Poems are fun for Literacy number one!

Each week the children and I are exploring the different poems on offer here at Papakura Central School.

But why are poems important? Here are five very good reasons for engaging with your children in poem reading:

1. Poems build reading, speaking and listening skills: Children need to learn to read a variety  of also has  texts and poems are one of those forms. The unique thing about poetry is that we often read aloud, repeat often, and share in groups. When children are listening to poems orally, they are building their listening skills. They learn to attend to the words they hear and to think about what those words mean together.
2. Poems explore language and vocabulary: Poetry often contains words that rhyme for effect. Children can learn about phonics and letter sounds by listening for and locating rhyming words. A poem can be used to teach sentence structure, parts of speech, and many grammar skills. 
3. Poems inspire writing: We teach how poems are constructed and the words they contain. It is the first step to writing. Different types of poems have various components. In poetry, we learn how to put words together to form meaning and context. We learn how to choose the right words to create imagery and effect. When we break poems down into their parts, we learn a lot about how writing comes together. 
4. Poems encourage creative thinking: Poetry is a form of expression. Writing it lets us get out our feelings and thoughts on a subject while reading it encourages us to connect and find meaning in our experiences.
5. Poems build a love for reading: Children have a natural curiosity to foster and encourage with poetry. It creates enchantment and wonder in a child’s mind. Poems encourage kids to imagine new worlds and experiences.

Children's Poetry Book Ideas: it is essential to find great examples of poems to share with children. Margaret Mahy, Joy Cowley, Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss, are a few fantastic authors who have written a variety of poetry and books for children. You can google them or check them out at your local library.

Room 19's back wall also displays the children's work on some of the poems we are learning in class, so please check them out. Poems are also coming home in the Homelinks/Poetry books once a week. Please encourage your children to read them to you, and hold discussions about these poems.

Thanks for your interest, and we hope to see you here checking out our next blog soon!

Super Maths! Collaborative Tasks

A few times a week the children of room 19 are participating in collaborative maths sessions. This collaboration is important for building tuakana-teina relationships where a more able child scaffolds a children who is learning new equations, teamwork, discussions and problem solving skills, new varied ideas of how to break down and try to solve different equations.

We undertake these collaborative tasks in different ways, for example:

• Counting Collections
• Dot Talks
• Maths Games
• Problem Solving

Room 19 are learning how to skip count in 2's, 5's and 10's in order to solve 2 and 3 digit addition and subtraction. At least once a week there is a Maths puzzle for them to work out and we are learning how to draw and solve maze puzzles. As you can see Maths is all around us, and my hope is to foster a love of Maths in room 19, where children can problem solve in a fun and collaborative way. 

Coming soon in your child's homelinks book is there Matific Login and Pasword so they can practice solving math problems at home. 

Find more information about this programme here: https://www.matific.com/nz/en-nz/home/

Matific is a free app you can download from the Apple or Andriod Play store. 

Until next time, remember: 

Super Swimmers!

For the last few weeks room 19 have been lucky enough to swim almost every day with room 20. We have also been lucky enough to have a session with Clinton on Water Skills for Life.

The children enjoy spending time in the school pool, and we have been learning about:

• Getting in and out of the pool safely in multiple ways 
• Going under water
• Blowing bubbles
• Preform getting in and out sequence using the wall (in deep water)
• Pushing off from the wall
• Floating on their backs

All of these skills are necessary for children to learn and practice, to help keep them safe in the water. 

Over the next few weeks we will be practicing how to: 

• Float for 1 minute on their backs
• Float on their backs and signal for help
• Roll from a front float to a back float
• Pick up under water objects
• Move underwater counting to five (5)
• Scull for at least three (3) minutes (swimming in the water using their hands)
• Tread water for at least three (3) minutes

As the term progresses the children will be practicing these skills, in order to master them. If you go swimming with your children, please help them practice these skills as often as possible. 

Here are some wonderful moments of room 19 and room 20 swimming: 

In order to help us build on these skills and exercise in a low impact refreshing way, please make sure your child brings their named togs and towels every swimming day, otherwise they will have to be our cheerleaders on the side line..... 

I hope you enjoyed seeing your children participating in the swimming curriculum. Swimming is a truly wonderful part of our school days and it is enjoyed by all who participate. 

Thanks for checking out our class blog. We hope you look forward to the next one!!

Welcome to Room 19!

Hi Parents and Families,

Welcome to Room 19! I am absolutely delighted to be your child's teacher.

We have spent the first few weeks getting to know each other, and building our relationships. The children were making an "All about me" booklet, to help me learn about their likes, their favourite colour, their handprints and their drawing abilities. I am looking forward to posting a blog each week of the going on's in Room 19 for you all, so please make sure you check in often, and please comment/interact with us. 

Let's see who the super special learners of room 19 are!!

Please also share these blog postings with your children as I am sure they would love to see themselves online. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing room 19. Have a great day.