Picnic Lunch with the Principal

Kia ora everyone,

Yesterday was our first 'Picnic Lunch with the Principal' for the team one students who where drawn out from the large number who have been to see me this term. It was a great opportunity to catch up with these students and talk about their learning and how they have been living our School Values and displaying the C+O+O+L Factor.

I am looking forward to the Team 3 draw for their lunch next Wednesday.

Take care Mike

Cultural Festival Performance

Kia ora everyone,

Well done to our Kapa Haka Group and support team for an outstanding performance today at the Cultural Festival. This was our first time participating in this event and a great achievement for the group and school. It was also a great to have the whole school there to celebrate this achievement. Have a look at some of the photos of their performance.

Take care,

Mike

What is this SOLO Taxonomy?

Kia ora everyone,

SOLO Taxonomy is an area of our school curriculum that we have chosen to prioritise in 2012.  It aligns to two of our School Strategic Goals: 

                                  1. Implementing the Curriculum, and 

                                  2. Raising Student Achievement. 

SOLO stands for the Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes. Whilst SOLO has always been a part of our school curriculum, it is our intention that throughout this year you will see the profile of SOLO Taxonomy increase throughout the school. It is a tool to assist us to develop a consistent language of teaching and learning so that students and staff can articulate:

• What am I learning?
• How is it going?
• What do I do next?

In line with our third Strategic Goal: 

                                              3. Managing the Journey,  

we have a clearly structured process and outcomes for our developments in this area. Our goal and process are below: 

Supplementary Goal 4:      To develop a common language of learning with SOLO Taxonomy

Achievement Targets:

• All staff will participate in professional development related to the implementation of the C+O+O+L Factor 
• All staff will implement SOLO Taxonomy to achieve success achievement indicators and to support the delivery of the Christchurch East School curriculum

Success Achievement Indicators:

• Classrooms environments will display the presence and use of SOLO Taxonomy
• Teachers will use SOLO Taxonomy as a language of Teaching and Learning
• Student will be able to use SOLO Taxonomy to answer the following questions about their learning:
•  What am I learning?
•  How is it going?
•  What do I do next? 

Staff will:

• Participate in staff professional development related to the development and implementation of the C+O+O+L Factor (both staff and team sessions)
• Be able to demonstrate and discuss how they integrate the C+O+O+L factor through SOLO Taxonomy to support the delivery of the Christchurch East School Curriculum and agreed practices

To find out more about SOLO taxonomy have a look at this website:  http://pamhook.com  This link has also been included in the side bar menu.

Take care, 

Mike

An action packed end to the week!

Kia ora everyone,

It is all go at Christchurch East as week four of the term hits the mid way point. We have our School Cross Country on Thursday morning, a whole school Learning Celebration Assembly on Friday morning and our first Winter Sports games at Hagley Park on Friday afternoon. I hope to see you at one or even all of these events. Keep a look out for the school newsletter tomorrow for more details.

Take care,
Mike

Great Start to Term 2!

Kia ora everyone,

Wow, what an amazing first three weeks we have had to start the term. Our school wide theme of 'Community' as an opportunity to give back is alive and well throughout the school.

Our Whanau Groups are a great example of this in action, as you can see with the photos below. The groups below are discussing our theme and what they are doing in their individual classes across the school. Whanau Groups meet every three weeks on a Friday morning and are made up of students across all year levels. The intention is that students would stay in the same Whanau Group throughout their time at Christchurch East as an opportunity to develop student and staff relationships across the school.

Also our staff continue with regular professional development to undertake their role in our school community. This photo is from a staff meeting session with Marg Wright who support us with numeracy developments.

Our board has also had a lot of training and meetings this term. Below is picture of some of the members creating their planter box art.

Our PTA ran a Disco last Friday which was a great event for our students. Well done team!

Have a great week everyone,

Mike.

Great Video

Kia ora everyone,

Our ClassSpace pages, blogs and wiki's are an amazing showcase of the learning our students are doing at both home and school.



Well done Noah, and thanks Mr Englefield for sharing!

Take care Mike

Prime Minister Visit Picture.

Kia ora everyone,

It was another great day at Christchurch East School today with the Prime Minister John Key visiting. Here are some pictures from today.

Mr Key spending time with the students.

Also joining in with the games.

The Prime Minister creating a piece of art for the planter boxes.

More of our MP's showcasing their art skills.

All in all, it was a great day!

Take care Mike

Who's coming to Christchurch East School?

Kia ora everyone,

In case you missed the notice which came home today, here it is again:

Who's coming to Christchurch East School?

Late last week, we received news that the Prime Minister, John Key, would be visiting our school on Thursday 29 March from 1 – 2 pm. 

The Prime Minister is visiting to see a nationwide Kiwi Sport initiative in which our school takes part, through the support of Linfield Sport.  Unfortunately not all of our children will be able to take part in the opportunity this Thursday;  the event will involve Rooms 5, 9 and 10 at the time of Mr Key’s visit.

If you would like to come to school to see the sports initiative in action, and potentially meet the Prime Minister, you are more than welcome to join us.

We hope to see you there!

Take care Mike

Congratulations! Learning with Heart in the Community!

Kia ora everyone,

I have been sitting on this photo for way too long and had to share it. Congratulations to Eva, Noah, Aylee, Sophie, Frances and Vicki for winning the People’s Choice award at the sandcastle competition at New Brighton earlier this term.

The sculpture was called “Fetch” and had a shark playing fetch with a dog (only the dog’s pawprints, leading to the shark’s mouth, are left...)

It was great to hear that the kids had heaps of fun and were very proud of they created.

Thanks for sharing the picture, Learning with Heart at its best!

Take care Mike.

Artspiration was a hugh success!

Kia ora everyone,

Thank you to everyone who came out for our Artspiration learning celebration tonight. It was a great opportunity to see the amazing art that has been created and also to have a guided tour around the school.
Here are some pictures for those who weren't able to make it.

A big thank you to our students and staff for making the night so successful.

Take care Mike

Reaching for the STARS!

Kia ora everyone,

It is great to have the team from Science Alive with us today sharing the Star Lab with rooms 9, 10, 11, and 12. Here are some photos of Room 10 getting ready for their session.

Hopefully something for you to talk about around the dinner table tonight.

Take care Mike

Artspiration Event is coming!

Kia ora everyone,

It is great to see momentum building as the Artspiration art works are being displayed around the school. The planter boxes came came alive today in a vibrant and inspirational way.

Every student is creating a piece to add to the planter boxes to show their individuality.

I look forward to seeing you all at school on 6pm Thursday 15th of March at 6pm for our Artspiration event. It is a great opportunity to have a guided tour around the school with your child to see the artwork on display and talk to them about what they are learning.

Take care, 

Mike

Friday, a great finish to the week!

Kia ora everyone,

We are having another amazing day at Christchurch East to finish off the week. Going to the team assemblies this morning has been a real highlight for me and I thought I would share a few pictures. Well done to all of our presenters and those who shared their learning with us!

Team 1 presenters, Liam and Petra.

Room 3 sharing some literacy and art.

Team 3 watching a clip to further discuss our learner qualities in action

Some finished products for the Artspiration next week.

Take care everyone and have a great weekend.

Mike

First Posting for 2012

Kia ora everyone,

First of all, I would like to apologise for the lack of updates on my blog this year and to assure you that it is a form of communication with our school community that I am committed to. The last three months have been a very busy time for myself personally with the arrival our our new son Cale and also as I have been working through the recovery process after rupturing my archillies tendon.  Thank you to everyone in our school community who passed on their congratulations and support. While I won't share a photo of my archillies scare, I could not pass up the opportunity to share a picture of our new wee man.

Keep an eye for my next regular post, or better still follow my blog to have the updates sent to you directly.

Take care Mike