Kia ora koutou, Kōwhai whanau! Wow - the end of week nine, and just one week left in the term! It's been a busy week this week with lots of illness, a full moon (we're sure that's made a difference!), and some super tired children. Next week we have just four teaching days - remember that Friday is set aside for student led conferences (more on those below). Grandparents' Day How absolutely wonderful to meet your extended family members today! We really enjoyed our 'grand-visitors', and are so appreciative of the time they took to come and see the Kōwhai children and their learning. Please pass on our thanks to them! We've tried to capture some photos of our day - our apologies if we've missed your special visitor, or if you had grandparents who weren't able to attend. We'd love to display photos of all our Kōwhai learners and their grandparents. If your child's grandparents weren't able to make it today, could you please send through a photo of them (with your child if possible!) to your child's pod teacher? Many thanks! Welcome On Monday we were pleased to welcome Mrs Rachael Fearn to the Kōwhai learning community. Mrs Fearn has accepted the position of roll-growth teacher, and will be part of our Kōwhai teaching team for the remainder of the year. Rachael spent the day meeting the Kōwhai learners and teachers, and finding out about our routines and teaching programmes. Rachael is currently based in Timaru, and we look forward to introducing her to you all at the beginning of Term 3! On Thursday morning we held our New Entrant parent presentation - this was one of our smaller meetings, with just 17 families represented. Over the next two terms we expect approximately 20 children to start in Kōwhai, meaning we will finish the year with just over 100 Kōwhai learners (and five teachers). West Melton Intermediate play On Wednesday afternoon we were visited by a group of Intermediate learners who presented their play about child labour to us. This group of boys had written their own play, and shared some facts about child labour with us. The Kōwhai children were particularly surprised by the information that children as young as 4 or 5 could work for as little as 5 cents a day - we suspect some of our children have shared this information with you already (or a variation of it!). The play was the culmination of the Intermediate inquiry into child labour, and the Intermediate learners have been working to raise funds for Unicef (to support them as they protect child labourers and other vulnerable children). Money raised from today's baking stalls, sausage sizzles and hot chocolates (and all the other things!) will be donated to Unicef for this cause. The Intermediate children thank you for your support. Student led conferences On Thursday and Friday next week we look forward to meeting with you and your child as they share their learning with you. Next week we'll be spending some time helping our Kōwhai children to prepare for these meetings. Our teachers have been preparing already, and thinking about why we hold these conferences, and what we want our learners (and you, their parents!) to gain from the time we spend together. We really like the information on this website (and the links to further research if you're interested), and thought you might also find it helpful (and interesting) as you come along to these conferences. We've prepared a booklet to help our children lead their conference, and want to highlight that this is an opportunity for your child to discuss their own learning and identify things they think they could work on in the next six months. We will be taking our learning conferences in our breakout spaces. Mrs Herring and Mrs Buckenham will be meeting at the west end (the 'working' end of Kōwhai), and Mrs Beaumont and Mrs Sands will be meeting at the east end (the 'meeting' end). We'll have our meeting spots clearly labelled so you can find us easily - just look through the windows to check if we're free. As identified in previous school newsletters, you are welcome to spend some time in the classroom looking around before or after your learning conference. You could ask your child to tell you about the things they like to do, or to show you where they like to work. Teachers will have your child's books ready to discuss at conferences, but you are welcome to take these and look through them afterwards. Thank you (and farewell!) Our sincere thanks to Miss Tay for her work over the last two weeks. We have been so grateful for your enthusiasm, your initiative, your professionalism, and your willingness to help out with anything and everything. The children have loved having you in our learning community, and we will miss you as you head back to University. Good news - Miss Tay will be back to work with us again in Term 4 for four weeks! Our thanks to all of you for your support and positive feedback over the term. It's been another busy term with lots of learning for us all, and we look forward to sharing some of the highlights at conferences next week! Have an awesome weekend! Kia pai tō mutunga wiki,
Thelma, Sonja, Jo & Christina kowhai@westmelton,school.nz
0 Comments
Kia ora koutou, Kōwhai whanau, Today we celebrated Matariki (Māori New Year). This site has some more information (including activities for children, and links to events in the holidays) that you may find interesting. We listened to some stories about Matariki, played rakau, danced a special Matariki dance, and practised our mihi. You will find a copy of a mihi in your child's poetry book - please help them to write their own family name and given name in the appropriate spaces. Then you could help them to practise their mihi! If you think your child is up for the challenge, feel free to complete the rest of the information. We'll be sharing these, and practising some more, throughout the next week. Thanks for your help at home. Grandparents' Day Next Friday it is Grandparents' Day. The day will start with a Celebration of Learning, and there will be lots of other opportunities for children to share their learning with their grandparents. All details about this day have been included in the email about KIT notices. We look forward to meeting lots of grandparents next week, and would ask that all children bring a board game to school next week to play with their grandparents or a small group of friends. Toys at school We know we've mentioned this lots of times already, but please remember toys are not allowed at school. We still have some children smuggling them in, despite our combined best efforts - we're thinking of installing 'toy detectors' at the entry points, or frisking children as they arrive. (Just kidding). :o) Recently we've also had some children 'trading' toys, or giving away their toys to others. Obviously we can't do a lot about this, except for regular reminders that toys are not allowed at school! Thanks for your on-going support. Parent help Thanks to all those parents who are able to make some time and help out in our learning community during the week. We wonder if there are one or two parents who could spare ten minutes (any morning of the week) to put some books away? This seems to be a never-ending job, and there is always a small pile of books waiting to be returned. If you are able to help, please pop in on any day and ask a teacher to point you in the right direction. Fruit break The Kōwhai teachers have been doing lots of reading and thinking and talking about how we can help our children to regulate their own behaviour and excitement levels. We'd like to try adding a piece of protein to our morning fruit break. This might be a large piece of cheese or salami, an egg or slice of ham. We'd prefer no yoghurts, as ideally the food (protein and fruit) will be eaten within a ten minute break, and even more ideally, will leave no mess on the carpet. :o) We've definitely noticed that children are able to learn better when they are well regulated, calm, and relaxed. Student-led learning conferences
A reminder to book in for these (please), following the instructions on the KIT notice email. We've had a fantastic response already, and expect to meet with all parents at this time. Remember that your child will only attend school on Friday if they have a learning conference scheduled. These are student-led conferences, so the children will attend, and will play a major role in sharing and discussing their learning. We are aware that we have some families travelling overseas at the time of conferences - if this is you, please contact your child's pod teacher to arrange an alternative time to meet. Have an awesome weekend! Kia pai tō mutunga wiki, Thelma, Sonja, Jo, Christina & Esther kowhai@westmelton,school.nz Greetings, earth whanau! Not much to share this week, sorry - let's go with 'no news is good news'. We've had an amazing day in space, there are lots of space stories on our Seesaw page, and an awesome instructional space song. We all enjoyed this song, and found loads of fascinating facts about each planet. Hopefully you all know about the amazing observatory in Bells Road! They run family friendly visits during the school holidays as part of Kidsfest - check their website at https://cas.org.nz/ for more information. We have had a few children coming down with illness this week - it seems to hit incredibly quickly, leaving children with very sore tummies, lots of tears and feeling very miserable, and possible vomiting. Just something to be aware of if your children appear unwell over the weekend. Library Our normal library day is Friday, and we visit the library during the afternoon. We know that there was a wee bit of confusion arising from the library visit that took place during the recent evacuation, with children who returned books and then didn't get books out. We've tried to reinforce that all children need to visit the library on a Friday, whether they have books to return or not. Construction material We are still looking for somebody who could kindly collect some wood offcuts for us. If you are able to help with this, please let Mrs B know. And we'd love some more cardboard boxes and tubes, please! Or old buttons, or wool, or material offcuts... Welcome Next week we welcome Miss Esther Tay to the Kōwhai Learning Community. Esther is a teacher trainee at the University of Canterbury, and will be based with us for the next two weeks. Esther will be spending her time observing what the Kōwhai teachers do (what does teaching look like and sound like), and supporting learning in small groups. She will return later in the year for a further four weeks. Please come and introduce yourself to Esther and make her feel welcome in our learning community! If you have any questions about Esther or her work, please feel free to discuss these with Mrs Sands. New Entrant presentation The next New Entrant presentation will be held on the morning of Thursday 28 from 8.45 - 10.45. At this morning we will talk about transition to school for new entrants, and other relevant information for children who have not yet started school. If you know of anybody with children who are due to start school this year, please make sure they are aware of this opportunity to meet with teachers, and to hear about our Kōwhai programme. Please note - this meeting is for parents whose children have not yet started school! Assessment and reporting It's been a busy few weeks for the Kōwhai teachers with assessment data to collect and collate, and reports to write. At the end of this term we will be sending home reports for those children who have been at school for six months (two terms) or one year (four terms). We will be holding learning conferences (parent:teacher interviews) on the last Thursday and Friday of the term for all children - instructions on how to book for these have been emailed. And just because it's Friday - we leave you with this space-related gem. Have an awesome weekend! Kia pai tō mutunga wiki, Thelma, Sonja, Jo & Christina kowhai@westmelton,school.nz Kia ora koutou, Kōwhai whanau! It's the end of another exciting (and short!) week in Kōwhai, and so we have an equally short (and exciting) K.I.T. notice today! Today we discovered all about the royal family, and some royal rules and ways of living. We pretended to be soldiers and the four Kōwhai teachers were (of course) the Queens. They inspected the troops, and we all had to march on parade for them. There was a Queen's honour list, and some people got recognised for their services to respect, ignoring others, and tidying up. It was a super exciting day! Remember to check our Seesaw journals for all the latest photos and videos. This week we welcomed Anna and Te Aorangi o Ra to the Kōwhai Learning Community. We hope you have a fantastic time at school. Next week we look forward to welcoming Mrs Herring back to school, and hearing all about her overseas adventures! Clothing We've noticed an increasing number of children with flashing lights on their shoes. These are causing considerable disruption to our programme, and we'd appreciate your support by ensuring your child has appropriate school shoes. Thanks, Toys A reminder that toys are not appropriate for school. We know this is not always easy, but please check your child's bag, pockets etc at home. We've had an increasing number of LOL dolls being brought to school - if you're wondering where your child's LOL dolls are, there's a chance they are in our teacher cupboard for 'safe keeping'. Reading to your child We've mentioned to a few parents about Laura Justice - a U.S. based researcher into the development of early literacy. Research tells us that children learn to read (and retain their reading ability) more readily if they have a wide vocabulary. Laura Justice recommends that in addition to reading a story to your child, you also talk about the pictures, the story, the words being used etc. You can find out more about her recommendations at the link here, or check the file below for suggestions of books to read with your children, and things to discuss.
This week the teachers in Kōwhai have been busy with gathering assessment data for reporting to parents. Next week we will give you all the latest on our reporting procedures.
The Queens of Kōwhai wish you all a splendid weekend, and look forward to seeing our loyal subjects next week. We hope to see many of you at tonight's Royal Ball | Disco. Kia pai tō mutunga wiki, Queen Beaumont, Queen B, Queen Sands & Queen Bray kowhai@westmelton,school.nz Kia ora koutou, Kōwhai whanau! Welcome to Ryan, George and Tessa who started this week in the Kōwhai learning community - we hope you have a fantastic time at school! What a busy day we've had! We do hope your children are not too jet-lagged after today's flight to Samoa. It was a lovely way to celebrate Samoan Language Week, and we've all learnt lots. Fortunately nobody was sick on the flight, and we had no issues with getting through Customs. :o) A big 'thank you' to those parents who have followed our journey on Seesaw - the children (and teachers) appreciated all your comments and feedback. Here's a wee snapshot of some of our in-flight entertainment... You can find more photos and videos on our Seesaw - do have a look! If you're super lucky, you might get a special concert with Samoan singing and dancing.
Play materials We wonder if anybody has access to any dolls or 'house' type play equipment (that their own child is not using!) We'd love for our morning literacy time - we have a keen group of children who bathe a baby doll regularly. As we have only one 'baby', she's looking very clean! We're also looking for some construction materials - boxes, tubes, anything from home that might usually go out in your recycling bin. Feel free to send it along to school with your child! The only thing we can't use is toilet rolls. And finally - we have a contact for some wood offcuts, we just need a generous parent who can collect and transport them for us. If you are able to help, please see Jo. Parent help A massive thank you to all our parent helps this week! It's been lovely to have some extra adults around, and has meant we can offer outside play, cooking and other rich experiences. If you are able to help out during the morning (even on a casual basis), we'd love to see you - see your child's pod teacher for more information. Seesaw Well over 75% of our children have one (or both!) connected parents on Seesaw. It's been wonderful to see your comments on the children's work, and to see how proud they are to share their work with you. See our previous KIT notices for details on how to sign up, or see Christina if you would like some help with this. Missing... We have some uniform items floating around our classroom with names of children who are no longer at West Melton school. We assume the items have been purchased second-hand, but would ask you all (please) to check that your child's clothing has his / her own name on the label. If you think the clothing might belong to you, please come in and check next week - we'll be moving any unclaimed clothing to the school Lost Property container on Wednesday. We also have a very special volcano poster (showing all the volcanoes around Auckland) that went missing last Friday. This was not named, but was folded last time we saw it (folded, it was the same size as an A4 sheet of paper). If this has made it's way home to your house accidentally, can you please return it to school? Thanks! Evacuation drill During the week we practised our evacuation drill. The bell went, and we all headed out to line up by the cricket pitch. We spent some time afterwards discussing how nervous we felt, but how we knew we needed to be brave and follow instructions. We also talked about practising evacuations so that we knew what to do. Your child may have come home and talked about this with you - we hold regular practices for our whole school. Raising brave kids Last week the teaching team discussed the idea of encouraging bravery and confidence. We talked about a TED talk about raising brave girls (and thought it could apply equally to all children!) We listened to the TED radio hour discussion, and thought you might like to have a listen, too! Here's the show we listened to, and the original (full length) presentation is here. We hope you have a fantastic long weekend! We look forward to hearing all about your family adventures on Tuesday. Kia pai tō mutunga wiki, Sonja, Jo, Christina & Anna 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
Categories |