Author Archives: Nicola Reddecliffe

Koru Team News, Term 4 Week 3

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Kia ora e te whānau,

We have had a busy first few weeks of the term! We all had fun practising for, and then participating in, the school Athletics Day. We loved seeing the Koru children displaying our school values, 'We Love Challenge' and 'We Get There Together', as they challenged themselves, and supported their friends by cheering them on at each event.













Our Learning Through Play focus, for this fortnight, is 'Habitats', for bugs, birds, and animals. We have been talking about different types of habitats and thinking about how we can create some in our garden spaces at school. We would love to make some more bug hotels, so if you have any plastic bottles destined for your recycling bin, please send them along to school instead. 

Creating a bug hotel out of an old plant pot.

We were lucky enough to have a parent come in to help the children plant some Little Garden packs. 

We are amazed at how fast they have grown already!

This week we have been exploring a science topic called 'A Load of Rubbish'. We sorted through the contents of a recycling bin, looking at the different materials that items were made out of. We looked closely at the recycling numbers on plastics, explored the density of different plastics, and explored ways to reduce food wastage.









On Thursday, we all enjoyed our first House Games session. The house captains of each house did an amazing job of teaching us some new, and some well-loved, games. It was lots of fun, and we are already looking forward to our next house games!





We are so proud of our tamariki performing in yesterday's Celebration Assembly! They all did an amazing job, singing, and doing the actions to the songs, in their first ever assembly performance.




Reminders:
  • Your child needs a named hat at school each day.
  • When arriving and leaving school each day, we ask that you do not walk your child through the carpark area. Many thanks for your support with this.
  • Please send your child to school with sunscreen on, and we will help the children to reapply before their big playtime.
  • Next Friday, 11 November, the school will be closed for Canterbury Anniversary Day. This also means we'll be missing our library time. Children are welcome to bring their books to school and change them during lunchtime next week, if they wish.
  • The children have been enjoying using the very cool water pump in our sandpit, especially in this beautiful weather we have been having. Having a change of clothes in their bags would be useful for those days when the water is flowing!

We hope you all have a safe, happy, and relaxing weekend and we can't wait to see you all back at school on Monday!

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,

Elizabeth, Nicola, Georgia, Tracey, Stacey and Jeanette









Koru Team News Term 3 Week 5

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 Kia ora, e te whanau,

This term is whizzing by! Can you believe we are halfway through Term 3 already?

It was great fun seeing all the children and teachers dressed up for Book Character Dress Up Day on Friday of Week 4. There were some amazing costumes!

Nicola dressed as Pete the Cat with his Four Groovy Buttons.
Georgia made a beautiful Cinderella!
Elizabeth was a very Fancy Nancy!
In the Koru hub, we have been busy exploring different play provocations during our Learning Through Play. Last week we introduced our theme, for the next 2 weeks, by performing a role play of visiting the vet. The children loved the little 'show' and it gave them lots of ideas to incorporate into their play last week. They have set up a seating area for the sick animals, and their owners, where they wait for their appointment time. There are forms to fill out about the sick pets and even an x-ray machine. We have talked about how we don't need to have the exact object for our play, but can use any item, to represent something we may require by using our imaginations. 
A variety of pets receiving treatment at the vets.
The line up of patients to get through for the morning.
A happy dog, and his owner, after a vet visit to fix his leg.

Each week our kura has a 'Word of the Week', which is a focus across all teams. This week's word is 'kindness'. Throughout the week, we have lots of discussions about what the word means and how we can demonstrate the word in and out of the classroom. We love seeing how the children are displaying the word of the week throughout the day, and how they use the word to describe situations that happen during their play. It's always so neat hearing our learners use previous 'words of the week' in their explanations and discussions with teachers and peers too. Next week's 'Word of the Week' is 'resilience'.

This group demonstrated many of our past 'words of the week' in their play as they built this train set up. These included: inclusion, respect and kindness! Ka pai, team!
Showing kindness and respect for others' ideas.
Taking turns and showing inclusion, by reading together.
We loved hearing, "We are taking turns on the trolley." 
Showing off his cool ball skills with one of our new balls.

Reminders:
  • If you'd like to be included in our hub Friendship List then please email your child's Home Group teacher with your contact details, including your name, phone number and email address. The Friendship List will be coming out shortly.
  • Our amazing Calendar Art artworks have been finished, so keep an eye out for how you can view these, and order items online, in the next few weeks. You're going to love the results of the children's hard work and focus!
  • Reading folders are sent home Monday-Thursday and are to be brought back to school each day. We are really noticing the progress the children are making in their literacy when they are practising at home. Thank you for your support with this!
  • Library folders and poetry books come home on Fridays.

We hope you are all having a lovely weekend together, and we look forward to the week ahead. 

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,

Georgia, Elizabeth, Nicola, Stacey and Jeanette


Koru Team News, Term 2, Week 9

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 Kia ora, e te whanau,

Wow, can you believe we have just finished our second to last week of Term 2, and now only one more week until the holidays? I'm sure you are all looking forward to spending some relaxing days with your little ones at home.

A very warm welcome to our new children, and their whanau, who have joined us in the last few weeks - Julia, Amani, Beau, Sailor, and Harriet. It is so lovely to have them in the hub with us. They have all settled in beautifully and our 'golden oldies' have been wonderful in making them feel very welcome.

Elizabeth and Nicola's home groups were lucky to be able to rebook their Junior Park Explorers outing to the ponds, after their initial trip was postponed. Our educator, Pete, did a fabulous job of being both captivating and informative with our group. We learnt lots about our native birds, the role trees play in our ecosystem, and where bugs like to live.

Making our bird call to find our friends with the same bird call.
Yay, we've found our bird friends and linked 'wings'.
Searching for birds around the ponds with Pete.
We had to be really quiet on our bird search. When we spotted a bird we used this signal to point it out.
"I've found one."
Using magnifying glasses to search for bugs under the trees.
"Look, I've found a bug!"
We played a fun game where we learnt about what happens to birds and bugs when they lose their homes.
We enjoyed dressing up!
Each bird and bug had to go home to their tree each night.
Oh no!! This home, to many birds and bugs, is being cut down!

Some children have since returned to the ponds area to place some logs of wood on the ground in order to create some new bug habitats. We are looking forward to checking on them next week to see if any bugs have moved into the new homes.
Using a rake to scrap back the fauna to find an ideal place for the log.
Covering up the log.
I wonder who will adopt this home?
"This looks like a good place."
Using the leaf matter to cover the log up.
Using his bird signal to show he has spotted a bird.
"I've found one, too."

We have been very lucky, the last couple of Fridays, to have Whaea Cath joining us in the morning. The children have loved her bringing her guitar in, and we have been singing some of our favourites waiata, and learning some new ones with her. What a treat!
Singing the action song, 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' in Te Reo Māori.
Learning the Matariki song.
Singing the Baby Shark song in Te Reo Māori!!

Our school-wide PB4L (Positive Behaviour for Learning) focus this week has been on cooperation. We have been practising this skill in a variety of ways during our Learning Through Play time.
This group has been showing cooperation in building this 'guinea pig enclosure'.
Cute little guinea pigs!
We loved the cooperation they showed when designing and building the enclosure! 

Each day, after our little play time we join in with an interoception activity. Simply put, interoception is the sense that allows us to answer the question, "How do I feel?" at any moment. This is a great chance to calm and reset as we prepare for the next learning block.
In this activity, we lay down, breathed in and scrunched our toes, then breathed out and relaxed our toes.
We then identified, by pointing to where we felt the stretch in our bodies.

As our numbers continue to grow, Nicola's Home Group has begun to use Kōmanawa in the afternoons. From next week, Nicola's Home Group will be starting their mornings in Kōmanawa too. The children can still unpack their bags and use the cubby holes outside Hangere. Their lunchboxes, drink bottles and literacy folders can still be stored in Hangere. The children can then go over to Kōmanawa to find an activity to start off their day. Teachers will be outside Hangere before 8:55 a.m., to help children, by reminding them about this.

A reminder:

  • During the week ahead, school will close at 2:00 p.m., both tomorrow, Monday, 4th and again on Wednesday, 6th July, for Learning Conferences. If you haven't yet booked your child's learning conference, it's not too late! Please click on this link to find a time that suits
  • Please note that if your child started school this term, you will have had, or will be having (about 6 weeks after your child started school), a transition to school meeting with your child's Home Group teacher, in place of a Learning Conference.

We hope you have had a lovely relaxing weekend together. Keep warm, and we'll see all your little ones back tomorrow, for our final week of Term 2. 

Ngā mihi mahana, and take care,

Georgia, Elizabeth, Nicola, Stacey, and Jeanette












Koru Team Term 2 Week 3

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Kia ora, e te whanau,

We hope this finds you and your family all happy and healthy at home. We have had a busy first 3 weeks of Term 2 and all our newbies are settling in so well! We love seeing all their smiling faces at drop off time and enjoy seeing them cheerily say their goodbyes. We appreciate your support in helping your child become independent at carrying their own school bag and unpacking their bag when they arrive at school each morning.

Structured Literacy:

We have been enjoying hearing about all the practice children are involved in, with their Structured Literacy at home. Thank you so much for your support with this. It is making a huge difference with the children's progress through the Structured Literacy stages. Just a reminder that children who are just starting their Structured Literacy journey will be bringing home a few letter sounds to practise at home and these will be added to, as they progress. These can be used to practise the pure sounds the letters make and then can be blended together to form words. A word about 'heart words': these are words that cannot be sounded out, simply need to be learned 'by heart' and will also start coming home for children to practise reading and writing with you at home. Once children are proficient in segmenting and blending the first 8 sounds together, and know the first five heart words, they will start bringing home decodable books to read with you at home. The ability to segment and blend sounds together is paramount to children's success at decoding words, so this stage of learning may take longer for some learners. It is very exciting to see the children's progress take off once they have accomplished this skill. The next step is for the learner to be able to write the sounds they hear in words and we do lots of practice with this within our lessons. This would be a great home learning activity once children are secure in the sounds they are bringing home.

Please make sure your child brings back their folder, with their sound pack and books inside, to school every day, as these are used in the Structured Literacy lessons. The sound packs are also added to as the children learn new sounds and heart words.

Identifying the correct letter for a sound given, using our cute character cards.

Practising writing, then reading their sounds...
then writing a dictated sentence.
Playing 'Jump' with some of the Stage 1 letter sounds: "Jump on the letter that makes the /m/ sound."
Forming 'consonant, vowel, consonant' words: beginning sound...
middle sound...
...and final sound
...then segmenting and blending to read
Covering up and segmenting to spell and write: beginning sound...
middle sound...
and final sound. 
We have been working hard in our maths sessions to solve problems.

Our Learning Through Play topic for this fortnight is 'Construction'. The children have been exploring a variety of equipment for use in their constructions. 

Using shapes
Experimenting with balancing and stacking cardboard tubes
Wow, what a tall tower!!
...and, crash!
Demonstrating 'We Get There Together' to build towers...
and more towers...
constructing puzzles together...
and building mini worlds using blocks and animals.....
and using the duplo.
Last Friday we were lucky to have some Kauri students (Years 7 and 8) help set up a fun obstacle course for us outside.
We had to balance over the seesaw then roly poly on the mat...
and zig zag in and out of the cones.
...and, of couse, we just LOVE Kate coming to teach coding in Digitech each week!

We are very excited to have our Junior Park Explorers outing coming up. Please see this post that was sent out on Tuesday for more information. If you are able to be one of our parent helpers, please email your child's Home Group teacher. We are still needing some more parent helpers for each outing.

Elizabeth's and Nicola's Home Groups' outing is on Monday 30th May 9.30 - 11.45 a.m.
Georgia's Home Group's outing is on Tuesday 31st May 9.30 - 11.45 a.m.

We hope you have a lovely weekend together.

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,
The Koru Teachers: Elizabeth, Georgia, Nicola, Stacey, Jeanette and Amy. 

Koru Team Term 2 Week 3

Posted on by

Kia ora, e te whanau,

We hope this finds you and your family all happy and healthy at home. We have had a busy first 3 weeks of Term 2 and all our newbies are settling in so well! We love seeing all their smiling faces at drop off time and enjoy seeing them cheerily say their goodbyes. We appreciate your support in helping your child become independent at carrying their own school bag and unpacking their bag when they arrive at school each morning.

Structured Literacy:

We have been enjoying hearing about all the practice children are involved in, with their Structured Literacy at home. Thank you so much for your support with this. It is making a huge difference with the children's progress through the Structured Literacy stages. Just a reminder that children who are just starting their Structured Literacy journey will be bringing home a few letter sounds to practise at home and these will be added to, as they progress. These can be used to practise the pure sounds the letters make and then can be blended together to form words. A word about 'heart words': these are words that cannot be sounded out, simply need to be learned 'by heart' and will also start coming home for children to practise reading and writing with you at home. Once children are proficient in segmenting and blending the first 8 sounds together, and know the first five heart words, they will start bringing home decodable books to read with you at home. The ability to segment and blend sounds together is paramount to children's success at decoding words, so this stage of learning may take longer for some learners. It is very exciting to see the children's progress take off once they have accomplished this skill. The next step is for the learner to be able to write the sounds they hear in words and we do lots of practice with this within our lessons. This would be a great home learning activity once children are secure in the sounds they are bringing home.

Please make sure your child brings back their folder, with their sound pack and books inside, to school every day, as these are used in the Structured Literacy lessons. The sound packs are also added to as the children learn new sounds and heart words.

Identifying the correct letter for a sound given, using our cute character cards.

Practising writing, then reading their sounds...
then writing a dictated sentence.
Playing 'Jump' with some of the Stage 1 letter sounds: "Jump on the letter that makes the /m/ sound."
Forming 'consonant, vowel, consonant' words: beginning sound...
middle sound...
...and final sound
...then segmenting and blending to read
Covering up and segmenting to spell and write: beginning sound...
middle sound...
and final sound. 
We have been working hard in our maths sessions to solve problems.

Our Learning Through Play topic for this fortnight is 'Construction'. The children have been exploring a variety of equipment for use in their constructions. 

Using shapes
Experimenting with balancing and stacking cardboard tubes
Wow, what a tall tower!!
...and, crash!
Demonstrating 'We Get There Together' to build towers...
and more towers...
constructing puzzles together...
and building mini worlds using blocks and animals.....
and using the duplo.
Last Friday we were lucky to have some Kauri students (Years 7 and 8) help set up a fun obstacle course for us outside.
We had to balance over the seesaw then roly poly on the mat...
and zig zag in and out of the cones.
...and, of couse, we just LOVE Kate coming to teach coding in Digitech each week!

We are very excited to have our Junior Park Explorers outing coming up. Please see this post that was sent out on Tuesday for more information. If you are able to be one of our parent helpers, please email your child's Home Group teacher. We are still needing some more parent helpers for each outing.

Elizabeth's and Nicola's Home Groups' outing is on Monday 30th May 9.30 - 11.45 a.m.
Georgia's Home Group's outing is on Tuesday 31st May 9.30 - 11.45 a.m.

We hope you have a lovely weekend together.

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,
The Koru Teachers: Elizabeth, Georgia, Nicola, Stacey, Jeanette and Amy.