activities, I just adore Summer and am always sad to see it go..... Ok, enough of that, onward and upward. Here is whats on this week.....
This week the big focus in on THE GALA! Please remember to bring in the gala goods so that Room 13 has a chance at the big prize. The Gala is on Thursday at 4pm. If you have not already done so, you can put your name down on the lists in the hall foyer for help on the day.
I will be out of the classroom on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. I am taking part in the ALL program which stands for Advancing Literacy Learning. We are all learners and just like anyone, I have to keep up with what is happening in education and find new ways to inspire and drive on my learners. Vicky Wibley will be in the class with the children and the program will continue as normal.
We are swimming every day this week at 12pm.
In writing this week we will be looking at the changes that occur in tadpoles as they become frogs. We will look at facts and examine the life cycle. Check out your child's lovely tadpole report, they are on the wire above my desk. In Room 13 we produce one piece of writing each week. Each day the writing is reflected upon and added to. This encourages the children to look back and think about what they can do better and it shows them that a story is not simply one sentence but a group of related sentences.
In Reading we will continue with guided reading and our class rotation comprising of activities around improving reading. Just to remind you, a child who has been at school a year should be reading Green or Level 12,13,14, a child at school 6 months should be reading Yellow or 6,7,8 and a child who has been at school 3 months should be reading red level 3,4,5. There is a colour wheel at the back of most books. Have a look and see if your child is where they should be. If not, more practice with reading, letters and sounds and words may be necessary. Any parents with children of concern will be contacted asap.
In Mathematics the groups lessons will continue this week. The kids have been split into 3 groups, triangles working at stage 2, circles working at stage 3 and Squares working at early Stage 4. This week the triangles will be focusing on identifying numbers 1-10 in and out of order, writing the numerals correctly, making sets up to 10, counting objects and joining and separating sets to 10. The circles will be doing the same with numbers to 20 and the squares will be looking at 2 digit numbers, their place value, how to add them cleverly as well as order and sequence them and count forward and back from any place. There is quite a variation in abilities in Mathematics so I acknowledge what the kids can do and we go from there, building the knowledge and applying it to problem solving.
In RE we will be investigating Caritas and the Phillipines and how we can help improve the lives of people less fortunate than ourselves.
Not all of my weekly notices will be this lengthy. I feel it is important at the beginning of the year for you all to know exactly what the learning is around and how you can help. If you have any questions about your child's individual learning, please email me at school.
Golden Time this week will be a scavenger hunt. Many thanks to Claud and Alex who came in on Friday with tasty donuts for a donut sundae. Yum, Yum, Yum.
Congratulations to Jacinta Low and Rosie Lucich who were the Super Kids for Week 4. Jacinta for always being ready for learning and Rosie for making great progress in reading. Well done girls, you are super stars!
Have a great week.
Annie
My new email is: annier@stmarysrotorua.school.nz
Week 4, 2015
Hi everyone, aren't the weeks flying by? Here we are in week 4 already. This week there are not a lot of extras and interruptions which is good because it gives us a chance to really sink our teeth into some great learning. This is what week 4 will look like....
*Reading - I have almost completed the Running Records or reading testing. The children are doing well maintaining a good home reading program and it is obvious in their reading at school. Remember, just like anything else, children will only get better at reading if they read. I do expect parents to put aside 10 minutes a day to read to and with their children. Here are a few pointers to help you maximise the learning during reading times:
-ensure the children stop at the cover and tell you what the story is about, what happens in the book, who the characters are and what the main idea is.
-point out any tricky words or names that your child may have trouble with, we don't want them to lose confidence trying to figure out words that are just too hard.
-ensure your child uses all the strategies when stuck. It is great if you prompt them with the strategy but please don't jump in too soon and give them the word. If you give them some wait time and remind them how to figure it out, they often will and they will be so proud of themselves.
*use the picture to help with a tricky word
*sound the word using alphabet knowledge - sound not name
*reread the sentence and see what would make that sentence make sense
*read on to the end of the sentence and go back to see what word would make that sentence complete
*listen for meaning - did that sound right to you? go back and have another go.
*chunk groups of letters then blend them together to figure out the word
Remember that reading is understanding and being able to talk about what has been read. It the kids are making mistakes and not hearing that it no longer sounds right, you need to draw their attention to the error and ask them to go back and have another read.
*Writing - we are well into our writing program in Room 13 and we have started to produce some good pieces. If you would like to help your child with writing, get them to write some letters to friends, emails, shopping lists or notes to family members. They need to get into the habit of underlining a word if it doesn't look right and writing several sentences on the same idea. We are always focusing on capital letters (at the beginning of a new sentence and for a name) and full stops to end an idea. This week we will be writing reports on tadpoles.
*Mathematics - During the past three weeks we have been learning how to play a variety of learning games and to move around our maths rotation independently. It is important the children can manage themselves in the classroom to optimise learing when they do not have my undivided attention. This week we will start our group based learning and our focus will be on number identification, counting forward and back and using this knowledge to help solve maths problems.
*RE - we have been talking a lot about Lent during the week. This week we will continue with some more on prayer and our relationship with Jesus and God. The children are all sharing very thoughtful and meaningful prayers at school, thank you for encouraging them to be like Jesus. We say thank you prayers, asking prayers (please God help me be....) and I am sorry prayers. We are also currently learning the Our Father and the Act of Contrition.
*Maori Language - the kids are great speakers of Te Reo with awesome pronunciation. At the moment we are doing the calendar daily as well as asking and answering questions in Te Reo. eg Kei te pehea koe ______? How are you today. Kei te pai (good), hari (happy), pouri (sad) and nge nge (tired). Everyone is getting really good at this. We will begin greetings shortly.
I would like to thank everyone for making such a fantastic effort to be at school by 8:30. Our morning routines are going very well (spider on the web, book bag in the bucket, signing in on the active board and prayer altar out on prayer day). The kids are very independent and it means I can focus on the really important stuff like catching up with parents and ensuring the learning is planned and organised for the day. Thank you all for the lovely comments in the reading logs too. Its great to see everyone enjoying the reading process.
This year I am the Year 0/1 Team Leader so I will have release time most weeks for this. We also have Classroom release time so if I am out of the class when you come to get your children, either Mary Kusabs or Karen Stephenson will be in the room. Our program will continue as usual and they will both bring the children downstairs at the end of the day to meet you.
Have a great week everyone
Annie
Week 3, 2015
Welcome back to another week in Room 13. We are all getting the hang of being a new learning community and starting to iron out the wrinkles. Please remember to support your child with their responsibilities and to show them how important school is by getting them here on time and signing off their reading every night.
Week 3 looks like this.....
*Leg it - Monday is our last day in this round of leg it. The Go4it team will be back later in the year to share some other physical education skills with us. From now on we will focus on team games like t ball and touch rugby and of course swimming. Remember we swim every day in odd weeks 1,3,5,7,9.
*RE - this week we will begin our preparation for Easter with the beginning of Lent. On Tuesday we will write Lenten promises (something we are going to try hard to do for the next 6 weeks) and then we will burn these to make the ashes for Ash Wednesday. There will be a Liturgy at the Church on Wednesday to celebrate the beginning of Lent. You are all welcome.
*Reading - I began testing the children last week with Running Records. These tests are individual and take time so please bear with me. The goal is to ensure each child is reading the correct level and I am aware of their specific needs. They may bring home a book they have chosen from their Rocket Box this week so please support them if it is tricky.
*Writing - Our writing program is going very well. All children are grouped now and every day each of them has some time planning their writing, some time with support from me and some independent writing time. You can support them at home by encouraging them to write letters to Grandparents, help write the shopping list and even write emails to friends or family.
*Mathematics - We have begun the year by focusing on what makes 5 and playing cooperative learning games, ie how to choose game, how to involve others, how to take turns and how to manage ourselves when things don't go our way. We will continue with this during Week 3 as well as testing so that I know exactly what the kids can do and where they need to go next.
For Golden Time this week we will have Malteser Races. The children do not need to bring anything for this activity.
Many thanks to those parents who came to the information evening on Thursday. If you have any concerns or queries please email me: annie@stmarys.rotorua.school.nz
Have a great week
Annie
Week 2, 2015
Hi everyone, welcome back to Week 2, another busy week of learning in Room 13. This week we have a few extras on so here they are:
*Leg it begins and will run daily until next Monday. It is part of the Go4it program run by Sport Bay of Plenty in schools and helps children with some of the basic skills around sport. Our class will have legit at 11am daily. If you can send the girls with some shorts that would be super.
*On Thursday we have our opening school Mass at 2pm. All parents and family are welcome to attend. Following the Mass we will have a class "Meet the Teacher" info session in our class. It will run from 3:05 and is an overall information evening. There will not be the opportunity for individual interviews, the purpose is so that everyone understands the expectations in Room 13 and the focus for learning for the term.
*This afternoon Mrs Kusabs will be in the class with the children as I am traveling to Auckland to pick up my daughter Georgia who has been in Africa for 5 weeks. I will be back Tuesday morning.
This weeks learning.....
Mathematics: We will continue learning about making 5 - that is the combinations that add up to make 5. This needs to be instant knowledge so practice at home is essential. Maths testing will also begin this week so that I can group the children appropriately.
Writing: we will be writing stories about things we like this week. "I like" will be our focus words as well as using our word card and alphabet sounds to figure out new words. All the Room 13 children need to know the alphabet names and sounds they make so we will be focusing on this during Literacy time. If your child has already consolidated this, we will focus on blends and then spelling.
*Reading; the children have been grouped and this week I will begin formal testing on them to ascertain their learning needs. Please bear with me and if your child brings home a book that is too easy or too hard, just use your common sense and either read it with them or share another book you have at home. Please sign the daily reading log in their poem book.
RE: we will continue with Prayer this week. What is prayer, where we pray, why we pray and who we can pray to.
This time of year is very busy and all the children are learning the expectations of Room 13. Please support them to be independent by encouraging and reminding but not doing for them. They are very capable and should be carrying their own bag, putting their book bag away, moving their spider and signing in when they arrive at school. It is important to keep in mind that there is only one of me so I rely on a level of independence in the kids. They are so awesome, it is amazing what they can do.
Have a great week
Annie
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