Nau mai haere mai ki roopu Kakariki! Welcome to team Kakariki!! 

 Tena koutou whānau mā o ngā tāmariki i te roopu Kakariki Nau mai haere mai ki te kura tuatahi o Morningside, me te roopu Kakariki hoki! Ko Marama Flay-Alker tōku ingoa ā, tino hari me te koa ki te whakaako i a koutou tamariki i a rātou wā timata ki te kura. He wā tino motuhake tenei mo a mātou tamariki ā, he hōnore rawa au ki te mahi kaiako ki a rātou. Ka titiro ki mua au, me Mrs Prchal hoki, ki te mohio i a koutou tamariki me a koutou whānau whānui. Ka titiro maua ki mua ranei ki te kite, me te tutaki, me te mahitahi i a koutou katoa. Ngā mihi. Welcome to Morningside school and to Team Kakariki! My name is Marama Flay-Alker and i am so happy to be teaching your children when they start school. This is such a special time for our children and i am honored to be their teacher. Mrs Prchal and I look forward to getting to know you and your family, and to seeing, meeting and working alongside you all. Thank you. Te roopu Kakariki will operate as a foundation class for 2018. The class programme is developed from both the Early Childhood Curriculum, Te Whariki, Te Marautanga o Aotearoa and the New Zealand Curriculum. The intent is to build a programme that supports children transitioning from early childhood services into primary school. We will focus on:

● Settling children into school. ● Independence at school and familiarity with school routines - packing bag,

where to put belongings, walking through school, lunchtimes and breaktimes, toilets etc.

● Essential school skills such as cutting, colouring, gluing, pencil control and routine

● Early literacy and numeracy concepts ● Recognising and writing name ● Social skills ● Confidence

When your child is ready, they will move through to Team Kea. This could happen after a few weeks, a term or even longer - it depends on the readiness of your child. We will keep you informed throughout the process regarding transition to Team Kea. Here are a few things we would like you to know about Roopu Kakariki… Te wā ruma pukapuka/Library Time On Friday afternoons from around 2:15 we will be going to the library. Please make sure your child’s book bag is at school every Friday so they can exchange library books to home for the weekend. You and your whānau are welcome to come along to enjoy the library with us, we would love to see you. Te Wā tūhurutanga/Discovery Time We are running a Discovery programme Monday, Tuesday and Friday. Please see the Discovery leaflet in this pack. Subway Subway day is Wednesday. A subway envelope is sent home every Tuesday. Please clearly put your child’s NAME and ROOPU KAKARIKI on the envelope to ensure they receive their subway. Orders must be put in the red mailbox in the school office before 9am. Your child’s subway will be delivered to the class at lunchtime and your child will still require morning tea. Te rā kutarere/Scooter day. Monday is scooter day and students are allowed to bring their scooter to school and leave it by the pool shed. They can ride their scooter on the court at morning tea and lunchtime. Te wā kaukau/Swimmg time. We will be swimming twice a week (during the summer months). Please fill out the swimming form in the pack and return to me. Please note, we are happy to have your child swim in whatever spare clothes you have and there are a few spare towels at school to use if needed. If your child has forgotten their togs, i am happy for them to swim in the spare clothes in their bag. If your child cannot swim due to illness, please let me know via text or note that morning.

Ngā kākahu toenga/Spare clothes. Please ensure that your child has a spare set of clothes in their school bag EVERY DAY - accidents do happen, toileting related or those related to the mud, puddles and other fun stuff! We also encourage the children to explore mud, sand, water, slime etc during te wā tūhurutanga/Discovery, so a change of clothes is needed if your child chooses to play with these options. Te hotaka whakakati rūmātiki/Rheumatic fever prevention programme Morningside School participate in the prevention of rheumatic fever programme run by Ki A Ora Ngatiwai. This allows the checking of your child’s throat for the “group A strep” infection and any follow up medication if required. The check is done at school by professionals and parents will be contacted if required. Please see the information sheet in this pack, fill out the consent form and return to the school office or myself. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have. You can do this by either phoning the school office on 09 438 2021 or popping in to see a teacher before or after school. Alternatively, feel free to email me - maramaf@morningside.ac.nz or send me a text 0275 412 212 or contact me via messenger.

“He waka eke noa” We are all in this together.

Ngā mihi tonu atu ki a koutou katoa. Ka kite koutou aiini. Marama Flay-Alker (Whaea Marama).

     

Te wā whānau ruma pukapuka - ia ahiahi i te Ramere Whānau library time - every Friday 

afternoon.  

One of the programmes that is part of our Foundation Class programme is Te wā Whānau Ruma Pukapuka. This is our weekly library session where we invite any members of the family to attend - parents, pre-schoolers, grandparents etc. The sessions run on Friday afternoons from 2:15-3pm. We begin our sessions in Roopu Kakariki and then move to the library. The focus of the session is to enjoy books and choose some books for the following week. Your pre-schoolers are welcome to issue books under their siblings name. We then end the session by gathering together with a shared book. Parents and caregivers are more than welcome to take the lead and read to the children. Im sure they would LOVE this. The intent of the sessions is to form a strong bond with our Morningside whānau as their children begin school. We want to build these relationships from the beginning in order to give your child the very best start to their schooling career. It is also a wonderful opportunity for me to connect with the extended whānau that i will hear so much about from the tamariki of roopu Kakariki and is a fabulous opportunity to build relationships with children i may teach in the future. If you have any questions about whānau time (or anything else), please do not hestitate to contact me via email maramaf@morningside.ac.nz, or text 0275 412 212 or pop in for a chat. Ngā mihi ki a koutou katoa. Marama Flay-Alker (Whaea Marama - Te kaiako o roopu Kakariki)

 Te wā tūhurutanga.  Discovery time. 

Ki te whānau mā o te roopu Kakariki, On Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, your child will be participating in te wā tūhurutanga. Tūhurutanga is a programme that encourages your child to select the learning area that they are interested in and determine what their play and creativity will be. They are required to plan for their activity, the things they require, complete their play as per their plan and then reflect on their outcome, plan and the way they worked. Through tūhurutanga, your child has the opportunity to explore a range of different activities and experiences. At present, they are able to build, create, move, pretend, draw, explore...and much more Tūhurutanga is an excellent way to teach our students the key competencies from the New Zealand curriculum. These are skills that they will need to live, learn, work, and contribute as active members of their communities in the future. The key competencies are Managing Self, Relating to Others, Participating and Contributing, Thinking and Using Language, Symbols and Text. Ultimately, tūhurutanga will mean your child will be directing their own learning, identifying things they are passionate about, things they need to learn and making decisions for themselves. They will be encouraged to complete their projects independently, seek support when they need it, and help others around them. Our writing programme will be incorporated into tūhurutanga. The students will have writing goals to work towards through the writing of their plan each day and become familiar with letter phonics (phonics sheet included in pack for home). We are always needing boxes, tubes, scraps of material, egg cartons - anything at all really! So if you have some of these at home, drop them into us or into the office. To learn more about tūhurutanga, please do not hesitate to come in and talk to me about it. tūhurutanga/Discovery is also happening in other teams right through the school. We are all very excited about the learning that is occurring through tūhurutanga. We are continually amazed at what our kids are capable of and the learning they are doing.

Ngā mihi ki a koutou katoa, Marama Flay-Alker (Whaea Marama) maramaf@morningside.ac.nz

 Te rākau aporo o te roopu Kakariki 

Team Kakariki's Apple Tree  

On the wall in Team Kakariki is our apple tree. This apple tree represents the learning that is happening as part of our foundation programme. Essentially, this programme is designed to teach “school skills” - things that the children need to learn in order to be ready to learn to read, write and be numerate. When each student starts school, their name is written on an apple and placed on the tree. As they settle in, school skills are identified and set as goals. These are represented on leaves around the student’s apple. As these goals are met, they are changed for others. When your child is ready, they are considered ‘ripe and ready’ to move through to Team Kea (our Year 1 team). Their apple is picked and placed into the Team Kea basket next to the tree. This programme is based on the needs of each individual child. Some are ready to move on to Team Kea within a few weeks, while others may require a term or more. Please do not hesitate to ask any questions that you may have about our apple tree! You can help by talking to your child about their “apple goals” and how they can meet them. Ngā mihi nui tonu ki a koutou katoa Marama Flay-Alker (Whaea Marama) maramaf@morningside.ac.nz

Te wā KAUKAU i ngā marama raumati!! SWIMMING in the summer months!! 

 Tena koutou whānau mā!! At Morningside we are very lucky to have a school pool and are currently swimming! Your child needs to bring togs and a towel (cap and goggles if desired) to school on Tuesdays and Thursday for swimming in the afternoons, however it would be a good idea if they have togs every day just incase we get the chance to sneak in a swim or have water play. If your child forgets their togs, it is ok if they swim in their spare clothes and there are spare towels available to use. We really want all students to participate in swimming, so please see me if there is anything i can help you with. Generally, at this level our swimming lessons are focused on the rules and routines when using the pool, getting ourselves changed independently, and gaining water confidence. Our pool has a solar cover and is usually a lovely temperature of 23 degrees (approx) for our tamariki. Swimming is an exciting but possibly daunting prospect for your child. Please rest assured that your child will be fully supported and encourages to participate at a level that they feel comfortable with. We are happy to have you come along to swimming, however would prefer if you wait until after a few weeks, as having parents there can be extremely distracting during the first swimming sessions. Some students may take more risks or participate less if their parents are there, so it may pay to check before coming along. Please return the form below if there is any information you want me to know about before taking your child swimming. Ngā mihi!! Marama Flay-Alker (Whaea Marama) ------------------------------------------------------------------

My child... ...might need support getting changed for swimming Yes/No ...may be nervous getting in the pool for the first time Yes/ No ...has had a negative experience with the water Yes/No ...will need to wear ear plugs in the water Yes/No ...Has a medical condition we need to know about. Yes/No Details of any of the above:

He kāri pārongo o te roopu Kakariki.  Team Kakariki information card.  Parent/s names:

  

Contact number/s:   

Email address: 

 Best method of contact: 

 Who will be the main adult collecting your child from school?: 

 Will your child be attending after school care, if yes, which days?: 

 Does your child have any food allergies or restrictions? If yes...

  

Are the any medical/social/home issues we should know about?

 We have a computer at home Yes/No We have access to the internet Yes/No  

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa Marama Flay-Alker (Whaea Marama)  

maramaf@morningside.ac.nz 0275 412 212