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.

 Kia ora whānau!

We continue to be impressed with the progress our tamariki are making, this is reflected in the school reports which are live on HERO today-please make sure you sit down with your child and share all of the positives with them.

There are a lot of bugs around, both gastro and cold/flu. We appreciate your support in keeping your children at home when they are unwell. We continue to ventilate our hub, ensuring windows remain slightly open during the day. We have also begun to hand sanitise before eating again.

Matariki:

Matariki Evening

Tēnā koutou e te whānau,

We would like to invite you to our Matariki Whānau Rōpū hui.

Matariki is the start of the Māori new year and a time of reflection, connection and planning for the year ahead. We would like to celebrate with you and your whānau on Tuesday the 17th of June from 5:00 pm. The PTA will be having a Sausage Sizzle on the night for a small koha (donation). We will also be having performances form our Year 3-8 Kapa Haka groups, and each hub will be providing different activities to do with Matariki. There will be more details to come soon. 

Mānawatia a Matariki!

Learning Conferences:

We are looking forward to meeting with you and your child(ren) next week during their Term 2 Learning Conference. 

School will finish at 1:00pm on both days, Tuesday 10th and Wednesday 11th June.

This week we have been learning about measurement, particularly the area, volume and capacity of an object.

We based our work this week around Goldilocks and the Three Bears and spent a session filling bowls and testing out the capacity of some containers. 

 Kia ora whānau

Welcome back to Term 2! We have had a lovely first week back, hearing all about the holiday break and reconnecting with our tamariki. The Kahikatea kids have coped really well with being inside all day due to the wet and wild weather.

Welcome Nicky!

A big welcome to Nicky Dunlop who joins our team as our release cover teacher. Nicky has worked at Beckenham te Kura for a long time, mostly in the Y7 and 8 team. She is very excited to be joining the Kahikatea crew. Nicky will cover Sarah's team leader release all day on Tuesdays and she will cover Amber and Talia's release alternating Thursdays. Nicky is super creative and loves arts and crafts and is keen to implement a visual art afternoon once a week for our kids!

 Phew! We cannot believe how quickly the first term has flown by. You should be super proud of your wee ones, they have worked hard and our recent assessment shows they are all progressing in leaps and bounds.

Amber, Talia, Lisa, Nicola and myself have all really enjoyed getting to know you more this term, thanks for all of your amazing, ongoing support with our tamariki.

Here are a few pics from our Learning through Play sessions this week: We are always astounded by the creativity, problem solving, caring, energy and delighful conversation that occurs during these sessions.

A few things to keep on your radar for next term:

-School reports will go out mid term

-Whānau learning conferences will be scheduled for later in the term

-No sunhats required next term! (these should have arrived home today).

-We have Cross Country happening in the first few weeks of school and will need some parent helpers to mark out the course and marshall. More info to come.

-Next term both Talia and Amber's homegroups will participate in Kapa Haka sessions. Sarah's class will join back in, in Term 3.

-Our overall theme for Inquiry this year is change. This term we have had a Health and P.E/Art focus. Next term the focus will be Technology. We will be looking at Toys through time-how they have changed and how we could adapt/create a fabulous new toy.

-Please collect cardboard boxes over the break. We will be needing these as part of our Technology sessions next term.

-We have planned a trip to Ferrymead Heritage Park in the third week of term. I will be requesting parent helpers for this via a google form over the holidays so keep an eye out.

Please have a safe, happy and relaxing break! We will see you all rearing to go in a couple of weeks.