Thanks for the Kai!

Thank you to all who provided a plate for the shared lunch.  I appreciate that it is an extra effort for you, but I think that it served its purpose as most people seemed to enjoy sharing food with each other and sitting down chatting while they ate.

Discovery Time also began well, with everybody involved learning to work cooperatively.  There is definitely something to build on there, and perhaps even a chance for some parents to come in the future and share an activity with the class :)

Thanks again

Michael

Homework

As mentioned in the school newsletter - this supersedes the spelling homework entry in the previous Welcome Blog:

We will no longer be sending home a fortnightly homework grid; children are to be encouraged to become more independent when doing homework tasks, developing their ability to become self monitoring. Each week students are required to focus on daily reading and prac<sing maths basic facts using Mathletics or the Basic Facts Ladder activities, which can be found on the School Website. Please encourage your child(ren) to read for at least 20minutes each day. Children will be encouraged by their teacher to write regularly in their personal writing journals bringing these to school at least once each fortnight to share their work. Spelling words will not be sent home. The goals your child set in Term 1 are a good guide for home tasks.

Welcome back for Term 2

Hi all,

Welcome back all students to Room 20 for Term 2.  It's been a cold, wet, but great start!

This is just a quick overview about some of the things coming up for Room 20 in the first half of this term.

Curriculum Focus

Topic: Our focus topic is "Kitchen Science", which involves looking at physical and chemical changes by combining regular household ingredients.
Reading: We are going to be studying inference - the ability to "read between the lines".
Writing: We are going to be writing about the science experiments undertaken in our topic; we will be writing instructions, descriptions of observations, and explanations of why the observations occurred.
Spelling:  Root Words, Suffixes and Prefixes.
Maths: We are studying Measurement with Mrs McDowell, and Numeracy and 3D shapes with Mr Heyes.  We will be covering Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division and Fractions, depending on what the student's needs are.
P.E.: Cross country - Our school cross-country will be held in Week 4 or 5.  Further details will be posted.
Art: 3-dimensional drawing, looking at depth and perspective.  We are having a visiting artist to provide a tutorial in Week 2.

Spelling Words

In Room 20 I have introduced a Spelling Notebook system.  Each child has been given a spelling notebook.  Every Monday, they will choose 7+ words to learn for the week.  On Fridays they will be tested on those words.  If they get them alright they will earn progress towards a reward.  The spelling notebook should be taken home every day, and it should be returned the following day.  New words will be added to it as they come up in everyday learning.

Discovery Time

Another initiative Room 20 will be trialling is a "Discovery Time" every Friday afternoon.  During this time, the students will have free choice to engage in an activity that is available.  The activity might be technical, artistic, physical, but the main focus will be getting along, working cooperatively and managing themselves.  It is also partially a reward for good learning throughout the week.

Stationery

One other thing to remember is that quite a few students don't have all of the stationery they need.  Please have a chat to them about what they need to have at school.  I will give them a chance to speak to you about it.  If nothing comes out of that, I will send an email home with what they need.  It would also be very helpful if they could have a pencil case to keep their belongings in.  It can be frustrating when someone doesn't have anything to write with or some of the equipment they need to carry out day-to-day tasks.

Kiwiana Shared Lunch

Finally, to start the term off on a positive note, as mentioned in an earlier post, Room 20 will be having a Kiwiana themed shared lunch on Friday 10 May (Week 1).

Thank you, and, as always, feel free to contact me with any queries at any time.

Room 20 Kiwiana "Bring a Plate" Lunch

Hi,

On Friday 10 May (Week 1), Room 20 have decided to have a shared lunch as a welcome back to school and a chance for us to bond a bit for the term ahead.

Term 1 was a bit of a slog, so I wanted to start this term off on a more positive note, where we can share some food together and say our thanks for what has been brought in.

The lunch has a classic Kiwiana theme, and we will try and arrange a balance of sweet, savoury and healthy options.  Your child will let you know which they have volunteered to bring in. I know this is a bit of an inconvenience for you, but I would appreciate it very much if you could help out.  Also, bear in mind that, in a shared lunch, a little goes a long way!

Children should still bring their lunchboxes to school with their morning tea.

 Thanks,

Reading Eggs

Hi all,

We currently have a one-month trial set up for the website www.readingeggs.com.  Room 20 will be using it for Reading homework over the next four weeks.

This website works similarly to Mathletics, but is focused on reading, writing, spelling and grammar.

It is particularly good for reading, where you can complete learning activities based around reading comprehension and read a large range of books from the online library.

There is also a place where students can race against the computer or other people for spelling and grammar.

Each student has an avatar (of course!) that they can change.  They use this avatar to navigate the site, where the goal is to collect as many golden eggs as possible.  These golden eggs can be traded for goodies within the site, which can be bought from the mall, and are kept in the apartment.

Each student has a sequence of targets to achieve on the site.  Please encourage your child to work through these targets as it should help with their reading.  Also encourage them to read the texts carefully to get the most out of the site.

If you can, take some time to look at the website with your child.  If you like it, let me know and I will fee it back to the management staff.

Technically, this site was designed to run on the Google Chrome browser, so if you do experience any issues, you could try installing Chrome, which is free, and running it on that browser.