MERC Experience, Guided Inquiry, Maths, Literacy, Te Reo Māori, Health and PE, Music, Garden to Table ...

MERC Experience 2022: Towards the end of Term 1 we will be visiting Sir Peter Blake Marine Education and Recreation Centre (MERC) in Long Bay. Each learning space will be going to MERC on separate days.

Our MERC experience is booked for two nights, which means the students will have three days of instruction. We have no doubt that our students will love this and we know they will be provided with many opportunities to learn from new experiences.

Thank you to the parents who responded at the end of 2021 offering their assistance to us. More information will be sent out to families during the term.

Guided Inquiry for Term 1: We will be inquiring into Voyaging as part of our Mātauranga Māori focus this term. This is an important topic, particularly in understanding the history of Aotearoa and how this land was discovered. We have an exciting term planned for our students where they will be learning all about how Kupe discovered Aoteroa, the vessels that brought Māori to this land, what the similarities and differences were with waka and Viking vessels, and the students will be designing and building their own waka. 

Maths: We will be delving into further professional development with our facilitator and mentor, Lucie Cheeseman, throughout this year. Students will continue to stretch themselves in their learning by being maths detectives and being bold in their problem-solving skills. Teachers are contributing to students' learning, using talk moves to facilitate rich discussions. We will continue to set our students up for success by providing frontloading workshops prior to their collaborative problem solving sessions, which will provide evidence of their understanding on the relevant maths objectives. This term our focus is around Geometry. This will include working with multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction.

Literacy: This year we will continue to implement literacy programmes based on our professional development with Gail Loane and Sally Muir. Our reading and writing are connected to our inquiry learning. A range of different text types, such as journal articles and stories, poetry, and online resources, will be used to further develop our reading skills, and act as information sources or inspiration for our own writing. We also teach a structured spelling programme 3-5 times weekly to supplement our literacy skill development.

Te Reo Māori: Te Reo Māori will be woven throughout our daily programme. Focused class Te Reo sessions and Kapa Haka groups will continue with Matua’s support.

Health and PE: We are very pleased to be offering our students a wide variety of sports and skills this term. Each teacher will run their classroom PE programme. This term will be based around swimming technique, team building activities, fundamental movement, and small ball skills.

All students are encouraged to participate in class swimming lessons run by teachers in the school pool. The classroom teacher will share specific swimming days with the students. There are also opportunities for free swimming at morning tea break times for Y5/6. The days will be confirmed as the term progresses. Students need to bring their named swimming togs, goggles, and towels in a bag. We advise bringing swimming togs daily.

Encourage your child to listen to the sports tournaments advertised in the RRAP News so they don’t miss out on the trials for both Norwest T-Ball and Swimming.

Music: Ina-Marie Nel will be working with each class for two days during the term as part of our teacher Classroom Release Time organisation. Mrs. Nel has experience in and passion for all the Arts; including Music, Drama, Dance, and Visual Art. There are also opportunities for Marimba, Choir, Recorder, and more with Mrs. Nel. Lewis Eady will also be conducting music lessons for various instruments during the school week. Information and enrolment can be accessed through their website 
http://www.lewiseady.co.nz/lessons-at-school.

Garden to Table: Hobsonville School is a waste free school and in Term 1 we will be focusing on encouraging students to come to school with waste free lunches. Hobsonville School only has worm farm waste bins. The waste is placed into the worm farm bins and we use the worm farm castings to help support the growth of our vegetable gardens and fruit trees in our school garden. This term all students will have the opportunity to learn about the worm farm bins and how they can become waste free. They will also get the opportunity to further develop their gardening skills and help Mrs Blair take care of our school garden. Now that it is Summer, students will be planting, learning about what is in season and using these ingredients as part of their kitchen recipes. Donations made on Kindo will go towards products we will use in our recipes and gardening tools.

Activity fees for Term 1 - please pay via Kindo:

EOTC MERC Experience: $310.00
Science, Guided Inquiry, EOTC (donation towards cost): $5.00

Total = $315.00