It is hard to believe that the end of the Term is now upon us. We have been so fortunate to have been blessed with such wonderful weather this term as this has enabled our tamariki to play outside.

Over the past couple of weeks, the children have been having a focus on the arts in the afternoons. This has seen the children exercising their creativity in many different ways including; pastel art based on Wassily Kandinsky's Circles, paintings depicting Diane Adam's contemporary work and shadow art using mixed media paint and paper. Children have also created their own characters out of salt dough, some based on characters from the famous series 'Moomins'. Children also had fun doing drama role plays and skits using journal stories and plays. What a fantastic term we have had! Some of the artwork is still displayed on the walls in the hub so please feel free to come to check it out.



Rocket Maths
This term, Kate and Dorinda have provided an extra maths session to boost the maths knowledge and ability of some of our students. This has involved the children in having 3 extra fun maths sessions each week. We have noticed a HUGE improvement in the confidence of some of these students when solving DMIC problems and stronger number knowledge.
If you would like to give your child extra maths basic facts practise, you can use this website as it has a lot of great drill activities.
Maths Playground is another great website with great games to develop maths skills.
If you have any questions about your child and maths, feel free to drop in and see one of us as we would be more than happy to help out!

Hillview Cross Country
We sent 12 children to the Hillview Cross Country on Tuesday. We were highly impressed with the wonderful behaviour that our students demonstrated. They all showed the school value, 'We Love Challenge'. It was great to see the children pushing themselves to achieve their personal best. Well done to all those who participated.



Next Term
Rowe is away for the first week next term, as she is having an exciting adventure white water rafting through the Grand Canyon. Dorinda will continue to teach in the hub in her absence.

Wearable Arts/ Innovative Inventions
We have a variety of fantastic learning planned for next term. The children will be involved in creating some cool wearable arts or innovative inventions as part of our inquiry learning. If you have some cool items that could be used for this (ducting pipes, foil, cellophane, clothing etc), feel free to bring the items in. There will be an evening show for you to view these creations in the latter half of the term.

Gymnastics
For PE, next term, the children will participate in a gymnastics unit here at school on a Thursday afternoon. For these sessions, the children do need to have bare feet. It would be advisable for the girls to not wear tights on this day. We hope to go to the school of gymnastics at the conclusion of this learning.



Music/Dance
Next term, the children will be participating in music and dance lessons each Tuesday afternoon. We are going to use the afternoons to develop a dance sequence to support our wearable art/ innovative inventions showcase. Josie Stanford, who is one of our itinerant music teachers is going to be conducting recorder lessons from week 5 for the children in our team. We are really excited to be able to provide this opportunity for our children. As she won't be able to teach all the children this term, she will continue her programme into Term 4, so all children have lessons with her.

Ear Buds
If your child has a set of earbuds that they can bring to school next term, that would be great. This will enable them to listen to the audio on the ipads or chromebooks.

That's all for now
Kōwhai teaching team

Sensory Spelling

Hi everyone,

Wow! What a change in temperature this week! We have been so happy to have the underfloor heating on!

Learning Conferences

Please remember that learning conferences are being held next week on Tuesday 11th June and Thursday 13th June. School will finish at the earlier time of 2 pm on both days to allow for the learning conferences to take place. These conferences are an opportunity for you to meet with us to discuss your child’s current achievements and their next steps for learning.

If you would like your child to stay at school between 2 pm and 3 pm on one or both of those days please fill in this google survey so we can plan ahead.

We are looking forward to sharing your child's progress with you!

ART

The children have been busy creating wonderful artworks this week. Rowe and Kate's home groups created Kandinsky Circles and Dorinda's home group painted some Diane Adams inspired art while Nick's home group made some incredible silhouette art.  Here are some examples.

Lunchtime Activities

We are so lucky to have many innovative thinkers in our team. Over the past few weeks, a group of students have provided an activity table for children at lunch. They have provided crafting, drawing and origami to name a few. Look at them having fun!

Phonics/Word Study

One of our word study groups has been using a multi-sensory approach to help them learn how to spell some of their high-frequency words. One of the activities has seen them making words with clay which has helped their visual memory. In each session, they need to create and read the words. We have noticed a huge improvement with their retention of these spelling words.

PTA DISCO

The PTA is having their annual Disco, next Friday 14th June. The children in our team have the option of going to either the NE-Y3 disco from 4.30pm-5.30pm  or the Y4-6  disco from 6pm-7pm. This is a really fun event and we are so appreciative of the PTA for organising it.

Up and Coming Events

11th and 13th June- Learning Conferences. School closes at 2pm on these days.
15th and 16th June- Pūkaki Working Bee Let Jacky at the school office know if you can come along and help.
21st June- Shortest Day Breakfast. Come in your PJs and have breakfast at school. Bring along your own plate and spoon and have some yummy breakfast in the hall. The breakfast is being provided by and served by our wonderful PTA.
2nd July- Y0-4 Cross Country. This is for the children who placed in the top 3 at our school cross country.

That's all for now. Have a wonderful weekend ahead!
Kōwhai Teaching Team

Swimming

We Love Learning

STEM

Swimming

Cross Country Photos