Yes School's about to start!

 

Rm 14/15 2021

Teachers: Tai Waititi and Sophie Bowie

Kia Ora Tatou. I’m Tai but in the class setting I am known as Mrs YTT, mama and yes sometimes nana. Teaching makes me feel like a rock star ( which is probably what I want to be when I grow up). Every day, I have children run up to me, giving me hugs, calling my name over and over again as they hear me rocking with our class guitar, Jack. I adore the children I teach and learning new things from them. I am so excited to be their teacher this year.

Hello! My name is Sophie, also known as Miss Bowie. I am very excited to be starting a new adventure at St Marys this year after teaching for 4 years at Kawaha Point School. My passions include playing netball, exploring new places, spending time with my friends and whanau, eating lots of delicious food, and of course, teaching. Despite being relatively early on in my career, I’ve already had many “wow moments” with my students, which are memories I will treasure forever. I cannot wait to create more precious memories this year in Room 14 and 15. 

This year we will be working together and co-teaching, operating as a combined classroom space. Sophie and I have operated like this in previous classrooms and we absolutely love it.

There are so many benefits when operating with two teachers: 

• each teacher brings particular strengths to the classroom programme which the children will get exposed to.

• it allows for efficient differentiated grouping in reading, writing and maths.

• the strengths that each teacher brings allows for the children’s interests and needs to be catered to as well as exposure to rich and engaging learning experiences.

• Students have the opportunity to build close relationships with a wider range of students and another teacher. 

We have 3 wonderful spaces in our classroom which we know the children will enjoy. There is a range of games and activities that will consolidate new learning for our children as well as plenty of opportunities for them to create and build using their imagination. 

Sophie and I are finding it a bit of a challenge to come up with a classroom name that we can call both classrooms combined, so we are asking our awesome students to help us out and take on the challenge to give our classroom space a new name. If you have any ideas, please comment or send us an email.

A friendly reminder that students are required to bring stationary with them on Tuesday. Details about stationery can be found on https://www.stmarysrotorua.school.nz/2021-stationery-packs/. 

Also, We have a new school app. You can install and set up this app from School Apps NZ then search for St Mary's Catholic School Rotorua. Make sure you set up for the notifications you wish to receive. Alternatively, you can go to this link

https://schoolappsnz.co.nz/install/ and search for St Mary’s Catholic School Rotorua

Finally, all students need to bring their sun hats from the start of the school term until further notice and swimming will start in week 4, which is a compulsory activity. 

We are looking forward to seeing you all on our first day of school on Tuesday 9th February. Until then, stay safe and continue being awesome!

Tai Waititi and Sophie Bowie.