Dear parents/whānau,

How have we only got 5 and a half days left of the school year???

We are posting the blog early this week as it includes some important reminders in terms of wrapping up the year.

Stationery:

Students are starting to bring home books, some are full and others are spares. You can use the spares next year. There is a link on the school website to stationery requirements for 2026.

Decodable readers:

No more reading books will be coming home, could you please send back any that you may have this week so that we can store them for 2026.

Library Books:

There are still many outstanding library books needing to be returned. We will not be visiting the library again this year but books need to be brought back to school and placed in the library returns box in the office. Any outstanding book loans will incur a fine.

The Great Migration:

If you can spare 20mins to come and help us shift some of the bigger pieces of furniture after school this Thursday 11th. We would be very grateful.

Fun Day:

As a reward for all of our tamariki's hard work we are planning a bit of a fun day next Tuesday. Students will need a change of clothes as we will have some different water play activities available. We will also have a Teddy Bears' picnic type lunch, children are able to bring a favourite soft toy from home on Tuesday.

Last Day:

 The final day of school is next Wednesday, the 17th of December, and it is a half day. School will close at 12:30pm.

 Kia ora whānau,

Our tamariki have had a busy and wonderful start to the final term of the year! 

We are well underway with our athletics practices, we have had a ponds visit and we have started ukulele and dance sessions on a Tuesday. 

A reminder for sunhats for Term 4 please.

Some dates for your diary:

Thursday 23rd October-Teacher Strike action, school is closed.

Thursday 30th October: Whole school athletics day. Kahikatea aim to run ours 11:00am-12:15pm, on the park.

Tuesday Arts:

We have been fortunate enough to receieve some funding to promote some performance arts sessions in the Year 1-4 classrooms. This means that on a Tuesday each homegroup has a 30minute ukulele session with our whānau worker Paerau (also a member of One Drop Nation) and a hip hop dance session with Steph from Legacy Dance. How lucky are we?!

 Kia ora whānau, 

A big warm welcome back to school! We have been so busy these past two weeks the recent break is all but a distant memory. The kids and teachers are all glad to be back together and into our daily routine.

We would like to welcome Kendall to the team (officially) and also our two new students, Eva Bath and Mae Harrison. Kendall's home group will have the addition of some new students who are currently transitioning from the Koru hub. They will start in Kendall's class mid-term. The children have met the new kids and are very excited to reconnect, build on pre-existing friendships and create new ones.

Literacy Decodable Books:

Literacy reading books will now come home on Thursdays. The process has been impacted with gymnastics these past two weeks.

So this means that reading folders only need to come to school on Thursday when your child will receive their new reader for the week ahead. Reading folders can stay at home all other days.

Library days:

Tuesdays-Talia and Amber

Thursdays-Sarah and Kendall

Inquiry Learning:

Our overall concept this year is change. So far we have covered: Term 1-Health and Physical Education by looking at physical and emotional changes in ourselves. Term 2-Technology we studied changes over time, using Toys as the context. This term we are focusing on Science and looking at the life cycles of different insects and animals.

We have started by identifying living and nonliving things and looking at the life cycle of a butterfly and a frog.

Gymnastics:

We had two great sessions at the CHCH School of Gymnastics. We are so proud of all of our tamariki for giving everything a go and putting in 100%. Everyone demonstrated 'We Love Challenge!'Get ready for the photo dump, there are more to come!

 Kia ora whānau,

It was lovely to catch up with you all at our recent learning conferences and at our whole school Matariki night. 

We cannot believe we are nearing the end of the term and nearly half a year gone with your, wonderful tamariki.

As you are aware, we are creating a fourth home group in our team. This home group will be taught by Kendall Skelton, who is currently a teacher in the Kowhai team and a parent to one of our Year 1 students. We are so excited to welcome Kendall to our team, we know she will be a great asset to us for the remainder of the year. 

Learning in Kahikatea:

We have been busy in maths where our focus over the past two weeks has been on Geometry-looking at the properties of  2D and 3D shapes and time. 

Next term reading books will come home on a Thursday For the week. This means reading folders need to come to school on Thursdays instead of Mondays. This is to allow teachers to work through the books more than once before sending them home.

Library days are the same:

Tuesday-Amber and Talia

Thursday-Sarah and Kendall

Sarah's Literacy group looked at the story of the 'Gardeners' Maze. We had a go at solving some mazes, then created our own mazes for our friends to attempt to solve!

Matariki:

Over the past few weeks, we have been learning about all of the Matariki stars and what they represent, listening to many myths and legends and creating lots of artwork. Our Matariki night at Kura was a huge success. We hope you have a restful Matariki break with those who are near and dear to you.