Thanks everyone! See you in two weeks

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Parent Workshop Term 1 2016

Last week we had our parent workshop. 

Thank you to all of the parents that were able to make it. For those that couldn't, here is a summary of what we covered.

First we asked for some feedback about what was going well so far.  

This is what we got: people have been enjoying Rising 5s, our transition to school, how children are making friends within our class and the use of praise and incentives to keep motivation up. 

We asked for feedback for ways we could improve the start to school.  We really appreciate the feedback.  

Some of the suggestions included: having buddies with older students, having more visits to school before children start and having more "real" class activities during Rising 5s. 

Next we addressed questions. 

The themes: people were a bit uncertain about homework and the role parents play in that, reading at home, how kids learn to write and how friendships are encouraged.  

Our responses: Fortunately, some of the suggestions are things that we already do! 

• We have got senior buddies who come in a few times a week to do buddy reading and writing with our new children.  This has proven to be really helpful for children when on the playground because they know some of the big kids around! 
• Children starting school are invited to attend Rising 5s afternoons for 2 terms before they start and can make a minimum of 2 school visits--more visits are welcome if you feel your child needs it and all you need to do is come see us.
• Rising 5s is our developmental discovery time in which we have a variety of activities that we do have out during normal class time as well. School visits provide more guided instruction.
•  Homework shouldn't be stressful! We are trying to encourage reading--this can be done by reading together, being read to or children reading to you. 
• Other homework includes exploring and practising their rocket words--these are high frequency words--and we encourage trying to do this in fun ways--chalk, shaving cream, glitter.
• Here is a link to the presentation we shared and it includes more information around early literacy in the classroom: Early Literacy Presentation Link 

What next: At the beginning of next term we will be inviting you to some Coffee Connection mornings to connect with other parents in our space and address anything you're still unsure about.   We will also be conducting more parent workshops. Watch this space for dates! As always, if you're unsure about anything please send us an email or come see us.

These people have been showing our character strengths of kindness, gratitude and perseverance in their learning!

Facts to 5

We have been learning our basic facts to 5. We want to know these automatically and so are practising them in lots of different ways. Do you know all the ways to make 5?

The Helping Circle

                                     

We have been learning to be in a helping circle at the end of writing. The helping circle is when writers share their work and think about how successful they have been. Each writer shares their work with a partner and get some feedback on the choices they have made. The helping circle is inclusive of everyone and reinforces that we are all part of the class team. We all have something to say, and we can all help each other to develop our writing.




These are our goals for tomorrow. We made them in our helping circle.

St Johns Visit

We had an interesting time learning about the emergency services. It was good to learn about what to do in an emergency. We learnt about what was inside an ambulance so that if we ever have to go in one we won't be afraid. We saw the 'medicine' (oxygen tanks) and heard it hiss when the air came out. Some of us had a go at dressing up like a paramedic. They are the people who help you.

We have done some writing about what we learnt about too. 

The -at word family

We are learning about the -at word family. We made at booklets with lot of at words.

Library time on a Friday

We love going to the library on a Friday. After choosing our books we read them and share stories about what we can see. Lovely to see all the engagement and enjoyment for reading coming out. It is also great to meet Christine the librarian on a Friday.

Playing the playground

We played the playground this week after drumming.  Things all around us make music and we can change sounds as we change our instruments!  Hitting the tire makes a very different noise to running our stick up and down the metal fence.

Soccer

This was our tractor and truck game this week.  We had to follow the leader and practise kicking a ball while keeping control of it!

We always start soccer with a warm up.  Then we split into teams and have a game.  We have been getting better and better!

More soccer

In soccer we started with a follow the leader warm up

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Discovery time: building a raft

During our discovery time we decided to do some building.  We are building a raft.  We were working together, taking turns and sharing the materials!

Literacy Must-Do's

For many of us in Autahi we have been at school for at least a term now and we are starting to have some Must-Do's during literacy time.  We have been practising our rocket words, working on independent writing and reading with a buddy, on our own or listening to a story.  Once we've done our Must-Do's we sign on our name.  Even some of the children who have just started chose to do some!

Here we are working on independent writing! We are all writers.  We've got things to say.  We can tell our ideas with pictures, labels, the letters we know or writing some sentences!