Info from Meet the Teacher night

Welcome to our community! Here is some information about our organisation and programme at this stage of the year.

Learning Spaces
In the Harakeke community, we have three main learning spaces:

• Red room (was LC 6) - where Mrs Herring (with Mrs McHarg) is currently based
• Yellow room (was LC 7) - where Mrs Boyd is currently based & our community gathering space
• Green room (was LC 8) - where Mr Tomlin is currently based

Contact Teachers
In our community, each learner has one ‘Contact’ teacher who will be responsible for their pastoral care and reports. This is to ensure that learners feel they have at least one solid relationship with a teacher so they can approach that teacher if they have questions or concerns. To help build this relationship, learners will be with their ‘Contact’ teachers for most subjects at the start of the year. Parents may also prefer to approach the ‘Contact’ teacher in the first instance if they have questions or concerns, however they can approach any of the Harakeke teachers as we will be meeting with each other regularly to ensure we are fully informed of every learner’s needs.

Morning Routine (being prepared for learning)
Each morning when your child arrives at school they are to put their bag away in the cloak bay outside their home class and then put their reading packet into their named tote tray in the learning space that they have their reading group lesson. Next they are to sign themselves in on the sign in board outside the Yellow Room (previously called LC7) by moving their name from the bottom up to the top to show that they are present at school for that day.

Harakeke Hui (Community Time)
Each day, we will start with a hui in the Yellow Room. During this time, two teachers will be checking the roll, while the third reads the daily notices and leads our community singing. The first song we are learning is ‘Count on Me’ by Bruno Mars. This song has a great message about friendship and being there for each other. We will be sending home the lyrics to this song as part of our reading/poetry programme. Other songs will be added to our repertoire over the year.

Reading
To start maximising the power of having three teachers working with your child, we will be mixing children across the three learning spaces for reading. Just as in a single-cell classroom, learners have been placed in a reading group based on their current learning needs. Your child’s reading teacher may currently be a different teacher from their Contact teacher. As a result, please feel free to approach their reading teacher if you have questions about your child’s reading. Your child will know who they go to for reading, as their reading packet is placed in that teacher’s home room.

Harakeke Heroes
Starting in week three we will be nominating children as a “Harakeke Hero” for the day. This means they may have an extra responsibility for that day or be allowed certain privileges in class.

Homework
As part of maintaining the strong link between school and home Harakeke team teachers will set homework for all learners to practise, to help them to learn and retain what has been taught in the classroom.

This includes:

• Reading - books given out during reading group lessons and then a poem to be read and recited as weekend reading. Please fill in your child’s log book each night. 
• Spelling - Based around the Essential Word Lists  (which make up the majority of written text) students will be given ten words to learn which will be tested on a fortnightly basis alternating with Basic Facts Maths. 
• Numeracy Basic Facts - The Basic Facts are based around key concepts for learners to master and recall within a short time frame (6 seconds). The recall of these helps learners to process larger number equations with less difficulty and less reliance on using materials or fingers. The Basic Facts ladder is levelled so that learners are working at their own ability level and progress as quickly as they can show they can retain the new knowledge learnt. This will be tested fortnightly alternating with Spelling. 

The First three weeks this term are about establishing routines/systems

• At West Melton School we have high expectations for all learners
• The Harakeke Community learners are the leaders of the Kiwi team, as they have been at school longer than the learners in the Kauri team and are expected to show others the right thing to do 

Contact 
If you have any queries please feel free to email the appropriate teacher on:
thelma@westmelton.school.nz
maree.boyd@westmelton.school.nz
morgant@westmelton.school.nz