Term 2, Week 1

Hi folks,

Welcome back to school for Term 2!  I trust you've all enjoyed some quality time with the kids and that you are happy to send them back to school to me tomorrow.

Learning Focus' for Term 2
For Literacy this term we'll be focusing on Narrative writing.  There'll be investigations into language features in our reading and we'll be planning and writing narratives to be published.
Maths will have a focus on Multiplication and Division and our strand will be Geometry - position and orientation.
RE Strands covered will be Prayer, Sacrament and God
Our big idea for the term is Living in Harmony which will be covered through student Inquiry.

ALiM
We have been lucky enough to receive funding to have an ALiM (Accelerated Learning in Mathematics) programme run at school this term.  I will be teaching 2 focus groups for this.  During the afternoons from Monday to Thursday while I get release to teach this,  Mrs Bennett will be teaching in Room 5 for 1 hour each afternoon.   I am excited to have the opportunity to teach small group Maths to a small group of students.

Ski Camp
Ski Camp will happen next term from August 21-25.  As we stay at the Vincent Ski Hut and accommodation is limited the class will be split into 2 groups -  Year 5 will ski from Monday to Wednesday and Year 6 will ski from Wednesday to Friday.  Keep an eye on the blog for a meeting date around week 4 of this term to discuss the camp and get some initial planning/parental support etc underway.

Homework
Please ensure reading happens daily with your child.  Spelling homework will come home and this term with a focus on Multiplication/Division for Maths I'd like to hear feedback that the tables are being practised at home.  At our house I encourage Sophia to begin by choosing a table she is working on and then just skip count - 4, 8, 12 ...48 to familiarise the brain with the numbers in the 4 x tables.  Saying, writing, testing for a few minutes each day will help the facts to stick.  I suggest picking one table - like the 4's - and just focusing on that until the answers are remembered.
Usually 2's, 5's and 10's a learned first, followed by 3's and 4's and then 6,7,8 and 9s.   A maths worksheet will come home every week.

Have a great week everyone.

Mrs Lyon

FYI - camp and police vetting forms

To all parents wanting to be considered for a school camp - either this year or sometime in the next 3 years (the length of time the vetting form covers)  from July this year there will be a processing fee of around $10 to get this form filled out.  If you are considering putting your name down to be a camp parent, now would be a good time to get the form sorted with no fee attached.

Term 1, Week 10

Sunday 1st April.

Hi all,

The focus for this week at school will be preparing for Scripture Reading Eisteddfods and also some statistical investigations.   If you click this link it'll take you to the Statistics part of the Digital Learning Objects on the nzmaths website - here to support your child's learning.

Eisteddfod - Scripture reading.  Please help your child if they need assistance with this.  Remind them to think about clarity of voice, pace and volume.  Reading to the punctuation will take a little practice. The scriptures can be anything taken from the bible.  A parable, a psalm or a gospel reading.  When introducing their scripture it is expected your child will have an explanation as to why they chose the particular reading.  Where is it found?  Why is it important to them? What is the message?  Following this, the children read their excerpt and conclude with 'The Gospel of the Lord" or "The word of the Lord."
The scripture reading should take 2-3 minutes.
The presentations in the church will be on Thursday 13th April.

Remember that school is closed for TEACHER ONLY DAY on Friday!

Have a great week everyone.

Mrs Lyon