2014

Welcome to Room 6 everyone.

I hope that you all had a terrific holiday. The children have all settled in well and are busy getting back into the school routine.

Some of the highlights coming up this term are: Our Topics - 'How Can We Learn and Grow Together?', 'Medieval Times (Research)', 'Water, Water Everywhere'; Swimming in weeks 4 and 5; Whole School Tirohanga Day; Junior/Middle Duathlon, and the Tryathlon.

Our library day is Thursday, and Mrs Lisa  Morrison will be teaching the children on Thursdays as I have senior management release.

We took photos today of each member of the class, we are using these for our books about ourselves. These are displayed below.

You can contact me at: garth@east-taieri.school.nz

Regards
Garth Powell

Ava

Abigail

Mitchell

Kaitlyn

Edelle

Blake Carter

Blake Chirnside

Ruby

Klae

Caleb

Jack

Bodie

Riley

Jake

Koby

Josh

Daniel

Philippa

Sophie

Luke

Georgia

Harvey

Kayley

Paddy

Harry

Ollie

Hunter

 

Term 2 and Marble Games

Welcome back to Term 2 everyone. I hope that you all had a marvellous holiday!

Today was a great day as the children began the 4th activity in the Daily5 programme. This is a wonderful activity called 'Listen to Reading.' They get to listen to stories that are read to them on the computer. If the children would like to bring their own headphones along for this, that would be fantastic!

This afternoon the children began their 'Marble Games' for the technology unit - 'Let's Get Inventing'. We started with a problem - To create a game that can be used on a rainy day, and can be made out of recycle and reused items from home. The first step was to work with a buddy to design the marble games. Mr Powell had already made one so the children were able to see a finished product. Once the designs were made the children began gathering materials and beginning their creations. It was important to always refer back to the plan. Here are some pictures of the children working on their games.

Daily5 - Literacy Programme

This year I have started to trial a new reading programme called: "The Daily Five". The programme runs during my literacy (reading and writing) sessions and it encourages the children to become independent readers and writers - as well as providing plenty of time for practise and maintenance. At the moment the children have mastered 3 of the 5 components: Read to Self; Read to Someone; and Work on Writing. Below are some photos of the children engaged in the activities. The children have built their 'stamina' to ensure that they can do each of these tasks independently for a minimum time of 15 minutes (many of the children can last for 30 minutes). While the children are working independently it allows me to work for an uninterrupted period with my guided reading groups. The children really enjoy the activities, and have developed a number of great skills that they can apply at school and at home.

One focus has been when selecting a book to read - we use a model called 'IPICK'. The I = I Choose - what book have you chosen? P = Purpose - what is the reason you have selected this book? I = Interest - does this book interest you? C = Comprehend - do I understand the book while I am reading it? K = Know the words - do I know most of the words? If I make more than 3 mistakes of find 3 tricky words, then the book is probably too hard.

Ask your child what activity they enjoy and why we are doing this in class.

Swimming 2013

The children have loved the swimming lessons we have had at the Mosgiel Pool. Everyone has made terrific progress and should be proud of their achievements. It is such a shame that swimming is coming to an end.