Writing support at home

There are many great resources to support writing at home.

One website many of the children love is Pobble365. This website has a picture prompt for every day of the year and also has extra activities if you scroll down.
Click here for the link.

Studyladder is also a great free resource. Each student already has an account in which they use at school. I have sent them set tasks to complete that are targeted at their level. Because this is a free resource there are restrictions out of school time. There are only so many tasks that can be completed a day after school hours. From memory this is three of four.

Other writing activities are writing letters to family and friends, shopping lists, writing instructions and the list goes on!

The biggest focus for children to work on at home is use of correct punctuation, e.g. full stops and capital letters and practise getting their ideas down on paper. You would be surprised how many students forget to use correct full stops and capital letters!

Thank you for your ongoing support at home in your child's learning.

Maths videos in Google Drive

Some of you may not be aware that each student has maths tutorials in their Google Drive. Get your child to log into their google drive (their login and password should be in the back of their homework book), go to the maths folder and click on either add/sub, mult/div or fractions videos. Within each file there are links to tutorials on different maths strategies and then follow up questions to practise the strategy.

This can be a great way to support your child's maths learning!

Discovery Time

Discovery time is well underway for Term 3. The kids are enjoying the range of activities we have on offer including arts and crafts, coding, technology challenges, discovering and unpacking old technology, plays, baking and many more!

If you have any old telephones, clocks or other old technology that would be safe for children to pull apart please bring them in to Room 5. We would love to continue to explore old technology!
Any recyclables or craft items you have lying around at home please also bring into Room 5. The kids love creating masterpieces and go through a lot of resources!

Check out some of us during discovery time:

Learning to publish in Google Docs!

Room 5 have been doing lots of ICT learning this term! Students have been given their own school Google account. We have been learning to log in and out of devices, log in and out of our Google Drive and GMail, how to make copies of a document, and how to type. This is a big learning curve for many of our Year 3's who sometimes have never done this before!

Here are some finished pieces of publishing.

Learning to problem solve/ understand emotions

In Room 5, we have a problem solving book. During circle time we discuss an issue someone has had. Sometimes I, Miss Barrett, tell the children the problem/topic of discussion that I have noticed in the playground or in the classroom. Other times, the students can share an issue they have experienced recently.
When we discuss these issues, we never say names or blame others. Sometimes it is 'Miss Barrett's' problem or it is 'they' to keep each students' mana intact.
As a group, we first address what the problem is. Then we move on to a class discussion of how it made the person feel. After this, we discuss some solutions that could solve the issue.
Sometimes we role play the scenario to help the students to solve the issue independently in the future.

In this example, we were discussing the issue of students opting out of their learning in maths problem solving time.

Year 3 Swimming Carnival and Year 4-8 Swimming Sports

This week has been a busy week for the Year 3/4 team!

On Tuesday we had our Year 4's head off to their first Senior Swimming Sports at Okato Pools. Each Year 4 entered in many races against other Year 4's including freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, flutter board, and the crowd favourite, boogie board race. Well done to all students who gave each race a go and congratulations to the Room 5 place-getters.

Our Year 3 Swimming Carnival was also held on Tuesday. The Year 3's showed off their awesome skills they have learnt so far with big smiles on their faces. It was a great turnout with parent support - thank you for supporting your child in a range of school learning areas.

Checkout the photos below to see the kids in action!

Year 3 Swimming Carnival:

Year 4-8 Swimming Sports:

Water Safety Lessons

Room 5 are well underway with our swimming/water safety lessons. We have a focus on survival skills in the water such as entering/exiting the pool safely, floating and breathing in the water.

On even weeks Room 5 swims on Tuesday and Thursday, and on odd weeks Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It is best students bring their swimming togs everyday as the pool is open at lunchtimes for a supervised free swim.

Check out our tamariki ready to hop in the refreshing water!