Category Archives: Kowhai

Inquiry Solutions

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We are in our final stages of our Weather Inquiry. The children have all created solutions for weather based problems for animals, birds or people. Here we are in 'full flight'. These items will be on display in the Science and Technology Fair which opens on Monday 4th July. We hope to see you there! 



Disco Fun

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The children had a blast at the disco last night. It was great to see them enjoying themselves and having the opportunity to show off their dance moves. Thanks so much to the P.T.A for organising the night. 






Whare Time

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As part of our Matariki celebrations, the children across the school have been making kites in their whare groups. These are the ones that we created.

Flipping the learning

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This week the children in Hub 5/6 are flipping their learning in maths. This is when they become the teachers and decide on how they are going to learn time concepts.
By the end of the week, the children are aiming to read and make o'clock, half past, quarter to and quarter past on both analogue and digital clocks. The extension options involve the children solving
everyday time problems. Here we are in action!

Week 6 Term 2 Newsletter

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Kowhai Team Newsletter Friday 10th June

Hi Everyone,

We hope that you all had a a great, although slightly longer than normal, Queen's Birthday weekend. It was wonderful to be welcomed by so many smiley faces on Wednesday! We have had an action packed week with the children playing in a mini hockey tournament on Wednesday and participating in the Matariki Day yesterday. The children have been highly engaged in their learning and asking LOADS of questions to extend their thinking. As it was a short week this week, so there was no Home Learning but we are back to normal next week with our nightly reading, maths and spelling.


Matariki Connect Session - South Learning CentreTo continue our learning about Matariki, the children are booked in to a session at the South Learning Centre with one of the tutors. They will learn how  to create a porotiti (spinning disk and string game) and use the ipads to take a virtual tour around a marae and whare. As the Learning Centre is so close to school, the children will walk down. Each hub will need some parents to assist them on these trips. Unfortunately we were only offered four sessions, so on this occasion, Hub 7 has been split to enable them to attend the sessions too. Letters will come home closer to the time of each hub trip.
These are the dates for your diary.

Tuesday 14th June- Hub 8 and 6 children from Hub 7
Tuesday 21st June - Hub 9 and 5 children from Hub 7
Thursday 30th June - Hub 5 and 5 children from Hub 7
Thursday 30th June - Hub 6 and 5 children from Hub 7


InquiryOur team has been learning about the weather. We have been investigating why the seasons change, the impact of weather on our environment with a particular focus on the water cycle. We have conducted many experiments to help us learn these science concepts. These science investigations have required us to make predictions, conduct experiments and discuss our findings. Over the next few week we will dig deeper into this topic by investigating the impact of weather on animals and humans, with a closer look at how the weather directly affects us. All our findings and learnings will be on display in the School Science and Technology Fair. The Science Fairs opens on Monday 4th July, 5.30pm - 7pm. We hope you can all come along.

Cross Country - Next WeekOver the past few weeks we have been training for the Kowhai Team Cross Country. The Cross Country is this Thursday 16th June. Our races will start at 11.30am and will follow this order.
Year 3 Girls, Year 3 Boys
Year 4 Girls and conclude with the Year 4 Boys.

Individually the children have been setting personal goals to work towards. These have ranged from being positive about running, improving the distance we can run or increasing our running stamina by running further each time. This year the top six runners in each race will have the opportunity to compete against other schools in our local area in the Year 0-4 Cross Country Challenge at Hillview School. We are aiming to be fierce competition!

Drink Bottles and LunchesWe have noticed that we still have some children that need to bring drink bottles to school. Water is important to keep the children hydrated and it is best if ALL children have a drink bottle at school, especially on wet days.We have also noticed an increase in the amount of food that the children are eating. Some children are eating much more than normal and at times have eaten MOST of their food by the end of the the first break. Can you take the time to ask your child if they have enough food to eat or if they need some more in their lunchbox. Thanks!

Art Gallery TripTo conclude the term, we have a trip to the Christchurch Art Gallery planned in Week 10. We will need parent help for this trip and will send home letters two weeks before. For those of you who need more time to enable you to parent help, the days and hubs are as follows:
Hub 8 and 9 - Tuesday 5th July
Hub 5/6/7 - Thursday 7th July

We hope you all have a great weekend.
Kowhai Teaching Team