Term 4 2009 Room 9 Class Newsletter

Dear Parents,

Wow where is the year going? It is hard to believe it is Term 4 already. We are in for yet another busy and exciting term with Camp and the Science Road Show to mention just a few.

Room 9 Programme for Term 4 will be:
Maths:
For numeracy we will be finishing percentages and decimals and some work on algorithms.
The strands work will explore aspects of geometry and measurement (area, rotation, symmetry, translation, graphing and position).

Religious Education:
The first week we will look at prayer. Later we will focus on the Sacrament and Communion of Saints Strands. We will also have a celebration liturgy will on camp.

Literacy:
Reading: We are continuing working on main ideas and finding the information in the texts. We also focus on the visualisation and inferencing strategies for reading comprehension. 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 genre.
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 Unit for the term is an integrated one that is centred around the theme of change. Our Big questions are: Why do things change? How do things change? As part of this unit we will be looking at change of the states of matter for Science the change in Central Otago to the communities caused by both the Gold Rush and the Clyde Dam. 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 looking towards athletics for Term 1 2009.
Fitness: this term we will be working on aerobic fitness using Jump Jam and skipping. They need their sports shoes EVERYDAY. we will have PE on Tuesdays and Thursdays again.



The Arts:
We will be exploring shape and texture using a variety of mediums. This will involve construction and design. The students will work towards making things to sell at the Mission Fair.


Homework
10-20mins of reading
10 mins Basic Facts (Doubles, halves, timestables, and basic facts up to 50).
Spelling: The tests will be on Tuesdays and new words given that day too. Day 4 of their spelling book is to be completed by Mondays and returned to school for marking.

Camp
This will be for the 20 Year 6 pupils only.. The Camp will include an afternoon of yachting and kayaking, a day at the Arrowtown Museum and a visit to the Clyde Dam.

Library
Our library day will be Tuesdays. As our library is in the corridors we don’t go as a class. It’s a bit mess with 30 of us.

Release
Once Friday, I will be released to do my Senior Management work. We are lucky enough to have Mrs stanley doing this release. This will provide continuity for the class. Mrs Paige will carry on with the normal class programme every second Tuesday as I have a two day First Aide Course to do and work with the Senior Syndicate.

We have a classroom blog this can be found at http://room9shsinv.blogspot.com/

Dates for this term to mark on your calendar are:
School Photos 21st October
Camp 4-6th November
Science Road Show 20th November
Year 6 Day yet to be decided
Mission Fair 11h December
End of Year Mass December

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 .

All class newsletters are also posted on the class blogsite . If you have an e-mail address and wish the class newsletters to be e-mailed to you please send me an e-mail at the above address.

Kath Lieshout
Room 9 Teacher.