Look at the wonderful letter we got!

Wow!  Look at the wonderful letter we received from the Air Force Museum.
Not only did we REALLY enjoy visiting the Museum, we behaved fantastically!!
(I think that there are definitely some budding pilots and aeronautical engineers in this class!).

The Godwits are here!

We have enjoyed learning about the fantastic journey of the Godwits from their home in Alaska to Christchurch.
They fly non-stop for 6 days, and fly over 11 000km.
They come to Christchurch at the beginning of spring .... a double reason for enjoying welcoming these amazing flyers.

A fabulous trip to the Air Force Museum

We really enjoyed visiting the Air Force Museum.  

It was part of our Inquiry learning about flight - and it brought it all to life!

We have learned so much about how things fly .... and enjoyed learning about it as well.  :-)

September 2014 Newsletter

September 2014

Dear Parents/Caregivers

Room 10 Newsletter

September 2014

Term 3

Term 3 has continued to be as fun and exciting as we had thought it would be in the last newsletter! 

The children have been learning about flight – and what a great trip to the Air Force Museum we have planned for Tuesday 16 September.

In addition to this we have been listening to music closely.

We haven’t just been listening to music, but moving to music during our dance interchange.

The class has been doing a fantastic job on modelling during Art and all children have persevered to learn some great techniques.

Our New Principal

It was lovely to see some of you at the Mihi Whakatau for Mrs Toni Burnside our new principal.  We enjoyed learning the songs for this welcome and it was a very special time when she came to our school. 

If you haven’t already met her I am sure you will have the opportunity to meet her soon.

Student Teacher

We are lucky to have had Amanda Kennedy working with us in the latter part of the term.  As I have said previously the children gain so much from these opportunities.

Reports

While your children are in the junior part of the school, and until they are in Year 4, they have reports on an “anniversary” basis rather than the traditional middle and end of the year.

This means that some of your children will get a report at the end of Term 3, some at the end of Term 4 and some at the end of Term 1 next year.  (This report is in addition to the New Entrant report and meeting we have).

The first report your child gets (after their New Entrant report) is a “progress” report.  This has a comment about different learning areas, some next steps and ways you can help at home.

At the top of the report is a continuum that shows where your child is at in relation to the National Standards. 

This is a good indication for you to see how their progress is going, but remember that the National Standard is not formally measured until they receive their “achievement report”, two terms later.

Term 4

As I said in my last newsletter, I have been very fortunate to have been awarded a sabbatical for Term 4.

This means that I am released from my classroom to complete an area of study.  I am going to deeply explore the area of Science.

While I am on this sabbatical Ms Beccy Shirley will be teaching in Room 10.  She has already worked with the children a lot.  She knows them well, and they know her well.

I will, of course, liaise with her and leave her all the information she needs to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Meanwhile, you will still see me about regularly – I won’t be able to resist visiting the class and seeing them on occasions such as their Athletics Day!

Since this will be the last newsletter I write to you this year I want to take the opportunity to thank you for all your help and support this year.

Your children are fantastic and I enjoy teaching them (and learning with them) each and every day.

Kind regards

Suzanne Nilsson