Saturday 25 February 2017

Week 5 is shaping up to be an exciting week in M1. Our Inquiry into Whanaugatanga - connectedness, belonging, sense of community is now in full swing. Several groups ventured out on Friday to interview school community members about the idea of community. They are learning to listen carefully and take notes using quick sketch pictures to help them remember what the person being interviewed said. By asking the interviewee to also write down their answers, we will later be able to do some data collection based on key words that were the same from interview to interview. this will help us to formulate a class definition and understanding of what community is.

In Writing, we are learning that good writers can carry on independently. I will be introducing the following writing cycle this week:

  • Think of an idea,
  • Tell it to a friend or yourself or even the wall!
  • Draw a quick sketch 
  • Write your idea down 
  • When you think you have finished, go back and add to the words and add to the picture using a green pencil (this shows how they have revisited their story and worked to add/extend it) 
  • Start a new piece of writing
This process ensures that the children are maximising their writing time and allows me time to conference with children one-to-one. During this time, children share what they are working on and identify two things they are doing very well already (called stars) and one thing they and the teacher agree would be a good next step for improving the quality of their writing (a wish) . You might see this template in the children's writing books- 



In Reading, we are learning that good readers activate their prior knowledge before starting to read. We will learn what these words mean and practise recording our prior knowledge ahead of reading our guided reading books this week.

Reminders for Week 5
  • Togs needed for swimming Tuesday and Thursday and again for our water fight day on Friday. Children may bring bottles or water guns for squirting, but please no water balloons
  • Mufti Day Friday- Treat Items. Savoury treats for boys, sweet treats for girls
  • Please bring in any spare plastic bags for use at the gala. We have a collection bag in our classroom foyer to put them into
  • We have decided it is time to retire our classroom office in favour of setting up a class cafe called Yum Yums. If you have any old play equipment like plates, food, tea sets, cash register etc you wouldn't mind us using that would be great. Old menus, writing pads, clipboards etc would be appreciated also. 
  • Wednesday 2:30pm Bike Track Ribbon Cutting. Kids feel free to decorate your bike to ride around the track on at the cutting ceremony. Non-bikers can walk the track with me
  • Our library day has changed to Wednesday. Please return books any time prior to this in book bags thank you 



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