Kahikatea News Week 5 T1 2022

Kia ora Koutou!
What a fabulous and busy 5 weeks we have had in team Kahikatea. We have been very impressed with the hard work from all of our Tamariki. Thank you for continuing to support us at this time, especially by keeping up to date with information being shared via HERO. If you are having any trouble with this or you are not recieving notices or news from school please let us know. 

Kete Focus 

This week we have been focusing on using good manners, including waiting for our turn to talk, waiting patiently in a line to wash our hands, saying thank you and being polite to each other. When we do this consistently we are showing our school values: We Care & We Make a Difference. 

You can ask your child/children: how and when do you show your manners at school? 

Kinetic Letters Handwriting Program

We are very excited to be starting our Kinetic Handwriting lessons. Keep an eye out for the Bounce and Skip monkeys as they may come home with your child. If Bounce and Skip come for a visit they will be accompanied by a book with instructions for their visit home.

Jerseys and Hats 

A reminder that as the weather starts to cool down, please ensure that your child’s jersey is clearly named.

Every child is expected to be wearing their hat when they are outside. If your child has lost or misplaced their sunhat please encourage them to look for it here at school first and if it cannot be found please replace it.

Literacy Groups

Our team is in the process of carrying out our assessment schedule for literacy and once completed we will look at our groupings. 

We are continuing to with our oral language programs, shared reading with follow up activities, poetry, writing, spelling, phonemic awareness, handwriting and spelling activities. 

PLEASE NOTE: your child will not bring a decodable text home everyday. These are teaching books which are used many times by the teacher. Only when we know your child can read it fluently and with expression will we send it home. 

CONTINUE to read to your child/children at home, enjoy reading aloud and encourage them to explore books in all forms, such as picutre books, nursery rhymes, poems, non-fiction, chapter books and magazines. 

Contributions

We love having recycling (boxes, newspapers, empty egg cartons ect) for box/construction activities. If you have any spare please send it in with your child - we would greatly appreciate it!

Finally, here are some photos of our hub and our gorgeous tamariki: 
































Arohanui, Team Kahikatea 


Kōwhai News Term 1 Week 5

Kia ora whānau,

What a busy couple of weeks we have had! Everyone is fully ensconced in their learning now and working really hard.

Discovery

For Discovery, we have had the opportunity to do gardening with Charlotte, working in the garden behind our hub, weeding and picking all the juicy, ripe apples. Some of the children have put their heads together alongside Charlotte and Sonya and they have come up with some wonderful ideas for creating more outside play options in the garden. Charlotte would love donations of:

  • Old trucks and cars, large and small  
  • Old bowls 
  • Old trowels and sand pit toys 
  • Old bowls, pots, muffin trays and so on
Also, if you have any old boxes or tubes etc. at home, we would love some donations for our construction station. Thank you!





Here they are brainstorming ideas for the garden.



We have also been busy creating new games with chalk, hoops, balls and cones and we also put together some amazing obstacle courses!



Just look at this tower too!



Sonya, our wonderful teacher aide, has been busy in the kitchen with some of our tamariki, baking cupcakes and icing them. As you can see, they were extremely focused on brushing up their icing skills!








The other week, we had a special visit from Mitchell's mum. She brought in some newborn chicks for us to meet. Mitchell did a great job of introducing them to us and he is also doing a great job of looking after them at home. 

Maths

For maths, we are just finishing off our focus on geometry and here are a few more geometric creations that the children really wanted to share with you.




Reading

Just a heads up that we have started sending reading books home with some children at the end of each week, depending on their reading level so it would be great if you could read with your child at home and then remember to bring the books back again. If your child is in a higher group (Stage 7 and above), they may not be given take a book home. In this case, we would encourage them to read a book of their own choice. Thank you so much for your support with this!

Writing

We are just launching into a new focus for writing, creating slideshows on various topics. The children are really excited about it!

Art

For art, we are still working hard on our self-portrait collages and we are nearing completion. Here are some examples of our creations so far.






Kete Certificates

Congratulations to this week's Kete certificate recipients!


Learning @ Home

Finally, a reminder that if you are needing to access the Learning @ Home site, it is on the school website and there is a link on the left hand side under the photograph. Alternatively, here is a link straight to the Kōwhai site. You will find a wide choice of activities in all curriculum areas. Some are online activites but there is also a range of activities that can be done offline.

Have a great weekend!