Welcome to Koru Hub. We are a group of passionate kaiako (teachers) with responsibility and care of our Year 0-3 ākonga (learners).
Our teaching team for 2024 are:
Koru Hub (new entrant group): Angela Herman-Childs, Wee Ai Teh, Amelia Prendeville, Navy Ny (learning support)
Koru Hub (main group): Amaria Picard (team leader), Hannah Sadler, Aleesha Majaw Monisse, Lily Patrick-Duncan, Sophia Hughes, Kate Dammer, Lauren Brown, Navy Ny (learning support), Gerri Ng (learning support), and Nic Love (learning support)
Release teachers: Brooke Kent & Katherine Ramirez-Somcio
Although all kaiako and ākonga will work together as one hub, our five year old ākonga who are relatively new to school, will form one shared ‘nurture’ group with two kaiako. They will be based in Māwhero (the learning suite with pink carpet). As students become more confident and settled at school, they will move across to the main group, leaving room for new five year olds to join the small nurture group.
The main group in Koru Hub will be comprised of older five year olds / year 1 ākonga, and year 2 - 3 ākonga. This group will start with 6 kaiako and will be based in the Kōwhai suite (yellow carpet), Karaka suite (orange carpet), Kākāriki suite (green carpet) and use Kikorangi suite (blue carpet) as needed.
The main group and nurture group will come together for some things, but for much of the day they will work separately, to allow our new five year old ākonga to stay in one space and move between fewer kaiako.
Our weekly timetable is viewable by anyone. This is a good place to find out what we are doing in Koru Hub. You can also view our what's on slides. Please note that some links are private and only viewable by the kaiako at Amesbury School.
Whānau Groups
Koru Hub starts the year with eight whānau groups. The role of your child’s whānau teacher is to act as a learning advocate for your child at school. They are your first port of call if you have any questions, comments or concerns about school or your child. The whānau teacher is not your child’s overall “class teacher”. Most students will work with multiple teachers throughout the year, but the whānau teacher will have particular oversight of your child.
If your tamaiti (child) starts the year in the main group, your whānau teacher will remain the same for the year. Children starting in the nurture group will have one change in whānau teacher once they move into the main group. They will then remain with the same whānau teacher for the rest of the year.
Koru Teachers:
Amaria Picard - amaria@amesbury.school.nz
Angela Herman-Childs - angela.herman-childs@amesbury.school.nz
Wee Ai Teh - weeai@amesbury.school.nz
Amelia Prendiville - amelia@amesbury.school.nz
Sophia Hughes - sophia@amesbury.school.nz
Kate Dammer - kate@amesbury.school.nz
Lauren Brown - lauren@amesbury.school.nz
Hannah Sadler - hannah@amesbury.school.nz
Lily Patrick-Duncan - lily@amesbury.school.nz
Aleesha Majaw Monisse - aleesha@amesbury.school.nz
Brooke Kent - brooke@amesbury.school.nz
Katherine Ramirez-Somcio: katherine@amesbury.school.nz
Year 0 - 3 ākonga: At this age we would expect students to be completing learning activities at home for approx 15 minutes a day on at least 4 days through the week.
Literacy
There will be times in the week when a reading book will come home. This is a book they have already worked through with a teacher in a guided reading workshop. Ākonga can read through this book to someone in their family or on their own. These books are at a level where ākonga can work out any tricky words on their own - with support and praise. There may also be previous reading books included for practice around fluency and expression. As ākonga become more independent readers and have success at higher levels, reading texts for homework decreases. There are times when ākonga may have digital texts or articles for reading. Some ākonga have word games in their reading bags to practice. The words may come from the book they have read that day and/or from our high frequency word list. Please remind your child to give their book bag to their Literacy kaiako and their kaiako will hold onto it and send it home with a book, when appropriate. The book bag protects these books so it is important we bring these to school.
Spelling and Basic Facts
Some ākonga have spelling tasks or basic facts to practise at home to help consolidate learning at school. These are put in their reading bag along with their reading books.
Additional Home Learning
If you wish to add more learning tasks to what teachers have provided, or if there is no home learning provided on a particular day, any of these activities can be chosen. These are also useful for the holidays. Logins and passwords for your child are on their password card which will be provided once your child starts school.
IXL (online maths and english programme)
Sunshine Online (online ‘leveled’ reading books)
Epic (online reading books)
Koru Hub learning Website
Our Tizmos resources have lots of helpful links: Koru Hub.
Writing emails, grocery lists and birthday cards are an authentic way to practise writing.
Personal reading, visiting the library and being read to, all contribute to becoming a successful reader.
We recognise that learning and success comes in many forms and places. We consider playing sport, attending swimming lessons, dance, gymnastics, music, art, and other out of school pursuits to be highly valuable and important to the growth of all students. Playing at a friend’s house and generally playing at home is also important for ākonga. We recommend 10-15 minutes of school based curriculum home learning to support these other pursuits. While there are plenty of options to choose from for additional home learning, it is paramount to give ākonga time to play and not overload them with curriculum based learning.
"The experience of play changes the connections of the neurons at the front end of your brain," says Sergio Pellis, a researcher at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. "And without play experience, those neurons aren't changed," he says. "It is those changes in the prefrontal cortex during childhood that help wire up the brain's executive control center, which has a critical role in regulating emotions, making plans and solving problems," Pellis says. "So play," he adds, "is what prepares a young brain for life, love and even schoolwork."
But to produce this sort of brain development, ākonga need to engage in plenty of so-called free play, Pellis says. "No coaches, no umpires, no rule books."
We believe that all learning should be positive and purposeful. If your tamaiti is struggling with their home learning, or very reluctant to do it, please feel free to talk to your child’s whānau teacher for some ideas or suggestions.
We have a self-issue system in the library, using an RFID system. This means all students can issue and return books themselves at any time. Our library is open from 8:30am and remains open for a short while after school. Ākonga can also use the library during lunch time.
They can issue multiple books at a time and can keep books in their tote tray to read at school, and take some home. Ākonga can also re-issue books, if they are prompted to return them before they have finished reading them. When returning books they can be placed in the returns box by the external library door.
If any books are lost or damaged, please contact Kirat Singh, our library-based teacher (library@amesbury.school.nz). Our student-run system can mean that at times books can go missing in the system or be incorrectly returned. If you receive messages about missing books that you think you do not have at home, please contact Kirat (see above) or your child’s whānau teacher to resolve the situation.
