Welcome back to Term 2. We have a busy term ahead with cross country, Year 5 EOTC week and Year 6 Camp. On Thursdays we will be learning to play Ultimate Frisbee with an instructor from Sport Auckland.
Important information to note...
School Cross Country
Just a reminder school cross country is next week on Friday at Grey Lynn Park. We have been training daily, please ensure your child is wearing appropriate footwear.
Year 6 Camp and Year 5 EOTC (12th-16th of June)
Notices will be coming home regularly, please ensure completed forms are returned to the school office. Thank you parents who have been emailing Sandie, Ben and Portia regarding parent help for EOTC week.
We have a meeting Monday 15th of May for parent helpers coming to Year 6 camp. For those parents attending the camp meeting can you please bring two forms of ID to assist completing the police vetting form.
Home Learning
Home learning is reading every night for at least 15 minutes and Mathletics. Mathletics is an excellent online programme that caters to all different maths levels and relates directly to the New Zealand Curriculum. It provides the opportunity for children to practice their basic facts and also reinforces maths concepts they are working on at school. For those children without computer access this program can be accessed at school and alternative maths homework can be organised with the classroom teacher if needed. The STEPs spelling program children use at school is an optional extra that children can work on at home if they wish.
Learning Focus
Learning in the Totara Team this term is centred around important events like ANZAC day and Matariki. We continue to explore the concept of change with a focus on "How Grey Lynn School has changed over time?".
Our maths focus is Number and Geometry. The writing focus this term is Explanation and Procedural (instructions) writing.
Chapter Chat
As part of the Literacy programme all classes in the Totara Team are reading Ms Bixby's Last Day as part of Chapter Chat. Chapter Chat is a nationwide live twitter book chat with other Year 5 and 6 classes across the country. The teacher reads to the class daily and children can choose from a variety of tasks to complete over the week. Using a class twitter account on Fridays children share the tasks they have completed and respond to questions about the book. The short succinct responses required on twitter support children to provide clear answers and encourage students to pay attention to checking they are using correct punctuation and spelling. This is an interactive and fun way to help develop reading comprehension and develop our students to be responsible digital citizens.
Birthday Treats
Reminder: We ask that birthday treats are not brought to school to be shared with the class.
Wet Weather
Please ensure children have a raincoat in their school bag, especially if they are walking to school.
Please email your classroom teacher if you have any questions.
Many Thanks,
Portia, Uala, Courtney and Ben