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