19/2/16 Kōwhai Team
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
On Wednesday 9th March 2016 the Kōwhai Team will travel
by train to Porirua and walk to Pataka to take part in a
workshop and gallery experience. This links in with our
inquiry unit on sustainability and the environment.
The group timetable is shown below. Train times are to be confirmed with TransMetro, however
we hope to take the train times outlined below. Students will walk with teachers and parent
helpers from Porirua Train Station to Pataka and back again. We will all have lunch together at
Pataka, so packed lunches and filled water bottles for everyone is required. As we are walking a
fair distance sensible clothing and footwear is essential. This includes are waterproof jacket.
Room Kea’s Year 3 students will go with Room Kākāriki (Room 11) for the first session. Room
Kea’s Year 4 students will go with Room Kōkako (Room 12) for the second session.
Group Workshop Time Train
1 = Room Kākāriki (11) + 10am - 11:30 To Porirua 9:35am
Room Kea’s (10) Year 3s To Paremata 12:35pm
2 = Room Kōkako (12) + 12:30pm - 2pm. To Porirua 11:05am
Room Kea’s (10) Year 4s To Paremata 2:35pm.
Please fill in the permission slip below for your child and they can return it to their classroom
teacher. Please keep this page of the notice for your information. If you are able to help please
also complete the parent helper part of the slip below. As it is a school trip it is essential that
preschool
siblings do not come along with parent helpers. Permission slips are due in by the
end of week 4 (Friday 26th February).
Thank you,
Jo Milne ( jom@paremata.school.nz ), Nicky McCarthy ( nickydm@paremata.school.nz ), and
Jannien Kamphuis, ( jannienk@paremata.school.nz )
19/2/16 Kōwhai Team
I___________________________ give permission for my child
________________________________to attend the workshop at Pataka on
Wednesday March 9th.
I can accompany my child’s group (including the train journey) as a parent helper.
Yes / No (please circle appropriate).
Contact details.
Name: _________________________
Phone number: _________________________
Email: _________________________________________
9 February 2016
Term 1 Paremata School Kōwhai Team Newsletter
Dear Parents and Caregivers.
Welcome to another year at Paremata School!
We have enjoyed spending the first three days of Term 1 getting to know the students in our classes. We are looking forward to a wonderful year of learning together.
For our new Year 3 students, moving from the Junior syndicate to the Kōwhai syndicate can be a big step. Greater levels of independent learning and selfmanagement are expected. To make the transition as smooth as possible, we the Kōwhai teachers and the Year 2 teachers discussed systems, structures and expectations. For our Year 4 students, we are looking forward to building on the excellent learning that took place in 2015.
The Kōwhai teachers have prepared a term of interesting learning opportunities and activities. The first four weeks of Term 1 will be spent getting to know each other and setting up expectations and routines for the year. Maths and reading group routines will be established during these weeks. We have a miniinquiry about ‘learning well’ that focuses on using thinking tools, such as De Bono's ‘thinking hats’, Glasser's Choice Theory (which underpins our behaviour management system), and learning through Gardner's Multiple Intelligences. This miniinquiry should set students up with everything they need to have a very successful year in Rooms Kea, Kākāriki and Kōkako.
From Week 5 onwards, we will investigate our environment and how we look after it by recycling things. We hope this will get them enjoying and maintaining the Sculpture Garden/Peace Garden area that surround our Kōwhai classrooms.
Important and interesting notices:
- If you have an old shirt that can be used for painting we would appreciate it coming to school for our art activities. This term we will be further beautifying the Sculpture Garden.
- Please remember to send your student to school with a sunhat and drink bottle. Sun hats must be worn while outside during terms 1 and 4.
- If your child will be absent, please email or ring the appropriate teacher a nd the Paremata School office. Calling the office is especially important. Sometimes we are sick too and we don’t always get to our emails when we are away from school.
- We have a trip coming up later this term to Pataka in Porirua. Further information and a permission slip will be sent home soon. Keep an eye out for it.
- We will be focussing on digital citizenship, blogging and student research skills this year. Please email us if you have any thoughts on this topic or about our Year Kōwhai syndicate blog. http://parematayear3and4.blogspot.co.nz/
- Between 8:30am and 3:30pm digital devices that come to school are to be turned off and kept out of sight. Devices can be stored safely in the teacher’s cupboard. Please get your child to ask their teacher. Children can share things that are on their device but only during class time. It is always wonderful to see what students are creating in their own time!
- Maths focuses on numeracy knowledge and strategies and a measurement unit covering the reading of time.
We are looking forward to meeting with you during Goal Setting Interviews which are taking place on Thursday 25th February (Week 4) and Thursday 3rd March (Week 5). Information about booking an interview time will be in our school newsletter this week.
If you have any questions before these meetings, please contact your child's classroom teacher. We are looking forward to a fulfilling and educationallyrich year together in the Kōwhai syndicate.
Kind regards,
Jo Milne (jom@paremata.school.nz)
Nicky McCarthy (nickydm@paremata.school.nz)
Nicky McCarthy (nickydm@paremata.school.nz)
Jannien Kamphuis (jannienk@paremata.school.nz)
Year 3 and 4 Homework 2016
Here are the basic outlines for homework in the year 3 and 4 team. A simple version of this will be glued into student homework books prior to week 3. If you have any questions or concerns about homework please do not hesitate to email your child's teacher.
- ● Please send along your child’s bookbag if you would like them to use it to transport homework to and from school.
- ● Homework is given out on Monday and marked on Fridays during the second and second to last week of each term. Week 1 this term is very short so homework will begin on week 3 and end on week 10.
- ● Each Monday students will bring home a maths sheet and 510 spelling words. Year 4s will all have 10 spelling words.
- ● The maths sheet is not to be written on at home as it is used by the student each Friday. Many families find it useful to make practise copies for use during the week. Students may time their speed as they fill in the maths sheet if they wish. On Friday sheets are timed and students can note down their time. This is to encourage quick recall of basic facts.
- ● Basic facts on the maths sheet should be appropriate to the maths group your child works within. All questions should be knowledge based using quick recall. Please let your child's teacher know if there is any difficulty with the sheet they are given.
- ● Spelling words are individually chosen for students and groups of students. Words are drawn from topic words, essential word lists, spelling patterns and students' workbooks.
- ● On Friday students test their spelling words and graph their progress. Please check the homework books frequently to note your child's progress.
- ● Reading books for homework are selected by students from their browsing book box as part of their reading cycle. Books may be at a lower level than student group reading books. This is so they can easily read the books independently at home and build reading confidence and mileage as they practice their reading strategies.
- ● Fluent readers may have a chapter book or novel they read each night at home. In this case students are not expected to take readers home. If this is the case for your family please let your child's teacher know.
- ● Other reading that comes home include weekly make and do activities, a poem or song lyrics. On the day your child has their reading group library day they are expected to return and withdraw two books to take home to read at their leisure. If they withdraw a book that takes longer to read, such as a chapter book, that is fine too. They can withdraw books for two weeks only.
Thank you,Jo Milne (jom@paremata.school.nz), Nicky McCarthy (nickydm@paremata.school.nz), and Jannien Kamphuis, (jannienk@paremata.school.nz).
Year 3 and 4 Syndicate Parent Newsletter
Term 2 2015
11th May 2015
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Welcome back to the Year 3 and 4 syndicate for Term 2, 2015. The children and teachers have all settled in nicely. We have been very impressed by the way the students, even at this young age, grasped the complex concepts surrounding the role of the ANZACs at Gallipoli, as we acknowledged 100 years since that event.
For Inquiry, from Week 3 until the end of term we are focussing on scientific investigation within the Year 3 and 4 team. Students are learning to ask scientific questions and make a hypothesis about what the results of the experiment might be. We have been calling a hypothesis a ‘good guess’, and the students are learning to back up their hypotheses with their reasons for that guess. This is causing them to question and discuss why they think what they think. Following their observations of the actual experiment, students are encouraged to discuss and write up what they observed and what the results of the experiment were. They then draw conclusions as to why this was the case. As they evaluate, students discuss the similarities and differences between their hypothesis and their results, and they think about their next steps. Do they need to set up further experiments or have they found out what they wanted to find out? Is there more research to be done to learn more about why the results occurred as they did? Do they need to re-design the experiment if they didn’t find out their answer? We have an emphasis on following the process, and on fair testing where we just change one condition at a time during experiments. Students are learning concepts such as mixing items to create chemical reactions and they’re learning about the science behind sound and vision. It’s a really exciting unit that should culminate in a fantastic Science Fair presentation in each class in Week 11. The scientific process is: Question, Hypothesis, Conduct experiment, Results, Conclusion and Evaluation.
In other news, the Paremata School Cross Country is on this week. Students have been training hard at school, and this week they have begun to run the actual course for Wednesday. We have noticed the ability of students to run for longer than they were previously able, which is great considering the run occurs so early in the term.
Our Term 2 Maths is focussing on multiplication, division, maths knowledge and strategies, and on measuring using units such as millimetres, centimetres and grams. This is always a satisfying unit of work and hopefully can lead to some science-maths-measurement crossovers involving making delicious food! All three classes enjoyed making ANZAC biscuits earlier in the term. We also have a Maths session with educators from a financial literacy organisation coming to work with the children in Week 5, which should be really interesting.
Student writing this term largely focusses around writing explanations and instructions. We will mix this up with lots of timely and interesting writing styles such as quick writes to teach writing details, poetry and creative writing. We hope to put plenty of published work on our blog this term. Link to blog: http://parematayear3and4.blogspot.co.nz/
We have trips planned to Te Papa for the Year 3 and 4 Syndicate on the 18th and 19th of June. Our primary purpose for this visit is to learn about Matariki and we will have a session for each class with the educators on this topic. We will also visit the Air New Zealand and the ‘Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War’ exhibitions. We will send home further information and permission slips closer to the time.
The weather is getting wintery and colds are more frequent. If your child is very unwell please keep them at home until they are quite recovered. We encourage the children to cough and sneeze into their elbows rather than their hands to help reduce the spread of infectious illnesses through airborne means. We also spend quite some time wiping shared surfaces to reduce the spread of germs through physical contact. We hope to have a safe and bug free winter in the Year 3 and 4 team!
Please check with your child that they have all the learning equipment they need for class, such as blue pens, a coloured pen for marking and annotating, and plenty of pencils for Maths and Art activities.
We wondered if any parents were interested in volunteering to come in and help children weed and maintain the newly re-made Peace Garden? Please email one of us if you are interested in helping.
Thank you,
Caroline Lockyer (carolinel@paremata.school.nz), Jannien Kamphuis (jannien@paremata.school.nz) and Nicky D.McCarthy (nickydm@paremata.school.nz)
9/2/15
Term 1 Paremata School Year 3 and 4 Newsletter
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Welcome to another year at Paremata School! We have enjoyed spending the two days of the first week of term 1 getting to know the students in our classes.
We are looking forward to a wonderful year of learning together.
For many students (and parents) coming from the Junior syndicate into year 3 and 4 can seem like a big step up, where much more is expected of them. The year 3&4 team and the year 2 teachers compared year 2 and year 3 systems, structures and expectations to help students transition from one syndicate to another. For our year 4 students, we are looking forward to building on the excellent learning that took place in 2014.
The year 3 and 4 teachers have prepared a term of interesting learning opportunities and activities. The first 4 weeks of term will be spent getting to know each other and setting up expectations and routines for the year. Maths and reading group routines will be established during these weeks. We have a mini inquiry into learning well which focuses on using thinking tools such as De Bono's hats, Glasser's choice theory (which underpins our behaviour management system), and learning through Gardner's multiple intelligences. We aim to set students up with everything they need to have a very successful year in Rooms 10, 11 and 12. During week 5 on our inquiry will investigate body systems, and healthy eating and lifestyles. This leads on from a visit by the Life Education team in Term 4 last year. We hope this will set them in good stead for the Science Fair in Term 2.
Housekeeping:
- If you have an old shirt that can be used for painting we would appreciate it coming to school for our art activities. This term we will be further beautifying the Sculpture Garden with paintings.
- Please remember to send your student to school with a sunhat and drink bottle. Sunhats must be worn break times during terms 1 and 4.
- If your child will be absent please email or ring the appropriate teacher and the Paremata School office.
- We have a trip during week 6 to the New Zealand Festival of the Arts. A permission slip accompanies this newsletter.
- Digital citizenship, blogging and student research skills are a focus for our syndicate this year. Please email us if you have any thoughts on this topic or about our year 3 and 4 syndicate blog. http://parematayear3and4.blogspot.co.nz/
- Between 8:30am and 3:30pm digital devices that come to school are to be kept off and out of sight. If you would like your child's teacher to put their device in their cupboard for safekeeping they can do so. If your child has something on their device to share with the class they can do so during class time. It is always wonderful to see what students are creating in their own time!
- Maths focuses on numeracy knowledge and strategies with a measurement unit covering reading the time.
We are looking forward to meeting with you during the goal setting parent-teacher meetings scheduled for weeks 4 and 5. If you have any questions and queries prior to this please contact your child's classroom teacher. We are looking forward to a fulfilling and educationally rich year together in the year 3 and 4 syndicate.
Kind Regards,Caroline Lockyer (carolinel@paremata.school.nz), Nicky McCarthy (nickydm@paremata.school.nz), and Jannien Kamphuis, (jannienk@paremata.school.nz)
9/2/15 Year 3 and 4 Homework
Here are the basic outlines for homework in the year 3 and 4 team. A simple version of this will be glued in to student homework books prior to week 3. If you have any questions or concerns about homework please do not hesitate to email your child's teacher.
- Please send along your child’s bookbag if you would like them to use it to transport homework to and from school.
- Homework is given out on Monday and marked on Fridays during the second and second to last week of each term. This term week 1 this term is very short so homework will begin on week 3 and end on week 8.
- Each Monday students will bring home a maths sheet and 5-10 spelling words. Year 4s will all have 10 spelling words.
- The maths sheet is not to be written on at home as it is used by the student each Friday. Many families find it useful to make practise copies for use during the week. Students may time their speed as they fill in the maths sheet if they wish. On Friday sheets are timed and students can note down their time. This is to encourage quick recall of basic facts.
- Basic facts on the maths sheet should be appropriate to the maths group your child works within. All questions should be knowledge based using quick recall. Please let your child's teacher know if there is any difficulty with the sheet they are given.
- Spelling words are individually chosen for students and groups of students. Words are drawn from topic words, essential word lists, spelling patterns and students' workbooks.
- On Friday students test their spelling words and graph their progress. Please check the homework books frequently to note your child's progress.
- Reading books for homework are selected by students from their browsing book box as part of their reading cycle. Books may be at a lower level than student group reading books. This is so they can easily read the books independently at home and build reading confidence and mileage as they practice their reading strategies.
- Fluent readers may have a chapter book or novel they read each night at home. In this case students are not expected to take readers home. If this is the case for your family please let your child's teacher know.
- Other reading that comes home include weekly make and do activities, a poem or song lyrics. On the day your child has their reading group library day they are expected to return and withdraw two books to take home to read at their leisure. If they withdraw a book that takes longer to read, such as a chapter book, that is fine too. They can withdraw books for two weeks only.
Thank you,
Caroline Lockyer (carolinel@paremata.school.nz), Nicky McCarthy (nickydm@paremata.school.nz), and Jannien Kamphuis, (jannienk@paremata.school.nz)
9/2/15 
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
On Tuesday 10th March 2015 the year 3 and 4 syndicate will travel by bus to Wellington to view performances that are part of the Capital E National Arts Festival.
The show timetable is below. Bus times and details are yet to be confirmed by Capital E, and this is expected to be finalised prior to the 20th of February. Students will walk with teachers and parent helpers between shows.
|
Please fill in the permission slip below for your child and they can return it to their classroom teacher. Please keep the top part of the notice for your information. If you are able to help please also complete the parent helper part of the slip below. As it is a school trip it is preferable that younger children do not come along with parent helpers. Permission slips are due in by the end of week 2 thanks.
Thank you,
Caroline Lockyer (carolinel@paremata.school.nz), Nicky McCarthy (nickydm@paremata.school.nz), and Jannien Kamphuis, (jannienk@paremata.school.nz)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I_______________________ give permission for my child _________________________to attend the Capital E National Arts Festival on March 10th.
I can accompany my child’s class as a parent helper. Yes / No (please circle appropriate)
I will travel to Wellington in the school bus with my child’s class. Yes / No
Contact details.
Phone number: _________________________Email: _________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please remember to leave your name in your comment.