Term 1 Week 9

Kia ora e te whānau,

What a busy couple of weeks we have had! A highlight, of course, was our team trip to Ferrymead. It was a successful day, with our learners getting to experience a range of activities and transport themselves back to the 'olden days'. Another big thank you to our whānau helpers, you were wonderful.

Student Voice

"My favourite part was making an olden day toy."- Thalia

"We got to go on a tram! It was the only tram I've been on in my whole entire life that doesn't have walls!" - Neasa

"I liked the chickens, dressing up, and the river." - Sarah

"I liked the chickens 'cos they were fun to look at! My favourite thing to play with was the yo-yo." -Jace

"I liked having activities and the playground. I liked the horse toys and the skipping ropes." - Finn

"I liked the toy babies and the bikes!" - Maryam

"I liked the costumes!" - James

Home Spaces

On Thursday, we moved home spaces. Each teacher moved clockwise around the hub which means that:

- Katie's home group is in the Theatre

- Lisa and Quynh's home group is in the Atrium

- Krystal's home group is in the Breakout space

- Amber's home group is in the Nook

Making this move before the end of the term has allowed all of our learners to know where they will be when returning to school at the start of Term 2.

Uniform/ Lost Property

As summer draws to a close and Term 2 and 3 are ahead, sun hats are no longer a requirement at school. We will send home all hats on the last day of term. We will need them back at school for Term 4.

Over the holidays please ensure that all of the uniform items that belong to your child are clearly and accurately named. In some cases, there is a sibling's or previous owner's name on labels, which makes it tricky to reunite the items with their owner. 

For Terms 2 and 3, your child is welcome to bring gumboots and jackets to school. We have shoe racks and clothing racks to use for these items.  Please make sure these are also clearly named.

Innovation

We continue our focus on innovation into Term 2, where the main focus is going to be on following a design process to make an instrument. We will explore different types of music and instruments, listen to a live percussion performance, learn about the technology design process, and make our instruments. 

We are looking for items to create these instruments with, such as...

- clean tin cans (with no sharp edges)

- clean plastic containers or bottles (not milk bottles)

- glass jars

- lids (tin or plastic)

- tissue boxes

- other small boxes

- cardboard tubes

- balloons

- thick cardboard

- rubber bands

Ferrymead Photos

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Kia ora koutou,

Week 5 already! It is fabulous seeing all of our beautiful tamariki so settled into the Kahikatea Hub and doing some fantastic learning. 

Nuts at school - Whānau notice

We are aware that the Kahikatea team has students with nut allergies. Therefore we are asking that if nuts/nut-based products aren't necessary for your child's lunchbox please consider not including them.

The team is also aware that some children have other dietary requirements and their diet may need to be nut-based, so will need nut products to be included in their lunch box.

When the term starts, the teachers will remind the children that at school we eat our own food rather than share with others, along with reminders about handwashing and putting food wrappings in their lunch boxes to take home. This will also include washing their hands after eating nuts to remove any potential residue. 

If you have any questions please contact your child's Homegroup teacher.

Thank you for your support as 'We Get There Together'.

Word of the week

Math Focus

This week in maths, some of our learners learned about capacity and how different containers hold different amounts. 

They estimated how many teddies/cubes would fit into different containers, they measured by filling the containers, and they counted the teddies/cubes to check how close their answer was to their estimate. 

It was wonderful to hear the rich discussion about the best way to count the teddies. Depending on how big the pile was, sometimes they counted in 1s, skip counted in 2s, skip counted in 5s and when the pile looked enormous, they skip counted in 10s.

Spare Yarn

During Learning Through Play sessions, we would love to teach some children (who are interested) how to do finger knitting. 

Finger knitting is a calming activity that has many benefits for young children. It builds dexterity and strength in those small muscles which control the hand, fingers, and thumbs. These same muscles are the muscles we use to write, so strengthening them is extremely important. 

Finger knitting also encourages creativity (the creations students can make with their completed finger knitting are endless), hand-eye coordination, concentration, and perseverance. 

In order for us to do this we need some yarn. It doesn't have to be a full ball (small amounts are welcome), or fancy (just regular is fine). The thicker the yarn, the easier it is for children to manipulate. 

If you have some spare at home that you wish to donate, please bring it into the Kahikatea Hub. 

Boxes and Containers

Literacy Videos

Emma Nahna

Kapa Haka

Open Mornings

Sunflowers

House Games Photos

Kia ora e te whānau mā,

Hats

Toys at School

Celebration Assembly and Team Hui

Sharing our Learning

Literacy at home

Maths

In Kahikatea so far this term, we have been working on an NZ Maths unit called ‘All about us’. We have explored:

• Different ways to count groups of objects

• Creating and interpreting picture graphs

• Features of 2D shapes

• The language of position

• Ordering objects by mass (weight)

• Creating sequential patterns

Here are some photos of some of the fabulous mathematical thinking that our tamariki have displayed...

Kia ora e te whānau,

Thank you for taking the time to attend Learning Conferences this week. The opportunity to touch base with each whānau prior to starting the new school year is invaluable. We really enjoyed hearing about each child's holiday break and share in their strengths and next steps. 

We had a wonderful first two days back at school! The air conditioning kept us cool as the sun blazed outside. It was wonderful to connect with our home group learners and get to know each other as a team. What really stood out to us was the positivity in the hub. The children were excited to be back at school and keen to give new things a go!

Play Areas

We went on a boundary walk on Thursday to show children the areas that they can play in during break times. The following was also shared with children...

Nuts at School