Week 7 Term 2

A week where we have no 'extras'.

Girls - please wear sports uniform Tuesday & Thursday for while we practise the skills for Rippa Rugby. If you have put your name down to play in the Rippa Tournament on Thursday 21st, it is important that you register on the link below. I am aware that Eden, Bella and Johnny are the only Room 3 players who have done this. We, as teachers, cannot complete this registration - that is clearly stated on the link. Please email once you have registered your child. Even if your child is already a registered rugby player, we are required to get you to complete the form below.
www.sporty.co.nz/viewform/62313

Last week we had a 'poetry week' where we looked at poems that would be suitable for the poetry eisteddfod which will be heard in Room 3 on Monday 2nd July. We also talked about the difference between reading a poem and reciting a poem, which is what is required for the eisteddfod. We heard some wonderful poetry presentations last week, as people really used their voices effectively. Looking forward to what can be presented after a couple of week's practice.
A copy of your eisteddfod poem needs to be in your homework book by Friday. If you are using a class one, please ask me for a copy that you can glue in.  Criteria for the eisteddfod is in the poetry book as well as on the blog here.

Tuesday sees Mrs Laidlaw in Room 3 from 11:40 till the end of the day. I wonder what amazing art will be on the menu?

There will be a cultural assembly this term and each class will contribute to this. As we have class members who are Maori or Philippino, is there something that we can do to share these cultures with the school? Do we have a parent willing to assist? Please email if you have an idea. We have all worked hard on knowing our mihimihi, so some people may wish to share these, and we know several waiata. Mihimihis are in homework books, so they are easy to work on at home.

Homework

I have been reading current thoughts about homework this weekend - a small part of the text "Learning in the Fast Lane".

The 3 most important points that I took from this are:

1. Homework's purpose and value will be clear, and it will help students master current teaching
2. Teachers will publicly post homework tasks and include clear instructions using the school's communication channels
3. Students will be able to complete homework with minimal assistance from parents

Tasks for week 7

• Remember to read each night either to youself or share with someone.
• Fridge words: dray, recite. The goal with this is to increase the oral vocabulary that your child has.
• Spelling needs to be tooled each night on the sheet in the homework book. Our learning for the next 2 weeks is looking at the different spelling patterns for the "long a" sound  ai, as in rain, ay as in play,  a-e (we say "a split e") as in name. Some on higher levels are also looking at patterns like 'ea' great, and 'eigh' as in eight.
• Eisteddfod poem chosen and in the homework book

Spelling has only begun coming home this term, as I wanted to wait until children were secure in what the task required - we are working on hearing and recording the sounds in a word, not just learning the word 'off by heart'. We are securing a strategy that we can use on words that we do not know.

Hoping we see that sun again this week.