Class party venue change

Due to the weather, we have had to change the venue of the class party.

The class party will now be held in the Matakana school hall at the same time (4pm).

A note has been sent with your child today with regards to this change.

Kind Regards,
Joy Kraan

Secret Santa morning tea

Hi Everyone, 

I didn't realise that I had the secret santa morning tea pitched at a time that conflicted with the prizegiving on Monday the 16th of December. Hence, we are going to have the morning tea from 10am-10:25am (before morning tea starts) so that the children can have a play outside and lose some energy before prizegiving. 

If everyone brings a small plate, this is fine. Doesn't need to be big, it is just nice to share something small together after opening presents.

Cheers, 

Joy 

Athletics postponed

The weather is not very pleasant and we have decided to postpone athletics for tomorrow. 

My sincere apologies.

Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow. 

Kind Regards,

Joy 

Athletics day and picnic

Hi Everyone,

Tomorrow there will be junior athletics day.
Parents and Whanau are welcome to come and watch and then join the children for a picnic lunch.
Sorry for the late notice, that note slipped through the cracks.

The children have been sent home a notice with more information on it.

Kind Regards,
Joy Kraan

Mufti day for the Phillipines

Hi Everyone,

Just letting you know that there is mufti day tomorrow.
Could the children please bring a gold coin to donate towards the disaster relief fund for the phillipines.

Kind Regards,
Joy Kraan

Homework and swimming

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note to say that this week I will not be handing out any homework other than reading books that the children bring home.

Also, we are starting swimming this week until the end of the term. Our swimming times are:

Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:55-10:25am


Cheers,
Joy

Christmas activities

Dear Parents,

It is coming to that time of the year again where the children are looking forward to Christmas, maybe the adults not so much...haha!

I realise that they children are coming home with all sorts of things that we have been discussing in class and would like to assure you that I have yet to fully inform you about the happenings and you do not have to organise anything until such time.

We are planning on doing a secret Santa in Room 3, but will explain everything more fully in the letter.

I am in the process of completing the reports, which are due Monday the 25th November, so as soon as I have completed this I will place my full attention on getting some fun Christmas activities organised.

Many Thanks for your patience, it is a very busy time of the year.

Cheers,
Joy

Favourite book Fridays

Every child has their favourite book, their favourite story. So, I wanted to give them the opportunity to share their favourites with their peers this coming Friday.

Please could the book have a name somewhere in the book to avoid confusion.

Kind Regards,
Joy Kraan

Calendar art

Hi Everyone,

During the classroom open day last term, you were given out the order forms for the children's calendar art. If you would like this and have not already filled in a order form, please send one to the office with payment enclosed to either the office or to me by Friday the 18th to ensure that you will receive a calendar.

If anyone is needing a new order form, I would suggest you pop your head in the office because I don't have any spares to hand out.

Many Thanks,
Joy Kraan

Tug of war

At the end of last term we were supposed to do a school-wide tug of war, however, this didn't happen due to the weather. This term we would like to get this done, so we would love for the children to bring their house colour t-shirts to school everyday until we find a suitable fine day to do this.

Kind Regards,
Joy

Term 4

Hello everyone!

I hope that you have all enjoyed the break over the holidays and everyone has had a chance to relax. I know that I really enjoyed getting lots of things done, I have been planning for my wedding which is very exciting and I have spent loads of time baking...bliss!

Now that we are back into the last term of 2013 I am realising that there are only 10 weeks left with your wonderful children! So, I have been planning lots of fun activities coming up to christmas and there is also a class party being organised. This time is going to go so fast! I can't believe that my first year of teaching has almost come to an end.

The term will also be very busy with testing getting underway, reports being prepared and wrapping up the end of the year.

I look forward to a great last term of the year!

Kind Regards,
Joy

Holidays

Hi Everyone,

Well, another term down and the holidays are here!
I would like to send a big thank you to all the parent help this term, I really appreciate it, I simply couldn't do my job effectively without you all!

Have a great break and see you all next term, our last term for the year!

Cheers,
Joy

Photos in dropbox

Hi Everyone,

Just a friendly reminder that I have a dropbox folder with all the photos from events and happenings in the school and classroom ready to be shared with anyone who wants them.

If you would like them and already have a dropbox account set up, let me know by e-mail and I will share this folder with you.

Cheers,
Joy

Diffendoofer day

Hi Everyone,

On Friday it is diffendoofer day at Matakana school to raise money for the cancer society.
Children can wear weird and wonderful clothes on Friday and bring a gold coin.

I will be seeing how crazy I can dress on Friday too!

Look forward to seeing some crazy children on Friday!

Regards,
Joy

Assembly letter for Friday 30th August

Friday 23^rd August 2013

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

The children are very excited as next Friday, 30^th August, at 2pm, is our last assembly for the year, which is to be shared between Rooms 1, 2 and 3. Room One and Two have been learning a song about a clown so we decided it would be fun for all the children to dress up as clowns.

If you have a clown costume we would love for your child to wear it.  Otherwise bright coloured trousers or shorts, t-shirt or dress would be fine. If you have some spare items you could pop them in the bag too, just in case someone doesn’t have appropriate clothing. Other ideas could be a red nose and wig and bright coloured shoes. Some children suggested they could spray their hair a bright colour. This is fine as long as you are happy to do it at home before school. Please name all clothes and bring in a named bag by Thursday at the latest.

Each child will have their face painted for the assembly. If your child is sensitive to face paint and you would rather we didn’t use it, please let us know. We will apply some lotion before using the face paint and will avoid the children’s eyes. Each class would love a couple of parents to arrive at 1.15 to help with face painting and getting the children dressed. Let us know if you’re able to help.

If your child has some words to learn please find them attached to this letter, and practise throughout the coming week.

Thank you for your help and support this term and we look forward to seeing you on Friday.

Kind regards,

Melanie Bentley, Maryann Steel, Jill Parker and Joy Kraan.  

Interschool cross country forms

Hi Everyone,

Children who brought home interschool cross country forms need to have these paid for and returned by friday. I have received this e-mail just today. I have a class list and I am highlighting the names of children who have paid for the trip and given me or the office their forms. So far I have only received forms from the following students:

• Sam 
• Esme 
• Keegan
• Holly
• Sam H
• Blake

Please make sure that the rest of the forms are coming in to school tomorrow so that your child can run in the interschool cross country. 

Regards,

Joy 

No homework

Due to the busy time with theme week, I have decided that the only homework children will have this week is their reading books. Homework will be back to normal next week.

Regards, 

Joy

Cross country

Well, Room 3, you did it! I am so proud of you all!
Everyone gave it a go and tried their best! Wow!

Also, a few in Room 3 got 1st, 2nd and 3rd placings- Wow!
These children will be going to the interschool cross country. Congratulations!

Thank you to all the parents who came to support the children, it was great to see you there!
I have a few photos of children and their siblings too, I will e-mail these on to the respective families.

Cheers,
Joy

House t-shirts

Hi Everyone,

I have asked about what children are wearing on cross country day. Children are welcome to come to school with a t-shirt that is in the colour of their house.

There are school house t-shirts available to purchase that have been designed for the school. These come in all sizes and are $12 each.

Hope this clarifies any questions about house colour shirts.

Kind Regards,
Joy

Cross country

Hi Everyone,

This Thursday, the 15th August, it is cross country day at Matakana School!!!

The cross country event starts at 1:15pm, if you can make it to come and observe the children race you are most welcome!

Just a few reminders for the day:

• Children are encouraged to wear their house t-shirts with the school shorts underneath.
• If you would like to take your child home after cross country, please make sure that the whole event is finished before departing and that you come and let me know when you leave.

We have been doing track runs everyday this year and the children have also been learning about how to pace themselves in a running race, so I know we have some fit children who are eager to race.

These winter games are organized around the actual winter games held in Queenstown. The winter games in Queenstowns' opening ceremony starts at 5:30pm.

Hope to see some of you then!

Cheers, 

Joy Kraan 

100 day celebration

Hi Everyone,

A huge thank you from me and all the children in Room 3 for all the effort and organisation that has gone into making the 100th day celebration a success. Thanks Norm for organising everyone and all the snacks were just amazing!

Below are some photos of the event. I will post more at a later date.

Many Thanks,
Joy

Stationary lists

Hi Everyone,

Just a bit of clarification with the stationary lists. If your child has come home with the 'letters book' highlighted, this should be the little JWBJ books that we use for handwriting. So we don't need another letters book, just a JWBJ book from the office. If your child hasn't got this highlighted then they have enough space left in their existing handwriting book to carry on in there for a little longer.

Regards,
Joy

Fun with science

Hi Everyone,

We are starting a new unit this term, which has a science element to it. It covers force, motion and magnetism. Oooooooh what fun things could we do or make this time?

I have planned for us to make the following things:

• Week 1: balloon propelled car 
• Week 3: Making a magnetic fish game
• Week 4: Making a battery out of lemons

Children will need the following things in the next couple of weeks.

• Lid of a shoe box (for making their fish game)
• 4 lemons (for making their battery)

If children could bring the lemons in either a bag or named that would be really helpful. 

We will be working on this during week 1-5.

Cheers,
Joy

Term 3

Hello Everyone,

I hope that you have all enjoyed the holidays. I know I really enjoyed relaxing an spending time with my fiance and friends. I also spent a lot of time in the holidays looking through wedding magazines and organising my wedding for next year, which has been very exciting!

Term 3 has started and I am am looking forward to spending another 10 weeks with the kids, learning new things.

Reading logs: Today I sent home another copy of the reading logs. Every child received one because some children weren't sure whether they had one or not. If you have received one and are already working on a current reading log, just save it for when your child reaches 50 books and continues on to reach 100 books.

New Reading logs won't be given out this term, so the children have to make sure they keep it in a safe place.

Please send these reading logs to school every day so that I can tick them off. This is not to 'check up on the child', rather, if I notice a child slipping back in their reading or motoring ahead it gives me a good indication as to why this is the case by looking at their record of reading at home.

Homework: I have a homework chart on the wall. Children have Monday and Tuesday to complete homework. Children get a sticker for every week that they do their homework. 10 stickers and the children get an armband as their reward for a great homework record.

Book bags: Please make sure that your child remembers to take their book bag to school everyday. No book bag, no homework.

I look forward to working with all of you this term!

Kind Regards,
Joy Kraan

No Homework

Hi Everyone,

Just letting you know that due to PPPs this week, no homework has been sent home.
The children will have one piece of maths and reading for their last week of the term next week.

Regards,
Joy Kraan

PPP timetable

Hi Everyone,

Below is the finalised copy of the PPP timetable, in case anyone has forgotten when their booked time is.

3:00 Deniece & John (Sam)
3:10 Pene Fox (Millah)
3:20 Carla Lima (Oshana)
3:30 Sandra and Tom (Esme)
3:40 Jacqui and Aaron (Hunter)
3:50 Diana and Jason (Felicity)
4:00 Angela Corinaldi (Luca)
4:10 Hannah (Daisy)
4:20 Kim (Holly)
4:30 Katherine (Charlie)
4:40 Teresa and Jason (Owen)
4:50 Sam (Jacob)
5:00 Deb (Nieve)
5:10 Phill and Tracey (Grace)
5:20 MISS KRAAN's BREAK
5:30 Veda and Dan (Rama)
5:40 Logan and Donna (Keegan)
5:50 Milly (Monique)
6:00 Manuel and Angelique (Nehuel)
6:10 Keren Hurt

I look forward to seeing everyone and giving you some insight into your child's progress.

Kind Regards,
Joy Kraan

PPP's

Hi Everyone,

Just a friendly reminder that the slots for PPP appointments are filling up fast!
If your child hasn't brought theirs back in chances are the time you would like is already taken, so I have listed the available times as of today (21/6/2013).

Kind Regards,
Joy kraan

4:30
4:40
4:50
5:10
5:20
5:50

Please send your slips back with your preferred time and possibly a second preference.

Late slips

If your child is late, please go through the office and sign your child in.
The bell for school goes at 8:45. Even if your child is 5 minutes late it is unexplained unless they come to me with a slip from the office.

I understand that children may be late at times and that is fine, I just have to make sure that the school's policy and procedures are being followed, since I am legally responsible for their attendance.

It is very easy in the morning when there are lots of things happening for me to not notice that a child has come into class quietly without a slip and I have told the office that they are not in class. This is happening more often and is a concern.

Regards,
Joy Kraan

Change in homework

Today the children have been told how homework is going to go from now on.

On Monday, children will be given one piece of maths and one piece of reading homework. They will have monday and Tuesday night to complete their homework. They need to bring their homework books back on Wednesday.

Everyone should also have a reading log that their have taken home. The reading log is for you to fill in when your child has read their reader to you. Some children have only 1 book that they take home, due to the length and difficulty, and some may have 2. Children that have only 1 book are given the opportunity to choose another book from their group box.

The challenge is to get to 50 books, but they may only record the books they can read independently.
Please do not record any library books that the children have taken out from the library in this reading log. Library books are not pitched at their instructional level and that is what this reading log is for.

Many Thanks,
Joy Kraan

Class photos

This wednesday Room 3 will be having their class and individual photos taken at school. Please make sure that your child's uniform is neat and tidy and that they come to school looking their best.

The class photo order forms have been sent home. If you would like to buy a class photo or have individual photos taken please send this order form back to school with your child.

If you don't have one, you can collect another form from the office.

Many Thanks,
Joy Kraan

No Homework

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you all know that there was no homework sent today due to the fact that we had a reshuffle of the reading groups.

There will be an activity that corresponds with our words family of the week on Wednesday and the children have till Friday to complete this.

Please do make sure that the homework books are brought back on Friday as this is when homework for the following week will be organized.

Regards,
Joy Kraan

Book bags

Hi Everyone,

I have noticed that some children are repeatedly not coming home with book bags or not bringing them to school everyday.

It is really important that children bring their book bags to school everyday and remember to bring them back because if there are no spare book bags I cannot send their daily reading books, homework books, publishing folders or poem books with them home.

Everyday 15 minutes before the bell, we all tidy up and the children are instructed to bring their book bags and bags onto the mat to pack them into their bags.

In term 1, I did a check after the bell and delivered a lot of book bags to children who were already lined up for buses, but with term 2 into full swing, I expect that children know the routine and are able to monitor their own belongings.

The children are reminded everyday and they are given plenty of time to get themselves ready for the end of the day, however, if after this they still forget the child themselves is responsible for this. It may be a good idea to set up a sticker system at home if your child finds it difficult to remember their book bags to make them monitor this more closely.

The children have been given the children a reminder today that they have to remember and that it is their job to do so. Hopefully everyone will remember next week.

Enjoy your weekend! I think the children are very tired and they have worked really hard!

Kind Regards,
Joy Kraan

World of Maths

On Thursday, we have a very special visit of 'the world of maths'!

Notices have been sent out and children have been bringing their $5 to go to the expedition.
There will be 16 stations for the children to go around and there will be a worksheet that is associated with it. As you can understand organising this with juniors requires a lot of parental help. We need to have 16 parents across Room 1-3 to take our 16 groups around.

Please, Please, Please could you let me know whether you can help with this on Thursday 16th of May.

Many Thanks,
Joy Kraan

Term 2

Dear Room 3 children,

I hope that you are all enjoying the holidays as much as I have been. I have been enjoying lots of time doing the things I really enjoy doing like spending time with family and friends, going snowboarding and relaxing. I must say, I do miss all your beautiful, happy faces though!

Make sure you play lots, create lots and learn lots while you are on holiday!

I look forward to you coming back on Monday in Term 2!

xxx
Miss Kraan



Dear Parents,

I hope that you too are enjoying the holidays, although I imagine some of you are still working during this time. Just a quick message from me, the first 4 weeks of term 2 we will be working on a social studies unit called 'passport to the world'. This is a very exciting unit for the children as they will be taking their very own journeys to other countries in our classroom.

I thought I would share with you what the timetable for this unit will look like because some of the things the children will be learning and doing may require some of your clever ideas and helping hands.

Week 1:  Passports
During the first week we will be looking at what a passport is, what it is used for and we will be taking a closer look at who we are individually.

You may be able to help your child enjoy this week by talking to your child about where their parents and grandparents are from and what country they were born in. Also, what countries your child has visited (if any) or what country your child would love to visit in the future.

We may have a chance to look at a family tree maybe and the children create their own family trees.

Week 2: France
This week we are going to journey to France. We will be looking at one thing per day.

Monday-general information about France

Tuesday-Traditional clothing

Wednesday-Food (During this day I thought it would be really cool for the children to have a little taste of some French influenced food articles, this is where I welcome any ideas!)

Thursday- Dance and Music

Friday-Visual art (we will be looking at a famous artist from France and try to imitate their art work)

Week 3: Japan
(See week 2 plan)

Week 4: Samoa
(See week 2 plan)

If you know of anywhere where I could locate articles of clothing, food, etc from any of these countries please let me know! I would love to give the children as rich an experience as I can during these 4 weeks.

Also, if anyone is knows of people who can come in as guests to talk about the country they came from other than the ones we are studying, please let me know!

Look forward to seeing you all in Term 2!

Ka kite ano,
Joy Kraan

The near future of technology

This is a very interesting youtube clip about what could well be part of our everyday life in the next 5-7 years. Keep in mind that the technology already exists, all that needs to happen is for that technology to be released. It's a matter of time...

Our kids will grow up surrounded by this technology and will be part of their everyday lives in the future. However, I believe that we need to guide our children towards becoming creators of technology and not mere consumers of it.

Enjoy and please leave me any of your thoughts in response to this.

Cheers,
Joy

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=6Cf7IL_eZ38&vq=medium&safe=active

Apps to support learning

I have been collecting a list of applications that are useful to support your child's learning at home using mobile devices such as iPads.

I apologise in advance for anyone who has a PC based mobile device such as Samsung because I am not familiar with their app store and these apps are not able to be downloaded off the itunes store. This is not to say there there wasn't a PC version created, I just can't guarantee it.

I strongly encourage the use of these apps at home. In today's technological age, children naturally gravitate towards technology. I believe that we need to show children the use of technology in a constructive way. Rather than just knowing how is works and playing angry birds on mobile devices, I would like to use iPads and other ICT resources in supporting my learning program both inside and outside of the classroom.

Below are some apps listed that I believe have educational value for your children:


Literacy

• Word monsters: this build awareness of the reading strategies taught at school. Great support of the reading program in the class.

• Futaba: this is a multiplayer game. Great reading activity and the boys will love the competition.

• ABC farm: this is great for children who may need more practice in recognising the name and sound of letters in the alphabet. The more exposure the better it will be for their reading. Even if they know most of the letters, you may be surprised they all need constant reminding or this knowledge slips away and they fall back in their reading.

• Kids' vocab-mind snacks: great for vocab building and expanding. Building a network of words will greatly enhance their reading abilities.

• Bob's books #2-reading magic HD: develops reading ability

• Alphabytes: develops letter sound associations and develops early spelling skills.

• Word wizard: another apps to encourage early writers to use their letters-sounds associations to spell and write.

• Montesorri crosswords: great app. This app also goes into more advance sounds and will be useful for those children who want to extend knowledge of more complex sounds they may encounter in reading.

• Alphabet fun: this is good for the development of writing. Children trace letter and numbers.

• Spell + friends by tap to learn: exposure to correct spellings of english words. Children can compete in spelling bees. Encourages spelling ability and skills. 

• Spell Board: encourages spelling through word finds and words scramble and missing letter puzzles.

• iwrite words: for children who struggle to formulate letters. 

I will be adding onto this list...watch this space!!

Fence art-our progress so far

Throughout the year, Matakana School has theme week's. This term our theme week is on fence art. Every classroom in the school will be working on painting their fence panels and these will be displayed on the fence bordering the main Matakana road.

If anyone is able to come and help us do the painting, this would be greatly appreciated. The outlines are almost done, after which we are going to do the painting. We have 7 panels to paint and 3 children painting each panel.

Ideally, having one parent per panel to oversee the painting would be effective. Hence, having about 7 parents would make this process a lot easier.

I am going to schedule in the fence art everyday from 11:30am-12:20pm. Please e-mail me if you can come and help so that I can organize this during the week. 

Below shows our progress so far.

Enjoy!

Kind Regards,
Joy

 Our practice run on paper

Warm fuzzies

Our fuzzy jar has been collecting lots of fuzzies!

We are only 12 fuzzies away from celebrating the kind and caring behaviours of the children by means of a class party. I welcome any suggestions from you as to what we could do for this.

Cheers,
Joy

Writing

Please check out the writing tab on our blog. You will find a piece of your child's writing on there for you to have a look at and comment on. This makes the purpose for writing real for your children and will encourage them to continue to progress in their writing.

Many Thanks,
Joy

Fence art

Theme week is next week! Our theme is fence art! We are going to be painting our fence panels throughout the week and there will be a display of these.

Watch this space!!!

Room 3's volcano

Things are ready to blow up in Room 3!

Since the book about volcanoes, our interests in volcanoes have been sparked.
Miss Kraan went home that day and thought about what she could do to further the interest and the idea of making our own volcano came up!

This week we have begun the construction of our volcano. We started off by attaching the chicken wire onto the wooden plank.

Then we had to cover the chicken wire with paper mache! We really enjoyed getting our hands sticky to put our first layer of paper on. It is looking great!!!

We are letting the paper dry before we put another layer on and then we are going to paint it. We just can't wait to make it explode!!!

Thursday swimming

Hi Everyone,

Just letting you know that we are joining in with Room 2's swimming timetable which gives us an extra swimming slot. We thought we might as well make the most of this hot weather and enjoy the pool some more. This will happen till the end of the term. 

So please get your children to bring their togs tomorrow if they haven't already told you about it.

Many Thanks,
Joy 

Parent interviews

Please don't forget that on Monday the 25th of February between 3:10 and 7:00pm we have an opportunity to meet for a goal setting interview with you. A notice has gone home with your child today and will let you know where you need to go to book an appointment online. 

Look forward to catching up with you.

Regards,
Joy Kraan

Missing homework-monkeys groups

I realized this afternoon that the monkeys reading group have not had their homework sent home with them. So in case anyone was puzzled, I totally forgot. So I will send home their homework books on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both days homework is in their book. Just check that they only do the homework for 'along comes jack' on Tuesday and the other homework is for Wednesday.

All other homework has been sent home. This note only applies to those kids in my monkeys group.

Kind regards,
Joy

Handwriting process

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

This year we are trying a different method of teaching children handwriting and the writing process.

When children begin to write, it is very important that they are taught how to form letters correctly. That is, not simply to make the letters look correct but to actually make the strokes of the letter correctly and in the correct order. Only then will their handwriting be fluid and automatic so that they do not have to constantly or consciously think about how to form the letter, which way they face, their size in relation to other letters or their relationship to the line.

Ideas for writing suffer when handwriting or letter formation is a problem for students, because the writing process is interrupted. When this happens, children tend to write less, be less creative and be repetitive in their choice of words.

The magic caterpillar story is a process through which students, from the time they begin to write, are taught how to form letters correctly using simple shapes drawn from the story of the magic caterpillar.

In order to achieve consistency between what children are taught at school and what parents are encouraging at home, we thought is would be fitting to share with you the names of the shapes that we use to help children form their letters correctly.

In this way, you can reinforce what we are doing at school which will greatly enhance the writing development in your child.

This will be kept in a new tab called 'writing', please visit this tab!

Kind Regards,
Joy Kraan

Parent orientation afternoon

Thank you to all who came to the parent orientation afternoon!
I enjoyed meeting all of you. For those who couldn't make it, the information booklet will be sent home with your child today. 

I look forward to meeting with you again in 2 weeks time for the goal setting meeting.

Many Thanks,
Joy Kraan

Reading tab

Check out the new post under the reading tab. I have written out a few tips for when your child comes home and reads their reader to you.

Please let me know whether you think this is useful by leaving a comment. 

Many Thanks,
Joy Kraan

Parent orientation evening

This is a reminder to everyone interested in coming to the parent orientation evening. This will be held in the hall at 3:00pm on Tuesday the 12th of February. Supervision is provided for pre-schoolers. 

Kind Regards,

Joy 

Cooperative games

In Room 3 this week we have been spending time in the afternoons playing games that require us to cooperate together and work as a team. It has been wonderful to see how well everyone in Room 3 is able to work together and help each other out.

We have really started this year off as a team! Well done!

You really are Matakana Magic students already!!

 Oshana, Charlie and Grace are helping each other while playing high frequency word snakes and ladders.

 Nieve and Hunter making sure they get the words right.

 Monique, Daisy and Noaise helping each other work out the words.

 Luca and Nehuel helping each other match the bears with the honey pots.

Playing charades together is a lot of fun!

Rama, Esme, Holly, Serenity and Daisy playing word bingo.