By Jill Kumar | Posted: Thursday January 30, 2020
I hope you have all had an enjoyable break and have made the most of time away from school. I am looking forward to working together with you in 2020. With lots of sunny days this term for sport and outside activities, please make sure to remember your sunhats and water bottles!
We are starting the year by sharing our interests and favourite holiday moments. We are also intending to display pictures of our family pets in the class room. If your child wants their pet displayed, please send a small picture, or email me, so that I can print them.
Homework:
Over the next few weeks, class and homework routines will be established in the classroom.
Each morning your child will be given time to complete their xtramaths basic facts programme. They have their pin number in their homework book, in case they want to do it at home each morning (as some children prefer this option).
Your child also has a mathletics username and password in their homework book. Class time is given for mathletics, however your child might want to work on their mathletics at home.
Your child's homework book will come home on Monday night, with times tables (if your child is confident with addition and subtraction recall), and spelling (spelling words will be chosen from your child's writing and from their assessed level). Testing occurs on a Friday at school (spelling words will come home from Week 3). Please help to get your child used to leaving their homework book in their bag, as they often have to use it during the week (and always need it for Friday testing!).
Children should do some reading each night. The books may be from reading group boxes in the classroom (if your child is reading from levels on the 'Colour Wheel'), from the library, or from home. We start our regular reading programmes in Week 3. Our class will visit the library on a Tuesday and a Wednesday (once the new library is set up).
At this level we are aiming to create a love of reading and help children become independent readers. Selecting books for themselves is part of this independent process.
Sometimes children may select a book which interests them, but where the text may be too difficult for them to read independently. If this happens, parents may like to read the book out loud, discussing the text and pictures together.
Opportunities:
Having conversations with your child about trying new activities and giving 'everything a go' would be helpful over this first term. A lot of new learning occurs at the start of each term. There are also opportunities your child might like to engage with. These are shared through the daily notices, and mentioned in the Kaikorai newsletters. Talking to your child about taking on a new activity will help to give confidence and support their learning. Sport opportunities, choir, ukulele, drama, dance, Kapahaka, orchestra, KPSTV etc are some of the activities offered to keen and aspiring Kaikorai children over the first term.
Parent email contact:
My contact is [email protected] If you need to get an urgent message to your child, please ring Sharon at the school office.