Kia Ora Whanau,
We hope that you and your family have had a great break over the past two weeks. We have been very spoilt with the weather and it is hard to believe that we are in the midst of winter. Let's hope this wonderful weather continues. It was great to see the children so happy and refreshed after their break. We all had a wonderful first day back.
This term will no doubt be another busy one, especially as it is only 9 weeks long. One of the main focuses this term is on, 'The Arts' with the children creating their calendar art and working towards a performance at the end of the term.
This term will no doubt be another busy one, especially as it is only 9 weeks long. One of the main focuses this term is on, 'The Arts' with the children creating their calendar art and working towards a performance at the end of the term.
Parent Help
We would love to have continued support in our key areas of Reading, Writing and Maths during this term. The parent helpers last term proved to be invaluable with the work they did with individual students. It has been wonderful to see the children excited about working with parents and the progress they are making as a result.
Our Parent Tutor Reading is one of our success stories with the children making wonderful progress in developing their reading fluency. This has been as simple as parents listening to children as they read! If you would be keen to offer your support, we would welcome you with open arms! Please let your hub teachers know if you are free to parent help. Anytime, any day!
Our Parent Tutor Reading is one of our success stories with the children making wonderful progress in developing their reading fluency. This has been as simple as parents listening to children as they read! If you would be keen to offer your support, we would welcome you with open arms! Please let your hub teachers know if you are free to parent help. Anytime, any day!
Stationery
There are some children who need to replenish their stationery, mainly pencils, pens and whiteboard markers. This week your hub teacher will send home a list of items if your child needs any.
Home Learning
There are some children who need to replenish their stationery, mainly pencils, pens and whiteboard markers. This week your hub teacher will send home a list of items if your child needs any.
Home Learning
This term, home learning will continue to include reading (15mins each night), maths (MMM) and spelling (6 words to be tested each night). Your support with these basics is essential. Home learning has came home today.
We have been fortunate to be able to offer more options this term in M.A.D. Time. We have had parents keen to offer their skills and time to support this part of our programme. We are after some items for these new options: socks for sock puppets, bottle tops, buttons and newspapers. Please send them into school if you have any at home that you are happy to donate.
PE and Sport
Our main P.E. focus this term is learning about gymnastics. During this unit, the children will explore different static and locomotor movements, rotations, balances and landings. Sport will continue each Friday. The children have selected a sport they wish to pursue from the following choices: basketball, football, touch rugby and netball. During these lessons the children are learning the required skills for the game, the rules and how to work as a team.
Inquiry
This term our inquiry focus is centred on answering the following questions:
What does it take to be an Olympian and can we all be 'Olympians' in our own right?
What is the impact on people, places and the environment when the Olympics are on and how do people cope with these changes?
During this inquiry, the children will learn about different countries in our 'Australasian neighbourhood' and identify similarities and differences. We will explore the challenges faced by Rio citizens and how people cope with these changes. At the end of this term, we are going to put on a performance in the hall that will show case this learning.Reading
Good readers are active readers. When your child has a hard time understanding what she reads, instruction can help. For the first two weeks of the term, we will be having a focus on developing the reading strategies of:
QUESTIONING
This strategy involves readers asking themselves questions throughout the reading of a text. The ability of readers to ask themselves relevant questions as they read is especially valuable in helping them identify main ideas, and summarise information. Asking the right questions allows good readers to focus on the most important information in a text.
You can help at home by asking:
"What is this story about?"
"What does the main character want?"
"Will he/she get it?" "If so, how?"
Even after reading, engaged readers still ask questions:
"What is the meaning of what I have read?"
"Why did the author end the paragraph (or chapter, or book) in this way?"
"What was the author's purpose in writing this?"
MAKING CONNECTIONS
Children make personal connections with the text by using their schema. There are three main types of connections we can make during reading:
Text-to-Self: Refers to connections made between the text and the reader's personal experience.
Text-to-Text: Refers to connections made between a text being read to a text that was previously read.
Text-to-World: Refers to connections made between a text being read and something that occurs in the world.
You can help at home by:
1. Helping your child to make text-to-self connections. As them how they feel about a situation in the book or wha they would do if they were a character in the book.
2. Help them to make text-to-text connections. For example,ask them: What other stories have you read that talk about going on a trip?
That's all for now. We hope you all have a wonderful week ahead.
Kowhai Teaching Team
That's all for now. We hope you all have a wonderful week ahead.
Kowhai Teaching Team