Kōwhai Newsletter Term 2 Week 10

It is hard to believe that the end of the Term is now upon us. We have been so fortunate to have been blessed with such wonderful weather this term as this has enabled our tamariki to play outside.

Over the past couple of weeks, the children have been having a focus on the arts in the afternoons. This has seen the children exercising their creativity in many different ways including; pastel art based on Wassily Kandinsky's Circles, paintings depicting Diane Adam's contemporary work and shadow art using mixed media paint and paper. Children have also created their own characters out of salt dough, some based on characters from the famous series 'Moomins'. Children also had fun doing drama role plays and skits using journal stories and plays. What a fantastic term we have had! Some of the artwork is still displayed on the walls in the hub so please feel free to come to check it out.



Rocket Maths
This term, Kate and Dorinda have provided an extra maths session to boost the maths knowledge and ability of some of our students. This has involved the children in having 3 extra fun maths sessions each week. We have noticed a HUGE improvement in the confidence of some of these students when solving DMIC problems and stronger number knowledge.
If you would like to give your child extra maths basic facts practise, you can use this website as it has a lot of great drill activities.
Maths Playground is another great website with great games to develop maths skills.
If you have any questions about your child and maths, feel free to drop in and see one of us as we would be more than happy to help out!

Hillview Cross Country
We sent 12 children to the Hillview Cross Country on Tuesday. We were highly impressed with the wonderful behaviour that our students demonstrated. They all showed the school value, 'We Love Challenge'. It was great to see the children pushing themselves to achieve their personal best. Well done to all those who participated.



Next Term
Rowe is away for the first week next term, as she is having an exciting adventure white water rafting through the Grand Canyon. Dorinda will continue to teach in the hub in her absence.

Wearable Arts/ Innovative Inventions
We have a variety of fantastic learning planned for next term. The children will be involved in creating some cool wearable arts or innovative inventions as part of our inquiry learning. If you have some cool items that could be used for this (ducting pipes, foil, cellophane, clothing etc), feel free to bring the items in. There will be an evening show for you to view these creations in the latter half of the term.

Gymnastics
Image result for gymnastics clipartFor PE, next term, the children will participate in a gymnastics unit here at school on a Thursday afternoon. For these sessions, the children do need to have bare feet. It would be advisable for the girls to not wear tights on this day. We hope to go to the school of gymnastics at the conclusion of this learning.



Music/Dance
Next term, the children will be participating in music and dance lessons each Tuesday afternoon. We are going to use the afternoons to develop a dance sequence to support our wearable art/ innovative inventions showcase. Josie Stanford, who is one of our itinerant music teachers is going to be conducting recorder lessons from week 5 for the children in our team. We are really excited to be able to provide this opportunity for our children. As she won't be able to teach all the children this term, she will continue her programme into Term 4, so all children have lessons with her.

Ear Buds
If your child has a set of earbuds that they can bring to school next term, that would be great. This will enable them to listen to the audio on the ipads or chromebooks.

That's all for now
Kōwhai teaching team



Kōwhai Sensory Spelling

Sensory Spelling

We are inspired by a wonderful resource to help our tamariki learn words and concepts. Follow this link to explore more...


You can enjoy using these ideas at home. Learning concepts can be difficult. Research shows that all learners need to experience new learning in a variety of ways until it is permanently remembered. 

This technique is extremely hands and a powerful way to understand and learn new words.
Below are some photos of our Clay Experts hard at work.
Feel free to contact Dorinda or Paulette should you want to find out more about this method and how you could run it at home.




Kauri Whanāu: Camp Photo Book

We have finally finished the 2019 Wainui Camp photo book. This is a 26 page hard covered book filled with photos and descriptive writing from our camp at the end of term 1.

A quarter of our children have written descriptive pieces that are included in the book: Eva, Gemma, Kate, Millie G, Millie J, Tessa, Ruby M, Paolo, Maddi, Charlotte Grey, Abby C, Lucy, Isla, Olivia K, Florence, Mia, Holly, Charlotte T, Daniel C, Freddie, Ben E, Ruby L, Joel, Meg, Emma, Ella C, Sumaiyah and Arran.

If you would like to order a photo book, you need to do two things.
A) Fill in this form.
B) Pay $30 either into the school account (Bank number, 12-3148-0131641-00, reference Camp book) or at the school office.

I will be placing the order on Monday, July 8th. Orders will be placed for those who have paid before 4pm on that date.


Term 2 Week 10 Koru News update

Kia ora, whānau,
It's hard to believe, but yes - it's the final week of term! The children are thoroughly enjoying the last few days before their break, and are over the moon to be able to play and explore on the new playground area beside Pūkaki. It's absolutely beautiful and very inviting for the wee ones.





Joining Our Friends From the Ferndale Hub for Play-based Learning:
From time to time, the tamariki from the Ferndale Hub join us for Play-based Learning. This week we were invited into their learning spaces to explore and play. We had so much fun and can't wait to go back!





Reminders:
Tomorrow we're going to be baking Matariki star biscuits. A big thank you to the parents who have offered to help us - we really appreciate you!

...and on Friday, we're going to be making popcorn. If you are able to lend us your popcorn maker, we'd be very grateful. Please see your child's Home Group teacher.

A reminder that there was a notice in our school newsletter on June 14th, about plans for Term 3:
Elizabeth will be returning to full-time teaching in Term 3. Elizabeth will continue to teach her home group in Term 3, and Stacey will work three days a week across the team.

Your children's home group spaces will remain the same in Term 3, and Stacey will begin and end each day in Kōmanawa.

We hope you all have wonderful holidays, wherever you may be. Keep safe and warm!
Ngā mihi mahana,
Jo, Elizabeth, Stacey and Kristika

T2 W10 in Pōhutukawa

No winter sport this Friday


Our travelling winter sports teams do not play on Friday, the last day of the term.
Winter tournament is on Tuesday 23 July, the first Tuesday back of the term.

CCC - Cool Curriculum Classes

This term for CCC we have offered music, culture (Social Studies), well being (Health), library and coding. On Monday, for the last session of the term, the children rotated around every class.

Lillie - "I really enjoyed music because you got to learn about different kinds of genres and got to learn more than you knew already."

Katya - "My favourite CCC was coding because it was really fun. It was good for your brain to learn about coding and it will be good for the future."

Josh - "Culture was my favourite subject because we learn about the ways people are different and about the NZ culture."

Luca - "I enjoyed going to the library because it's a calm, fun space where people can enjoy their books."

Lachy - "Well being helped me because doing mindfulness is good for my body and brain."


 






Drama Day

Today we have had a focus on drama. The students made groups, chose to select a script, adapt a book or movie, or make up a play. They have practised, made props, acquired costumes and then have volunteered to perform their play on the stage before our hub. It has been really pleasing to see the children working collaboratively, compromising and using their imagination.Who knew we had such a fabulous bunch of aspiring actors and actresses?




 


Have a super break. Fingers crossed the weather plays its part, and we look forward to everyone returning back to school safe and sound, on Monday 22 July.