Room 14 Newsletter Term 1 2016
‘He waka eke noa’
We are all in this waka together
Dear Students, Whanau and Parents
Kia ora and welcome back to school after a wonderful
Christmas break. I hope you’ve had a
lovely holiday and are eager to be back at school. I have put
together this newsletter to provide you with some key information about what’s
happening in Room 14 this term and across Team Kahikatea.
For those of you who don’t already know
me, my name is Lesley Kennedy and I have been working here at Carterton School since
2008. I have worked throughout the school at most
levels however I especially enjoy working with our most senior students,
preparing them for college. I am
currently the staff trustee for our school Board and I am Team Leader for our
Team.
Team Kahikatea
Our team this
year consists of me [Lesley Kennedy] in Room 14 with 26 - Year 7 and 8
students, Melanie MacGregor in Room 13 with 25 - Year 6 and 7 students, James
Church in Room 12 with 25 Year 6, 7 and 7 students and Raewyn Harnden in Room
11 with 27 -Year 6 and 5 students. We
are fortunate to have such a variety of skills and knowledge within our team
which will benefit all of our students as we prepare them for their senior
years and moving onto college. We all
have high expectations for our students so they can all be the best they can
be.
Stationery
You would
have received our class stationery list and the packs are available from the Room
7. If you do not require all of the
stationery, just cross off those items.
The list also has our other costs such as Technology.
Swimming
Team Kahikatea’s swimming
blocks are on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1:30pm—2:45pm from Week One to
Week Six. Remember that togs, towel and
sensible walking shoes will be needed on these days as we are walking there and
back. Our school swimming sports are being held on Wednesday February
18th and those who qualify will go on to participate in the South Wairarapa
Swimming Sports. You are more than welcome to attend these swimming events. We will also be having our school Triathlon
and more on this will follow.
Team Sleep Over and Whanau get – together
We will have
a team sleep over on the 10th March followed by our Big Day Out in
Masterton on the 11th of March.
This is an informal whanau get together and a chance for our Team to get
to know each other in a fun way. Everyone
is welcome to come along and join in with fun games and a chance to have a chat
with your child’s teacher. Further
information on times, venues, cost and parent support will be following very
soon.
Term Inquiry
Curiosity is the title of the Term One
inquiry topic with a Science focus. This inquiry topic is about developing
our curiosity for learning. We will be integrating this theme across all
curriculum areas and include the Treaty of Waitangi and ANZAC as part of this
inquiry.
Younger Buddy Classes
This year Room 13 and 14
are joining together to be buddy classes with Room 9 and Room 10. We are calling this session Tuakana/Teina
(Big kids helping little kids). We will read, write and develop
friendships with our buddies every Friday before lunch for about 20
minutes. This helps our older students
develop leadership skills and gives the younger children great role models and
a sense of belonging.
Technology at Makoura College - Designcraft
Year 7 and 8 students attend technology sessions at
Makoura College (Masterton) every Tuesday, during the morning session beginning
in Week 2. They all travel by bus to Makoura College and are taught by
the Technology teachers there. The Technology sessions at Makoura cost $80 for
the year and this cost is already added onto your stationery list. This
cost is for materials only as Carterton School covers the teaching costs from
Makoura. If you are unable to pay this
in full, you can make part payments. This can be paid to the office or by
automatic payment. If the fee is not paid, then your child will not be
able to take home anything they make at Technology. The stationery needed for Technology is also
on the Stationery List.
Please be aware that students are required to wear covered
shoes at Technology for safety reasons. If they do not have the suitable
footwear, they are not permitted to attend the session and will remain at
school. We have spoken to the students about these points and we
trust they will take responsibility for themselves.
Homework and
Communications to whanau
Homework will be given every week on a Monday and be expected
to be returned by the following Monday.
Your child has a communications book that will be brought home regularly
with information from school to home.
Please remind your child to keep you informed of what is happening at
school plus anything else you need to know about.
We will be working on Google docs again this year using
Chrome books in all our teams’ classes.
This means that your child will be working most of the time on a
computer and you will be able to access your child’s work from home. There will be times however when we will still
use pen and paper, plus your child will have their ‘Taonga Book’ to share with you.
Please remember that we are a ‘Sunsmart’ school and all
students are expected to wear a wide brimmed hat in Terms 1 and 4.
Lastly, please feel free to pop into class at any time
throughout the day as we have an open door policy here at Carterton School. Remember
that both Room 13 and 14 are in the hall until the renovations are completed
and we are working together to provide your child with excellent learning
opportunities across our team. If you
would like to catch up with me on a one to one basis you can email me here at
school lkennedy@carterton.school.nz or leave a
message for me to phone you back. I’m
happy to give out my cell number if you need to text me for any reason, so just
ask me for that. Also if there is
anything you are not sure about, just let me know.
Regards
Lesley Kennedy
