Welcome to Team

@ Clearview Primary 2015

WHATS ON
TEAM WEEBLY &
TWITTER

This year we would love to share

our events, learning and day to day
fun with you. Please see our team
weebly at
www.clearviewquest.weebly.com
and tweet us @rzclearview (Red
Zone) or @gzclearview (Green
Zone)

BYOD Please hold on children

bringing in devices. At the
beginning of the term children will
be participating in digital safety
and will be able to bring in devices
after this, and once they have
returned the use agreement. The
use agreement will be handed out
later in the term. and explained to
the children. Stay tuned for
updates and see the team weebly
for BYOD information.

TOP TEAM EVENT

Welcome to Team Quest, 2015! Yes,

our name has changed, however we
s<ll represent the Middle Team. We
trust you all enjoyed a well deserved
and fun holiday, and are refreshed
and ready for the challenges of Y5/6.
We would like to begin by thanking
all the parents and students for a
smooth start to the school year.
At this <me of the year, it is
important to create a safe and
happy learning environment for
everyone by seIng up rou<nes and
establishing rela<onships within our
zones and across the team.

Addi<onally, it is a busy <me of the

year with assessments. We are
currently in the midst of this. If you
have any informa<on that you
would like to share with your childs
homebase teacher, please do not
hesitate to contact them and make
an appointment to discuss this.
We would love to have the
opportunity to meet you all. Please
feel free to pop in throughout the
year. This also gives the children an
opportunity to share their learning
with you, and celebrate their
successes.

MEET THE TEAM QUEST TEACHERS!

Green Zone Teachers (L-R):

Sacha Robinson, Jason
Galland, Caitlin Buttle

To kick start the year, Team Quest

will be having a Top Team Event in
Week 4, Wednesday the 25th of
February. This onsite adventure
based training will be run by
Sports Canterbury. This cost of
this event will be $3 per child.

Y 5 / 6 CAMP -TERM 2
This year two camps will be
running due to our size. Both
camps will run in Term 2 Week
3. Camp One from the
03-06/05, Camp Two from the
06-08/05. Look out for
information coming home later
in the term!

Red Zone Teachers (L-R):

Bianca Jones, Alice St John,
Tania Soal

www.clearviewquest.weebly.com or tweet us @rzclearview and @gzclearview

TERM 1 CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

Inquiry - 2015 theme Start small, dream BIG!
To begin the year, we will be investigating what it means to be a Clearview Learner,
looking at ideas such as the different learning styles and environments that surround
us, digital technologies and identity. Additionally, we have integrated our Te Reo
learning throughout our inquiry programme and in other curriculum areas.

Literacy
This term, literacy will be integrated with Inquiry. Children will be exploring genres
such as letter writing and explanations. It is important to us that children love to write,
therefore personal choice writing will also be part of the writing programme. All
genres will focus on the structure, language features, purpose and proposed
audience.
For those who have come from Year 4 in 2014, reading books will only be sent home
with children who are reading up to level 26.

Mathematics
Formal Mathematics instruction will begin week 2. Mathematics will be team taught in
each zone. Fluid grouping will occur within each zone. This means children may
change groups throughout the year, depending on their needs. This term we are
focusing on addition and subtraction. As part of our strand programme, we will be
exploring statistical investigations and looking at the process behind gathering and
sorting data, representing and displaying it, and developing conclusions.

Physical Education
This term we are looking at summer sports. This will be run across the team with the
help of Canterbury Sport who will be running an additional softball programme. We
will be looking at sportsmanship, and developing team and game skills. Fitness is a
big love of ours in Team Quest, and we will be getting the children outside with cooperate games, cross country training and team building activities to compliment our
Top Team Event in Week 4.

The Arts
We are creating silhouette portraiture which will be linked closely to our Inquiry. It will
be a fantastic visual representation of childrens interests, learning styles and
passions. Alongside this, children will become Interior Designers, creating floor plans
for their learning space in their chosen medium; be it pencil and paper, minecraft,
floor plan software or lego models! The choice is theirs.
If you have any questions, please feel free to pop in, or send us an email. We are
looking forward to meeting you all, and to the exciting year ahead.

Kind Regards,
Team Quest
Caitlin Buttle, Sacha Robinson, Jason Galland, Alice St John, Tania Soal, Bianca
Jones (Team Leader)

NOTICE BOARD
HOMELEARNING
In the first two weeks students will
be brainstorming and preparing
their Homelearning challenge.
Information will be glued in their
books and come home at the end
of week 1. Each child will have a
presentation date indicating when
their homelearning is due. This
date will vary individually. Please
see the team weebly for dates and
home learning challenges and let us
know if the date does not suit.
Thanks.
MATHLETICS &
SPELLODROME Once again, as
part of the children's homelearning,
we have the two wonderful
programmes, Mathletics and
Spellodrome. It is important that
the children complete a minimum
of 500 points for each every week.
These programmes are
individualised and are monitored
by the teachers.
SUN HATS
Sun hats must be worn in Term 1
for all outside activities and break
times. No hat, no play!
EAT AND TWEET
Please ensure these items are easy
to eat. Please leave chocolates and
lollies for after school. Sandwiches
and fruit are a great source of
energy and easy for the children to
handle.
UNIFORM
Please ensure your child is dressed
in full school uniform. It is
important that we keep
expectations high. If your child is
unable to wear uniform, please
send a note to their homebase
teacher. This term school uniform
consists of white ankle socks and
black shoes, or black sandals. And
of course, the Clearview bucket
hat for sun protection.

www.clearviewquest.weebly.com or tweet us @rzclearview and @gzclearview

WHAT IS TEAM TEACHING?

What a fantas<c start we had in our new Modern Learning Environment (MLE). Trialling new ini<a<ves, consolida<ng
Modern Learning Philosophies (MLP) and reec<ng on our programmes is a constant part of our prac<ce. This allows
us to create inspiring, innova<ve and collabora<ve learning experiences. The children denitely thrive in this
environment, as do we as teachers. MLE certainly promotes our school vision, Skilled thinkers and communicators
stepping out with condence and our school values and key competencies, par<cularly Managing Self. What we nd
is that childrens skills develop further in becoming self managed, condent problem solvers, nego<ators, team players
and most of all, risk takers. Children enjoy jumping into the Learning Pit and working through challenges in order to
achieve their goals.
For those of you who are new to Clearview, or our Year 5 parents, one thing that you may have no<ced in our MLE is
space, and lots of it. This space is designed to encourage collabora<on by providing children with the exibility to work
alongside dierent groups and teachers. The space is divided into zones. Team Quest will be using the red and green
zones. In the red zone we have Miss St John, Miss Soal and myself, Miss Jones. In the green zone we have Miss Bu]le,
Mrs Robinson and Mr Galland. In each zone, your child will have three teachers, not just their homebase teacher.
These teachers will be working collabora<vely to oer unique and individualised programmes. We nd that working to
the power of 3 provides a suppor<ve environment and most of all, awesome ideas! As they say, three heads are
be]er than one. Your child will s<ll have a homebase teacher, who will take more of a pastoral care role.
Team Teaching will begin in the rst week. This enables teacher and student rela<onships to be formed, teachers to
develop a good understanding of your childrens interests and abili<es and children to adjust to team teaching in a
dierent environment.
Team Teaching also provides choice. This means that during some learning experiences, such as Inquiry, children will
have the choice of which workshops they would like to a]end to help them reach their goals. These workshops are run
by both teachers, and students who are experts in the area.
There are some fantas<c websites that provide informa<on on this philosophy. Check out the following for a light read:
- Website #1: Rule of three - no more than 3 walls, no fewer than 3 points of focus, able to accommodate at least 3
teachers and 3 classes h]p://rubble.heppell.net/three/
- Website #2: Studios and cave spaces - Hinagia Peninsula School (one of the Auckland schools we visited last year)
h]p://openlearningspaces.blogspot.co.nz/2012/03/studios-and-cave-spaces-hingaia.html
- Website #3: A good link to an Australian ar<cle that explains how two teachers team teach:
h]p://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au/2011/10/04/team-teaching/
We appreciate your support. If you have any ques<ons, please pop in and see one of your childs teachers or myself.
We are more than happy to have a chat.
Kind Regards,
Bianca Jones
Team Leader/ Red Zone Teacher

www.clearviewquest.weebly.com or tweet us @rzclearview and @gzclearview