Kōwhai Newsletter

This term promises to be a busy one as we come together and build our learning community. We will begin the term delving into what it means to be a successful learner, and understanding how our brains grow as we make mistakes, take risks, and persevere to achieve our goals. 

Devices are used daily as a tool to assist our learning. If your child is bringing a device,  please ensure they are able to access google drive from their device using their Point Chevalier login, if your child has forgotten their school login we will provide it in the first few weeks. Your child’s device must be clearly named, we also recommend it is transported and stored in a case. A Device Agreement will come home with your child on Tuesday, please read this through with your child and once it is signed, return it to school with your child’s device. 

Year 4 is an important year to consolidate and grow your child’s reading and basic facts.  We ask that you encourage your child to spend at least 15 minutes a night reading, as well as, revising their basic facts (addition & subtraction facts to 20, multiplication and division facts up to 12x12). Our team page on the Flexible Learning Portal has links to online learning tools to support your child’s number knowledge learning, passwords for these sites will be provided to your child during the first few weeks of school.  

Our aim in Year 4 is to support students to become confident in self-selecting their own independent reading books and begin to develop their reading stamina with chapter books. Unless your child requires extra reading mileage, they will not bring a daily reader home. During our class library time, we will learn how to select suitable books and explore new authors. Please let me know if you find your child is having trouble choosing books they are interested in reading.

Under the guidance of Water Safety New Zealand, we will be teaching water safety and confidence this term. Please ensure your child brings their togs in a named bag to every session. We will advise you of our swimming times early next week. 

Despite the recent weather, we are in our Summer term, which means school hats are compulsory from Tuesday. Your child's stationery has been delivered to the class if you have ordered it online. Thank you for doing this. We will sort and name the stationery next week. Please check with your child that they have working headphones at school as these are required for their learning.

Team Assemblies will begin in week 4 (24th February), Kōwhai Team Assemblies are held at 11am in the Auditorium. At Year 4 we trust your child to inform you if they have a presenting role. We will email you if your child is receiving a Core Values award.

If your child is absent from school please use the HERO app to notify the school, this sends an automatic notification to me and saves you an email.