Here we are in Week 6, this term has been zooming along! A special thanks to those of you who assisted us during the swimming sessions in Weeks 3 and 5. The kids were all amazing due to the fantastic organisation and your support. We will have swimming again for Kahikatea and Kowhai in 2026.
Upcoming events:
Celebrations Assembly - these will be every Friday at 10am until the end of the school year
Kapa Haka - Sarah and Ella's groups will resume weekly lessons with Whaea Kath. These are held in the school hall on Friday
Whānau Thank You - Friday 29th November 8.15am - 9am (invitations for this have already been sent out to whanau)
Kahikatea End of Year Performance - Thursday 12 December 2-3pm (in the school hall)
Transition Visits
During weeks 7, 8, and 9, our Year 2 tamariki will visit the Kowhai hub to familiarise themselves with the spaces and the different resources/play activities they can engage in when they become Year 3s in 2025. These are important visits, and your child/ren may have questions about next year, and we will do our best to answer them! Some children will need more visits than others, and each teacher has a plan for them. Class placements and teachers are still being finalised.
Staying Safe Online
As young people become more independent online, they can connect and communicate with people they don’t know.
Often this is a positive experience, but sometimes your tamariki could be being groomed or talking to someone who isn’t who they say they are. Netsafe’s advice explains how unwanted contact works, including grooming and what whānau can do to educate kids.
Kia ora e te whānau, What a wonderful fortnight we have had in Kahikatea. We have had several events and have more coming up. Here is the latest news from the Kahikatea team.
Have you got your tickets for the PTA Bingo and Silent Auction evening? This is happening on Saturday 9th November 2024.
Harold the Giraffe
The Life Education Trust brings us Harold the Giraffe. In Kahikatea we are focusing on problem solving and our emotions. It is identifying a small problem that I can fix myself, and a big problem, one that I need help with from an adult. For example, finding my hat. How can I solve this problem, where do I look, where did I put it?
The children were all engaged and participated with enthusiasm during the lessons. Thank you, Helly and Harold!
Swimming Week 5
We are looking forward to our final week of swimming next week: Mon 11th, Tuesday 12th, Wednesday 13th, and Thursday 14th November.
Thursday 14th November is the last day of swimming. Tamariki are asked to bring their PJs (or trackies and a t-shirt) for water safety.
Kahikatea -Art
We have been doing lots of art over the past fortnight. Different classes have been doing different arts and styles. A study of David Hockney style of water that reflects our swimming, oil pastel and watercolour, poster paint on a scene and skeleton building with cotton buds and lots of colouring.
Paralympian Visit, 14th November
"Rachael Watson is an Australian Paralympic Swimmer who has won two Paralympic gold and two Paralympic bronze medals across three games - Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. She became the first Olympian or Paralympian to win a medal in the 50m Freestyle three consecutive times and won the 500th medal for Australia. Rachael has also competed at 4 World Championships winning silver and bronze medals. She is currently training for the 2025 World Championships and aspiring to make the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympic team."
Kahikatea are lucky to have Jackson Waters's cousin Rachael visit us. Rachael is a muti-medal holder, Paralympics Swimmer, for Australia. She will discuss how she made it! Thank you to Kylie Waters for setting this up.
Production
Upcoming production! Save the date, week 9, 1.30-3pm (to be confirmed). We are "secret squirrels" on details. However, more information will follow. In the meantime if you hear tamariki singing the song below.
Kindness
Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) - Our focus has been on kindness with an emphasis on our words and how we speak to each other. Manners do make a difference and our tamariki are good at showing them. We appreciate the everyday kindness like opening doors, making seating room, lining up, keeping things tidy, cleaning up and lovely words. Thank you.
On Thursday the 7th of November Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto enjoyed the sounds of the violin, viola and cello. What a fantastic performance! Thank you to our musicians who shared their passions. if anyone would like more information please check the handout available at the office.
House Games
On Thursday afternoon we got to enjoy the sunshine and fun and games with our houses. These are great opportunities for our tamariki to build connections within the school.
Have a safe and happy fortnight. Feel free to contact any on the team for questions, queries or clarifications.
We hope you all had a lovely holiday. Term 4 is an exciting term with lots of activities planned, and with the sunshine and wonderful warm weather, the children have been happy and settled back in school so quickly. We thank you for all the support to ensure such smooth transitions.
Labour Day Weekend
A quick reminder that school will be closed on Monday as it will be Labour Day holiday, and will resume on Tuesday 29th. We hope you'll have a relaxing and fun long weekend with your whānau.
Swimming (Water Safety Programme)
Swimming will start next week (week 3) on Tuesday 29th October and go until Friday 1st November, then week 5 from Monday 4th November to Thursday 7th November. Please note that there will be NO literacy books sent home in these two weeks due to the time taken for these water safety lessons.
It would be a good idea to pack extra snacks and food in your child's lunchbox during these 2 weeks if possible to ensure our tamariki have full bellies after swimming. Please ensure that your child comes to school on swimming days with a NAMED swimming bag, clean towel and togs. You can also have a look at our Swimming Social Story with your child to know what to expect.
Thank you to our whānau who offered to help during the trips, you can either meet us at Pioneer or come with us on the bus. The departure time of each group is as follows:
Group 1 - Sarah's Homegroup + some of Amber's students: 9.30am
Group 2 - Ella's Homegroup + some of Amber's students: 10am
Group 3 - Quynh's Homegroup + some of Amber's students: 10.30am
The bus will be waiting on Eastern Terrace.
Please note: No Literacy Group Lessons will take place on the days we are swimming.
Swimming- Parent Helper Information
Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all,
Thank you for being a parent/whānau helper for our swimming session/s.
Please read carefully through the this information as this provides details about what to do as a parent/whanau helper during our time at Pioneer Pool.
Helping Children
We want everyone to feel safe and comfortable at all times, so if you assist children in the changing rooms, please give verbal guidance. You do not need to dress or undress the children.
Encourage the children to be as independent as possible and prompt them with what they need to do.
Encourage children to use quiet voices in the changing room and keep their belongings in one place.
Two or more parent/whānau helpers should be present, while others can wait at the changing room entrance to check that children have all their belongings.
Parents can assist children to put their belongings into one of the cubbies provided.
Parents/whānau are not required to be in the pool with children.
Please let the teacher in charge know if you have any questions or concerns.
If a child needs to use the toilet, please show them where it is (these are in the teaching pool area, you will not need to use the public toilets), send the child in, and wait outside.
Many thanks for your help with swimming this year!
Please email your child’s teacher if you have any questions.
Home Group Spaces
We moved homegroup spaces at the end of term 3, so here's a fresh walk-through of where we're based at the moment:
Ella - Atrium
Amber - Breakout Space
Sarah - Nook
Quynh - Theatre
Athletics
The tamariki from the Kahikatea team did so well at athletics on Thursday, what an awesome bunch! We saw a lot of demonstration of our values 'We Love Challenge' and 'We Get There Together' during our practice sessions AND the actual event, ka mau te wehi - how amazing! Below are some photos.
Sunhats and Sunscreen
A friendly reminder that term 4 is a hats term, children are required to wear a hat when going outside. If they don't have a hat, they will need to stay in the shade by Tahaki building or the hall during playtime. Your child can bring their own sunscreen to school if they wish, please ensure that this stays in their bag during the day and your child takes responsibility for looking after it.
Maths- A Focus on Fractions
Sarah's Homegroup has been learning about fractions, what they mean and what the symbols look like. The children then made a fractions robot in each group, they were super engaged and keen to make their robot look unique. What a cool activity!
Muesli Bar Wrappers
Ruby's whānau in Quynh's homegroup who have been sharing that, each year, they participate as instructors of the E3 expedition and make sustainability goals. This year they have gone back to this one around muesli bars which was last done back in Dec 2022. Below is the story told by the family.
* each person on E3 consumes 3x muesli bars per day. Avg per day = 16 people X3= 48
* 48 X 11 days = 528 bar wrappers. WOW THATS A LOT!!!!
* That’s just for 1 E3
But what does 528 wrappers look like? Hence the video of 100’s of wrappers falling out of that bucket.
That’s 528 wrappers for each E3 that are not going into a landfill.
And the remaining pics are the alternative. Over 1000 muesli bars so lovingly made by a few caring people who care about the planet… care about creation & care enough to demonstrate to you & all of us that meaningful change is achievable. All part of the great 10 Years of E3."
The family are setting a goal of collecting 2000 muesli bar wrappers to demonstrate how many wrappers have been saved from going into landfill by making their own for the expedition. In Kahikatea, Ruby and friends have started collecting these wrappers from other children's lunchboxes. If possible, we would also love to collect these from you, just hand them to Quynh or your child's homegroup teacher.
Learning Through Play
Personal Space - Boundaries
In Kahikatea, we have been talking about and discussing boundaries, and what we can say when someone is being too close to our personal space. The video below is a fabulous resource, as the catchy melody and simple language make it so much fun for our tamariki to remember the key phrases. Please have a look with your child and sing along, we guarantee it'll get stuck in your head rather quickly.
