​Term 2 2016 A warm Owhiro Bay Learning Community welcome​ ​to all our new families. This ​Learning Link
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contains home learning suggestions to help you support your child’s learning at home. Reading: We are learning to decode printed text and to understand what we read. Your child will bring a school reading book, a poem or song home every night. They will also bring home a school library book once a week and they can keep this for the full week. Learning Link: Make time to sit comfortably with your child and read with them. Occasionally ask
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them to retell the main parts of the story to you. Occasionally ask​ them some simple comprehension
​ questions such as “When did…?” “Who was…?” “What happened after…?” Thank you for writing comments in your child’s reading diary and returning the bookbag to school each day. Visit the library and read some science books related to our Inquiry topic. Can you spare 20 minutes every 2 or 3 weeks to help ​put reading books away and process new books? This is a great way of supporting class teachers. Please let us know if you are able to help. Oral Language: We are learning how to explain how things work/move with a greater emphasis on scientific vocabulary. Learning Link: Please talk to your child about what they are learning at school and support them to develop relevant vocabulary. Writing: We will broaden our writing this term to include writing about our science inquiry i.e. explaining how things move. Initially, we plan our work with a picture, record words or letters we know, put a full stop, write our name and re­read what we have written. As we progress, we write more detail. We use full stops and capital letters more consistently; develop sentence structure and record all the sounds we can hear in a word. Learning Link: Talk about things that move and how things work. These could be animals, toys, people or activities. Spelling: ​We are continuing to learn and revise the sounds and letters of the alphabet. After that we will be learning blends and digraphs. We also learn to spell commonly used words. We are checking that we are applying this learning in reading and writing. Learning Link: Support your child to increase their knowledge of letters, sounds and words, as shown in their home extension / sound of the week book. Go back over the ones that you have already learned too. Mathematics: We are learning the language of probability e.g.likely, unlikely and impossible. We are also continuing with developing number knowledge, multiplication, division, addition and subtraction strategies. Later, we will also be learning about classifying shapes by features. Learning Links: Talk about the probability or likelihood of something occurring. E.g. what is the likelihood of having dinner tonight? What is the probability of catching an eel in Owhiro Stream? Count forwards and backwards with you child and get them to say the numbers before and after any number. Key Competencies: ​We are learning to manage ourselves, to relate to others and to understand the process of thinking. We are going swimming this term and managing belongings will be a focus. Learning Link: Encourage your child to pack and unpack their own school bag and swimming bag to promote self management. Please ensure they can dress and undress themselves too. Inquiry: How Things Move is our inquiry for this term. We are likely to cover ideas such as push and pull, gravity, simple machines, toys, birds, animals and sports. Learning Link: Experiment and talk about how things move. Visit Te Papa and find interesting things that move. For example the machine in the Inspiration Station on level 4. PE: ​We are learning to swim at Berhampore School this term. We are also learning how to do cross country running over a long distance in preparation for our School Fun Run in Week 4. Learning Link: Take your child for a run or a swim. Te Reo Maori and Kapa Haka: ​We are gaining confidence to use a variety of Te Reo vocabulary, including greetings, numbers and simple questions. Harakeke class are joined by children from the kindergarten with Whaea Rachel to sing songs, do haka, give our mihi and hear a story together. Tawa will also be learning waiata and kapa haka. The classes will get together for some joint kapa haka sessions as well. Learning Link: Regularly practice greeting your family and friends in Te Reo Maori. Ask your child about “Ata marie”,Tena koe /Tena korua /Tena koutou and Kia ora”. Help them count to 10. The Arts: We are learning to explore movement through dance. In visual arts we are doing observational drawings through pencil sketching and pastel. Learning Link: Dance at home or go to a production or show. Some important dates for your diary: Wheels Day
Every Wednesday Swimming
Every Friday until 1st July Parentlink AGM
Thursday 12th May Walk’n’wheels day
Wednesday 18th May BOT elections ­ nominations close
Friday 20th May Fun run
Thursday 26th May ­ morning (pp Tuesday 31st May) Enviro day/ Planting day
Friday 3rd June Queen’s birthday
Monday 7th June Matariki disco
Friday 17th June Last day of term 2
Friday 8th July First day of term 3
Monday 25th july We are going to have a great term! Please ask if you have any questions or concerns. Please contact us if you have any information to share about your child. You can e­mail us at: [email protected]​; ​[email protected]​; ​[email protected] ​[email protected] Noho ora mai ra ­ stay well and healthy Sylvia Reynolds, Julia Nissen, Karen Johnston, Rowena Johnstone