Explorers 1, 2 and 3 Newsletter

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Welcome to 2019.

We look forward to getting to know our students, parents and caregivers over the coming year.  During the first few weeks we will be setting up routines and talking about expectations for learning and behaviour.  Please look regularly at your child’s pod blog to see what discussions and learning has been happening.

The Year 0-2 collaborative teaching and learning teams are as follows:

Explorers 1

Peta Berry Room 22

Charlotte Bates Room 23

Suzy O’Hara (Monday and Friday)

Explorers 2

Judy Davies/ Ruth Burry Room 6 (shared position)

Bethan Dempster Room 7

Explorers 3

Michelle Parsons Room 9 (Team Leader)

Helen Norcliffe Room 8

We foster our five school values in everything that we do. They are caring, respect, responsibility, personal best and learning.  We will be taking time this term to establish these values in the classroom and the playground.

Eco Explorers

This year we are implementing a new programme called Eco Explorers.  

The overall aim of this programme is to learn how to live smarter to reduce our impact on the environment for future generations.                        

Each term we will have a different focus.  This term the children will be participating in activities that involve appreciating and exploring our environment.  This will include an exciting trip to the Botanic Gardens later this term. More detailed information regarding this trip to come soon.

School environment/lunches

We will continue to have a focus on being responsible for our school environment.  

One way to do this is to continue to make an effort to keep our area of the school litter free. This means keeping rubbish out of our gardens and play areas. This rubbish often comes from children’s lunch boxes, for example, packets and glad wrap. We would love you to give us a helping hand by trying to minimise the use of paper and plastic in your child’s lunch.  We know that many of you do this already by using a lunchbox that has a variety of small compartments, or includes little containers. Your support with this would be greatly appreciated.

It is compulsory for children to wear a uniform hat at school this term.  Please ensure your child has a clearly named hat every day. If you would like to personalise your child’s hat to make it easier for them to identify that would be great.

We are a sunsmart school and know that it is critical that children are protected. You may wish to send named sunblock to school if your child needs to reapply it during the day. This could be kept in their bag.

Reporting Conferences

Many of you will be familiar with the Year 0-2 reporting process. Your child will have two reporting conferences and two written reports over the year, and these will be scheduled across the four terms. There will be a separate conference newsletter coming home later this term, outlining this process in detail and informing you when your child’s conferences will be held.

Please do not hesitate to see your child’s teacher if you have any queries or concerns. We look forward to a successful and fun learning year with you and your child.

Ngā mihi nui

Explorers Teachers

Welcome 2019

A huge welcome to all Explorers 3 children and their families.

We have had such a positive start to 2019 and have spent the first couple of days getting to know each other.  This is something we will be continuing to do, along with learning our daily routines and where the children will be working across our learning spaces.  We are aiming to get our full programme up and running by the end of week 3.

We have emailed everyone a "Getting To Know You" survey.  This will help us to make important decisions for your child while planning our programme.

Regards Mrs Parsons and Mrs Norcliffe

Explorers 2 had a fantastic time at Rapaki Marae

How to draw a tiki

Room 8 have been learning how to draw a tiki head.  Here are the instructions so we can practise at home.  Bring your drawing along to school!
How to Draw a tiki head

Super rugby trophy

Welcome back to Term 4.

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

We are excited to get back to school and are looking forward to a jam-packed Term 4.

Mrs Charlotte Bates joined our team at the end of Term 3, and is teaching the New Entrant
class in Room 23.  We are very pleased to have her return to the Explorers team.

Welcome also to the new children in our syndicate.

In week 3 we will visit Rāpaki Marae. We will be learning about tikanga   

Māori and some of the history of Rāpaki Marae and the local area.  You

will receive a permission/parent helper form in the next day or two.  

Please can you complete and return to your child’s home room teacher

ASAP.

In Mathematics along with Numeracy our strand focus is Measurement.  

We will be learning about capacity, length and area.           

In Physical Education we will continue with our usual

fitness programme and we will also focus on specific skills for

our Athletics Sports.  More information about this

later in the term.

It is compulsory for children to wear a uniform hat at school this term.

Please ensure your child has a clearly named hat every day.

If you would like to personalise your child’s hat to make it easier for them
to identify that would be great.

If your child is scheduled to have a reporting conference this term you
will receive a letter outlining the time and booking details.  
Keep an eye out for this in the next week.

Ngā mihi nui

Explorers Teachers