Term 3 2014

Term 3 Newsletter

Dear Parents and Caregivers, 

 I hope you all had a relaxing break. It sounds like the children all had a great time with friends and family.

Thank you to everyone who came along to our Celebration of Learning evening at the end of last term. It’s always good to touch base and celebrate the successes they have made. All the teachers were thoroughly blown away with the outstanding effort put into the science fair projects last term. It certainly was a massive process and we were very proud of many of the students. It is excellent to see some sound work ethic developing and students continuing to strive to reach their potential. Thanks again for all your support with this process; we realise it wasn’t an easy task for you at home either! A big congratulations to the following students who received a placing.

Year 7:

1st: Kieran Smith

2nd: Matiu Inwood

3rd: Alice McFarlane

Year 8:

1st: Emeline Gray

2nd: Hannah Moffat

3rd: Jake Murphy

Overall winner: Helena Cvitanovich

These students will be representing our school at the NIWA Science Fair next month so we will keep you posted on their achievements.

We are now full swing into Term 3 and as usual, it’s set to be a busy one. Below is a run down on what your child will be focusing on.  

Inquiry:

This term we will be carrying out a social inquiry around the processes of the upcoming General Election. Throughout this unit we will be learning about different people’s  rights, duties and responsibilities in a democracy. We will also be investigating New Zealand’s history in becoming the first country in the world where all adults, including women, had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

On Monday the 4th of August we will be travelling into the city to visit parliament buildings and learn more about what goes on.

Literacy:

As always our literacy will have strong connections with our Inquiry studies. What fits best with learning about parliament but debating! In writing our focus will be on the persuasive genre which links in well with creating oral presentations for debating. Our best debater will be awarded with our Year 7/8 Speech Competition Cup at the end of the term.

Mathematics:

We are continuing with cross grouping this term. We start the term with a Number unit; focusing on fractions, decimals and percentages.  Later in the term we will be focusing on Algebra.

School Production:

Of course Term 3 is always the ‘Production’ term. This year we will preform a show called ’Tall Tales’ where each syndicate will adapt a popular children’s picture book for the stage.  As usual the Year 7 and 8 students will have the opportunity to take a major involvement in the show from acting to prop design, lighting and backstage work. There will be more information coming home regarding the school production throughout the term.

Visual Art:

This term our focus is on printmaking. The school has recently purchased a couple of printing presses so we are very excited about using them for the first time. 

Physical Education:

The focus for this term is striking where we will be developing skills for bat, stick and racket games. We will also be entering teams in the upcoming HRSA Netball and Hockey Tournaments. Our sport rotation programme will continue on Wednesday afternoons.

We will be continuing with our fitness programmes in the mornings every day. At the end of last term to talked to the students about wearing appropriate clothing and footwear for these sessions. We also suggested that they bring a change a clothes for exercising in as they can often work up quite a sweat in these sessions. Using roll-on deodorant may also be beneficial for some of them.

Careers Education:

We have had a large number of parents that have offered their time to come and talk to the students about their careers. We have planned for 3 afternoons this term and hope to do the same in term 4.

Other things to note:

Homework: 

 Now that our Science Fair is complete we will be going back to a more structured programme for homework. This will usually include, spelling, grammar (proofreading), reading, mathletics and a small inquiry task. Please remind your child they should be reading for at least 15-20 minutes a night and they will have at least 2-3 mathletics tasks to complete each week.

Tournament of Minds

This is a new opportunity that is being offered to a small group of students this year. For the students that are interested they should have bought an application form home to complete. The team will be decided by the end of week 1. It is quite a big commitment and will require the students involved to be using a lot of their own time to prepare and complete the challenges.

Kapa Haka / Dancesplash

With the success of our school’s Kapa Haka performance at Polyfest last term, Raihania Chadwick and Ruth Hooke are keen to increase the size of the group and prepare them for  Dancesplash towards the end of the  term. We will be encouraging our Year 7/8 students to take part in this opportunity as it is a great event to be a part of.

Wet Weather:

While we are still stuck in the winter months, many of us start to get a bit hairy being stuck indoors all day! Wet lunchtimes can often be difficult so we welcome students bringing to school indoor games, such as board games or cards.

Finally if you have any concerns or questions regarding our classroom programme or your child's learning, please don't hesitate to make contact with us. Feel free to pop in before or after school or the easiest way to touch base with us is email:

Melissa: coton@muritai.school.nz 

Lisa: allen@muritai.school.nz

Anand: ranchod@muritai.school.nz

Stu: devenport@muritai.school.nz

Thank you again for your support,

Stu Devenport

Associate Principal