Welcome+letter+-+Term+1

Kia Ora, Greetings. Hello to all Room 1 Parents and Caregivers.

A warm welcome back to the parents and children who were with us in Room 1 last year and a special welcome to the new families who have joined us. I am truly excited and feel privileged to be teaching your child this year. Our classroom, will be filled with many learning opportunities for the children and myself as we work towards a common goal.

Our morning sessions are focussed on Literacy and Numeracy. In Literacy, students will be developing their skills in reading (decoding and comprehension) and writing (being able to put thoughts to paper).

Oral language will consist of: Monday: News about the weekend Tuesday: Mystery bag – this will go home with one child per week (instructions inside) Wednesday: Pictures in the news, magazines, journals, internet Thursday: Partner prattle Friday: Circle time

The children will also have the opportunity to visit the school library every Friday. Within Literacy, I will also be integrating, Drama, Visual Arts, and Music. In Numeracy, for the first 6 weeks, we will be working on addition and subtraction. We will be developing our number knowledge and skills, whilst learning basic facts. For the latter part of the term, we will be working on measurement.

Over the next two weeks, we are developing rules and routines for our classroom. We are learning about what is important in our classroom, so we can all learn. By discussing our ideas, the children and I have come up with rules and routines together, which will enable us to learn in a positive and caring environment. This also leads into our learning community unit, where we will be discovering how we learn best.

Our inquiry unit this term is based on the big idea Sustainability and In our back yard. We will be developing key questions together and exploring this issue.

Swimming will be a focus this term, with swimming sports being held on Friday 5th March. Please ensure your child has sun block on and brings togs each day. We will not be swimming if it is cold.

Our Brain food time is 10.00 (in the middle of our literacy slot). Brain food should consist of something healthy, for example: fruit, nuts, sandwiches, or veges. Water bottles are available throughout the day in the classroom.

As we are a bi-cultural nation, we are introducing Te Reo into our natural classroom routine. This will include learning numbers, greetings and months of the year in Te Reo.

For homework, the children will have a reading book each night and high frequency words to learn. These words compliment the reading level that your child will be working at and as the need arises. Spelling and maths basic facts will also be introduced. It would be great if you could work with your child in these areas. If you want extension homework, please let me know. I believe time after school should be spent with family and not with stressed out parents trying to get homework completed with their child!!

Once we are all settled, I would love to hear from parents who would like to help out during the first part of the morning. As with all of Awahou School teachers, I have an open door policy. Please do not hesitate to come in and see what’s happening in our classroom. This is a community classroom and you are part of that community. By working together, we can achieve great things. If you have any concerns regarding your child, or have any questions or comments, please be in contact. I look forward to working along side you and your child this year.

Kind regards

Sheryl McCartney none        SavePreviewText Editor Help · About · [|Blog] · Terms · Privacy · [|**Support**] · **Upgrade**Contributions to http://awahour1.wikispaces.com are licensed under a [|Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 License]. Portions not contributed by visitors are Copyright 2010 Tangient LLC.