Last two weeks countdown!!

From now on we almost have something every day!

Year 8 parents .... we need baby photos of your beautiful children for our final assembly.  Please email them through!


Here is a calendar of events:

Monday 5 December
1.00 pm Production - "Clarkville Live" - Dress Rehearsal
6.30 pm "Clarkville Live" Performance

Tuesday 6 December
6.30pm "Clarkville Live" Performance

Wednesday 7 December 
Canterbury Athletic Championships

Thursday 8 December
Fish and Chips

Spud in Bucket judging
Learning Pathway Reports to go home

Friday 9 December
2017 transition visits to new classes
Wet and Wild Day - gold coin donation to Surf Life Saving

Monday 12 December
Year 8 Big day out  -  come to school and then we walk to the van Klink's.  Pick up at 2:15pm

Bring a snack to share,  money for Mr Whippy!
Year 8 Leavers dinner -  meet at the Gentry-Tucks (Heywards Road) at 6pm

Tuesday 13 December
2017 Transition visits to new classes
Picnic at Silverstream

Wednesday 14 December
Powhiri at Paparoa Street
Whakarewa Singing at the Airport

Thursday 15 December
1.30pm Certificates Assembly6.00pm Prizegiving and Year 8 Graduation Assembly

Friday 16 December
School finishes @ 12.30pm ~ bus will run at 12.30

The Year 8s will be busy finishing canvases, perfecting the waltz and writing end of year speeches. The Year 7s will be planning possibilities for new leadership positions, and ideas for projects.

Week 6 - Wakey wakey, shakey shakey!

Hi whanau!

Hopefully you have all managed to stay safe and dry. Remember to check in on neighbours, family and friends to make sure they are ok after that big shake!


Clarkville School will be closed for the day and hopefully you will manage to catch up on some well needed sleep. Our Facebook page will have up-to-date information, so that's probably the best place to check our progress.

If you are looking for some semblance of normality, here is some work on our team's website:

Aspire website

Weekly quiz

Maths - trigonometry investigations


This is by no means compulsory and our main focus is that everyone is ok.

Production

Rehearsals for production start this week and if you have some time, we would love for you to join us to help get the show going! Send us an email if you have some skills and time you could donate! Here's the timetable for the week:

Monday's production timetable will be moved to Tuesday so that the whole school will get to meet their groups and get a good overview of what is ahead and set out a plan.

Assembly

It's Explore's turn to share this week (Wk 6) and we will have two of our awesome Yr 8 leaders to lead this.

Aspire will be sharing next week (Wk 7) so stay tuned!


We're sending positive thoughts to those affected by the shakes, stay safe.

Week 5

Monday 7 November

We are half way through the term already!!

News for this week:

Year 7 Pathways and Year 8 Projects
We are on the final countdown for these!  Because of the Show on Wednesday, the final day for handing in Pathways and Year 8 Leadership books will be Monday 14 November.  For Year 7s this will be marking off the last few stars that may have been completed in the last week. We have been keeping the Year 7 students informed with the running totals of stars so far.



A&P Show

Remember to pack your lunch!

The format of the day is as follows –

9.00am – Assemble together at school in Buddy groups. Board the bus in these groups.

9.15am – All groups leave school

10.00am – Arrive at the show and ‘tour’ around in small groups with parent helpers

12.30am – LUNCH as a whole school at the Arena.

1.30pm – Leave the show and return to school

Children will assemble in their classrooms on return back to school and will be released by teachers at the usual time of 2.50pm.

Subway Orders
These will be Tuesday morning for Thursday Subway.

Parent and Student consultation for new principal
There has been an email out to parents to invite responses about the qualities you are looking for in a new principal. We will also be consulting our student community this week.

Week 3!

Welcome to Week 3!

Athletics
The weather is not so great for competition but it's looking like it will hold for the day. Here's the run down for the day:

Basic Facts (Maths - times tables)

After a recent assessment check in, it seems as though an alarming number of Aspire students  are struggling with their times tables. This makes their maths life difficult and in order to be at stage 7 (yr 7 & 8), one of the requirements is mastery of the times tables. This means that anyone who doesn't know them is in danger of not meeting the standards. How is your student going? Are they where they need to be? It's scary but some students are even struggling with their 4x tables! Eeeek!

We would love your help to get on top of this and it will make a big difference to how quickly they pick up new concepts and their confidence in doing maths.

Yr 7 Pathways & Yr 8 Leadership Projects

This is expected homework! Ask your student to show you their evidence. Pathways close on the day we go to the A&P Show!

Week 2

Good afternoon, it's Week 2  !!

This week we are back to our Aspire routines.  We have a new SRL up, focusing on the use of taglines, font and music to create a mood in video production.

Athletics practice has begun to prepare the children for next Wednesday.

We have assembly on Friday.

PCT
We have an opportunity to enter one team (four students) in the PCT competition this Friday.  We will let you know more details about this soon.

Homework
Homework this term will continue to be Pathways, Year 8 projects, basic facts, learning spelling and personal reading.

Week 9

Welcome to the last week of Term 3!!

Our many Notices!!! :

1.  A&P Show notice is due back

2.  School photos are tomorrow (Tuesday)

3.  Pizza Fundraiser on Friday

4.  AgClub and Spud in a Bucket notices are due back

5.  Year 7 Bush Survival Trip notices - due back on Friday.  Please let us know if you are able to help out!

6.  Year 7 Pathways and Year 8 Project sharing in Aspire,  Wednesday at 2:15pm

7.  Camp Wellington Gear list:

Week 8 News

We're in Week 8!!!

News this week:

Koru Games:
This Tuesday and Wednesday.
Please read the post below for details.
You will need to be at school at 6:45am on BOTH DAYS.
Students will be given their uniform when they arrive. 
They will need - a warm Clarkville jacket, large lunch, drink bottle (and hat + sun block if they are outside), any medication
We will return to school by 3:30pm approx.

Kapahaka
We have an afternoon and evening performance on Thursday.
Tickets for the evening performance are available from the office (it will be door sales for the afternoon performance).

Assembly
Assembly this Friday will feature music performances.

Presentation of learning:  Year 8 Projects and Year 7 Pathways
This will be at 2pm on Wednesday 21 Sept (next week).  Please come along and check out what our students have been up to with their home/school learning.

Week 7 News

Welcome to Week 7!

 In Aspire this week:

 Down the Back Paddock

Tuesday and Wednesday 9am - 12.30pm our team will be involved in the rural safety program.

Paid Union Meeting

Wednesday school finishes at 12.30pm. Buses will arrive at this time. Please notify us as soon as possible if you are unable to pick up your student at this time. The school will still be open but running on a skeleton staff.

Koru Games

Students are busy training for the Koru Games. Parent help is still needed to help this event run smoothly, contact Vikki if you are able to help. Here's a link to the doc so you can keep up to date!




Staff First Aid Training

Thursday morning (very early), staff will be undergoing first aid training. While we will be in the school, we won't be in the team but our usual Thursday staff will be.

Homework

Yes, your student does have homework! Yr 8's should be entering data into their leadership books - every night! Yr 7's should be completing pathways. Both groups should know their times tables - you'd be surprised how many don't ... does your student?

Thanks so much for your continued support. As always, feel free to drop in to Aspire to say hi or have a quick chat.

Have a great week!

Vik & Linda

Week 6

Welcome to Week 6

In Aspire this week:

Future Problem Solving lock-up
12 students competing in FPS will be 'locked up' for 2 hours to complete their problem solving booklet.  This will run from 9:15am to 11:15am on Wednesday.

Koru Games

• Tuesday 13th & Wednesday 14th Sept
• Students will travel by bus, to and from the games except for the Tennis and Table Tennis teams who are playing in Prebbleton and Rolleston (who will be transported in parent cars)
• Cost is $40/student which covers transport and entry fees
• Student teams are HERE

We are also still looking for more parents to help coach/manage a team for the event. You don't need to commit to both days, but if you could, we would really appreciate assistance. Click here to CONTACT ME(Vikki) to advise on which day & sport you would prefer.  I can't wait to hear from you!

Kapahaka

A notice will go home this week for the NC Kapahaka celebration on 15th September. Children are busy learning words and practising poi.

Down the Back Paddock

Experts on various safety topics will be working with Explore and Aspire next week. We have 11 different experts delivering workshops!

Homework

Please encourage your child to practise Basic Facts (times tables) and read our set novel at home.

Week 5 ... it's nearly Ski Day!

Can you believe that we are more than half way through Term 3? Where has the time gone? Here's some of the exciting things to come this week:

ASB - Financial Literacy

• Yr 7's on Monday afternoon and Yr 8's on Tuesday afternoon

Go on, ask them what they have learned, you'll be surprised with what they know!

Koru Games

• Tuesday 13th & Wednesday 14th Sept
• Students will travel by bus, to and from the games except for the 2 teams who are playing in Prebbleton (who will be transported in parent cars)
• Cost is $40/student which covers transport and entry fees

Students have started practicing on Thursdays with Mr B in preparation for the games. We are also still looking for more parents to help coach/manage a team for the event. You don't need to commit to both days, but if you could, we would really appreciate assistance. Click here to CONTACT ME (Vikki) to advise on which day & sport you would prefer.  I can't wait to hear from you!

Kapahaka Festival

• Thurs 15th Sept - Ohoka School Community Hall

Students have been rehearsing every Friday and are sounding fierce! I can't wait to experience my 1st festival!

Ski Day

It's this Wednesday! This will be my 1st experience playing in snow! Can you tell I'm just a little excited? Students who are not skiing are expected to be attending school and an alternative program will be running.

Cantamath Competition

• This Wednesday (24th Aug)
• Yr 7's involved will be leaving school at 2.45 to head to Horncastle Arena
• Yr 7 event begins at 4pm and the Yr 8 event starts at 5pm
• Both competitions will be finished by 6pm. Please advise Linda ASAP if there are any issues with picking up your student on time.
• Yr 7 Reserves are welcome to join us at the venue but transport will need to be arranged by their parents.

Good luck to our teams!

Sausage Sizzle

• This Friday

Please remind your student to bring their money and order their sausages ($2 each) in the library before school on Friday. 

Uniforms

It's getting warmer (well, it's all relative I guess!) and we seem to be building our collection of unclaimed jackets/jumpers. Do any of these look familiar?    

This lonely collection were all left, unloved, in Aspire at the end of today. Mostly they are un-named, which makes it difficult for them to find their way back onto the loving arms of their owners. If your students are feeling the cold, get them to check the jackets here for theirs!

That's all the exciting news from us! Have a fantastic week and feel free to pop in to say hi!

Vik & Linda

Week 4

We're in the middle of August ... winter is almost over!!

Teacher Only Day
We had a fabulous day with Pam Hook. We know we are really on track for children's learning with our use of SOLO taxonomy. Pam summed up deep learning in the following 3 steps:
- gather ideas
- make connections with these ideas (e.g. sequence, compare and contrast, study effects)
- take these ideas further (e.g. find new solutions, make generalisations, make predictions)

She shared a number of fabulous tools to help us work with children and develop their thinking skills.

Koru Games
We are finalising details for these games. Information will be sent out this week regarding our teams, practice and parent help required.

Camp Wellington
Notices will be going home this week. Remember we have a bacon fundraiser if you want another fundraising opportunity.

Assembly
Aspire will be featuring in Assembly this week - come along and see our creative news items!

Week 3 Term 3

Week 3

It has been great to see our first four Year 8 students capped at Assembly. The remaining Year 8s will be busy catching up with capping evidence.

North Canterbury Cantamaths
This is being held in the MPF on Tuedsay from 9am.

Hot Chocolate Fundraiser
$2 for a hot chocolate and cookie this Wednesday.

Ski Notices
Please make sure notices are back this week.

Week 2 Term 3

Back into the swing of the term already!

Aspire have been busy understanding fair tests and investigating some sports science.  So, is mental rehearsal as effective as physical practice when testing throwing accuracy?  Our groups are designing experiments to find out.  Check out the Aspire learning website to keep up with our SRL 'Level Up' tasks.
https://sites.google.com/a/clarkville.school.nz/aspire2016/srl

Our Inquiry groups are working on telling the Clarkville story - when we generate some interest with Clarkville Live we hope we get lots of traffic to our school website and visitors can watch videos about our story.

Other notes:
Assembly this week
Launch will be featuring this week. We also hope to have our first Year 8 capping for this year ... stay tuned!

Camp Wellington
The Year 8s are invited to design the front and back of the Camp Wellington t-shirts (using either A4, A3 or computer based designs)
Our next Pizza fundraiser is on Friday 12 August.

Disco
Disco is this Friday from 6pm to 8pm.

Pathways and Leadership Projects
These are coming along nicely. The Year 8s will be able to work on their projects on Friday afternoons, and the Year 7s can also use this time to plan and research their Emerging Leaders project (6 stars on pathways).

Ski Day
Wednesday 24th of August. Notices are available from Discover.

Week 1 Term 3

Welcome to Term 3 - Halfway through the year already!!

We loved the learning conferences last term - the children communicated their learning brilliantly and it's great to touch base with families.


Our news:

Aspire Class Programme
We will be continuing our standard SRL programme which includes basics and Level Up (Level up builds critical thinking and addresses our Reading goals).
Our serial story this term is Unwind by Neal Schusterman. This will also be linked to reading goals and a study into character, plot and theme. Aspire students will be able to read an e-book copy of this book while we complete our study.

Cantamaths teams
The North Canterbury Cantamaths is on Tuesday the 9th of August. 
Our teams will be busy preparing for this.
Year 8:  Lucas Kerry, Macy Smith, Sasha Henley, Hunter Henley
Year 7:  Charlotte Roche, Kieran Sinclair-Lomax, Helaman Hatcher, Gino Ritchie  (res: Noah Mauger, Ella Hartel)

The ChCh (town) Cantamath competition is on Wednesday 24 August. There is a clash with our ski day, so we are looking at some possible solutions for this.

Camp Wellington
Pene will be sending out an update this week.  We will also start a Wellington t-shirt design competition for the Year 8s.

Pathways
We will be organising some lunchtime catch-ups for Year 7 students who have yet to complete any pathways stars. We expect all Year 7 students to complete Pathways for homework, and the alternative would be weekly homework sheets (reading,maths etc).

Year 8 Leadership Project
This term the Year 8s should be finishing off their projects (or completing some action that can be continued). We will organise an afternoon near the end of the term for the Year 8s to showcase their work.

ICAS English
Tuesday 2 August

PTA Disco
Friday 5 August

Week 10

Kia ora koutou

Te wiki o te reo Māori
This week is Māori Language Week. Your children will be encouraging you to speak some reo this week - we need evidence in person, on video or by email!!  Earn points for your family and go into the prize draw!

Here's one way our kids are having fun for Māori Language Week!

Learning Conferences
The Aspire children have been sharing their learning with confidence - we are very proud. We have two more days of conferences this week and an early finish on Wednesday (1pm)

Year 8 Pizza fundraiser
Michelle Smith and Karen Gentry-Tuck will be managing the pizza fundraiser this week.

Last week of the term!!

Week 9

Kia ora koutou 

The Learning Conferences start this week. We are so impressed with the Aspire students and the way they can talk about their learning. They have a great understanding of where they are working at, and what they need to focus on next. 

 Reminders for this week: 

 Fish and Chip orders on Thursday 

 Good luck to the choir - they have worked so hard this term! 

 In class: 

 We are continuing to work on argument writing and using evidence. Over the next two weeks this will be based on "The -est " - smallest, tallest, longest. 

 We are starting our new Clarkville Live inquiry - this time we build on the personal narrative by getting the school's story out to the world! 

 Homework 

We have had a few questions about homework. 

For Year 7s: Pathways 
Year 8s: capping evidence and leadership project 

Homework will always include maths practice on Mathletics and reading. Many Aspire students need to work on Basic Facts (times tables)

Week 8

Yes, this term is flying by!

Happenings this week:

Wig Wednesday
A student council fundraiser for child cancer.  Bring along a gold coin and wear your favourite wig!

Student-led learning conferences
These begin next week. There have been emails and information in the newsletter about making bookings for these.
We are busy in Aspire preparing for the conferences, with students focused on reflecting on their goals.

Assembly on Friday

Choir practice
Thursday morning.   Technology has been notified about the choir students not being able to attend this session.

Basic Facts
We are having a big focus on basic facts in Aspire - only 17 students have reached 'Immunity'!!  There are great websites for basic facts practice, and we have sheets available in Aspire to take home for extra practice.

We are looking forward to seeing you over the next two weeks at Learning Conferences!

Week 7!

I can't believe how fast this year is flying! How can we already be in Wk 7 of term 2? We'll be off to the ski slopes before we know it!

Here's the look ahead for this week:

ICAS

It's spelling & writing tasks this week. Sounds like fun, right?


TRIP TO TOWN

On Tuesday we head to the Margaret Mahy playground for some adventure! Aspire will have a sneaky peek backstage at the Isaac Theatre Royal and have a chat to staging staff about set design. This ties in perfectly with our Level Up where our students are designing & building their own miniature sets. They will then use them to shrink themselves into them using the magic of a green screen. We can't wait to share the results with you.

Thanks so much to the parents who have given up their time on Tuesday to come and play with us! Here is the run-down:

9:00am - Roll and outline for the day in teams. Students need to be briefed on expectations around behaviour etc at this time. Also toileting and checking for jackets, lunch etc.

9:15am - Board buses for trip to town (parents to begin drive to town in own cars)

9.45am - Off buses at MM playground - Morning tea until parents arrive to take responsibility for their group.

10.00 - 11.30: Exploring playground equipment

11.30 - Walk to square via Armagh St, New Regent St, Gloucester St (Theatre Royal), Dance-o-mat and Tree houses (corner Gloucester and Colombo)

1.00pm - Lunch in the Square for everyone - final opportunity for toileting

1.30 - 2:00pm - Kapa Haka flashmob in Cashel Mall

2:15pm - Travel back to school.

 We will be filming the students performing & using this as part of our Clarkville Live theme.


PIZZA FUNDRAISING

Friday will be the next round of pizza fundraising. Orders will be taken in the morning at the Library.


SCARED SCRIPTLESS

Performance is this friday night. Make sure you have your tickets and babysitters organised!


If you haven't already had a look at our student run blog, check it out! The kids are showing off their critical thinking skills and you will see some of their personal narratives showcasing here! <-- click the link!

Week 6

Hi Aspirians! Keeping you in the loop, here's the week ahead!


CHOIR PRACTICE

Wednesday 9.30-12.30


INQUIRY

Students are sharing their personal narrative work Wednesday afternoon. You are most welcome to come along to see the presentations from 1.40 pm in Aspire. They have been working on these since the start of the term and we're looking forward seeing their masterpieces!


ENVIRO TRIP

Students are going to Silverstream to plant (Thursday). This is for students not in the choir. They will be leaving at 11.45am (by bus) and returning by 1.45pm ready for PE.


SUBWAY ORDERS

Subway for lunch on Thursday! Orders will be taken in the library on Wednesday.


FAMINE CAMP

Thursday night in the MPF, it's a sleepover at school! Your student should have the following equipment with them:

• Bedding
• PJ's
• Clean underwear
• Toothbrush
• Food to share for the 'Last Supper' at 6.30pm

Please do not arrive before 6.15pm

ASSEMBLY

Our leaders for this week's assembly are Josh Methven & Amiria Gentry-Tuck. We are confident they will do an amazing job!

Week 5

Hi Aspire parents

Week 5

Friday Options and Sport
This Friday we have Options and Sport starting. Some Options have a cost associated with it or equipment they need to bring  (e.g. Senior Cooking- Masterchef).

Student Council Fundraiser
There is a dress-up fundraiser on Friday.  More details to follow!

Pathways
It's great to see the Year 7s completing Pathways tasks.  We have asked the children to find us at SRL time to get these marked.

Class Website
Our learning website is accessible at all times. If your child is away from school, it would be great if they could keep an eye on the website so they are aware of the work that is happening at school.

Famine Camp
Famine Camp is on the night of Thursday June 9.

Week 4

Coming up this week:

Friday Sport
For Aspire, Football teams start competing on Friday. A notice will have gone home if your child is playing sport this term.

Options
Options start next week. Children will be making their choices this week.
If you are happy to help out with Options please let us know. We didn't have enough keen students to make up a Year 7&8 rugby team, but it would be great if we could get this happening for Options with a parent volunteer.

Envirotech
We had a fun visit to the Biota Node at Silverstream last week. This will be an ongoing focus for our Thursday enviro sessions, as the children will be planning how the biota node will be planted.

Assembly
Aspire are presenting the item at Assembly this week. We have Owen and Sophie as MCs.

CIA:  Supporting learners in literacy
This seminar is on Thursday from 5:30 - 7pm

Student Blog
We are aiming to add new posts to this every week.  Check it out!  https://matawaraaspire2016.blogspot.co.nz/

Week 3

Welcome to Week 3 - the great weather seems to keep coming!

Things to note for this week:

1.  Cross Country
This is on Wednesday. We will be walking down at 9:15am.
As we are staying on for an Enviro visit the children will need their lunch, a warm top, a water bottle and any medication they might need.
You are most welcome to come along and watch the race.

2.  Visit to Silverstream
Emma Betts has been introducing Aspire to Biota Nodes. We have our own node at Silverstream which the children will be investigating on Wednesday afternoon. We will have lunch at the pony club after the cross country and then walk to Silverstream. Emma, Dan and Toni (from the Green Team) will work with the children and explain the significance of the Biota Node. We will have enough adults at the site (including Eamonn Murphy), however you are most welcome to tag along and find out more about our Year 7&8 Enviro programme.

3. Debating
Our two teams prepared well and debated fiercely! Unfortunately they did not win their rounds and will not go further in the competition. We are hoping to have some Aspire debating later this term.

4.  Student Blog
We have a student blog up and running which will be managed by the Aspire students. The first posts are linked to our current SRL topic - bioethics.  Students will be adding to the posts throughout the week.  Feel free to have a read and jump on with a meaty reply!  We would love to have your input.
The blog is here:  http://matawaraaspire2016.blogspot.co.nz/

Welcome to Week 2!

Woah, I can't believe we've just started week 2, this year feels like it's going so fast! I hope you have had a great holiday and the transition back into school was not too traumatic. Here are a few things happening both in our teams and around the school this week:

• Cross country is coming up on Wednesday 18th May. 
• Thanks so much to the parents who have already filled those out and had them returned to us - it makes organisation for the event just a little easier. 

• We plan on walking around the course this Friday (13th May) in order for the kids to be familiar with the track so they can confidently navigate it on the day. In order for this to happen, we need 3 parents to help us safely walk down to the course (1 1/2 hour of your time). If you feel like an excuse to go for a walk, could you please send Linda or I an email (v.grant@clarkville.school.nz OR l.baran@clarkville.school.nz)

• Debating - After listening to all contender's 1 minute speech (which were of a high standard), we have selected the teams based on delivery and content. Clarkville 1 will debate this Wednesday (11th May, 11.30am) against Kaipoi Borough and Clarkville 2 are competing against Swannanoa on Thursday (12th May, 11.00am). Parents are welcome to watch the debates which will both be taking place in the library. Congratulations to the following students who have made the debating teams:
• Team 1 - Amiria, Lucas, Gino, (reserve - Ella)
• Team 2 - Jorja, Sam, Ollie (reserve - Charlotte)

• Inquiry - the school had a great afternoon with speakers coming in to give examples on how to deliver a personal narrative. A number of modes were explored and our students were encouraged to think about their own narrative and the vehicle they would like to use to share their personal story.

• Assembly is this week (Friday 13th May). Our leaders, Dylan & Zoe, will be working in close association with our Techies in preparation for the ceremony. They will be focused this week on practicing their mihi and karakia. Team Whakarewa will be sharing their learning during this assembly.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns about your student's learning.

Have a great week!

Vikki

Term 2 Week 1

Welcome back!

For the first few weeks this term we are focusing on communicating Personal Narratives in Inquiry. Last term all students participated in workshops to build skills in movie making, podcasting, dance and art as possible vehicles to communicate a personal narrative. Every child will plan and create their own form of narrative.
Next week (Monday 9 May) we have a number of visitors coming to the school to present their narratives. It will be a great way for the children to experience quality models of personal narratives.

Year 7 Emerging Leaders
Over the course of the year we have a number of emerging leaders experiences planned for our Year 7s. We have invited James Beck from Attitude to talk to the Year 7s next Monday about leadership and 'bringing your A game' to everything you do.  This is an alternative to Young Leaders Day. In the past, only 10 students were able to participate in Young Leaders Day and we are keen to include all Year 7s in leadership experiences this year. 

Kaiapoi High
The leadership staff from Kaiapoi High will be speaking to our Year 7 and 8 students on Wednesday afternoon. Bruce Kearney (principal) will be staying at 2:50 to speak to parents and answer questions. Year 7 and Year 8 parents are welcome to come along.

Year 8 Pizza Fundraising
Our first date this term is Friday,  May 20.

Debating
We have the trials for our two debating teams on Friday afternoon. The children have been asked to prepare to speak for 1min on the affirmative or negative of this moot:  "Social media is anything but social." Only brief notes can be used as a guide.  We will looking for persuasive content and confident speakers. The first debate will be held next week against two North Canterbury schools.

Homework
Year 7 children should be completing Pathways and the Year 8s will be working through their research and completing diary entries for their leadership projects.

Reflections
The 'blue folders' will be going home on Wednesday with Learning Pathways and KC Learning Stories. Some of our children do not have a Learning Pathways folder - these can be purchased from the office.

Regards

Linda and Vikki

Week 11 - Last Week of Term!!

It's the end of term already!

That really flew by.  Thank you for all of the great support.
It's great how Aspire feels like a well connected team now, and all of the kids are settled into our weekly programme.

Our Inquiry
We are preparing for Clarkville Live by looking at ways that we can communicate our personal narratives. The trip to town provided us with a number of great examples of how art can represent our story. Our Finding Out workshops have also explored how Dance, Movies, Podcast and Art can communicate a story.

Whanau Hui
This Friday we will be holding our Whanau Hui after KapaHaka. You are welcome to join us at 12pm and have lunch at 12:15. We always appreciate hearing your ideas.

PTA Sausage Sizzle and Pedalmania
The PTA are organising a celebration for our kids with a free sausage sizzle and Pedalmania demonstration.

Holidays
We hope you have a relaxing holiday. We will be encouraging our children to keep up their reading and Mathletics. Homework for Year 7s is Pathways, and research/skill building for leadership projects for our Year 8s.

Week 8

Aspire Class Programme

At the start of each week, your students are given SRL basics to complete by the end of the week and it will usually contain: spelling (and literacy activities that relate to those words), handwriting, basic facts (maths times tables) and a weekly quiz. At the end of the week, students sit in groups of 3 and justify to their peers how many marks they should get - relating to whether or not those SRL basics are completed to an acceptable standard. We would love for you to check in and ask your student what they scored for the week. This seems to be a reasonable measure for how they are managing their time and becoming a responsible learner. As you can imagine, some handle this task better than others but there are a few strategies that the consistently successful students do:

• Use headphones to play music - this stops others talking to them which minimises distraction as well as tunes out other conversations and lets them focus on the task in front of them. We have around 15 sets of headphones, but we do encourage students to bring their own so that they don't have to rely on them being available.
• Get started as soon as they arrive in the morning - lots of time can be wasted here (over 2 hours!) and it really adds up by the end of the week. Those who don't manage this one seem to be the ones who consistently struggle to complete all tasks on time.
• Sitting away from people who may distract them

We hope that you could help encourage your student to make the smart choices that give them the best shot at learning.

SRL is one component of work for the week and within it, students work through an initiative called Level Up. This is teacher marked according to a rubric that is glued into each portfolio. We encourage students to self assess their work as they go through to ensure they are working at the appropriate literacy and critical thinking standards for their year level. We spend quite a lot of time encouraging them to think deeply about concepts and it is important they show us everything they know and understand. To further help students know what a piece of writing should look like, an exemplar is on display in the classroom for them to compare their work to. This strategy is great at showing students how to move their writing forward and develop their literacy skills. Due to Level Up taking a more in-depth approach, students usually have 2-3 weeks to complete it.

Aspire is not without a bit of fun and we make sure we get to go out for a game sometime during the day. Most of these have been teacher-lead but with so many students interested in flexing their leadership muscles, more and more of those activities will be run by the students.

The Year 8 students are completing goals, planning and research for the Year 8 Leadership project and the Year 7s have the Gold pathways underway. This should be what they are working on as homework so don't let them tell you they don't have any!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and for supporting your student to 'be more' in Aspire (and in life!). As always, feel free to pop in and say hi or send us an email if you have any questions or concerns. Have a fantastic Easter break and we look forward to seeing you soon.  

Week 7

Aspire Week 7

Class website is HERE

Gala:
Students have been preparing for the Gala with Emma to bag up pears and potatoes. Lachie has organised a student roster which is here
Year 8 parents are managing car parking with this roster. We might need to be flexible with timings as parents may also need to be available to assist with cars leaving. Funds raised will be divided equally between all those involved.
We could also have another parent on the second shift (tricky with Basketball)

3-4 people First shift:  3:30 to 4:30	3-4 people Second Shift:  4:30 until 6:30pm
Rebecca French Ian MacGillivray Erica Wheeler Jemma van Klink	Sarita/Scruff Kim/Dean

SRL
We have SRL basics (spelling, spelling activities, basic facts, handwriting, quiz) and the Memory Level Up which is due Wednesday next week.

Personal Narrative Collage for Inquiry
We will need magazines to complete the collage work.

Year 7 Pathways
Gold pathways doc is on our Aspire website (paper copies are available if required).  There is an expectation that 2-3 tasks will be completed by the end of term. The best way to share tasks is in a clearfile, online (blogs etc) or in an exercise book. We will mark and monitor work completed as it comes in.

Year 8 Leadership Projects
Almost all of the Year 8 students have decided on a goal for their project (this is an alternative to Pathways, and will be the Year 8 homework for 2016). The guidelines for the Leadership Project are on our class website. The first step is a clearly written goal, and then the students are expected to write out a plan (small steps, and an approx timeframe).  This is followed by research and skill building.  All of these steps need to be completed before the project starts (which will probably be in the middle of Term 2). We are having regular meetings to check in and monitor progress.

Next week:  triathlon on Tuesday,  Good Friday

Updated Year 7 Letter

This the updated letter sent home this week:

2016 Year 7 Emerging Leaders Camp February 22 and 23

Dear Parents,

This year our Year 7 Emerging Leaders camp will be held on Monday 22nd and Tuesday 23rd of February. It is held at the  Omaka Scout Camp (Greywacke Rd, Harewood, Christchurch) and will be an intensive learning experience based on developing leadership skills as well as students challenging themselves in outdoor experiences.  This is a terrific experience for the children and one that helps build resilience, problem solving, teamwork, outdoor skills and leadership. As part of their experience in developing independence and leadership skills, the children will face a number of challenges. The first of these will be getting everything they need to camp itself.

Parents are asked to transport their children to The Groynes (see attached map for drop off location) on Monday morning and to arrive between 9:00-9:15am. The children will walk from the Groynes to Omaka while taking part in river crossing activities, led by experienced instructors. Students must wear clothes and shoes that can get wet as well as a hat. Each child will be expected to carry their own backpack with clothing, personal requirements, lunch for day one and bed roll to camp.

On Monday evening, students will be sleeping in tents (erected in their groups), with boys and girls assigned separate camping spaces.  Your child will need a bed roll, pillow, and sleeping bag (see equipment list for more detail). One person per tent group will be responsible for supplying the tent but all will assist with putting it up. There are shower and toilet facilities in the camp grounds.

Tents, sleeping bags, dinner ingredients and cooking gear will be transported for them from The Groynes to the Omaka campsite.

Omaka Scout Camp is positioned next to a river and lake, and as a result, we will be utilising these facilities to include river crossing and kayaking activities (amongst others). The river crossing and kayak activities will be led by experienced instructors from Kiwi Outdoor Resilience Education (KORE).

Students have self-selected their food groups of up to 6 people/group and contain a mix of boys and girls. Preparing, cooking and cleaning up for Monday’s dinner is the responsibility of each food group and they will have accounted for any dietary requirements and be mindful of costs. Each food group will brief Linda or Vikki regarding their menu and responsibilities distribution (to help ensure equity). In the lead up to camp, they will have planned their group’s meal and delegated ingredients for each person to be responsible for bringing. Essentially, you supply the food on the Monday and the school will supply Tuesday’s food.

Children will be finished activities and ready to be collected from Omaka Scout Camp at 2.30pm on Tuesday afternoon.

As always, parent support is an essential part of the success of this camp.  Due to the water proximity and activities, we require 5 parent volunteers to join us for the 2 days, including staying overnight in tents. We realise this is a big ask, but it will be a heap of fun and we will be providing your food for the duration of the camp.

 

If you are able to help can you please email Vikki (v.grant@clarkville.school.nz), or Linda (l.baran@clarkville.school.nz) ,  or pop into Aspire.

The cost for this camp is $50 and needs to be paid (if possible) before  Thursday 18th of February.  

If there are any concerns about money or the cost of this experience then please come and speak to either Pene or us about it.  

Kind regards

Vikki Grant and Linda Baran

Aspire Teachers 2016

Packing list: Active clothing and shoes - dry (for running, jumping and climbing) and wet (for water activities) Togs (and a towel) for team building activities Sleeping bags, nightwear, pillows, toiletries and a bedroll - NO AIRBEDS OR STRETCHERS - think minimal Drink bottle, sunscreen, jacket, sunhat Plates, cutlery, cup and tea towel suitable for camping Homemade lunch & snacks for the first day Items for your group (e.g. tent, food, frypan, cooking utensils, camp stove, ingredients for dinner  - as needed by your group) ●   NO sweets, chips, energy drinks etc. ●   NO Digital devices –there is no time to take photos!