Kia ora whānau,

We've enjoyed another fun fortnight at school. Find out more below!

Wellness

A big thanks to families for sending children with warm clothes, jumpers, jackets and gumboots on our wetter days. We continue to monitor temperatures, air flow and ensure frequent hand washing at school, to help everyone stay well. Thanks also to families for keeping unwell students home.

Maths

Our students have embraced learning about fractions over the last three weeks. We are really impressed with their abilities to have a go at new, often challenging learning, and to justify their thinking through mathematical discussions. Key learning focuses include: 

• Know words and symbols for fractions: ¹⁄₂, ¹⁄₃, ¹⁄₄, ¹⁄₅, ¹⁄₁₀ and fractions greater than 1 
• Find halves, quarters, thirds and fifths of sets by equal sharing
• Find halves and quarters of shapes using objects
• Order fractions and explain which is bigger

Gym Trip

Keeping Ourselves Safe

Our students will soon be teaching Keeping Ourselves Safe (KOS), a safety programme from the New Zealand Police. These lessons will be taught by your child’s homegroup teacher, with support from Constable Meg Moynihan, our local Police School Community Officer.

What will children and young people learn?

• to work out when their safety is at risk
• how to keep safe when they meet and mix with other people
• who and how to ask for help if they, or someone they know, is being abused
• to go on asking for help until someone does something to stop the abuse
• that it is important to make and follow personal, family and school safety rules

What part do parents, caregivers and whānau play?

Parents and whānau are strongly encouraged to support Keeping Ourselves Safe. You can also talk with your child about what they have learnt in Keeping Ourselves Safe and help them with any KOS activities they bring home. Visit the whānau section of the NZ Police Keeping Ourselves Safe website for more information and frequently asked questions.

If you require more information about the Keeping Ourselves Safe programme or wish to discuss the learning, please speak with your child’s homegroup teacher in the first instance.

Discovery Fun

Kia ora e te whanau, nau mai hoki mai.

We hope that you enjoyed the break. It has been lovely to hear students share stories about their holidays. It sounds like lots of fun was had whether they stayed in Christchurch or travelled elsewhere. It is hard to believe that term 3 is here already! The students have had a great first week and have started settling back into the routine.

Gymnastics Trip - Parent Helpers Needed

As a team, we will be teaching a Health and PE unit about our bodies and how we move these, focusing on gymnastic movements. During weeks 3 and 4, the Kōwhai team will be travelling to the Christchurch School of Gymnastics for a couple of sessions. Working with a professional gymnastics school will help us educate the students in a safe environment with expert help. The dates and times for the trips are as follows:

Thursday August 3rd 2023

• Charlotte's Homegroup: 9:00-11:30
• Rowe's Homegroup: 10:30-1:00
• Nick's Homegroup: 12:30-3:00

Thursday August 10th 2023

• Charlotte's Homegroup: 9:00-11:30
• Rowe's Homegroup: 10:30-1:00
• Nick's Homegroup: 12:30-3:00

Anna M and Anna R's classes will be divided up and spread amongst the 3 groups. We are looking for some keen parent helpers to attend and help out. If you are available and would like to come along and help, please complete this form by Monday, 24th July.

Calendar Art

This term, students will have the opportunity to explore the iconic artistry of Romero Britto and create their very own calendar art, bursting with Britto-inspired brilliance. From his playful use of vibrant hues to his distinctive patterns, Britto's artworks radiate joy and positivity. We are very excited to get creating and can’t wait to see the finished product!

Whānau Hui

We had lots of fun at our Whānau Hui this week. Thank you for coming along to take part in our Matariki celebration. There was lots of excitement in the air, culminating in an amazing performance given by the Kōwhai Kapa Haka group. Well done everyone! Here are some photos of what we got up to:

Waka

Over the past few weeks, our students have been engaged in building waka (Māori canoes) as part of our learning on New Zealand migration. Some children have built their waka using sticks, string and paper while others have built them in Minecraft. Here are some photos of their work:

AI Art

This term some of the children have been exploring the use of generative AI to create stunning digital portraits. Here is some of their work:

Reading Folders

If your child is bringing home Pip and Tim books, it is important that they bring their reading folder back to school every day. We suggest that the children always put their reading folder straight back into their bag as soon as they have finished reading at home. That way the folder will always make its way back to school safely. Thank you for your support with this.

Sickness

We are in the middle of the winter illness season. Please remember to keep your child at home if they are unwell. We are trying to minimise the spread of germs by encouraging the children to wash their hands before eating and sanitise or wash their hands as needed throughout the day.

End of Term

As the term draws to a close, we hope you have a restful and enjoyable break with your children, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back for another exciting term ahead.

Happy holidays!

From the Kōwhai team

It has been another busy fortnight in the Kōwhai hub. Enjoy reading about our learning and adventures. 

Keeping Well 

Thank you so much to all whānau for making sure we keep our hubs as healthy as possible by keeping tamariki with coughs, colds and other symptoms of illness at home. 

Please do send your child to school with a named jumper every day, as the cooler air during playtimes can get suddenly chilly! Jackets on wet days are also a priority, and gumboots are always welcome (with shoes for wearing in class). Thanks, everyone!

Learning Conferences 

We are excited about meeting with you next week! Please remember that school closes at 2pm on both Wed 14th and Thurs 15th June. 

• If you haven't yet booked a learning conference, you can still book here (code: 8f6xx). 
• Please also fill out this form regarding care of your child from 2-3pm on these days. This form needs to be filled out by EVERY family.
• We also encourage you to spend time looking at your child's report with them on HERO.

Maths 

Currently, our maths learning is focused on multiplication and division. We have been enjoying a mix of: 

• Small group explicit learning with a teacher 
• Problem solving, solving problems like: In the cross country, 9 minions ran two laps each. How many laps did the minions run altogether? 
• Targeted maths worksheets, such as multiplying by skip counting, e.g., 3 x 2 = 2+2+2
• Maths games with a group 
• Finding arrays outside and in the classroom and drawing our own 
• Maths games online

Wellbeing 

Support your child's emotional awareness by listening to this story.

As well as our weekly PB4L focus (e.g., on kindness, friendship, upstanding etc.), we have wellbeing sessions each Friday, focusing on different topics that the teachers see the children might need support with. Recently, we have looked at emotions. We have...

• identified and named emotions 
• talked about how these feel in our body (e.g., when I am nervous, I get butterflies in my tummy)
• shared what causes us to feel these emotions
• played fun emotions games
• and also learnt some strategies for dealing with anger, sadness and frustration, such as talking to an adult or having some quiet time.

Waka & Migration Learning

We're really enjoying learning more about early migration to Aotearoa. We have especially loved learning about the different waka that different groups of people created to make the long voyage over from their homelands. You can explore some of these waka in 3D here and also learn about the traditional Ngāi Tahu way of building Mōkihi to travel local rivers.

Writing

Many children have been writing explanations over the last few weeks, and working on publishing and illustrating their work. Here are just some of their masterpieces:

Discovery

Tamariki are loving lego challenges (thanks, Anna R, for creating these each week), programming challenges (thanks, Nick) and Rowe's wonderful art inspirations. This week, Rowe has shown us how to make 3D paper sculptures! The teachers have noticed how great we are at working together and teaching each other new skills.

Have a great weekend!

Ngā mihi, 

The Kōwhai Team

Kia ora whānau,

We have had a busy couple of weeks and it is so good to see the sun again. Unfortunately, school photos were postponed due to sickness. The children looked so gorgeous and smart!

Strike Schools for Percussion

We were lucky to have a group of performers from Strike School in Wellington last week. This was a stunning performance ending with a percussive fire experience! The performers had trained for weeks with Weta Workshops for obvious safety reasons. 

Industrious Learners

Donations of Art Shirts

Cross Country

Migration

Reading Folders