Weekly Updates


Week 5 Term Four


REMINDERS - Please make sure that your child has a named school sunhat as we are getting outside even more than ever now that the sun has finally decided to grace us with its presence!


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We have another busy week ahead of us with lots of different things happening in school. 


The APPA choir performance is on at the Auckland Town Hall on Tuesday evening. 

We have a visit from 'The Bicycle Chap' on Wednesday afternoon, this is organised by Auckland Transport and fits in well with our inquiry topic of sustainability. 

It's the book fair, with books on display in the library until Wednesday. The children will have the opportunity to put together a wish list of books so this is a great opportunity to find some exciting and educational Christmas presents!

Dare and Keeping Ourselves Safe will continue this week with the next session on Wednesday.

Thursday we have the Year 5/6 Athletics Day starting at 9:15am. 


Our learning in reading and writing this week will all be around our inquiry focus of Sustainability. 

The children will be continuing to write their debates as they take a stance about a topical issue that they find interesting and meaningful to them as future global citizens.

In maths our focus continues to be around specific learner needs identified in recent testing. Decimals, fractions and word number problems using all 4 operations are the main areas, so workshops will be grouped according to individuals' needs. 

Have a great week and enjoy the long awaited sunshine.

Below is a copy of the DARE and Keeping Ourselves Letters for your reference.

DARE - Year 6


Wednesday 25 October 2017

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

This week Year 6 will be starting the D.A.R.E programme which is delivered by Bernie Watt, our local Police Education Officer. It is a valuable programme which covers areas such as making good decisions and choices, resisting peer pressure and looking at equipping the children with life skills to be able to respond to these situations.

This year we will be doing a shorter programme that has been done in previous years. Most of this is covered in class lessons, however there are some activities sent home for the children to discuss with their families. Please take the time to share these with your child. If you have any questions or concerns in regard to this programme, please see your child’s classroom teacher.

At the end of the sessions we will have an Open Afternoon where parents are invited to come into the classroom and see what the children have learnt. The date for this is Thursday 23rd November from 2pm.


Kind Regards

Yr 5/6 Teachers

Susannah Franks
Sam Unwin
Mark Shearer
Sandra Grech
Kirsten Bell
Jan Ramsey
Logan Geeves
Kate Harland
Paul Toghill


Keeping Ourselves Safe - Year 5





24 October 2017


Keeping ourselves safe programme

Kia ora koutou,

Over the next few weeks we will be teaching the units ‘Knowing what to do” and “Getting Help” in your child’s class. These units are part of the personal safety programmes of Keeping Ourselves Safe connected to our Health curriculum.

The Keeping Ourselves Safe programme enables children and young people to learn and apply a range of safety skills that they can use when interacting with others. Students recognise the differences between healthy and unhealthy relationships, and those who have been or are being abused are encouraged to seek help.

There are three overall aims:
  • To develop and strengthen children’s skills to keep themselves safe with other people;
  • To support and encourage abused children to get help from caring adults;
  • To make teachers and parents/caregivers more aware of the need to keep children safe from abuse by adults or other children.

Y0-3 Knowing what to do. Five focus areas.

Focus area 1: I am unique: Tino taonga koe


For safety reasons students need to know their name, where they live, and the names of the people they live with. When they can verbalise their feelings confidently, they can report times when they feel safe and unsafe.

Focus area 2: My body is my own: Kei a koe to mana tinana


They understand the names of body parts and that no one should touch their genitals unless it is for health reasons. Students consider touch that they like, touch that hurts and touch that is confusing.

Focus area 3: Dealing with unwanted behaviour and touch: Tāu e ahu ai ki te whanonga me te pā kino


Students need to be able to say “no” confidently, move away, and report what has happened. They learn the difference between good secrets and bad secrets and know how to tell.

Focus area 4: Adults who help: Ngā kaiāwhina pakeke


Students learn who they can trust to help them. Together with the people they live with students develop safety rules and strategies to help them keep safe.

Focus area 5: Nikau and Mokomoko game


A board game similar to snakes and ladders that involves questions and answers related to child abuse.
Y4-5 Getting help. Five focus areas

Focus area 1: Confident me


Students learn to verbalise their feelings confidently and practise a decision-making process that will help them to make safe decisions concerning their own safety and the safety of others.

Focus area 2: Safe or unsafe


Students identify potentially unsafe situations in both the real world and the digital environments .

Focus area 3: No excuse for abuse


Students understand what abuse is and know that any abuse is wrong, should be reported, and is not their fault. They learn to identify the tricks, bribes, or secrets often used by abusers.

Focus area 4: Why should I tell?


Students learn to stop inappropriate touch or behaviour, say “no” confidently, move away, and report what has happened.

Focus area 5: What have I learnt?


Students show what they have learnt by producing a presentation

To be successful, the programme needs parent help and support. It is important that you participate as much as possible and talk to your child about what they have been learning. This will help reinforce the messages the school is giving, and help your child to use his or her new skills with confidence.

The class teacher can show you the units and answer any questions regarding the lessons.
If you wish to discuss any part of the units, please contact the class teacher for more information.



Nga mihi nui



Gordie Palmer
Deputy Principal

Whangaparaoa School


Week 3 Term Four

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Important Reminder

We still have a few outstanding Mind Lab Trip payments so please send the money in ASAP if you haven't done so, as the trip is on Thursday ($6 if you paid the Activity Fee or $20 if you opted to pay as you go)
Thank you - it should be a great learning opportunity for the students!

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We are continuing with our needs-based workshops over the week in reading, maths and writing and we have started our Sustainability Inquiry through our reading. Each student has decided on a particular area of interest to explore further. They will be researching their chosen area to enable them to write a report about their findings.

The Year 6 camp parent information meetings are also on this week. We have the first on Tuesday at 6:30pm and a second on Wednesday at 5:00pm.

If you are planning on joining us at camp as a parent helper then please make sure that you get your Police Vetting forms back ASAP. They take up to 21 days to be processed once they are sent through so we don't want anyone missing out because they didn't get their form through in time.
N.B. Police vetting will need to be done for both full time and part time helpers at camp.

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Term 4 is when the sun really starts to shine and we need to make sure that the children are protected when they are outside. All children must have a school bucket hat to wear at break times and when we are outside the classroom. Please help them to form the habit of remembering to put it in their school bag. Also please make sure that it is clearly named as we have lost hats on a daily basis!

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Have a great week everyone
Kind Regards
Susannah Franks



Week 2 Term Four

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Important Reminder
Please make sure that you send your Mind Lab Trip form back with the money ($6 if you paid the Activity Fee or $20 if you opted to pay as you go) by the end of the week so that we are ready to go next week. We are also looking for a couple of parent helpers if you are able to come - if so fill this section out on your form or email me at sfranks@wgp.school.nz

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This week we will be having an intensive focus on solving word problems in numeracy. The workshops will involve looking at all four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) as well as fractions to reinforce our learning from last term. I have noticed that many children are still struggling with remembering their times tables and often can't finish solving problems because they do not know the times table needed. Please support your child at home by spending some time with them helping to learn these. They are the foundation of so much that they will encounter in their maths over their time at school and beyond.

Literacy will continue with more persuasive writing as the children come to grips with how to formulate an argument which will lead to writing debates in a few weeks time. They will be immersed in "Sustainable Energy" in their reading groups as they explore a range of alternative energy resources. This will be the basis for their debate writing in the coming weeks.

We will be starting our athletics training this week too as we get out on the field and learn strategies and techniques which will helps us throw further, jump higher and run faster!

Check out the Events/Notices page to see what's on this week.

Kind regards and have a great short week
Susannah Franks



Week 1 Term Four

Welcome to term four everyone

This week we will be revisiting our O.R.C.A values and unpacking them to see how we can be the best we can be. Please ask your child to discuss them with you, and think of ways in which they can show them at home, to support this every important area of their development.


This term our inquiry focus in Sustainability. With our big focus question is, "How can we make a difference?". The key understandings are that all our actions and wants have a consequence on natural ecosystems and natural resources and how balanced relationships are required to maintain these, including our 'taonga' or treasures.

For Literacy we will be using our reading strategies to research to find information to develop our own persuasive writing including speeches and debates around our findings. We have been working on scanning information to find key ideas and important words around an inquiry. 

In Numeracy we will be continuing to progress our number knowledge and develop our use of strategies. We well also be covering algebra (patterns and relationships) For strand we will be looking at Time, and Statistical Literacy which fits in nicely with Sustainability. 

For PE / Health, we will be developing our skills and techniques in Athletics. Our year 6's will be participating in DARE sessions this term, so keep an eye out for notices about this. Our year 5's will be doing a unit on "Keeping Ourselves Safe" More information about this will be coming next week.

It is also Year 6 Camp this is going to be held at Shakespear Regional Park. It is confirmed for 6-8th December. There will be a parent meeting about this in a couple of weeks so look out for an email when day and time are confirmed. While the year 6's are at camp, year 5's will be doing an EOTC (Education Outside The Classroom) experience.

Our year 6's will also be taking part in a Graduation Dinner and Dance at the end of the term in week 9. Exact date TBC.

Busy, busy, busy!

Kind Regards
Susannah Franks






WEEK 10 TERM THREE

Hello everyone
The end of the term is upon us and this week is all about making the most of the time we have left, before a well earned rest, to consolidating new learning from the term.

Then of course there is also the spectacular

Culture and Arts Festival!


When:  Thursday 28 September - 1pm and 6.30pm


Each Team has been charged with different aspects of the festival so that we have all students involved and participating in some way to create a wonderful show. Our team has had the responsibility of producing all the artwork which will decorate the hall for the event, and the backstage organisation, for example, lighting and sound.


Our Team is not performing on the night, as some of the other teams are, as our contribution was all in the build up to the night rather than being on stage.


If your child is in the sound room, on the floor, one of the MC’s or in a Peaches and Pickles performance they would have had a notice home to inform you of this by now.


I wanted to make this clear to our VLC parents to avoid disappointment, i.e  if you turn up expecting to see your child on stage and then don’t!


Hope this clarifies any questions. If you are not sure or have any other queries,  please see your child’s classroom teacher.

Hope you all have a safe and relaxing break


Kind Regards


Susannah Franks


WEEK 9 TERM THREE

Greeting everyone
Firstly apologies for having no post last week - well I did actually do a post but something happened in the "technical realm of cyberness" and I went to my page midweek only to find out it never posted!!

Oh well - moving on to this week ...

We are consolidating learning in our maths at the moment - revisiting concepts and putting our new knowledge into practice.

Our narrative writing is getting closer to an end and the students short stories are getting edited, reworked and they are looking at developing satisfying endings that round off their journeys.

The students are well into researching their own inquires about movement of people around the world and we have "wonderings" ranging from immigrants from other countries to nomadic tribes in Africa. This will cumulate in some very interesting sharing over this week and next.

Bikes and ball skills will be on Thursday this week so please remember shoes.

We are in the thick of our cultural celebration preparation as our team has been charged with the visual art for the hall and the technical preparation.

Busy, busy, busy as we consolidate the terms learning and round it off with an exciting festival.

Please note that our Team will not be performing as a group in the cultural festival in Week 10, however many of the children are involved individually in Passion Friday performances.


Week 7 Term Three

MATHS:
This week we are continuing with our fraction work and moving into using our knowledge of fractions and making decision about what strategies we can use to solve number problems involving fractional amounts.

READING:
We are starting a unit called "Destination World" this week where the children read journal stories in the teacher workshops and have discussions around a variety of learning points. These stories and articles have been selected due to their content being about countries of the world. The children then have the choice of several follow up activities. They need to make sure that they choose the most appropriate activity that fits with the journal story read in their workshop. This helps them with their comprehension skills in a fun and interesting way. They then earn "money" that they can cash in to move to the next country to continue their journey around the world. They will have passports and wallets made up to collect their payments to be able to "travel" through the books.

WRITING:

The students are continuing to develop the plots in their narratives focusing on detail and using the senses to describe the events and scene within their stories.

INQUIRY:
The children will be continuing to explore their chosen wonderings around people and movement around the world.

P.E
Bikes and basketball on Tuesday - please remember your shoes!

On Fridays we get together as a Vertical Community to prepare our displays for the upcoming Cultural Festival in Week 10.





Week 6 Term Three

I would like to welcome Sylvie Mitchell to our class for the remainder of the term. Sylvie is a 3rd Year student teacher at A.U.T and this will be her last school placement before qualifying as a teacher. 
It will be wonderful having her join our family and adding even more to the students' learning opportunities.

Our Whanau

As I was putting my reflections together over the weekend I went through my photos from the classroom to add to my own professional inquiry, and I couldn't help noticing how collaborative our B8 family really is. I always encourage working together and often set tasks to do as a group, but even when children are working independently, they are always willing to help each other and learn from each other. Nearly every photo showed this and really reminded me of how collaboration is such an important part of our daily lives.
To support and encourage this in a real life context we are also acknowledging "A Week of Kindness" and we are looking at ways in which we can be kind to each other and continue to create a learning environment where we are all valued and feel safe to speak our minds, share our opinions, make mistakes and learn from others.
Here are few photos I have put together to show how we have collaborated through the year.





















We are continuing our Inquiry around Movement this week where the students will be branching out and looking at their own wonderings around people movement in regard to the rest of New Zealand and around the world. 
Some of the topics that have been bought up in our discussions are:
  • Colonial New Zealand and settlers
  • The Maori people and their journeys
  • The reasons behind the population density in the North Island compared to the South Island
  • Why so many people move to New Zealand
  • Children looking at their ancestors and the reasons why they moved to different countries
  • Nomadic tribes around the world and the reasons why they move regularly
  • Refugees and the reasons why they leave their countries
  • The "Push" and "Pull" factors around immigration

The maths focus is continued on fractions, decimals, basic facts and the connections between them.
The children are also carrying on with the next chapters in their narrative stories working on character development and descriptive language.

Hope you all have a great week
Kind Regards
Susannah Franks





Week 5 Term Three

We have reach the half way mark in our term already - where do the weeks go!

We have a jam packed week of learning and events.
Our reading, writing and maths focuses are continuing from last week as there are several concepts that need to be consolidated.

Here is another maths game you could try at home:

Fraction Number Battle Players: 2
Materials: Deck of cards, Ace worth 11, Jack worth 12, Queen worth 13, King worth 14, scrap paper
How to Play: Players split a deck of cards and simultaneously flip over
their top two cards, using the smaller card as the numerator
(number on the top of a fraction).
e.g. Player 1: fraction is 1/2
Player 2: fraction is 8/10
Player 2 wins
The greatest fraction wins all four cards.
If the cards are equivalent fractions, the cards are placed in a centre pile.
The next hand is played normally and the game continue until all cards have been played
How to Win: The player who ends up with the most cards after a full round wins. This can be extended to 2 full rounds or personalise the game and make your own rules! Maybe use 2 decks of cards or smallest fraction wins.

The "Check In" meetings will be on Tuesday. These are about looking forward to the remainder of the year, the goals the students have, and how we as a team, can support their learning.
The annual Cross Country event will be held over Thursday and Friday this week. Yr 5&6 will be on Friday between 1:30-2:30pm. This is always a fun event. It has been tweaked and changed a bit this year to add some new challenges to the course.

I am looking forward to catching up with you all on Tuesday.

Have a great week

Kind Regards
Susannah Franks



Week 4 Term Three

THIS WEEK IS MATHS WEEK

This includes:

Estimation Stations - Mon - Fri
Parent Presentations on Wed 9am and 6:30pm
Pop Up Maths - Tues and Thurs
Estimation Prize Winners announced at assembly on Friday




And of course there will be more Maths all week long :o) YAY!!

If you want to get some great insight into how your child learns maths and ways you can help at home please come along to our Parent Presentation on Wednesday. We are having two sessions: one at 9am and the other at 6:30pm. There will be some interesting concepts presented, some games to play and excellent ideas for help at home.

Here is a really simple and fun game for you to play to help your child with their times tables

Spiral Multiplication (2 or more players)
You will need:
1 die (or 2 dice to make the times tables harder)
A standard pack of cards
A counter piece per person
Shuffle cards and place face up in a spiral pattern

as below:



OR



How to Play:

All players start with their counters on the card in the middle. Each player rolls the dice and then multiples the card they are on by the number on the die e.g die rolls a 3 and the card the player is on is a 4 so they say 3 x 4 = 12. If the player is correct they move what ever number the die says - in the examples case 3. If the player is incorrect they stay where they are until their next turn when they roll again and repeat the process. The picture cards are as follows Ace = 1, Jack = 11, Queen = 12 and King = times table of your choice.

How to Win:
The first player to reach the last card on the outside edge wins. You can play first to reach or get more than needed wins or first player to roll and land exactly on the last card and get the times table correct.


Developing
Grit

Grit is all about perseverance and never giving up.
If at first you do not succeed - try, try again!
GRIT is what we want to foster and help to develop in our children as they become mathematicians.




The children are also into their second week of narrative writing and will be looking at setting the scene and developing description.

Bikes and Basketball this week will be on Tuesday and the students will be playing Dodgeball on Thursday as an extra practice for our VLC Dodgeball Challenge on Friday.

Our inquiry focus is continuing to unpack the information gathered on our Road Trip and come up with our wonderings about our findings.

In Art, our symmetrical "Tapa" designs are almost ready to dye and will be going up on the wall by the end of the week.

Have a great week and please try out some maths ideas at home to support your child's learning in this important area of the curriculum :o)

Kind Regards
Susannah Franks









Week 3 Term Three

We have just arrived back from our VLC Road Trip and we had an amazing time. Luckily the weather was kind to us and we were able to make all the intended stops and get the most out of our trip. The students were able to see the huge development going on in our area and generate wonderings about what our community use to look like in the past, what is going on now, and make predictions about what the future holds for the Hibiscus Coast. We purposely created our road trip around areas that are undergoing huge building developments and had photos of these areas that were taken several decades ago for comparison. The children were able to see first hand how much has changed and what changes are about to take place to really grasp the concept of how an area develops over time due to people moving to it and settling in it, making it their home.

This will be the foundation of our class study and research into the reasons why so many people have decided that our area is where they want to live. Finding out about the reasons they have decided to move from where they use to live, and what the "pull" factors are of the Coast.

This also leads into thinking about what services and ammenities need to be considered and addressed when an area gets more populated and how this affects the existing residents, the new residents and the environment. These types of wonderings are the essence of geography and developing an understanding about how to get a balance between everything is crucial. We need to ensure that through all of the changes that are ongoing, we still keep our area a desirable place to live. What makes a place a desirable place to live? These are the types of lines of inquiry we will be looking at over the coming weeks.

Week 2 Term Three

Everyone has settle back into the routines of school and we are gearing up for some really exciting learning over the coming weeks.

Our VLC Road Trip is scheduled for next Monday and it should be an excellent way to start our "Movement" inquiry. If you did not get the email about the trip please check in your junk mail as some people have told us that their school emails end up in here. It has all the information about the trip, and there will be a follow up letter on Wednesday with the final things you need to know. As of yet I have not had any parents come forward to be parent helpers on the day. If you want to share in your child's road trip experience please contact by email or send back the bottom part of the letter so that we can start assigning groups and making the final preparations. We need 3-4 parents per class to ensure that we can provide adequate supervision through the day.
Also if you have not yet paid (if you opted for "Pay as you Go" at the beginning of the year) can you please send your payment in with the slip on your letter with your child before Friday.

We will be finishing up on our decimals focus this week to move onto fractional work in Week 3. If you would like to work with your child on this topic money is a great material example to use. Even getting all the coins out of a piggy bank or your wallet and making up problems using the money is a way to help. I have also set decimal tasks on Studyladder which each child has an account on to practise this area of maths - the link to this is on the e-learning page.

Even though we are still finishing up our e-books we have started to look at our new genre focus in writing, narratives. In our library visit today the students explored the shelves looking at narratives and the different types on offer. It is valuable to study expert fictional writers in order to understand what makes a great story. This is turn leads onto being able to write our own; becoming real storytellers and real story writers.

Kind regards
Susannah Franks


Week 1 Term Three

Welcome back everyone - we are already at the halfway mark in the year!

We have an exciting inquiry this term encompassing movement, more specifically, movement of people. This can take many different slants depending on the students' interests, however we will be starting it off by looking at our own area and how it has changed over time with people moving to the area. In Week 3 we will be taking a "Team Road Trip" around our community to look at how it has changed and is still changing. We will be discovering the past, seeing the present first hand, and making predictions about the future growth of our place in the world.

We will be looking for 3-4 parents to join us on the trip, so if you are keen the date is set for Monday 7th August and the letter with the details will be emailed out very soon.

Our maths focus will be proportions, ratios and fractions, however for the first 2 weeks we will be continuing our focus on decimals as it is a large area to cover at Level 3, and I feel that the students need a little more time to really develop their understanding. Furthermore it leads perfectly into fractions and will also set them up, and add to their ability to grasp fractional concepts which many children struggle with.

In reading we will be starting to look at a variety of books that encompass the theme of movement and people who have immigrated or moved to new areas in New Zealand.

For the first week or two we will be continuing our e-books which are at the publishing stage. It is quite exciting finally seeing them coming together and it is amazing to see all the different ideas each student has come up with and used in their layouts.

Term 3 is cross country time and our new P.E focus is fitness. This includes aspects such as, the importance of warming up and cooling down, increasing stamina, running techniques, pacing yourself, increasing fitness overtime and keeping healthy while getting fit.

We will also be continuing with our large and small ball unit, looking at some different sports as well as perfecting the skills we learnt next term.



Looking Ahead Week 10

The last week of Term 2!
This week will be doing a couple of mini inquiries to wrap up our focus on Change to test our knowledge and understanding. We will be carrying on with our fluid blocks in the first two blocks of the day, and our reading and maths programmes, so that we are able to finish up our last sessions on decimals and continue our reading books and activities from last week.

Weather permitting, we have a netball and bikes session booked for Thursday so remember bikes, helmets and sand shoes for this please.

Our flax paper was revealed last Friday from under the bookcase. We found that the beaten flax didn't work very well as it didn't hold together, but the blended flax worked really well and we have 9 sheets of lovely flax paper from this batch. It was a very interesting investigation and made us really think about what was needed to create the change that happened, and what was lacking in the change that didn't happen!

I hope you all have a happy and safe holiday and I am looking forward to Term 3, which is already shaping up to be very exciting and full of great learning opportunities.


Looking Ahead Week 9

Where has the term gone?
I cannot believe it is Week 9 already!

A lot of our work this week is finishing our inquiries up and evaluating our findings.
We are also making sure we have our draft e-books nearly ready to start making the digital version next week.

Flax paper making last week was a lot of fun. See a PDF version of the Elements google slide presentation which started the whole thing below:


We made catapults last week which involved a lot of problem-solving and working out good designs. We also measured the distances they were able to fling a cotton ball. We did this using a long tape measure and recording the information in metres and centimetres - as this is our maths numeracy focus for this week - decimals.

I will be running a variety of workshops to help the students understand what "decimals" are. What a tenths and a hundredth actually represent, and how they are found in everyday life.
We will be using decimats, money, tape measures and numberlines for this. If you want to talk to your child about these concepts that would be great. See how many ways you can find decimals being used around your home. Maybe you could measure all the heights of your family members, foot lengths, room lengths etc. Take it one step further by putting these measurements in order from shortest to tallest, or finding the differences between, or the totals of, these measurements.
Here is a link for a few ideas from the nzmaths website:

We will also be revisiting our ORCA to find examples of how we have demonstrated these values over the last few weeks, and how we can make sure that we think about them all the time when we are making decisions and choices in and out of the classroom. Please discuss these with your child and see if they can think of ways that they can use them at home as well.

If you haven't already, check out the Student Page as it has all the news from the previous week's learning from the perspective of the students - and some amazing photos of us at work in the classroom.

Have a great week

Kind regards
Susannah Franks

 Looking Ahead - Week 8  

This week is set to be quite exciting as we are making Harakeke Flax paper tomorrow. One of our reading groups  “Elements” created a google slide on the steps that you take to make the paper. They then presented it to the class on Friday of last week and will be leaders tomorrow to help their group members. Fingers crossed it all goes to plan as I have never made it before but that is all part of the learning journey! The photos and the google slide presentation will be loaded next week by the students on their page.

We also have another bike and netball session on Thursday this week so trainers or sandshoes will be needed. If your child has a  bike and/or helmet they are welcome to bring them along too.

I have been testing the children in their reading over the last few weeks and they have all made progress. They are proud of their achievements and some of the groups have shuffled again - but only a few children here and there. A lot of the testing has been around non-fiction texts, which is often a bit trickier to understand. The extra work that we have done around these types of texts has obviously paid off as the progress in comprehension is evident across the board. Non-fiction books are great to share with your child as they have a wealth of interesting facts and can greatly improve their general knowledge. They can also inspire and generate wonderings about the world which spark their curiosity to delve deeper to find out more. So if you go to the library, encourage them to get a couple out to read together.

The student’s page for last week’s wrap up is also available - Connor and Reuben were in charge of it this week.

Have a great week

Kind Regards

Susannah Franks

 
                  





Week 7 Update

This week we are continuing our e-books. We are up to sorting out our information using the inquiry model below:
This helps children organise their information and ask themselves what they need to do to find out more.
It prompts them to think about things such as:
Have I got enough information about this?
Will the reader understand what I want them to understand through the information I have gathered?
Is this new information useful?
Does it add to the message I want to get across?
Are there other areas within my topic of inquiry worth investigating?
Do I now have more questions I need to answer?

This last question moves them into the "Going Further" stage of the process and could make them think about things such as:
Does my chosen product have any effects on the environment?
What is being done to make sure that my product is sustainable?
Is my product a Fair Trade product? Why? Why Not?
Should it be?
Whatever avenue they choose to explore, the most important part is that it is encouraging them to think more deeply and to look outside the process of production to the effect that it might have elsewhere.

This develops thoughtful learners who develop social consciousness, and the skills to thinking critically and form an opinion based on their research.

The students need to understand why these aspects matter and need to be explored. It is important to becoming a good learner, but also a good human being.  

Our Double Fluid Blocks are up and running and getting more and more productive as everyone gets more familiar with how it all works. I am really proud of the way the children have picked it up and run with it, I can see that they like having ownership of their timetable. This fits well with their new learning goals recently made, as they can fill their 2 "extra" time slots with activities that  accelerate their learning in areas of greatest need.

Hope you all have a great week 

Kind Regards
Susannah Franks


Week 6 Update

Welcome back everyone. I hope you all had a lovely long weekend.

Writing

We will be continuing to draft our non-fiction e-books this week. The students have all selected their inquiries and are now researching the changes that a raw product undergoes when it is processed into a finished product. For example: from the tree to the book, or from the cacao bean to the chocolate bar.  We are at the finding out and sorting out stage of the inquiry when the children need to find their information, and then sort it out, so that they can create a timeline. This, in turn, will develop their chapters. We have looked at the features of non-fiction texts and created "must have" and "can have" lists of aspect that need to be included. It has been an exciting start to the unit and the children seem to be enjoying it. 

Reading 

To support the writing unit we will be continuing our non-fiction focus with the children reading a variety of books and articles. They also have Kids News bookmarked on their chrome books. This is an excellent site for current events and interesting news from around the world. It is also very good for increasing their vocabulary and general knowledge, which is  important for developing reading skills.

Maths
 Learning in maths is all about making connections. If students learn maths concepts in isolation or out of context it is much harder for them to understand how they can apply them, and how to use them. 

So many children say 
"I'm not good at division" or "I can't do fractions"
but once they realise that they are just related to knowing their time tables, lightbulbs start to go on. 

For example: 3 times 4 is 12 which is the same as 4 times 3 is 12, and if they know that then they also know that 12 divided by 4 is 3 and 12 divided by 3 is 4. And if they understand that then they can also realise that a quarter of 12 is 3 and a third of 12 is 4. As adults we have to be careful not to take this kind of knowledge for granted, as it is not as obvious to children who are still learning about all of these connections. So when you're are helping your child with their maths, try to make it as connected and as meaningful as you can. It really makes a difference!

Other Areas of Learning
  
Later in the week we will be using Plaster of Paris to create moulds, as we explore the changes that it undergoes when a liquid is added. I would say there should be some good "wonderings" coming out of this!

We will be doing netball and indoor hockey on Tuesday this week, and will also begin researching Samoan Tapa Cloth Designs to begin our Art Unit.

Busy, busy, busy!

Kind Regards
Susannah Franks





What's Happening In Week 5


Thank you to all the parents who shared in their children's learning last Wednesday. I was very proud of the way the students were able to tell you about their goals and give you an insight into what they do each day. It was so nice to see you all enjoying reading and talking with your children. The maths table was definitely a highlight! 

As you also saw the new furniture has arrived and we have now set everything up properly. The classroom looks amazing, we all can't believe how much space we now have!  It was fabulous to see the children enjoying using it on Friday and how they seemed to naturally gravitate to the type of furniture which suited their learning style.  It allows for such versatile and varied ways of teaching and learning. We are looking forward to really using it to its fullest potential as we launch into our more fluid programme, which has been gradually unfolding over the year.

A Few Reminders: 

Quite a few children are needing stationery top ups, such as: blue and red pens, rubbers, pencils, and whiteboard markers. If you are able to talk to your child to see if they need any of these it would be appreciated. It makes it hard to maximise learning time when they are searching for, or having to borrow items, to get started.  

Please help your child to get into the habit of remembering to bring their chrome books every day and ensuring that they are fully charged, ready for the day. We don't use them for everything, but we do use them everyday.

Don't forget to check out the "Student Page" which Emily and Mia did a great job of launching last week.  Xander and Jade are in charge of this week's post, which will be uploaded by Monday night.  

Epic is an excellent e-book website and is linked on the e-learning page.  I have created a non-fiction collection for the children to explore. If you have a moment, have a look with your child. You might want to help them set up their own collections which would be an excellent resource for reading time at home. Each child has an individual avatar under my login so they can customise their own collections of books based on their interests and their reading ability.

Writing: This week the students will begin their transactional writing focus as they begin the planning stages of creating their own non-fiction e-books. They will be selecting their area of interest under our inquiry umbrella "Material Change" and developing their ideas through research and investigation. 

Maths: We will be continuing our work on multiplication / division and fractions and developing a deeper understanding about their connections. 

Reading: Our focus will be on non-fiction books as the students look to these books as a reference and an inspiration as they write their own. They will be looking more closely at the specific features of non-fiction texts, and why these features are important to the genre. 

P.E: We will not be using the bike track in our P.E sessions this week, however the children are still able to bring their bikes and enjoy it in morning tea and lunch. We will be learning more about netball and will also be starting our unit of indoor hockey. Again we will be joining up with B7 to do this so that the children are able to get a session in each sporting code. This will be on Wednesday. Please ensure that the students remember to bring sand shoes/trainers so they are able to fully participate. 

Well another exciting jammed packed week ahead. 

Many of the children, and the teachers, have been sick over the last couple of weeks so I hope that everyone has finally beaten the bugs and we can get back to having everyone at school

Kind Regards
Susannah Franks










What's Happening In Week 4

This week the children will be starting to research their wonderings about chemical and molecular change around matter. They have many questions around this inquiry and are finding out all sorts of really interesting information about temporary and permanent change. We will be looking at this in more detail over the coming weeks.

Bikes and netball will be on Tuesday afternoon this week so children will need sand shoes/trainers and their bike and helmet if they have them.

The introduction of students timetabling themselves in Block 1 last week was a great success. They were able to organise their time, complete their activities and attend teacher workshops without too many hiccups. It also meant that they had choice over their learning which seemed to promote more commitment to completion, and enjoyment, of their work. Several times over the week it was morning tea time before we knew it. Time flies when your having fun! This means that we are on track to move to two fluid blocks per day in Week 5. The new furniture's arrival will add even more to this, as it will offer the students comfortable and purpose designed opportunities to work independently, in groups, in discussion circles and workshops. This will take our MLE to a whole new level! Due to the fact that the students had a 'hands on' input into the research and selection of the type of furniture that we ordered, they are very excited about its arrival.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Kevin who has encouraged the children to take ownership of their learning environment and allowed us to go on this exciting inquiry about selecting furniture and designing a classroom that suits our learning styles and preferences.  

Learning Celebrations:

How it will work

The children each have a pictorial prompt to take you around the room. There will be several stations set up where they can talk about each area of the curriculum, their goals in these areas, and share with you something of which they are proud. At each station there will also be some 'Parent Question' prompts. These are for you to use to help them along and to encourage them to really share on a personal level - and to keep them on track! 

PLEASE HELP YOUR CHILD TO REMEMBER THAT THEY WILL NEED TO BRING THEIR CHROME BOOK TO THEIR LEARNING CELEBRATION!

I am looking forward to seeing you all on Wednesday. I am very proud of the students and of the effort and ownership that the children have taken, in preparing to share their work with you. 

Have a great week
Susannah Franks





Week 3 Term 2

This week the students in B8 are taking on their next step in establishing a modern learning environment (MLE). All children have been shared in on their weekly timetable, their reading and maths tumbles and their group's activities, to ensure that they are organised and able to make their own personal timetables. This is crucial in creating a classroom that encourages student empowerment, by developing their ability to prioritise their learning, and organise their time. This is turn, ensures that they are able to make the most of extra workshops and all that is on offer to assist them in reaching their learning goals.

This concept has been scaffolded and practised through a series of steps in Term One, and they are now ready to do this more independently. We are only introducing this in the first block of the day for Reading and Maths, but will gradually integrate our writing programme in as well so that the first and second blocks become fluid. This is also beneficial for children who attend withdrawal groups e.g Maths or Quest, as they don't miss out on teacher time and lessons, and find that they don't get behind in their work. 

The last block of the day is specially reserved for other curriculum area focuses such as, P.E, The Arts and Inquiry. These areas are integrated in the morning programme, however, this block is for more direct teaching of the skills needed in these areas.  It is when children can explore and research their wonderings, enjoy learning new skills in sports and games, and express themselves creatively in art, music, drama and dance. 

Furniture Update

It is coming!! 
The date for delivery is set for 24th May. Unfortunately this is the day of our Learning Celebrations so you will not be able to see it all set up by then. 
However, please feel free to pop in after school in Week 5 sometime if you would like to have a look at how our classroom is evolving! 

If you are interested in knowing more about an MLE classroom the following Education NZ page has some excellent information

The student are busy getting ready to welcome you in sharing and celebrating their learning next week, so please try to make a time to come in and see what they have been learning, and what their goals are in the core areas.

The first instalment on the "Student Page" will be ready for next week so keep an eye out for when this tab is available for viewing!

Week 2 Term 2

Well everyone has settled back to school life quickly and there is definitely excitement in the air as we launch into our new Inquiry around Change.
This will continue this week as we find out more and do some exploring and research about our wonderings.
The students have now got their heads around their next learning goals in reading, writing and maths and we will be putting these into Google Slides ready to practise in Week 3, so we will be ready to present them to parents in our Learning Celebrations in Week 4. 

If you still want to book...
  • Go to the website www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and enter our school code: k23pp
  • You will need your child’s 2017 year, classroom, and name of teacher, to complete your booking.
  • Enter these details and choose a time that suits you. You will receive an emailed confirmation of your booking.
  • If you are unable to complete your booking online, please either:
     - Email pa@wgp.school.nz with child/rens names and preferred times or
     - Call into the school office and fill out a booking sheet.
  • A brochure outlining what to expect, frequently asked questions and how you can make this a successful and positive experience can be viewed here.

This week we will also be setting up our student page on the blog so check it out next Monday for the first instalment. 

Have a fabulous week and please try to make time at night to read with your child, play a maths game, look up their wonderings about change on google with them, or help them with their times tables, as everything we can do to help them reach their learning goals the better.

Together we inspire learning

Ka kite ano
See you soon

Susannah Franks




Week 1
Welcome Back To Term 2

We have a busy week ahead as we gear up for another term packed full of interesting learning and activities.

This week we will be re-establishing routines and expectations, and getting straight back into our full programme. We will also be recapping what we learnt about our Motto, Vision and Values last term. This is important as we come back together again so that we can ensure that we can “be the best we can be” by displaying our school values of Ownership, Respect, Collaboration and Achievement.

This is particularly important for Year 5 and 6 students as they are the role models for the younger children so need to model the values that are so important to us as a class, a school, and a community.

Our new furniture shouldn’t be too far away which is very exciting. It has been a fabulous journey for us as a class and the children will soon have a beautiful new learning environment which will lead to exciting new learning opportunities.

I am looking forward to working with you and your child over the upcoming term.

See our home page for more information about our curriculum focuses for the term.

Kind regards

Susannah Franks











Week 11


The week ahead

A short update for a short week!

We are working on tying everything up this week. Finishing our topics of inquiry and going through the evaluative process around our learning. The children will be looking at their reading, writing and maths to celebrate achievements and progress made over the term. They will also be looking ahead at what they still need to work on and setting new goals for Term 2. If the children want to continue practising their reading and maths skills they can go through any of the websites that are listed on the e-learning page.

Please if you can help at the Waterwise Session on Wednesday it would be appreciated.
Our session is 12:30 - 1:45pm - weather permitting!

We are also getting out on the bike track on Thursday, so children please bring bikes and helmets if you have them.

Hope you all have a fabulous Easter and I look forward to meeting up with you all next term at our Learning Celebrations.

Safe and Happy Holidays
Susannah Franks


Week 10

The week ahead

This week we will be creating our own school version of Monopoly as part of the evaluative section of our inquiry. The children have already come up with very creative ways to incorporate our values and school community into the game with all sorts of little twists and "Things Whangaparaoa". It will be quite interesting how it all turns out and hopefully we will be ready to play it by Week 11.

Maths, reading and writing programmes continue with great enthusiasm as we fine tune our fluid blocks. The children are becoming very organised and generally able to timetable their personal commitments in so that it all runs smoothly.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Sarah our wonderful Learning Assistant who helps enormously at this time and is really able to add educational value to the sessions.

Children should be bringing home school journals or other reading material to do personal reading at home.

If you would like to help your child with some maths we are still making sure that everyone is becoming quicker with their basic fact recall so practising times tables would be very beneficial.


We will be having another bike session on Tuesday afternoon so again if your child can bring their own bike and helmet it would be great.

We will also be having our VLC Picnic at Manly Park when all the classes in our Vertical Community will be going to the park for some games and lunch.
Please make sure that your child has the necessary things for this - see the email which was sent to all parents and caregivers on Thursday last week for the details.
Unfortunately this looks as if it will not be able to go ahead due to the weather. We will still try to get out with our team for some time on the field if the rain keeps at bay. We are looking at rescheduling the picnic for early next term and will email you closer to the time with details.

Thanks Susannah Franks

Hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Kind regards
Susannah Franks



Week 9 already where has the term gone!

The week ahead

We have a busy week ahead as we steam into the end of term. I will be away on Monday as I am on a course with the team leaders so Mrs Bassett will be teaching in B8 on this day.

We have been in the process of preparing for our new furniture which will hopefully be coming next term. The children have been involved in an inquiry looking at the different furniture options to help select the furniture that offers us the best options for maximum learning.

This means we want furniture that:

  • has multiple uses 
  • is flexible and moveable
  • caters for different learning styles
  • caters for different groupings
  • ensures we have plenty of space in our class
  • utilises our two break out areas so that they can be used effectively. 
To go with our modern furniture we will also be introducing a more modern approach to learning. This involves children having more of a decision about how they use their time and having choices within the curriculum.
Please realise this does not mean that they will not be learning what needs to be learnt, and I will always be guiding them in their directions and decisions.They will have set tasks and then choices within the other tasks for skill practice and areas of inquiry.

So...

In preparation for this next step will are experimenting with fluid blocks which means that we do our Reading and Maths rotations in the same block and the children have choice around when they do their set activities and what they can do when they are finished. They must ensure that priority is given to Teacher Workshops and Group Activities but after that they can do the other work in any order.

We have done a feedback session after trialling it last week. As a class we looked at any problems that we had, what successes we had, and what we need to work on to improve this week. 

One of the best things we found about the whole process was that I was able to see an extra group, and run an extra workshop in the same time as the more tradition programme. 

This means I can utilise my time more effectively and work with more children to target learning needs.

Please ask your children what they think about this new approach and get some feedback on our "Modern Learning" journey.

If you have any question you would like to ask me, you are welcome to can and see me after school most Wednesdays-Fridays. 

Please check out the Event/Notices Page for all the other things happening this week, including Waterwise and Biking with B7.

Kind regards

Susannah Franks    




Hi and Welcome to Week 8.

I have finally been given my new school computer which is great because my old one was getting very annoying and slow. Unfortunately however, it does not have Comic Life loaded onto it so I can't make this week's post as colourful as the last two but it is the information that is important anyway, so please read on...

Firstly a huge thank you to everyone who contributed and/or helped with your annual GALA - awesome effort!!

The Week Ahead

Our Reading and Maths programmes are full steam ahead and the children will be continuing to bring books home this week to share with you.

Thank you too for ensuring that the children have their library books ready to return each Monday. It means that they are able to make full use of it and get new books each week.

I have loaded some really good maths websites on the e-learning page for your children to practise, so please have a look at these too.

Our Writing focus for the week is
"Re-crafting"

Often children find it hard to polish their writing to make to better, and struggle to critique their own work. They will be practising with re-crafting boring sentences, and then move onto using the same techniques on their own work.

Now that our swimming is over for the term we are hitting the bike track. Our first session will be with B7 on Tuesday so please make sure that your child had closed in shoes for this.

We are using the school bikes and helmets but if your child has their own it would be great if they could bring it as we don't quite have enough for every child.

Tuesday is also our Vertical Team's day in the school pool at lunch time so togs and a towel will be needed for this if they are keen for a dip.

Our inquiry into Community and Connectedness is also taking a turn this week as we explore more communities from around the world. It is also International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21st which is a good opportunity to look at how this has, and still does, effect people in many countries.

Although in New Zealand we are not as affected by racial discrimination as many other places in the world, we still have some pockets of prejudice and it is a topic well worth discussing.

It is also very timely around our other community focus of
"Accepting Difference"


I have put any important things to remember under
"Events/Notices"

Have a great week
Kind regards

Susannah Franks









WEEK 5

Hello Everyone,

The Week Ahead

It is PAT week this week which means that every day, except Tuesday due to swimming, the children will be doing a PAT test. They are an excellent source of information about each child’s learning needs in Maths, Reading, Listening, Punctuation and Grammar. Using the data from PAT testing, along with the formative testing I have been doing in class, provides me with an excellent picture of how best to teach to maximise learning potential.

I will be administering the tests in the first block each day so can you please make sure that your child is on time for school and ready to go by the bell. It often takes a while to get into the test as we have roll, notices and explanations to go through so starting the day promptly at 9am is necessary.

Along with PAT’s we will also be continuing our Inquiry about “Connectedness” by starting to branch out and look at our wider community. The children will be finding out more about what our community has to offer, and what we can offer our community.

We are also looking at getting our new furniture in the not to distant future, and the children have had a big input into what we want to make our learning environment fun, comfortable and easy to learn in. We have been looking at different types of furniture and layout plans to figure out how we can maximise the space, and have a variety of seating and tables to suit different learning styles and needs.

We have made quite a lot of progress on our devices in a week and nearly all children are up and running. They have learnt how to bookmark sites, create a google doc, move docs into their folders and make comments on their classmates docs.

In maths the concepts we are focussing on are: place value, basic facts, and using strategies to solve addition and subtraction word problems.

If your child wants to go on their device at home they are set up with logins and passwords on “Studyladder” https://www.studyladder.co.nz/  and “Sumdog” https://www.sumdog.com/  so they can practise their mathematical skills on these sites.

They also have kids news http://kiwikidsnews.co.nz/ bookmarked on their devices. This is an excellent site for them to stay up to date with what is going on in New Zealand and around the world. The site has topical news and interesting stories in easy to understand articles which are especially designed for children. Feel free to check it out with your child and help them keep up to date and aware of what is happening. It is important that children have a global understanding and that there is a big world out there full of interesting and amazing things. By learning about other places in the world it helps them find their own place in their national and international communities.

The children have also been writing their “Personal Profiles” and publishing them on their devices so ask your child to share theirs with you as they are very interesting and insightful.

Over the coming week I will be introducing them to a few more very good educational websites that they will be bookmarking. These can also be looked at together at home. Make sure that your child logs in under their school account though, as this is where all their work and bookmarks will be found - they have all made their own passwords too.

And lastly don’t forget to look at the “Events and Notices” tab for reminders about what is happening this week. I am hoping to get a new tab up and running in the next week or two as well. This will be updated by the children and is where they will write about the week that has been and upload photos etc… The children will work in 2’s or 3’s and rotate around being responsible for adding a blog at the end of each week.

Pā atawhai
(Kind Regards)

Susannah Franks


WEEK 4 UPDATE

Hello Everyone

Well this is it - finally the children are allowed to bring their devices to school! We have spent a lot of time over the last week in preparation so that hopefully all will go smoothly on Monday. Please don’t panic if you have not been able to purchase a Chromebook yet or will not be able to - we will find ways around this. I have 3-4 computers that will be moved from the computer suite into the classroom for children to be able to access any lessons that we will be doing. It is still early days and we will only be gradually introducing them as a tool for learning - they will not be taking away from our use of exercise books and other resources that are used throughout the school day. If children are bringing different devices this can also be managed in the classroom to ensure that they can access what is being used.

I am reasonably good on a computer, and should be able to sort most problems, but if we have any difficult issues luckily we have plenty of support on staff to sort out anything that may arise.

Our practice run with “mock computers” went very well and helped to answer lots of questions around how we can manage and look after our Chromebooks safely. We looked at a variety of scenarios and most children were very good at transporting their devices to and from school. Thank you for your support at home and hopefully you were able to work with your children by finding a suitable charging station and helping them to remember to bring them back to school each day fully charged and ready to go. If you have purchased a case for them please ensure that they you it for transporting to and from school.

We have also had an indepth look at cyber safety and how we can keep ourselves safe in our learning. As a class we have run through the Student Cyber Safety Agreement and unpacked each point to ensure that we know what it means and the steps we can take to ensure that we all have positive experiences on the web.

We have been given a lockable storage cabinet to have in our classroom so that during breaks and when we are not in the classroom all devices can be safely locked away.

Looking forward to the week ahead

Our focuses for the week will be:

The introduction of “Bring Your Own Devices” into our classroom programme

  • Why do we want to use more technology in our learning?
  • How can it enhance our learning?
  • Revisiting the reasons why we need to be careful when using the internet?
  • Setting up our emails and login ins.
  • Looking at, and bookmarking, a few sites that can be useful.
  • Setting up Studyladder to be used at school and at home.
  • Creating and using a Google Doc for publishing our writing.

Continuing our exploration of our Inquiry focus
“Whanaugatanga” and “Connectedness”

  • Digging deeper into not only the meaning behind these concepts but also what else we want to find out about being a community and how we can contribute to it in a positive way.

  • Designing our Classroom Treaty around what we have found out about creating and maintaining a healthy community of learners.

  • The values and attributes needed to ensure that everyone feels safe and happy to learn to their potential.

  • Exploring our own wonderings about connectedness and finding examples of these to share with the class e.g You Tube clips, sayings, proverbs, posters, what other schools have done etc…

Continuing with assessments in reading, maths (as needed) and spelling assessments to ensure children are catered for at their own level and to look at particular learning needs individually and as a class.

Please try and get time to talk to your children about their day and what they have been learning as it is valuable for them to learn to be able to summarise key ideas and understandings.

Thank you in advance for helping your children to get into a “Device Routine” so that they come to school charged and ready to go.

If you want to work on anything together at home basic facts and times tables are always a good place to start and remember READ, READ, READ!!

Have a great week everyone

Susannah Franks

He waka eke noa           Macintosh HD:private:var:folders:wr:py0x_xs152xfnhp_ks9ls_h00000gq:T:TemporaryItems:imgres.jpg

A canoe which we are all in with no exception


Week 3 Update



Hello everyone


What a great start to the new year we have had in B8. We have spent the last 6 days getting to know each other and thinking about how we can make our learning community the best that it can be.


Here are some key areas that we will be looking at in more detail over the week to ensure that B8 is a safe, learning environment where everyone is able to learn and feel happy and valued.


Connectedness:


How do we connect to others? What skills and attributes do we need to be able to make good connections with people. Learning to connect, collaborate and work to together as a class community.


Listening:


This is a very important skill - not only to gain information and understanding, but also to ensure that we listen to others and allow everyone to have their say. What does it mean to be a good listener? When we are part of a group or an audience how do we show that we are listening? If we don't agree with what is being said how do we voice our own opinions while still valuing the views of others.


Accepting differences:


We are all unique individuals from different backgrounds, cultures and upbringings - that is what makes our class so wonderful. In order to make the most of all our qualities and everything we have to offer we must accept that we have differences as well as similarities.


Respect:


This is a big concept and not easy to define, however through some unpacking we will be able to understand that we need to respect ourselves, others and our environment and be able to demonstrate ways that we can do this.


Trust:


What makes someone trustworthy. What attributes to people have who are trustworthy? How do we earn people's trust?


Mock Computer Trial


The children will also be making a "pretend chrome book" tomorrow as a practice for when they bring the real one on the 20th. They will be learning how to look after it and where to use and store it in the classroom. They will also be bringing it home each night to have a dry run as to how to carry it in their bags safely and bringing it to and from school.


Can you please set up a "pretend charging station" at home so that when they are bringing home the real chrome book they have a regular place to set up it up and put it on charge so it will be ready in the mornings to bring back to school.


We will also be problem-solving any of the issues they come across with using, storing and moving around with their "pretend computers" so they can be fully prepared.


I would appreciate your support in helping with this mock scenario as it will put them in good stead for the real thing.


Looking forward to a great week of learning


Kind Regards


Susannah Franks


Important Dates:


Tuesday Lunchtime :Team Franks School Pool Day / Waterslide


Thursday 16th - 1st Gala Mufti Day and our first Waterwise session - please remember togs, towel, sunblock and hat.


Friday am :New Staff/ Students Powhiri - B7 and B8 to provide a small plate please for our Vertical Learning Team's shared "kai" (food) afterwards.


Assembly Friday 2.20pm - a special performance for performing arts.


We also have quite a few outstanding permission slips for swimming and these are needed for everyone to be able to participate in Waterwise on Thursday so please send them in ASAP 😀

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