Category Archives: Koru

Newsletter Term 2 Week 2

Posted on by


Welcome Back To Term 2!
A special warm welcome to Elsie, Hatsumi, Alex, Felix, Quinn, Sharni and Xavier.

Writing This Week
Teachers have been fortunate to have professional development on writing.
We are learning new and fun ways to provide our students with:
* Clear learning intentions (e.g. saying our sounds, doing a picture plan, adding detail). We do this using icons:

* Questioning to prompt children to write more
* Using stimulus like picture books to generate great writing
* Giving students clear verbal feedback



* Offering lots of writing experience e.g. word building:
 

Parent Helpers
Thanks to all our wonderful parent helpers! We appreciate your support with the children's learning. Keeping children's progress confidential is a vital part of that. Thank-you.

Learning At Home
You can help your child with their learning by:
* Playing games with your word cards. Find great ideas here.
* Read with your child every night
* Start to notice the moon...ask questions such as
What does it look like? Why does it seem to move? What colour is it tonight? 
We have started learning about the moon and solar system in class.
* Information about current moon phase 

Science & Art Learning
Thanks for your ideas here Amy (Weaver's Mum)
This term we are exploring the Solar System and Outer Space.
As part of this we have decided to create some 3d Models, for example: planets, robots, astronauts and space monsters. Please collect the following:
*Small boxes (eg oxo's, toothpaste etc)
*Twisty ties, eg the likes of bread bags etc.
*Bottle tops and items for embellishment (eg buttons, small tags and ties)
*Old magazines for collage
*Tins (clean, no sharp pieces or labels)

Book Review - Pete The Cat

This one’s a kid-pleaser, with funny, memorable text, bright colours, visual humour, and a downloadable song to boot. For such a simple story, it’s a page-turner too - kids will be eager to see what happens next, even after many readings. They’ll giggle at Pete inadvertently stepping into a pile of blueberries, which on the page looks more like an ocean of blueberries. Each time he stains his shoes, Pete looks a bit peeved, but within a few beats he’s back in his groove, embracing the latest shade of his sneakers. This story has a strong rhythm and jazzy watercolour illustrations.


Peach The Rabbit
Peach loves being with team koru!
  



Week 11 Team Whanau Koru Blog

Posted on by

We wish you all a very happy restful holiday with the little ones. No doubt  they will be more than ready for a break after one term at school.


Announcement:
We are thrilled to announce that Andrea Swanson will join Team Koru in Term 2. Rowena will be teaching 3 days a week and Andrea will release her for 2 days a week on Thursday and Friday. This is so Rowe can continue her work as Mutukaroa Co-ordinator. Andrea has many years teaching experience including teaching New Entrants last year at Beckenham. Many families will know Andrea already as she worked in Team Koru last year.



Drink Bottles
Next term it would be great if all the children remembered to bring a named drink bottle to school daily. Please encourage your children to put these in the tray provided as part of their morning routine.

Picnic
Thanks to all of you who made it to the picnic yesterday. The children had a lovely time on the adventure playground and were so excited to see you. It was a nice informal way to get together. A trip or trips out in the future are definitely on the cards.



The Three Legged Cat by Margaret Mahy
Tom the tabby cat dreamed of seeing the world, but he had only three legs. Mrs. Gimble was a boring widow that wished Tom would just sit still. Mrs. Gimble's brother Danny loves to travel the world, but his trusty hat is getting old and it isn't as warm. It is only by chance that all three get their wishes. Danny mistakes a sleeping Tom for his fuzzy hat and takes off to travel the world. His new "hat" is very warm and Mrs. Gimble's new "cat" is very still. Tom finally gets to see the world. The funny story of chance shows that anything can happen.

The visuals in the story aide the reader in making guesses as to what will happen next. The first page shows Tom all curled up sleeping. A few pages later, the reader gets to see Danny's hat, that looks a lot like Tom. When Danny visits Mrs. Gimble, he takes off his hat and there is an orange fluffy ball on the top of his chair. This makes the reader question whether or not the fuzzy item is a hat or a cat. On Danny's way out, the illustrator reveals Tom's face on Danny's head. On the following page, Tom is awake and his peg leg is showing. This type of crazy situation would make kids laugh a lot.


The characters in this book are very realistic. Mrs. Gimble is a grumpy lady who enjoys the comfort of her home and cares very much about what others think of her. Danny on the other hand is a wanderer. He loves to travel and has no permanent address. The illustrator makes the differences in their personalities very clear through their clothing. Mrs. Gimble wears conservative pink clothing that blends in with the rest of her house, which is also pink. The similarity of her clothing choices and house decorations show her narrow-mindedness. Danny's clothes contrast Mrs. Gimbles house well, with bold colours like red, black and blue. His vest and choice of hat show his love for travel as they look like they belong in a different culture. This story uses funny characters to introduce different types of people to children in an appropriate way.




Koru Newsletter, Term 1 Week 10, 2016

Posted on by
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

Koru Newsletter, Term 1 Wk 8, 2016

Posted on by
A wonderful quote from Paul Jennings
"Reading to your children is one of the most valuable things you can do for them. If you can possibly do it, try to fit some story-reading into your busy schedule. The benefits are enormous."





'Jewel Jar' celebration of learning afternoon
The jewel jars in hub 10 and 11 have been filled up! Students have been working together to earn jewels to show they care about our classroom environment, showing they are self managers and working together to share resources and focus on learning tasks. This celebration afternoon will be on Friday the 1st of April. We will have mask making, funny video clips, popcorn, fairy bread making, parachute games and other fun activities the children choose.

End of term lunch
We would like to invite whanau in on Thursday the 14th of April at 12noon for a  picnic down by the ponds/ senior adventure playground situated in the park. Please let us know if you are able to make it.

Parent Helpers
We are looking for parents who would be willing to help out by putting reading books away in our resource room, make word packs, make number packs and make games. If you are interested in helping out please talk to Rowe, Charlotte or Amanda.

Hub Rabbit
Next term Amanda is going to bring her pet rabbit 'Peach' into school for a visit. If the visit goes well for Peach and the children she could stay on as a hub pet. If you have any concerns or questions about this please talk with Amanda. 

8th April Assembly 
On the 8th of April Team Koru will be leading our schools Celebration of Learning Assembly. If you are free it would be great having whanau join us for this event. We hope to see many of you there!
We will be performing a musical item which could be highly entertaining ! Grandparents are more
than welcome to attend too. 

School Photos
Everyone had there wonderful smiles on and their eyes were sparkling when we had our hub photos taken on Monday. Information for these photo orders will be out next term. 

Lost Jumper
Can all parents please check jumpers at home? Asra's red school jumper has been misplaced. Thanks!

Literacy
We will be spending lots of time revising and checking we know all our letter sounds next week. Here is what you can do at home to practise letter sounds:
* Make a letter poster e.g. create a 'g' page with cut out pictures / drawings of things that start with g
* Point to a word in your child's home reading book. Ask them, 'what is this sound? What is the letter name'?
* Have fun with our phonics song. Kiwi Kids Phonics Song
* Using junk mail or magazines, practise finding letters. Ask your child, 'what sound does this letter make?'
* Play eye spy
* See our 'home learning' page on this blog for more ideas
NOTE: we talk with the children about some letters making more than one sound.
e.g. c makes 'cat' and 'city';    g makes 'goat' and 'giant'




Welcome to new starters




Problem solving 

Wonderful Writers in Hub 10-11
Look what we can do! 


Come and see our published writing in class. You can leave us a comment on our work!




Koru Newsletter, Term 1 Week 6, 2016

Posted on by
Circle Time
This term, we are focusing on our key kete values of:
* Showing we care and
* Getting there together
Each week we use circle time to discuss how we can show these values. Circle time involves all students, and we sit in a circle and take a turn sharing ideas. We often have a picture book or fun activity to listen to first, and this helps us with our ideas. 
Recently, we have talked about what we can do if we have a problem....here are some of our thoughts:


We have also explored what great friends do:



We Get There Together During Discovery Time!
We have loved 'getting there together' during discovery time!  From this week, we now begin our day with numeracy. During this time, the children are involved in numeracy activity stations as well as direct teacher instruction. Friday afternoons will be a time for self-directed discovery.

 
    

Footsteps Dance Group
We were lucky to have footsteps dance group show us a fun superhero song with actions during the week. We also had a session on feelings with the Group. During this, we discussed our feelings and made feeling faces. 


   


Mutukaroa Learning Conferences
It has  been great to catch up with all of you to discuss your child's learning and of course, to meet you! I hope you are finding the resources in the learning packs helpful, and that the children are enjoying these. I am currently meeting with parents of children who have been at school for 20 weeks. During this meeting, we review their learning goals. We love your feedback, so please return the Parent evaluation forms to my office.
Thanks, Rowe