Kauri Team Learning

Te ao Māori - The Treaty of Waitangi (Weeks 1&2) - Waitangi Day marks the significance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We recall what happened at Waitangi at the time of the signing and who was there. This helps us understand why we have a holiday.

Health - Relationships with other people - how to be a good friend (Weeks 3&4). This inquiry will coincide with The Life Education Caravan and Harold the Giraffe. Talk to your child about how to treat others so that they can develop and maintain good friendships.

These are the Sherwood HEART values that we promote across our school. We refer to these frequently throughout the year.

Inquiry Learning Area - Our inquiry focus changes every term and is based on The Arts, Social Science, Science, and Technology. This term’s focus is Social Science (Weeks 5-10).

Big Idea: Me and my family are important to me.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Where my family comes from and what makes them special.

• Expressing myself and understanding how I feel.

• Recognising how other people feel.

Literacy:

Reading: We use the Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA) when teaching reading. This is a structured literacy approach which you may have heard the government talking about. We have been teaching this for the last couple of years with some proven results. You will be provided with more information on this shortly.

Supporting reading at home:

Your child will be encouraged to read at home every day and to experiment with “writing” if he/she wishes. In class, we work on one BSLA reading book each week and when finished, your child will be given the book to take home. Please take the time to let your child share this book with you to support them in their learning. There are also several suggestions in the back of the book and in the whānau letter which you are encouraged to work on with your child at home. Support from home is always beneficial for your child and is welcomed.

Your child may also wish to take a daily book from their class browse box.

Books will only be sent home in their book bag to help protect them, so please make sure your child has their book bag at school every day.

Library Day: Friday Please remind your child to return their library books on their library day, so they can get a new book to read.

Writing: Recounts - The writing programme is supported by the BSLA programme and is based on sounding words out. Please encourage your child every step of the way. Mistakes in spelling is expected and normal at this level.

Handwriting: We follow the Casey Caterpillar handwriting programme. Elements of the storybook are used to describe the letter shapes based on their shapes and formation. You may hear your child describe the letters in terms of open and closed mouths (c,o shapes), tall and short sticks (l,i shapes), tunnel (as in the letter n), hanging stick (as in the letter p), cup as in the letter u, and possum’s tail (as in the letter g).

Oral Language: Newstelling and discussions

Maths - Our aim when teaching mathematics is to make it interesting, fun and real, so concepts are taught through the use of materials and solving viable problems that your child will likely meet in their everyday life. The strands Number and Algebra, Space and Measurement, and Statistics are also integrated into our Learning Through Play activities.

Strand Maths - This term’s focus is on Statistics: We will be collecting and sorting data, making simple graphs and answering questions. Talk to your child about similarities and differences between objects and how they could be sorted. For example: Which group has the most? Which group has the least? Can you sort by colour, shape, size or purpose? Are there groups within groups?

Digital Technology - This is integrated across the curriculum using the following programmes:

Seesaw - Practising uploading our learning onto Seesaw. Talk to your child about their seesaw posts. We invite you to reply to the posts in a positive manner.

Stepsweb - This is a reading and spelling programme originally designed with dyslexic children in mind but provides valuable skills for all children

Skoolbo - this programme has developed significantly over the years and supports all learning areas, but in particular, maths.

You will be supplied with the login details for the above programs after a few weeks to allow the teacher time to teach the class how to use them. These can then be used to support your child’s learning at home.

Specialist Subjects - Monday and Thursday

This year, these four programmes will run on a rotational basis on both of these days. Please ensure your child is ‘ready for action’ by wearing trainers on each of these days.

PE -

Focus: Developing Fundamental Movement Skills and Exploring Friendships

NZ Curriculum Key Concepts

• Participate in creative and regular physical activities and identify enjoyable experiences.

• Develop a wide range of movement skills, using a variety of equipment and play environments.

• Explore and share ideas about relationships with other people.

• Demonstrate respect through sharing and cooperation in groups.

• Express their own ideas, needs, wants, and feelings clearly and listen to those of other people.

Perceptual Motor Programme (PMP) -

Focus: Learning Through Movement 

Through perceptual motor development, the children can develop brain functions necessary to plan and make decisions from simple to more complex. PMP builds children's perceptual motor skills to allow them to perform complex and unfamiliar tasks. These are also skills needed in Physical Education (PE). Areas of development include: Gross motor control, Eye-tracking, Fitness balance, Eye-hand coordination, Directionality, Fine Motor Control, Rhythm, Body awareness, Spatial awareness, Auditory and visual Skills

Music -

Focus: Exploring singing, moving and keeping the beat to a wide variety of songs including waiata, well-known junior songs, dances and drama.

NZ Curriculum Key Concepts

1: Practical Knowledge: Recognising keeping in time

2: Developing ideas: Exploring making sounds

3: Communicating and Interpreting: Sending messages through Music

4: Understanding context for different purposes and cultures. Recognising places and purposes

Art -

Focus: Exploring the art element, line. How line can be used to create images and patterns. Introducing the colour wheel.

NZ Curriculum Key Concepts

• Practical Knowledge through exploring dry media techniques

• Developing ideas through creating their own individual artworks