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.

 Kia ora whānau,

A lot of exciting learning to share in this week's blogpost. We cannot believe we are nearly at the end of the term. The kids have been working so hard and they are also very tired.

Literacy:

A reminder that book and reading folders will go home on Monday and need to be brought back on Mondays so that books can be changed over.

Picasso Art:

We have been learning about abstract art and looking at the work of Picasso. The children have learned about his use of shape and how the emotions he was feeling influenced his colour choices. They have been so engaged and excited by these sessions, and we are creating some cool art! Watch this space!

 We have had some wonderful learning happening over the past two weeks. The tamariki are really engaged and motivated in all areas of the curriculum. We are seeing a lot of progress already, which is amazing. Students' are now familiar with our routines, and the hub is humming along nicely.

Mathematics:

In Math this week we have been looking at measurement and have been using the context of the story of The Gingerbread Man for ordering and comparing length and height. Below are some pictures of some wonderful learning happening.

How you can help at home:

Ask your child to make comparisons with toys; e.g., can they line up all of their soft toys in order from shortest to tallest?

Or sort dinosaurs or plastic animals? Can you line your family members up in height order?

Can you learn the Te Reo words for tallest, taller, shortest, and shorter?

Students could draw pictures to bring back to class to share next week!

Literacy:

We are currently assessing, adjusting, and reworking our groups. We are thrilled with the amount of progress students have made in such a short time.

Reminders:

It is school photos next week on Wednesday, 19th March. please ensure students are in the correct school uniform for this.

A reminder to please keep toys at home, unless you have an arrangement with your child's teacher. They can be a big distraction for others during learning time and can often get lost or become damaged.

We have House Games on Tuesday afternoon, children are encouraged to wear their house colour tee-shirts.

Term 1 Week 5 

Nga mihi kia  koutou, 

Our little Kahikatea team is settling in nicely and we have maths and literacy programs underway. We have welcomed one of the Kowhai homegroups into the atrium space so you and your child need to use our East-side entry doors in the mornings. Bags can continue to be placed in either the green or blue cubbies.  

Professional Development Days 

Sarah and Amber are attending a two-day Literacy PD on Monday and Tuesday next week. 

Michelle Bradley will be relieving for Amber. 

Ellie Galletly will be relieving for Sarah. 

Walk and Wheel Week 

Next week our annual walk and wheel week is happening! Check out the Daily themes and Walk or Wheel website. 

Literacy 

Each child has their own literacy folder and if their teacher gives them a decodable book to read it must be placed inside their folder and then put into their school bag. If you can't see it please come into the hub and look in one of the three blue literacy boxes in the pathway. 

Please return the literacy folder each Friday. Thank you! If you have any questions, please ask your child's literacy teacher. 

Naming Items 

Thank you for clearly naming all your child's personal belongings, these include uniform items (hats, jerseys, shirts, school bag), and their drink bottle and lunchbox. 

Maths

Dear family and whānau, at school this week we are completing a maths unit on native frogs in ponds. This unit is all about how numbers are made up of other, smaller numbers, an essential concept underlying addition and subtraction. The unit helps develop two ideas: 

• there are a finite number of number pairs for a given number (for example 5 can be thought of as 0 and 5, 1 and 4, 2 and 3 and no other pairs can be found) 
•  numbers are uniquely paired (if 2 is one of the parts of 5, the other part must be 3). 

Children need to investigate these relationships many times. Once children believe that 2 and 3 is always 5 they see a real reason to remember it. 

At home this week please help your child to solve the inside and outside the house problem below. Encourage them to record the numbers and draw pictures to show people inside and outside. Toys could be used to show these number relationships. Discuss these in your home language also if you wish to. 

______________people live in my house. 

If there are 2 people inside my house then___________people are outside. 

If there are___________inside my house then__________people are outside. 

If there are____________inside my house then__________people are outside. 

If there are______inside my house then______________people are outside. 

Check out some very cool mathematicians!

Kahikatea Change Health Unit 

Library Days 

Talia and Amber go to the library on Tuesday afternoon 

Sarah goes to the library on Thursday afternoon.