Y5 & 6 Syndicate Newsletter
Term 1 2013
Whāia te iti kahurangi
Ki te tūohu koe, me he maunga teitei
Pursue
excellence – should you stumble, let it be to a lofty mountain
Dear Parents
and Caregivers
Kia ora
koutou and welcome back to school!
Hopefully everyone had a great holiday and enjoyed the beautiful weather
this summer. The teachers have been hard at work preparing for the year and we
are all excited at what 2013 will bring.
The Year 5
& 6 team this year:
Murray
McMillan - Room 11, Deane McKay (Team Leader) - Room 12, Raihania Chadwick - Room
13 and Kirsten Berry – Room 14
Trish
Theobald and Hayley Crawford are also valuable members of our team in 2013. Trish
will be teaching on Fridays in Room 12, releasing Mr McKay for management
responsibilities and Hayley will be releasing teachers for their CRT (classroom
release time) throughout the year.
Parent Interviews
Meet
the teacher interviews are this week. Please ensure you book a time to meet
with your childs teacher. You can do
this online (a link can be found on the latest ‘Birds Eye View’) or you can call the office and
arrange an appointment.
Camp 2013 - Forest Lakes
One
of our major focuses for the beginning of the year is camp at Forest Lakes.
This takes place in week 7 (Tuesday 19th – Friday 22nd March) of this term.
There is a cost involved with coming
to camp; it will cost $220 per child. This covers every eventuality that may
arise. We ask that you pay before going to camp. If there are any problems with
this please contact your classroom teacher. A notice is coming home this week
and it would be appreciated if you completed and returned the
forms as soon as possible.
We will be holding a meeting at 6.30pm on Tuesday 5th
March in the library for parents coming to camp (fulltime or part time). We
will be discussing routines and also your responsibilities while at camp. It is
important that you attend if you are coming to camp as a full timer. We hope it
will take only about 30- 45 minutes. If your circumstances have changed please
let us know.
Homework
Homework
officially begins this week. We will
give the homework out each Monday and it is to be returned on Friday. The homework has three major focuses;
reading, spelling and maths (Mathletics).
There are also two other activities, one is compulsory (Thinking Key
activity) and the other is an extra for experts (writing task). The students will be given a marking guide
which will help them in their efforts.
Maths
Cross
grouping (this involves grouping across the four Year 5 and 6
classes) will start in week 3 for our study of addition
and subtraction. We will use the
information gathered from last year as well as recent assessment results to
group the students. Until then we will start
the term looking at Number Knowledge, such as exploring place value and basic
facts.
Writing
We
are beginning the year focusing on report writing, which ties in nicley with
our inquiry topic ‘Heroes’. When we get
back from camp we will switch our focus to recount writing and the experiences that
the students had on camp will become very valuable in supporting their learning.
Topic/Inquiry
We
will start the term with an inquiry unit based upon ‘Heroes’.
Visual Art
Students
will be learning about various concepts of shading and tones through sketching.
Daily Reminders
Please
help your child remember to check they have everything they need each morning
and they are at school in time for the first bell at 8.40. Students should see
that being organised is part of growing up and an important life skill to be
developing.
They
will need a water bottle (named) to keep hydrated during the day. It helps with
concentration and learning. Ensure that it comes home regularly for a wash.
All
students are expected to wear a wide brimmed sunhat during all outside
activities, especially during morning tea and lunchtime. The hat needs to be kept at school for easy
access.
Swimming
Swimming
has started. Every class will be swimming everyday so please ensure that your
child has their swimming gear ready. The gear should be named and in a suitable
bag. We are lucky enough to have the assistance of qualified swimming
instructors for the first two weeks.
Sport
This year the year 5 and
6 students will have many opportunities to be involved in a range of sporting
events. These sports range from netball and soccer to cricket and hockey. There
will also be zone, inter - zone and regional events such as swimming,
cross-country and athletics. Parent support and transport at these events is
much appreciated and it is also a wonderful opportunity to come along and see
your child in action.
Class Blogs
We will be continuing the
success of classroom blogging. These blogs can be accessed through the school
website. It is worthwhile visiting regularly and checking out the updates. It
really is a fantastic way to see the learning that is occurring in the classroom.
We encourage you to leave the comments for your children or the class – they
really get a buzz out of it!
If you need to contact
your child’s classroom teacher please feel free to drop by the classroom before
or after school or make an appointment for an interview at the office. The
easiest way to touch base with us is email e.g. teacher’s surname@muritai.school.nz
Ngā mihi nui
Year 5 and 6 Team 2013
