ROOM 7: Year 6 / 7

Monday 7 February 2011 Term 1, Issue 1

Mangorei School Mr Andrew McAllister

WELCOME TO OUR 2011 ROOM 7 CLASS COMMUNITY

Hello there to our 2011 Room 7 Classroom community. Welcome to the first issue of our class newsletter where we hope to inform you of up and coming events as they effect our class, our policy on issues that relate to the Room 7 learning group and proposed learning programmes and opportunities for your child. It is also hoped that, in the future, this forum can also be used to promote success, great work results and opinion from the students in Room 7. I would like this opportunity to introduce myself to you all as I have done with our class over the last four days. Andrew McAllister WIFE: FAMILY: Merryl who is DP at Frankley School. Two girls at Girls High Yr13 and Yr10 One son at Highlands Yr8 One son at Woodleigh Yr6 Two cats and two Guinea Pigs ! Family, watching sport and Tramping. TEACHING: 2010 Frankley School Years 4/5 2009 Frankley School Release Teacher 2008 Relief Teacher and Frankley release

Prior to this I was DP at Westown School for nearly 9 years working with Years 5/6. I have also been Teaching Principal at a four teacher school in the Waikato and at a two teacher school in Central Taranaki. My teaching career began in Tauranga back in the early 80s and has taken me to Dannivirke, Stratford and Taupo as well as the more recent schools mentioned above. It is fantastic that I have secured the opportunity to teach and learn at Mangorei School during 2011. I am looking forward to a great year working with and supporting you and your children.

INTERESTS:

INTERNET AND A CLASS BLOG IN ROOM 7 ?

Following a chat I had with Mr Greer, we had a discussion in class last week regarding the possibility of creating and using a Classroom Blog for 2011. This Blog could be used to communicate directly with students and parents at home about up and coming events, home learning tasks and other notes of class interest. It could also be used as a forum to showcase your children s work and classroom learning activities. For your child to be fully involved in this type class internet forum, you will need to consider giving permission for their work and also their images to be published. Mangorei School will shortly be handing out forms to all students requesting this permission as well as agreement on internet use. I will not begin uploading any class material or publicising a Blog until permission slips have been returned. I experimented with this type of Class Blogging in 2010. Please find the net address to our 2010 Class Blog listed at the end of this article. Feel free to type this Blog address into your browser and see some examples of what types of publications can be achieved with your children. You will need to selected Older Posts at the bottom of each page to see all entries. http://frankley8.blogspot.com

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Classroom programmes.
The team and I have spent the first week getting to know each other and beginning to establish routines and expectations. The language and literacy work has focussed around Personal Profiles, Interest Inventories and scaffolding for 2011 Recipes for Success. As we move into Week 2 we are going to use some Inquiry Learning approaches as the students take a closer look at The Treaty Of Waitangi, why we have it and what it might mean to New Zealanders in 2011 ? Progress and Achievement testing will also use a larger part of our week as children work through standardised tests on Mathematics, Reading Comprehension, Reading Vocabulary and the recently revised Listening Comprehension. Later in the term studies are intended to focus on an environmental sustainability theme. Swimming will get into full swing as we move into Week 2 and tentative Mathematics groupings are planned to be established. "The important thing is not to stop questioning." Albert Einstein

Tentative plans have begun in introducing Superclubs Plus to the students in Room 7 and perhaps others if management of resources can work appropriately. What is Superclubs plus ? This is a safe social networking and early website building interactive site for school aged children. For more specific information please copy and paste the link below into your browser address bar and load Superclubs plus. www.superclubsplus.co.nz By selecting video tours or the Parent button at the bottom of this login page you are able to really get a clear idea on what

Superclubs plus is and how this internet web building and social networking site could be of benefit to your child. I have used this site with students in my previous class and it proved to be an effective way to assist children in building the skills that they may well need when using the internet in their future. There is no cost to register students in 2011 as Superclubsplus is sponsored by TestraClear. You may well have seen the promotion in one of their TV ads with TC and Bill the Old Phone. Check out the link. http://www.telstraclear.co.nz/subsites/superclubsplus/

Why a Treaty for NZ ?

Meet the Teacher Evening 2011.

Meet the Teacher evening is scheduled for next Monday at 7:00pm. This will be a great opportunity for me to meet a number of you and outline where Room 7 will be heading over the next term, how our class routines are structured and what expectations will be placed on your children as we work to make learning authentic and worthwhile. Mon 14 Feb Mon 14 Feb Tues 15 Feb Wed 23 Feb Fri 25 Feb Meet the Teacher Evening 7pm Year 7 Beach Education Year 6 Beach Education Class Photo Day. Art Gallery visit 9:15am

I would love to be able to email class notices directly to your home. Email address supplied on your recently updated Contacted Details will be used for the next issue.