Kia ora koutou,
It’s been another exciting and busy fortnight in Koru! Here’s a quick recap of what we've been up to.
Celebrating Maths in the Koru Team
Last week was Maths Week, and we had so much fun with numbers! We tackled tricky problems, solved clever riddles, and practised counting to 10 in Te Reo Māori. This week, we've shifted our focus to telling time, learning to recognise the big hand and the little hand on a clock and what they tell us.
Disco Fun!
We’ve started a new unit on digital technology, where we're learning all about coding. We discovered that coding is just another way of saying programming or instructing.
We talked about the similarities and differences between humans and robots.
We both have a brain: Our brain tells us what to do and where to go, and a robot has a 'brain' (a CPU or Central Processing Unit) that tells it the same thing.
We both need food: Humans need food for energy and to help our brains think. A robot's 'food' is the code we give it, which tells it what to do.
There are some big differences, too. A robot can do many things, but it needs a human to programme it. And unlike humans, a robot can't show kindness or care.
We've been using special arrow cards to help us code. An up arrow means forward, a down arrow means backward, and left or right arrows are for turning. We've learned that a turn card needs to be followed by a forward or backward card to make our bots move.
We’ve also been introduced to the bug card! We hold this up whenever our code doesn't work the way we planned. Finding a "bug" is a great way to learn, as we have to use our problem-solving skills to debug and fix our code.
Keeping Ourselves Safe
This week, we started our Keeping Ourselves Safe unit. Tamariki have been learning some important personal information, including their full name, home address, parents’ names, and their phone numbers. They drew pictures of their homes to help describe them and talked about what makes each of them special and unique.
We had a special visitor, Constable Meg, who taught us how to identify a police officer and the correct names for our body parts. It's so important that we know the proper terms for our bodies to help us stay safe.
Just a Few Reminders
To help our mornings run smoothly, please remember to:
Have your child bring in their literacy folder and put it in the correct box.
Give your child a happy "kiss and drop" at the door.
Please check your child’s lunchbox to make sure there are no lollies or chocolates.
Pre-open packaging or pack snacks unwrapped. It's a huge help for the teacher, who is often reading a story to the class during this time.
Thanks for your continued support! It's wonderful to see the children learning and growing every day.
Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,
Niquita, Stacey, Katie and Elizabeth
