Undergrads
Undergrads’ Syndicate Newsletter Term 1 2010
Dear Parents
A big welcome to all our New Entrants and new families to Chelsea.
It is wonderful to see the growth in independence and maturity of so many of our last year’s Undergrads. We foster this concept daily and encourage you to continue with this good work. Small tasks such as packing their own school bag, putting book bags into the correct place in the classroom, looking after clothing etc all add to your child’s growth and maturity.
Our teachers and programmes follow the school vision – “Simply the Best” and we encourage with lots of praise and expect the children to keep improving their last personal best, or their LPBs as they are affectionately referred to.
At present we have four classes in the syndicate: Petita Cole in Space 12, Nelia Vanderwoude in Space 13, Barbara Needham in Space 14 and Carole Carkeek with the New Entrants in Space 16. Dawn Thomas, our teacher aide, will also be working in Space 16. We are also fortunate to have Ellenor Kerr, Leonie Orbell and Rosemary Neads working part-time in the syndicate.
We have 1 teacher to 15 children in the Year 1 level and with these small classes your children get the optimum in teaching time.
Cross grouping in English and Maths is underway with Petita, Nelia and Barbara grouping their children according to their ability for English and Maths. These groups remain flexible and will change from time to time depending on the children’s progress.
Our Communities of Thinking topic across the school this year is “How on Earth would anything live there?” This term we have a Social Studies emphasis starting with “How did we get here?” We will be learning about ourselves and where we all come from, before looking at the early settlers of New Zealand. Next term we will study the question “Why Live There?” exploring the indigenous peoples of New Zealand and Australia through their legends and art. In Term 3 we will investigate “What’s bugging us?” and delve into the world of mini beasts and animals in the two countries. Finally, in Term 4 we will take a look at the geography of New Zealand. We use De Bono’s 6 Thinking Hats and the Thinker’s Keys to help develop the children’s thinking skills at our Year 1 level.
Routines are being established and homework is underway. Please read the information letter in the Homework Book. It outlines what you should expect to find in the Book Bag. The Book Bag and readers need to come to school every day. Your input at home is vital to the development of skills, and progress of your child as it is reinforcing what is being learnt at school. It is also important to keep homework time enjoyable for everyone.
Swimming is a compulsory part of our Physical Education programme. It is great to see all of our Undergrads getting into the water. We need a written note if your child has a genuine, medical reason for not swimming. Our Junior School swimming sports are on Tuesday 2 March at 1.30pm. Watch for information in the newsletter.
Teachers are gatherers of “useful stuff” e.g. egg cartons, margarine, ice cream, butter containers and their lids, off cuts of paper, cardboard, cereal boxes and supermarket bags to line our rubbish bins with! In fact if you think we might be able to use it we probably can.
Please don’t hesitate to come and see us if you have any queries or problems regarding our programme or homework – or just to say “hello.”
Kind regards
Barbara, Nelia, Petita and Carole.
