No images? Click here 22 October 2021Pinehurst School NewsletterOpening Words from the Executive Principal...Kia ora tatou, good afternoon, 你好, 안녕하세요 I’ve just been watching the Prime Minister announce the “Covid-19 Protection Framework”, so I thought I should start with a couple of quick comments about this. The new traffic lights system does, I think, give us a bit of certainty for the future. Once 90% of eligible people in each District Health Board in Auckland have had two doses (and we have very nearly reached 90% of people having had one dose), we will move to “Red” on the new system, which looks a bit like Level 2, provided you are vaccinated. So there will be vaccination certificates for all of us, and those of us who are double-vaccinated are likely to have a lot more freedom by the end of November. In the new system, schools are open under all the traffic light levels: Red, Orange and Green. This means that I do expect us to be able to welcome all our children back into school before the end of term. It is still possible we may get our students back in school earlier than this, but I am very hopeful that we will have a couple of weeks back together so we can celebrate the end of the year together. It’s been a tale of two schools this week. Our senior students have walked purposefully into school, full of great expectations, curious to see how their exams will be working, papers flapping, away from their house for the first time in some cases. They have been greeted by an army of our staff, everyone conscientiously sticking to our stringent health rules, and it’s felt just a little bit more like a school. For our children in Years 1 to 10, and for most of our teachers, life has continued much as before. There have been some real highlights online, and lots of life and colour, but also, I know, a real desire to get back to school. I’m going to talk about some forward planning in this message, as I think I’ve talked enough about how we’re managing exams and about our preparations for the return of students. Just to reiterate, though: we are maintaining our strict bubble system, as well as everything else, including air purifiers, cleaning, ventilation, masks and sanitiser next week. This applies to the exams, and to our Primary bubbles. It’s the safest way to do it, and we prioritise that. I do wish we would have been given the chance to open the school to more students in a safe way, and I’m hoping that we have some dates for the return of younger children next week, but next week for Pinehurst will look pretty much the same as this week! So a little bit of information: First of all, we have been recruiting staff over the last few weeks and have made some great appointments in the Primary School, as well as appointing great new teachers of Spanish and Chinese. We’re currently appointing in English and Geography in College as well, and have some strong candidates. We are also advertising for a second School Counsellor, and for a new post: a co-ordinator of music performance. At the end of the month, sadly, Mr Patrick Ryoo leaves the school after 20 years looking after our International students, and we wish him the very best in the next stage of his life. He has been a caring, exuberant member of our community and we will miss him. We also have a couple of other teachers moving away from Auckland or retiring at the end of the year. I’ll talk more about the teachers in December. Our fundraising for College 5 and the Pinehurst Theatre is going well too – over $115,000 raised so far, even though we haven’t managed to run any events yet. Thank you to all those who have made a contribution. We’re currently scheduling some events for next year: more details in early 2022! We have also decided that we will try to run our Valedictory Dinner in early 2022, when we should be able to have the event in our usual way. We have rescheduled the Anniversary Dinner for early 2022 as well, but we will be running hybrid Prizegivings at the end of the year. Those plans are well underway. Finally, a quick reminder to parents of students in Year 7 upwards. If you’re able to complete the vaccination status form, I’d be very grateful. Just click on Pinehurst.nz/covidstudent and complete the form. Enjoy the weekend, try to dodge the rain, and hope to see you soon. (There were, by the way, five increasingly desperate references to Dickens novels in the first two sentences. Apologies…) Kia kaha, Alex Reed 如需阅读校长的中文留言和重要事件日期,请点击此处 Dates for your DiaryKia ora, The sun shone a few times this week and there seemed to be a promise of warmer days. In the Primary we know that we are possibly in for many more weeks of home learning and whilst that is not what we want or prefer we can decide to make the best of it. I was watching a commentator on the news last night talk about the positives of home learning for Primary aged children and he pointed out, as many of our students have, that they get to spend more time with their families. As parents we are constantly rushing around and berating ourselves for not spending more time with our children. That is not to say that sometimes that can be really hard, especially when they are tired and not really wanting to engage in their learning but, we are getting to spend time with our children that we wouldn’t have otherwise had. In my house there have been more family dinners, discussions about life and lots of laughter. We have balloons left over from a birthday that get kicked around and passed between us which should have gone a long time ago but hey it’s fun! The animals are happier for seeing us constantly and we have realised that we are lucky to all get along so well. Our Year 6 students told us this week that they are missing school and their friends but they really value the time they get to spend at home with their family and pets. In the near future when we reach some kind of normality we will look back at these times and be grateful in many ways I am sure. A long weekend will be appreciated and when we are back on Tuesday afternoon we will all gather together virtually for the NED show which teaches children about getting along together, being kind and standing up for others. Everyone remembers the yoyo tricks from these shows and they will also be available to purchase online and collect from school so that no one misses out! Kia kaha, kia pai to rā whakata, stay safe and have a good weekend. Sian Coxon, Principal of Primary
Our Online New Family Meet and Greet!Fun with the Primary Bubble!P1 this Term..P1 have been so busy in these first two weeks of Term 4. Despite only being at school for either two or three terms, they are already writing stunning versions of well-known Fairy Tales. The writing process begins with listening to a version of the Fairy Tale, then together we devise something which we call our ‘Story Map’- a mixture of drawings and words. This in essence becomes our plan for writing. We ‘learn’ and practice actions to help us remember the sequence and events from the story. Then when it comes to the ‘Big Write’, which is what we call our very special writing which, when we are in school is written on distinctive paper and displayed on the wall in our classroom, we can remember the story outline from our well-rehearsed story map. The Story Map helps the 'Big Write', here is an example from the student who read above. Writing is just a part of our Literacy in P1, we also learn and work on new sounds in Phonics and are keeping up our Reading using Reading Eggs and of course online books. In Maths, the New Entrants have been consolidating their knowledge of identifying 3D shapes, whilst the Year 1’s have been learning how to divide a whole into equal fractions. The Year 1’s can identify equal halves of a whole item or amount and equal quarters of a whole item or amount. Mrs Aston and I would like to say a really big THANK YOU to the parents and caregivers of P1, without their help lots of this stunning work would not reach us! Thank you everyone! Fairy Tales in P5!In P5 this term we are excited to be exploring Fairy Tales. We have been writing character descriptions using adjectives and similes to create pictures in the reader’s mind of what the character looks like. When describing the Queen/Stepmother in Snow White, Amelia wrote, ‘The Queen is beautiful but ugly inside of her. She has a purple dress and a gold crown with a pearl on top of the crown. Her cape is as black as night and as white as snow!’ For our Big Write Adventure this week we have been learning about ‘The Wolf’s Tale’ and doing a character description of the big bad wolf. Emma said, ‘The wolf had teeth as sharp as razors!’ In Science we are learning about plants, starting with sorting, and classifying items to see if they are living or non-living. We have also been listing the characteristics of what all living things can do. In Global Perspectives we have been learning about, ‘The world of work,’ and looking at the different jobs that people do in our area. We talked about what we would like to be when we grow up. Leslie would like to be a car mechanic, Emily a teacher and artist, Cynthia and Grace want to be vets, Amelia wants to be a singer, Emma wants to a youtuber, and Brennan wants to be an artist and superhero! In Health we are learning about courage. We have been noticing and celebrating times in which we have all been courageous! We have been having fun doing our Animal Adventure activities too! P7's Online LearningP7 can’t believe it is Term 4 already, no one wants this year to end. This term is full of robots and electricity, with such a variety of learning happening throughout the curriculum. The shared novel we are reading is called “The Wild Robot” by Peter Brown. It is about a robot who was washed ashore of an island and the quest for survival. The class read a couple of chapters each day and explore characters, concepts and new vocabulary. The anticipation of the next chapter is exciting. The student’s designed their own robots and described their capabilities. The students are really enjoying being able to make their learning authentic by measuring in the kitchen while exploring maths concepts. It was fun to find different objects that were heavier and lighter than a kilogram. Students also compared and measured capacity looking at bottles, cans and measuring cups. A Terrific Start to Term 4The students of P11 have started the new term with energy and enthusiasm. Although it may not be our usual start to the term, the students have shown their resilience and self-management skills in adjusting to the current online learning environment. In Maths, the students have been learning how to interpret and present data in different ways. We have explored tallies, pictograms and bar charts. The young mathematicians have been analysing surveys and answering questions based on visual displays of data. In Reading, P11 have been learning how to use clues and cues from the text, coupled with their own knowledge, to make an inference. We have become skilled in highlighting key information and words from the text to support their thinking and are using a range of strategies when doing so. In Writing, the students have started a new Big Write Mission in which they are exploring the work of archaeologist, Dr. Ravenscroft, who has made a discovery of pre-historic drawings in a cave! We are preparing to re-create the old legend from long ago. We have enjoyed sharing their thoughts and ideas with each other during our class discussions. This week, we enjoyed Animal Adventure Afternoon! In P11, we watched live footage of elephants and tigers from San Diego Zoo! We also tuned into live coverage of otters and sharks from Monterey Aquarium! The students then completed some independent activities including Origami animals, animal masks and even some dog toys for our special furry friends! Learning with P12In Maths this week we are working on whole numbers and negative numbers. We now understand that negative numbers mean colder and whole numbers mean warmer. This learning has aided us to confidently read and interpret negative numbers on a number line. Working in breakout rooms has been an excitement in P12, it means friends can help each other and continue to build rich ideas! Global Learning We started the term enthusiastically learning about PrEP (Primary Enterprise Programme). Through PREP, students will understand these concepts; people and businesses keep financial records of their transactions. Businesses offer employment to people, and pay employees an income. We are now in the early stages where we are exploring and understanding entrepreneurial skills. This week we worked in groups of 4’s to design a name tag. P12, what an excitement it was to pop in and out of breakout rooms and watching you work beautifully together as a team. Writing In Writing this term P12 have just finished finialising a Big Write topic called ‘Space Tourism’. They have consolidated their learning in creating persuasive advertising that are have form, purpose and audiences. They have become experts writing agents, in identifying and writing alliterations, rhetorical questions, superlatives and other emotive vocabulary to persuade using facts to justify opinion and strengthen argument. Assembly time in P12 is always a special time where our class gets to share or perform a musical item every Tuesday. P20 this weekP20 Poets We have just begun to delve into writing our own poetry this term. So far, we have looked at and writing a limerick and a cinquain. The rules for cinquains are simple and if you look at the ones we have shared, you can probably quickly spot the pattern. On the other hand, limericks, which are enjoyable and fun to read, but very tricky to write. We wrote one together about a special person in our school, Terry Shepherd, who will all miss very much. A Limerick by P20 There once was a kind man called Terry Who was always delightful and merry, He drives a golf-cart And has a big heart And he’s as sweet as a berry.
Cinquains Halloween Spooky, creepy Spine-chilling, Trick-or-treating, Frightening Were-wolf and full moon Haunted By Mary Seo
Car Bright, shiny Honking, steering, turning Gets me to school Automobile By Peter Shi
Skiing Snow, freestyle Training, racing, bombing Thriller, enjoyable, exhilaration, excitement Alpine By Amber Kim
Lockdown Slow, hated Painful, long, idiotic Staying home, watching Netflix Home By Dylan Morgan P20 Mathematicians We have been learning about the parts of a circle and we made compasses. No, not the ones which help you find North, South, East and West. The ones that you use to make circles. Simply using a piece of card, a thumb-tack and 2 sharp pencils we were able to draw perfect circles with a radius of 4cm. We then used marks on the circumference to make a hexagon. After that, we drew arcs on our circles to create patterns. Music in PrimaryYear 1 Storytelling through Music Students in Year 1 have been learning about how timbre and pitch are used to tell us about different characters in a story. We have enjoyed listening to Carnival of the Animals and Peter and the Wolf. Last week students enjoyed ‘The Aquarium’ from Carnival of the Animals and illustrated their own under water worlds. It was great seeing the children getting up and moving, imitating some of the other characters too. Year 2 and 3 Introduction to composition Students created short patterns in different time signatures using Music Lab. We discussed the different pitch of different drum parts which will lead us into melodic composition in the coming weeks. Year 4 – Putting ostinatos to music using xylophones Last term students composed explored ostinato from a range of genres and composed their own ostinato rhythms. They have been adding pitch to these rhythms using an online xylophone. Next week, students will be exploring timbre and the effect that different instruments can have on their compositions. Year 5 and 6 Composition on Noteflight We have been exploring familiar short rhythmic and melodic phrases and practicing notating these in the notation software, Noteflight. Students have learned about drum and standard notation in this pre-composition task. We will be exploring some song writing apps in the coming weeks and will return to Noteflight to write our own compositions. Kia Ora, I have been back in school for the full week and must admit that I have really enjoyed the experience, despite not being able to have all of our students back. With the long time away from our normal environment it is easy to become a bit disconnected. It is important that we take notice of this in the college and look to adapt what we are doing for our younger students as we move forward. We have examinations coming up in Week 4 for them, which is a good focal point. Beyond that we are making some plans and seeking student voice to ensure that we maintain motivation and engagement. On student voice, I had one of our senior students contact me before we started our external examinations expressing concern and reluctance to come into school to sit his exams. I could understand his concerns and we were able to discuss them. Yesterday I caught up with the same student, he has had a busy start to the examination session and so has walked past me a few times over the week. He told me yesterday that he has his last examination next Wednesday, and that this is the best exam session that he has had. He has enjoyed how calm it has been and he felt that the systems have helped him perform to his best. This is great to hear, particularly from a student who was so concerned, and I hope that all of our students are feeling the same way. I hope that everyone enjoys the long weekend. I will be in contact with parents of Years 7-10 early next week after the next Government announcement to confirm our plans for examinations for our junior students. Nga mihi, Kieran Verryt, Principal of College
Poems from Year 9In lockdown, the Year 9's have been learning and creating a form of poem called a kenning. This is a form of poem based completely on metaphors that are like riddles for the reader to figure out what the poem is about. The word kenning comes from an old Norse verb which means 'to describe' or 'to understand'. Starting off with a base word and a determinate we slowly brought our unique poems to life. After Ms Daly helped us analyse multiple poems of different times and genres we were able to have an understanding of them, she instructed us to create a kenning. We picked our favourite kennings from our class.
Music in CollegeYear 7 Composition using Chord Player and Bandlab I have been blown away with the creativity of Year 7 students. They have very quickly familiarised themselves with Chord Player and Bandlab, created a chord progression and melody for their composition. They will be exploring the concepts of texture and form and using the loops function on Bandlab to add additional instruments. Year 8 and 9 Music classes focus on Composition this Term Since the start of the term, both year groups have been focusing on developing their compositional skills using a variety of music platforms, including Band Lab and Soundtrap. These programs allows students to create their own music pieces and if they wish to do so, record original material into is as well. We have been examining popular songs and analysing their structure in order to deepen the student’s understanding of how to maintain a flow but also introduce contrast and be able to transfer this knowledge to their own creations. It is always a pleasure to observe the students’ creativity during the topic. Digital TechnologyYear 9 Digital Technology students have been busy creating their own Digital Clock Applications. The level of coding required is challenging, calling for a range of different methods, functions, variables & arrays to store images to be used as numbers. The need to apply mathematical understanding & calculations, such as the order of operations, played a key role in the creation of our students’ apps. It is pleasing to see so many of our students applying their programming & mathematical knowledge to successfully complete their digital clocks. This week's maths problemThe solution to last week's problemUpcycling with P12... Advertising Pinehurst School... P10 working on their Cold Write... ScholasticIssue 7 from Scholastic has been released for orders. Please follow the link to the online catalogue here. To order any of these exciting titles, open the link below – note down the 3 numbers highlighted in black below each title and proceed to place your order via LOOP as you normally would. If you are new to our school please follow the link below, register your details, add your child, find your school and once this is complete, you are set up to place your order. https://mybookclub.scholastic.co.nz/Parent/Register.aspx |