Dear Parents,
Welcome to Kowhai Team 2010. We hope you had a very relaxing summer break and that the weather was to your liking. It is great to see the children refreshed and ready to begin the new school year.
2010 Team
Room One Yr 5/6 Mrs Taylor
Room Two Yr 5/6 Mrs Mair
Room Three Yr 5 Mrs Fraser-List
Room Four Yr 5/6 Ms Mackay
Room Five Yr 5 Miss Lawson
Room Six Yr 5/6 Mrs Howarth
As you can see we are a very large team this year!
Reminders:
- Next Thursday we will be hosting a “Meet the Teachers” at 6.30 pm in the Library. This meeting will be a talk about your child’s year 5/6 time in Kowhai Team and our goals for them in 2010. It will also include discussion about the forthcoming camp. Prior to our meeting, at 5.30 pm in the auditorium, Mrs Vanessa Felix will be hosting a music information evening outlining the music opportunities for your child this year.
- Kowhai Team is beginning a new spelling programme this year. It requires the purchase of specific activity books for each child to use. These books cost $10.50 (to be purchased at the school). At this stage just over half of the children have made the purchase. Could you please ensure the money is received by the school as soon as possible so that we can begin our spelling programme.
By now you should have returned all the medical forms associated with camp. You should have received an initial information letter and an equipment list. DON’T FORGET, payment is due on 01.03.10.
There will probably be a ballot in order to most fairly select our parent helpers.
Homework
As a team we are beginning the year with Reading homework. This homework is based on Edward de Bono’s six thinking hats. The expectation is that the children will read for approximately 20 minutes each night and then spend one night commenting on the book they have been reading, using the thinking hats as a guide.
The teacher will tell the children which two hats to use each week. They will then choose two questions from those hats to answer.
There will also be maths knowledge activities to complete on a fortnightly basis.
Any other homework will be set by individual class teachers and will be centered around class activities.
Maths
This year the senior school will not be cross grouping throughout Term One. “Best Practice” research conducted by the Ministry of Education suggests that children are better catered for, and are more able to be moved from their current level if they remain within their own classrooms.
Throughout Term One, Kowhai Team will be covering
- Number knowledge
- Statistics
- Addition and Subtraction
Inquiry/Theme; Kowhai Team children (along with the rest of the school) will be looking at their own personal learning journeys, and how they can help themselves to achieve in all learning areas i.e. (what physical/ health changes can we make in order to improve our ability to learn).
Literacy; The children will be focusing on recounts this term. They will be learning how to gain and maintain the interest of their readers.
Library; Each class in Kowhai will be paired with another class in the team for use of the library. This means each class will spend two hours per week in the library.
Of those two hours, only 30 minutes will involve book exchange and browsing. The remaining 90 minutes will be spent on ICT and Inquiry skills. This method of timetabling enables each child to have exclusive use of a computer, utilizing the strengths of those staff members with particular expertise in teaching ICT skills or Inquiry skills.
- Room 1 and 2
- Room 3 and 4
- Room 5 and 6
Other;
Suncare; Please ensure your child has a hat at school every day. It should be one of the hats that is part of our uniform. If this is not possible please make sure the hat is navy blue or black, and it is not covered in emblems.
Extra Stationery; If at all possible could you please provide your child with a set of colouring pencils. While these are not compulsory, they would certainly be very useful and help your child take pride in the presentation of their work.
Thank you parents for your continuing support, we look forward to working with you this year.
Yours sincerely,
Kowhai Team Teachers