Dear
Parents,
Welcome
to Term 2, I hope that you all had a lovely Easter. Term 2 is shaping up to be
another busy, action packed term.
Please
find below some useful information about the coming term.
ICT
Firstly,
some exciting news…over the next couple of weeks Haumoana School is ‘going
digital!’
Room
7 are very excited as this week we are having a 50” television screen installed
in our classroom, along with Apple TV and numerous ipads (a ratio of 1:2 ipads:children).
This will bring learning alive in our classroom - we can’t wait to get busy
with all the new equipment!
Portfolios
I
hope you enjoyed looking through your child’s portfolio. Thank you for all the
supportive and encouraging comments that you wrote on your child’s goal sheet.
If you haven’t done so yet, please take a minute to write a comment and ensure
all portfolios are returned to school this week so we can add to them
throughout the term.
Topic
/ Unit Study
Our
school focus this term is “Going Global”. Each class will be learning about a
different country and their culture. Room 7 will
be focusing on Australia. We will be making comparisons between life in Australia
and New Zealand and Maori and Aboriginal culture. If you have any books,
resources, photos or artifacts that you think might be of interest we would
love to see them.
We
will also continue to implement the Cool Schools Peer Mediation Programme. This
proactive programme teaches essential life skills for peaceful conflict
resolution.
Class
Trip
On
22 May (Tuesday Week 3), Room’s 7 and 8 will be going on a trip to the
Aquarium. A notice giving more details will come out nearer to the time but
please save the date as we would love you to come along and join us.
Home
Reading
Home
reading is well underway and the children will continue to bring home something
to read and discuss with you each night. This may be a new book, a familiar
book they have chosen to re-read, their own published writing or their poem
book on Fridays. Please remember to write in your child’s reading log each
night. Poem books can be recorded in the reading log on Fridays.
The
Magic Castle Book
The
Magic Castle books have been a resounding success. It has been wonderful to see
how motivated and excited the children are about the challenges; our castle is now
so full we need to upgrade! Thank you for your wonderful home support it makes
a huge impact on the children’s learning. I am so impressed with the children’s
attitude and progress. I will continue
to test the children on a daily basis. Due to popular demand I have now created
book 3 and 4!
Basic
Facts
All
the children have a basic fact book that they bring home each night. This term
the children will be tested on a weekly basis in class. As a parent myself I understand the pressures
of balancing work, home life and after school activities but spending ten
minutes a night going over the children’s basic fact homework can make a big
difference to their learning. Keeping it fun and making activities into a game
can help to alleviate some of the pressure. You could try making simple flash
cards, memory or matching games with pairs to 10 or basic facts or using
ipads/computer games (i.e. Studyladder).
Library
Our
Library day is still on Friday. The children will bring home two library books
each week. These will need to be returned to school by Thursday.
Named clothing
Please name
all of your child’s school uniform (with a permanent marker). It makes
it much easier for items to be returned to your child if they are mislaid.
Finally,
thank you for your support. I am looking forward to another exciting term of
learning with your children.
Kind
regards
Helen
Benson
