Term 1 2013 Newsletter

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

 Welcome back to school for 2013! Hopefully everyone had a very relaxing and enjoyable holiday. Melissa, Lisa, Ruth and myself are really excited to be back and looking forward to the year ahead. The students in the Senior School will be working within one of the three classes but our intention is to create a strong team culture. There will be many opportunities throughout an average week for students to work and interact with others in the different classes. This of course means your child will also be working with other teachers within the team. Below is a run down of the structure of each class:
 • Room 22: Melissa Coton.
 • Room 23: Stu Devenport is covered every Friday by Ruth Hooke for management release.
• Room 24: Lisa Allen works 4 days a week with Ruth Hooke teaching every Wednesday.

 We also have the lovely Sue Steele who will be teaching in all three classes for teacher classroom release.

 We have an exciting term planned. Here is an overview of how it will unfold.

  Integrated Studies / Inquiry: 

Our Inquiry big idea for this term is: “Trick or Treaty”

 To start this unit we will look to the past and focus specifically on the significance of the Treaty of Waitangi. We went to Te Papa in week 2 to learn more about its history, particularly the reasons for having a treaty in the first place. Later in the term we will look at different opinions people have about the treaty and the reasons why there is so much grievance around it. There are several strong individuals from this time who portrayed essential values for quality leadership. While studying these leaders we will endeavour to make connections with how we can act in order to be an inspiration to others at Muritai School. This of course ties in nicely with us choosing our school leaders for 2013. Students will be asked to apply in writing for these positions in the first couple of weeks of school. This unit is also set up to create a positive environment where children understand, appreciate and support one another.

  Literacy: 

The focus for Term 1 is looking at newspapers. During this unit we will be learning about the features of the newspaper, reading and classifying a variety of articles and learning how a newspaper article is structured so we can effectively write our own. Our goal is to establish a school newspaper which is created by the students… watch this space!! We will also be studying a variety of novels throughout the year, either in small groups or as a whole class.

 Maths:

 We will continue to cross group for maths throughout the three classes based on ability. This will commence in the middle of the term once testing is done and the swimming programme finishes. We start the year looking at Number, looking at place value and addition and subtraction then moving into Algebra. Muritai School is continuing to use online maths maintenance programme www.mathletics.co.nz. This will be used in class but predominantly used for homework and will support the work being done at school. We found this programme extremely worthwhile last year. Many students achieved excellent results from the regular maintenance and it is a great way for parents to see what learning is happening in the classroom.

 Swimming:

 Swimming is well underway. Weeks 3 & 4 all classes will be swimming everyday. These sessions will be run by Hutt City swimming instructors. Our annual swimming sports scheduled for 15th February have unfortunately been cancelled.

 Art and Sports Rotations:

 Our Sports rotation will continue weekly on Wednesday afternoons starting in week 3. We also plan on running an Arts rotation on Thursday afternoons for 5 weeks in every term. This term we have scheduled it to start in week 5.

 Things to note:

 • Technicraft: This programme starts on the 13th of February. This year we have 5 groups. 3 groups will travel to Wainuiomata Intermediate by bus for either Food, Fabric or Wood Technology. The two groups remaining at school will either be taking part in music with Ruth Hooke or Spanish with Melissa Coton.

 • Cell Phones: We understand students may require the use of cell phones before or after school, so they are permitted at school, but they are not to be used during school time. If students bring their valuables to school they are responsible for them. Our advice is to keep them at home.

 • Croquet: This opportunity was quickly snapped up by 12 enthusiastic students who go their money in quickly. For those who missed out there will another opportunity starting in week 6 of this term.

 • Blogs:

As always, we will continue to share our learning with you using the blogging platform. You are welcome to visit the class blogs anytime and we would love to hear your feedback.
 Room 22: www.misscoton.blogspot.co.nz
 Room 24: www.muritaiallen.blogspot.co.nz
 Room 23: www.mrdevenports.blogspot.co.nz

We also plan to have every student set up with their own blog so they can share their work with you on a regular basis. For this to happen, every student has been set up with a school email account and will be able to administer their blog. If you have any concerns regarding this programme please contact your child’s classroom teacher.

 * Edmodo: We also intend on trialing Edmodo.com as a platform to share homework and create online discussion with the students this year. It will also be an excellent opportunity to reinforce cyber safety and etiquette. More information will be sent home regarding this website later in the term.

 If you need to contact your child’s classroom teacher please feel free to drop by the classroom before or after school. The easiest way to touch base with us is email:
 Melissa: coton@muritai.school.nz
Lisa: allen@muritai.school.nz
Stu: devenport@muritai.school.nz


Thank you again for your support,

 Stu Devenport
Associate Principal