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

        

Athletics Day

Being SunSmart

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.

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.

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

Gym Trip

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

It has been another busy fortnight in the Kōwhai hub. Enjoy reading about our learning and adventures. 

Keeping Well 

Thank you so much to all whānau for making sure we keep our hubs as healthy as possible by keeping tamariki with coughs, colds and other symptoms of illness at home. 

Please do send your child to school with a named jumper every day, as the cooler air during playtimes can get suddenly chilly! Jackets on wet days are also a priority, and gumboots are always welcome (with shoes for wearing in class). Thanks, everyone!

Learning Conferences 

We are excited about meeting with you next week! Please remember that school closes at 2pm on both Wed 14th and Thurs 15th June. 

• If you haven't yet booked a learning conference, you can still book here (code: 8f6xx). 
• Please also fill out this form regarding care of your child from 2-3pm on these days. This form needs to be filled out by EVERY family.
• We also encourage you to spend time looking at your child's report with them on HERO.

Maths 

Currently, our maths learning is focused on multiplication and division. We have been enjoying a mix of: 

• Small group explicit learning with a teacher 
• Problem solving, solving problems like: In the cross country, 9 minions ran two laps each. How many laps did the minions run altogether? 
• Targeted maths worksheets, such as multiplying by skip counting, e.g., 3 x 2 = 2+2+2
• Maths games with a group 
• Finding arrays outside and in the classroom and drawing our own 
• Maths games online

Wellbeing 

Support your child's emotional awareness by listening to this story.

As well as our weekly PB4L focus (e.g., on kindness, friendship, upstanding etc.), we have wellbeing sessions each Friday, focusing on different topics that the teachers see the children might need support with. Recently, we have looked at emotions. We have...

• identified and named emotions 
• talked about how these feel in our body (e.g., when I am nervous, I get butterflies in my tummy)
• shared what causes us to feel these emotions
• played fun emotions games
• and also learnt some strategies for dealing with anger, sadness and frustration, such as talking to an adult or having some quiet time.

Waka & Migration Learning

We're really enjoying learning more about early migration to Aotearoa. We have especially loved learning about the different waka that different groups of people created to make the long voyage over from their homelands. You can explore some of these waka in 3D here and also learn about the traditional Ngāi Tahu way of building Mōkihi to travel local rivers.

Writing

Many children have been writing explanations over the last few weeks, and working on publishing and illustrating their work. Here are just some of their masterpieces:

Discovery

Tamariki are loving lego challenges (thanks, Anna R, for creating these each week), programming challenges (thanks, Nick) and Rowe's wonderful art inspirations. This week, Rowe has shown us how to make 3D paper sculptures! The teachers have noticed how great we are at working together and teaching each other new skills.

Have a great weekend!

Ngā mihi, 

The Kōwhai Team