Term 4, Week 5

Term 4 – Week 5

Important Dates

Wednesday    Kids4Kids Concert at Bruce Mason Theatre, Takapuna

In this Issue

1.    Welcome to Sunnybrae

2.    COVID-19 – Alert Level 1

3.    Sun Hats

4.    Planning for 2021

5.    Year 6 Camp

6.    Sunnybrae Crossing

7.    Sunnybrae School Bush Working Bee – Saturday 31 October

8.    Athletics Day – 13 November

9.    Digital Technology Update

10.  PTA Updates: School Disco/Yummy Stickers/2021 International Food Festival 

11.   PB4L – Positive Behaviour for Learning – Update

12.   Strategic Goal – Wellbeing

13.   Calendar orders and school photos 

14.   Community Notices

1.  Welcome to Sunnybrae

This week we would like to welcome Miya Marsters-Tuisamoa to Room 3 and Parsa Khajehgerashi to Room 7.

2.  COVID-19 – Alert Level 1

At Sunnybrae, we will continue to follow all appropriate health measures including maintaining recommended cleaning practices and encouraging good hygiene standards. We will also continue to remind people to stay home if they are unwell and to seek medical advice. The Ministry of Education encourages school communities to continue to use the COVID-19 QR Code when coming onto the school grounds.

Drop off at the Gate:  8:30 – 8:45 am

Pick up:  3:00 pm Parents/Caregivers welcome onsite

Thank you for your continued support to help us keep everyone safe.

3.  Sun Hats

Sunnybrae sunhats are compulsory in Term 4. Please ensure your child brings his/her named hat each day. If the hat is named clearly, it makes it very easy to return to the rightful owner.

4.  Planning for 2021

We are planning for 2021. If your child is in Year 1 – 5 and they will not return to Sunnybrae in 2020, please email our Deputy Principal, Karen Rodger at krodger@sunnybrae.school.nz.

5.  Year 6 Camp

Last week the Year 6 students participated in 3 days of challenge, independence and fun at Carey Park Camp. The teachers were so impressed with the positive attitude and determination shown by all students when engaging in new and sometimes daunting experiences such as scaling to the top of the rock climbing wall, kayaking and zooming down the flying fox. The Year 6 team would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all parent helpers who worked and played hard to ensure that camp was a memorable occasion for all involved.

6.  Sunnybrae Crossing

We are currently looking for someone to help supervise our children on the crossing on Sunnybrae Road every Wednesday morning between 8:30 and 8:55 am. If you are interested please email our Deputy Principal, Karen Rodger at krodger@sunnybrae.school.nz.

A big thank you to Alex Coffey who has recently given up her Wednesday crossing duty after volunteering on our crossing for many many years!

7.  Sunnybrae School Bush Working Bee

Our next Working Bee is on Saturday 31 October 9:00 am – 12:00 pm. Everyone is welcome. All children must be accompanied by a parent/caregiver. Feel free to bring along a small plate of food for morning tea for others to share.

We would love help with:

• Creating a paved path at the current entry to the bush
• Raking mulch and leaves around the trees
• Pruning and cutting
• Digging out and repotting some of our native seedlings
• Pulling out some unwanted plants and weeding around the fence posts
• Installing the insect hotels and bird feeders in the bush
• Marking our native seedlings
• Finishing off the bird feeders and insect hotels with the children
• And much more …

If you are able, please bring one or some of the following (optional):

• Gardening gloves
• Bamboo branches 
• Pinecones
• Coconut oil
• Potting mix
• Bag of ready set concrete
• Sharp spade
• Tools (such as hand saws/nail gun/screwdriver/hammer)
• Drill and driver bits
• Long screws
• Chainsaw (and safety equipment)
• Weedeater (and safety equipment)
• Grubber
• Gap-7
• Sand

If you have any questions or ideas for this project, I would love to hear from you by email.  Viv Morley – vmorley@sunnybrae.school.nz 

8.  Athletics Day

9.  Digital Technology Update

This year the staff have undertaken a series of staff meetings around the new area of Digital Technology. This is part of the overall Technology Curriculum. There are two parts to this new area; ‘Computational Thinking’ and ‘Designing and Developing Digital Outcomes’. Computational thinking aligns well within the problem-solving aspect of mathematics. Developing Digital Outcomes is thinking about an end-user and then using digital technology to support their specific needs.

All students have started to explore technological specific vocabularies such as input, output, transformation and control. Breaking down simple non-computerised tasks into precise, step by step instructions are aligned to computational thinking. Finally, Kidbots involves following instructions, identifying any errors in the instructions (code) and correcting them (simple debugging) has been fun for all age groups.

10.  PTA UPDATES:

10.1  School Disco – Save the Date – Thursday 3 December

Our annual school disco for Year 1-3 and 4-6 will be held on Thursday 3 December. More information will be sent out in the coming weeks. Get your Disco outfit ready!

10.2  Yummy Stickers Promotion

Thank you to all of those families who collected stickers for the Yummy Sticker promotion. We have received $1,183.00 worth of vouchers to spend on sports gear. A big thank you to the Simpson Family who collated all of the sheets for the competition.

10.3  2021 International Food Festival – Friday 12 March 

Our annual International Food Festival will be held on Friday 12 March 2021 between 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm. If you are interested in coordinating a food stall that represents your culture, please email our Deputy Principal, Karen Rodger at krodger@sunnybrae.school.nz. Further information and requests for support will be sent out in the coming weeks.

11.   PB4L

This week our PB4L focus has been on showing respect and cooperation in the library.  Our lessons have focused on: 

• Looking after resources.
• Using computers appropriately.
• Sharing books and resources.

12. Wellbeing

This week at school we have focused on resilience and having a growth mindset. Research shows that children who are praised for qualities they can control like effort and giving things a go achieve better results than those who are praised for being ‘clever’ or getting something right. This activity fosters a growth mindset by celebrating the process of trying new things, making mistakes and persevering. The way we foster a growth mindset is by helping students see the value of making mistakes and persevering. The one word that’s crucial in this process is ‘yet’ such as changing the sentence ‘I can’t do it!’ to ‘I can’t do it yet.’

We watched the following videos. You might like to watch these with your children at home:

Brain Jump With Ned the Neuron

Sesame Street do Growth Mindset

After watching the videos we discussed:

• Why is it important to make mistakes? Because that is how we find out what works, what doesn’t and what we need to do differently to get better.
• Importantly too, making mistakes comes with trying! Giving something a go.
• What would it be like if we didn’t give anything new a go?

13.  Calendar Orders and School Photos

Calendar order forms were sent home with your child last week. You can purchase calendars, cards, diaries, mouse mats and sketch pads. To view your child’s picture and order products, go to www.kidsartworks.com and enter the Entrance Code Field Type. These make gorgeous Christmas presents and are a great fundraiser for our school. Orders close on Monday 9 November at 9:00 am.

Class and Individual Photos: The staff at Photolife are currently making all necessary changes to the class photos taken at the end of last term. We will notify you as soon as they are ready for purchase.

14.  Community Notices