Kia ora koutou, Kōwhai whanau! Yippee! We've made it to the end of Term 1 - what a long term it has been! We're all feeling very tired and more than ready for a break from school routines. We do hope you have a restful and relaxing break with your children. Reports Reports have been sent home today with children who have spent 6 months or 1 year at school. These are in envelopes inside reading packets - please check here! If your child was not at school today, we have held their report until Term 2, and will send it home on the first day. We do not have a formal discussion about reports and progress until the middle of the year, but if you would like to discuss an aspect of your child's report, please contact their pod teacher. Visiting play - reminder A reminder that we will be viewing Red Riding Robyn Hood, performed by the New Zealand Playhouse company, on the first day of Term 2. The cost for this performance is $5, and payment needs to be made by today. You can pay for this activity by logging on to the school shop, or by direct credit to the school account (12-3441-0011112-00), using your child's name as a reference. Timetable - Term 2 We're making a few tweaks to our timetable for Term 2. Most of these won't be noticeable, but will allow us to work through our programme more 'efficiently'. Our Fab Five (release) time on the Thursday will also change (this changes each term). Our new time will be Thursday morning from 8.00 - 10.00. This means that the Fab Five teachers will be in the Kōwhai learning community before school and at the start of the day each Thursday, and also means that the Kōwhai teachers will be unavailable for meetings or catch-ups before school on Thursdays. We will be reminding the children on the Wednesday afternoon, and setting up our new expectations for Thursdays at that time. Holiday reading We hope you might find some time over the holidays to visit a library or to re-read some favourite and familiar stories with your child. If you are looking for some more ways to help your child, perhaps you could look at the following ideas: High frequency words - Below are the files to support learning of high frequency words from Level 1 - 8. You could print these, paste them on to cardboard and use them as flash cards, to play memory or snap (two sets) or to make silly sentences. Feel free to add any interest words related to specific people or places.
Alphabet -
We have worked hard this term to learn all our letter names and sounds. Please spend some time over the holidays reviewing these, and discussing how letter names are different to sounds - it is very common for children to think that 'C' makes an 's' sound because the letter name starts like that, or similarly that 'W' makes a 'd' sound, or 'Y' a 'w' sound. This confusion can be easily cleared up by talking about letter names and how they are different to letter sounds. Some children will benefit from making a personalised alphabet book, with items that are significant to them, rather than generic alphabet pictures. This link explains some of the benefits (from a bit of a 'teacher' perspective, sorry!) and includes a link to how to make your own personalised alphabet book at the bottom of the article. There are lots of iPad apps and online games that focus on the development of alphabet and reading skills. As with lots of things, time spent with a caring adult is a far more efficient teaching tool! Alphabet books do not need to be fancy, just workable, and five minutes a day will allow for lots of learning, and a real 'head-start' next term! Sunhats Today we sent all sunhats home - these will not be required at school until Term 4, so please keep them somewhere safe until then. Have a wonderful holiday break! We hope you enjoy a sleep-in or two somewhere along the way, and get the opportunity to make some new memories with your child, See you all in Term 2 for loads more learning and fun! Ngā mihi nui, Thelma, Sonja, Jo & Christina kowhai@westmelton,school.nz
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Kia ora koutou, Kōwhai whanau! Another week flies by - it sure is fast when it's only three days! We loved hearing about all the fantastic Easter adventures you've had with your children, and the vast quantities of chocolate that were consumed. :o) The children all looked fantastic in their purple gear today - thank you all for your support of this day. Discovery Friday Today we found out an incredible amount about our amazing brains. If you hear conversations about 'dendrites', 'nervous systems', 'spinal cords', 'skulls' or different parts of the brain, this could be why! Make sure you ask your child to tell you about what they have discovered! We'll be continuing this theme through our literacy time next week, so if you have any further resources to share, they would be most welcome. Change to lunchtime routine Until the end of term, we are trialling PLAY – EAT – LEARN in our school. This is a programme that many schools throughout Christchurch have implemented with great success. It is aimed at improving the well-being, health, focus and learning of our students. The schools that are using PLAY – EAT – LEARN find that their students eat more if they have played first. The children are also more ready to learn if they have calmed after play with a quieter eating time. Visiting play At the beginning of Term 2 (day 1, even!) we have the amazing opportunity to watch a performance of Red Riding Robin Hood, performed by the New Zealand Playhouse company. The cost for this performance is $5, and payment needs to be made by April 13th (the end of Term 1). You can pay for this activity by logging on to the school shop, or by direct credit to the school account (12-3441-0011112-00), using your child's name as a reference. Cross-country Our school-wide cross-country will also be held at the beginning of Term 2. Please see the notice below for more information, and a request for parent help.
Next week is the last week of Term 1. Reports will be coming home for those children who have spent 6 months or 1 year at school (watch out for these in reading packets). Sunhats will also be sent home and will not be required at school until Term 4 (keep them somewhere safe at home!) - you may want to hunt out your winter coats and jackets so they are ready for Term 2, and ensure these are clearly named.
Another friendly reminder to please leave all toys at home - you may need to discuss this with your child, as we've noticed quite a few cars and dolls still making the trip to school in the mornings. And if you notice some of our school equipment (marker pens, blu-tack especially, or school resources) making the trip home to your house, please send these back to school! Many thanks for your continued support - we've also really appreciated the positive comments on our Discovery Friday posts. Have a great weekend! Kia pai tō mutunga wiki, Thelma, Sonja, Jo & Christina kowhai@westmelton,school.nz |
K.I.T. noticesK.I.T. notices are published every second Friday. They contain information that we hope will help to keep you up-to-date with what is happening in our learning community as well as the wider school. Please feel free to comment on each week's post with any news items or community notices of your own, or to ask any questions you may have! Archives
December 2020
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