Term 3 newsletter

                                                                                                                                   28 July 2016                                          

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Welcome back to Term three. A special welcome back to Harry K who joined Room 10 mid-way through last term. I hope you all managed to have a relaxing break and enjoy all the lovely weather we had.

Topics - Our  Topics this term are Our Fantastic Elastic Brain and Material world for Science later in the term. The maths interchange between the Year Three and Four continues with the classes working on fractions, proportions and ratios, number knowledge and strategy along with problem solving. For writing, the children will be working on ideas, structure/vocabulary, punctuation and sentences. In reading the main emphasis will continue to be the five important strategies needed to help understand what we read.

Home Learning - This continues in the same format as last term. The most important part of  Home Learning is the reading, as we are really trying to foster the love of reading with your children. If you need any advice or help with this aspect please contact me.  

Library - Our library day is Friday. This is an important aspect of our literacy programme and books need to be changed frequently. A library bag is essential to transport the books to and from school.

Class Blog - The class blog is a great way of seeing what is happening in the class. We enjoy getting comments from home and try to update it at regularly as possible.

Sport - We are having Mainland Football and Lynn from the Tennis Club coaching the children in the respective sports.

Parent Help - Parent help is always appreciated. If you can help with anything- reading, maths, cleaning, putting away books, class trips- please let me know.  

Bits and Bobs - At some stage through the year could you please donate a box of tissues for the class to use if you have not already done so. We are going through the ones that have been donated.

Dates to Note -

Book week 5-9 September

Science Fair 6.00pm Thursday 15 September

Thank you for your support.      

Robyn Lean- Class Teacher

Bird feeders, worm farms and Kaitiakitanga

This term we have been learning about Kaitiakitanga or Guardianship. We have made bird feeders, designs for magnetic cars, and worm farms as part of our innovation and technology topic. 

Bird feeders, worm farms and Kaitiakitanga

This term we have been learning about Kaitiakitanga or Guardianship. We have made bird feeders, designs for magnetic cars, and worm farms as part of our innovation and technology topic. 

Jack's Famous Fudge

Awesome recipe Jack! We loved it.

Mindfulness and yoga session by Room 10

Today we listened to our feelings and our heartbeat. We did some concentration and we imagined stuff. We looked at the candle of concentration. We also did some stretching and we did some dancing. We went crazy with yoga. We lay down on our mats and we closed our eyes. Indy fell asleep. We had an adventure in our mind and gave ourselves a massage. If you're wondering who we did all this with, it was with Erica and Johanna, our yoga teachers. 

If you'd like some more information you can go to www.mindfulmover.com

The Awesome Autumn

We went for an Autumn walk around school, collected some leaves, and wrote some Autumn poems. Here's a mixture of our thoughts...


It is the smell of the damp Autumn nights when you snuggle up next to the fire.
It feels like snuggling up next to a fire-bed under the stars in a sleeping bag on a cold Autumn night.
A gust of wind fills my face with joy. It makes me want to laugh.
Autumn is the sound of sweet little birds chirping and leaves crunching under my feet.
Autumn looks like it has been dipped into fire, orange juice and sun-beams, and divided into three colourful teams.
Autumn is a breeze of wind blowing colourful leaves into the mist.
The leaves rustle below my feet and the tweet of a bird passes by.
Autumn is the smell of fresh grass.
Autumn smells like sweet wooden fresh leaves.
The Autumn feels like rough crunchy leather in the ears of a daschund.
It's the time of year where the leaves fall from the gust of the wind.
Autumn is the sound of leaves crunching and the wind blowing.
It smells of the lovely goodness of nature.
The Autumn leaves crunch under my feet as I run over them.
As I slowly walk over a path I hear the sudden crunching of leaves underneath my feet.
Autumn is the smell of burning black firewood crackling in front of me.
All the trees are waving in the wind.
I see the rippling water of a lake.
It's the feeling of the cold breeze against your face.
Autumn is the season where leaves fall softly.
Wind filling your feet with leaves.
It's the time when you snuggle up by the fire with a blanket wrapped around you watching tv.
Autumn feels like colourful leaves around me and grass swishing on my feet.
I love Autumn because all of these things will be very proving.

The latest happenings!

We've had a few exciting things happening in the last week. Last Monday we had an engaging music performance from Bob Bickerton, showcasing traditional Maori instruments. We went to the museum on Wednesday and we also had our Cross Country last Friday. What busy children!

 

Welcome Back to Term Two

Welcome back to Term Two. I hope you all had relaxing holidays. The children have been enthusiastically getting into their learning this week which is great to see.

Topics - Our  Topic this term is around the Cultural Narrative of our area. We will be having a trip to the museum next week to investigate Maori Technology. The  maths interchange between the Year Three and Four continues with the classes working on number knowledge and strategy along with problem solving. For writing the children will be working on ideas, punctuation and sentences. In reading the main emphasis will continue to be the five important strategies needed to help understand what we read.

Home Learning - This continues in the same format as last term. The most important part of the Home Learning is the reading, as we are really trying to foster the love of reading with your children. If you need any advice or help with this aspect please contact me.

Library - Our library day is Friday. This is an important aspect of our literacy programme and books need to be changed frequently. A library bag is essential to transport the books to and from school.

Class Blog - The class blog has been popular this year. We hope to include more samples of children’s writing and work this term. Please check this regularly for notices also.

Parent Help – Room 10 will appreciate some parent help particularly with reading groups and putting reading books away. Please see me if you are able to help. Reading will usually be after morning tea on Monday through to Thursday, so help would be required for an hour at this time.

Bits and Bobs - At some stage through the year could you please donate a box of tissues for the class to use if you have not already done so.

Dates to Note

9th May- Bob Bickerton Music Performance, 11^th May- Museum trip, 13th May- Cross Country-pp 17 May, 2 June- School Hangi, 15 June- Mindfulness Yoga session, 21 June- Matariki Show, 28 and 30 June- Learning Conferences

Thank you for your support.

Robyn Lean – Year 3/4 Class Teacher

Reimagining Learning with Roof Gardens

Imagining Roof Gardens and a Green School

Our designs and models are coming along brilliantly. The children are working hard. Special thanks and farewell to our wonderful intern Kate MacDonald for her support and awesome teaching this term. Come along on Thursday 7th between 6pm-7pm to see the finished products and also get a look at the designs in the other classes. Enjoy!