Sunday 26 February 2017

Dance and Music

As part of our Dance and Music learning this term, the whole school has been introduced to the music of the movie Moana. We are all learning the catchy song "You're Welcome!" and a dance to the song 'Logo Te Pate" Links to both are below so your child can sing or dance along at home if they want to.




Saturday 25 February 2017

Week 5 is shaping up to be an exciting week in M1. Our Inquiry into Whanaugatanga - connectedness, belonging, sense of community is now in full swing. Several groups ventured out on Friday to interview school community members about the idea of community. They are learning to listen carefully and take notes using quick sketch pictures to help them remember what the person being interviewed said. By asking the interviewee to also write down their answers, we will later be able to do some data collection based on key words that were the same from interview to interview. this will help us to formulate a class definition and understanding of what community is.

In Writing, we are learning that good writers can carry on independently. I will be introducing the following writing cycle this week:

  • Think of an idea,
  • Tell it to a friend or yourself or even the wall!
  • Draw a quick sketch 
  • Write your idea down 
  • When you think you have finished, go back and add to the words and add to the picture using a green pencil (this shows how they have revisited their story and worked to add/extend it) 
  • Start a new piece of writing
This process ensures that the children are maximising their writing time and allows me time to conference with children one-to-one. During this time, children share what they are working on and identify two things they are doing very well already (called stars) and one thing they and the teacher agree would be a good next step for improving the quality of their writing (a wish) . You might see this template in the children's writing books- 



In Reading, we are learning that good readers activate their prior knowledge before starting to read. We will learn what these words mean and practise recording our prior knowledge ahead of reading our guided reading books this week.

Reminders for Week 5
  • Togs needed for swimming Tuesday and Thursday and again for our water fight day on Friday. Children may bring bottles or water guns for squirting, but please no water balloons
  • Mufti Day Friday- Treat Items. Savoury treats for boys, sweet treats for girls
  • Please bring in any spare plastic bags for use at the gala. We have a collection bag in our classroom foyer to put them into
  • We have decided it is time to retire our classroom office in favour of setting up a class cafe called Yum Yums. If you have any old play equipment like plates, food, tea sets, cash register etc you wouldn't mind us using that would be great. Old menus, writing pads, clipboards etc would be appreciated also. 
  • Wednesday 2:30pm Bike Track Ribbon Cutting. Kids feel free to decorate your bike to ride around the track on at the cutting ceremony. Non-bikers can walk the track with me
  • Our library day has changed to Wednesday. Please return books any time prior to this in book bags thank you 



Wednesday 22 February 2017

As part of our Maths work, we engage in problem solving tasks to encourage the practical application of the strategies we are learning in our small groups. At the start of the year our biggest challenge is  learning to work systematically to try to find all the possible combination that exist or to gather all the information we need in an organised way. To help encourage these skills we read the story Corduroy about a bear with a missing button.


We then imagined that we ate so much that all the buttons on our clothing had popped off and Jo had to run to the shops at lunchtime to replace them before all the mums and dads got cross! I asked the children to figure out a way to find the total number of buttons I needed to buy. Armed with a pencil and paper the children set about asking their friends and telling others how many buttons they had on their clothing. It was an interesting experiment to watch as the children all approach it differently. Beginning problem solvers simply went around telling everyone else how many buttons they had, without much concern for recording the information about their classmates. Some just asked their friends, while others had a system in place to record the name of the person and how many buttons they had. At this early stage of their schooling, these are all appropriate responses and great starting points for developing understanding and systems to help manage information. You could innovate on this activity at home by asking your child to gather information from several people in an organised and accurate way. At the end of the lesson we gathered together and looked at how others had organised their information. I modelled a good way to keep track and we systematically worked through that method together, discussing why it was important to get EVERYONE's information.







Sunday 19 February 2017

Week 4

This week we are entering the 'Finding Out' stage of our inquiry. During this stage we will be interviewing people, asking family members for information, researching in books and watching videos to help us build knowledge about what a community is, what makes a great community, different kinds of communities and what is special about our school community.

Reminders for this week:
Swimming Tuesday & Thursday
Our first library session is Tuesday
Mufti day again Friday (Bottles) No costumes please 💂
Waterslide Friday (Rash shirts recommended)


Tuesday 14 February 2017

I can't do that...YET!

Helping children develop a growth mindset is one of the greatest gifts we can give our children.

During our morning meetings this week, we have been talking about being brave learners. With new routines and challenges to face this year we are investigating the power of the word YET.  

The Power of Yet Song


We also watched a wonderful Pixar clip to support risk-taking and resilience:

Next time you hear your child say they can't do something, remind them to insert that powerful YET into their sentence.

Sunday 12 February 2017

Week 3 Reminders
What a busy time we are having in M1! Learning routines, making friends and creating our classroom community has been a full time job. This week we have the following things going on:

Library Tuesday
Swimming on Tuesday and Thursday
Optional swimming/waterslide on Friday
Mufti Day Thursday- Please bring donations of new items as per the pink sheet sent home Friday
Powhiri Friday Morning at 10am followed by a shared morning tea. *Please send/bring a small plate of food to share 


Please also check your child's reading folder for the raffle tickets that came home today.

Thursday 9 February 2017

Updates and Reminders

We will be visiting the school library on Tuesdays from now on. Each week, please return any borrowed books in time for your child to take a new one when they visit. 



Spelling words will being coming home from now on. These are recorded in your child's pink book and kept in their book bag. These words are personal to your child and taken directly from the Essential Words List assessment. Every child is different, as are the time pressures on families at home and the willingness of different children to engaging in learning tasks outside of school. With this in mind, please use these lists in a way that suits your child and family. There is no time limit on the how long your child has to learn them.They will also be using these same words in activities during their reading time at school. I will check their words weekly and amend their list accordingly when they know how to spell a word/ words. They can move at their own pace. If you are looking for a way to help your child remember their spelling words you could try out one of the following ideas: 


Guided Reading will begin next week. Because there can be a little shift after the summer (forwards and backwards), we will take this week to make any minor adjustments to groupings. Please bare with me as I find the best fit for your child. We will be using a workshop model for reading this year. This involves children working in groups for different purposes. While they will often read with children of a like reading level, they may also be grouped for different needs at times. For example I may run a workshop on reading with expression and invite a selection of readers who would benefit from more work in this area. This way the children get more targeted teaching to their specific needs. 

Reminder: Our swimming days are Tuesday's and Thursdays. Today it was announced that our Vertical Learning Community also has the option to use the water slide or swimming pool during lunch time on Fridays. If your child would like to participate, please send their swimsuits on Fridays also. 
Have a wonderful weekend!

Statistics for 5 Year Olds


Believe it or not, your 5 year old is becoming a statistician. Using a Statistical Enquiry Cycle they are learning to;
1. Pose a question
2. Make a plan for how to gather information
3. Gather data
4. Analyse their data
5. Draw a conclusion

For the next two weeks we will be using this cycle each day to investigate their questions.



Here they are in action, researching a question they had about their class community.

                                                               






 


Tuesday 7 February 2017

Warning! Do not Touch!


Today in Writing time we read the story of a mole who loved to label everything! Ignoring the label on a magicians hat saying "Warning! Do not touch!" led to some hilarious consequences. In response to this book, our Year 1 writers took to the page, drawing a detailed picture and then labelling EVERYTHING! This was a great, non threatening way to come back to writing after a long break. Starting with just words instead of full sentences also reminds children how to stretch out a word to hear the individual sounds that make it up. 





Thursday 2 February 2017

Our First Day of Year 1





Whanau Meetings

Thank you for the wonderful Whanau meetings. I was blown away by the creativity, enthusiasm and energy the children brought with them, and am certain our learning journey this year is going to be an exciting one!

Over the next few weeks we are going to be creating our class community and establishing the routines that will carry us through the year successfully. The children will play games that allow them to develop trust and respect for their new classmates and help create a positive classroom culture.

One important concept we will be learning about comes from the book 'Have you Filled a Bucket Today?' By Carol McCloud. The concept of the book is that each of us has an invisible bucket inside us. It is constantly emptied or filled, depending on what others say or do to us. When our bucket is full, we feel great. When it is empty, we feel awful. Each of us also has an invisible dipper. When we use that dipper to fill other people's buckets, by saying or doing things to increase their positive emotions, we also fill our own bucket. When we use that dipper to dip from other people's buckets by saying or doing things that decrease positive emotions, we diminish ourselves too. The children are making their own buckets and will have the chance to recognise when they input positively into the lives of those around them and both fill, or dip into the buckets they have made accordingly.

Please note:

  • Our swimming days this term are Tuesdays and Thursdays
  • If you opted to take home your consent forms to sign, please return to me 
  • If you have any old shirts or t-shirts, please could we have them for use as art shirts 
  • If your child would like to share news for oral language they are welcome to bring things in on Mondays and Thursdays. No toys please. From time to time I will however, announce a special toy sharing day to allow the children to bring a toy from home