NEWSLETTER TO PARENTS OF YEAR 1 AND 2 SYNDICATE CHILDREN TERM THREE, 2009
Dear Parents, Welcome back to term three.
We have a lot of new children starting in our syndicate this term and we extend a warm welcome to you all, along with Mrs Naomi Laycock, who is the new teacher in Room 7. For the families who have been connected to the school for some time, parts of the information in this newsletter will be familiar. It is included so new families will be aware of how things operate in our syndicate. Our syndicate this term:
Room 1 Teacher - Carol Hope (Senior Teacher) and Desiree Pillay Class Composition – New Entrants
Room 2
Teacher – Kerensa McKinnon Class composition - Year 2
Room 3 Teacher – Judith Serjeant Class composition – Year 1 & 2
Room 4 Teacher – Cat Rowllings and Jenny Ellis Class composition – Year 1
Room 5 Teacher – Davina Derecourt Class composition – Year 2
Room 6 Teacher – Shannon Rees-George Class composition – Year 1
Room 7 Teacher – Naomi Laycock Class composition – Year 1
Room 8 Teacher – Desiree Pillay (latter part of term 3) Class Composition – Year 0
Room 9 Teacher – Rebecca Draper Class composition – Year 2
Topics of StudyAt present it is Maori fortnight and the school’s focus is Te Reo (Maori language) and Maori art. There will be an assembly on Friday 31st July where highlights of the fortnight from across the school will be show-cased. You are most welcome to join us. For the rest of the term Maori studies will continue as usual in our classroom programmes while our main topic focus will shift to Science and Technology. Our syndicate is exploring “The Power of Wind”.
Our findings, along with other explorations, will be displayed at the school-wide Science and Technology Fair to be held in the school hall on 15th to 17th September. We hope you can make it on one of those dates to see your child’s work.
MathematicsGeometry (shape and symmetry), number strategies and knowledge are our focus this term. This involves learning basic facts together with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division strategy development. School
Library Days
Room 1 MondayRoom 2
TuesdayRoom 3
FridayRoom 5
ThursdayRoom 4
FridayRoom 6
Thursday Room 7
Wednesday Room 9
Tuesday Mobile LibraryThe Mobile Library parks outside the school every Tuesday morning at 10.30 a.m. The children can exchange their public library books every week on this day. Books are issued using the usual library cards obtained at your local public library. Each of our classes has an introductory visit to the mobile library once during this first term. Books issued from the Mobile Library can be returned to the Mobile Library or a Public Library, and vice versa. ArtThe group of children from our Year one and two classes who have been working with Mrs. Hope have now completed the mural they started last term. Very soon it will be installed on the outside of Room 6. Watch this space.
Physical EducationWeekly gymnastics lessons have started throughout the school. Cat Rowllings and Naomi Laycock are qualified gymnastics instructors and we are very fortunate to have them on our staff. We have some specialists coming to teach the children soft ball skills and large ball skills are also being developed.
Lost Property Labelling your child’s clothing is a great help in enabling us to return lost items. Thank you for putting time into this, especially in the case of fleeces, jackets, boots and hats. These are taken on and off frequently now that the weather is cooler. If there is clothing you are looking for, the Lost Property containers are in the Room 3 and 4 cloak-bay.
Lunches The children are encouraged to bring their lunch scraps home. This helps the school’s environment to stay clean and gives you the opportunity to see what your child is eating each day. The school is also composting and running worm farms to feed our gardens. The children have been learning which of their scraps can also be contributed to these collections.
The Lunch Room If you want your child to buy their lunch from the school lunch room, write their name, room number, items to be purchased and the cost on an envelope, then seal the money inside the envelope. On arrival at school, your child then puts the order in their class lunch order box. Monitors will take the class orders to the Lunch Room at the beginning of the school day and collect the food for your child at morning and lunch intervals. Frozen or heated food stuffs are only available at lunchtime, so it is wise to keep this in mind when making up the morning interval component of an order. Menus are available from the school office.
Some Dates to Note31st July
Maori Fortnight assembly 2nd September
Trip to Lynray Gymnastics Centre15 – 17th September Science and Technology Fair25th September
Last day of term 312th October
First day of term 4
Thank you Carol Hope, Kerensa McKinnon, Judith Serjeant, Desiree Pillay, Cat Rowllings, Jenny Ellis, Davina Derecourt, Shannon Rees-George, Naomi Laycock, Rebecca Draper, Pam Thomas (Deputy Principal)
