By myself

This week we have been learning about one of  Sunnybrae's values which is independence. We thought of what we can do at home by ourselves and at school. We drew pictures and now we can read and listen to it in our ebook. Please watch our story and see if you can figure out who is talking.

Room five can be independent when changing into our swimming togs. We have been enjoying our swimming lessons and have made lots of gains. We hope you can join us for the swimming carnival coming up in two weeks.

Being creative

Welcome to Maxwell and Emma who joined our class.

This week we used our creativity by making beautiful water colour art works.

 We also used blocks to build an array of objects. 

We hoped you enjoyed reading the Valentine's cards that the children wrote themselves. They are already using many of the skills needed to be successful writers.

Welcome to 2017

 Welcome to Room 5's blog for 2017. 

 Here are the notes from the Meet the Teacher Evening.   

| About Myself

Born in the Philippines and lived there until age 12

Completed high school and University in Auckland. Teaching since 1995

Taught overseas from 2000 - 2004 in Tokyo and Bali for two years each 

I live with my husband and 8 year old son

| MORNING ROUTINE
School starts at 8:55. Please arrive before this so that they are settled and ready to go before this.

Please get them to do the morning routine for themselves

Water bottle in drink tray

 Book bag in box. They can take out the reading books and put it in their reading basket and poetry books on Mondays

Put a smiley face on the board. Smiley faces are used as a quick morning  maths activity. Rote counting, basic facts (+ -), colour and number patterns, word problems

| LITERACY

Foundation for learning

| Each week we have:

- focus sounds / letters of the week

-focus words of the week

| Reading instructional book groups in the second hour of the day. Focus is on looking at the pictures to find the word(eagle eyes), finger pointing to the start of the word (kiwi finger pointing), recognising high frequency words, saying the initial sound of the words (lips the fish)

| Two books will go home. One that has been read with the teacher and an easy book for reading mileage. Read together and then return the books each day.

|  Please write down the title and date when your child has read their books to you in the reading log.

- We also have a big book and a poem that we use for reading strategy work, sound and word work, comprehension and fluency strategies

On Fridays we do a big book activity and poems are pasted into books and taken home for weekend reading

| Writing is in the first hour. Practice sounds and words and then modelling by the teacher

Different activities include: Writing their stories in their writing books. Focus is on drawing their pictures, writing their name, writing from left to right, finger spaces, capital letter and full stops

| Fine motor control sheets

| Writing high-frequency words

| Sound and Word cards : Please read these every night. Word cards are assessed regularly and need to be returned once your child moves up to another set of cards

| Rocket words – Read to a big buddy on Fridays. Your child can practice writing these words as well but are not tested

| Hand writing  - Casey the caterpiller

| Pinchy crab hand grip

| Switched onto Spelling programme

| Reading Log

This has sheets to help you with:

How to help with reading at home

Different games to play with alphabet and word cards and also the record of what cards you have

Ideas to help with writing

How to use rocket words and spelling lists

The username and passwords to iPad programmes that we use at school (Reading Eggs, Matheletics) that you can do at home

How to access the class blog site

Different maths you can do around the home and out and about

| MATHEMATICS

Maths happens after morning tea.

Start of the term is usually a strand focus and all Mondays – statistics and probability, measurement, geometry, patterns.

Tuesday – Friday is more of a number focus

Warm up includes number identification, sequencing, before and after, basic facts, maths songs

| SIMPLE NUMBER PROGRESSION

Stage 0/1 : Counting forwards and backwards to 5/10, ordering and knowing numbers before and after to 5/10, hand and dot patterns to 5, forming a set to 5/10 and counting all objects

Stage 2: : Counting forwards and backwards to 20, ordering and knowing numbers before and after to 20, Know basic facts to 5 and with a 5, counting on from the first number to  solve problems

Stage 3: Stage 2 plus basic facts to 10, doubles to 10, skip forwards and backwards in 2s,5s,and 10s. Read ½, ¼, Solve problems by imaging

| PROGRAMME

Music and Classroom release specialist – Mrs. Barlow

P.E –swimming  -Monday, Wednesday, Thursday

 games, sports sessions, daily fitness,

Inquiry – Social Studies – classroom routines, rules, RICE, key competencies

Science – Day and night cycle, The Sun, shadows

Health – Sun and water safety

Art

Developmental Afternoons

Syndicate, Singing and School Assemblies

Buddy reading and rocket word testing on Fridays

We have our last literacy focus at end of the day - poem, sounds, story, songs

| COMMUNICATION
Please take time to read and share with your child

| Classroom blog

- Go to Sunnybrae Normal School website

-Room 5

-Top left is the email notification widget

Please put your email in to get all the latest news

| Fortnightly school newsletter

| Room 5 and Syndicate Term newsletters

| Classroom notice board

| Check book bags regularly for paper notices

| It is very important that we work as a team to ensure that your child has the best possible start to their learning journey

| Parent Helper Meeting  Feb 8, 8:00 – 8:45

| Please see me if you have any concerns

|  I am here to make a difference in your child’s life

| My email  is chutton@sunnybrae.school.nz

| Thank you for coming tonight