Week 2

WOW!  Our school days are flying by! Room 2 are very busy with narrative writing particularly with adding adjectives and interjections!  We are learning to edit our writing by improving our stories.  We are applying many reading strategies during literacy time and some reading groups are starting to carry out complex tasks for example, mini inquiries and learning to research for more information.

Our sport started this week with volleyball being the first focus. We are hoping to hold a volleyball competition with other classes but we need to improve our skills first!  Today, we had the wonderful opportunity to have two Japanese ladies join our class for an hour today.  We saw our names written in Japanese and we welcomed them in our volleyball tournament. 

This Thursday, electives began.  The children chose out of the following activities under the performing arts umbrella: creative art, glockenspeil, ukulele, kapa haka, gymnastics and Spanish.  What a fantastic opportunity to try new things!

Well done to Rebekah and Arrus for being the SuperKids last week and Ryan and Shayla-Lee this week.  Last week student of the week went to Arrus and this week it went to Leah.

One of the types of assessment Room 2 are using is the Bullseye.  You should be familiar with this in the homework book already.  When the children achieve 10 bullseyes in one book, they receive a prize from Senorita Clark's special prize tin!  We also have group points and this week, the Epic Warriors won with the most points!

We have completed spelling and numeracy assessment this week.  The students know where they are at and what they need to do to move onto the next stage/level.  With spelling, the students will be working on the words they got incorrect in their spelling assessment which is based off a programme called "Spelling for Success" which gives the children their spelling age which can be compared to their chronological age (current age).  Spelling will also come from the children's story writing.

The Basic Facts ladder is up and running with the children's names next to the level that they are at.  Get your child to explain how this works when you pop into the classroom.

We are using a lot of ICT in the classroom.  The programmes we are using can be accessed on our blog page and are safe.  Please talk to your child about using the internet safely.  Digi Awards have started so our classroom is a real hive of activity!  If there are any Room 2 parent/s out there who are creative with photography or with movie making software, please do get in touch with me (even write a note in your child's homework book). Many hands will make light work and the children are highly motivated with this activity.  It is the expectation that all of the students will submit a piece of work in the Digi Awards.  Some people are working in groups of 2 or 3 and some people have chosen to work individually.

The children have had a fantastic week of learning and we have another exciting week organised starting with a performance in the hall on Monday morning by a visitor to the school.  More about that in another post!

Have a lovely weekend.
Adios mes amigos!

Senorita Clark

Room 2's ice skating recounts

Guess what?  Yesterday morning at 9.20am it was ice skating time and it was awesome!  Room 2, 1, 5 and 6 all went ice skating. I really enjoyed skating.  Once lots of people had been on the rink the ice got carved up so a little bit of the track so a little bit of the track was not so good.   

I chose size 2 skates.  They were comfy and warm! When I first went on the track I saw lumps on the track it made it slippery.  When you went over the lumps I fell over a few times but I was okay!  Just a bit of ice on me.  There were so many people it was ACTION!

It was really exciting going with the other classes.  I had a great time.

 By: Jared J.

Ice Skating

I had so much fun yesterday. Four classes from my school went ice skating.

We went to the square, it was classes 1,2,5,& 6.

I fell over on the ice. The ice was cold and slippery. It was a lot of fun. I had such a great time and I can’t wait to do it again.

There were a lot of people at the Ice skating rink.

I saw a few people from my class fall over. I fell over about five times.

By Claire

Updates from Week 1

Hola!  Wow the children are well and truly into the classroom routine although some are still struggling returning their homework books.  They must be returned everyday so the children can complete spelling activities.

Tomorrow morning I will be testing the children on their spelling and basic facts (along with editing and general knowledge skills).

This week the students took home a reading journal.  These need to be returned to school everyday.  We did not get to do reading today due to ice skating.

Starting tomorrow, we have library every Friday morning and sport/PE skills in the afternoon.  This term our focus will be on ball skills relating to the Olympic games. The students are fortunate that I play so many types of sport!  If your child cannot participate in sport please do let me know!  We will also have gymnastics coming up later this term so if your child has had a previous/existing injury please do let me know.

Assembly is tomorrow at 2.30pm.

Adios

Welcome to Room 2, Term 3, 2012

Wow!  Here I am on day two in Room 2, with a fantastic, vibrant class full of talented learners.  The students need to be commended for their diligence and perseverance of the new systems in place and the high expectations already fostered.  We have got a fantastic reading rotation in place so I will be spending the next few days ensuring that I have listened to the students reading to me so we can work on individual reading strategies.  We are working on a piece of writing which we will be edited and re-edited to become a marvellous piece of material that will not make Senorita Clark fall asleep when she reads the final story!  Watch this space as the students publish their stories here!  On Monday we sat a numeracy assessment and Mrs B from Room 1 and I have placed the students to where they are best fitted between the two classes. (Cross grouping starts tomorrow [Wednesday]). Students will be moved around, either between the two classes and across numeracy groups as we move into different numeracy areas.  I encourage you to get your child to use the links under 'literacy' as I have now installed a link to a fantastic reading resource where stories can be read aloud!  This helps with tracking the text and listening to the fluency of the reader!  There is also 'mystorymaker' which is a great writing tool.  Of course, the boys do tend to get a bit carried away with typical action hero antics and I couldn't quite figure out how a pirate ship ended up in the middle of the forest in one story published in class today!

Please do pop in to say hello as it is important to develop a good school/class/home partnership.  I am not available on Thursday afternoons.

I will also take the opportunity to use this site for reminders eccetra so do pop back and check on updates!  What better way to get our classroom into your homes!

Encantada!
Senorita Clark/Mrs C/Mrs Clark