TEAM KAHIKATEA NEWSLETTER

Team Kahikatea – “Learning together we grow better”

From the Team Leader 

Welcome to team Kahikatea 2020.  As usual it is great to see so many familiar, smiley faces, as well as some new ones.   This year we are very lucky to have Miss Alice Kemp join our team. Alice is in Room 21 teaching year 4.  We are excited about the year ahead and we can’t wait to work alongside you to create the best learning opportunities for your child.  

There will continue to be a focus on our 4 values and PB4L within the team and school.  We will have 5 units of inquiry this year, rather than the previous 4 units, which just gives us an opportunity to further your child’s knowledge even more!  Camp will also be coming up for Year 6 students in Week 6 this year. If you ever have any questions in regards to what is happening in the classroom, feel free to please contact your child’s teacher at anytime.  We are more than happy to meet with you. We are also often looking for help or expertise from our parents. If you have spare time, or an area of expertise that may be of interest to our learning please get in touch.  We love making connections with you.

Team Kahikatea 2020

Rm 20 Year 5: sandrap@pmps.school.nz 

Rm 21 Year 4: alicek@pmps.school.nz 

Rm 23 Year 6 : daniej@pmps.school.nz 

Rm 24 Year 5: mariew@pmps.school.nz (team leader)

Coming onto the school grounds during the school day

Due to health and safety laws and in the interests of student safety: All parents, caregivers and school visitors must sign in at the school office before proceeding to their child’s classroom.  This includes things like dropping in a child’s lunch if it has been forgotten, picking them up for appointments or wanting to visit the teacher. Thank you so much for your cooperation and support with this. 

Team News

How you can help: 

• Volunteer to be a parent helper at camp or other trips (Forms will come out soon)
• Talk about the school values at home. Notice when your child does something that exemplifies a school value and tell them. E.g “When you did that….you were being resilient”
• Help with preparing art materials
• Help with creating costumes for our production in term 4
• Share your expertise with us for inquiry

Stationery:

All students should have their stationery by week 2, ready for learning. Please ensure all books are labelled clearly with their name and room number.

Uniform:

• We would like to remind you that all students from Year 4-6 should have PE gear with a house t-shirt.  Unfortunately we are having a number of students still turn up without PE gear when it is needed. We do team sports Thursday afternoons and have PE on Mondays or Tuesdays with a sports specialists,  they must be in PE uniform for that. Please help ensure that your child has this packed in their bags. Also don’t forget to name it.
• Hats are also compulsory at present.  Please make sure they have one, that it is named and brought to school every day.  No hat, no play.
• Term 1 means no long pants or jackets.  It is very hot at school and in our classrooms.
• Please make sure all uniform is clearly named.

Our Learning

Our learning this year…

Unit 1:

• “Relationships involve a complex range of interactions”

Unit 2:

• “Natural materials can undergo change that may impact society and the environment”

Unit 3:

• “The design of buildings and structures is dependent on environmental factors, human ingenuity and availability of materials”

Unit 4:

• “Behaviour or appearance depicts aspects of identity”

Unit 5:

• “The earth’s ecological balance depends on the preservation of environmental conditions”

Homework 

Please make the effort to read with your child for 30 minutes. They will have ongoing reading from class reading, and library books.

• In Year 4, 5 & 6  are expected to use Mathletics for 20 minutes per day which they will also have their own login for. They are also subscribed to ‘Basic Facts’ Maths site.
• There will be no prescribed weekly homework/home learning because it is not compulsory at our school.
• However, home learning to support in-class learning will be requested from time to time and may take the form of projects, research or further inquiry. It will be open ended and allow for extended study for those who have time.
• We take a common sense approach to home learning.

Dates for the Diary 

Picnic and Meet the Teacher

We are hoping to see as many parents as possible at our meet the teacher evening on Wednesday the 5th of February at 7pm, just meet in the hall. The following week is the annual school picnic at 5.30pm on Tuesday the 11th of February. 

Year 6 Camp is coming up in week 6 of this term 10th to the 13th of March. Of all events in your child’s year 6 year this is a one of a kind experience. Most students recollect it as the best time during their year 6 year. The personal learning and growth that takes place on camp is huge. More information will come out soon.