Kia ora, e te whānau,
We hope you have all had a lovely week. In the Koru hub, we have had a very busy week, as we continue with our small group Maths and Literacy learning. The children are doing a great job adjusting to the routines, following expectations, and trying really hard with their learning. They have been absolute superstars!
This week, we welcome Annabelle and Ariana, who started in the Koru Team in Week 4, and Archie, Alex and Violet who started in the Koru team this week. You have all settled really well into the routines and have done a great job at following instructions, making friends, and trying new things. Ka pai, tamariki!
We also welcome back Georgia and Nicola into our Koru teaching team! Nicola will be in for Stacey, generally on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, for the remainder of Term 1. Georgia has started back full-time, as more children join the Koru team and will be here Monday to Friday.
Friendship List:
We have decided to extend our Friendship List date until Wednesday, 8th March. If you have not already, please email Georgia (georgia.mckenna@beckenham.school.nz) with your details if you wish to be on this list. This is a great way to get in contact with other whānau to arrange play dates.
Word of the week:
The word of the week this week has been 'Respect'. In the Koru team, we have discussed what respect means, how we can show respect to others, how we can respect our classroom equipment, and why respect is really important in order to develop trust in the relationships you have with others. If you wanted to discuss our word of the week further, you could chat with your child about what showing respect might look like at home, during your weekend activities, and in different environments.
House games:
This week, we had our first House Games. House Games involve the whole school and are when the children play different games with other children in the same house. House Games are run by the house captains and deputy house captains. There were lots of different activities that the tamariki tried, and the senior leaders did a great job at running these activities. Our tamariki showed "We Love Challenge", "We Love Learning", and "We Get There Together", through being engaged with the activities, listening to the leaders, persevering and giving the activities a great go, trying their best, and most importantly, having FUN!
Structured Literacy:
We have continued in our small groups, during Structured Literacy time, to learn new letter sounds at Stage 1. Each time a new sound is learnt, your child will be bringing home a few letter sounds to practise at home and these letter sets will be added to, as the children progress. These can be used to practise the pure sounds the letters make and then once children have learnt segmenting and blending skills, they can then use these skills to segment and blend the sounds together to form words.
You may also notice some Heart Words in your child's sound pack. Our Heart Words are words that cannot be sounded out, simply need to be learned 'by heart' and when the children are at home, can be used to practise reading and writing. 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.
Here at school, we have recorded some videos to support our whānau with understanding what our literacy stages look like and what you can do to support your learner at home.
Click on the links below to access videos at Stage 1.
- Please do remember that our staff carpark is an area through which vehicles will be moving throughout the day, especially at the Hangere end of the carpark, where cars and vans are frequently either dropping off at or picking up from the Ferndale unit; we ask you to please enter and exit the school grounds through the gates at either Eastern Terrace near the public toilets, at the corner of Eastern Terrace and Sandwich Road or near our school flagpole on Sandwich Road. You might also come into our courtyard area from Beckenham Park. Thank you very much for supporting us with the safety of all around our school
- Please ensure your child's Literacy folder comes back each day. This is extremely important, as our tamariki are adding new sounds and heart words to their sound pack so they can practise their new learning at home, and when their folder is not at school they are unable to take their new cards home
- Please do ensure that your child's library folder and poetry book are packed and returned to school for Fridays each week. These items can be returned earlier in the week, however if they're not at school for use on Fridays, this can be disappointing for children, especially if they're unable to get new library books out for the weekend and the week ahead.
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