Haumoana School – Room 1 Newsletter, Term One
3 February 2014
Dear Parents and Guardians
Welcome to 2014 in Room 1!!!
I’m sure you and your children have had happy holidays and are eager to
start a new year of learning. We will
initially be working on developing the routines of a new class, focussing on
the Habits of Mind Finding Humour and
Using Past Knowledge in New Situations.
The reading books your children bring home in the first few weeks may be easy,
as we work on establishing these routines and I get to know the children. These are a few notes to help your child
settle in…
Brain Food – Each day starts with a healthy snack
and milk to help activate the brain. The
snack should be fresh fruit or vegetables or plain crackers and
cheese. Please cut larger pieces of
fruit such as apples into manageable segments that can be consumed in a short
time. No packets or sweet biscuits. Morning tea is eaten while the teachers read
to children. I ask that they choose
something that does not have commercial packets as the noise is difficult for
children to hear over as the wrappers crackle.
I encourage them to bring a bottle of water to the classroom and
have this available throughout the day.
It is essential to keep the brain functioning well. Please name bottles clearly.
Stationery – Please forward your stationery order
forms as soon as possible. Just a note
about fancy items of stationery – the junior school policy is to not use
rubbers in general written work. I allow
them to use a rubber on occasions when errors are made in published work. For this reason, all rubbers are kept in a
class pool and given out as necessary. Please keep fancy items at home. It also saves worries about loss or damage of
these items. Coloured pencils may be
used, but we do not require felt pens.
Sport – During the first few weeks of term our PE programme is
aquatics (swimming). The few weeks we
have available to learn to swim are crucial.
It is expected that your children bring togs every day. Even though some mornings may be colder it
often turns out hot enough to swim in the afternoon. If there is a medical reason why your child
cannot swim please write a note in the homework book (or see me).
Swimming Demonstration – A date will
soon be set for you to come and see what we have learnt.
Topic Studies: This
term our topic is ‘Cool Literacy Learning’.
We will explore WORDS in all areas of learning. Reading, Writing, Maths, Art etc. Our aim is
to increase the vocabulary in an effort to accelerate understanding and
skills. Ask your child each day what new
word he/she has learned. Two Habits of
Mind - Finding Humour and Using Past Knowledge in New Situations will
be the big ideas woven into everything we do.
Great Habits to set the tone for the year! Thinking Hats and Thinking Maps will feature
strongly in all areas of learning too. A
Writer’s
Notebook will be used to generate ideas for writing. Please encourage your child to bring along
items of interest to glue in e.g. photos of pets, holidays, special events;
newspaper articles of personal interest; tickets for rides, movies etc. Even interesting words or phrases that you
come across that could be used in their writing.
Homework
Each week there will be a homework sheet that should not
require more than 20 minutes each night.
☺
The spelling list comprises of 5 words
taken from the essential lists, children’s own writing, or senior levelled
lists, and 5 words using the Chunk of the Week.
I expect children to be learning these words by following the chart that
is glued into their books. Please
encourage them to learn words
before being tested. Using colour to
practice with is a very good way to aid memory.
☺
They
will have a reading book taken from
either the browse box (easy books at a lower level) or from the guided teaching
session (more challenging) each day.
Please remember to record the date, title and a comment about the
content of reading. This could be
related to what your child already knows about the topic, what he/she has
learnt, what surprised, frightened, worried or made him/her laugh. “Good Reading
☺
Basic Facts must be learnt each day. Last year’s notebook will be continued and a
new one started upon its completion.
Please send along to school as soon as possible if you have it at home. See more notes on this in the Basic Fact
book.
☺
I have set up an online activity site (Study
Ladder) for children to work on, at their own pace. A separate letter will explain this. There will be time at school for working on
this too, so if you do not have access to the internet do not worry. It is optional!
☺
Sometimes
there will be a topic task, which is
optional but of course will benefit your child’s learning if undertaken. Let me know if it is too much.
☺
We
also look at Habits of Mind and
other Thinking Tools (Thinking Hats, Thinking Maps, and Thinker’s
Keys). Please discuss your child’s
learning with them and ask about their ways of thinking.
☺
Poem
books will be sent home on a Friday.
Please ensure these are returned on Monday.
Finally, if there is anything you are unsure of or that is
worrying you, or you have something to celebrate please do not hesitate to email,
call in or phone to make an appointment to discuss these matters. Also, it is helpful to know when
circumstances in your family change so that I can be aware of unusual behaviour
etc. (e.g. new family member, parent
away for extended time, pet died, etc.)
Also, please use the homework book as a communication book. It saves losing notes. Feel free to email me on sue@haumoana.school.nz or text
0276365636. It may be easier to email or text if your child will be absent or
late, too. I don’t mind – and it saves
us having to chase up where your child is.
Please contact us every day your child is away – even if your child is
sick for several days. This is for
security purposes and sometimes the reason changes! They might be sick the first day but then
need to go away for a family funeral/holiday etc. Thank you.
Here’s to a FANTASTIC year!
Sue Jensen
Teacher – Year 3.
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