Kia ora e te whānau,
We hope you all had a lovely holiday. Term 4 is an exciting term with lots of activities planned, and with the sunshine and wonderful warm weather, the children have been happy and settled back in school so quickly. We thank you for all the support to ensure such smooth transitions.
Labour Day Weekend
A quick reminder that school will be closed on Monday as it will be Labour Day holiday, and will resume on Tuesday 29th. We hope you'll have a relaxing and fun long weekend with your whānau.
Swimming (Water Safety Programme)
Swimming will start next week (week 3) on Tuesday 29th October and go until Friday 1st November, then week 5 from Monday 4th November to Thursday 7th November. Please note that there will be NO literacy books sent home in these two weeks due to the time taken for these water safety lessons.
It would be a good idea to pack extra snacks and food in your child's lunchbox during these 2 weeks if possible to ensure our tamariki have full bellies after swimming. Please ensure that your child comes to school on swimming days with a NAMED swimming bag, clean towel and togs. You can also have a look at our Swimming Social Story with your child to know what to expect.
Thank you to our whānau who offered to help during the trips, you can either meet us at Pioneer or come with us on the bus. The departure time of each group is as follows:
Group 1 - Sarah's Homegroup + some of Amber's students: 9.30am
Group 2 - Ella's Homegroup + some of Amber's students: 10am
Group 3 - Quynh's Homegroup + some of Amber's students: 10.30am
The bus will be waiting on Eastern Terrace.
Please note: No Literacy Group Lessons will take place on the days we are swimming.
Swimming- Parent Helper Information
Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all,
Thank you for being a parent/whānau helper for our swimming session/s.
Please read carefully through the this information as this provides details about what to do as a parent/whanau helper during our time at Pioneer Pool.
Helping Children
- We want everyone to feel safe and comfortable at all times, so if you assist children in the changing rooms, please give verbal guidance. You do not need to dress or undress the children.
- Encourage the children to be as independent as possible and prompt them with what they need to do.
- Encourage children to use quiet voices in the changing room and keep their belongings in one place.
- Two or more parent/whānau helpers should be present, while others can wait at the changing room entrance to check that children have all their belongings.
- Parents can assist children to put their belongings into one of the cubbies provided.
- Parents/whānau are not required to be in the pool with children.
- Please let the teacher in charge know if you have any questions or concerns.
- If a child needs to use the toilet, please show them where it is (these are in the teaching pool area, you will not need to use the public toilets), send the child in, and wait outside.
Many thanks for your help with swimming this year!
Please email your child’s teacher if you have any questions.
Home Group Spaces
We moved homegroup spaces at the end of term 3, so here's a fresh walk-through of where we're based at the moment:
Ella - Atrium
Amber - Breakout Space
Sarah - Nook
Quynh - Theatre
Athletics
The tamariki from the Kahikatea team did so well at athletics on Thursday, what an awesome bunch! We saw a lot of demonstration of our values 'We Love Challenge' and 'We Get There Together' during our practice sessions AND the actual event, ka mau te wehi - how amazing! Below are some photos.
Sunhats and Sunscreen
A friendly reminder that term 4 is a hats term, children are required to wear a hat when going outside. If they don't have a hat, they will need to stay in the shade by Tahaki building or the hall during playtime. Your child can bring their own sunscreen to school if they wish, please ensure that this stays in their bag during the day and your child takes responsibility for looking after it.
Maths- A Focus on Fractions
Sarah's Homegroup has been learning about fractions, what they mean and what the symbols look like. The children then made a fractions robot in each group, they were super engaged and keen to make their robot look unique. What a cool activity!
Muesli Bar Wrappers
Ruby's whānau in Quynh's homegroup who have been sharing that, each year, they participate as instructors of the E3 expedition and make sustainability goals. This year they have gone back to this one around muesli bars which was last done back in Dec 2022. Below is the story told by the family.
"This was from our social media posts
https://www.instagram.com/p/ClsRXZdp-g1/?img_index=1
So we did the numbers & came up with this…
* each person on E3 consumes 3x muesli bars per day. Avg per day = 16 people X3= 48
* 48 X 11 days = 528 bar wrappers. WOW THATS A LOT!!!!
* That’s just for 1 E3
But what does 528 wrappers look like? Hence the video of 100’s of wrappers falling out of that bucket.
That’s 528 wrappers for each E3 that are not going into a landfill.
And the remaining pics are the alternative. Over 1000 muesli bars so lovingly made by a few caring people who care about the planet… care about creation & care enough to demonstrate to you & all of us that meaningful change is achievable. All part of the great 10 Years of E3."
The family are setting a goal of collecting 2000 muesli bar wrappers to demonstrate how many wrappers have been saved from going into landfill by making their own for the expedition. In Kahikatea, Ruby and friends have started collecting these wrappers from other children's lunchboxes. If possible, we would also love to collect these from you, just hand them to Quynh or your child's homegroup teacher.
Learning Through Play
Personal Space - Boundaries
In Kahikatea, we have been talking about and discussing boundaries, and what we can say when someone is being too close to our personal space. The video below is a fabulous resource, as the catchy melody and simple language make it so much fun for our tamariki to remember the key phrases. Please have a look with your child and sing along, we guarantee it'll get stuck in your head rather quickly.
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