This week has seen a big focus on Reading, Writing and Maths and continued focus on wellbeing and learning about Maori Legends.

Literacy

Many of our students have been reading the Dr Seuss text,  "The Lorax" and responding to the themes of the text in varying ways. It is a very topical text as it's theme is about looking after the environment. The Writing focus has been around learning how to write interesting and correctly punctuated sentences as we have noticed a gap in knowledge in this area. This is the start of a continued focus for the remainder of the term.

Maths

We have begun learning in the area of Number and Number Knowledge continuing from where we left off before lockdown. This involves reading, writing, ordering and adding combinations of numbers to different number groups according to the level the learner is working at eg hundreds, thousands, millions. Maths Whizz continues to be an important focus in the programme and students get a chance to do it most days at school. They will supplement this use as part of their Home Learning too.

Maths Whizz certificates for Week 9 go to:

Dylan Bebbington 27 progressions

Yujin Zhang 11 progressions

Judd Hedges 10 progressions

Congratulations to you all.

Maths Whizz Green Tick Challenge:

53 students currently have achieved the Green tick (3+ progressions) each week since 4 May. The Challenge ends at the end of Term 2, 3 July. Students can still get in the Green Tick zone by aiming to have an average of 3 ticks per week over the 8 weeks.

Hub 4 Home Learning Expectations - a reminder

Maths Whizz

To develop fluency in Maths and relate Maths concepts to everyday life the students will be working on the Maths online programme called Maths Whizz. This is where students can accumulate points and earn rewards for their progress.

Students will get time at school to use Maths Whizz and they are to work on their Maths Whizz programmes at least 2-3 times per week as part of their home learning, working on achieving at least 4 progressions a week. If you have any questions about this please contact us.

Reading Log (this will begin again next week)

Part of our home learning expectations is that all students will read for at least 1 hour per week (at least 4 nights a week). This can be broken into four nights of 15 minutes of reading or, spread across the week for smaller amounts of time that add up to 60 mins. The students then need to record this in their reading logs which will be found in the back of their C.A.R.E books. They need to record the title and author of the book, how many minutes they read for and then have it signed by a parent/caregiver. Their C.A.R.E books need to be returned to the Hub 4 Teachers every Friday.

Reading and Sharing Maori Legends has been the focus of our afternoon programme.  

This week we have used the myths of Maui and the Sun, Tāne me te Whānau Marama, Rātā Me Te Rakau (Rātā and the Tree).

Maui and the Sun: Below is our activity and some photos of student work.

Tāne me te Whānau Marama: Students read this play, learning how a play script was set out and written and then practised reading it our aloud.

Rātā Me Te Rakau (Rātā and the Tree): The students learnt how to translate part of a story into a play script.

Taking Great Photos: We learnt about different photography angles and practised taking these photos using ipads - a skill that will come in handy creating Stop Motion movies. We practised taking photos using these 4 angles: Giant's Eye view, Snail's Eye view, Eye Level view and Possum's Eye View.

This learning will be able to be applied as we move into next week's "Taking Action" part of our learning, which will span over the rest of this term. Students will be able to retell a Maori Legend of their choice through a medium that interests them eg drama (play, puppet show), technology (Minecraft, stop motion animation), Art, Construction(models or dioramas).

If you can help supply any of these materials to help our projects we would be very grateful: Shoe boxes, cereal boxes, egg cartons, cardboard boxes for puppet theatres, wool, fabric, newspaper, ice cream containers, litre yoghurt containers.

Zoom School Assembly

We had a School Assembly using Zoom on Monday. Mrs Trotter and Mrs Martin talked with us and show us some learning that had been happening in the school including the presentation the Eco Warriors were making to the Problem Solving Competition in America. 

Student Wellbeing:

Each day we have a focus on this aspect of our curriculum. It may be mindful breathing, learning about our emotions and recognising when we should look at regulating them through the Zones of Regulation, talking about and showing kindness and gratitude and getting regular exercise. The Kelly Sport Programme we have been participating in is giving students some good ideas of games to play in the playground. Perhaps ask them to tell you about some of these activities.