Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Hello and Welcome to Term 2! The children have had a great start to their learning and are very calm and settled at school. It is hard to believe that three weeks have already flown by! Before assembly last Friday we had a powhiri for our newest students and staff. We hope that they will enjoy their time at Muritai. A warm welcome is also extended to those families, who are new to our Muritai Junior school.
Science is everywhere!
We celebrated National Primary Science week in the first week of the term. As a whole school we went out to our field to watch the launch of a rocket. Please have a look at the different classroom blogs to see what happened or ask your child to explain. Since then we have involved the children in lots more hands on experiences related to Science. This term they will cover aspects of sound, magnetism and electricity. Ask them to share their discoveries with you.
"Hooked on Books"
Thank you very much to all those parents who have been listening to children read as part of the Hooked on Books programme. We do appreciate the time that you are giving up to support the children in their efforts.
Reading
Sometimes parents do not know what to do when their child is learning to read. Please do not hesitate to ask your child's teacher if you are unsure. One way to help is to build up the letter sound knowledge of your child. The sooner a child learns all the sounds that are associated to the alphabet letters the better as this speeds up their progress in reading, writing and spelling. The following are some suggestions or prompts that you could use to help while listening to your child read.
1. Questions to use when your child is attempting to use strategies to work out unknown words
* Why did you stop?
* What did you notice?
* Try that again and think what would make sense and look right?
* Think about the picture
* What does it start with?
* It could be but does it sound/look right?
* You said .......does that sound/look right?
2. To increase comprehension, ask some of these questions sometimes.
During the reading
* What has happened so far in the story?
* What might happen next?
* What might have happened if .....?
* Why something has happened?
* What do you know about the (character's name) so far?
After reading
* Ask what your child thought about the story. Why?
* What was their favourite page/part? Why?
* What was the best (scariest, funniest, most interesting) part?
* What was the story about?
We want learning to read to be a pleasurable experience for both the child and adult. After a long day at school your child may not wish to do their homework straight away or they may have other commitments, so please do not persevere with reading if they are tired, instead try again in the morning when you are all fresher. As the texts get longer you may like to read one page and your child the other page. This is providing them with practice and you are modelling fluent reading. If you only can spare five minutes a day to read aloud to your child then you have made a huge difference to their learning. You are creating a life long and worthwhile habit.
Disco
What a wonderful time the children had at the disco. They really enjoyed themselves and are looking forward to another one in the future. Thank you to those parents who organised and manned the disco. Your efforts were appreciated. The Home and School Committee organised this event. If you are interested in joining the committee please do not hesitate to contact me.
It is a great way to get involved with your child's school and to meet new people as well as have fun.
Cross Country
We are having practices for the cross country run on days when it is fine. If you would like to take your child to Williams Park for further practices and to familiarize them with the area that we will be running on then please do so. The course for the Year 0 to 2 involves running from the front of the Pavillion at Days Bay, going around the field next to Wellesley before ending up back in front of the pavillion. The year 2 children run around the field twice. (Map is on Room 3 window) If you would like to help with transporting our youngest children to and from Williams Park or being a marshall please complete the forms that were sent out this week and return them to your child's teacher as soon as possible.
Yummy Apples
Once again we are asking the children to bring along Yummy apple stickers and also coupons from the outside of the apple bags. We are collecting these stickers this term and next before sending them away to be redeemed for sports equipment, which the children use during lunchtimes.
Slippers
The children are wearing slippers inside this term and next. Please ensure that your child's slippers are named as so many of them are the same colour and size.
Lunches
The children are able to purchase hot dogs in a roll on Wednesdays throughout terms 2 and 3. If you would like your child to order one please place $3 in an envelope and hand in to your child’s teacher. Muritai Munchies are available on Mondays and Fridays. Please put an envelope with your child's name, room number and order together with the correct money inside it to the hall kitchen before school. There is a locked box marked Muritai Munchie to post orders into. We have had a lot of wasps lately so the children have been eating their lunch inside. This is a good opportunity for parents to lessen the amount of sweet items that are in lunch boxes.
Jumpjam
We do Jumpjam before school on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays at 8.40 a.m. We ask that the adults who come into the hall at this time please join in with their child and do the Jumpjam routines as well. It is a great way for you to keep fit and your child loves you doing it with them. Please have your conversations outside the hall as it is too hard for the children to concentrate on the routines with lots of background noise. Mrs Skilton and Miss Capper are training up some of our Year 2 children to be Jumpjam leaders so children from the other Junior classes only have the opportunity to go on stage on Fridays.
Winter weather
The weather has been so changeable lately and unfortunately some of our children have not been feeling well. Coughs, sore throats, and vomiting are currently going around. Please take your child to the doctor for treatment and keep them at home in bed to help stop the germs from spreading to others. Please also remind your child to wash their hands before eating and after the toilet. They count to ten twice or to twenty while washing their hands at school and can do the same at home.
Indoor Games
As the weather gets colder the children will be staying inside more during the lunchtimes. If you have any board games, puzzles, cards or equipment that you no longer use, could you please send them along to your child's class for wet day use.
Have a great week.
Kind regards
Maureen Buckley
Deputy Principal
Hello and Welcome to Term 2! The children have had a great start to their learning and are very calm and settled at school. It is hard to believe that three weeks have already flown by! Before assembly last Friday we had a powhiri for our newest students and staff. We hope that they will enjoy their time at Muritai. A warm welcome is also extended to those families, who are new to our Muritai Junior school.
Science is everywhere!
We celebrated National Primary Science week in the first week of the term. As a whole school we went out to our field to watch the launch of a rocket. Please have a look at the different classroom blogs to see what happened or ask your child to explain. Since then we have involved the children in lots more hands on experiences related to Science. This term they will cover aspects of sound, magnetism and electricity. Ask them to share their discoveries with you.
"Hooked on Books"
Thank you very much to all those parents who have been listening to children read as part of the Hooked on Books programme. We do appreciate the time that you are giving up to support the children in their efforts.
Reading
Sometimes parents do not know what to do when their child is learning to read. Please do not hesitate to ask your child's teacher if you are unsure. One way to help is to build up the letter sound knowledge of your child. The sooner a child learns all the sounds that are associated to the alphabet letters the better as this speeds up their progress in reading, writing and spelling. The following are some suggestions or prompts that you could use to help while listening to your child read.
1. Questions to use when your child is attempting to use strategies to work out unknown words
* Why did you stop?
* What did you notice?
* Try that again and think what would make sense and look right?
* Think about the picture
* What does it start with?
* It could be but does it sound/look right?
* You said .......does that sound/look right?
2. To increase comprehension, ask some of these questions sometimes.
During the reading
* What has happened so far in the story?
* What might happen next?
* What might have happened if .....?
* Why something has happened?
* What do you know about the (character's name) so far?
After reading
* Ask what your child thought about the story. Why?
* What was their favourite page/part? Why?
* What was the best (scariest, funniest, most interesting) part?
* What was the story about?
We want learning to read to be a pleasurable experience for both the child and adult. After a long day at school your child may not wish to do their homework straight away or they may have other commitments, so please do not persevere with reading if they are tired, instead try again in the morning when you are all fresher. As the texts get longer you may like to read one page and your child the other page. This is providing them with practice and you are modelling fluent reading. If you only can spare five minutes a day to read aloud to your child then you have made a huge difference to their learning. You are creating a life long and worthwhile habit.
Disco
What a wonderful time the children had at the disco. They really enjoyed themselves and are looking forward to another one in the future. Thank you to those parents who organised and manned the disco. Your efforts were appreciated. The Home and School Committee organised this event. If you are interested in joining the committee please do not hesitate to contact me.
It is a great way to get involved with your child's school and to meet new people as well as have fun.
Cross Country
We are having practices for the cross country run on days when it is fine. If you would like to take your child to Williams Park for further practices and to familiarize them with the area that we will be running on then please do so. The course for the Year 0 to 2 involves running from the front of the Pavillion at Days Bay, going around the field next to Wellesley before ending up back in front of the pavillion. The year 2 children run around the field twice. (Map is on Room 3 window) If you would like to help with transporting our youngest children to and from Williams Park or being a marshall please complete the forms that were sent out this week and return them to your child's teacher as soon as possible.
Yummy Apples
Once again we are asking the children to bring along Yummy apple stickers and also coupons from the outside of the apple bags. We are collecting these stickers this term and next before sending them away to be redeemed for sports equipment, which the children use during lunchtimes.
Slippers
The children are wearing slippers inside this term and next. Please ensure that your child's slippers are named as so many of them are the same colour and size.
Lunches
The children are able to purchase hot dogs in a roll on Wednesdays throughout terms 2 and 3. If you would like your child to order one please place $3 in an envelope and hand in to your child’s teacher. Muritai Munchies are available on Mondays and Fridays. Please put an envelope with your child's name, room number and order together with the correct money inside it to the hall kitchen before school. There is a locked box marked Muritai Munchie to post orders into. We have had a lot of wasps lately so the children have been eating their lunch inside. This is a good opportunity for parents to lessen the amount of sweet items that are in lunch boxes.
Jumpjam
We do Jumpjam before school on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays at 8.40 a.m. We ask that the adults who come into the hall at this time please join in with their child and do the Jumpjam routines as well. It is a great way for you to keep fit and your child loves you doing it with them. Please have your conversations outside the hall as it is too hard for the children to concentrate on the routines with lots of background noise. Mrs Skilton and Miss Capper are training up some of our Year 2 children to be Jumpjam leaders so children from the other Junior classes only have the opportunity to go on stage on Fridays.
Winter weather
The weather has been so changeable lately and unfortunately some of our children have not been feeling well. Coughs, sore throats, and vomiting are currently going around. Please take your child to the doctor for treatment and keep them at home in bed to help stop the germs from spreading to others. Please also remind your child to wash their hands before eating and after the toilet. They count to ten twice or to twenty while washing their hands at school and can do the same at home.
Indoor Games
As the weather gets colder the children will be staying inside more during the lunchtimes. If you have any board games, puzzles, cards or equipment that you no longer use, could you please send them along to your child's class for wet day use.
Have a great week.
Kind regards
Maureen Buckley
Deputy Principal
No comments:
Post a Comment