Most Recent Class Newsletter

Dear Parents,

Firstly, I am looking forward to meeting you all on Wednesday evening at our "Meet the teacher" time. While I know quite a few of you already, having taught you older son or daughter in years past, there are a couple of unfamiliar names on the meeting list so it will be great to meet you for the first time. If you haven't already done so, please take a moment to fill out the meeting conversation sheet that was attached to Andrew's email, as it will ready help focus what you want to tell me about your child given we only have 10 minutes to chat!

With such sunny, warm weather over the past two weeks we plan to be swimming as soon as possible. During Weeks 1, 2 and 3 we are swimming Tuesday and Thursday and Friday between 9.15-10.15am. Weeks Four and Five are our "Lessons with an Instructor" and we swim EVERY DAY. If the weather forecast is predicting rain, a rule of thumb is "When in doubt, still pack the togs". During Weeks 4 and 5, the children will have daily swimming sessions with a trained swimming instructor.

I don't plan on you child using any books from the stationary list (other than their last years art book)) until the start of Week Two, so don't worry too much if the stationary pack you ordered before Christmas hasn't arrived yet.

I maintain a classroom blog which can be found at http://mrdobsons.blogspot.co.nz/ I aim to update this weekly, with photos and descriptions of what we've been learning throughout the week. At the moment the Room 7 link on the school website will take you to a blog not related to Room 7, 2015. But I am told 'they are on to it'  and will have this fixed within a week or two. I have recently posted a link to a great interview on National Radio with Lyn Nicholls all about 'Getting children back into a routine for school' that may interest you.

Homework will start in Week Two and consists of 10 minutes of reading (or more if keen), 5 minutes of spelling practice (this means learning words, not testing them), 10 minutes of Mathletics, and an optional 5 minutes on an 'extra' task (which shouldn't take longer than 20 minutes each week).  Homework books come home each night Monday to Thursday and must be returned to school each day, not just Fridays. This is so I can check on reading at home, spelling practice and offer assistance if it is needed. If the homework book is brought back to school each day, it can be used as a home-school communication book as well. I endeavour to check homework books most days.


Thanks for taking the time to read this email. Its my policy not to send out an endless stream of emails, so you probably won't hear from me every week unless it is important. If you have to contact me, either email (dobson@muritai.school.nz), face-to-face (I'm in class from 8.00am each morning), or a note in the homework book is best. 

Kind regards,

Richard Dobson, 
Class Teacher Room 7.