Welcome back to the third term of the year. We hope the students all had an interesting and relaxing winter break - there certainly was a mixture of weather to contend with! Thanks again to everyone who attended our Celebration of Learning at the end of long and busy term 2. It was great to touch base with you all again and share what the students have been up to.
We have another exciting 10 weeks planned ahead. Below is a run down of what is happening.
Literacy/Inquiry
This term we are inquiring into the world of advertising, in particular visual advertising. We will be looking at the various features and language of advertising and what makes an advert so successful. We will also investigate how advertising targets a particular audience and how it influences our lives. This is a really exciting unit and will give students opportunities to analyse a variety of adverts plus create their own.
We will continue to use a variety of 'quick writes' through our writing programme, focusing mostly on narrative writing. We have seen some great progress with this approach with a high level of engagement from all students.
Numeracy
We continue with cross grouping for maths this term and start with a Number unit of Fractions, Decimals and Percentages. In week 7 we will move into Geometry investigating reflection, translation, rotation and enlargement.
We will be continuing to provide Mathletics tasks for students on a weekly basis. Tasks are usually set on Monday but teachers may assign additional tasks throughout the week. Once tasks are completed, students can complete tasks of their choice or 'Live Mathletics'.
This term the Home and School team will be running a 'Factathon' fundraiser across the school. This is similar to the Spellathon done previously but focuses on basic facts. More information will be sent home about this shortly.
Please remember all teachers are available to meet with you to discuss your child's learning. This includes their maths teacher, so if you have concerns please get in touch via email.
Art Show
This year we are moving away from our traditional Wearable Art show which we normally hold every alternate year to our school production. This year we are offering more options to the students with a variety art show with a theme based on 'The Elements.' Students had the opportunity to sign up to Photography, Drama, Stomp/Strike, Visual Art and of course Wearable Art. They made their selections at the end of last term and are now in groups. In week 6 we are dedicating the entire week to prepare for the show yet some groups may need to do some additional preparation before this (particularly the wearable art group). This preparation will be done as part of homework. We will also be holding auditions for lead acting roles with students who signed up to the Drama group. Priority for lead roles will be given to Year 8 students.
PE
This term we continue with our large ball skills unit along with starting a striking unit focusing on hockey, padder tennis and badminton.
Regular fitness will start up again first thing in the mornings. Its great to see the children wearing appropriate clothes and footwear for physical activity. We welcome them bringing a change of clothes for these sessions if they wish.
Extra Opportunities
On Fridays for the first half of the term we have Lisa Allen working in Rooms 22 & 23 on a whole day art project then Melissa Coton working in Rooms 22 & 24 with hands-on Science experiments. We are lucky enough to have Ruth Hooke on Fridays too who will provide drama opportunities for all the classes.
Also this term Melissa Coton will be training two teams for the EPro technology challenge (similar to the BP Challenge) which is held in August. In addition to this I will be facilitating two teams to prepare for the Tournament of Minds competition in early September. We also have a team in training for the annual Mathswell competition early in the term.
There are two HRSA sports fixtures this term; Netball & Hockey.
Once again Muritai will be involved in the annual Artsplash show. Our senior students will have an opportunity to be a part of the choir this year along with sharing their wearable art. Our successful Kapa Haka group will have the opportunity to perform again at Dancesplash during the same week.
As always, if you have any concerns or questions we are always available. Email is the best way to get in touch:
Melissa: coton@muritai.school.nz
Anand: ranchod@muritai.school.nz
Lis: allen@muritai.school.nz
Stu: devenport@muritai.school.nz
Kind regards
Stu Devenport
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