Welcome Back

It was really lovely getting to chat with you on Thursday-Friday and I really appreciate your openness and positivity. We have a really lovely little team and I’m looking forward to seeing what the year brings us. 

There are a few common questions that came from our chats this week and I’ve tried to answer them all below.  I hope I covered everything.

Communication

I will post each week's plan of attack here on our blog but it’s also a good idea to check the school newsletters for reminders and extra bits of information. I know that you are all busy families so I will try to give as much notice as I can for events etc.

I’ve been teaching and parenting for a looooong time but I am not a mindreader. Please, keep in touch and don’t be afraid to ask for info or guidance. I am only an email away.

We will post learning stories to educa each week.  Your child is going to take a little more responsibility for this so be patient with us while we figure it all out.

Our Learning

The classroom doors will be open at 8:30am. We have before school jobs to complete and need a little time, each morning, to re-establish relationships and get ourselves sorted. Please, arrive by 8:45 to give your child the opportunity to settle into their day. 

We work really hard from 8:45-3pm. Some of our work will be in books, some will be on Chromebook and some will be hands on or discussion. By the end of the day our heads will be spinning and we will be tired. Home learning should be relaxed, fun and easy (revision of old learning - not new learning). Our home learning will consist of a little spelling, reading and some maths games. If things get a little tense - just leave it and let me know. Card games, board games, cooking, audio books… are all great ways to revise and practice our learning. I’ll post some of my favourite games etc throughout the year.

Healthy Brains

Our brains are pretty complicated but taking care of them isn’t. Good food, water, exercise and lots of love is pretty much all that they need. Year 4s are in a funny space - they’re still only little kids but they think that they’re big.  They’ll need lots of reassurance and lots of patience. My kids were more likely to share their thoughts and worries with me when they had me alone and ‘trapped’ - journeys in the car, cooking together, in the middle of a movie… Quiet times when I wouldn’t put a spotlight on them but they knew I wouldn’t rush off anywhere. Rushing is a bit of a problem for us, as adults.

At school, we will encourage the kids to drink water often and will break our learning blocks with exercise breaks. We have meditation, circle time and quiet spaces for kids to unwind when stressed and make ourselves available to the kids whenever they need us (sometimes we need to be prodded but we do try to be aware). We will be doing a lot of work around our school values this year.  Courage to try, perseverance, respect for others and kindness were all themes discussed in our meetings and will be a big focus for us this term. 

Swimming

We will be swimming, with Henk, every day from Thursday 3rd March - Monday 28th March.  After our Henk sessions, we will continue to swim during the rest of week 8 and in week 10. 

Reminders:

These things need to be returned to school as soon as possible, please

• Bring Your Own Device agreement

• Whare Tapa Wha sheet

• Reading Log (if you need a spare, let me know)

I’ll have folders for these by the door (setting them up independence)

The weather isn’t looking great for outside work but bring a raincoat so we can zip across to the hall a few times for a run around or have a quick run outside when it’s not too heavy AND don’t forget your water bottle.

See you tomorrow beautiful people.