Air Force Museum

A huge thank you to all our parent helpers today! you helped to make our trip to the Air Force museum awesome! It was wonderful to see how much knowledge the children could remember from the beginning of term - well done Room 19 you rock!

Thank you to Cooper & Jo for being our chief photographers!

St Albans School Book Parade Winners 2015

Book Parade 2015

Great effort Room 19. It was amazing to see the thought and effort that went into your costumes, you all looked amazing! Room 19 best dressed winners were Coco & Cillian. 

Wacky Wednesday!

Top effort Room 19 - Great to see all your 'wackiness' shining through!

Leopard Seals By Cillian and Bryn

Jack & Ben's Amazing Animals

Well done boys - Great to see you taking your learning one step further.

Thanks Leah & Jen for this great shot of some of the Room 19 girls at lunchtime!

Great work Rosa - your nightlight looks awesome!

Electricity!

A huge thank you to our parent helpers today Casey, Jock, Jason & Hamish. The children really enjoyed learning about circuits and how they work! Their challenge is to take a photo tonight using their nightlight! 

Congratulations to Josh another successful day at rugby scoring 9 trys 

playing against Halswell 25 to 1 

Print Making

A huge thank you to Bianca from the Art Gallery who came and taught the children all about print making today - Their artwork looks amazing!

Josh Tonga

Congratulations to Josh who got player of the day during his first rugby match of the season!

Josh plays for Christchurch Football Club Junior Under 10 Bronze team. 

Cross Country

ANZAC 2015

Room 19 are spending the next few weeks learning about WW1 and in particular Gallipoli. Here are a few photos from our ANZAC day service and a couple of special items children have brought to share.

Keep an eye out for our learning over the next few weeks.

Term 2 Newsletter

The Survival Guide for Room 19

 Term 2 2015

Welcome to term 2 – I hope you all enjoyed a relaxing break with family and friends. This term is an extremely busy one. I will endeavor to keep you updated on a weekly basis through your child’s homework sheet. Please remember we are now entering our winter term, children are no longer required to wear their school hat and must attend in full winter uniform.

Here are some key happenings in the Year 4 team:

Friday 24^th April: Rugby Fun Day – Burnside 11.30-2.30pm

Monday 27^th April: ANZAC Day observed.

Wednesday 29^th April: School Cross Country.

Monday 4^th May: Science Alive (at school)

Monday 25^th & Tuesday 26^th May: Art Gallery Lessons (at school)

Monday 22^nd June – 28^th June (Week 10) Book Week – please remember this will include our annual book character parade!

Tuesday 30^th June: Year 4 Big Day Out: Wigram Air force Base

10-12.30pm (Parent help required)

Parent Teacher Interviews, Week 11:

Wednesday 1^st July & Tuesday 2^nd July.

School Curriculum:

In Literacy, we will be focusing on both Transactional (diary writing) and Report writing alongside our Electricity Inquiry.

Mathematics: The children will continue to be involved in a Math’s Interchange programme in Term 2.

Our initial Inquiry this term will be focussing on ANZAC. If you have any pictures of family members in army uniforms I would really appreciate a copy for the classroom!

Our second Inquiry focus for the term is ‘Electricity’ the Key Understandings we will be learning are as follows:
Electricity plays an essential role in everyday life.
That there are dangers associated with electricity and that we need to know how to stay safe.
That an electrical device will not work if there is no battery or there is a break in the circuit.

That some materials conduct electricity and others don’t (insulators)
That electricity comes from different sources.
That it is important not to waste energy.

Library:

Our class book exchange day is Monday – please ensure your child brings their book back after the weekend.

Homework expectations:

The children will have weekly spelling, basic facts and reading.  Each week I will send home a class notice.  I hope this will keep you up-to-date with what is happening in Room 19.  I would really appreciate a parent signature at the bottom of the note to let me know information and home learning is making it home!

Reading: Is the most important task to do every night at home.  A reading book for the week will be used at school.  The children are free to take this home and share it with you but my preference would be your child’s personal choice of reading material at home. The idea is that this is the time to practise fluent reading and that is should be fun.  As adults we choose to read easy material for our recreational reading and therefore this is the habit we are seeking to create.  It is time to practise using funny voices and expression and talk about what is happening in the story.

Maths: Please write in an average of 10 sums for your child to work on each night. These could include addition & subtraction alongside times tables.

Contacting Me

You are more than welcome to contact me via e-mail kim.scadden@stalbans.school.nz. Please remember if you wish to discuss sensitive issues then after school by appointment is the easiest.  I have meetings after school every Monday & Wednesday but I am usually free any other day.

Please do feel free talk to me if you are unsure of anything related to the classroom or your child.

Kind regards

Kim Scadden

Room 19 had a great time at Spencer Park with the rest of our Year 4 team! Here is a PMI chart the children completed when returning to school. It highlights some of the Positives/Negatives/Interesting parts of the day

Tryathlon

Today The Year 3 & 4 children completed a Tryathlon consisting of a bike, a run, and a swim. Here are Room 19's 'I' statements from today:
I did better at running this year because people were cheering for me! - Milly
I really liked the swimming, it was my favourite part. - Lily
I thought I could have done better on my biking because I tripped up! - Sammie
I did well at the biking because I have never done a Tryathlon before. - Keira
I did really good at running because I'm fast - Josh
I think I did better in the biking because I had a mountain bike this time. - Cillian
I did well at biking because last year I was quite slow. - Amelia.
I think I did better biking than last year because this year I have a better bike. - Akira
I was proud of myself after the race because at the start I was nervous. - Ruby
I did better running this year because last year I sprinted at the start and this year I saved my sprint to the end! - Jessie
I didn't feel sore after the race because I didn't sprint off. - Frankie
I was nervous at the start but in the middle I started to love it! - Coco
I was proud of myself when I was swimming because I swam very fast. - Seeya
I think I improved on my biking because I came 3rd. - Bryn
I was proud of my biking because I overtook lots of people and I used my gears. - Rosa
I thought I was better at the biking this year because more people were cheering - Annabelle
I felt nervous when I started biking but once I was on my second lap I was ok! - Jessendra
I feel proud of myself because I think I did very well in the biking! - Theo
I felt really proud because I was faster than last time. - Ben
I did better at running than last year. - Matthias
I felt cooler in the pool because I was hot in the biking and running. - Finn
I felt weird running because I was weak after biking. - Jack
I felt proud when I biked, ran, and swam faster because I could hear dad cheering for me! - Cooper
I felt happy when I passed people biking and running. - Nikesh
I liked the biking because my father taught me to bike and he came to watch me. - Arsh
When the tryathlon started I told myself - 'yes I can do this - I can win!" - Hunter.
Well done Room 19 - I was very proud of all of you! It was great to see you all participating and having 'FUN' - Miss Scadden

PUPPIES!!

Thanks to Ruby and her mum for bringing in their beautiful puppies today. We loved having cuddles!

Mr Men & Little Miss

In Room 19 we have been looking at our personalities and how we are unique as individuals. The children read the Mr Men and Little Miss books and chose a character they thought best represented their personality. Please come in and have a look!

Friday Morning Jump Jam

Well done to Sammie for making it as one of the Jump Jam leaders. Thanks for leading us in Jump Jam each Friday morning. 

Swimming Lessons 2015

Swimming Goals 2015

Room 19 - 2015

The Survival Guide for Room 19

 February 2015

Welcome to Room 19.  I am excited to be teaching Year 4 this year.  I consider it to be an absolute pleasure and a privilege to be teaching your child and I am looking forward to getting to know the class over the next few weeks.

A little bit about me:

I am born and raised in Christchurch. I have taught in both the UK and New Zealand since finishing my studies.  I have been teaching for approximately 15 years and have experience in both ECE and Primary. My two passions other than teaching are reading and travel. I am lucky enough to be travelling to South America later this year.

Some key dates for Term 1 are:

·       Aquagym - Week beginning Monday 16^th February

·       Senior Swimming Sports - Wednesday 5^th March

·       Gaol setting interviews – 25^th  & 26^th  February

·       Big Day Out - Wednesday 11^th March (Provisional Date)

School Curriculum:

Our first Inquiry focus for the year is ‘ Learning to Learn’.  The focus for the first week at school will be on learning class routines and expectations, building friendships and working together as a class.  We will be working on “Me” activities as well as “Learning to Learn” and setting personal goals for each child to work on and achieve.

In Literacy, we will be focusing on both Transactional (diary writing) and Narrative     (creative) writing this term.

The Reading programme is designed to scaffold and support the learning of the individual child.  This term I will be using a specific programme designed to build upon the children’s reading skills.  This includes buddy reading and guided reading sessions at reading time.

In Maths, the children will be involved in an interchange programme across the Year 4 classes, starting in week 4.  This will enable us to teach more specifically to individuals Numeracy stage and ability.

Library:

Our class book exchange day is Monday – please ensure your child brings their book back after the weekend.

Homework expectations:

The children will have weekly spelling, basic facts and reading.  Each week I will send home a class notice.  I hope this will keep you up-to-date with what is happening in Room 19.  I would really appreciate a parent signature at the bottom of the note to let me know information and home learning is making it home!

Reading: Is the most important task to do every night at home.  A reading book for the week will be used at school.  The children are free to take this home and share it with you but my preference would be your child’s personal choice of reading material at home. The idea is that this is the time to practise fluent reading and that is should be fun.  As adults we choose to read easy material for our recreational reading and therefore this is the habit we are seeking to create.  It is time to practise using funny voices and expression and talk about what is happening in the story.

Maths: Basic facts or a timetable will be sent home each week and your help in assisting your child to commit these to memory so they are able to recall them almost immediately is a great advantage to their maths learning in the classroom.

Swimming

Our class swimming days are: Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Please ensure your child has their togs on these days (named!)

Clothing

We have a full school uniform at St Albans that each child is required to wear.  As it is term 1 (and very hot!) children are required to wear a school hat. I find it much easier if these are left at school on your child’s hook or in their desk so you don’t need to remember it daily. If a child does not come to school with their hat they are required to stay in a shaded areas during break times as opposed to being allowed to play around the school.  This is for their own safety.  Please sunblock your child before school daily. If you want to leave sunblock at school for your child I am happy to reapply it before lunchtimes. Please make sure all items of your child’s clothing are named.  There is a lost property box located outside Room 1.

Contacting Me

You are more than welcome to contact me via e-mail kim.scadden@stalbans.school.nz. Please remember if you wish to discuss sensitive issues then after school by appointment is the easiest.  I have meetings after school every Monday & Wednesday but I am usually free any other day.

Please do feel free talk to me if you are unsure of anything related to the classroom or your child.

Kind regards

Kim Scadden