Post 6 5th May 2015
As part of our CIB work, we have been asking lots of questions to find information. We have talked about key words, glossaries, indexes, and how to put helpful words into an internet search to narrow your parameters for searching for information. Here is a helpful site that lists lots of sites that are helping for children searching for information on the internet.
http://meetingtomorrow.com/cms-category/kids-websites-and-tools-for-searching-the-internet
Post 5 18th March 2015
The Auckland Writers Festival programme has just been announced, and very excitingly, David Walliams, the author of all sorts of wonderfully mad children's books, including Demon Dentist, is speaking.
The details about how to book for his talk can be found here:
http://writersfestival.co.nz/events/awful-auntie-david-walliams/
Post 4 17th March 2015
The main focus of our spelling programme is looking at the 44 sounds that can be made by the 26 letters of the alphabet. We focus on investigating these with the children and finding the rules and the exceptions to these rules.
There are some words however that just have to be learnt by practising them. The names for the days of the week are included in this list of words. If you are interested, there is an article here:
http://www.pantheon.org/miscellaneous/origin_days.html
about where the names for the days of the week come from.
Post 3 6th March 2015
Here's another great take on book lists for children:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-m-burns/essential-kinds-of-books-that-every-kid-should-own_b_6327148.html
Post 2- 1st March 2015
At the moment in literacy we are concentrating on developing our research skills. The children are reading lots of non fiction books about animals to find facts about animal habitats, diet, food chains and adaptations the animals have to live in their environment. We are also finding out more about the life of animals in the zoo. As well as books, we are using resources such as http://www.kiwikidsnews.co.nz/animals/ to find interesting information texts to read.
The children are learning about contents pages, indexes, glossaries, key words and learning how to make notes about what they have read. As we move through the term the children will begin writing their own information reports.
The children could continue this learning at home by reading all they can about animals. There are a few interesting current events about animals at the moment, including this article about the possible new elephant at the zoo http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/66798907/Elephant-calf-moving-to-Auckland-Zoo
and this wonderful one about a seal catching a ride on a surf ski http://www.nzherald.co.nz/animals-pets/news/article.cfm?c_id=500834&objectid=11409827
It would be great to read these with your children, then talk about what was interesting about them.
Our spelling programmes are up and running. Your child's teacher will be able to tell you what sound they are focusing on in any particular week.
Post 1 - 15/02/15
Reading is vitally important for children and we suggest that the children are reading, or being read to for at least 20 minutes per night. This reading can be novels, picture books, comics, graphic novels, recipe books, newspapers....anything that hooks your child in.
Books will come home if your child is reading on the colour wheel, please see your child's teacher if you would like some more information about this. If they are not reading on the colour wheel, both the sites below have great ideas for books that are suitable for children in Year 3 and 4 as well as children of all ages.
Awesome books link one.
Our school librarian, Bronwyn, has an encyclopedic knowledge of children's books and is always happy to suggest books for children to read. You are also more than welcome to talk to any of the Whetu teachers about books we know children love.
This article has some interesting research between children's independent reading and achievement at school and this link is to a whole series of resources about children's reading.
An Interesting Read
This article appeared in The Guardian this week and talks about the longevity of children's books.
If you are looking for a good read aloud, there's a fantastic list here.
And a list with very different choices here.
If you are looking for a good read aloud, there's a fantastic list here.
And a list with very different choices here.
i love charlottes web i'v read it myself its amazing
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