Thank you so much for the wonderful support at our Christmas Show today, Friday 9th December.  It was just fabulous to have so much whanau support.  The students, as you saw, were just amazing with great singing and dancing.  I am so proud of how hard they all worked to put on a great show.

We still have a week of school to go and will be continuing with lessons up to the end.  Art work has almost all come home this week and next week used exercise books and current books will come home, the latter on Thursday.  Reports and publishing folders will be sent home on Wednesday.

Our last school day is Friday 16th December.  We finish at around 12.45pm after clapping out our Year 6 students who leave the school to begin their Intermediate education in 2017.  Please ensure I see you before you take your child at the end of this special event so I know they are safe and with the right person.

Thank you for all your support in Room 5 this year.  We've had a big year and the students are all ready for a lovely summer break. May you and your families be happy and healthy.

Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas and a very good New Year.
Miriam

PS - Three maths songs we've been practising.  The students love them and asked for them on the blog so here they are!

Christmas practises are well underway along with keeping our reading, maths and writing programme going strongly.  We will be singing "Frosty the Snowman" with all the other Year 0/1 classes at our performance on Friday 9th December.  Here is the song for your child to practise at home.





Look forward to seeing you at the show!

Warm regards
Miriam

How fantastic were Room 5 at their assembly!  They did so well and I am very proud of them.

We are now practising for our Christmas performance on Friday 9th December, our Whanau Day. Year 0/1 are performing at 9:30 - 10:00am so I hope you can come and watch us sing and dance,

Below is our song for your child to practise at home.  The words will be in their poem book which will need to go home each night and come to school each day.



It's a sweet song, as one student put it, and they are having fun with the actions.  We are learning to sing in time to the music and each other as well.

Warm regards
Miriam

Wow!  We are 30% of the way through Term ; it is zooming by.  You will have seen the notice students brought home that Room 5 is running the school assembly on Monday 7th November.  We are busy learning lines and polishing dances for it, and learning our school karakia.  We are learning this in class and students asked to have it on the blog to practise with.

PCS Karakia

Tukua te wairua 

kia rere ki ngā taumata 

Hai ārahi i ā tātou mahi

Me tā tātou whai i ngā tikanga a rātou mā 

Kia mau kia ita

Kia kore ai e ngaro

Kia pupuri

Kia whakamaua

Kia tina! TINA! Hui e! TĀIKI E!

Translation:

Allow one’s spirit to exercise its potential 

To guide us in our work as well as in our pursuit of our ancestral traditions.

Take hold and preserve it.

Ensure it is never lost.

Hold fast. Secure it. Draw together! Affirm!

I hope you are able to come and see the students shine!

Warm regards

Miriam

Our term is flying by!  Students now each have a green practise book for them to use to write, draw, colour, do maths, make up stories - whatever they like.  It has been great seeing what students have already done with it.  I will be giving them activities to glue into it (such as capital letter and full stop practise sentences) which are optional for them.  I look at the book with the student when they have done something they want to show me.

Reading is progressing in each group.  Students have a piece of paper in their notebooks which tells them what level they are and the key aspects they need under their belt to move on.  Below is the blend song and sight word we do each week that they have asked to have on the blog so they can practise at home.




Writing has been focused on descriptions and this week we are working on writing posters for lost pets.  We have described two teachers at school and last week each student described themselves. 

Maths is continuing with confidently knowing numbers to 20 and back and adding to 10.  We have looked at time this term as well, concentrating on how long things last, when things happen (morning, afternoon, night, evening) and days of the week.  Using positional language has also been taught and extended, such as 'on', 'under', 'beside', 'near'.

Students have started their calendar art, a notice about which will come home a little nearer the end of term.  We are also practising telling a fairytale using characters and the groups will be putting their show on in a week or so.  Everyone has taken a lot of care making their characters so we are looking forward to hearing how we tell the stories.

Ka kite until next time,
Mrs Paxie

Term Three has started with a hiss and a roar!  We are busy learning in reading, writing and maths as well as drama, the Olympics and in PE, ball skills.

Reading: Each student brings home a reader each night.  Please listen to your child read this as it helps reinforce high frequency words, reading left to right, using the picture and alphabet to sound out words and to help expand their vocab.  

Everyone except the Pears group also has five spelling words a week to practise at home.  Students have an opportunity to practise twice a week in class too.  Please encourage your child to write and say the words which are drawn from their books or are words students are working to remember so they don't have to look it up each time they write something.

Writing: We are focusing on Recounts (telling our audience about something that has already happened) for the first three weeks then moving onto descriptions.  Please encourage your child to write at home - the shopping list, a letter to a relative, a story.  Let them sound out words they don't know using their alphabet.  I would love to see anything they write!

Maths: number knowledge, speed of adding as well as time (ordering events, length of events) and positional language is being focused on.  Students study telling the time on a clock in Year Two. This year is about building the language needed to do this.

Drama: We are discussing what drama is (story telling, making us think and feel) and how it is done.  Today we listened to Peter and the Wolf told with instruments and words, thinking about how this was done without any pictures yet we were all able to feel scared, happy, sad, worried and pleased.  The students asked for the link to watch it again at home so here it is:

 

Topic: The Olympics is a big focus this term.  We are learning about what the Olympics are, what sports are competed in, and about Iceland, the country we have adopted to follow along with NZ.  Next week we will look at things that are the same and different between our two countries.

Handwriting: Our letters this term are: a, u, y t, v, w, x, z and then we will do blends, our first being 'sh'.  We practise three or four times a week, singing a song about how we write (they can perform this for you at home), then a song about the letter (see below for an example) and then we write, using the letter in a sentence as well as individually.  Students are all learning to write their first and last names during handwriting.



Warm regards
Mrs Paxie

Hasn't the term flown by!  We had a fabulous trip to the zoo two weeks ago with students delighted to see so many animals.  There were a lot of very tired, quiet students back in class!  We have written a recount of the trip which students will publish this Friday so do have a look when you come in for the three-way conference in Week 10.

Below is a link to three maths songs we do to practise counting forward and back to 10, back from 20 and all the way up to 100.

Warm regards
Mrs Paxie