Kia ora e te whanau,

A very warm welcome to those families whose children have started school over the last few weeks. The children are to be congratulated for the very happy and smooth way that they have transitioned (back) into school life. Congratulations to all for showing such amazing resilience and independence!

Learning Conferences
Please note that we will be holding Learning Conferences here at school in Week 12 of this term. In the Koru team:

• for those children who started school prior to and including March 6th, parents please make a Learning Conference booking (at which time we will be discussing your child's literacy and numeracy goals in particular)
• for those children who started school on or after March 9th, parents please also book a Learning Conference time, and this time will be used for a transition to school meeting with your child's teacher (at which time we will discuss your child's transition, also getting your perspective, along with initial goals)
• please note that children attend these meetings with you.

For more information and instructions on how to book a time with your child's Home Group teacher, please refer back to last Friday's school newsletter.

Morning Routine
You will have all read Sandy's newsletter about Level 1 at school and the morning routine. We continue to be so very proud of the tamariki, in how they are starting each day at school. They are confidently walking from the gate to the hub and are independently unpacking their bags and sorting out their belongings, ready for the day. They are spending that first part of the day before the bell, connecting with their teachers and classmates, and settling calmly into the school day. Over the coming days, we shall continue to have a teacher at the gate to welcome the tamariki and support the drop off. Please feel free to pass on any messages to the person at the gate, and they will then pass the message on to your child's Home Group teacher.

Just a reminder that reading folders need to be returned with the reading books every day, while library folders and poetry books need to be returned by the following Friday morning, as Friday is the day we visit the school library and focus on poetry during our Literacy time.

Learning Through Play
Our current Learning Through Play 'theme' is Space, and this theme the children are finding highly motivating. This theme also ties in with what the children have been writing about last week, and again this week.















Sight Word and Alphabet Practice
It is really valuable to put regular time aside to support your child with their alphabet and sight word practice. For our new children, parents please check this link which will take you to some resources on our school website: New Entrant Resource Pack. Please print off the alphabet and number resources which will be of most value for your child. Feel free to contact your child's Home Group teacher if you are unable to access a printer. We hope you have fun with your child as they learn, using these resources. And remember... praise, praise, praise. It's crucial that these learning times are kept positive.

Have a wonderful week, everyone, and keep warm!
Ngā mihi mahana,
Jo, Stacey, Sophie and Elizabeth

Kia ora e te whanau,

We're are really looking forward to seeing you all again on Monday! It's been such a long time. A special, warm welcome to all of the children, who are going to be starting school with us this week.

We're also welcoming Sophie Mulligan, who is our new teacher in the Koru team. Sophie will be the Home Group teacher for our newest children. We are so lucky to have you, Sophie, and all of the children are going to love getting to know you, and work with you this term.



See you at the flagpole:
Children, on Monday, Jo will be waiting at the flagpole to meet you, so once you arrive at school with your parent, you can give them a big kiss and a hug goodbye there. Jo will then make sure that Elizabeth picks you up and then helps you with your bag, and finding a cubby hole when you reach the veranda.
Parents, if you have to come on site for any reason during the day, there is a requirement that you sign a Contact Register, so please report to the school office for that. This includes any whānau who are bringing or collecting children for their school visits. Before leaving, please make sure that you sign out.

Please, if you haven't already seen this little video clip on Seesaw, view the Welcome Back to School video below, with your children. It's better to watch this clip, and the following clips, in full screen (click bottom right).

Here, also, are the two videos which Sandy sent out via our school newsletter yesterday.


A few little 'housekeeping' items:

• please ensure that your child brings a named drink bottle to school every day, and this drink bottle needs to be taken home and cleaned again every day after school 
• If your child has an older sibling here at school, it's absolutely fine for that brother or sister to bring their younger sibling to the veranda each morning, if that helps with the daily drop off
• a reminder that for our Koru children, they will be ready to be picked up at the flagpole each day at 2:45 p.m. Once again, if you have an older child at school, or if your child is booked into BOSCO, then the school day will finish at 3:00 p.m., and they will wait in the hub until this time
• our handwashing and hand sanitising routines have been very clearly outlined in Ministries of Health and Education guidelines. Please let your child's Home Group teacher know if your child has a reaction to hand sanitiser, and we shall ensure that they wash their hands rather than use hand sanitiser.

Our theme for next week:
You may have heard on our little video clip that we're going to be having a 'Superhero' theme next week. This will culminate in a 'dress up' day on Friday, so your children can be thinking about what they might like to wear on Friday. This can be as simple as a handtowel for a cape, or alternatively, as complex as your child wishes to make it!

We trust you all have a wonderful weekend, and we're really looking forward to seeing all of the wee ones on Monday!

Ngā mihi mahana,
Jo, Stacey, Sophie and Elizabeth

Top quality colouring here.

What a very cool wee desk and chair set up!

Cloud dough, made from cornflour and hair conditioner - this looks very therapeutic...

What wonderful creativity and construction skills - does this character have a name?

More creative construction skills being displayed here! Does this character have a name, we wonder?

Beautiful Easter egg colouring for the window; a lovely soft toy line up for our national teddy bear hunt; and chalk-drawn games for passers-by - oh, what fun!

More creativity and construction, here combined with Science, to result in this electric car - fabulous skills!

The family night walk around the neighbourhood - what a cool idea.

An ice cream shop! Wonderful thinking...

"Oh, I'll have that delicious-looking chocolate ice cream, please!"

What an incredible amount of hard work went into this puppet show. Wouldn't we all love to know the story that goes with these characters?

Mmmmm... what could possibly be in that bowl? Yum, yum, yum.

A Mad Hatters' Tea Party - oh, what fun!

Up a ladder and helping with papier mache...

...early days in teaching the exuberant puppy to sit calmly while the cryptic crossword is underway.

Kia ora, dear tamariki and whānau in the Koru team,

We wanted to check in on you all, and find out how you're doing, and what you've been up to.

We hope you all had a great first day of the holidays yesterday, albeit a day spent, no doubt, mostly indoors because of the miserable weather. Didn't that just make today's glorious weather even more so, though?!

Jo's been fitting in lots of yoga, and who's that there on either side, with their own little yoga mats set up?!

How cute is that?

This week, we have had a big focus on 'Pirates', as a result of the interests of a few of the children. The children have been building pirate ships, making hats and treasure maps, and digging for treasure in the sandpit. The play has been collaborative, creative, engaging, full of fun, enticing, and always energetic! Wonderful times 😊





Group teaching and learning:
At the beginning of this week, we began the guided teaching and learning for our writing groups, reading groups and Maths groups.
The children will be bringing their reading folders home each night, and it's most important that folders are returned with the books to school every day. Depending on your child's priority learning needs, you may find a set of sight word cards in the little back pocket of the reading folder. There will be an explanatory letter in with the word cards, outlining some different ideas for you to help your child with learning these sight words to fluency (meaning, no working out required, rather automaticity).
Some children may also need to be supported to practise and learn the letters of the alphabet. If you know that your child has some way to go in this area of learning, now would be a great time to be giving support to your child in helping with this at home.
There is a link on our school website which takes you to a folder full of great resources which you can print off (and laminate if you have access to a laminator) for use at home. Here is the link again, for ease of access.
...and here are a couple of other fun Youtube links which we have been singing along to in class:
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom ABC
Kiwikids Phonics
Jolly Phonics (unfortunately 'q' is missing, but the children may remember and be able to sing it to you!)

We have put a timetable up on the noticeboard for the parents of children who have started school this year. We would like to catch up with you for 15 minutes just to talk about your child's transition to school and some ways you might be able to help at home with learning goals. Please add your name to a suitable slot on the timetable. Many thanks for doing this, and we look forward to meeting with you. Those children who started school in Term 4 last year, will have already had this meeting with Stacey.

Our children have had two visits to the Life Education caravan, with Harold, Siobhan and Lou. We talked about everyone being unique and special, about being a good friend and about ways we might help to solve friendship issues.












We had our first House Games event last Friday. The children had enormous fun, engaging in the games that their House Captains had organised. We were very impressed with the children's level of independence throughout this activity. All were accompanied happily to the place in the park where their house group had assembled, and all participated fully in the activities. Well done, children! We're proud of you.