Junior News

By Felicia Ward | Posted: Wednesday July 3, 2019

What's been happening in the Juniors?

Term 2 has been a busy but fun and exciting one with the highlights being the Kaikville Market Day, Book Week and the Hooked on Science Show at Balmac. It has been fantastic to see the children so engaged and excited about their learning.

Next term our focus shifts to the Kaikorai Primary 150th reunion. Children will be finding out about the significant events around Dunedin and at Kaikorai Primary over the past 150 years. Children will also be immersed in dance and drama as we prepare for our school production in Week 9. We are looking forward to showcasing all the learning about the past 150 years at Kaikorai Primary with you.

A big thank you for taking the time to read your child’s school report and coming in to celebrate and discuss their learning at parent interviews. This is a great opportunity to see where your child is at and to find out ways to help them further at home. We are always happy to help so please email or make a time to see your child's teacher if you ever have any questions or concerns.

A big welcome back to Susan Oldfield who will be teaching in Room 11 for the rest of the year. The new entrants starting are super lucky to have such a fantastic and caring teacher to begin their time at school.

Basic Facts: 

Three times a year each syndicate identifies an area for focused intensive learning based on syndicate wide assessment data.

Our next focus will be on Maths, but narrowing that down to improving instant recall of basic facts within three seconds and without any help such as using fingers. On Seesaw you can expect to see a sample of your child’s learning “before and after” at the end of the intervention, and a sample of them learning in action.

This focus will mean that we will be taking a break from spelling homework from Week 1 Term 3 until Week 3 and instead children will bring home basic facts homework.

What basic facts should your child know and be able to instantly recall by the end of the year?

Year 1

• Facts to 5 and facts within 5;

• Doubles to 10 and groupings within 10

Year 2

• Facts to 10

• Doubles to 20 and corresponding halves and teen facts

If you would like to talk about this further please do not hesitate to contact your child’s classroom teacher.

Some reminders:

Change of clothes: As the cold weather sets in we ask that you send children with appropriate gear for the cold and wet such as a rain jacket and gumboots. We also strongly suggest that a spare change of clothes is kept in your child’s bag.

8.30am Bell: Please ensure your child is waiting until the 8.30am bell before they enter the classroom as this is important teacher preparation time.

Lastly, we wish you all a safe, fun and relaxing holiday and we look forward to seeing big smiling faces back at school to begin Term 3.

Many thanks,

Junior Teachers