Friday, 31 January 2014

Room 15 Class Newsletter (Feb 03 2014)

Dear Parents/caregivers,

This year Ara Teina will be focusing on is Sustainability as our topic.  We hope to explore different facets of this very important concept each term during the year. 

During Term 1 the children will be learning that they are unique and talented individuals, each having a part to play in the classroom and within our school.  The concept of being unique will be explored through Visual Art with the children creating a piece of ‘assemblage art’ that reflects their likes and passions.  (Assemblage art is when an artist collects used objects and assembles them into a 2 or 3 dimensional work of art.)  We are excited to promote the idea of reusing and recycling items to generate good quality art.  Here is an example of the kind of artwork we will be making this term and more examples can be found on our class blog. 




How you can help…
v  Firstly, please help your child to complete the ‘My Favourite Things’ worksheet. This will help your child identify the things they really love and what they could use in their assemblage artwork. Children can return this sheet to me by the 10th of Feb.
v  Next, we need your help to collect the following items ...
·      small boxes (shoe boxes or slightly larger boxes are perfect), & little boxes that can fit inside it
·      ribbons, scrap fabric (such as flat fats/fat quarters), beads, old jewellery, acrylic paint... in fact, any craft materials would be useful!
·      5 or 6 little items that could be displayed inside the box that reflect your child’s interests, for example, a toy car, a wrapper from a favourite lolly, a piece of lego, a Barbie doll, an outgrown item of clothing, an old headband, a loved toy, a photo of your family...

We are aiming to start painting our boxes early next week so if these items can be sent to school by the 10th of Feb, it would be most appreciated. Thank you for your help!  We look forward to seeing some amazing artwork later this term!

Please be in touch if you have any questions.
Regards,
Adele Park

SwimmingDue to Waitangi Day, we will have swimming on Tuesday (4th of Feb) this week.
Children will need to have their swimming suit, swimming cap and a towel in their swimming bag. Swimming cap is not compulsory but it prevents children from getting head lice in the pool. All of these items will need to be named. Please make sure that your child knows how to get changed and dressed by themselves.

Home reading book (Readers) – Children will be bringing home two books on most days. One of these books will be at their reading level and the other approximately at two reading colours below (i.e. if your child is reading at orange/turquoise level, he/she will be taking a blue/green book). The book at their reading level is the book that I will be reading with them at school during guided reading lessons. The other book is for children to increase their reading fluency and develop their love for reading. Please help us by making reading an enjoyable experience. It is perfectly fine for them to use the pictures as prompts and you could encourage your child to check the beginning sounds of words before using the picture. Please initial your child’s notebook after they have read to you. Children can colour (up to) the number of times read.
Homework – Homework book will be given out earlier in the week, please return it in children’s book bag on Monday. Please help me make this experience enjoyable and easy for children. At this stage, we want children to find homework easy and fun. If you prefer your child not getting homework, please let me know.

How you can help us -We would love some helpers to sharpen pencils, put the chairs down, wipe the tables, open/close windows in the cloak bay, put reading books away and volunteers to listen to children read. We would also like to hear from you if you are a keen gardener.  Please fill out the enclosed form.
Thank you to all the parents who have already shown interest in dedicating some of your valuable time to help us. We are grateful for your help.
Toys – Children are to leave toys or valuables at home as they can be easily lost or broken at school.

School website – Please check the school website regularly to be informed of what is happening school-wide. It also gives information about before-school or lunchtime activities available to junior students. The best way to be informed is to sign up for the school newsletter on the school website.  Room 15 is part of the Ara Teina syndicate (Year 0-2 classes). 

Email – if you have something to discuss, feel free to approach me after school and we can organise a time to have a chat. If you wish to email me, I will endeavour to reply as soon as possible but please allow up to 2 business working days.
Below is a link for you to leave your email address. This will help your emails to get through to my inbox without going into spam. This link can be found on our class blog as well.
Thank you for your cooperation.

Adele Park

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