Newsletter Term1 2012

Term 1 2012 Room 9 Class Newsletter

Dear Parents,

I am really excited to be teaching your children this year. At present there are 29 Year 6 students in the class.

Room 9 Programme for Term 1 will be:
Maths:
For numeracy we will be covering addition and subtraction,
The strands work will explore aspects of statistics and measurement.

Religious Education:
The first week we will look at the charism of Sacred Heart School and the second week will be on prayer. Later we will focus on the Jesus Strand. We will also celebrate the Liturgical Events of Lent and Holy Week.

Literacy:
Reading: We are working on main ideas, key words and locating information in the texts. We will use one text for the whole week. Therefore the books the children are bringing home are not the ones we have read in class. The books they bring home are for enjoyment and to help them get reading mileage.
Writing process: We will be using the personal recount and report formats.
Oral Language/ Current Events: Once a term your child will work with a group of children on our current events blog http://weeklynewshsinv.blogspot.com/ which they will present to the class on Fridays. This will be part of our on-going oral language programme.

Inquiry:
Our first Unit for the year is an integrated one that explores: What is the relationship between people and power? As part of this unit we will be looking why and how we make power and how knowing this can helps us make great decisions about our use of power and its impact on the environment. You can follow our discoveries and decision making on our blogsite http://room9shsinv.blogspot.com/

Physical Education / Health:
This term we will focus on Run, Jump, Throw in preparation for the Zone athletics. We will also be swimming in from the 7th - 17th of February . There will be more about this at a later date. We have PE on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. (These are the only two days they are to wear sports uniform unless they have a note or there is a special event.) They are to wear sports uniform during the two weeks we have swimming.
Fitness: this term we will be working on aerobic fitness with timed runs. The students will keep records of these. They need their sports shoes EVERYDAY.

The Arts:
We will be working on sketching techniques.



Homework
10-20 minutes of reading. The students will keep a reading log and this will be checked on Fridays. Please sign it on Thursday nights. (It is their responsibility to fill this out and then to make sure it is signed by both you and then by Mrs Page on Fridays.)
10 mins Basic Facts (Doubles, halves, timetables, and basic facts up to 50.) See the attached sheet about the Alien Basic Fact Programme that operates in Room 9
Spelling: The tests will be on Fridays and new words given that day too.
It is my expectation that ALL students will complete the above homework every night as it helps them develop the work ethic necessary for Secondary School.

Library
Our library day will be Fridays.


Release
I will be released to do my Senior Management work on Fridays. We are lucky enough to have Mrs Cimone Page doing this release. This will provide continuity for the class. Mrs Page will carry on with the class programme as designated by me on Fridays.

Events
First day back– 31/1/12
Jubilee School Mass – 3/2/12
House Colour Day – 3/2/12
Swimming – 7th Feb – 17th Feb (9 sessions)
Meet the teacher – 21/2/12
Ash Wednesday – 22/2/12
School Camp – 13 – 16th March
Zone Cross Country – 6th March or if postponed 8th March
Parent Interviews – 26/27 March
Southland Athletics – 31st March

Camp
We go to Bannockburn this year. The dates are the 13-16th of March.

We have a classroom blog this can be found at http://room9shsinv.blogspot.com/
Parent Information blog for Room9 with class newsletters etc can be found as a link for this blog or on http://parentinformationroom9.blogspot.com/


If you have any problems or wish to speak with me at anytime please don’t hesitate to contact me. My e-mail is klieshout@shsinv.school.nz . I would like to set up communication via e-mail this year with as many parents as possible so if you have an e-mail address could you please e-mail me at the above address so I can set up an e-mail grouping for the class. IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY RECEIVED THIS NEWSLETTER VIA EMAIL IT MEANS I DO NOT HAVE YOUR E-MAIL or THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THE E-MAIL ADDRESS I HAVE.

All class newsletters are also posted on the class blogsite under Parent Information Room 9.

Kath Lieshout (Room 9 Teacher.)