Welcome to 2018!

Kia Ora Koutou Katoa,

Harere mai and welcome to 2018. It looks like it's going to be a cracker year with a great bunch of kids. 

I had a super holiday break, mostly hanging around the Bay with my family, taking the kids swimming every day and generally enjoying life in paradise. 

Class Programme

Maths: We're starting off the year with a statistics unit. We'll be surveying the class and school community about various favourite things, organising the results, graphing them and interpreting the graphs. If you're looking for home learning to fit in with this you could create a survey with your child, record the results on a tally chart and create a bar graph showing the results.

Reading: For the first two to three weeks I'll be doing some group work with the students and also the usual testing to see where they're at so that I can determine what their learning needs are. I aim to set the scene for a positive year of reading and actively model the enjoyment of books. 

Writing: For the first few weeks of the writing programme I have some fun and engaging writing activities planned, as well as some activities that will help me determine student needs. As with reading, the first few weeks are about getting to know the students as writers and setting the tone for a fun year of writing. 

Inquiry: The Inquiry topic that I have planned for this term is called The World of Whales. To introduce the topic, Mr Cullen came into class the other day to show the students some of the amazing photos he's taken while diving with whales and also some pictures of local whale strandings. I've planned about 5 weeks of worth of different learning activities covering various aspects such as: what whales are, how they live, and why they are becoming endangered. After we complete the first 5 weeks of learning, students will decide on their own questions to research. We'll post some writing and videos of what we're up to on the blog as the term progresses. 

PE: Swimming is the main for focus this term - please send togs along with your child every day. We'll also be working on small ball skills.

Te Reo Maori: We had our first whole school Kapa Haka session on Thursday, the students were really enthusiastic about it and I thought they made a great start. We'll also be learning a basic mihi over the first few weeks. A great home learning task around this would be to talk to your child about a significant river and mountain associated with wherever they are from as this is part of the mihi. For example, those from Takaka will talk about Parapara as their mountain and Parawhakaoho, Takaka or Motupipi as their river. If you don't know the te reo Maori names for the mountain or river, it doesn't matter - we can look them up at school. 

Homework: Those parents who had students in my class last year will notice that I have a more prescribed homework system this year. I've reverted back to a system I used a few years ago before starting a blog for my classes as I hope that it will be more accessible to the parent community out here. I understand that there isn't always time for homework, but I do hope that you all take advantage of the homework I send home regularly. Please send the homework book along to school every Monday. 

Guitar / ukulele lessons: This year I'm going to run guitar and ukulele lessons once a week during a break time. If you'd like to sign your child up for lessons, please send me an email at: tmcarthur@motupipi.school.nz. I'll be in touch when I've got an idea of how much interest there is - if there is a lot of interest then I may have to put some students on a wait list. The lessons will suit beginners and students who have some experience. You will need to have a guitar or ukulele at home to practice on. The lessons are geared towards giving students an introduction to the instrument. The lessons are free, but it is expected that there is a commitment to practicing regularly.

Communication: As always, we have an open door policy here at Motupipi. Please feel free to pop in and say hi. If you have questions, concerns or similar you can email me, ring me at school or pop in to see me. There is also a parent / teacher communication section on the homework sheets, which I'll try to make sure I read weekly. 

Rock On,

Mr M