Kōwhai News Term 4 Week 4

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 Kia ora whānau, 

We have had a wonderful two weeks of learning Swimsafe skills at Pioneer Pools. The children have thoroughly enjoyed learning new skills, and it has been great to watch their confidence in the water grow. Thanks again to those parents who have helped us over these last two weeks. 



Marae Visit and Sleepover - update and slight change of plans

We are still planning on visiting the Rapaki Marae on 30th of November and 1st of December during the day. Due to a variety of factors out of our control, the sleepover part of the marae will no longer go ahead. 

We know that many of the children were looking forward to the sleepover part of our marae visit so we have decided instead to have a Noho Kura (sleepover at school) on the night of Friday the 4th of December. This will involve the Year 3 and 4 students spending the night at school, having a BBQ dinner here and sleeping either in the hall or in our hubs. We will have breakfast the next day and your children will be ready to pick up by 9.30 in the morning. 

We will be needing  parent volunteers to help us cook a BBQ and organise dinner on the night and will send out more information about the organisation around the Noho Kura in the next week. 

Kete Awards
Our kete awards from last week went to Chavi, Korell, Vincent and Harshit.  Well done for showing our school values in many different ways. 



Athletics Day 
We are still deciding on a day for Junior Athletics to happen. We will let you know next week when this will be. 

Have a lovely weekend!
The Kōwhai Team

Kahikatea & Kōwhai: IMPORTANT swimming update for tomorrow, 4/11/20

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 Kia ora Whānau

Thank you for your ongoing support during our water safety programme at Pioneer Pool, especially if you have been a parent helper at the pool.

Please remember to send togs and towels every day for the rest of the week (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday). For tomorrow, Wednesday, 4 November, your child will also need to bring: 

* Pajamas - old ones if possible, top and bottoms. Not onesies.

* An extra bag - to put wet pajamas into after swimming.

Many thanks, 

Kōwhai and Kahikatea Teachers

Kahikatea & Kōwhai: IMPORTANT swimming update for tomorrow, 4/11/20

Posted on by

Kia ora Whānau

Thank you for your ongoing support during our water safety programme at Pioneer Pool, especially if you have / are a parent helper at the pool.

Please remember to send togs and towels every day for the rest of the week (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday). For tomorrow, Wednesday, 4 November, your child will also need to bring: 

* Pajamas - old ones if possible, top and bottoms. Not onesies.

* An extra bag - to put wet pajamas into after swimming.

Many thanks, 

Kōwhai and Kahikatea Teachers




Term 4 Week 3 news

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 Kia ora e te whanau,

What a wonderful start the children have made back to school for this last term of the school year. All children have settled beautifully and are thoroughly engaged in their learning.

Here are just a few of the areas that we have been focusing on over the past three weeks in our Learning Through Play:

  • the circus (juggling and stilt walking)...just look at these examples of We Love Challenge!
A budding juggler...

Wow! She's up - well done!

... and on her way down!

What great persisitence is being shown here. Both up!

Keep trying.

You can do it!

Good job!

We Get There Together.

Team work.



Another wonderful example of persistence winning the day!

  • the archaeological dig and museum artefacts
The tooth of which dinosaur, we wonder?

Could this be the tooth of an ichthyosaurus? We think so.

The archaeological dig, in progress.

Artefacts for the museum.

The digging continues...

Budding archaeologists at work.

  • the helicopter game

  • dancing




  • playing schools

  • other learning through play
Teamwork!

Creating a little pony game.

Small World play.

What a cosy hut!

Water play.

Could this be a chocolate cake?

Athletics:
You will have read at the end of last week, that you will be hearing as soon as possible about the new date for the Years 1 - 4 Athletics Day. Once this this date has been announced, please do ensure that your child comes to school slathered in sunblock, with a full bottle of water and wearing sensible shoes for our outdoor activities in the park on that day.

The marae trip:
Our big day out at Rāpaki is booked in on Wednesday, November 18th,  and we are greatly looking forward to being able to engage with the tangata whenua at Rāpaki, experience being inside the wharenui there, be involved in a powhiri and to hear about the history of the marae, as well as to explore the surrounding area. 

Thank yous:
... to those parents who have offered their help with supervising play in Treemendous, with helping to return reading books for us, with our visit out to Rāpaki marae, and with helping in our learning spaces. We can't express just how crucial your help is to us! 

Reports:
Teachers are very busy with report writing at the moment. What follows is an outline of how we will be reporting to the parents of our New Entrant/Year 1 students at this time of the year:
  • Children who started school last year through to the end of February this year, will be receiving a full school report
  • Children who started school from the beginning of March this year through to the end of July will be receiving a transition report.
  • Children who have started school since the beginning of August will either have had or will be having a transition to school meeting.
We trust that you all have a great week to come!
Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,
Jo, Sari, Sophie, Stacey and Elizabeth