Koru Newsletter Term 1, Wk 4, 2016

Posted on 26 February, 201626 February, 2016 by Amanda Gray

Alphabet Ideas
Team Koru currently have a big focus on building on our alphabet knowledge (this includes the letter names and the letter sound). It would be fantastic if you could support this at home.You could do this by;

Using the packs that you would have received from Rowena through the Mutukaroa Programme.
When your child is writing their name, talk about what letters make up their name.
Get your child to help write shopping lists and talk about the sounds that go with letters.

Contact Information and Cyber Safety form
If you have not handed in your 'Contact Details' sheet or 'Cyber Safety' form yet, please hand this into the office next week.

Word Pack
You would have received a 'Word Pack' from Rowena, please practice a few of these each night adding in a few more as your child gets to know some words. It is important to keep reviewing words until they are mastered.Your Mutukaroa learning pack also has a list of games to support learning these words in a fun way e.g. The Ladder game and the Slap game. If you have not received this pack yet, it will be given to you at your child's learning conference. If your child started at the end of last year and has lost this pack please see your child's 'Point of Contact Teacher' so they can organise you another pack.

Team Koru News
Just letting you know that we will be sending out a fortnightly newsletter via a blog update. Please make sure you check this so you know what has been happening and be aware of future events.
Please check the Notices Board (in the entrance to Hub 10/11) daily as we use this to convey any important messages.

River of Flowers
On Monday the 22nd February Hub 10 & 11 participated in the chalk river of flowers to remember the people who passed away in the earthquake 5 years ago. The children demonstrated great respect and worked well together during this activity. We were also very proud of them during our whole school and community remembrance gathering on the field. The children are a credit to all of you.
Most of these children have only been at school a few weeks.

Getting there together

A huge thanks to Steve for coming to play for Hub 10 & 11

Weaver's father Steve came into Hub 10 & 11 to play his electric guitar. Children asked questions about the equipment, requested songs, and some children even had a turn at playing the guitar! This experience created a platform for some wonderful discussions. We all think you ROCK Steve ! We hope you come again and if you would like to bring your band you are most welcome.

Daisy the kitten comes to visit Hub 10 & 11!

Quote from this sharing time - "She is softer than she looks!"

Team Building:

Posted on 25 February, 201625 February, 2016 by Susan Walsh

Team building challenges teach us to work together and help us to learn more about ourselves and each other. They have also been amazing at helping us to deal with the HEAT! In the afternoons, when our rooms get hot and stuffy, what could be nicer that team building challenges with WATER?

Water Balloon relays!

Slip and Slide!

Sharing our Learning – Statistics

Posted on 25 February, 201625 February, 2016 by Susan Walsh

Have you ever wondered which coloured jelly bean is easiest to identify by taste alone? How about which one is the most difficult to identify? This question formed the basis of a statistical investigation in both hubs in Team Pōhutukawa.

We worked together to gather data and then were able to make statements using the data as evidence. (In case you were wondering, the easiest colour to identify is definitely black, and the hardest one appears to be pink!) Of course, nobody minded testing the colours!

We are now working in groups on our own statistical investigations, using Google Forms to gather data. It is a real challenge to ask the right questions so that the data we gather will be useful.

When our surveys are completed Google Forms automatically generates graphs to show us the information we have gathered. Here are some examples:

This is such valuable information for our teachers!

Intermediate Hub Update: Feb 19

Posted on 19 February, 201619 February, 2016 by Nicky Dunlop

Leadership
What a fabulous leadership week we have had, with so many highlights. We hope your child has come home with many experiences to share. We are hearing great things about the Year 7s being leaders in Year 1- 4 classes today. The Year 8s have applied the habits and leadership traits we have been talking about, in a range of ways over the past two days. Many of them have taken great leaps in confidence as they worked together in groups to achieve goals.

On Wednesday the Year 8s watched and discussed a TED talk about redefining leadership. We learnt all about 'lollipop moments'. You may want to view this talk so that you can reinforce the message at home.

As part of our exploration of synergy, we looked at the flight formation of migrating geese, with both Year 7 and Year 8. Here is a link to a slideshow that we unpacked with the children. Again, this would be something good to discuss and reinforce at home.

Social Studies
On Monday and Wednesday next week we will be launching into our study of refugees by watching and discussing the movie 'The Good Lie'. This is a PG movie. Check this review from Common Sense Media.

Remembering February 22nd
You are most welcome to join us on the park on Monday, from 12:30, as we stop to remember Feb 22nd 2011.

A big thanks to Simon, Rod, Elise, Mike and Gloria, parents and grandparents who contributed their time and skills to our leadership week.

Looking back on the week...

James teaches us about leadership in a very amusing way.

Year 7s synergise to draw a smiley face.

Using individual strengths to create a water container.

Supporting each other to scale the climbing frame.

Success!

The flying fox challenge.

Discussing strategies.

'Seek first to understand and then be understood.'

Year 8s 'unlock the grid' using non-verbal communication and teamwork.

More strategising

Aaron shares great ideas about goal setting.

'Sharpening the Saw'

Intermediate Hub Update: Feb 12

Posted on 12 February, 201612 February, 2016 by Nicky Dunlop

After two weeks in the intermediate hub, things are humming along nicely. Leadership groups are establishing, reading and maths groups are underway and the children are doing a great job of following hub routines.

Home Learning: Your child should have been working on the maths home learning that they were given on Tuesday. We have been so impressed with the number of children who have handed in this home learning already. Remember to encourage your child to check in with their maths teacher if there is any aspect of home learning that they are stuck on. This work is due in next Friday, Feb 19th. As this is a busy time for leadership week, we suggest they get it in by Thursday morning. Nicky’s maths class have Mathletics to complete at home as well.

Leadership Week: We are all excited about leadership week, Feb 15 - 19. Today Year 8 children brought home their second leadership camp notice, which includes a gear list. If you have not yet returned the permission form, please get this in on Monday. Year 8 food donations for camp need to be brought to school by Wednesday: baking for Coast, cereal for Mountains and a bag of fruit for Forest. Year 7s wear mufti for their leadership day on Wednesday and Year 8s wear mufti on Thursday and Friday.

Leadership Positions: On Tuesday we announced leadership positions. Our aim was to give children 30 points worth of positions. Some got more than this, and those who did not apply for many positions may have got less. Many positions are very popular, with nowhere near the number of positions as there are applicants. As you can imagine it is a tricky task, one we spent considerable time sorting.

It is the aspiration of a large number of children to be a House Captain in Year 8. As this is a high profile position, we need to ensure our House Captains have the necessary leadership skills and are very positive role models. As the children are placed in houses when they first arrive at school, the distribution of strong leaders by the time they get to Year 8, is often not spread evenly across the houses. When appointing House Captains, we look at the leadership qualities of the children who have applied. Sometimes we ask children who are strong leaders if they would like to change houses in their final year to have the opportunity to be a House Captain. This year our leaders were clustered together in a couple of houses and a number choose to move house, to take up this leadership opportunity. Throughout Year 7, potential leaders show us their worth through their personal actions and interactions with others.

Swimming Sports: This event is less than two weeks away, on Feb 25th. If your child has entered, they have been given a notice, which you should have seen by now. Please check their bag if you haven’t seen it.

Dunedin Camp; Please let your child’s home-group teacher know if you are keen to be a parent help on our Dunedin camp.

Some of our week in pictures...