Room 2

Welcome to Andre who has joined our two other Year 3 boys.

Congratulations to Cassino – he is our ‘student of the week’ and so he has the privilege of the couch and the iPod for this week. Cassino displays the virtues of kindness and helpfulness and he really made Andre very welcome in his new classroom last week.

Lyric, Jack, Ashton, Ants Paige and Wilko have all joined our school choir so they will have lots of fun learning Sesame Street songs with Ms Sperring.

Last week we talked a lot about ANZAC day and the importance of remembering the soldiers who made sacrifices for our country. We’d like to share an exposition, co-constructed by Ryan and Jack:

“I think we should remember them. The people in war went on the ships to Gallipoli. The people who died risked their lives for us. The men and women went to war for freedom. The people went to war to fight the enemy from taking their land.  Some men and women came home but some did not return to their home land”.

This term we are being curious about our creative Grandparents! We will identify some rights and responsibilities of  Grandparents and Grandchildren. We will invite our Grandparents to visit us for a morning of sharing. We will need to have the addresses and emails of all Grandparents in Room 2 so that we can get our invitations underway during the term. Watch this space!

We’d like to share some of the learning that’s been happening in our class:

Finn says, “I’ve explained to Mum and Dad about how the Key Competencies will prepare me for my future and to be successful.”

Lyric says, “I’ve got so much better at knowing my basic facts ‘just like that’ by making a tidy ten and working from there.”

Bethany says, “Ive learnt to hold the badminton raquet correctly to hit the shuttle.”

Jack says,”I’ve been working on Literacy Directions and I’ve learnt heaps about Perseus and Medusa, making meaningful answers, in full sentences.”

Ryan says, “I’ve written an exposition with my point of view about including others in our games and activities. I think we should always include everyone.”

Paige says, “I’ve learnt about our rights and responsibilities and that when we signed our class treaty, it means we have to keep the promise”.

Sam says, “I’m learning more and more different homophones every day!”

Cassino says, “I’ve learnt how to hold the tennis raquet properly and to hit the ball gently with my partner.”

WALT write a Procedure about Billy’s first day at a new school.

“I would show him around; show him the toilets and play with him.

When he walked into class I would share my work with him.

“First I’ll show you your desk,” I said to Billie. Next I’ll introduce you to my friends. I’ll share my book with you”.

I’ll show you the playground and the PE shed. Next I’ll show you the upper bus list and I’ll show you the staffroom and the office”.

“Procedure writing tells the reader how to do something” – Corbett – Year 2

“Do we have a responsibility to include others in our games? Yes! Include others in games if they are nice to you. But not if they are horrible to you!

I found Billy in the classroom. He was all alone. I included him in my games.

Then I found Billy on the big kids playground. I ran over to him and said, “Why don’t you play with me?”

Charlotte – 6 years – “An exposition says what you think.”

Mr and Mrs ( Des and Jan) Hollard from Villa Photographic, in New Plymouth…..

who couriered the “Tauranga and around”  2012 calendars to EVERY student at Kaimai School!

Des is the photographer of this stunning calendar which has scenes of Tauranga, Mount Maunganui; and beyond – such as Pilot Bay, our harbour bridge, Kiwi360, Omokoroa and our precious Mauao.

We want to acknowledge the virtue of generosity that Des and Jan have shown to Kaimai School with this donation to us -  we are just a little place in the ranges – and so far away from their own home town!

The students who have already earned the privilege of owning one of these calendars are loving the photos – as well as using each month to help them with their numeracy, basic facts and ‘calendar maths’.

Thank you Mr and Mrs Hollard!!!!

Room 2 is growing!

We welcome Jordan, Kayla and Natalia to our class.

Jack reckons that “these Year 2s have had lots of fun on their first day in Room 2″.

Finn thinks “they have settled in really well and they love having their very own desk”.

“They have been very privileged to join in the Go4it badminton skills,” adds Lyric.

Kia Kaha to our new students!

Hi to all our friends and families in Room 2.What a ‘fast’ term this has been! It only seems like the other week that we were still getting to know each other in our new  classroom learning environment.

We have had lots of exciting  experiences during this term – probably a highlight was the Life-Ed classroom with Michael and Harold. The workbooks are in the children’s book bags and pages that are not yet finished can be completed at leisure at home.

Speaking of activities at home – Thank you to those of you who are supporting your child with the Home- reading Diary! Lots of children have earned the 25 nights reading sticker already! (and they are so proud)! The Sharing at Home Book and Spelling notebook are equally important. You will find the notes about maths homework (that went home yesterday) really useful for how to help with learning basic facts and ‘every-day-life’ maths, such as telling the time) and using money.

We have been focusing on ‘Rights and Responsibilities’ and we have co-constructed a signed class treaty, to which we are all now bound to adhere to. So far, most of us are doing very well indeed, in displaying the virtues we promote at Kaimai School.

We presented a skit at assembly to show ‘what responsibility looks like’. Everyone had a role to play and carried out their responsibility – such a credit to our class! Thank you to you Parents who came along to watch our wee performance.

We’d love you to come and read our Procedural writing about what we can do and steps we can take – about being a responsible friend.

Check out our superb writing on the wall!

Well done to all the Year 4 Students who attended the KRSA swimming at the Greerton Pools. You were a credit to Kaimai School – thank you. The pool temperature is now getting a little cooler so aquatics will soon be coming to an end.

However, we have the GO4it (SPORT4LIFE) programme happening now, which is a major part of our current PE timetable. Last week, we learnt some fundamentals of tennis on our courts. This week we are learning to use a badminton raquet, in the hall.

Thanks to those of you who do contact me regularly and keep in touch about our learning in Room 2. It’s vital for our kids to know we are comntinually in touch with home and school.

Regards to you all – and I hope you get some laughter from your child at some time soon about ‘Snake and Lizard’! I look forward to your responses!

Kia Ora Room 2 Families / Whanau

I hope you all had a great 3-day weekend to celebrate Waitangi Day and that Room 2 students shared with you the relevance of our National day to be a public holiday on 06 February..

On that note, please make a point of encouraging your child to engage with you, their “Sharing at Home” book on a regular basis. They have some great stories to share in recent pages about Waitangi Day.

The Sharing at Home book goes home every day in their book bag. It is absolutely essential that the contents of the book bag (except for daily or school newsletters) are returned to school each day to ensure continuity of learning.

EACH day, the book bag will have for you to share: a reading / library book; a notebook with individualised spelling and  handwriting needs;  and the “sharing at home” book that will have contents to be shared with your family for fun learning. A Home Reading diary will be issued to each child shortly; as soon as the orders arrive at school.

We are timetabled to use the school swimming pool (now at a super temperature!) for aquatics on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Please make your child responsible for packing their own swimming gear in a plastic bag – they need to start to be self-directed and responsible for their own learning needs. (Year 4s already will be!!!) I hope!!

We will be visiting the school library / learning centre on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. The children can issue one each of fiction / non-fiction. However, I will use discretion regarding whether the texts are suitable for content and reading level.

Thank you to those of you who have contacted me recently. Please email me or cell-phone so that we can be in regular, really important contact!

Regards,

Bev Kidd

What a great bunch of 18 Year 2, 3 and 4 students we have in Room 2!

A very huge welcome to Ants, Ashton, Mackenzie, Georgia, Corbett, Cortez, Jordyn and Charlotte – these precious munchkins are our most recent arrivals this week.

Also, welcome back to our Year 3 and 4 students who are already familiar with the routines in Room 2. It is so great to be in the new re-vamped classroom still named Room 2.

Our main communication link will be via email so could you please advise me of yours so that I can contact you regularly about Room 2 happenings. It would also be very useful to also have your cell-phone contacts.

Please contact me on 0274511649 or bevsilverton@kaimai.school.nz

I’d like you to congratulate your children for demonstrating wonderful virtues of courtesy and courage this week. They  all deserve that!

I look forward to continued informal contact with you all and a great term with lots of fun, love and laughter within learning.

Sincerely, Bev

It is really scary and sad that our wonderful year is coming to an end, too soon! We still have so many exciting things to do, in Room 2!

We have had several events happening in recent weeks that unfortunately clashed on the same days. Never mind- we coped! Here are some ‘voices’ from Room 2 kids….

“Thank you to Ms Sperring for hosting the Year 4s for their orientation day last week. We are really looking forward to being in Year 5 next year and we have so much to look forward to in our new class.”

“The Junior (Year 1 -3) children had a fun day at Pyes Pa school doing athletics activities. We enjoyed interacting with kids from other KRSA schools doing long jump, high jump, sprints, sack races, two-legged races and lots of other bases that grown-up students from the Polytech demonstrated and organised. We had a sausage sizzle at the end.”

This week, the Year 4, 5 and 6 students had athletics at Pemberton Park. Have a look at the Room 3 website to get more information about this full-on, action-packed day.

The Juniors had an EOTC to the Tauranga Girls’ College to watch their annual drama performances, this week. As usual, the plays were a very high standard and we all had a super time, with lots of fun and laughter, with the acting and dancing.

Thank you to all of you parents who have accompanied us on these out of  school events and helped us with transport and supervision on the day. We really appreciate your support!

We’d also like to thank the dental therapists who have been at school for the last few weeks. They have made many new friends at Kaimai and especially with Kaimai teeth!

Next Wednesday afternoon, Cool Bananas will be performing their Christmas play in the school hall. If you would like to come along and join us to watch this wonderful play, you are very welcome! Pre-schoolers will love it as well!

Don’t forget about the Christmas Parade at the Mount this Sunday- check your emails for the details!

See you there!!

Hi to all our mates in Room 2.

I hope you’ve had a super break with your family and friends. What a great celebration this weekend for our wonderful All Blacks!

One of our flags blew off our car today- it must have been so excited to have been an All Black!!

Lots of exciting learning planned for this short term; Sherryl Jordan is coming to visit us on Wednesday to talk about “Finnigan” and his / her Pirates. That is such a privilege!

We will be investigating the devastating “Rena” disaster and the impact it has had on our local global community… and beyond…

Please contact us with a new post to support our exciting programme.