.: August 2016

A few people have been in touch to say they didn't receive the newsletter - our apologies if some have been lost in transit - here it is -

27 July 2016.

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Kia ora,

Welcome back to school. We hope you all had a lovely holiday break and are looking forward to Term 3.

Parent help:

Once again a big thank you to all the parents who have given their time to help during Literacy and Numeracy during Term 2, we have really appreciated all of your support. If you are available to help during Term 3 please write your name on the new roster located beside the whiteboard in Rimu. This term we are lucky enough to have had our Teacher Aide hours extended so we will only be inviting one parent helper to join us during each hourly block, however we also appreciate any help with handwriting books (which can be taken home), pencil sharpening, making playdough and filing reading books.

Key dates for your diary:

July 25th & 26th Art Bus

August 2nd each Tuesday Gym Bus

August 5th Olympic Day in Whanau groups at school

August 8th-12th Maths Week

August 11th 100 day party

August 15 Book Parade

August 25th Poetry speech Presentations

August 26 NZ Playhouse Fairest Of Them All

September 5-12 Life Education Bus

September 13 Narrowneck Beach Cleanup

September 16 Genius Hour Presentations

September 23 Term 3 Ends.

Curriculum Topics for Term 3

Inquiry:

This Term we will be investigating the Olympic Games past and present and the changes that have occurred over time from the first games in Ancient Greece to the games this year in Rio.

We will continue with our Genius Hour Fridays. Our focus this term will be on ‘What could you be’ and we have already had quite a few parents volunteer to share their skills with us on Friday afternoons to inspire the children. This evolved from our previous Genius Hour Inquiries as we noticed quite a few children wanted to investigate possible careers for the future, from Disney Princesses to Spies to Architects. However, the children are still free to choose to conduct their Genius Hour Inquiry on whatever most interests them and it does not need to relate to a potential career.

The Life Education Bus will also be joining us this term.

Literacy:

During Term 3, the Rimu children usually participate in Poetry Presentations in preparation for the speeches in the Senior school. To encourage confidence, this is not an open event. It is only for the children, as the process of presenting their poems can be daunting in public and we don’t want their performance to be compromised in any way by a large crowd of parents watching. More details to follow.

We will be concentrating on Fiction Writing this term with themes including Hot Air Balloons, Fairy Tales and Super-Heroes which integrates nicely with our ‘Super-Hero’ themed Sculpture on the Shore artwork.

The children will continue to bring home a reader each night and a poem on Wednesday. They also have access to Reading Eggs and Sunshine Classics online and their usernames and passwords are in their Reading diaries, which you can also use to communicate with us. The essential word list is glued at the back of their diaries and we suggest learning no more than 5 words at a time.

Maths:

This term we are continuing with fractions as well as working on building knowledge and problem solving. Also we have signed up each student to e-Ako, a free maths website which you are welcome to use at home. We will provide each child with their username and password and stick this into their Reading Diaries. This is our first time using e-Ako, as previously it was not possible to track a class on it, but there have been some recent changes to make it more useable in the classroom. We would welcome your feedback on this.

Health and Physical Education:

In addition to our Physical Fitness programme which includes games and Jump Jam, this term we are lucky enough to have the Gym Bus each Tuesday morning. We will also have a fun filled day of Olympic activities to celebrate the opening of the Rio Olympics on Friday August 5th.

Te Reo Maori:

Welcome back Whaea Isabelle - we are all enjoying our Maori learning on Thursday mornings. Whaea Isabelle is very impressed with our pronunciation.

The Arts:

We have an arts filled term and are lucky enough to have a visit from the Art Bus on July 25th and 26th. It’s that time of year again when we create our calendar art and our theme for this year is our response to our favourite book. If your child has a special book at home, could they please bring it to school with them during week 2 and 3. We will also be busy creating our contribution to Sculpture on the Shore which will have a Superhero theme.

Ka kite anō

Claire and Grace.