Author Archives: Charlotte Verity

Kōwhai News Term 1 Week 5

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Kia ora whānau,

Welcome to our Week 5 blog! Here is some information on what's been happening over the last two weeks and what is coming up. 

Native Nurturing Learning Trips to Victoria Park

We are very excited about our trips to Victoria Park on the 13th and 14th March. Children will definitely need their hats, water bottles, jumpers and lunch box. 

Schedule  

Weds morning: Anna M's group      Weds afternoon: Anna R's group
Thurs morning: Nick's group           Thurs afternoon: Rowe's group
Krystal's group will go in smaller groups with one of the groups above.

We will:

  • Explore the different habitats that exist in Banks Peninsula and identify why they are valuable.
  • Explain how plants and animals that live in native forest and tussock lands are interdependent.
  • Explain how pests impact our native forests and explore some solutions to these problems.
  • Identify actions that they can take to encourage sustained growth of native animal and tree species.

Learn more about New Zealand nature with this booklet from DOC, designed for caregivers and their children.

Maths 

We're so impressed with how quickly students are getting to their maths class and embracing all our different types of learning. All groups are working on place value, number knowledge and basic facts. Each week, students complete exercise and application tasks, open-ended and unfamiliar problem-solving tasks, games and teacher focus groups. The akōnga especially love our introductory 'Rapid Routines'. These are fun maths thinking tasks, such as Which One Doesn't Belong.

Science: Gathering Data by Listening 

During the afternoons, we're enjoying tasks from other curriculum areas, such as social sciences, sport and P.E., science and interpersonal learning. Some classes loved an activity which involved listening to and testing sounds in science recently!




Discovery 

Enjoy looking at our recent Discovery pictures!







Top Team

Today Top Team came to Beckenham and the Kōwhai children had a great time trying lots of different team-building activities out on the park. They worked in teams of 6-8, competing against other teams as they rotated around a variety of tasks. They showed amazing co-operative skills and really embraced the school value 'We Get There Together'. It really was wonderful to see and we are so grateful that the weather turned out so well for us. Have a look at the photos below:




















Have a great weekend!

From the Kōwhai team





Kōwhai News Term 4 Week 3

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Kia ora whānau,

Here is an update on what we have been doing in the Kōwhai hub over the past two weeks.

Christchurch South Library Visits

Over the past two weeks, all the homegroups in Kōwhai have been on a trip to South Christchurch Library to learn about the history of the library and what the new build will look like after the earthquake irreparably damaged the current building. We were shown a slideshow on how the library evolved over the years and we ended up seeing an architect's drawing of the new library which is yet to be built. It was a really interesting experience and the children were fascinated!

        

The children then went on a scavenger hunt round the library to learn about the different areas in the library and what they are for. They also had to look for information and answer various questions. It was a fun activity while being educational at the same time.

We would just like to thank all the parent helpers who came along on the trip. We could not have done this without you. We would also like to thank Kerilea, our teacher aide, who came to support us on all of our visits.








Athletics Day

This week we held our whole school Athletics Day and it was great to see everyone out on the park participating in their various events and disciplines. In the Kōwhai team, all the homegroups had 5 rotations: high jump, long jump, discus, shot put and sprints. It was amazing to see everyone give it a go and doing their very best. Congratulations to you all!











Being SunSmart

It has been great to see so many children remembering to wear their hats at school, especially with all these sunny days we have been experiencing. Please do continue to make sure that your child has a hat at school every day and that it is clearly named. There is always the option of keeping hats at school, either in tote trays or in an allocated hat tub. We also encourage everyone to have sunscreen on. This can be applied before coming to school and we also have sunscreen at school if anyone needs to top up or they forget to put sunscreen on. Thank you so much for your support with this.

Have a great weekend!


Kōwhai News Term 4 Week 1

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Welcome back to school for our final term. It is wonderful to see the tamariki well rested and with lots of energy for the weeks ahead. We hope you enjoy our update. 

Athletics 

We are enjoying our athletics practice sessions at the moment. The whole school athletics event is on Thursday 26th October, and our team will complete their activities from 11am - 12:40pm. Our focus is on the development of the movement skills of run, jump and throw, engagement and fun. A house relay will take place at 2.45. We warmly invite you to join us for this day. Check out the photos below!

Sunhats

These are essential for this term, so please make sure your child has a named hat they can leave at school in their tote tray or in their bag. We encourage sunscreen to be applied at home before school, and we have extra at school that can be applied as children need. Please also make sure your child has a named water bottle at school every day.

Library Trips

We are looking forward to visiting the Christchurch South Library over the next fortnight. Please send children with jackets, jumper, sunhat and solid walking shoes on the day of their trip. Thanks to those who offered to parent help. If you are a parent helper (your child's teacher will have confirmed this with you by email), please be in your child's homeroom class at 1:30pm on the day of their trip. Many thanks.

Anna R: Monday 16th October 1:30-3pm

Anna M: Tuesday 17th October 1:30-3pm

Rowe: Wednesday 18th October 1:30-3pm

Charlotte: Tuesday 24th October 1:30-3pm

Nick: Wednesday 25th October 1:30-3pm

Learning This Term

We have some fantastic learning in store this term. 

Wellbeing continues to be a key part of our programme, which includes both a whole school PB4L focus and daily notice discussion, as well as explicit teaching and learning activities in class each week. Anna Reid has put together an amazing selection of learning activities for us, which covers being a good sport, conflict resolution, how to apologise, keeping things in perspective and gratitude. 

Our PB4L focus this week is being an Upstander. You might like to read this social story at home and discuss it with your child.

Art

Once we have completed Athletics, we will use our afternoon times for art and inquiry. We look forward to learning how to sketch and may make some fun nature creations (thank you Rowe and Anna for planning these for us!). 

Science: Ngā Manu (Birds)

We are also looking forward to a science inquiry into ngā manu, or birds. We will be learning key science ideas, including: 

* Different birds have different shapes, sizes, colours, beaks and feet. 

* All birds have two legs, wings, claws and a beak instead of teeth.

* The structure and features of a bird help it to get what it needs to survive. We can tell what sort of food a bird eats by looking at its beak and feet.

* Birds have adapted in line with their environments and/or to cope around people.

You can help your child by starting to notice the birds in your garden and our local community, and observing their behaviours and features.











Kōwhai News Term 3 Week 5

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Kia ora whānau,

We have had another very busy fortnight completing our calendar art and many more activities.

Keeping Ourselves Safe

We have started teaching Keeping Ourselves Safe (KOS), a safety programme from the New Zealand Police. These lessons will be taught by your child’s homegroup teacher, with support from Constable Meg Moynihan, our local Police School Community Officer. As Anna Reid is away, her homegroup will start the KOS programme at a slightly later date.

What will children and young people learn?

  • to work out when their safety is at risk
  • how to keep safe when they meet and mix with other people
  • who and how to ask for help if they, or someone they know, is being abused
  • to go on asking for help until someone does something to stop the abuse
  • that it is important to make and follow personal, family and school safety rules

What part do parents, caregivers and whānau play?

Parents and whānau are strongly encouraged to support Keeping Ourselves Safe. You can also talk with your child about what they have learnt in Keeping Ourselves Safe and help them with any KOS activities they bring home. Visit the whānau section of the NZ Police Keeping Ourselves Safe website for more information and frequently asked questions.

If you require more information about the Keeping Ourselves Safe programme or wish to discuss the learning, please speak with your child’s homegroup teacher in the first instance.

This programme is divided into focus areas and this week we have discussed the following:

Focus area 1: I am unique, He taonga ahau

For safety reasons, students need to know their name, where they live, and the names of the people they live with. When they can verbalise their feelings confidently, they can report times when they feel safe and unsafe. We also discussed online safety so the students have an understanding of what personal information should not be shared on line.

PB4L and Wellbeing 

Our school uses the Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) schoolwide framework, to help our students understand and grow positive behaviours such as kindness, responsibility, respect and positive attitudes towards learning. We have a school-wide Word of the Week, and this week's is respect! Our students loved this song. We also have a learning focus, and this week's is mindset. You might enjoy watching this short video at home.

Gymnastics 

We loved our second trip to the Christchurch School of Gymnastics last week! The students were once more engaged in a variety of activities including swing ropes, trampolining, swing bars, balance beams, rolling, foam pit, rock crawl and more. The instructors were fabulous and were very impressed by the positive behaviour and listening skills of our students. We were all captivated by the dusting of snow on the hills on our ride home in the bus. 

The Christchurch School of Gymnastics offers after school and weekend classes if you wish to pursue this for your child.












Book Character Day

Last Friday was our Book Character Day and numerous book characters came to life.










Thank you so much for your continued support.

Have a lovely weekend. 

Ngā mihi, 

The Kōwhai Team

Kōwhai News Term 3 Week 3

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Kia ora whānau,

We've enjoyed another fun fortnight at school. Find out more below!

Wellness

A big thanks to families for sending children with warm clothes, jumpers, jackets and gumboots on our wetter days. We continue to monitor temperatures, air flow and ensure frequent hand washing at school, to help everyone stay well. Thanks also to families for keeping unwell students home.

Maths

Our students have embraced learning about fractions over the last three weeks. We are really impressed with their abilities to have a go at new, often challenging learning, and to justify their thinking through mathematical discussions. Key learning focuses include: 

  • Know words and symbols for fractions: ¹⁄₂, ¹⁄₃, ¹⁄₄, ¹⁄₅, ¹⁄₁₀ and fractions greater than 1 
  • Find halves, quarters, thirds and fifths of sets by equal sharing
  • Find halves and quarters of shapes using objects
  • Order fractions and explain which is bigger
Feel free to work on these at home too.

This is one of the problems that some of us have worked on recently: 

I picked up a handful of M&M’s. 
1/3 of them were red. 
What might a drawing of the M&M’s look like?

Photos from a class who completed a 'fraction friend' activity...







Gym Trip

We loved our trip to the Christchurch School of Gymnastics, and are looking forward to returning next week! The instructors were kind, and the activities were varied and included swing ropes, trampolining, swing bars, balance beams, rolling, foam pit, rock crawl and more.







Keeping Ourselves Safe

Our students will soon be teaching Keeping Ourselves Safe (KOS), a safety programme from the New Zealand Police. These lessons will be taught by your child’s homegroup teacher, with support from Constable Meg Moynihan, our local Police School Community Officer.

What will children and young people learn?

  • to work out when their safety is at risk
  • how to keep safe when they meet and mix with other people
  • who and how to ask for help if they, or someone they know, is being abused
  • to go on asking for help until someone does something to stop the abuse
  • that it is important to make and follow personal, family and school safety rules

What part do parents, caregivers and whānau play?

Parents and whānau are strongly encouraged to support Keeping Ourselves Safe. You can also talk with your child about what they have learnt in Keeping Ourselves Safe and help them with any KOS activities they bring home. Visit the whānau section of the NZ Police Keeping Ourselves Safe website for more information and frequently asked questions.

If you require more information about the Keeping Ourselves Safe programme or wish to discuss the learning, please speak with your child’s homegroup teacher in the first instance.

Discovery Fun