Junior News

By Felicia Ward | Posted: Thursday June 1, 2023

Titiro whakamuri, Kōkiri whakamua - Look back and reflect, so you can move forward

PBL & Play

If you have visited our classes during the last term, you may have noticed our aspiring little astronauts in action. They have been enthusiastically engaged in activities such as building telescopes to explore the sky, creating rockets to embark on space adventures, and learning about the planets. One of our most exciting highlights was the recent visit from Andrew at Otago Museum. Andrew amazed us by helping us launch rockets into the sky using air, fizzing tablets with water, and combining baking soda with vinegar. Some lucky children even had the opportunity to transform a balloon into a fiery spectacle - please see the attached photos. It was a truly special experience witnessing the children's excitement and their eagerness to learn more! We are now eagerly looking forward to our upcoming visit to the planetarium at the museum towards the end of this month. Permission forms will be sent out soon.

Structured Literacy

The teaching of literacy has become a hot topic in the media lately. You may have watched Patrick Gower's recently premiered documentary, which draws attention to the critical issue of literacy in New Zealand.

In the documentary, the structured literacy approach was highlighted as a promising solution to improving our literacy rates. At Kaikorai, we have been implementing this approach for two years and can attest to the positive results, particularly in terms of the connection between reading and writing.

Structured literacy is an evidence-based approach to teaching reading and writing that focuses on systematically and explicitly instructing the foundational skills necessary for literacy development. While it is particularly effective for individuals with dyslexia or other reading difficulties, it can benefit all learners.

This term, in the junior syndicate, we are collaborating to provide needs-based explicit teaching. This means that children have the opportunity to spend 15 minutes, four times a week, with a teacher to learn essential skills such as the alphabet, rhyming, blending and segmenting, and spelling rules. The children are thoroughly enjoying this dedicated time and working alongside their fellow students in the syndicate, and we are seeing great success.

If you have any questions about structured literacy at Kaikorai, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Once again, we thank you for your continued support.

Warm regards,

Felicia Ward & the Junior Teachers

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