Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Week 4 Update

IMG_9594.jpgOUR MISSION:
Maintain a challenging learning to learn community that responds to the interests, needs, and talents of our learners.

OUR VISION:
Positive difference, Creative learner, Effective communicator.


Week 4  Term 1

Tēna koutou Tūhono whānau,

What a massive Week 3 we had with beach picnics, STIN interviews and fundraising for camp!  It was so much fun getting to know our students and whānau better through the STIN interviews and then interacting with them again in another setting outside of the classroom at the Beach Picnic.  Thank you so much to those parents/caregivers that came to visit us in Tūhono, it was a really rewarding couple of evenings.  If you haven’t had a STIN interview with us, we will be contacting you shortly to make a time to catch up.  Our goal is 100% attendance.  Have you checked out our movie about the Beach Picnic.  Click on this link that will take you to the blog post.  (Remember there may be dojo points for those students and families that participate in commenting on our blog posts).

CAMP VERTICAL HORIZONS
Thank you to everyone who has returned their camp permission, parent help, transport and medical details.  We only have a handful more to follow up and then we are able to plan the next part of camp.  Also a big thank you to those who have volunteered to help with fundraising for camp (Sausage sizzle 4th March and Quiz Night 14th March).  Tinaca Parkes will be in contact shortly to set up some sub-committees to run with these events.  Just in case you did not receive the sausage sizzle notice, please click on this link for more details.

DAILY ORGANISATION
Tūhono are now well into establishing regular routines and expectations for learning.  Along with our learning comes our learning tools.  It is great to see that everyone has purchased their stationery and everything is well-organised in our bright, container boxes.  One request that we have is that all students bring earphones or earbuds to school to use with devices when needed.  This is a health requirement.  Thank you to all of those families who have purchased these already and having them in a named container that will fit in their stationery box helps too.

GOOGLE APPS FOR EDUCATION
At Frankley School we are linked up to Google Apps for Education (GAFE).  That is how we are able to set up and monitor gmail accounts for our students.  Today in Tūhono we had a discussion about the purpose of having a gmail account at school and that it is only used for educational purposes (as mentioned in the digital citizen form that you all signed).  The main points that came up were that all emails sent by the students must be cc to their teachers and that they are not to subscribe to Youtube channels, pinterest or any other social media using this account.  To utilise these sites they would need to have set up a personal gmail with your permission as children under 13 years of age are not supposed to have a personal gmail account.  Any of the sites like Twitter or Youtube, that we use in class, the students access through one class account.  The other request we have is that if your child brings along their own ipad or tablet, can they please have the following free apps installed - Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Sheets, Class Dojo, Twitter, Spelling City, Gmail.  We also have asked the students to take some time as home learning to tidy up their emails and they should be checking them every night.

SWIMMING
Tūhono have now set goals for their swimming sessions by looking closely at videos of themselves swimming.  They have been using the Swim Safe modules to choose the skills that they need to master, skills such as streamlining their body, chin to chest and blowing bubbles correctly.  These will be shared on their blogs shortly.  Please note that swimming is compulsory as part of our physical education programme.  If your child is unable to swim for medical reasons, a note or email needs to be provided to Mrs Trinder.

BEING SUNSMART
Thank you to those students who consistently bring a hat to school everyday and wear it at morning tea and lunchtimes.  Even though the weather hasn’t been ideal lately, the sun is just as harmful.  Dojo points are given out to those who bring their hats consistently.

ZERO WASTE
Another big thank you to those students and whānau who have discussed and thought more about how they can contribute to Zero Waste at Frankley School.  Through this discussion, we have decided to use our food scraps to make compost.  More details to follow about this.

CLASS DOJO
Screen Shot 2017-02-21 at 10.38.26 PM.pngScreen Shot 2017-02-21 at 10.38.13 PM.png90% of our parents/caregivers have joined up to our class dojo - only 5 more and we will all be connected.  Remember this is a place where you can see what values and attitudes your child is showing throughout the day and what other ones that they may need to work on more.  At this stage, parents/caregivers are definitely winning though as we only have 49% of students connected.  As part of home learning this week, could you please take 5 minutes to have your child sign up as a student so that they can monitor their behaviours as well.  They will need to create a username and password (one that they can easily remember) and their individual code (this was on the original sheet that came home - if misplaced, get them to come see Mrs T).  They will then enter your email address and you will have to verify them before they can start using it.  Any problems, see Mrs T.  There will be participation dojo points up for grabs if they sign up!

WHANAU PHOTOS
Another special display that we would like to have in our classroom is a whānau wall.  This is a place for us to show off and be proud of all of those people that help us in our learning, because the students and we, as teachers, could never do it alone.  Thank you to those families that have already sent their photos in, we are looking forward to seeing more of them.  Could you please send along a beautiful family photo with your child for us to hang on our wall, or alternatively you can email it to Mrs T or Mrs Cribb for us to print it for you.


What a week!  Remember if you want to chat or just have a question, feel free to email us or drop in to catch up with one of us or both of us!

Ngā mihi


Anna Trinder / Kim Cribb


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