Chapter Chat Week 5

Both groups in Tūhono have been busy listening and sharing their two novels. Choice was given regarding which reading group the students would be assigned to once a few chapters from both novels had been shared. Throughout the week, students are given time to work on tasks that relate to the novel or tasks that they have negotiated as having a connection to the novel. We have had gem-stones brought in for sharing (The Warden wears black cow-boy boots studded with turquoise)

Mikaere was the photographer who worked collaboratively to ensure that Mitchell's gems could be viewed by all. Other students brought in fossils (we didn't know that Lachlan had a collection and interest in this area). Chapter Chat sparks other learning links and helps us to view the student beyond the classroom.
Mikaere followed this up by 'posing' a photo of a snake attacking him in the bush!!! A great vehicle for acting/staging/working collaboratively.

One of the characters in the story, 'Mr Sir', has given up smoking and is now eating sunflower seeds instead. He speaks of spitting out the hard husks so we made a link with the sunflowers in the Te Kakano gardens. One of our Teacher Aide's, Trish, brought a sunflower head to our class as well as a microscope contraption that can fit onto a phone. This allowed students to view a magnified image of the flower. Again - learning goes beyond the pages of the book and the time within our school day.

If we think about our focus for our Chapter Chat Tweets:
'Ensure that our answers make it clear to the reader, what the question was'

What could be the next stage/suggestion for growth that we could give to our learners? What is missing from the post (and the post is certainly linked and on track with what we are trying to achieve). How could we make our connection with other learners more robust and meaningful? This will continue to be a focus in our next Chapter Chat link.

Taking a Learning Break

Sometimes in our busy day, we need to take a learning break. This may take place anywhere, anytime and with anyone!!!! Here is an example of one very highly competitive game where we are down to the last two. Mrs T is calling instructions and Greer and Cody are listening carefully. The excitement at the end of the game was very catching and perfect for a very hot and humid Friday afternoon!!!

Learning takes all forms. Learning how to win and lose, take turns and share, is all part of our daily focus or competency learning. I think Cody is going to be a popular dancer at our end of year disco!!!! Thank you Mrs T for introducing this brain break. What other activities do you know that can give you a healthy break from learning?

Pits and Peaks - Week 4 and Week 5

Please add in your Pits and Peaks so that we can celebrate what worked well and also so that we can look at ways in which we can improve the way that we learn together in Tūhono. Double click on the orange space and share your thoughts. Leave your name/initials if you want to.

Week 4 Update

OUR 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

90% 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

anna@frankley.school.nz

kim@frankley.school.nz

The Annual Frankley Picnic at Ngamotu Beach

Last week Tūhono and the rest of Frankley School descended upon Ngamotu Beach for the Annual Beach Picnic.  The weather looked a bit dodgy but we were all quite happy in the end with an overcast, warm but not windy day.  It was such a lovely day to have after all our wonderful STIN interviews.  Mrs Cribb and Mrs T enjoyed mixing with our students and parents outside of the classroom and it was great to see everyone playing together so co-operatively.  A quick dip in the water was a highlight too and maybe the juicies and sherbet at lunchtime.  Check out some of the action below.  What was your favourite part of the day?  Do you have any suggestions for next year for what activities we could do at the beach?

Week 3 Update

OUR 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 3  Term 1

Tēna koutou Tūhono whānau,

We started off the week well considering we couldn’t swim because the pool temperature was very undesirable and it rained during lunchtime.  Tūhono was organised for their day of learning and are starting to settle into their daily routines and expectations.

STIN INTERVIEWS

Tomorrow and on Wednesday we are looking forward to meeting our Tūhono whānau to find out a bit more about your child’s talents, interests and needs.  Today we sent out a sheet for you to fill out that will help us get to know your child as a whole learner and what their aspirations are for 2017.  Please click on this link if you would like a digital copy to fill out. Just a reminder that this time around we are making interview bookings online.  Please click here to access the webpage and you will need to enter the following event code: dbn6t then follow the instructions on screen.

CAMP VERTICAL HORIZONS

Today a camp booklet came home which brought about a lot of excitement for Tūhono students.  It included an information page, gear list, camp programme, followed by all of the forms that need to be filled out - consent x 2, medical and emergency contact information and parent helpers request.  If you have any questions regarding this notice, please don’t hesitate to email us and we would like to have them returned as soon as possible, so that we can get further planning underway.

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.

SWIMMING

Tūhono have been setting 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

86% of our parents/caregivers have joined up to our class dojo - only 7 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 35% 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.  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.

SCHOOL PICNIC

This Thursday is the Annual Frankley School Beach Picnic at Ngamotu Beach.  Please click on the link for all of the details.  Note though that if we call off Beach Picnic, you are still more than welcome to come have lunch with your child/ren at 12:50pm on Thursday instead.

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

anna@frankley.school.nz

kim@frankley.school.nz

Week 2 Tūhono Superstars!

Congratulations to Greer and Cejay for being awarded the students with the most dojo points throughout Week 2.  This award is highly contested now, so Tūhono loves to see who is going to be spending the weekend with Peppa and Harold.  Check out what they got up to...  what values and attitudes do you think Cejay and Greer showed to receive these awards?

Frankley Tuhono Swimming

Every day, early in the morning, just as the sun is rising....(or a little later at 10.00 am!!!) all of Tūhono go to the school pool to work on their water safety and swimming techniques. We have a huge range of abilities. We are hoping that the sun is our friend and keeps our pool nice and warm.

We will use our safety knowledge when we swim in the lake at Vertical Horizon Camp at the end of March. We will also have some swimming/water skills demonstrations later this term for our parents to come and view.

Here is a snippet of us working last week:

What skills can you see us working on?
Do you have suggestions about how to help our bodies to float most effectively?

Student of the Week - Our Tūhono Superstars

Each week we are using our Dojo points to encourage our students to use our Frankley School Attitudes and Values. Rebecca and Bruno were our Superstars in our first week with the most Dojo points.


Here is Bruno - he took Harold home for the weekend and here is his selfie!!!

Rebecca took Peppa home and she got up to a bit of mischief...

What do you think our students could do to show that they understand our values and attitudes around our school...Please add a comment....................

These are the Superheroes who are in charge of your children......

Weekly Update Week 2

Kia ora Tūhono Families

A wonderful first week is now done and dusted. We have met lots of parents and are busy matching up faces to names to parents.......some of us are better at this than others. This week we have a great opportunity to mix and mingle at the Frankley School Picnic - Wednesday at 5.30pm. Hopefully the weather will be in our favour. A great chance to share and meet the families that make up our lovely Frankley Community. The school pool will be open so bring your togs.
We will be selling Juicies and Sherbet for $2 each at the picnic as the start of our camp fundraising. If you are keen to help with other fundraising activities please let Anna or Kim know. We already have one keen parent who needs a bit of a team to get behind her.

It was great to have so many of the students organised with their stationery. Hopefully we can now ensure that all books and paraphernalia are named and stored in individual magazine boxes. We are working hard to have workable spaces in our room so that everything that is needed for learning, is easily accessible.

Important Dates:

Tuesday Morning - Amore Coffee Van (caffeine for Mrs Cribb!!!) come down and grab a hot drink and have a chat with other parents/teachers doing the same. Some students also purchase hot chocolates. This is a regular Tuesday morning event.

Wednesday 8 February - 
Library Session for Tūhono so return those books/bring book bags.
School Picnic on the front field 5.30-7.00 pm. School pool open.

Tuesday 14/Wednesday 15 February - Student Talents Interests Needs meetings 3.30-7.30pm. On-Line booking details on your way soon.

Thursday 16 February
School Beach Picnic - whole school trip to Ngamotu Beach (weather permitting)

Friday 16/Saturday 17 February - School Fundraising Committee Camp Out at Frankley School. All families welcome to participate.



Congratulations to Bruno and Rebecca who were the first recipients of Peppa Tūhono and Harold Tūhono. They got to take the toys home as the winners of the male/female Dojo points that were gained during the week.


Well done to the parents who have joined - your child got an extra 5 points added to their scores. Every parent that participates gains points for their child.

Lunchboxes
We are trying to encourage ZERO waste with our food scaps/gladwrap/plastic bags etc.......students are bringing their lunchboxes inside and storing them on the benchtops so we can put any rubbish straight into the lunchboxes during the day. Unfortunately we also have a learning colony of ants. They are amazing at getting into things so please use lidded containers. Fruit/vegetables for munch-crunch time please. It would also be great if everyone has a named drink bottle to use during the day.

Names
This week we are going to be discussing names (there is a huge list of them at the top of this post!!). Your child will have some questions for you about why you chose their name/s, nicknames, surnames..........
Please help them to complete their questions either on-line via their Google documents or on the paper copy. We are really looking forward to hearing all the different stories.

We are looking forward to the next four, busy days and hopefully getting a chance to catch up with more of you.

                                     

Go Noodle!!

Today for some fitness on a rainy day, Mrs T took half of the class for some Go Noodle.  We have a class account but if your child would like to join up at home, they can do this.  Click on the picture below to check out the introduction video.

What is going on behind those doors in Tūhono?

What a full on couple of days we have had in Tūhono.  Our students have had to do a lot of listening, brainstorming and discussing how we would like things to run in our learning environment.  We have been getting to know each other better and our teachers.  We've been swimming and been to visit Mrs Cameron in the library.  We had a lovely powhiri today to welcome Mrs Trinder, Jae, Ashley, Kaeylon, Isaac, Jae and Jay-Dee to Frankley School.  We have had wet weather and written job descriptions for our class duties.  We are learning about our spaces and how we can use them to help us in our learning.  Well done to all of those families who have signed up to our rewards system "Class Dojo" - your child will receive Dojo points for participating :)  I wonder who are going to be our Tūhono Superstars tomorrow with the most points?

Check us out in action...

Class Dojo - our rewards system in Tūhono

Today we introduced Class Dojo to Tūhono, which many of them are already familiar with.  Below is a short video clip about what it is and how it will be used in our room.  Tūhono will just be using the points system to align with our school values and attitudes and individual blogs for the sharing part.  A notice will be sent home tomorrow about how your child and you as a parent can join to see what qualities they are being rewarded for in their daily classroom life.

Learning Hub Names

Learning Hub names 2017

We have three Kahikatea trees just to the right of our hall. These three trees have roots that intertwine and can be thought to represent our parents, staff and students learning together.
This year Frankley School will have Maori names for our learning hubs.  Our school vision is "Positive difference, Creative learner, Effective communicator".  The Kahikatea tree represents the growth of learning that our children develop while they are here with us.  This also leads into linking the names to an analogy of supporting learning growth.   

• We plant "The Seed".  "The blossom" appears.  The "Seedling" continues to grow.  The roots system "join together".  The "Kahikatea" trees stand strong.  Stand confident, stand resolute yay!
• Ka whakatō "Te Kakano".  Ka puta "Te Puawai".  Ka tipu "Te Pihinga".  Ka "Tuhono" nga pakiaka.  Ka tu kaha nga "Kahikatea".  E tu maia, e tu manawanui eee!

The names of the learning hubs will be;

• "Te Kakano" (Room 1 and 2) - New entrant children
• "Te Puawai" (Room 3 and 4) - Y1-2
• "Te Pihinga" (Room 6 and 7) - Y3 -4
• "Tuhono" (Room 8 and 9) - Y4-5
• "Kahikatea" (Room 10 and 11) Y5-6

Our Teachers have worked hard to establish Learning Hubs across the school.  Classroom setup, learning structures, many conversations and planning to establish a very exciting learning environment for our children.  Each Hub has a combined blog. Blogs can also be accessed from our Frankley web page,www.frankley.school.nz.  Click on the hub names above to access the learning blogs.
We encourage you to put your email in the "Follow by Email" slot, you will be asked to confirm your wish to get email notifications of new posts on this blog within your email.  From then on every time something is posted on your child’s blog you will receive an email notification.  This is important as teachers will keep you updated with classroom organisation, some notices and sharing of learning via the blog.  We also encourage you to follow your own child’s blog.  If you need any support in knowing how to leave comments on blogs, your first port of call is Anna Trinder/Kim Cribb.

Stationery and other notices

Wow - first day done and dusted!!!!! You will no doubt have some tired children arriving at home today. Our day went so fast but it was very rewarding to see everyone mixing and mingling as we work to get to know each other in our new learning environment.

We had quite a large group of students who did not bring togs to school today. We have a session available every day so we want to make the most of it so please get your child into the habit of packing their bags (job charts/reminders work well).

A swag of notices will have come home too - some of which need to be returned back to school. Please go through these with your child. There is no pressure regarding buying devices - just for those of you who are ready to do this. For those of you who are putting labels on books, here is some information that will help you:)

2B5 - literacy writing/literacy tasks
     
Activity Books (scrap books)  - W.I.T/maths

Please clearly name ALL stationery and have these in a small pencil case that will fit into the magazine boxes.


The magazine Box that we are wanting the students to use is available from the office ($4) or please purchase similar one from a stationery shop. They look like this:

Thanks

Mrs Trinder/Mrs Cribb