Week 5

Today we welcomed Sophia to our class. It is great to have you here Sophia :)

Literacy

This week we will be working on recognising some high frequency words in our books and using our alphabet knowledge to look at the initial sounds in words. There is a small plastic bag of words in your child's book bag. This is the first set of words (Magenta) to learn to recognise. I will assess the children regularly and as they progress with their reading and learn each set of words a new one will come home.

Skipping

Mrs Brough has given us a class set of skipping ropes to use - Thank you Mrs Brough! We are practicing our skipping for fitness each day. It is great for developing coordination will even help us with our writing! 

Inquiry

We are investigating what a community is and how we behave and treat others in a community with a focus on our school values ORCA:

Ownership

Respect

Collaboration

Achievement

Remember: 

Swimming on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Gala mufti day on Friday - Boys bring savoury treat items and girls bring sweet treat items.

Bike track official opening 2.30pm Wednesday. Bring your bike, helmet and shoes if you would like to ride a lap with the school after the opening.

Week 4 - You're Welcome!!

This week we welcome Violetta, Sid and Jasmine to our T4 whanau. We hope you have a great first week at school.

Anton's Alphabet
Starting today I will be sending home an exercise book with Anton's Alphabet on the front. This is a ten week programme used to teach alphabet letter names, sounds and formation. We have completed the first two weeks at school and are now ready to begin learning a letter each day. You are invited to help your child sing through the song, pointing to the letters as they go and then to practice the letter of the day on the sheet provided. Your child can colour the picture and in the spaces below, practice the letter formation. The formation chart in the book shows the correct starting point and direction to go in. It can help to say the rhyme as they write also. If you are unsure of any formations please let me know.

Please encourage correct pencil grip if you can. I teach the children to - pinch the pencil like a crab with forefinger and thumb, sit it on the rock (index finger underneath) and rest it in the cradle (base of thumb) Ask me for a demo if needed!
 

Dance, Drama and Singing
This week we will be starting to incorporate some dance and drama activities into our day and will be building up to learning a dance as a whole school too.

The whole school are learning to sing this awesome song "You're Welcome" from the movie Moana.  We all love it and are especially good at the chorus. Now you can get your whole family singing and dancing too!

Inquiry
What makes us unique? What makes our community a special place to live?
We are launching into our inquiry this week with a focus on Whanaungatanga. Do you have any knowledge or skills you could share with us?

REMINDER: Gala mufti day on Friday 24th February - bring bottles (soft drinks, condiments etc) Please take alcohol to the office

......................Swimming Tuesday and Wednesday every week........................

Week 3

Today Mrs Winter is so proud of T4!! The digger, roller, compactor and truck are working outside our classroom to complete the bike track. We are doing a great job of managing our distractions and carrying on even though there is lots of noise and excitement outside our window.

We watched as the roller compressed the metal and we wondered how the driver would get over the big hill. He tried a few times before he finally went up and over, we all thought he was going to tip over backwards!



We are all getting on really well, learning each others names, playing together and making friends...



This week Mrs Winter is finding out what we already know about letters, words and numbers so we can work out what our next learning goals are. We have been practicing writing our names by forming all the letters correctly.

We hope you enjoyed hearing the poems we have had in our folder so far. Please remember this needs to come back to school each Monday. We will have a book to share with you in our book bag each day this week.

Remember to pack togs and towels for Tuesday and Wednesday again this week.

Look out for a small bag of raffle tickets in book bags to sell for gala day.

Mufti day this Thursday - dress in mufti and bring a new, non-edible item to donate for gala (New toiletries, stationary, toys, pet items etc)

Powhiri Friday - There will be a powhiri to welcome new staff this Friday morning. Please send in a small plate of food for your child to contribute to a shared morning tea afterwards.

Week 2

Thank you so much for taking the time to come in and meet with me on Wednesday and Thursday last week. It was great to get to know you all before we launch into the school year.

This week we welcome Rockwell and Mason to T4 - have a fantastic first day of school boys!



Our swimming days this term will be Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon. Please bring togs and towel in a plastic bag and remember to name everything!