Week 5 News and Homework tasks

Two short weeks coming up - this week due to Teachers’ Only Day and next week due to Queen’s Birthday weekend. Hope you have something nice planned for the four days.

This week our Numeracy, Literacy and Topic learning intentions are:

* efficient strategies for solving addition & subtraction problems - main focus will be algorithms

* using questions to gain deeper understanding of texts
* understanding the importance of verbs in sentences and reviewing use of question marks

* finding out about the world of work - increasing their knowledge of work opportunities and skills in demand.

I will be ringing everyone this week to find out who still needs a work placement for Week 7. Many thanks for your support with this. The students are really looking forward to this authentic learning experience.

Part of this week and next week's homework is preparation for the Mask Parade at the beginning of Term 4. Now that might sound like a long way off but experience has shown us that it takes a long time for students to go through the process of making a mask, choreographing moves and composing a ‘sound track’ for the occasion. The first step in this process is to get the students to have a say in what the masks might look like. The staff will then select a design that fits the criteria - able to be assembled by 5 - 12 year olds, can be made within timeframe available, exciting eye catching design, has good visibility when worn and is comfortable to wear for an hour or so. This will enable us to order the materials prior to Term 3, the term that the masks will be made, ready for Week 1, Term 4. They will have 2 weeks to plan and make a prototype of a mask to be entered for consideration for our school entry in the Nelson Mask Parade.

A big thank you to all the parents who used our poll to indicate whether their child is eating their lunch. It appears that most students are eating their lunch all the time - 76% of those who responded. Remember you can still write a comment in the homework diaries if you are concerned about the lunch issue.
Have a great week everyone.

Regards
Teressa

Students' Tasks
Maths Mate
Term 2 Sheet 5 or cycle 13
Due for marking and discussing on Thursday.

Spelling
Learn the words identified from your writing. Check the dictionary meanings of your words.
If you do not have any words to learn then you can help us do away with overused words by finding alternatives. Over the next 2 weeks look for words to use instead of scared and mad.

Mask Parade - Planning ahead, have your say
Time to get the creative thinking cranked up! Week 5 and 6 will be a time for you to research, plan and create a prototype of a mask for the Mapua School entry into the Nelson Masked Parade.
Your first step is to read through the brief and plan sheet.
Think about how the themes might be interpreted - ideas, shapes, colours???
Second step is to check out books and websites for ideas.
Thirdly complete the planning sheet.
And the last stage is to make a prototype to show us clearly what your plan is all about.
Good luck with your design.

Book Fair!!

On the 15 th of May 2009 the book characters came to life- Alice in Wonderland, Inspector Gadget, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan etc. The best were awarded best dressed in the House groups after lunch.

We paraded around the big tree afterwards and our good friend Barney came to visit!!!!! It is funny but that day our principal, Mr Chalmers, went missing.

Then all the book characters headed back to their pages, and here they are!!!!

Week 4 News and Homework tasks

The Book Fair last week was very successful and will allow the library team to choose a lot of new books for our school. It was great to see so many students once again letting their creativity take flight and dressing up as a book character. Friday definitely had a carnival atmosphere as everyone paraded around in their costumes, vying for the prizes on offer.

Another buzz for me last week was coaching the Y7 miniball team and watching them pushing themselves to be all they could at the Friday night game. The result was an exciting game which ended in a draw. Good team spirit and fair play all the way.
We have allowed the intermediate students have their lunch in the classroom or on the deck as a special privilege. Some people think that the students are skipping their lunch so that they can get out to play earlier. Parents, we need your feedback. Please vote on the poll on our blog, leave a comment or email me to indicate whether your son or daughter is eating their lunch or whether they are bringing it home uneaten.
This week we are extending our skills and knowledge of: -
 addition; questioning to deepen our understanding of what we read; writing to persuade; writing a CV; Spanish greetings and winter sports. Special event this week is a soccer coaching session on Tuesday.
A big thank you to all the parents who have managed to get work placements for their child. For those who have not had any luck, I will be working on getting suitable work experience for those requiring it.
Have a great week
Regards
Teressa

Student Tasks

Persuasive Texts
Persuasion is all around you. You might be surprised how many people and businesses are trying to convince you to do things every day.
Find a persuasive piece in the newspaper or a magazine to bring to share at school. It can be an article, advert, letter to the editor, a movie or book review or another piece that is trying to persuade you in some way.
Be prepared to answer these questions: -
Who is trying to persuade you?
What are they trying to persuade you to do?
Is their argument convincing? Why or why not?

Maths Mate
Term 2 Sheet 4 or cycle 12
Due for marking and discussing on Thursday.

Spelling
Learn the words identified from your writing. Write out the family of words or words that rhyme with your words.
E.g. Word family for swap = swaps, swapped and swapping.
Rhyming words for skies = flies, pies, cries, spies

Are the Room 7 students eating their lunch?

Some people think that the Intermediate age students are skipping their lunch so that they can play. Parents, we need your feeback. Please vote on our poll or leave a comment to indicate whether your son or daughter is eating their lunch or whether they are bringing it home uneaten.

Kia ora Parents and Caregivers
Last week was a very busy week. Added to the usual classroom programme were Assembly preparations, basketball practises and the Wetlands programme but we made it and had a lot of fun along the way.

After all the preparations, making the call on Friday morning and cancelling the outdoor assembly was a hard one. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your view point!) the weather was the opposite to what was predicted on the weather forecast at 8 am Friday. Never mind. Can’t win them all. The students preparations were not in vain as they put on the Assembly for the Senior Syndicate in the staffroom.

Thanks for your support with the electronic communications. It worked well last week and we only had to photocopy 6 copies of the news and home tasks. A big thank you to Matt, Sarah and Judy for adding your views to the debate about the difference between a job and a career. Hope you all enjoyed the sweet treat : )
It is not too late to add your views. How about taking time to comment after you have read this.

Everyone loves MOTEC on Fridays. Students develop an understanding of:
1. the use and operation of technologies 2. technological principles and systems; 3. the nature of technological practice; 4. strategies for the communication, promotion, and evaluation of technological ideas and outcomes.




Home tasks

Kidsline Posters
Create a poster to enter into the 2009 Kidsline poster competition. Remember to think of an analogy or metaphor for the help line then think of a short catchy slogan to go with the image. practise your design ideas on a ordinary piece of paper first. When you feel you have a winning design, draw it onto the competition page.

Maths Mate
Term 2 Sheet 3 or cycle 11
Due for marking and discussing on Thursday.

Persuasive writing
Making a decision
Last week most people had only 2 or 3 points for their junk food decision making sheet.
This week I want you to see if you can meet the challenge of finding more. To do this you will need to do some research on junk food. What facts and figures can you find in books or the Internet?





Wetlands

Today's Friday and we are excited because it is our first visit to the Mapua Wetlands Project. Here we come to have some fun in the sunny sun! This session is going to be our safety and orientation session. We are going to be learning about the Wetlands and helping to develop and conserve the environment every second Friday afternoon for the next two terms. We have our gumboots, jackets and scarves ready to go. Check out our photos next time you visit our blog.

Another great weekend in paradise. What a fabulous place to live.
Mad Hair day was a huge success. The students had a lot of fun giving my hair a bit of a makeover!


In this day and age of electronic communication it is kind of ironic that we still print mountains of paper. At school our photocopy budget has been blown and we are now using Term 3’s supplies! To help alleviate this problem I am now going to put all news and home work tasks on our class blog. there will be a hard copy on display in the class, one in the folder at the Office and any parents who do not have ready access to a computer will also be given a hard copy.
Could you please email me or ring me if you have any problems with this arrangement.

The students are really interested in the Careers unit. We had a discussion around what is a career and what is a job and would like input from you on the class blog. Could you type a comment stating what you think is the difference (if any) between a job and a career.

Student tasks for this week:
Careers
Personal qualities - complete PP3 of your careers book.
Spanish Alphabeto
Create the section allocated to you for our Spanish alphabet frieze. You may use the computer or do it by hand.
Maths Mate
Term 2 Sheet 2 or cycle 10
Due for marking and discussing on Thursday.

Persuasive writing Making a decision
During our persuasive writing unit you will need to learn to make decisions. You will use black hat and yellow hat thinking to make a decision about fast foods. Complete the worksheet by coming up with as many ideas for and against as you can - aim for 10 per side!