Week 5

Good Evening!  

Sorry, a bit of a late one tonight. 

Firstly, a huge welcome to Tia's little sister Aria!  Carrie we hope you are feeling well and are getting some rest.  We can't wait to see a photo!  

The week ahead:

• We are due to visit the library this Wednesday between 10.45 and 12.30pm (weather permitting).  We would love you to join us if you are free. 

• We are starting to get excited about our next inquiry focus: water.  So much to learn about - can't wait to get started. The children will guide us in their interest but we hope to investigate the water cycle, attempt a number of experiments and look closely at the weather.  

• We begin Basketball Skills next week (after Queens Birthday) with Terry Stallworth from Hoop Club.  This follows on nicely from our PE focus on sending and receiving large and small balls.  This basketball focus will last 5 weeks, until the end of term. 

• Writing: we are focusing on two areas: quick writes that are student choice (and focusing on punctuation; adjectives and a 'hook') and our colourful semantics programme that helps structure writing using nouns, verbs and adjectives.  

• Maths: we are learning to add groups of objects together and write the equation; count on from the biggest number first; and some children are learning to  count through 10s.  We will continue to focus on Place Value using 100s, 10s and 1s and our basic facts. 

See you in the morning! 

Amy and Claire 

Marae Visit

On Tuesday the junior syndicate went on a walk down the road to a local Marae called Te Tatauo Te Po. It is 80 years old and was one of the first Maraes in Wellington. Back in the old days when people travelled to Wellington to work and live they could stay at Te Tatauo Te Po until they could find somewhere to live. 

We learnt that the carvings on the outside of the buildings are the guardians who look after the people inside the marae. The designs around the wall (Kowhaiwhai designs) tell us the stories of the marae. On the wall inside the marae were pictures of their ancestors, grandparents, chiefs and people who used to live there.

We were told a story about how the world was made then we got into two different groups to act out the story.

Check out some photos below.

     

     

 

 

Cross Country

Cross Country Fun

Week 4

Hi all,  

We had a busy but fun week last week with lots on. A superb effort from our Kowhanga in the Junior Cross Country.  The children were supportive, encouraging and determined, and all did so well to cross that finish line. We all loved watching our awesome parents competing against each other at the end - great to see. 

This week is another busy week with our Marae trip on Tuesday. We will be leaving at 9.30am and returning just before lunch. Big thanks to those parents who have offered to join us. 

We are trialling lunchtime scooter fun at school and children are welcome to bring scooters, skates or skateboards to school to use in a designated area. All children must have a helmet.  At the moment this will be every lunchtime. 

On Friday we will be having a Milo Morning to celebrate coming to school by active travel. We will be especially excited to see the use of the walking pou for children who get dropped at school. More information to come! 

Many thanks for all your help in the class over the last couple of weeks. We are the luckiest class in Alicetown, our pencils have never been sharper! It has been exciting to see children reading confidently with parents between 2.30 and 3pm each day - these extra reading sessions are invaluable for the children. There is a list on the whiteboard in the Room 5 side of our Kowhanga if you ever have a spare 10 minutes. 

We have our school quiz night coming up on the 2nd June. If you are interested and not yet in a team let me know - we could put a class team together.  All in aid of fundraising for our children - a great reason to get together. 

Have a great week! 

Claire and Amy 

P.S. If you are yet to join up with Seesaw we would love to talk to you!  A great way to keep up with goings on in the classroom. 

This Friday

Hi all, 

This Friday is pink shirt day, where schools and workplaces unite against bullying. Over the next couple of days we will be talking about ways to respect, care and support each other, and value difference. While this isn't a school-wide event, children from our Kowhanga may want to wear something a-little-bit-pink in support.  Friday will also see us running cross country at 9.30am; creating our own gruffalos at 11am (paint involved) and presenting a movie about our Kowhanga in Assembly at 2.20pm. You are most welcome to join us for any of the above! 

Week 3

Kia ora families, 

What a fabulous time the children had at the Bring'n'Buy on Friday.  The weather was kind to us and there was plenty of excitement.  It was wonderful to see the children put their knowledge about money into practise with confidence.  Many thanks to those parents who came and helped us in the hall - you made the experience much more relaxed for our children. 

..

• Big thanks for the offers of help in the classroom.  We will have a list on the wall in the classroom on Monday for anyone that may have 10 minutes spare.  We would also love the chance for children in our Kowhanga to read aloud to you if you have some time between 2.30pm and 3pm.  This will only take 5-10 minutes, and would involve finding a quiet corner in the classroom and listening to a child read a short reader to you.  Please let us know if this would interest you.  Days/times are very flexible. 

• We are communicating most of our goings-on through SeeSaw now.  If you are yet to join up or are having trouble accessing SeeSaw please get in touch with us.  While we still update the blog regularly we will send daily information via SeeSaw.

• On Monday morning we will be learning about Road Safety, with a focus on walking to school, and the NZTA will speak with us in Assembly. 

• Claire and I will both be out of the class on Wednesday, visiting a school in Wellington.  Andrea and Mrs Musgrave will be teaching in our Kowhanga. We will  at school before 9am if there is anything you would like to catch up about. 

• Our Junior Syndicate Cross Country is this Friday.  Please ensure your children are wearing appropriate clothing, running shoes, and that they have a drink bottle. Please feel free to join us.  Cross Country will  begin just after 9.30am. 

• Our art and craft session on Friday will focus on the story 'The Gruffalo'.  Gina is joining us and we plan to make some creative, edible delights, feel free to join us! 

• This Friday we will be presenting a short video clip in Assembly about learning in our Kowhanga. 

• Our writing will focus on the story 'The Gruffalo' and we will be looking at at 'who', 'doing what' (verbs) . Our Funky Foxes will also focus on describing words (adjectives) in their writing. 

• Art/topic:  we will be completing our koru art and perfecting our own mihi.  We will also be focusing on our waiata which we will share when we visit the marae. 

Have a great week!  We are keen to talk if there is anything you want to catch up about.  

Amy and Claire 

Bring and Buy

A great time had by all at the Bring and Buy last Friday with over $1,800 raised. Well done Senior Syndicate. The children showed off their money skills and were very thoughtful with their purchases. Big thanks for the wonderful parent help.

 

 

Week 2

Parent Help

We are super keen for some parent help in the classroom for a few little jobs that need doing: 

-sharpening pencils/sorting stationary/cleaning whiteboards

-mending cushions and soft toys

-helping out during our Friday craft session (10.45-12.30) 

-reading with children 

-putting readers away 

If you are available and interested in spending some time with us we would be very keen to hear from you! Or just come on in - always keen to have parents spend time with us in class.  Impromptu is just as fabulous.  

As part of our Turangawaewae focus we have been talking about where we come from, who is in our families, and jobs and responsibilities that people in our families have.  We would LOVE parents, grandparents, brothers or sisters to pop in to our Kowhanga and share a little bit about what they do during the day.  Please flick us an email if this may interest you.   

Bring 'n' Buy

 This Friday we have the school Bring 'n' Buy, which is a School Council fundraiser for the senior camp next year.  Between morning tea and lunch the children from Room 7 visit the hall and spend a few dollars (generally between $3-$5) on toys, food, raffles and games.  

• Please send your child to school on Friday with a purse/wallet and a few dollars, and an empty bag  to put their purchases in.
• While there will be some food available it is advisable that children still bring some lunch to school.  
• Parent help is appreciated as the hall can be quite busy, and you are most welcome to make your own purchases.  We usually go over to the hall around 11.30am. 
• If you have any books, DVDs or toys you can send these to school with your child and the councillors will collect them from our classroom.

In preparation for the Bring /n/ Buy we have been looking at money during maths and we are learning to identify 10c, 20c, 50c, $1 and $2 coins.  Your child will enjoy sharing their knowledge with you!  

Marae visit

Unfortunately it was raining last Thursday and we were unable to walk passed the marae.  Fingers crossed for fine weather this Thursday.  If you would like to join us for this short walk please let us know.  Many thanks.  

Our marae visit will most likely be in week four.  We are waiting to have the date confirmed.  

Cross Country

Cross country practise is going well and the children are enjoying pushing themselves to try 'just one more lap'.  Thanks very much for sending them to school in appropriate footwear. 

Claire is away this Friday.  Penny Musgrave will be in our kohwhanga. 

Yay, looking forward to seeing those lovely faces tomorrow!  

Have a great week, 

Amy and Claire

Dog handler visit

Today Virgina the dog handler came to visit our school with her dog Amber. We learnt how to keep ourselves safe around dogs. 

Here are some of the tips we learnt:

When meeting a new dog it is important to ask the owner if we can pat their dog first, than we need to let the dog sniff us before we pat it. We also know to pat a dog on the chin and chest because "chin and chest is best!". Talking to dogs in a calm voice is also important as they can get scared if we use a high pitch voice. 

"When a dogs on its own we leave it alone" - when we see dogs without an owner in the street or tied up outside a shop we will remember to leave it alone. 

If a dog comes up to us we know to stand nice and still while it sniffs us. If we get knocked over by a dog we will turn our bodies into a turtle. 

We practised the turtle position with Virgina.

"A dogs not a toy, so do not tease and annoy". We know not to tease dogs or annoy because we know how it feels when we are annoyed or teased. Dogs also have very sharp teeth and they might use their teeth to tell us to stop if they get annoyed with us. 

Amber has very big teeth!

See if you can tell someone at home what you remember about keeping yourself safe around dogs!