Dear Parents and Caregivers

Term two is already well underway and the Rata students are busily engaged in

their classrooms.

The building work that is being carried out on the administration block is having

quite an impact on the way we get about our school but so far the Rata

children have shown themselves to be flexible and responsible. The children will

continue to sit outside the Year 3-4 classrooms to eat their lunch but will move to

other areas of the school to play. As always, the library will be open at

lunchtimes for those children who want a quiet indoor space to read or play

chess.

Curriculum Content

The theme of “Change” continues to be interpreted in each class through the

different curriculum areas.

To promote important values the students are acknowledged in class when they

demonstrate resilience, self management, respect, perseverance, excellence or

empathy. When the team assembly comes around someone from each class

wins a wrist band with a positive message on it and one student gets to take our

“Wise Owl” back to class.

Literacy

Reading will continue to be a combination of the following:

group instructional reading based on ability

whole class reading of texts based on current topic of inquiry

independent reading based on student interests

teacher reading to students.

A typical writing lesson in your child’s class would consist of a motivational

activity to focus the children on the lesson ahead, such as discussing a picture or

a piece of excellent writing. This would be followed by the teacher explaining

the task, modelling the planning and the writing, then the students themselves

writing, and the lesson may conclude with sharing their work in pairs or with the

class.

There will continue to be separate lessons about language, grammar, spelling

and punctuation.

Maths

Students will continue to have daily practise of basic maths facts which might be

a task, a maths game or a computer challenge. Teachers will be moving from

learning addition and subtraction strategies to multiplication and division. Place

value will be ongoing revision work.

Oral Language

This term sees the start of the oral presentations that each child in turn delivers to

the class. Each week one or two children will share a prepared lesson with the

rest of the class. These are thoroughly enjoyed by presenter and audience alike

and provide invaluable practise for speech giving which comes along in year 5.

Heads Up

Book Week is week 4 (20-24th May)

Teacher Only Day Friday 31st May

Queen’s Birthday Monday3rd June

Activity Fees Term 2

Year 3 Students

Sports Fest 9th April, bus 6.50

NZ Playhouse performance 5.00

City Gallery Visit, bus 6.00

ASB Coaching (bus free) 13.50

$31.00

Year 4 Students

NZ Playhouse performance 5.00

City Gallery Visit, bus 6.00

ASB Coaching (bus free) 13.50

$24.50

Reminders

Please name uniform items so

they can find their way back to

the rightful owners.

Bell times are:

8.50 hang up bag and be

ready for the day.

8.55 roll call—first

learning block begins.

10.40 morning tea

11.00 second learning block

begins

12.30 lunch time

12.40 play time

1.25 have a drink, toilet,

get back to class.

1.30 third learning block

begins

3.00 home time

Classrooms are not open until

8.30am and students should

not be at school before then.

Term 2 2019 Newsletter

Wadestown School

Rata Team

Physical Education

We begin the term with cross country practice three

mornings a week, so good running shoes, firmly laced will

be helpful. PE lessons will involve large ball skills. Our three

visits to the ASB in weeks 6,8 and 10 will allow the children

to experience gymnastics, badminton and handball from

trained coaches.

The Arts, Health and Te Reo Maori

The children have a range of exciting experiences ahead

of them this term.

NZ Playhouse performance of The Tortoise and the

Hare.

A visit to the City Gallery to see the Semiconductor

installations followed by an art lesson involving light

boxes and magnets.

Kapa haka lessons

In class art lessons and preparing for Artsplash by

learning lots of new songs.

Social Science

The class timetables are full to the brim this term but we

are also intending to squeeze in a look at an ancient

civilisation to make comparisons with our own lives and

discuss changes. Rome, Egypt and Greece will be under

the spotlight.

Book Week

This is coming up in week 4 and so it’s time to start thinking

about what character to dress up as. Please refer to the

Book Week News sheet which is coming home with this

newsletter.

Attendance

Student attendance has been really good in term one

and hopefully the bugs will stay away so that this can

continue. Many children find change to routines and

timetables hard to manage and taking extra days before

and after holidays often results in missing the start of new

units of work.

If you have any concerns or questions regarding your

child’s school life, please make contact with the

classroom teacher or Pip Honore.

Regards

Pip Honore, Talia Davies, Sue Savage and Joy Henderson

Events from Term One

Rata students were the lucky pupils

for groups of year 7 teachers who

put a huge effort into organising

art and science lessons for them.

All the children enjoyed learning

with their peers.

Year 4 students had a great time at the ASB

Futsal tournament.

Book Week 2019 20th - 24th May

The following are the all the events and competitions that

are planned for Book Week this year.

Book Fair

The books will be displayed in Room 7 this year.

The Book Fair will be open each afternoon, 3.00 - 4.00pm Monday to Friday.

Browse, select, order and pay at the desk.

Books will not go home on that day as there is only one copy of each sent to us. They will be delivered

to your child’s classroom as soon as Scholastic Books complete the order.

The Wadestown School Library benefits greatly from the Book Fair so please come along.

Please leave school bags out on the bench as the room will be crowded.

Character Parade

This year we are combining the Weld St and Rose St book character parades so that students of all ages can

enjoy seeing each other in costume. It will be on Friday 24th at 9.10am on the courts at Rose St. We will keep a

careful eye on the weather forecast and if it looks unsettled the Weld St children will gather at their own

site. You will be informed the day before if this is necessary. So, thinking caps on and let’s see a wonderful

parade of our favourite characters.

NB - this is not a competition.

Parent Readers

The year 1-4 classroom teachers invite parents who would like to share a favourite picture book or story with

their child’s class. to email the classroom teacher to let them know. Parent readers will pop into class about

2.30pm each day of Book Week and read aloud to the children.

Library Competitions

Your child can find all the details for these competitions in their library (Rose St and Weld St sites). These are

the things they can participate in.

Library Competitions

Your child can find all the details for these competitions in their library (Rose St and Weld St sites). These are

the things they can participate in.

Design a bookmark. (year 1 students)

Design a bookcover. (year 2-4 students)

Shelfies - have your photo taken reading in an unusual place or position

(year 1-8 students)

Design a poster promoting an author or series (year 5-8 students)

Write an original piece for The Writers’ Wall. (year 3-8 students)

Name the Rose St Library bookworm. (year 1-8 students)

All competitions close on Wednesday 22nd at 3.00pm

Other Events

You may be interested to hear of these events that are happening in the school but do not involve parents.

Visiting author - Eirlys Hunter will address all the students at both sites.

NZ Playhouse - This year the much anticipated performance is The Tortoise and the Hare.

Superswap Switcheroo - all teachers visit a classroom of a different level and share their favourite sto-

ries with the students.

Quizzes - each day a different level of the school will be invited to participate in these literature quiz-zes.

Pip Honore

Teacher Librarian

Wadestown School