Term 4!

Below is the Room 12 newsletter I will be sending home shortly

Welcome to the 4th term! As always it looks to be a very busy term with the added excitement of Report Files to look forward to near the end of the term. This term we are planning a few trips and exciting experiences for the children. Please note the dates for these but be aware that they are still subject to change.

Below is an outline of the curriculum areas we will be learning about this term:

This term our major focus will be a unit called “Keeping healthy.” We will be looking at staying safe around trains with a unit called Tracks are for trains – rail safety. During the week leading up to Pet day (20th October) we will be looking at keeping safe around dogs and what to do when a dog approaches you. The main part of our unit will be 5+ a day – a healthy eating unit which will look at different types of food and how to make healthy choices. The last aspect of our keeping healthy unit will focus on bush safety and this will be put into practise with a Education Outside the Classroom learning experience.

The writing focus this term will be on Poetry. The children will be planning, drafting and publishing a variety of types of poetry and learning how to use smiles to create interesting poems.
Reading will continue to be a major focus in class, remember to ensure book bags are at school each day.

This term for Maths we will be learning and continuing to develop the addition and subtraction strategies that we have been working on. Towards the end of term we will be revising Fraction, Multiplication and Division and Place Value understanding.
We will focus on two strands for maths the first will be Statistics, where the children will be conducting their own Statistical investigation. The other strand will be measurement where the children will be learning to read analogue clock times.

Our P.E unit this term will be focused on athletics, we will be focusing on sprints, long jump, high jump and the throw. The unit will be concluded with the Carterton School Athletics event. During the first 5 weeks of term we are very lucky to have a tennis unit where we will have a specialist teacher come in to help teach us the skills we need.

The Art this term will explore painting and a range of different techniques. The children will be creating a range of artwork, with the new skills they acquire.







Administration:

Our learning team (Rooms 7, 8, 12, 13) are running the sausage sizzle on a Friday to raise money for our team trips. A notice has been sent home asking for parent volunteers to help run this. If you are able to help at all please contact either myself or Lesley Steward – Room 8 who is the co-ordinator.

All Room 12 children will be involved in the Kapa Haka festival on Thursday 4th November. Lesley Allecock is organising our contribution for this, and more details will be sent home closer to the time.

One of our learning focuses for this term is Train Safety. To give the children a real life experience of how to keep safe around trains we aim to take the children on the Transmetro Train to Upper Hutt for the day. The date for this is 10th November. This is still to be confirmed and more details including costs, and parent help required will be sent out in the next few weeks.

Our learning team is the chief organisers for this years Christmas float. We may be calling on parents for assistance in putting together the float and children volunteers to participate in the float on the day. The Christmas parade is the 28th November.

Another of our safety focuses this term is keeping safe in the bush. We are planning a trip up to Mt Holdsworth where the children can practise the skills that they have been taught. The proposed date for this trip is 2nd December. Again we will be asking for parents to support us with this to make learning experiences such as this possible.

Following on from the success of Room 12 and 13s performance to the Mainly Music group at the end of Term 3 we would like to perform again to the community this term, this time with a Christmas focus. We are planning on performing to the Roseneath Rest home on Tuesday 14th December, and possibly a performance to the toddlers at Mainly Music on the 10th December. Again these dates are to be confirmed.

Sun safety – remember sunhats need to be worn everyday at morning tea, and lunch and any other times we are outside. Please make sure these are kept in your child’s bag or their cubbyhole at school.

Report files will be sent home near the end of term and these need to be returned to school before the end of the year. This is so that the important data and information in these can be passed on to the teacher for 2011.

There is a lot of information contained in this newsletter, please keep it somewhere safe so you can relate back to it for important dates. If there are any questions at all about the learning experiences happening in Room 12 this term please do not hesitate to contact me.

I look forward to a very busy and successful term


Andrea Harvey - Room 12 Classroom teacher