It's great to be back at school again and hard to believe that we are already into our third week. The children were thrilled to see that the bulbs they planted earlier in the year are already flowering in our butterfly gardens. It was lovely to meet lots of parents at the end of the term during the parent and teacher conferences. We hope you have a clear picture of what your child is learning and that you enjoyed seeing their work samples in the learning journey folder. Please return these if you have not done so as yet. If you have any other questions about your child's learning please do not hesitate to ask your child's teacher.
We are delighted to welcome Miss Jessica Savage to our Junior Team. She is teaching our newest children in room 16.
Our Junior Team has planned some really exciting and varied learning experiences for the students.
Our Inquiry is well under-way with the Olympic Games having already begun. Our inquiry entitled 'Faster, Higher, Stronger - A study of the Olympic Games' will involve the students learning about what makes someone a champion and the Olympic values which are Joy of Effort, Fair play, Respect for others, Pursuit of Excellence and Balance of Body, Mind and Character. The big idea encompasses these and ensures that the children understand that people from many countries get together to play games and celebrate friendship and sporting achievement every four years. They have been making comparisons between the ancient Olympics and the modern Olympics and identifying the New Zealand flag, our National Anthem, the Olympic symbols and understanding many different sports as part of this. There will be an opportunity for them to take part in our own school mini Olympics later in the term.
The Olympic Museum Gallery at TSB Arena, Queen's Wharf in Wellington is well worth a visit. It is open Sunday to Friday (closed Saturdays) from 10 am to 4 pm. It is free, although donations are welcome. Go for a visit and see if you can find Mr Bird's name and number on the Olympian's honours board.
The Ned Show is coming up this week. It is an acronym meaning Never give up, Encourage others and Do your best which reinforces these values. It uses yo-yos which will be available for the children to purchase.
Our focus in writing this term will be innovations and recounts. The children will be learning how to sequence events and add interest to their stories by using adjectives and similies. They will be focusing on the correct use of capital letters and full stops and also the editing process. Spelling programmes continue along with the spelling rockets for homework.
Mathematics will continue on a daily basis with the strands involving the introduction of money and length as well as continued exposure to the Number knowledge and strategies in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The children will continue to do the Mathletics programme to practice each of these areas for homework.
Reading books each night and a weekly poem on Friday will continue. Those children in Year 0 and 1 who are reading at Level 4 or above will also have a reading rocket as part of their homework.
Our Visual Art topic for this term is mixed media. The children will be using a variety of media in their art works and learning how to follow a process to create layers.
We are looking forward to the second part of the term when we will be focusing upon the Performing Arts. Every child will be taking part on stage in our Production during week 10. Planning for this is well under-way and you will receive more details closer to the date.
The children will be an audience to a show coming to school this Thursday about food and later in the term will be going to Wellington to watch the Musical Stars show.
Our Physical Education focus will be gymnastics, large ball skills and skipping. For the first seven weeks on Thursday afternoons, all children will be part of a team mixed up with years 0, 1 and 2 and will be learning a variety of large ball skills. Gymnastics will be weekly in the hall for the first four weeks while we will have 'skipping September' later on with the children learning a range of skipping steps using ropes. Jumpjam will be on Tuesdays for the first four weeks while the gymnastics equipment is set up on the other days and will be back to Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays from week 5. Year 0 and 1 children are doing Perceptual Motor Programme activities for fitness on the other days of the week. These involve movement to music, happy sticks and bean bags. The year 2's are learning new Jumpjam routines to teach us later in the term. When we have Jumpjam, parents and caregivers are very welcome to join in with the children and do the routines too.
Kapahaka continues for the first five weeks each Tuesday. The children have been learning waiata, poi, some games and te reo. Last week was Maori Language week and we were learning how to say the second longest place name in the world "Taumata-whakatangihanga-koauau-o-tamatea-turi-pukaka-piki-maunga-horo-nuku-pokai-whenua-ki-tana-tahu" and find out what it meant.
The parent information sessions have been very well attended. I hope you have found them helpful. The last one will be tonight on Mathematics. It will be in room 3 at 7 pm. Please come along and find out how much fun maths is for your child and some ways you can help them at home. If you have not been able to come to the sessions and would like the handouts please email me.
Mathletics and Reading Eggs are proving to be very popular with the children. If your child is new to school either near the end of last term or this term I will be sorting out their Mathletics details on Wednesday. If you would like a school subscription to Reading Eggs until February 2013 please send your $10 along to the school office.
We have had lots of children absent already this term due to illness. Please keep them at home until they are well. They may like to practice their spelling, reread their home reading book, learn their reading rocket words or do Mathletics and/or Reading Eggs if they are feeling a bit better but still not well enough to come back to school.
Each class has a blog. Please have a look at what has been happening in our Junior School and feel free to write a comment on the learning that you see. The children love to read these.
Have a lovely week!
Kind regards
Maureen Buckley
Deputy Principal
buckley@muritai.school.nz
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