Weekly Updates

Kia ora te whanau O1
This week we will be setting up our routines for Literacy, maths, PE and Inquiry.

Over the next few weeks we will be working on getting the tamariki ready to confidently tell you about their learning and their next learning steps. Have you booked a time to let your child lead your through what they are proud of yet? If not , please do. Every child deserves the opportunity to show off and tell you how amazing they are at school.

We will be revisiting and talking about our ORCA values. Please keep asking your child what these are and how they can show that they understand them.
Ownership
Respect
Collaborate
Achieve

What is our motto and what does this mean to us?
'To be the best we can be'

Our vision: How do we use these to help us make us the best we can be?
Connect - Hono
Challenge - Whakatara

Empower - Whakamana


Monday 10 April 2017

Learning and Growing Together in O1
Last week:

We all embarked on a journey last week to follow our own INQUIRIES. Anything from snow to Canada to Pokemon and many fascinating topics in between. All tamariki worked very hard at their own pace moving through our Inquiry process we have been learning about throughout the term:
TUNING IN
FINDING OUT
SORTING OUT
GOING FURTHER

Tomorrow we continue to publish our discoveries and your child will bring home their findings to share. Please encourage them to talk about the process as well as the exciting discoveries they have made.

On Tuesday we will share our work with our Vertical Learning Community and celebrate our successes and new learning.

We have BIKES booked in for Thursday, weather permitting.

Have a lovely Easter and holiday break and we look forward to our Science topic "Change" next term. Stay safe and have fun.

Monday 3 April 2017

Learning and Growing Together in O1

Last Week:

Swimming: Yes, we are still swimming. We are looking at problem solving in the pool. We made a raft for 3 people using only noodles and boards.
Library: Everyone successfully achieved the challenge to shelve fiction books in the correct places. Way to go guys - and Mrs Books (Broadbelt) was very grateful for the help in tidying the fiction shelves.
Biking:
Everyone is now up and cycling around the track. We are also learning to keep our balance while taking one hand off the handlebars while riding. Many of our super star bikers can ride past one another and hive 5 each other - see photos below.
Some of our brilliant bikies are able to pass a water bottle between them. All these tricks take perseverance, collaboration and focus. How cool are the photos below which show us ACHIEVING our goals.













This week in O1:

Swimming: We will continue the raft making challenges in the pool and practising our freestyle, back stroke and have a go at butterfly.ePlease encourage tamariki to bring their togs and have a go.

Library: This week is all about NON-FICTION and how they are organised in our school library. We all need to know how to locate information to assist us in our inquiries.

Biking: Probably our last chance for the term will be on Friday at 9am so if any parents, friends or caregivers would like to join us please come on down. There are even some adults bikes you can borrow.

Inquiry: this week we will be putting into practise some of the skills we have learned about following the INQUIRY PROCESS.
We have all chosen a topic we are passionate about to investigate. Please talk with your tamariki about their topic to see if there is anything you can help them with. 
TUNING IN
FINDING OUT
SORTING OUT
GOING FURTHER

Next week tamariki will get the opportunity to share and celebrate their learning with the other members of our akomanga/ class, our Vertical Learning Community and whanau.

Monday 27 March 2017

Learning and Growing Together in O1


Last week we wrote postcards to a class at Roydvale School in Christchurch telling them about ourselves and our school. When we put the postcards together they made the following poster ...


We also collected some interesting information about our class ... how many people can waggle their ears, lick their elbow, roll our tongues and cross our eyes. We found out that their are 77 tamariki in our families, and our beaches are one of our favourite places to be around our community. We hope to hear back from our new penpals soon.

Congratulations to the courageous tamariki who completed the Weetbix Tryathlon on the weekend. They showed perseverance, inspiration, support and a real 'give it a go' attitude. 
This week in O1 ...
Reading: We are learning to demand more meaning from the books we read so that we can fully understand and appreciate the stories and information. We are also learning to use our Prompt Cards to help us decode tricky words.

Maths: We will continue to gather and use information about our VLC to make conncetions and get to know them better,

Writing: ACHEIVE is one of our ORCA values and we will be writing about our acheivements, how we got there and how it made us feel.

In the library we will be learning more about how fiction books are arranged and discussing why we read fiction.

HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK!

                                    Together we Inspire Learning 


Monday 20 March 2017

Learning and Growing Together in O1

                                    Together we Inspire Learning 


Apologies for the delay in posting. This week I learned that you always press the 'Update' button if you want your blog published.Together we are Learning!


Term 1 Week 8




Last week ...

Well, it looks like my post is going to be from the middle of the page this week... just can't seem to change the align button.

We continued our whanaungatanga last week with discoveries about our VLC. While asking our questions and setting up our investigations we also learned that there are 5 Vertical Learning Communities at Whangaparaoa School and each one has all their classrooms near each other - "It's like being neighbours" remarked someone.

Wow the Gala was a great success raising around $30,500 - very impressive and thank you to all the hard working parents and friends involved in making this incredible event happen.
Due to Mrs O's great disappointment in not being at the gala we have hopefully sorted out an alternative DUNKING time. This Friday after school at the Friday Cafe we will set up the dunking machine and you can (for a price) try to dunk Mrs O. Come along and have a laugh.
Our Water Day with Kevin this week is on Wednesday.
I am very proud of our tamariki they are being very responsible digital citizens with their Chrome Books. Thanks O1 He whetu koe!

This week...
Maths: We will be asking the other tamariki in our VLC some of our statistical investigations and collecting the data to answer our questions. We will be learning about making conclusions from the data and sharing our findings.
Reading: We continue to read Dear Molly, Dear Olive and publish our letters to our friends we haven't met yet in our VLC. 
Writing:
We will be writing postcards to tamariki in another school in New Zealand and hopefully making connections as penpals so that we can learn about what it is like to be in another school and a different community. We put together the postcards to reveal a message ...
"Talk with people who help you see the world differently". Our postcards and messages will be picked up by a courier on Friday and delivered to their destination. Hopefully we will get replies soon.

Monday 13 March 2017

Learning and Growing Together in O1

                                    Together we Inspire Learning 

Term 1 Week 7


Last week ...
Wow what a wild week, weather wise! This challenged us and made us change a few plans, so hopefully this week the weather picks up again.
Our Tuesday began with a provocation ...
       What will we do with our wet raincoats during                school time?
We came up with many possible solutions and managed to sort through them until we decided on a 'temporary' one and working towards building a more 'permanent' solution. We decided that building a 'hooks on wood thinghy' that would go outside is something we want to work on. If any parents would like to come in and work through the designing, measuring, cutting and putting together stages please email Ruth and let her know.

We also met our new Learning Assistant, Natalie Sweet, who will be working along side tamariki in O1 and O2 Monday - Thursday each week. Natalie used to be an early childhood teacher and has 2 gorgeous tamariki of her own. Her eldest starts school at Gulf Harbour on Monday so we wish her all the best. Haere mai Natalie to our absolutley fabulous class. Our tamariki gave her a warm welcome on Wednesday and made me so very proud, as I am sure their parents are.

This week...
Maths: We are working on instant recall of doubles and basic facts to 20 and our bonds to 100. 
We will also be Tuning In to Statistics by posing questions for our VLC or about ourselves. 
We will be 'Finding Out' this information by gathering data.
We will be 'Sorting Out' the data and 'Presenting' it on a graph. 
Lastly, we will be sharing our data and conclusions.

Reading:
We began reading a shared book last week titled 'Dear Molly, Dear Olive' and getting to know the main characters. 
We will be planning and be writing letters to new friends in our VLC so that we can introduce ourselves and tell them all about us.
LIBRARY - our library day is Tuesday and we would like all tamariki to bring their book bags so that they can take a book or two home. We will be finding out more about where to find things in our Whangaparaoa School Library.

Writing: 
This week we will use our ideas and plans to write an information report on either The Holi Festival (Festival of Colours) or our VLC.

Inquiry:
We continue to make connections within our whanau, class, VLC, school and community through literacy, maths and drama.


Monday 6 March 2017

Learning and Growing Together in O1

                                    Together we Inspire Learning 

Term 1 Week 6

Last week ...
We are all now able to logon to our school google address. We are able to find our "Drive' and use Google Chrome to go onto websites for learning:
www.readingeggs.com
www.studyladder.co.nz
www.sumdog.co.nz
www.wonderopolis.org
www.kiwikidsnews.co.nz

This week in O1...
Inquiry: What is connecting and building relationships? What is whanaungatanga? What is important to us? 
Whanau: Tamariki to trace around the hands of the members of their family to bring in for an art activity on Friday. This is to add to our beautiful "Learning and Growing Together in O1" artworks.
Maths: We are learning to count on and back in ones, twos and tens.

Reading: We are learning to retell a story in sequence. At the end of the week look for our 'film strip' display. 
Please make sure library books are brought back for Library day - Tuesday each week. 

Writing:we are learning how to take notes and use those notes to plan and then write an information report. 
Bikes:
This week we are booked in to do bike riding on Friday morning at 9.10am - 10.30am. Tamariki are encouraged to bring their bikes and helmets (don't forget the shoes) and have a go. We will be learning more about starting and controlled stopping.
Swimming: 
Monday and Friday - please bring named togs and towel in a plastic bag.

Gala Gala Gala Gala Gala Gala Gala
Reminder that Gala is this weekend - 11 March - come along and join us for some fun. Last mufti day Friday - if tamariki wear mufti then they need to bring some baked goods please. 
Mrs O is on Dunk The Teacher at some point during the gala so be on the lookout and come and dunk me.

Term 1 Week 5

Learning and Growing Together in O1
Together we Inspire Learning 


 Last week ... 
We stepped into a new world of using Chrome Books. We all learned that we had to be patient and that it takes time to set things up. We had to create and try to remember passwords for our "SCHOOL" account so that we can use them for our learning at school. Some of us were very creative with our passwords and made sure they meant something to us.

On our CB's we learned how to:  
* login with our school email address and our password
* Create a 'Google Doc' to use as our journal. We add to this often.
* Insert a 'selfie' into our 'Google doc'
* Open up Google Chrome and use it to find websites such as our school one
* Log out of our school account and switch to our personal account
* Some of our tamariki taught others how to change our wallpaper
* Store our CB's safely in the safe unit

It was a very busy and tiring week. I must say I was very impressed with how responsible each person was with their CB.

This week in O1:

Swimming: we continue swimming activities.  Year 4's at The Leisure Centre on Mondays. Remember to bring your togs, towel, goggles and swim hat (all named and in a plastic bag please). Year 3's please bring your togs and towel on Monday and Friday too as we will be going in the school pool.
Here are a couple of photos from The Leisure Centre


Water Battle:  This week our VLC has been invited to a water battle on Wednesday 1st March at lunchtime. Bring your togs, towel and rash shirt as usual and this time bring a water gun if you have one or a water bottle to squirt - Mrs O is joining so in this is your chance to get her wet.
Bikes: Opening of the Bike track is on Wednesday afternoon at 2.30pm. O1 and O2 will be using the bike track on Friday 11am - 12pm. Bring your bike and helmet if you like or borrow one of the school ones. Parents welcome to come join us if you like.
Inquiry: This week our Inquiry makes the journey from Tuning in to Whanaungatanga to Finding Out where we want to go with our I WONDERS.





Saturday, 18 February 2017


Week 4 Term 1

Learning and Growing Together in O1
Together we Inspire Learning 


 Last week ... we prepared for bringing our Chrome Books to school. We talked about Ownership, Respect, Collaboration and Achieve - These are our values at Whangaparaoa Primary. ORCA
We made 'chatterboxes' and learned how to take responsibility for them by taking them home each night and bringing them back in the morning. WOW O1 were amazing - I am so very proud of the way they took up the challenge and many achieved their goal. 

We also met with our Vertical Learning Community with a shared morning tea. Thank you to O1, O3 and B1 for providing the food. 
Introducing our Vertical Learning Community - at this stage we are named Team Osborne :
    *Libby Fletcher is in B2 with our gorgeous Year 1 tamariki
    *Caroline Rhodes is in B1 with our amazing Year 2's
    *Graham Fox and Ruth Osborne are in O1 and O2 with the awesome year 3 and 4's
    * Jan Ramsey and Leah McNee are in O3 and O4 with the incredible year 5 and 6's.
What an outstanding bunch!!!

This week:
Chrome books: Please bring your CB to school carefully and place in the special storage cupboard. Make sure they are charged up and ready to go each night.

Swimming: Year 4's this will be your first week at The Leisure Centre for swimming on Mondays. Remember to bring your togs, towel, goggles and swim hat (all named and in a plastic bag please). Year 3's please bring your togs and towel on Monday and Friday too as we will be going in the school pool.

Inquiry: this week is all about 'Tuning in'. 

We will be tuning in to many things this week - devices, connections with our selves, our school and our community.
I wonder: does the bright orange school crossing sign taste orange? Where are the birds flying to? How do stars shine?
We will be also building a 'Wonder wall' with our own questions and wonderings.

Waterslide on Wednesday at lunchtime for anyone in Team Osborne.

Have an fantastic and fun learning week!



Sunday, 12 February 2017


Term 1 Week 3

Learning and Growing Together in O1
Together we Inspire Learning 


 Last week ... 
We talked about what it means to be a 'good digital citizen'.

Kia ora te whanau.

This week in O1:


Food for thought/Whakataukī (proverbs) :


Kāhore taku toa i te toa takitahi, he toa takitini
We cannot succeed without the support of those around us

Our Term Inquiry is all about whanaungatanga - connectedness. Last week we welcomed our whole team and high fived them all. Here is a photo of our Vertical Learning Community "Team Osborne" (just an interim name as we will come up with something else during the term).

We are a pretty amazing looking bunch of curious, courageous and considerate learners.

We continue making connections in our learning this week and preparing for bringing our Devices next Monday 20 February.

Art: PPPPainting and collage - come and check out some of the beautiful paintings already up on the wall. We aim to finish them this week and add.

Literacy: Shared Book - Have You Filled a Bucket Today? This book is all about making others around us feel good about themselves. It is also taking ownership of our actions and how they impact on others. This ties in with learning about our ORCA values this week.

Inquiry: This week we look at our Cyber Smart Agreement making sure we all understand the expectations. On Monday we make a 'chatterbox' which each child OWNS and needs to be responsible for bringing to and from school each day this week. We will add a value each day and talk about what it looks like, feels like and sounds like in O1. Please take time to talk about each value as they are important to having a safe and friendly atmosphere in O1, our Team and our School.

Maths: Figure it out maths about me. Our posters will be going up this week so come on in and check them out. We will also be doing many place value activities and learning games to practise skills.

Swimming: Monday 11am and Friday 12pm - please bring togs and towel in a named plastic bag. This Wednesday 15 Feb Our Vertical Learning Community is allowed on the waterslide and in the pools. Bring your togs and towel if you are interested in participating.

Raffle tickets have been allocated and sent home to each child today (Monday) for gala fundraising. Please check your child's bag if you haven't got them.


What are your wonderings this week?

Thursday, 9 February 2017


Powhiri 17 February @ 10am

Kia ora te whanau,
As you would have read in yesterday's newsletter Whangaparaoa Primary will be having a powhiri next Friday to welcome all our new tamariki, whanau and nga kaiako to our school. A traditional part of a powhiri is to share kai afterwards. We will be doing this in our VLC - Vertical Learning Community.  Our first social gathering so it's exciting.
Our community think it would be best to have half of us bring food this time and are sure that there will be another occasion later in the year for others to provide the kai. 
Next week we ask that O1, O3 and B1 bring a small plate of food to share with our VLC please.
If your child has allergies please let us know or provide something for them.

We would welcome anyone who would like to join us and meet other parents in our VLC.

Nga mihi nui
Ruth Osborne, Graham Fox, Jan Ramsey, Leah McNee, Caroline Rhodes and Libby Fletcher

Sunday, 5 February 2017


Term 1 - Week 2 2017

Learning and Growing Together in O1
Together we Inspire Learning 


 Last week ... 
We participated in a scavenger hunt to discover our school motto. Talk to your whanau  and tell them what our motto is ...

This week ...


Food for thought/Whakataukī (proverbs) :


Kāhore taku toa i te toa takitahi, he toa takitini
We cannot succeed without the support of those around us

We are learning more about ourselves and our CONNECTIONS with others. We will be doing this through...
Art: PPPPainting and collage - our learning journey and the people we meet on the way, the people who are connected to us at home and at school.

Literacy: Shared Book - The Tree Hut Treaty by Wiremu Grace. Why do we need rules and guidelines in our lives and communities? What is a 'treaty'?

Inquiry: When using Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) at Whangaparaoa Primary School I will always be a good digital citizen.

Maths: Figure it out maths about me. What can maths tell us about each person in O1? How do we use maths when reading a calendar?

Swimming: Friday 12pm - please bring togs and towel in a named plastic bag.

Mrs Stratton will be in on Thursday to become part of our team/ class/ whanau. How will you introduce yourself to her?

What are your wonderings this week?

Saturday, 28 January 2017


Haere mai te whanau/ Welcome

2017

Haere mai and welcome to all tamariki and their whanau. 
Welcome back to school!

I hope you have all had a safe and enjoyable summer holiday with your children.
We have lots of fun things happening this term and this page will be updated weekly with important information so make sure to check in regularly (or even better sign up to get notified via email when new posts go up).



Our School Motto -
To be the best we can be
Kia eke ki nga taumata tike tike

Our School Mission -     
Together we inspire learning
Whakahui, whakamanawa, tatou ako


Our School Vision -
Connect - Challenge - Empower
Hono - Whakatara - Whakamana

Our School Values -
Ownership
Respect
Collaborate
Achieve

Our term 1 focus:
Whanaungatanga/ Connectedness

What does it mean to be connected?

How are we connected to our whanau? Our class? Our school? Our community? Our country? Our world?

What is our role in our family? Class? School? Community? 



























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KIA ORA AND WELCOME TO WHANGAPARAOA PRIMARY MOTTO To be the best we can be Kia eke ki nga taumata tike tike   MISSION T...