El Rancho!

Some snaps of term 4.

Koru El Rancho Camp 2013

Mischa's holiday. On my holiday, I went to the luge it was awesome! Me and dad were a double together on the luge. And after that Me Mum and Tais went on the jetboat. It was going really fast. When the jetbot was turning it looked like we were going to crash but we weren't but we did get wet it was really fun. Then we went to the hotel for a sleep. Tomorrow me and my family went to the go carts I was going really fast with Dad. We came 4th. After that we went to lone star for dinier, the food was delicious. I had ribs with chips. The day after that we went rock climing. See you next week. Mischa

Four Year Old Programme

Kia ora Whanau

Our four year old programme continues this term.

Wednesdays at 11:30am-12:30pm in Koru Hub.

It will run every Wednesday starting from this week.  The last for the year will be on Wednesday 4 December. 

See you there!

Term 4 Electives

Term 4 Electives Sign up Form

Term 4 Koru Hub Information

Kia ora!

We hope you have all had a fun, refreshing and safe holiday!  It seems to have flied by so quickly and we are already into the last term of the year. 

This email will cover what's happening, events for the term and any hub reminders.

Welcome

We welcome Caitlyn, Riley and Shruthi tomorrow, and Jayden on Wednesday.  During the term we have 6 more new entrants starting.  This has us beginning the term with 68 children.

Teachers:

Demelza - full time in hub

Michael - full time in hub

Jeanelle - full time except every second Friday

Angela - teaching literacy in the first block and maths in the last block.  Leadership release in the middle block.

Urs - teaching inquiry in our hub in the middle block

Beginning of Day Routines

As children come to school they need to hang their bags up, take their shoes off, bring their reading bags in and sign in on the touch screen.  Children need to be at school by 8:50am so they have time to do this themselves and to greet their friends in the morning.  Focused learning groups begin straight away at 9am.

End of Day Routines

We will have children packed up with shoes and jackets by 3pm ready to go home.  To assist us please wait quietly when you come into the hub and leave space in the hallway for us to move around easily.  Tidying up, packing up and giving notices to 68 children is much easier without noise in the background.  We appreciate your help with this.  Harakeke children to wait in the kowhai shared space please. 

Inquiry

Our inquiry this term is ‘Living Joyfully with Diversity’. Within this theme we will be exploring different cultures and celebrations around the world. We will begin by exploring Kiwiana - common items or icons of Kiwi culture. We will then explore what life in New Zealand means for us as individuals; looking at our own family and history, and how this translates to life for us in New Zealand. We will share this with each other in the hub and look at the different cultures in our school. Students will then get the opportunity to choose an area of world culture to explore in more depth - possibly exploring their own culture or family background, or discovering more about another culture or a particular aspect of word culture that interests them. Our overall objectives within this inquiry involve creating a shared understanding of what culture means, understanding that there are many different cultures within our school and community, and understanding, accepting and celebrating the diversity that this brings. We are working towards this shared understanding manifesting itself in positive behaviour towards each other.

You can help with this at home by talking with your child/ren at home about their family history - where their family is from, languages, cultures, celebrations and religions within their family, family traditions or aspects that are important to your family. For students to begin to understand and accept different cultures, they first need a good understanding of their own family culture and history.

Literacy

Children will be using their matrices and assessment data to sign up to workshops appropriate to their individual needs. We will be focusing on report writing and integrating this into our inquiry learning.

Maths

This term focuses on Multiplication and Division. Basic facts and place value programmes will continue to run along side this.

moveMprove

There is no swimming this term, however we have signed up for a moveMprove programme. This is run by the same people who do our swimming lessons - Easyswim. The children will already be familiar with the instructors. Every Friday for the first eight weeks the instructors come to the hall and set up all their PE equipment. Children will be in 2 groups in the afternoon and will each be rotating through a number of PE/fitness/movement and strength activities. It combines many development skills the children of this age need and will be catered to their needs. You are welcome to come and have a look any Friday afternoon.

Events

Amesbury Athletics Day Monday 21 October Newtown Park 10am onwards Parents welcome

Labour Day - School Closed Monday 28 October No school

School Disco Friday 1 November School Hall Organise by Year 5/6 students, fundraising for  

school camp

Amesbury Swimming Sports Thursday 8 November Tawa Pool 11am-1pm Parents welcome

Community Evening Thursday 14 November School Hall 5:45-7:15pm

End of Year Musical Celebration Monday 2 December School Hall 5:30-7pm This is in place of our learning celebration

Koru Overnight Camp Thursday 12 December El Rancho - Waikanae Parents needed - no limits to number of parents

School Report Wednesday 18 December National Standard Reports emailed No parent conferences this term

Last Day of School Wednesday 18 December

Camp

We will be taking all our Year 0-2 children on an overnight camp at El Rancho in Waikanae. This is not compulsory. We will have events such as swimming, beach, horse riding, flying fox, obstacle courses and more. There will be activities that the children choose from and sign up to - at different costs. The price is approximately $50 per child plus any extra costs depending on which activities children sign up to. Some are free and activities like horse riding cost. There is plenty of beds in bunk rooms so there is no limit to parents. However, it is unsuitable to bring other siblings. We will be sending out more information about this very shortly. We will also put the details on the website on a "School Camps" page under the "Our Information" tab.

Last Day of School Celebrations

On our last day - Wednesday 18 December, we will be meeting as a hub first. At 9:45am we will be having a prize giving ceremony in the hall and then travelling on buses to H2O extreme swimming pool in Upper Hutt. The children can go on the hydroslide and in the wave pool and we will be having our picnic lunch there. The school day will finish at 2pm. We will have children back to school by then. Parents are welcome to come to the prize giving and out to the pool with us. On the day let us know if you will be taking your child home with you in the car rather than them returning to school. There will be no cost for this.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact myself or your child's whanau teacher.

michael@amesbury.school.nz     demelza@amesbury.school.nz   jeanelle.ymker@amesbury.school.nz          angela@amesbury.school.nz

We look forward to all the fun events this term and continuing working with you and your families. 

Michael, Demelza, Jeanelle and Angela

Learning in action. Term 3.

Our fantastic trip to Battle hill.

Stop animation of moments of our lives. Part 2.

Koru animation part 2. from Amesbury School on Vimeo.

Stop animation of moments of our lives.

Koru animation part 1. from Amesbury School on Vimeo.

Field Trip to Battle Hill Tues 13th Aug

Four Year Old Programme

Term 3 2013

Every Wednesday 

 11:30am-12:30pm

Koru Hub

What is it?

For one hour a week four year olds who are pre-enrolled to start at Amesbury School can join other four year olds (and some new entrant school children) in some activities.  This gives the opportunity to meet the children who will become their friends, to build relationships with the teachers, to become familiar with the school environment and for parents to get to know each other and ask questions.  

When do we start?

You can attend as soon as your child turns four years old, however some parents find that if they attend these sessions too far out from their starting date it can be a very long wait for the child until the first day of school, so come along when it suits you.  Many parents find it is best to come along a term before their child starts school. 

Where do we go?

Any week you wish to attend just show up in koru hub and join all the children for the story at the orange carpet. As part of a ministry requirement we ask that parents stay on site during these visits.  

New Entrant Parent Information Session

Monday 19 August 2013

2:00pm

For parents of new children in koru hub

Meet us in kowhai - the yellow suite

We will cover things such as:

• Literacy and Numeracy programme
• Inquiry, iTime and personal contracts
• Whanau teachers and team teaching
• Workshops and how we group children
• Home work and how you can help
• School website, blogs and planning site
• Mathletics and Bug Club
• How children learn to read and write plus tips and tricks
• Routines and expectations, signing in, lunch, shoes etc
• Meet the teachers and other parents

We look forward to seeing you there!

Mike, Lisa, Demelza, Jeanelle and Angela

Thin Cardboard Needed

Could you please bring in any thin cardboard you might have at home or in your recycling for us to use during maths time. 

The cardboard needs to be thin enough for children to cut with ordinary scissors, so things like cereal boxes, tissue boxes etc are ideal. Please - no corrugated card or thick card as we cannot use this.

Drop them off to either Mike or Lisa. Every bit will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Highlights from our last few weeks in Koru

Scientists Wanted!

Next term we are focusing on Science as our Inquiry topic and would like to start immersing our students in the 'Science frame of mind' before the holidays.

We would like to invite any parents or friends who are scientists of any kind or whose jobs involve science in some way to come and talk to the kids about what they do. There is no pressure to do a presentation of any kind, but share your science world with the kids and give them an opportunity to ask questions.

If you are free between 9am and 11am - Tues, Weds or Thurs this week (2nd-4th July) or next (9-11th July) please email either Mike - michael@amesbury.school.nz or Demelza - demelza@amesbury.school.nz to let us know if and when you could come in.

Thanks!

Learning in action. Term 2 week 5.

New Entrant Parent Information Session

Monday 10 June 2013

2:00pm

For parents of new children in koru hub

Meet us in kowhai - the yellow suite

We will cover things such as:

• Literacy and Numeracy programme
• Inquiry, iTime and personal contracts
• Whanau teachers and team teaching
• Workshops and how we group children
• Home work and how you can help
• School website, blogs and planning site
• Mathletics and Bug Club
• How children learn to read and write plus tips and tricks
• Routines and expectations, signing in, lunch, shoes etc
• Meet the teachers and other parents

We look forward to seeing you there!

Mike, Lisa, Demelza, Jeanelle and Angela

Koru are exploring the concept of "Living Stories" and how we can communicate the message of a story in multiple ways. Here is a selection of the students' "Living stories".

2013-04-12 11.02.19 from Amesbury School on Vimeo.

2013-04-16 09.32.16 from Amesbury School on Vimeo.

2013-04-12 10.47.38 from Amesbury School on Vimeo.

Learning in action.Term 2 week 1.

Term 2 Update

Kia ora Everyone!

Firstly, a huge welcome to Jeanelle Ymker who is joining our team for Term 2.  She will be teaching in our hub every Tuesday-Thursday and every second Friday.

We currently have 50 Year One and Two children in our hub and have 6 New Entrant children starting over the term.

Special Events

Noho Marae                                                       Friday 24th May  5pm              

Cross Country                                                    Friday 24th May 11:30am         

Queens Birthday (No school)                               Monday 3rd June

New Entrant Parent Meeting                                Monday 10 June 2pm               

Community Evening with Pio                               Wednesday 12 June                  

Amesbury Invitational Cross Country                    Friday 14th June 11:30am         

Learning Celebration                                           Friday 12th July                       

Last Day of Term 2                                             Friday 12th July          

Koru Camp                                                        Thursday 12th December             

Term 2 Planning

Inquiry             Living Stories - Communication

Maths             Algebra and Subtraction

Writing            Narratives

Please check out our planning online.  You can see our school calendar on our website.

Term 4 Camp

We have this booked for Thursday 12th December.  This year it will be at El Rancho in Waikanae.  This is a camp with bunk rooms, hall, dining room, playground, swimming pool and much more.  The price is $50 plus optional activity costs.  There will be camp electives that children can choose from such as horse riding, flying fox and confidence course. Some of these cost extra, about $10 per activity, other ones are free.  These will be planned for and booked closer to the time.  We will need parents to come also, however this time there is no limit as to how many parents we can take.

Please don't hesitate to contact your child's whanau teacher, or any of us.

lisa@amesbury.school.nz

demelza@amesbury.school.nz

michael@amesbury.school.nz

angela@amesbury.school.nz

jeanelle.ymker@amesbury.school.nz

Have a great term!

Koru Team

Term 2 Transition To School

Four Year Old Programme

This term our Four Year Old Programme continues to run on Wednesdays from 11:30-12:30.  Come along any week and make your way to the orange carpet in Koru Hub.

New Entrant Parent Meeting

Our Koru Hub Information Session for parents of New Entrants will be on Monday 10 June 2-3pm.  This is repeated every term, so it's best to attend the one in the term that your child starts school.  

All parents are contacted a month prior to their children starting school to organise school visits and early child care visits.  If you have any questions before then don't hesitate to contact Angela.   angela@amesbury.school.nz

Thanks!

Angela, Mike, Lisa, Demelza and Jeanelle

Koru Hub

End of term 1 snap shots.

A thank you to parents from Koru hub children.

Treaty of Waitangi - What we Know Now!

Te Tiriti o Waitangi

Day 1

Prior Knowledge:
What we already know about the history of NZ and the Treaty of Waitangi.

At the end of our inquiry we will ask these questions again and see the shift in the children's understanding!

Day 1  

We can learn history through story telling.  Through role play we learnt about Europeans coming to NZ on boats and beginning to build a life here.  Children playing the roles of the Europeans got to experience history through their perspective, and children playing the roles of Maori got to experience history through another perspective.  Now we have lots of wonderings and questions to inquire into!

The children are in role building their huts and with the new arrivals negotiating space and resources. 

Highlights of week 4 and 5 in Koru.

Do you have...?

Our construction table is looking very bleak at the moment.  If you have any of the following that you can find and donate to koru hub we would love it very much.

• Old hammers or safe tools
• Off cuts of wood
• Old nails etc
• Bottle tops
• Bits and pieces that can be hammered onto things
• Interesting things we can be creative with

Thanks!

Shout Out to All Camp Helpers!

We want to say a huge...

THANK YOU!!!

to everyone who has helped in any way for our koru camp!

Thanks to those who:

• Stayed the night
• Helped put up or take down tents
• Lent equipment
• Helped with cooking
• Supervised children
• Visited your child for part of the camp
• Got woken up by children
• Wished for good weather
• Thanked the teachers 
• and of course anything else I have missed out!

It all counts and we appreciate your help and support!

Koru camp!!!

Treaty of Waitangi trip

Exploring the National Library and Tepapa

Chilled Fruit Juice Available

Kia ora koutou, 
We still have a number of small juice packs left over from our wonderful Summer Day Out at the weekend. 
They are Charlie's fresh orange or apple juice (not made from concentrate). We are storing them in the fridge in the team space in Koru hub, and we are selling them for $2. All proceeds will go to the fundraising for our senior playground. 
If you would like your child/ren to have a chilled juice at morning tea or lunch simply send them along with $2. Available while stocks last!

Camping Equipment List and Timetable

Only 6 sleeps to go until our camp! The children have been busy with maths problem solving to help plan our camp. They have now completed our menu, activities and equipment requirements.

Equipment List
Change of clothes for Friday (mufti)
Warm jacket
Sun hat and drink bottle
Suitable outdoor footwear
Togs and towel
Toiletries: Toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, face cloth etc
Sleeping bag and pillow
Sleeping roll or airbed or stretcher
Torch
Pyjamas
Dinner plate, cereal bowl, knife, fork, spoon
Any necessary medication
Optional: Nightlight, teddy bear, book

ALL THINGS TO BE NAMED PLEASE

Other important notes:
* Please drop tents off on Thursday morning to kakariki
* Wear uniform to school on Thursday
* Tents are being put up at 1:40pm - any parents are welcome to come to school at this time to
   help us
* Children go home at 3pm
* Come back to school at 5pm in mufti and with your equipment
* An adult will be in each tent with the children overnight
* All children will be fed Thursday dinner, supper, Friday breakfast, morning tea and lunch
* Vegetarian and gluten free have been planned for
* Those not staying the night are welcome to join us for breakfast at 8am, or just come to school in
   mufti at 9am
* All equipment can be picked up at 3pm on Friday
* Teachers have their work cell phones on them so feel free to call if you need to 

Camp Timetable
Thursday (in uniform)
9:00am            A group of children grocery shopping
                      Creating Camp treaty
11:30              Preparing/Cooking our camp snacks
1:40pm           Putting up the tents
3:00                Children go home to get changed and get their equipment
5:00                Come to school
                      Start BBQ
                      Set beds up
                      Soccer and volleyball games
                      Dinner Marshmellows / Night Walk
                      Supper, brush teeth, story
                      Bed
                      ZZZzzzzzzzz

Friday (in mufti)
7:00am           Get up and dressed
                      Tidy tents
                      Play
8:00                Breakfast
                      Brush teeth, clean
                      Tidy tent
                      Play
9:00                Camp games led by children
11:00              Morning Tea
11:30              Tents down
                      Water slide and pool
1:00                Lunch
1:50                Movie
3:00                Camp finishes - home time

Happy camping everyone :-)

Amesbury Summer Day Out

Koru Term 1 week 2

First week of 2013 in Koru hub!!!

Term 1 Koru Hub Trips

World Education Games

The Games have returned!

The waiting is over... the big day has arrived! The World Education Games website has officially launched for the 2013 event - the warm-up period has begun!

This year, the World Education Games is bigger and better than ever - with a sleek new look, new features and lots of additional resources to make the next few weeks a really exciting time in schools and homes across the world.

5 March - World Literacy Day
6 March - World Maths Day
7 March - World Science Day

Those with Mathletics usernames and passwords have been automatically registered to take part. Students and teachers can simply sign into www.worldeducationgames.com with their existing usernames and passwords.

Day 1

Prior Knowledge:
What we already know about the history of NZ and the Treaty of Waitangi.

At the end of our inquiry we will ask these questions again and see the shift in the children's understanding!

Day 1  

We can learn history through story telling.  Through role play we learnt about Europeans coming to NZ on boats and beginning to build a life here.  Children playing the roles of the Europeans got to experience history through their perspective, and children playing the roles of Maori got to experience history through another perspective.  Now we have lots of wonderings and questions to inquire into!

The children are in role building their kainga (homes) and with the new arrivals negotiating space and resources.