Dunedin: Day 3

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Today we headed out with layers of warm clothing, a cosy jacket and woolly hat. First destination was Baldwin Street. The rain stopped for us to complete the epic climb. Everyone made it to the top, some of us much faster than others. The three jaffas that we rolled downhill, weren't as successful, all becoming casualties of the journey.

Then we headed into the museum and university. We were so impressed with the surveying dept and the learning they put together for us. A number of children were inspired by this potential future career pathway. The Planetarium was an awesome way for the children to learn about our solar system. A number of the adults, caught a few zzs as the stars twinkled down on us. Next it was off to the butterfly rainforest, another magical experience. As was the discovery centre, where we could have spent the whole afternoon.

After a day of learning, we climbed aboard the bus, and headed up to Moana Pool. We had the hydro-slide to ourselves, as well as use of the leisure pool and diving pool. There were many first time experiences and lots of wide smiles, as we embraced challenge!

After a dinner of yummy nachos and a birthday celebration for Maddi, we headed out again on the Hair-raiser Tour and glow worms walk. What a day! All tucked up in bed now, recharging the batteries for another full on day tomorrow.

We all made it to the top of Baldwin St!

Some were faster than others!

There were casualties, but not the human kind.

A surveying lab experience.

That drone was very impressive and mighty expensive!

Learning about our solar system in the Planetarium.





The exhibits in the discovery centre were highly engaging.





Learning about Dunedin's spooky history.

The serious contenders!


Made it!





Dunedin: Day Two

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What a day we have had! The weather, while cold, gave us snippets of sunshine, hail showers and enough fine breaks to make being on the go outside OK. It was perfect albatross weather and we saw lots of them flying. The Monarch cruise was a fabulous way to see the wildlife and provided some thrills along the way. Four chicks were nesting in view of the albatross observatory and we even saw one being fed by its parent! This was a real treat. Then we were off to Larnach Castle to hear its interesting and slightly spooky past, and admire the work of art that this building is. It was cottage pie for dinner, divine (thanks to the cooks), before we jumped back on the buses for night time exploration. The lodge group went off on the hair-raiser tour (and a few hairs were raised!), while the cabins group explored a bush track, lined with glow worms. Just the right amount of scary and magical! It was great to have Megan Harris join us for dinner and be our glow worm guide. We finished the day with a some more of our shared novels before heading off to bed. The troops have settled to sleep very quickly tonight, as you might imagine after such a fun-filled day.


























Koru Year 1/2 Swimming Term 2

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Kia ora whanau, 


In Term 2 the 
Year 1/2 ​
Koru students 
​in ​
will be attending 2 weeks of lessons at Aqua Gym starting on 28th of May to 
​Friday
 1st June and then again from the 5th to the 8th of June. 

We 
​do ​
expect all our tamariki to participate in swimming lessons and if your child already attends lessons outside of school our school based lessons will enhance the learning and skills they
​ are getting.
 


​The cost of providing this instruction is 
$105
​ per child​
. This 
​will 
cover
​ both​
 the lessons and the transport cost. We are applying for 
​grant​
 funding 
​to try and​
 bring this cost down
​.
 
​A request for your contribution to this will be in the Term 2 accounts.


We do appreciate that this is not a cheap exercise. We also know that learning to swim is a fundamental skill for our young children. ​ 


Koru Teachers: Amber, Dorinda, Caitlyn, Charlotte, Kristika

Dunedin Day One

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As I write this, all the children are snuggled up in bed, with not a sound coming from their bunk-rooms. Long may that continue throughout the night! We had a great trip down today, with lots of  fun burning off energy at Caroline Bay and Moreaki. The children have been fabulous! As we drove down into Dunedin, the rain descended with us, making unpacking slightly challenging, but we quickly got settled in. The chicken pasta bake was delicious; a big thanks to all of the cooks. After a story and final instructions the children settled well for the night. We are excited for tomorrow and have our fingers crossed that there will be some breaks in the rain. 












Kōwhai News Week 10 Term 1

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HEADLICE


Wow! It is hard to believe that we are already in the last week of the term. This newsletter is to inform you of the essentials for the week ahead.

We have had another report of headlice in our team. We have discussed the importance of keeping hair up while at school and for children to keep their heads away from each other. Please take a couple of minutes to check your child's hair to ensure there are no unwanted pests taking up residence!








TOP TEAM
As part of our inquiry, the children are learning how we can sustain our fitness and leadership skills by planning a Top Team activity. The children have organised themselves into learning groups and have designed a 'Top Team' style event for the Koru team to participate in.
They have worked hard to think about the school values this activity promotes and how they will organise and run the station. This week, the children will conduct their activity with some of the children in Pōhutukawa team for them to give them feedback on their instructions and suitability of the activity. On Thursday, the children will run this event, let's hope the weather is fine! It should be loads of fun. Here are some pictures of the children in action.



BECKENHAM MINI BALL
We had an exciting finish to the Term 1 mini ball season at Pioneer with two of our teams, Bombers and Bandits, playing off in the finals for their pool. These were both nail-biting games and resulted in both teams winning and becoming the Term 1 champions. Well done!
We would like to take this time to thank, Jamie Day, Anna Clarke, Katie McFarlane and Joe Chapman for coaching and supporting the teams at the games. Without this wonderful adult support, we would not have been able to have so many children play. We need all mini ball shirts to be returned to school before Thursday please. Miniball will start again in Term 4.


THANK YOU
We would like to express a HUGE thank you to Charmaine Pedersen and Narina Sutherland who have supported our class programmes each week. Thank you so much for working with the children to support their learning, creating resources and putting away books.
We desperately would love MORE parents to come and support our programme. We are looking forward to growing our parent/adult help in Term 2. Please come in and see us or send us an email if you are able to help.













PIZZA MAKING
We need the wonderful help from one parent to help some children bake pizzas on Friday. If you are able to help out from 11-12pm, please let your child's home group teacher know.

AXOLOTL SITTING
The axolotls are really excited about the up and coming holidays and would LOVE to organise a friend or two to stay with over the holidays. They are really easy to look after and only require feeding each day. If you would like to look after them, please email Paulette or come in and see her.

SWIMMING TERM  2
FYI- As part of our P.E programme in Term 2, the children in our team will be having two weeks of swimming lessons at Aqua Gym. Each day we will bus to the pool and have a 30minute lesson with the instructors. At the moment this will look like it will cost us $80-$100 per student and we are still seeking grant applications to support us with this.

That's all for now
Kowhai Teaching team