Introductory Letter

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

I hope you have all had a wonderful holiday break  and were able to enjoy some family time.  This is a letter to welcome you and your child to Room 5, to preview some upcoming events and inform you of activities taking place in Room 5. 

Our school theme for Term 1 is  COOL LITERACY LEARNING.

We will be discussing what makes our up our language with origins of letters and words, alphabets, different languages and fun with words– all building the children’s vocabulary.
 Themes and Topics

The topics for Term 1 will be a short study on the Treaty of Waitangi for children to build an awareness of this document and the significance of the holiday. There will be a health unit on Cool Schools, focusing on individuality, working co-operatively and processes of mediation. In addition there will be a community study in which man utilizes the land, preparation for our camps on 1-3 April and ANZAC studies to complete the term. Our sport focus will be swimming, cricket and competing in triathlons. Notices will come out later on specific events.

Habits of Mind

Our classes will be focusing on Finding Humour, Listening with Empathy and Applying Past Knowledge. Humour will be developed during vocabulary building activities, and there will be an emphasis on listening to others effectively. Children will also use past knowledge when involved in E-learning, mathematics problem solving and formatting different writing genre.

Homework

Þ Reading

Þ Children will bring home a reading book each night. Please record books read in the reading log along with a supportive comment.  

* Basic Facts

* Children will be working on building their basic facts knowledge on a weekly basis.  There will be regular encouragement to learn mathematics rules at home.

à Spelling

à Spelling will be taken home daily with individual lists written in their note books. Please find some time to work with your child to practice their words.  Children should be able to read and write each word. 

In week one we will be discussing our classroom environment and how we can work and play safely by developing some simple rules and positive consequences.  These Behaviour Plan ideas will be collated and sent home in the following week so you can see the expectations the class have developed.

Please feel free to pop in at your earliest convenience to discuss any further aspects of your child’s learning. There will be further details of programmes as the year unfolds.

Kind Regards

Tony Chittenden