A visit form Hutt Valley High School

On Monday we were lucky enough to have a Year 9 Hutt Valley High School class spend some time in our Kowhanga.  The children shared a little bit about themselves with their big buddies, who will spend the next couple of weeks creating a personalised story for the children.  We had a fabulous morning and loved all the attention from big kids!

Tri-hexaflexagons!

Tri-hexaflexagons!

Today we were lucky enough to have Mr Nash visit our Kowhanga to teach us about sides, and the tricks of inside and outside.  Mr Nash made mobius strips and we made guesses about how many sides are created when paper is twisted and joined.

First we cut a loop of paper that had two sides, and we wanted to see what would happen if cut it length ways.

This created two loops, both with skinny sides.

Then we created a twist in the paper before we cut it length ways.  We checked and it only had one side.


 This created one large loop with two sides. 

Then we twisted the paper twice  and cut the paper length ways.  This had two sides.

This created two loops which were linked like a chain.

What will happen if we twist the paper three times?

Then we created two loops which were twisted and linked together. One of them had a clockwise twist, one of them had an anticlockwise twist.

It created two interlocking hearts!

Then we made a trihexaflexagon where we turned the inside of a hexagon to the outside.  We created a secret third side...

Find a line, crease it, push it's bottom in, there's the secret side!

Week 8

Morning all!  

We had a couple of successful days of swimming on Thursday and Friday where we grouped the children, spent some time doing structured lessons and had some time playing games.  Thankfully the pool was heated and much warmer under the water than above!  We were so impressed with the level of independence from all the children with dressing and undressing. So fabulous!  There is no swimming next week and we will begin again on Monday 5th December at Huia Pool.  

Our Education Outside the Classroom begins next week with lots of fun activities planned.  While it is a busy week we will continue to read with the children wherever possible.  The children will still bring a reader home with them each day and it would be appreciated if you continue to read with them at night, as this is our last week of guided reading.  If you have any readers still at home please start to send these back as all readers have to be back in by the end of the week.  

Monday: 

Visitors 9am-11am

On Monday morning the Kowhanga will welcome a Hutt Valley High School Year 9 English class, and our children will spend time with a buddy talking about their interests, likes, dislikes, and family.  We have already spent some time during writing planning for this, and the high school students will take this information away and create a personalised storybook for each child. We plan to get together before the end of the year to receive these books.  We are excited that some of our teaching parents from Hutt Valley High will also join us.  A fun opportunity to make some connections.  

Athletics fun day: 11am - 12.30pm 

If the weather  permits the Junior Syndicate will be partaking in an athletics fun morning where they will play a variety of games that help develop the fundamental skills of athletics.  This will include sack races (jumping) (three legged races (coordination); Tidy Your Room and The Gauntlet of Fire (throwing) and some other activities.  Parents are welcome to join us. 

Tuesday

Athletics fun day - postponement day

 Middles and Seniors talent quest  in the afternoon 

Wednesday

Trip to Jubilee Park

Thanks to the parents who are able to join us on this trip.  While the long range weather forecast isn’t looking promising we hope that it will clear.  Please ensure your child has a packed morning tea, good walking shoes and a warm jersey/coat.  There is a hill at Jubilee Park which is AWESOME to slide down - if anyone has any large  cardboard boxes lying around at home we would be very happy to take these off your hands and make some sleds!  

Middles and Seniors talent quest in the afternoon

Thursday

Junior Talent Quest in the afternoon

For anyone that would like to share their talents!  This is entirely optional.  

Friday

Dress Up Day 

Come dressed as WHATEVER you want to (children, not parents, although parents are welcome too!)  We will have discovery resources available in the morning for children to create accessories if they choose.  We will also have a wee disco/dance party. 

Week 9: 

Swimming 

We will have swimming each morning at Huia Pool, at the same time (leaving school just after 10 and returning to school by 11.45am.  We will be travelling by bus. 

Discovery

In the afternoons we will be setting up woodwork, art and craft activities for the children.  Please send your child to school in clothes that are suitable for having lots of fun in.  Children are welcome to bring named water toys to school and we can store them in the classroom during the week. 

Week 10: 

We are tentatively planning to have our class party on Monday afternoon (12th Dec) and we have our fingers crossed that there won’t be any full school events that will change this …but we will confirm this next week.  The loose plan is to have a shared lunch after swimming (around12pm) and then spend the afternoon doing something super-fun. The children will decide what this will be. 

Yay, I think that is it!  

Take care and have a relaxing weekend. Any queries flick us an email. 

Week 6

Firstly, many thanks to our superb team of parents who joined us on Wednesday for our trip to the SPCA.  We were fortunate to have had the only fine day last week and we made the most of it with a walk through the town belt to the Velodrome for lunch.  We returned back to the SPCA via a ‘secret’ hill track which involved lots of climbing. Such enthusiasm!  Over the next few weeks we will continue to look at how we can care for animals, and we will let the children lead us in their inquiries into pets.  

Thanks again to the parents who responded to our survey about learning in our Kowhanga.  The workshop went really well and there was lots of interest from other teachers.  We very much appreciated your constructive feedback and we will certainly move forward next year with the feedback in mind.  If you would still like to comment on anything the survey is still open. 

Our writing focus continues to be on how we can ‘hook’ our reader; use of description to add interest; and mastering punctuation in our writing.  It is always exciting to see the quality content the children include in their writing after a real experience, such as our SPCA trip, or hands on learning in class, and they all wrote with vigour last week!  

Our Friday construction sessions will continue this week - the children are LOVING it!  I am sure you are all very appreciative of the wonderful, HUGE creations they are bringing home on a Friday afternoon (!!!)  Experiences such as these allow for the development of so many skills: team work, creativity, innovation, communication…the list goes on.  Love it!  

In a couple of weeks we will begin our full -school swimming lessons, which will be held at Huia Pool and McKenzie Pool.  We will need parent help for these trips: if you think you may be available to join us we will be very happy to hear from you.  Our two  sessions will be on Thursday 24th and Friday 25th November at McKenzie Pool (the end of next week).  We then break for a week, and continue with lessons on Monday 5th December, and then through until Tuesday 13th December.  More information will come home this week with times etc.  We require the children to be able to dress and undress independently before and after the lessons, and it would be great if you could practise this at home.  

  In our Kowhanga we try to motivate children less with rewards, like stickers and treats, but rather motivate children to succeed through their own sense of challenge and achievement.  We do however have a class system that we call 'bucket filling', and celebrates kindness, awareness of others, teamwork, and celebrating their own and others successes. The class works together on this common goal, earning pom poms which go into a jar.  When the jar is full we plan to celebrate together in some way - a water day, a trip, a party, the children will decide.  This will probably be during Week 9, and we would love families to join us (if you are free).  More information to come as our jar gets closer to the top! 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend - it’s nice to have a bit of a break in the weather! 

SPCA

SPCA

Yesterday we went on an exciting trip to the Wellington SPCA to learn more about the welfare of animals. A bus trip, watching surgery and exploring the town belt added to this exciting day. Huge thanks to the many wonderful parents who joined us 😊