Welcome to Term 2!

Kia ora whānau,

Welcome back to school in Term 2! This term is going to look very different for a while - teaching and learning at home is new to all of us - but together we can make it work. 

From now on, I am hoping to use Seesaw as the way to communicate with you and to set learning activities for your child. I hope that you were able to get your child signed in to Seesaw with the personalised class app code that I sent you. If you have any problems, let me know as soon as possible. If you enable “push notifications” in the Seesaw app, I’ve been told that it should notify you when new messages are posted. Remember that these activities are suggestions, and I certainly don't expect you to become a teacher for your child! There is also no expectation that your child should be sitting there doing set "school work" all day - this is not realistic or developmentally appropriate for this age group, even in a school setting. Play, family time and exercise are vitally important.

I know that families have all sorts of pressures on them at the moment and that children may be sharing devices with other people in the house, so I am not expecting your child to follow a timetable (but, if you like to work to a timetable, I have put a suggestion below). Each day I plan to send a morning greeting on Seesaw with one or more activities attached. I will also send out one or two other optional activities each day (reading, writing, maths, art, science, music, physical activity). They will be designed for your child to be able to complete with a little help from you, and can be completed at any time in the day that works for your family. I have also set work for your child in Mathletics and Sunshine Classics for maths and reading. Your child should already have their sign-in codes for these programmes (please let me know if you have any problems with these). There are also links to suggested activities on this blog if you are looking for other ideas. There will also be educational programmes on the Home Learning Channel set up by the Ministry of Education.

I will be checking in daily on student work in Seesaw, Mathletics and Sunshine Classics, and you can contact me via the messaging in Seesaw (parent app) or by email if you have any feedback, questions or problems. 

Ngā mihi,

Jenny