Kia ora ki ngā whānau,

What a glorious few weeks we have enjoyed recently! The children have been very actively engaged in their learning and are determined to make a difference in all aspects of their school life, including their social, emotional, physical and academic growth.

The Pūkaki Play Space:
We are delighting in the new Pūkaki Play Space, and loving the exciting opportunities it provides us. We've been involved in lots of planting (hanging baskets, sunflower seeds, succulents and beans, peas and sweet pea seeds), not only in order to 'decorate' the area, but also because the children had requested, at the end of Term 2, that they have the chance to learn more about, and be involved in, gardening and nature in general. The children love their Play-based Learning activities in this new space, some of the favourite activities being potion-making, building and exploring in the sandpit, building models on the platforms...

Working with our Ferndale friends and Friday's preschool visitors from Pebbles

Potion-making: chocolate or strawberry cake today?

Strawberry cake, it is!

More essential ingredients being added into the mix

Reaching and balancing

Beautifying the space

And who is this flexible wee one?

Will our boats float?

Talent Quest:
A reminder that in the Koru team we shall be holding the 'heats' for the Talent Quest on Friday, September 13th, and that one or two acts will be selected to perform in the Talent Quest itself, which is going to be held on the final Friday of term, September 27th, 1:40 - 2:45 p.m.
We shall be in touch with the families of those children who will be going on to perform on that final Friday.
There is mounting excitement and a lot of practice taking place!

Jump!

Wow - great skills

Keep practising - you can do it!

...and fantastic skills here too!

Book Character Day:
Book Character Day was absolutely fabulous and we all had enormous fun. Check out the school Facebook page for a selection of photos, and below, you will find even more, depicting our wee ones (and one or two older ones) 'dressed up to the nines'!

Guess who!

That mischievous cat!

Recognise this book character?

One very cute scarecrow

Thing 1 (or was it 2 or even 3?) came to visit us

And who might this be?!

Te reo Māori:
The children continue to work hard on their mihi practice, and many are now able to fluently introduce not only themselves, but also their parents, and are building up to including their family name (surname) as well.
The children are also confidently singing waiata and, a week ago, even led the whole school in the singing of Kia Ora Ra!
We're also looking forward to Te Wiki o te Reo Māori which begins on September 9th and runs through to September 15th. Christchurch City Library has many amazing resources to support this special week in our calendar. Teachers will be supplementing what we already have with the resources on offer through the library website.

Eco and Waste Warriors:
We all participated enthusiastically in the Clean Cubby Competition which has been running over the past fortnight. In the Koru team, children put their hands up for the job of Cubby Monitor and made regular checks throughout the day, ensuring that - yes - bags were zipped up, folders tidily tucked within and no clothing was left to fall out on to the ground or veranda. All children have been devoted to the notions of cleanliness and tidiness, and have vowed to continue to maintain their high standards. The Koru team won the cubby competition twice over the fortnight and was mentioned as an example, to some of the older students!
Many members of the Koru team also like to ensure that not only are their learning spaces clean and tidy, but also the wider outdoor spaces are litter-free. Thank you to our 5- and 6-year-olds for displaying the school values of 'We Care' and 'We Make a Difference'.

Keeping the veranda in pristine condition

...and the floor indoors as well

A vacuum cleaner at work!

Tidying the book shelves

Stacking chairs

...and cleaning the children's 'teaching station'

And last (photo), but not the least, as you will see...

Little (Peter) meets Large (Benjamin) - Netherland Dwarf and Flemish Giant

Week 4

Wow, almost half-way through Term 3 already!
The provocation of 'Change' has filled our recent weeks with a busy variety of topics. Some of them have been about the change of temperature (freezing versus heated objects), colour and growth.

Look out for ordering your child's Calendar Art, these are great for Christmas gifts.  This too has filled the afternoons with expression through creativity and lots of hard work.

Our new outdoor space is beginning to show more colour and plant life with each passing week.  We are still on the look out for any large planters or containers for the transfer of seedlings.  A big thank you for the donated containers and baby plants so far.

Creating at Discovery Time

Focussing at writing time

Working as a team at Discovery Time

Skip and Bounce handwriting

Making potions

Literacy time

Calendar art preparation

"Look at my handwriting, Kristika!"

More team work

Caring for our plants

Proud of our new hanging baskets

Seed sprouting experiment

Friends showing We Care

Preparing for the seed sprouting experiment

Quiet time in the Chill Zone

A Discovery Time challenge

Roctopus fun!

Mindfulness activities

Experimenting with vinegar and baking soda

Look at our amazing volcano!

The result of changing runny yogurt into frozen yogurt - yum!

Experimenting with colour mixing

More experimenting with colours

Who would have thought you could change the colour of a flower? How does this happen?

Showing We Care for our learning spaces

Showing We Care by tidying the book shelves

Showing We Care by stacking the chairs

Showing We Care by cleaning and tidying the children's teaching station

Creating our very own experiments with food colouring

Preparing the pots for seed planting

Planting the seeds (sunflowers)

Making truffles: what sort of change is this?

Kia ora koutou,
Welcome to Term 3

Bounce and Skip
Kinetic Letters is a handwriting program that teaches us about the formation of letters and numbers. There are four main threads: making bodies stronger, holding the pencil, learning the letters, and flow and fluency.


Holding the pencil
1. Point the pencil at my tummy
2. Pick it up with my Holding Fingers
3. Tip it back to lay across my hand and pop my Pillow Finger underneath


We do our Bounce and Skip handwriting lying on our tummies, resting our elbows with our legs out straight.





When the children learn to form letters, they hear stories about Brave Monkey and Scared Monkey who help them to know where to start their letters. We use special whiteboards to give the children a prompt to remember this.

The 'Jumper Family' all start with a down movement and then back up and over; r, p, n, and m begin at Scared Monkey, h and b begin at Brave Monkey.


The 'Abracadabra Family' all start with a 'c' shape before going 'up like a helicopter' and back down; c, o, a, g, q, and s begin at Scared Monkey, d goes 'up like a helicopter' to Brave Monkey.


Ngā mihi mahana,
Stacey, Kristika, Elizabeth and Jo

Kia ora, whānau,
It's hard to believe, but yes - it's the final week of term! The children are thoroughly enjoying the last few days before their break, and are over the moon to be able to play and explore on the new playground area beside Pūkaki. It's absolutely beautiful and very inviting for the wee ones.





Joining Our Friends From the Ferndale Hub for Play-based Learning:
From time to time, the tamariki from the Ferndale Hub join us for Play-based Learning. This week we were invited into their learning spaces to explore and play. We had so much fun and can't wait to go back!





Reminders:
Tomorrow we're going to be baking Matariki star biscuits. A big thank you to the parents who have offered to help us - we really appreciate you!

...and on Friday, we're going to be making popcorn. If you are able to lend us your popcorn maker, we'd be very grateful. Please see your child's Home Group teacher.

A reminder that there was a notice in our school newsletter on June 14th, about plans for Term 3:
Elizabeth will be returning to full-time teaching in Term 3. Elizabeth will continue to teach her home group in Term 3, and Stacey will work three days a week across the team.

Your children's home group spaces will remain the same in Term 3, and Stacey will begin and end each day in Kōmanawa.

We hope you all have wonderful holidays, wherever you may be. Keep safe and warm!
Ngā mihi mahana,
Jo, Elizabeth, Stacey and Kristika

Kia ora koutou,

Celebration Assembly

Wow! Koru team did a fantastic job performing at Celebration Assembly. They performed three waiata, and the boys, a haka. There were a lot of proud adults in the hall that day. The tamariki utilised all the Kete Values during the learning of the items and during the performance. The smiles afterwards said it all.







Learning Through Play

We are constantly impressed with the connections the tamariki make to the curriculum areas during Play Based Learning. Every day, they are extending their play and learning a lot along the way.



A new habitat for animals (including a T.V. and toys), a home for snakes, the ocean with sand for a shark and a habitat for an elephant