Week 6 Term 2

It's great to be back with your special children again.  Plans had been to write the blog on Sunday evening however I spent the evening at Dunstan Hospital while Alan was evaluated again and eventually admitted. Yes, I really appreciate the amazing help we have close at hand.  It has and will continue to be a life line on this journey.

Reading should have been coming home each night and I am hearing those who come to me before school in the mornings. We are all working on making our reading sound like talking by using the punctuation (fullstops, commas and speech marks).
Spelling: following last Friday's spelling testing I wanted to test everyone to ascertain the exact level that they should be working on.  Despite some people being able to remember how to spell their lists, many had several errors in the spelling patterns that was the focus of the spelling list, and were not able to use sound lines or were using them incorrectly. This spelling system is about the process and developing key knowledge and skills that will enable students to spell many unfamiliar words independently.  This week our spelling focus is the "long e" sound. We are looking at the different patterns and next week will learn the skill of "sampling", which will transfer to independent writing. To be meeting the standard, children in Year 2 need to be working on Level 2 and Year 3 on Level 3. If you check what the focus of the list is each week and you or your child feel that the words are too easy, ask your child to use their sound pattern knowledge to write other words that have the focus sound in them.  Remember to conduct then tool the words before writing, then as good readers check that the word looks right.
Maths: we are finishing a geometry unit on Position and Orientation that Mrs Lyon began. Take a look at the activities on Maths Buddy. What we are working on at the moment is at the Year 3 level. Many people have drawn interesting maps on a grid and have written instructions for a buddy to follow. Some good clear instructions using language like left, right, up, down, North, East, South, West have been written and shared with a buddy.  Have a look at a map at home and talk about where places are in relation to others using some of this positional language.
Mr Hogue will be teaching Science on Wednesday morning until playtime.

Swimming: Thursday - remember your togs. A wee reminder that the $13 for the bus to and from the pool needs to be paid to the office please.

Please join us for Friday Mass lead by Rooms 1 & 2, and Assembly lead by Room 4.