Author Archives: Charlotte Verity

Koru Term 3 week 2

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Welcome back to Beckenham for term 3!
We have an action-packed term ahead, and we can't wait to see where the children will take us with their learning!

A huge welcome to our new students!
Welcome to our new students in room 12. We can see you are already busy with learning and working together.
  

Spellathon lists
These have been sent home this week. Thank you for practising at home with the children. You can encourage them to read and write the words, spell the words verbally, or trace them.

Tissues
Winter is upon us and our tissue supply is dwindling. If you can donate an extra box, we would be grateful.

Our Inquiry topic this term is Cultural Celebrations, with a focus on Asia.  Talk about your family celebrations at home e.g. Christmas, birthdays, cultural events. What do you do to celebrate?
Would you like to share a celebration or event from your culture? If so, please see Amanda, Rowe, Andrea or Charlotte.

Wonderful writing


Writing letters


Write around the room

This term, we are trialling some new independent writing activities. These are helping students engage in writing, and write for a real purpose.
Examples include: writing around the room (copying labels, signs), book making, letter writing, list writing (e.g. birthday wish list, shopping list). We also enjoy 'fast words' writing as many words as we can in 5 minutes, and writing rhyming words e.g.
mat, sat, pat, cat....
run, sun, fun, bun...
Why not try some of these at home?

Oral language
Teachers were inspired at an Oral Language workshop this week!
Oral language is essential for navigating life and the curriculum.
Activities for you to try at home:

  • Say and act out a word e.g. shivering; round
  • Draw a picture to show a word meaning
  • Have a word jar for new 'wow' words you discover in your reading books
  • Encourage talk and thinking in your children by using open ended questions e.g. how would...., why...., who...., when....., where.... 


Gymnastics
We have started our gym unit, and are learning to create key movements: hop, skip, run and poses: stretch, tuck and straddle.











Maths 
We are continuing to learn about addition and subtraction. Here are some children solving a problem with penguin toys: 
' There are 5 penguins and some went missing. How many went missing? How many left? Can you write this with a buddy using maths symbols?'



Have a lovely weekend, 
Rowe, Andrea, Charlotte & Amanda

Team Koru Term 2 Week 8

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Robot making during Friday discovery time

 Thanks Amy for managing this fun time! If you would like to run an occasional or term long discovery option, please see one of the Koru teachers. Discovery happens every Fri afternoon, and gives children a chance to choose their own sport, creative or science based pursuit. 

  

Cross Country 
Thanks for the fantastic attendance and encouraging the children to have a go at something new!





  



Te Reo with Sherilee
We are so lucky to have Sherilee teach as Te Reo once a week. We learn greetings, waiata and key phrases.

Matariki song to play at home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLqEwg2jJbQ

Greeting: 
Ko wai koe? = Who are you?
Kia ora, ko (name) ahau. = I am (name)







READING TIPS  

6 Tips for home support
  1. Ready to Read Books - These books will need a lot of support from you at home because they tend to use quite a few new high interest words.I suggest you read the story to your child first or discuss the story page by page, introducing new words. This is called debugging the story and it helps children feel more confident about reading.
  2. Tell your child the names of characters in the story before reading.
  3. Pause Prompt & Praise: Give your child the time to work out words on their own (PAUSE). If they don't know a word, give them a meaning PROMPT, e.g. "Look at the picture, " or "what was the dog eating?" Reading should be driven by meaning not just "sounding out" letters. PRAISE for trying.
  4. Give children specific praise e.g. I liked the way you read that sentence again to check that word made sense.
  5. NEVER let reading become a battle. Read together if your child is unwilling to read on their own. Continue to read other books to your child, focusing on vocabulary and enjoyment.
  6. Making reading sound great helps children gain meaning from text. Model how each character's voice would sound. This makes reading come alive for children.
Having reading folders back at school every day helps our programmes run smoothly. It is good to get your child to put their reading folder in their bag straight after reading, in preparation for the school the next day. 

Rowe










Term 2 Week 6

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Kia ora!

The last fortnight has been an action-packed one!  Here is a snapshot of what we have been learning...enjoy!

Readers
What a focused group we have! It is great to see readers using our 'animal' themed reading strategies, which most of you received in your Mutukaroa home pack.  See Rowe, Charlotte or Amanda if you would like to know more. 











Have fun exploring this space website at home:  http://spaceplace.nasa.gov

Hockey
We have been so lucky to have the team from Canterbury Hockey coaching our children over the last few weeks. During this time, Emma taught the children some basic hockey skills such as dribbling the ball and hitting the ball safely to one another. Full of gusto on a chilly morning, the
children all had enormous fun playing in the hockey tournament on Wednesday. We are sure you will agree that they look very professional. Keeping our sticks down was the order of the day! Amanda,Charlotte and Rowe were proud of  you all.

Quote of the day,"Great team work everyone " (Oliver)

It was great to see our older New Entrants demonstrated our kete values of 'we care'  and 'we get there together' to the younger children.





Reversal Letter Support 

Here is a rap that the children are learning to help them remember how to form a 'b' and a 'd'.




Cross Country: REMINDER

Cross Country is on June the 16th.

Start time: 9 30 am-we suggest you arrive on the Beckenham Park (the big field) a little earlier to get a good viewing spot.

You are welcome to position yourselves anywhere around the park along the route around the park to cheer and support the children as they are running.
New Entrant girls will start first followed by New Entrant boys.
Please ensure your child is wearing suitable sports clothing, in house colours (a t shirt if you have one or loan one from a friend.) and footwear for this event.

PLEASE ENSURE YOUR CHILDREN ARE ALL WEARING SUITABLE FOOTWEAR EVERY DAY NEXT WEEK AS WE WILL BE HAVING CROSS COUNTRY PRACTICE.

Writing:
We have been talking a lot about making writing authentic for children. This means that children see that writing has a purpose related to everyday living. It is really important for children to see writing modelled in the home,

Here are some ideas to get your children interested in writing at home.

1. Diaries or journals. Even young children like to have a go!
They could include listing birthdays, names of friends,pictures and names of pets, holiday photos with a caption.

2. Letters, postcards or emails

3. Holiday maps and plans

4.Shopping lists

5.Treasure hunt clues eg 'Look on the swing'

6. Rhymes

7. Party lists

Writing with your child is a great idea too. Children just love making a little book about a personal experience.

"Writing floats on a sea of talk".
The conversations you have with your child about the world around them are very important as a foundation for writing. They give your child something to write about, support their growing understanding of sentence structure and help to expand their vocabulary.


ROCKETS



On Thursday Noah's dad Justin came in to demonstrate a plastic bottle rocket. The children watched the air being pumped into the bottle and the water being forced out when the children pulled the string. It was a great chance to practise our backwards counting from 10 as we prepared for launch! We are sure Justin was relieved when this experiment worked !

Plastic Soft Drink Bottles
We would be grateful if  you could send any empty plastic bottles to school next week so we could make our own rockets.



Newsletter Term 2 Week 4

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Parent Helpers!
A big thank you to parent helpers who have volunteered in class and organised our books. Paula Allen, Amy McDaid, Sonja, Ali, Diane, Nicola Arnott, Nicole Forster, Nicola Smythe and Olivia Grantham...we really appreciate your help!


Rereading And Improving Our Writing






Hockey 
"THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER" - quote from Annabel as we walked out of our second hockey lesson with Canterbury Hockey! 


Cold And Wet Weather! 
Its great to see many children wearing their gumboots to school and bringing their slippers to wear in the classroom to keep feet dry and warm! 


Oral Language 
As a part of our oral language unit, we have news time which falls on a Friday. Children are encouraged to share an idea or an item they have brought in from home. In their groups, they have been learning to start with an introduction, share their news, ask questions, answer questions, listen and taking turns at speaking.




Koru Newsletter, Term 1 Week 10, 2016

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Koru Picnic on Thursday
Join us for our Koru picnic on Thursday 14th at 12.00.  We will have a play on the adventure playground in the park and then eat on picnic rugs. If raining, we will have an inside picnic, fun activities and story session. Parents, Grandparents or other whānau are welcome. BYO packed lunch. Children can bring normal lunch-box lunches.

We Get There Together!
Over the last fortnight, we have been more collaborative across both classes. As well as our daily Maths sessions, we work together in reading too. Students have been showing great self-management as they move to different rooms to work with different teachers. The collaboration means that children get to work at their exact point of learning. They are getting to know and make friends with different children too!

In our wellbeing sessions, we talk about our key Kete values of 'getting there together' and 'showing we care'. We've practised this by pairing children from room 10 and 11, and working on our phonics pictures and songs. 

  

Reading next week
On Wednesday and Thursday, we will be working through letter sound and word assessments with the children. On these days, your child will bring home a book they have read previously. Enjoy reading this with them. You may also like to practise reading your first 30 words and letter sounds (flash cards provided by Rowena during Mutukaroa interviews).

Parent Helpers
We are looking for parent helpers who can assist with putting reading books away, making resources and games. If you are able to help out, please talk to Amanda, Rowena or Charlotte. Thanks to those who have already volunteered to parent help!

Have Fun Reading with Dr Suess!

“If you never did you should.
These things are fun and fun is good”
~ Dr. Seuss
One sunny day, while swimming in a pool, my husband and I overheard a lady proclaiming to the world that Dr. Seuss’ books were absurd and should not be read to children. Her reason: incorrect use of the English language. Oh lady, you’ve really missed the whole point, haven’t you?! Here are five reasons you should love Dr. Seuss, including his absurdity:
1. Great for Beginning Readers and Mastering Phonics
A child who is learning to read is learning to connect the sounds that go with letters so that he can then put them together to make words … which then become sentences. Repeating sounds frequently, help a child master this skill. Dr. Seuss is the master of repetitive sounds and engaging stories, while using limited vocabulary—an ideal combination for a beginning reader. A good example: Hop on Pop.
2. Great Read-Aloud Books
Thanks to his clever rhyming, Dr. Seuss’ books sound great when they are read aloud. Did you know that reading to an infant helps with brain development, speech skills, and bonding between parent and child? There are a lot of Dr. Seuss books available in board book format (Bright and Early, Board Books), which are the perfect size and durability for little hands and curious mouths. Example: Put me in the Zoo
3. Great for Reluctant Readers
Sometimes the hardest part of reading is getting your child to read. I think you would be hard pressed to find a child that would not be entertained by the sheer absurdity of Dr. Seuss’s wacky plots and zany characters. Example: I Wish that I Had Duck Feet. Sometimes a little fun and excitement is all that is needed to get kids reading.
4. Great for Teaching Life’s Lessons
With enchanting worlds and wonderful creatures, both familiar and unfamiliar, Dr. Seuss teaches readers many admirable life lessons. Example: The Lorax is a great book for teaching children the importance of taking responsibility for the earth.

By Bianca Schulze