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 1 Term 3
Tēna koutou Tūhono whānau,
Welcome back everyone for Term 3. We hope you have all enjoyed some quality time together over the holidays and have had the chance to recharge your batteries. Tūhono students have returned to school with big smiling faces and a positive attitude towards another term of learning with us. Mrs T managed to get some gardening done between rain, snow and going on “mummy” dates with her boys and Mrs Cribb spent a week up in Whangarei supporting her daughter Saffy and her Central Districts Hockey team take out the New Zealand Under 18 Girls National Tournament.
Unfortunately, the holidays ended with great sadness for Mrs Cribb. She wanted to let our Tūhono whānau know that her dad died peacefully on Saturday morning after being sick in hospital for a week. He was just about to turn 80 and his body was tired. He was full of fun and sparkle until the end. Mrs Cribb is currently on bereavement leave and we send our love and thoughts to her and her family at this sad time. Tūhono can’t wait to see her when she returns! In her absence, we have the lovely Mrs Smith teaming up with Mrs T.
WEEKLY WĀTAKA
This is the name of our weekly timetable / plan that both the teachers and the students can edit and use to organise our daily lessons. As each day can differ, we are setting aside time each morning to go through the timetable so that Tūhono clearly know what is happening and what workshops etc. that they are booked in for. It is shared with each student through their emails on a Monday and it would be beneficial for you to discuss it with your child and it is also a way that you can see what we are getting up to each day.
WEEKLY TRACKING SHEET
Last term we introduced a tracking sheet for Tūhono to use to track their learning for each day. We have created a simple way for them to show evidence of their learning and a great visual way of making sure that they have a balanced programme when it comes to choices of workshops and learning activities. Click on this link to see an example. The hard copies of these live in their WIT books.
MATHS
We finished last term off focusing on multiplication and division strategies for our workshops. Tūhono students have worked really hard at achieving their individual knowledge goals also and proving this to a teacher. Ask your child to show you their IKAN analysis in their Maths folder on Google Drive so they can talk to you about what they are working on for their number knowledge. You could find activities that you could do with your child at home to help consolidate this knowledge. Remember there are many great resources on our Tūhono Online Classroom. Currently we are focusing on Geometry, in particular symmetry, reflection, translation and rotation. We have linked in creating kowhaiwhai patterns that show evidence of this maths based on the works of artist Reuben Paterson - watch this space for our final products.
LITERACY - READING
This term we are going to focus on the Daily Five programme with all of Tūhono. These sessions will be a time where students can choose to work on the three options of Listening to Reading, Reading to Someone or Reading to Self. We will use a number of text, online and audio resources to support this programme. It will also be a great time to continue guided reading sessions with individuals or small groups to cater for specific needs in these areas.
LITERACY - WRITING
In Tūhono, we have been working hard at independently following the Writing Process in our daily writing sessions. This involves brainstorming/pre-writing/planning in our books using graphic organisers, drafting in our books or in google docs, re-reading, revising, editing through conferencing with peers first and then the teachers and finally sharing their writing with an audience in whichever format they choose. To help us record our findings for our invertebrate WIT, the students have all learnt how to write an information report following the process. Many of them have been shared on blogs or ask your child to show you theirs on their google docs.
LITERACY - SPELLING
Another feature of our Daily Five programme is Word Work. This is an area of focus for this term and we are working at individualising our spelling programme as much as we can through the use of the essential lists and words from our writing. Click on the link for more details.
WIT - WILDLY IMPORTANT TASK
Tūhono have been so enthusiastic about our Invertebrate WIT and have learnt so much about what is in our Frankley Bush, how they all survive together and help our ecosystem. We have learnt about how to trap insects safely and gather samples for observation. We are now at the final stages of our WIT in which the groups are to “use this information and research to create a child-friendly invertebrate resource. Your resource will enable Frankley Students to recognise and categorise Frankley Bush invertebrates, based on their physical features and adaptations”. Have a chat with your child about what ideas might work for this.
REMINDERS:
- Whānau photos - we have a lot more up but still not a full hub. We would love to have you all represented in our classroom so please email through or send along a photo with your child.
- SFRC are calling for donations for our grocery raffles over the next few weeks - this week it is “anything in a tin”, so please send along a tin with your child to drop into our collection box in Tūhono.
- Once your winter sporting code has finished and you played for Frankley School, please wash and return your issued uniforms to the office in a named plastic bag. Thanks.
- Lucky Book Club - orders in by 11 August.
We look forward to having another awesome term with your tamariki. Remember our door is always open (unless it’s a really chilly day!)
Ngā mihi, Anna and Kim
