Home-School Partnership

Our Home-School Partnership is vital and it is our aim to continue to strengthen this by bringing families and the school closer together to assist children in their their learning. As a school we report to parents and the community via school reports, informal one to one meetings, school interviews and sharing our learning evenings. Having in depth knowledge of how your child is doing in their assessments and learning is essential for their success. For example:

• Have more equal learning-focused conversations with teachers, both formal (e.g. three way conferences) and informal (e.g. discussions before and after school).

• Enjoy learning conversations with your child as you learn more about the way they are learning in school.

• Access relevant infomation about how your child is progressing in their learning and in class.

• Learn more about your child's achievements and learning needs.

• Find out some of the ways you can support your child to meet his or her learning needs at home.

• Access resources used in school to support your child in their learning at home.

Questions to ask after school

Having a shared language makes it easier to talk to your child/ren about their school day. Asking and answering some of these questions each day would give you a great insight into how their learning is going, show to your child that their learning is important to you and support your child to develop their oral language and metcognitive skills by reflecting on their day.

How did you show respect today? (listening to the teacher, taking care of equipment, being careful around other people, showing kindness, saying nice things to people, using my manners, replying to people when spoken to, treating others how you would like to be treated)

How were you resilient today? (did you keep trying when something was hard / when you wanted to give up? Did you do anything today that you have never done before? Were you brave? Did you do anything today that made you nervous / worried? Did you notice anyone else giving up? Did you help them? How did you help them?)

How were you responsible today? (did you bring your book bag home? Did you bring all of your belongings / uniform / lunch box / drink bottle home? Did you tidy up things you were playing with? Did you help the teacher with a job? Did you take anything to the office? Did you take anyone to the sick bay? Did you help someone in your class with anything? Who took the rubbish to the bins from your class?)

Happiness and wellbeing

What was the coolest thing you did today?

What made you laugh today?

Did you play with anyone who haven’t played with before?

When did you feel the best today?

Did you see anyone upset/cry today? What was wrong with them? What did you do?

Did anything make you feel angry or frustrated today? Why? How did you feel happy again?

Did you visit the hall / library / barn / buddy class / office / sickbay / staffroom?

Did you visit your friends, brothers or sisters’ class?

Who did you sit with while eating your brain food / morning tea / lunch?

What did you play / build / make / cook / imagine / pretend / dress up as / win today?

Who did you play with in your class / at morning tea / at lunch?

Did you play with anyone who wasn’t in your class today?

Are they a good friend? How/why?

Are you a good friend? How/why?

What did you do at the pool today? (flipper boards, noodles, duck, balls, yellow frog board, get safely down the ladder, walk around the pool, watch from the side, put my feet in)

What equipment did you play with at morning tea / lunch? (basketball, soccer ball, hula hoop, skipping rope, rainbow ball, cones, chalk, netball hoops, basketball hoops)

Where did you play at morning tea / lunch time? (field, junior courts, senior courts, barn, outside of my classroom, around the hall, on the hill, in the tunnel, on the senior playground, junior playground, green slide (jnrs), yellow slide (snrs) on the climbing frame (snrs), monkey bars, outside the staffroom on the library steps, hall steps, in front of Room 9/10, behind Room 9/10 on the field, in the library)

Maths

What day / month / season is it today?

What weather did you see today?

Did you solve any problems today with your group?

What was your solution?

What materials did you use to work it out? (Bears, beads, shells, money, counters, beans, popsicle sticks, tens frames, dice, gems)

Writing

What did you write about today?

What did you use to do your writing today? (pencil, crayons, butterfly card, blue card, writing book, whiteboard, whiteboard pen, scissors, glue)

What is your writing goal?

Who helped you with your writing today?

Reading

Did you help anyone?

What book did you read today?

Who else is in your reading group?

Was your book too easy, too hard or just right?

Did you use any strategies when you were reading? (stretchy snake, eagle eye, rerun rabbit, chunky monkey, jump frog)

What is your favourite page? Why do you like it?

Make links between the book and your child’s experiences

E.g. “Remember when you saw / did / tried to…. [whatever the book is about]” or

“Wow, this book reminds me of [a memory / life experience / family member]”

Te Reo

Can you teach me your Karakia?

Can you show me it on YouTube? (Search Karakia Video)

Can we practice your mihi / pepeha?

What is your favourite waiata? (Tihei mauri ora, te aroha, tena koutou, e toru nga mea)