Welcome to 2013

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 19^th – 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 5^th 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