Category Archives: Kahikatea

Kahikatea Newsletter Week 9

Posted on by

Enjoy the break and Time with your Children

We are very proud of all the learners in Kahikatea. Have a well-earned rest and enjoy the wonderful spring weather. 

Term 4

Term 4 starts again on Monday 10th October and finishes ten weeks later on Friday 16th December.
The following are some things we are going to be looking forward to learning and sharing next Term (dates to be confirmed in our newsletters closer to the events);
  • Athletics - Run Jump Throw
  • Visit to the Art Gallery
  • School Reports
  • Kahikatea Production

Food and Water

We have noticed our children having big appetites and as they grow they will need more food. Heading in to Term 4, please make sure they have enough food to last them through the school day including; A Healthy Snack, Morning Tea and Lunch.
Water is extremely important for health and learning. Please send a drink bottle to school for your children to access throughout their learning day. We encourage our tamariki to hydrate regularly.

Sunhats

Protection from strong UV rays is important. Please make sure you child brings their named sunhat to school for Term 4.

Writing

We have been writing poems about special people in our lives. We have used similes and metaphors to give the reader a vivid picture of our special person.

Sandy

Sandy is a bell bird because she can sing like a princess.
She is sparkly because she is beautiful like a butterfly.
Sandy is going to be the princess of the whole entire world.
Sandy is going to be the queen and Sandy will be the boss of Earth.
I love Sandy as a principal
I love school

By Moa

Joshy

My brother is as cool as an eagle. 
Fierce and brave
He is black because he wants to be an All Black.
My brother is like Nike shoes.
He's super fast!
He is as soft as a blankly.
He gives me the best hugs.
He is like a wood cutter because he can make you a radio.
I love my Josh!

By Michaela


Jaxon

Jaxon is like a cheetah because he can run and run.
He is red.
He stands out in a crowd and can run past a cheetah.
Jaxon is strong like a cupboard. 

By Jaimie

Hub 2 Spring Similes
We had fun learning on Thursday with our lovely seniors. Here are our similes we created then shared with their help;

Group 1 - Spring: as cute as a duckling, the water is as brown as chocolate, as fun as spring, as good smelling as flowers, as delicate as a flower, the water is as sparkly as a diamond.

Group 2 - Spring: flowers smell as nice as perfume, ducklings are as soft as a cat, flowers are as beautiful as a butterfly, rain is like a cloud, rain falls down like a shower, sky as blue as the ocean, rainbows are like colours in the sky.

Group 3 - Spring: as blue as the sea, as smelly as a flower, as soft as a cat, as bright as the sun, as beautiful as the sky, as beautiful as a flower, as beautiful as a rainbow, as pink as a flower.





Music Stations

Learning a musical instrument is fantastic for brain development. We have been creating our own music on the glockenspiels during Discovery Stations, which is "more fun than the ipads!"





Asia Awareness

We have created robots that will help someone from another country with settling in New Zealand or Beckenham School. Our challenge with creating it was to get it to stand by itself. This took a lot of team work, planning, discussion and masking tape! We demonstrated that We Love Learning, We Love Challenge, We Get There Together and We Make A Difference. Check our creations out:




















Week 8 Newletter

Posted on by

Writing

We read Voices in the Park by Anthony Brown. We noticed how the author gave us clues that helped us learn about each character. We took the characters from the book and put them in a new setting. We left clues for our reader, just like Anthony Brown. 

The next day it was my Mum's birthday. I was lucky because Smudge was sitting at the same table and she was sitting beside me. Smudge brought  some playing cards to play with her dad, but instead she played with me. It was fun, well apart from Smudge's Dad because my Mum was being a bossy boots to Smudge's Dad. 
By Taylor

It was my birthday so I drove to a nail salon to relax. When I got there, it seemed an age, but finally the lady talked to me. She couldn't even find my favourite nail colour!

By Niamh


Team Dolphin and Team Rubble have been reading 'My Mum' by Anthony Browne. We have been working on 'hooking' the reader with interesting starters and 'hooks' throughout the writing. Our character writing is about Mum:

My Mum
My Mum is sweet and actually she is the best Mum. She plays with me. My Mum has blue eyes and orange hair. 

By Dartanyan

My Sister
She is nice, my sister. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She babysits me and plays with me. She's cute. 

By Petal

My Mum
She's cool, my Mum. My Mum is COOL!!! My Mum is nice because she's kind. She looks like a beautiful butterfly. My Mum looks 21 years old. My Mum is a paediatrician, that is a type of doctor. She likes biking. She likes running. She's very cool, my Mum. My Mum is as smart as an octopus. My Mum is lovely and beautiful. I love my Mum. And do you know what? She loves me too!

By George

Some wonderful writing from a Team Minecraft author, exploring similes...

My Family
My mum is like a turtle. My step dad is like a child. My baby brother is like a puppy or a kitten. I love my family and, you know what? They love me too.

By Eva

Amazing Asia

A huge thank you to the families who have shared aspects of their culture with our children as a part of our Amazing Asia learning. This week Rahul and Aparna joined us to share traditional Indian dress, food and fascinating facts about India. The children really enjoyed the experience.





Kahikatea Newsletter Week 7

Posted on by

Writing in Hub 1&2

We have a team full of amazing authors! Here is some writing they have been working on last week:

Team Minecraft Writers:


A big storm came here last night. My barbeque went down my steps on the deck. It got broken. My Dad was mad and he was at a work thing. The wind sounded like a truck crashing.
By Blake


No! No! I can't get out and play. Splish, splash, crash, bang! There's too much hail. We have to play inside. The end.                                                                                                          
 By Cian


Last night's storm brought rain, hail and thunder. I found an enormous puddle. It looks like a stream.
                                                                                                                                     By Bobbi


Team Dolphin Writers:

I like Ally because she is my best friend. We play together and we play in Room 0. And we do everything together.
By Charlotte


I have a fish called Juri. He can leap around the fish tank. His fins are not sick too. He is yellow. I like my fish because he is colourful. 
By Juri


Dad
My Dad is a great builder and a great wrestler. He never gives up on his work. One night my sister asked Dad if we could have some chocolate. He said yes! He loves spending time with us and he loves going to the park and seeing me on my bike. He is very nice. 
By Lola T

Team Rubble Writers:

Dad
He is crazy, my Dad because... He plays jokes on us and sometimes we laugh. He is like Fiji weather. My Dad is between tall and small. My Dad gives me hugs. Mum's hugs are the best but Dad's hugs are great. 
By Brynn


Dad
He's alright, my Dad. My Dad is good at work, biking and truck driving. He has whiskers and he's very hairy. He has black hair. He's alright, my Dad. He loves me, my sister Abby and my Mum. He's alright, my Dad. My Dad is as happy as a hippopotamus. I love my Dad and do you know what... He loves me too!!!
By Briar



My Dad
He's always awesome, my Dad. He is amazing at golf, mountain biking and being silly. 
My Dad looks like a clown in town. He has black curly hair and a goaty. He is a very tall man. He's always awesome, my Dad. 
He loves Mum, Reg and of course, me! He loves me 100%. He's always awesome, my Dad! 
My Dad has a super warm heart! My Dad is as silly as a goose on the loose! 
I can't wait for Father's Day again! 
By Maggie


My Dad is Cool
My Dad is pretty cool and he loves me. His favourite thing to do is probably play with me! He is as smart as a horse... He can build cool buildings. And he loves painting. And he loves everyone!!!
By Harvey


Maths - Direction and Turns

We are learning about direction and turns through our Discovery Stations at the moment. We have been giving directions to each other to find hidden treasure, finding our way through mazes, 'programming' our robots (which are actually our buddies), creating treasure maps with directions and turning objects around using quarter, half and full turns.  


Social Studies - Asia Awareness

As our learning is wrapping up for the term, we are looking into how we can make a difference for someone who has just moved to New Zealand from somewhere in Asia. Each hub is currently discussing and creating something that will help others learn about the language, food and culture in New Zealand. 




Kahikatea Newsletter Week 6

Posted on by

Exploring Shapes during Discovery Time

Making a friend for Robot and a house for a dog and a mouse. So creative and a great way to make new friends.



How does learning make us feel?

Learning can feel so different, like when you think you are learning one thing, but you're actually learning lots of other things as well. - Aaria and Isabelle

I feel excited when I learn new things. - Vida

It depends on what kind of learning I am doing. Learning can be fun, exciting and challenging. - Taylor

When you get mixed up you sometimes feel challenged, but you can be creative and still do it. - Jayde

I normally get frustrated when something is hard and I sometimes panic, but I am learning to calm myself down. It helps because when I calm down, I can keep on going. - Katya

I normally get frustrated when I really really want to be able to do something. Today there were lots of people using the glue so I tried something different to make my spider and that worked really well. - Emma

Learning Conferences

Thank you to our families for coming in to school last week, to share in celebrating the children's learning ... and congratulations to the children themselves for stepping up to the challenge of leading their own Learning Conferences. Well done to you all - we're very proud of you!

Discovery Stations

Discovery Stations continue to be a big hit with the children, many of whom are doing their utmost to be at school by 8:30 a.m., so that they can embrace their learning as early in the day as possible! 
As the weeks progress, teachers will add in or withdraw different station activities for various reasons. This week, stations relating to Position and Orientation (our current Maths Strand focus) have been added in to the mix. The titles of some of these stations are: Direct Me, Turns and Maps, Robot Hands, Amazing Mazes ... very enticing! Other stations may be added as a result of student interest, for example, Paper Engineering, which has been an area of great interest in recent weeks.

Wednesday afternoon

A reminder to our families that we are requesting children be picked up at 12:30 tomorrow as teachers will be off-site at an NZEI Union meeting. If you are unable to pick your child up at this time please enter their details into the following document: http://bit.ly/2cA9Qsq. Thank you. 

Kahikatea Newsletter Week 5

Posted on by

Cricket 

We all had a great time playing cricket on Wednesday afternoon. We played a fun warm up game called 'Snowball' and then got into a real game. We had to hit two balls off their stands as hard as we could and then run around the wickets until the fielding team replaced both balls back in their starting position.



Amazing Asia

A range of cultural immersion activities have been occurring across the team. We have been making sushi, learning to count in Japanese, making friendship bracelets to celebrate Raksha Bandhan (Brother and Sister's Day), learning mandarin and playing the madal (a traditional drum from Nepal).






Sign Language Lessons

Hub 1 and 2 are lucky to be learning Sign Language each Thursday - the children not involved in Kapa Haka are learning about how to communicate without talking out loud. Thank you to Cheryl and Benazier from Van Ash for their knowledge and willingness to share their expertise.




Our Ideas About RESPECT

Levi - A group of friends
Isaac - being kind with our words
Blake - respect is caring for people
Arthur - being, like, nice to each other
Juri - caring about people
Ally - reading to someone can show respect
Charlotte - you being nice to other little students at school
Bobbi - looking after people
Claudia - take people to the sick bay when they are hurt
Stella - trusting people
Lakiehsa - shaking someones hands when you meet them
Alexandra - making new friends
Cian - handshaking and hugging and sharing can show respect
Tahere - by not breaking someone's things
Torun - shaking peoples hands
Louie - picking people up when they have fallen over
Luigi - sharing with other people, coming back to class with each other
Petal - sharing with other people
Taylor - Culture is something that deserves respect
Emma - When I go to the office I wait patiently and say "Excuse me."


We are enjoying learning about RESPECT and showing everybody what respect can look like and sounds like.

Library

The library is currently being packed into banana boxes to re-locate in the dental clinic over the next 2 weeks. So, there will be no issuing of books over this time. 
Great work, Anne! Have a look at the progress:


Stationery Request

We are asking that all children have an A4 plastic pocket folder in which they can store 'work in progress' in and 'finished work' from Discovery Stations. If you already have a folder at home please bring it school before the end of Week 6 (next Friday). If you do not have one, your child's teacher will organise it and add it to your account.