Room 4 Gladstone School
Term 1, 2016
Room 4 Gladstone School
Ko te mutunga orange, he
timatanga kaha!
(Winning starts with
beginning)
Term 1, 2016
Upcoming events
23.02.2016
pp. 26.02.16
Carterton Country Cluster
Schools Swimming Sports
@ Carterton Pool
04.03.2016
pp 07.03.16
Inter-Schools Swimming
Sports @ Featherston Pool
15.04.2016
ANZAC service @ 9.30am
Welcome back
Nau mai haere mai and welcome back to all whanau of Room 4 students.
We’ve certainly jumped straight in this year. It has been a new start for all
of us now working out of Room 4 and in conjunction with Room 5. If you
haven’t been in to see the physical change that has allowed our classrooms
to work collaboratively, we encourage you to visit us.
While the weather has been so spectacular we have been enjoying our
swimming lessons and I have already seen some fantastic improvement for
many students. We are so fortunate to have the school pool.
Our overall theme for 2016 at Gladstone School is ‘Connectedness’ and this
theme will weave throughout our curriculum learning programmes this year.
Our successful School Hangi has already provided an amazing learning
opportunity that illustrates connectedness within our community and we
look forward to many more opportunities like this throughout the year.
As learning is a 3-way partnership between the student, teacher and parents,
I’m keen to keep our communication open. Please contact me with any
concerns or highlights you want to raise by leaving a phone message at school
or emailing me at [email protected] during the week.
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Room 4 Gladstone School
Term 1, 2016
Modern Learning Environments
We’d like to keep you in the loop as much as possible, please take time to read
the information below.
Our classes will now be operating
out of Room 4 (Mrs Rutene) & 5 (Mr
Brown) at the start of the year, as
there will be building work occurring
this year which will mean Y5 - Y8
will shift into a new modern learning
environment later in the year. Also
as our two senior classes will be
working more collaboratively,
working out of R4 & R5 initially,
works better for us.
We acknowledge that change can
be unsettling for some and we want
to be as transparent as possible
through this process. We welcome
discussions and visits to our
classes. We have had some
communication and interactions
with parents to explain what is
happening, especially in person or
over the phone. Please continue to
communicate with us about any
concerns or positive feedback you
may have.
As part of the Gladstone School
Strategic plan for working towards
Modern Learning Practices, we
trialled this collaborative teaching in
part of Term 3 2015 and all of Term
4 2015. From our observations,
both in our classes and at other
innovative schools both here in the
Wairarapa and in Auckland, this
style of teaching and learning suits
a wider range of students. Our
school data attained from the 2015
ALL and ALiM programme (based
on Modern Learning Practices)
confirmed that Modern Learning
Practices resulted in improved
student achievement. All other
research, especially the information
we have been given from some of
our local schools, back this up and
their assessment shows a huge
improvement in student's learning
and attainment.
Please take some time to follow our
blogs so as to see what is
happening in the classrooms and
find out more about learning styles,
teaching pedagogy and helpful tips
on how to use Google Docs, Google
Drive or Google Classroom. This
might help you understand more of
what we are learning in our Modern
Learning Environment.
Room 4 Class and Student Blogs
These can be found through
the Gladstone School
Website or new app, under
Blogs and Room 4.
The class blog will be used to
share and highlight general
class learning. There is a box
on the right side of the blog
screen asking for your email
address to follow the blog. It
is recommended that all
Room 4 parents do this (and
then click on the
confirmation link sent to your
email) as this will ‘ping’ you
an email each time something
new pops up on our blog. It is
envisaged this will be every 12 days. To view your child’s
individual
learning blog click through to
Student Blogs on the Class
Blog and enter your email
address there too. They’ll be
sharing plenty on there.
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Room 4 Gladstone School
Term 1, 2016
Learning Areas
Please refer to the Long Term
Plan to find out more about
what we are focusing on for
each learning area. If you have
any questions about these
please get in touch with me.
Homework
Students will no longer be
given specific homework as a
separate task. As they all have
access to their learning tasks
through Google Classroom
they will be expected to
complete these within the
given timeframe. If they find
they are unable to do this
during class time then they
can use time after/before
school to do this. If you
envisage there being a
problem with internet
connections for this then
please let me know, however
it is important to start
guiding them towards time
management skills that will
support them keeping focus
and getting their work done
at school.
To ensure your child is
sharing their learning with
you, please take time to check
in on their blog and / or show
you what assignments they
have on Google Classroom.
The students very much enjoy
getting your comments on
their blogs and I’d encourage
you to ask them a question
about their learning on there
that they can respond to.
your smartphone) that we are
proposing to have a Senior
Syndicate camp towards the
end of Term 1. Further
information will be given
later in the Term.
Camp
You may have seen on the
Gladstone School Google
Calendar (which you can
access through our new
Gladstone School app on
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