Kōwhai Week 6 Newsletter

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Hi  Everyone,

We hope that you have all have a wonderful weekend and enjoyed the wonderful weather!
Here are the essentials for this week:

Trip to the School of Gymnastics

We are going to the school of Gymnastics over tow days for the children to have the opportunity to explore and use professional gymnastic equipment. 
Monday- Nick and Kate's home group
Tuesday - Paulette and Rowe's home group

We ask that on the day that you child is going to the School of Gymnastics, they are not wearing any jewellery, have shorts, pants or bike pants to enable them to access all the apparatus. We will be travelling by Red Bus. Please refer to the previous blog post for more details.

Wearable Art Show

The children have been working incredibly hard to create their wearable arts items. It has been quite a challenge for many of the children to turn their plan into a wearable piece. We have been highly impressed with the high levels of problem-solving and persistence the children have shown.
We will be sharing their constructions in a Wearable Arts Display on Thursday 5th September, Mapuna (School Hall). Please have your child at school by 6.15pm so we can get them ready for the performance which will begin at 6.30pm.  We look forward to seeing you all there!

Readathon

Thank you for supporting this wonderful fundraiser that has been organised by our incredible PTA. The cards and money need to be returned to school this week. Each child will receive a  bookmark for participating.


Swimming Hui

We are having a discussion about our swimming programme in the staffroom on Tuesday at 2.15pm. This is an opportunity for you to share any thoughts or consideration in regards to our current swimming programme and ways we might improve it for future years.

FYI- Parenting Week

‘Strategies to help your family through the difficult times and enjoy being together’

‘Neighbourhood Trust' is proud to bring you Parenting Week here in Canterbury. It’s happening from the 9th to 19th September and has around 30 events for any stage of parenting. They have a great line-up of experts including Mike King, Pio Terei, Dr Sue Bagshaw, Jenny Hale and Jax Hamilton, all right here.
 Their facebook page: Parenting Week, Christchurch www.facebook.com/parentingweekchch has all the events listed and more information.

Indonesian Cultural Festival
If you would like to have a taste of  Indonesian culture, there is a show this coming Saturday 7th September at Middleton Grange.




That's all for now.
Kōwhai Teaching Team

Kahikatea Newsletter T3 Week 6

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Parenting Week


‘Strategies to help your family through the difficult times and enjoy being together’

‘Neighbourhood Trust is proud to bring you Parenting Week here in Canterbury. It’s happening from the 9th to 19th September and has around 30 events for any stage of parenting. They have a great line-up of experts including Mike King, Pio Terei, Dr Sue Bagshaw, Jenny Hale and Jax Hamilton, all right here.
 Their facebook page: Parenting Week, Christchurch www.facebook.com/parentingweekchch has all the events listed and more information.

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Toys


We are looking for toys that can move or toys that can talk. We are starting a technology unit and would love students to bring any toys, that can move or talk, to school. Please could these be named and brought to school as of Monday week 7. As part of this unit we are going to be using the new school Bee bots. Please chat to your children as the week goes on to see what they have done with our new school resource. 

Image result for beebots

Book week Dress up


What a fun day we have all had! It was so lovely to see everyone who dressed up in their favourite book character. Thank you to each and everyone at home who helped to make the children look as fabulous as they did. 





PTA Readathon

Thank you to all the whānau members who have supported our students with their Readathon challenge. It has been lovely to see how many children have been excited about reading over the last fortnight. As teachers we have loved the enthusiasm that we are seeing from so many readers in our hub. Please remember that cards and money are due back to school on Friday 6th September. 

Keeping Ourselves Safe

Coming up in week 8 we are working alongside Constable Ross to understand what it means to keep ourselves safe.

Sydenham Cricket Club

During week 5 we were fortunate to have Sydenham Cricket Club take each home space for a 30 minute cricket session. The children enjoyed learning some basic cricket skills. 

















Talent Show

Thank you to all the family members who are helping support the children who are getting ready to audition for the school Talent Quest. Music has been sent home this weekend for our performers to practice. Amber and Lisa will be holding auditions during Monday and Tuesday lunchtimes this coming week. 

T3 W6 in Pohutukawa

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Christchurch Schools' Music Festival

Massed Rehearsal next Monday

The Pōhutukawa Festival choir will be heading to Avonhead School next Monday, the 2nd of September, to attend our area rehearsal. We will be leaving school by bus at 12:15 and will return by 3pm.

Tickets

We will be performing on the evening of Thursday 7th November. Tickets are now on sale at Ticketek. This year marks 80 years since the Christchurch Schools' Music Festival began. Titled ‘You’re the Voice’, this year’s programme features songs from the past eight decades of the festival, as well as some new ones. Some parents or grandparents may remember singing some of the songs themselves as children in the massed or representative choirs during their youth! This year is also the first year that the festival will be held in the Town Hall since the earthquakes. We encourage you to get hold of your tickets asap, as the Town Hall has limited seats in comparison to our previous venue, Horncastle Arena. 


Orana Park Trip

Hopefully you will have received a paper copy of the notice informing you of our planned trip to Orana Park. If not, here is the information:

We are heading to Orana Park on Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th of September, from 9.30am-2.45pm, to tie in with our inquiry focus of innovation, our science topics (habitats, classification, adaptations) and our writing of animal information reports this term.

As we are such a large team we are required to visit the park in two groups. On Monday Tracy’s home group, Rae’s home group and half of Steve’s home group will visit the park. On Tuesday Katie’s home group, Gayle’s home group and the other half of Steve’s home group will visit the park.

We will need the help of some adults to enable us to go on this trip. We will be leaving school at 9.30am via bus and we will have an emergency vehicle. If you are interested in assisting us on this trip as an adult supervisor, please email your child’s home group teacher before Friday 30 August. We will contact all adults who have kindly volunteered to help, to confirm whether your help is required.

The buses are being generously funded by the PTA. The cost per child will be $10 and a request for your contribution to this will be on your Term 3 account.

For the trip, your child will need to be in comfortable footwear and in school uniform. They should bring a jacket in case of inclement weather. If your child suffers from asthma, please ensure they have their medication with them in a named plastic bag, with instructions about administration. Your child needs to give this to their class teacher prior to departure.

On the day, students will need to wear school uniform and bring:

  • A water bottle
  • A substantial morning tea and lunch
  • A warm layer of clothing (especially a windproof jacket)

Please note there will be no postponement day if the weather is unsuitable. An email  message will be sent out at 8am on the day, if the trip is being cancelled.

Thank you to those adults who have shown an interest in being supervisor for the trip. We will contact everyone next week to confirm required help.

Winter Sports uniforms

Once winter sports uniforms have been washed and dried, could they please be returned to school and popped in the pink box in the wee foyer area between the library and the office.






T3 W6 in Pōhutukawa

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Christchurch Schools' Music Festival

Massed Rehearsal next Monday
The Pōhutukawa Festival choir will be heading to Avonhead School next Monday, the 2nd of September, to attend our area rehearsal. We will be leaving school by bus at 12:15 and will return by 3pm.

Tickets
We will be performing on the evening of Thursday 7th November. Tickets are now on sale at Ticketek. This year marks 80 years since the Christchurch Schools' Music Festival began. Titled ‘You’re the Voice’, this year’s programme features songs from the past eight decades of the festival, as well as some new ones. Some parents or grandparents may remember singing some of the songs themselves as children in the massed or representative choirs during their youth! This year is also the first year that the festival will be held in the Town Hall since the earthquakes. We encourage you to get hold of your tickets asap, as the Town Hall has limited seats in comparison to our previous venue, Horncastle Arena.  

Orana Park Trip

Hopefully you will have received a paper copy of the notice informing you of our planned trip to Orana Park. If not, here is the information: 

We are heading to Orana Park on Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th of September, from 9.30am-2.45pm, to tie in with our inquiry focus of innovation, our science topics (habitats, classification, adaptations) and our writing of animal information reports this term.
As we are such a large team we are required to visit the park in two groups. On Monday Tracy’s home group, Rae’s home group and half of Steve’s home group will visit the park. On Tuesday Katie’s home group, Gayle’s home group and the other half of Steve’s home group will visit the park.
We will need the help of some adults to enable us to go on this trip. We will be leaving school at 9.30am via bus and we will have an emergency vehicle. If you are interested in assisting us on this trip as an adult supervisor, please email your child’s home group teacher before Friday 30 August. We will contact all adults who have kindly volunteered to help, to confirm whether your help is required.
The buses are being generously funded by the PTA. The cost per child will be $10 and a request for your contribution to this will be on your Term 3 account.
For the trip, your child will need to be in comfortable footwear and in school uniform. They should bring a jacket in case of inclement weather. If your child suffers from asthma, please ensure they have their medication with them in a named plastic bag, with instructions about administration. Your child needs to give this to their class teacher prior to departure.
On the day, students will need to wear school uniform and bring:
A water bottle
A substantial morning tea and lunch
A warm layer of clothing (especially a windproof jacket)
Please note there will be no postponement day if the weather is unsuitable. An email  message will be sent out at 8am on the day, if the trip is being cancelled.

Thank you to those adults who have shown an interest in being supervisor for the trip. We will contact everyone next week to confirm required help.

Winter Sports uniforms

Once winter sports uniforms have been washed and dried, could they please be returned to school and popped in the pink box in the wee foyer area between the library and the office.

Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 3 Week 5

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We pride ourselves on the experiences we are able to offer our children in Year 7 & 8. Many of these things could not happen without parent support. Today is our last week of winter sport. We would like to say a huge thank you to the parents who have turned up week after week to coach teams, both during lunchtimes and at Friday games. This has been a weekly highlight for many children and it could not have happened without you.

A big congratulations to Lucy and Ben who have won leadership scholarships at Cashmere High School for 2020. It was great to see so many children applying for scholarships and several getting interviews this year.

Cantamath

Hopefully, you have been able to drop into the hall foyer sometime over the past two days to check out our Cantamath project display. Next week on Wednesday, August 28th, the hub will be busing to Horncastle to view Cantamath projects in the morning. The cost of this trip is being covered by hub fundraising. In the afternoon our Year 7 and Year 8 problem-solving teams will be competing in the Cantamath problem-solving competition. We wish Riley H, Thomas, Henry M, Amelia, Ruby M, Freddie, Kate C, Ben E, Daniel S and Gemma all the best.

Speech Preparation Home Learning

By now your child should have finished writing their speech. If they are not quite there, this should be a priority over the weekend. This is with the exception of Jenny's group who will finish their writing early next week. Hannah is creating a doc and set of instructions for the children to use to create their speech cards. Putting speech cards together is to be done at home, so we can make the most of class time to teach and practice presentation techniques. If your child needs us to print their speech at school (to glue on card at home), they need to email their home-group teacher when they are ready to print. We encourage the children to make the most of recycling card (e.g. cereal boxes) to put their speech cards together. 

As well as practicing presentation at school, this also needs to be happening at home. Speeches will be presented to home-groups in the week starting September 2nd. Any child who is experiencing considerable anxiety about presenting their speech can talk with us about an alternative presentation method. Feeling anxious about this experience is natural. Most children find the experience a satisfying challenge when they have finished their presentation.

Getting Ready for Ski Day

Many thanks to everyone who has completed the ski day form. If you are still yet to fill out the form, you can find the link here: https://forms.gle/J2dg5TWbuxtFs6yA8. We are now matching children up with gear where needed. Over the next two weeks, we will be running preparation sessions at school. These will include, dressing for the mountains, ski safety and an introduction to gear for first-timers.

Readathon

By now you should have seen your child's red Readathon card at home. Readathon is an annual school fundraising event which promotes great reading habits. If you have not seen the card, please ask your child. If they draw a blank, please email your child's homegroup teacher. All instructions are on the card - get sponsors - encourage lots of daily reading - get stuck in.


A little bit of craziness at the end of winter sport today...







Congratulations to our Ski Team.

An enthusiastic team of skiers represented our school last Sunday at the Canterbury Primary Schools Ski Competition. The team came third. Special congratulations to Winni who was second-placed female.




Some of you may be interested in taking your daughter to this...