Week 4 Newsletter

Room 3 Class Newsletter

Term 3: Week 4                               15.8.14

Dear Parents and Caregivers

It’s hard to believe we are already at the end of Week 4! Teaching is such a wonderful job when you have a class as enthusiastic and excited about learning as Room 3. The children have made such fantastic progress in their learning already. We look forward to AJ and Henry joining us next week. Our class Library day will be Tuesdays from 10.30-11am, beginning next week. Year 0/1 children can issue one book per week.

On Monday I will be sending home a bag of high frequency sight words for you to practise and learn with your child. Once these words are mastered (ie. consistent, instant recognition) I will give you the words for the next level, and so on. Please keep these cards in your child’s reading folder and return them once mastered, at which point the next set wil be issued. More detailed guidelines will be included in the bag.

In writing we continue to focus on Fairy Tales. This week we began looking at ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. The children are learning how to use a Story Map to plan their writing. We have learned how to describe the setting and characters of a story. It’s great to see the children beginning to use some of the high frequency words they are learning in their writing.

In maths we have done a number of fun activities to help us identify odd and even numbers, leading on to skip counting in 2s. Ask your child about ‘Loud’ and ‘Soft’, the two puppets who helped us learn this concept. ‘Soft’ counts the odd numbers in a soft voice, alternating wiith ‘Loud’, who counts the even numbers in a loud voice.

As part of our Inquiry, ‘Change is Good’, the children were able to identify new technologies that have replaced old-fashioned methods for completing everyday tasks e.g. from open fire to heater, and from broom to vacuum cleaner. They completed fantastic drawings to illustrate their understanding. These are on display in the classroom.

The children have worked hard to practise their poems this week. We recorded each other on the iPads to identify areas for improvement and it has been great to see everyone’s confidence grow over the course of the week.

Our class competition will be held in Room 3, on Monday 18 August, at approximately 9.10am. Our judge will be our school Librarian, Lauren Bartram. Mrs Bartram is also judging Room 5, prior to coming over to us, so it is probable we may start a little later than 9.10am. Families are welcome to join us – it will be a short and sweet event!

Here’s hoping for a warmer weekend!

Kind regards

Cara Wallace

  
   Next week’s sounds/letters:       h  and   r

C is for Cookie

We had fun this week baking cookies for 'c' week. We are learning to work together as a team by taking turns, helping each other and communicating effectively. We must have worked together well, because they were delicious! Here is the recipe if you would like to try it at home:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

125g butter

½ cup caster sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 egg

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

1½ cups self-raising flour

1 cup chocolate chips

Method

1.         Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.

2.         Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Add flour and mix to a soft dough. Stir in chocolate chips.

3.         Place rounded spoonfuls of mixture onto lined baking trays. Bake at 190ªC (160ªC fan bake) for 8-10 minutes.

4.         Cool slightly before removing from trays to cool completely.

Room 3 Rockers

This week we have been working on creating rock guitars with unique designs in Art. Come in to the classroom to check out the finished results - they ROCK!

We love writing

At Reading time, Mrs Wallace puts out the whiteboards and we practise writing words from the Word Wall. We love it!

Gymnastics fun

This week we had two sessions of Gymnastics with tutors from The Christchurch School of Gymnastics. We had fun moving and stretching our bodies in different ways. Thank you so much to our parent helpers.

Junior School Poetry Competition Information

Over the next few weeks your child will be practising a selected poem to be shared with the class as part of the Junior School Poetry Competition. They can use a poem from home that they already know, a poem from their poetry book, a nursery rhyme (recommended) or any similar length poem.

On Monday 18 August we will hold our class poetry competition and three finalists from Room 3 will go through to the Junior School final, to be held on Thursday 21 August in the School Hall.

The criteria for judging will be:

·      Do I know my poem?

·      Do I make eye contact with the audience?

·      Do I use appropriate gestures?

·      Do I use expression and talk at an appropriate pace?

As we are the newest and youngest members of the Junior team, my aim is to keep this event fairly low key, placing greater importance on participation. Each individual will only be expected to participate at a level they are capable of and comfortable with. We will practise our poems in class during Oral Language time and it would be great if you could support your child with practice at home as well.

Parents are welcome to attend the class School Poetry competition. Date and time TBA.

Week 2 Newsletter

Dear Parents and Caregivers

We have had another fantastic week of fun and learning in Room 3. We welcomed Trey on Monday and look forward to Joey joining us this coming Monday.

The children have brought a great deal of enthusiasm to their reading and writing this week. I love their excitement when they recognise a sound or a word we have learnt. We continue to focus on one to one matching  in their guided reading. You can help develop this skill at home by encouraging your child to deliberately point to each word as they read i.e. ‘make it match’. In writing, we are focusing on hearing some sounds in words they are trying to write i.e. ‘sounding out’. The ability to do this is directly linked to their letter/sound knowledge, hence the value of the practice they do with you at home in their Aphabet books.

In maths, we have continued working on identifying the symbols and words for the numbers in the range 1-10 (and beyond) and counting forwards and backwards. We have also been practising forming the numerals 0-9 correctly.

Our trip to the Museum to explore the ‘Christchurch Street’ as part of our Inquiry was very succesful in stimulating the children’s thinking. Thank you Sarah, Abby and Alika for your invaluable help.  Our next step is to explore what school was like in New Zealand in the early 1900s, through photos. We will attempt to identify what is different and what is the same between schools of that time and schools today.

Room 3 are scheduled for Gymnastics sessions this coming Monday and Tuesday. Louise and Alika have kindly offered to assist us during these sessions.

It was lovely to see several of you at the Y0/1 Assembly yesterday. I have posted several photos of this week’s events, including Assembly, on the Room 3 blog. When possible, I will make my laptop available in the mornings for you to view the blog.

I am scheduled for a teacher release this coming Wednesday 6 August. Mrs Lillian Dowd will be teaching in Room 3 on that day. I will be withdrawing children throughout the day in order to complete School Entry Assessments, so will be available before and after school should you need to catch up with me.

Thank you for another fantastic week. Have a lovely weekend.

Next week’s sounds/letters:       p  and   n