Term 4 Newsletter- Kahu Team

Term 4 Newsletter- Kahu Team 

Kia ora koutou!

Welcome to Term 4 of 2019. It’s hard to believe we are now in the final term of the year. Term 3 was a success, not only throughout the classroom work but with the variety of options provided for the students with the SPARK programme on Mondays, the Tournament of Minds, the Police Competency Test, Mathswell teams, Arts Evenings and Arts focus, the Wellesley Sports fixture, Dance Splash  and Waterpolo team to name a few. To add to the mix we also had ERO visit us in Week 9, where we got to showcase what we have been doing and share the things we are proud of. Thank you to all of our parent helpers in Term 3, with your continued support the variety of options we can provide are more accessible and your expertise also enables us to enrich our inquiry topics in authentic ways.    

This term is a 10 week term, ending on Thursday the 19th of December at 1pm. This includes the second of our two planned PPP programmes, the  Abel Tasman Year 8 camp, Year 7 EOTC and the Year 8 Formal and graduation assembly. It is certainly set to be a busy term!

Below is a run down on the term. Feel free to contact your child’s classroom teacher if there is anything you wish to discuss further.

Term Dates to Note

14 October                              - Term 4 starts 

28 October                              - Labour Day

29 October                              - School Athletics

29 October                              - Abel Tasman Meeting - parents of Year 8 only. (6pm -7pm)

6 November                            - EPRO8 Challenge

11 November                          - Swimming starts 

28 November                          - Speech finals 11am 

1-6 December                         - Abel Tasman Camp

2-6 December                         - Year 7 EOTC

10 December                          - Year 8 Gardasil Vaccinations 

13 December                          - Trip to Days Bay 

17 December                         - Year 8 Graduation Evening

19 December                          - End of year assembly - School finishes at 1pm. 

Literacy

Our writing focus for this term is persuasive writing and poetry. Persuasive writing: The idea that we can convince people with the power of our words, where students will write around topics of personal interest areas that they feel passionate about. This can also be incorporated into your son or daughter’s speech which will be written in the first half of the term and delivered in class in Week 6. The finals will be at 11am on Thursday of Week 7. 

For poetry we will be exploring a variety of figurative language using this context to consolidate, through reflection, the years spent at Muritai for our Year 8s and the ambitions of the Year 7s as they enter their final year. 

We are continuing to develop comprehension skills through our reading programme, where we will be exploring poems, and looking at novels using reciprocal reading strategies. Reading is also integrated across our inquiry topics.

Numeracy

We start the term with a focus on Algebra, specifically patterns and derived rules. We will be using rich mathematical tasks as a context to establish understanding around algebra and formulate teaching goals out of these tasks to ensure students have the required knowledge and skill sets to be successful. We will then move into revising some key concepts from the year. We will be focusing particularly on fractions, decimals, place value and operational strategies. In addition to this, students will continue to focus on becoming more fluent with basic facts, specifically their multiplication and division knowledge. This is one area you could help at home with. We know that students often get the concepts in maths but are held up by their lack of fluency in basic facts. 

We also aim to give students some experience of open ended mathematical inquiry within our programs this term, while building their knowledge and flexibility with strategies.

Inquiry / Integrated Studies

Sexuality Road continues in Term 4. We have our last 4 sessions to complete our unit called ’Discovering Me’ Throughout these sessions we will be discussing communication and decision making, reproduction, what support networks do I have? and then a session to round up all 10 previous sessions and allow for any final questions. Once again, if you have any questions regarding this unit, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

***Integrated Inquiry- Careers and Personal Passion Projects

We continue our focus on STEM with our students completing their Muritai Inclusive Playground and Exploration Site, under the No Place Like Home banner. The students have been given the brief to design an all inclusive playground for Muritai school considering the “Gardner's Multiple Intelligences” and build a playground like no other. They have been working in small working teams to go through all aspects of the design process. 

We will be offering the second opportunity of Personal Passion Projects to delve into their passions once more during the last half of the term. We were very impressed by the efforts of the students in Term 2 and how the vast majority were confident at directing their own learning. The students will be completing their proposals during Week 3 of the term for homework and start these at the beginning of Week 4. They will have 10 full sessions (9-12:00pm) over Weeks 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the term to work on these, but it is likely that they will also need to use some of their own time at home to complete it. They will present their work in Week 9, after EOTC and the Abel Tasman week. We will also have our celebration of learning on the Thursday of Week 9 to recognise all of the hard work that goes into these projects. This will be the major component of homework at this time. 

Physical Education

An exciting term for PE is planned, starting off with Athletics. The children will be taking part in Long Jump, High Jump, Vortex, Shot put, Discus and Sprints. This leads in nicely to our school athletics day on Tuesday the 29th of October. We end the term with Swimming starting again down at the local pool. For swimming we are focusing on instruction and stroke correction and for many, swimming fitness and distance. Each session will have a water safety focus as well, with the final session being totally focused on water safety. We will be having 6 instructed lessons over a two week period from the 11th of November to the 21st of November. 

EOTC

Planning is well underway for the Year 8 Abel Tasman adventure and the first full parent meeting is being held on Tuesday the 29th of October at 6pm in Room 22. The purpose of this meeting is to explain how the camp runs, the reasons for going and the equipment your child needs to be warm, dry and well equipped for all activities. We leave on the 1st of December and arrive back on the 6th of December. 

The Year 7 EOTC week planning is also well underway and is going to be conducted over Week 8 as well. (2nd of December to the 6th of December).  This year we will be taking advantage of some local attractions designed to challenge and excite the children, as well as showing their leadership skills in preparation for year 8. This will also include an overnight camp. A notice for the Year 7’s will come out soon with the cost or activities and requests for parent assistance where required.  

We will be meeting with the students regularly to ensure they are fully prepared for the exciting week at the end of the term with the Year 8 Formal and graduation. We are also planning on taking advantage of our stunning local environment by utilising the Eastbourne bush tracks. This is excellent preparation for the EOTC week, especially for the Year 8s, as they will be walking long distances each day of the Abel Tasman.  

Other opportunities

This term brings the opportunity for our two teams of students to participate in the Epro 8 engineering challenge.  This event will be held at Wainuiomata Intermediate School from 5pm on Wednesday 6th November.

Reporting to Parents

Teachers will very shortly start writing academic reports for each student. This is a summative assessment on the progress and achievements your child has made throughout the year. These reports will be coming home at the end of the term. Also at the end of the term, students will bring home their clearfile with work samples from throughout the year. Along with this hard copy, students will also have work samples in their Google Drive account. We will be encouraging our Year 8 students to download their samples to a personal account before the end of the year. 

Stationery Check

Many students are now missing pens, pencils, rulers, plastic pockets and calculators. These are necessary for everyday class work. Can you please ask your child if they need any items and replace them. Thank you.

Sun Hats, Sun Block and Drink Bottles

It’s Term 4 and each child must bring a hat to wear everyday.  Students not wearing hats have to stay in the shaded area. It is also recommended the children apply sunblock and have their own named drink bottle at school. As the days get warmer it’s important they are fully hydrated.

Footwear and clothing (personal hygiene)

All the children will be a lot more active this term and when the weather starts to get warmer we all start to sweat (and smell) more. We are recommending that students bring a spare change of clothes and suitable footwear for exercising at school. For many students it is time to start using roll-on deodorant (please no spray deodorant, on their own they smell nice, but 30 plus different fragrances wafting in the air can be a bit overpowering)- we are more than happy for them to use this at school. Please ensure your child wears shoes that they can comfortably run in. Jandals and boots are not appropriate.

Finally, if you have any concerns or worries (or indeed if you can support us with any of the activities for the term!) please contact your child’s teacher by leaving a phone message at the office or by email: teachers surname @ muritai.school.nz.

Jon Mackie- mackie@muritai.school.nz

Chantel Lyons- lyons@muritai.school.nz

Stephanie Lamborn- lamborn@muritai.school.nz

Ruth Hooke- hooke@muritai.school.nz

Thank you, as always, for your continued support,

The Year 7 and 8 team