I am really excited to have joined the St Albans School team this year. I look forward to getting to know all of you and your children.
I strongly believe that children need to feel safe in their learning environment, and are motivated and excited to come to school. I believe that children need be engaged in real world learning experiences, and understand the purpose of their learning. I have high expectations of every individual student, and know that every child can and will achieve. Stationary Thank you to those people who have their stationary ready fro day 1. This is very much appreciated. If you have not yet purchased your child’s stationary please do so ASAP. Learning this term Our major focus for this term will be getting to know each other and establishing strong relationships. We will be finding out more about how we learn best and what will make us successful learners. The children will find out about their personal learning styles. We will also be swimming at school, then at Aqua Gym in Week 3, and Cross Country training toward the end of the term. More information will be sent home about AquaGym in the next week or so. Once the pool timetable is finalized I will let know you which days our class will be swimming, but it would be a good idea for students to bring their togs and a dry towel from tomorrow. Home learning Students benefit from opportunities to practice their learning at home as well as at school. Every child will be provided with a school homework book. I encourage the students to read for at least 20 minutes per day; learn spelling words and practice their maths basic facts. If you think your child requires more home learning, take a look at the blogs that are linked to our school website. A home/school partnership Your child will bring home a “communication notebook” for the first time on Friday. More information about this will be given at the time. Class Representatives Each year we choose two students to represent our class on the school council. If your child wishes to be selected they need to present a speech outlining why then would make a good class rep. They should talk about what their strengths are, there leadership qualities and ideas they have to help improve student life at school. These speeches need to be read to present to our class by Tuesday 10th February (next Tuesday). Library While the students will have opportunity to spend time at the school library (situated in Room 10), I encourage you to make use of your local public library, as lit is an amazing resources and library cards are free! Oral language Good communication skills are important. Children will be required to prepare and talk about a topic of there choice. I will give the children guidance with this. Photos from home In the first few weeks of this term we will be creating newspaper pages to help get to know each other better and as a writing focus. Pictures on these papers may be drawings, however some children may wish to bring copies of photos from home, which I can photocopy. These can also be emailed to me using the email address below. Articles in our paper will include: a family description, an advertisement for a favourite destination, a review of a favourite movie, song or book or a sports or hobby report. Any photos that match these would be fantastic. If your child would like to bring along photos for their newspaper, they need to bring them by the end of Week 2. Please send no more than 3 photos per child. Duties and responsibilities Managing-self is something we encourage. In Year 5/6, the students are expected to manage their time and belongings with increasing independence, so they are ready for school and prepared to learn. Please encourage this at home also, so that they get into the habit of doing things for themselves. We will be having a huge focus on our school values this year. Our school values are respect, fun, community, maanakitanga, creativity, initiative and excellence. Ask your child to tell you more about our values, as they underpin everything we do at St Albans. Sports Coaches Required We need coaches for 2 kiwi tag teams and the cricket B team. If you are interestd in coaching one of these teams, please email Dionnne Fowley (Rm 26) at [email protected] Parent survey “Tell me about your child” Along with this newsletter, I have attached a survey that you are welcome to fill out and return to me. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions, comments or concerns. Pop in and see me, contact me through the school office, or by email at [email protected]. Thank you for the privilege of teaching your children. You can be absolutely assured that I will always have their best interests at heart Warm regards, Shelley Barbour
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Room 22St Albans School Archives
December 2015
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