Mahuri Parent Teacher meetings newsletter

Tuesday 11^th February

Kia ora Parents and Caregivers,

It’s been great to meet you over the past week. We’d like to fill you in on a few more of our classroom routines and particular focuses this year.

DIGITAL LEARNING

We are looking forward to investigating, as teachers and learners, how we can use technology in the classroom to expand our learning.

To begin with, every class will spend time talking about cyber safety, discussing how we can make good choices online. Together with you, children will have to sign a Cyber Safety agreement before we start to use the laptops and iPads allocated to our classes.

Some of the ways we’d like to use technology this year are:

• making iBooks to track our Inquiry learning
• blogging
• using the iPad apps Explain Everything, Puppet Pals, and Book Creator to record and share new learning in Inquiry, Maths, Writing, and other curriculum areas

BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT

First and foremost we encourage positive behaviour. Each class is spending time creating a class treaty to establish clear, shared expectations about how we want to learn and live together this year. We encourage children to manage their own learning and behaviour, and firstly to problem-solve themselves if issues arise. Occasionally a child may need to bring home a Thinking Sheet if they’ve needed ongoing support from a teacher to manage their behaviour. This is intended to facilitate personal reflection, and to link any consequences directly to resolving the specific issue. The link between home and school is important in supporting children’s behaviour. If you ever want to discuss an issue or need clarification of the details of a situation, please feel free to talk to or email your child’s teacher.

NGA KETE AKORANGA - LEARNER TOOLBOX

We are continuing to explore ways to support children’s metacognition - their thinking about thinking - this year. We think that the more children are able to articulate what is going on in their brain, what strategies they’re using and what skills they’re developing, the more able children are to learn effectively. To this end, we’re taking time to support children to make goals and reflect on their learner dispositions and capabilities. For example, characteristics like persistence, resilience, and risk-taking will be unpacked and practised. These will be linked to the key competencies identified in the New Zealand Curriculum: Thinking; Using language, symbols, and texts; Managing self; Relating to others; and Participating and contributing.

P4C: PHILOSOPHY FOR CHILDREN

We will use P4C to develop critical thinking. A session involves reading a book with an underlying philosophical or ethical question, and then holding a discussion where opinions can be voiced and listening, reasoning and critical thinking is encouraged and developed.

INQUIRY & LEARNING WALLS

The walls of our classrooms are spaces where we share our learning journeys and develop our thinking. Come in and have a look, and ask your child to explain their learning to you!

Please get in touch if you have any other questions or thoughts about teaching and learning in our classes.

Nga mihi,

Ximena, Shanon, Adele, Amy