Kahikatea Team

Wednesday, 29 March 2023

Kahikatea News Week 9 Term 1

Term 1 Week 9

Kia ora e te whānau,

What a busy couple of weeks we have had! A highlight, of course, was our team trip to Ferrymead. It was a successful day, with our learners getting to experience a range of activities and transport themselves back to the 'olden days'. Another big thank you to our whānau helpers, you were wonderful.

Student Voice

"My favourite part was making an olden day toy."- Thalia

"We got to go on a tram! It was the only tram I've been on in my whole entire life that doesn't have walls!" - Neasa

"I liked the chickens, dressing up, and the river." - Sarah

"I liked the chickens 'cos they were fun to look at! My favourite thing to play with was the yo-yo." -Jace

"I liked having activities and the playground. I liked the horse toys and the skipping ropes." - Finn

"I liked the toy babies and the bikes!" - Maryam

"I liked the costumes!" - James

Home Spaces

On Thursday, we moved home spaces. Each teacher moved clockwise around the hub which means that:

- Katie's home group is in the Theatre

- Lisa and Quynh's home group is in the Atrium

- Krystal's home group is in the Breakout space

- Amber's home group is in the Nook

Making this move before the end of the term has allowed all of our learners to know where they will be when returning to school at the start of Term 2.

Uniform/ Lost Property

As summer draws to a close and Term 2 and 3 are ahead, sun hats are no longer a requirement at school. We will send home all hats on the last day of term. We will need them back at school for Term 4.

Over the holidays please ensure that all of the uniform items that belong to your child are clearly and accurately named. In some cases, there is a sibling's or previous owner's name on labels, which makes it tricky to reunite the items with their owner.

For Terms 2 and 3, your child is welcome to bring gumboots and jackets to school. We have shoe racks and clothing racks to use for these items. Please make sure these are also clearly named.

Innovation

We continue our focus on innovation into Term 2, where the main focus is going to be on following a design process to make an instrument. We will explore different types of music and instruments, listen to a live percussion performance, learn about the technology design process, and make our instruments.

We are looking for items to create these instruments with, such as...

- clean tin cans (with no sharp edges)

- clean plastic containers or bottles (not milk bottles)

- glass jars

- lids (tin or plastic)

- tissue boxes

- other small boxes

- cardboard tubes

- balloons

- thick cardboard

- rubber bands

Ferrymead Photos

Reminders:

- Last day of school for Term 1 is Thursday 6th April

-The first teaching day of Term 2 is Wednesday 26th April

Have a wonderful holiday break with your whānau.

Ngā mihi nui,

The Kahikatea Team

Thursday, 16 March 2023

Kahikatea News Term 1 Week 7

Ferrymead Social Story

We encourage you to read through this Social Story before our trip next Friday.

Toys/Bag Toys and Lanyards

We have noticed a proliferation of bag toys, toys on lanyards and soft toys generally. Please remind your child/children that toys like these do not need to come to school. When they go missing children can become very upset and it can impact their ability to focus on their school day.

Thank you for supporting us with this request.

Learning Through Play

Our learning through play sessions are held on Monday and Wednesday afternoons and after morning tea on Fridays.

The amazing tamariki in team Kahiaktea have been demonstrating:

Friendliness

Resilience

Respect

Wall Displays in Team Kahikatea

Here are some of the display in our hub - come on in and check them out the next time you are at school!

Arohanui,

Team Kahikatea

Friday, 3 March 2023

Kahikatea News Term 1 Week 5

Kia ora koutou,

Week 5 already! It is fabulous seeing all of our beautiful tamariki so settled into the Kahikatea Hub and doing some fantastic learning.

Nuts at school - Whānau notice

We are aware that the Kahikatea team has students with nut allergies. Therefore we are asking that if nuts/nut-based products aren't necessary for your child's lunchbox please consider not including them.

The team is also aware that some children have other dietary requirements and their diet may need to be nut-based, so will need nut products to be included in their lunch box.

When the term starts, the teachers will remind the children that at school we eat our own food rather than share with others, along with reminders about handwashing and putting food wrappings in their lunch boxes to take home. This will also include washing their hands after eating nuts to remove any potential residue.

If you have any questions please contact your child's Homegroup teacher.

Thank you for your support as 'We Get There Together'.

Word of the week

Our word of the week is RESPECT.

Respect means that you accept somebody for who they are, even when they're different from you or you don't agree with them. Respect in your relationships builds feelings of trust, safety, and well-being.

Math Focus

This week in maths, some of our learners learned about capacity and how different containers hold different amounts.

They estimated how many teddies/cubes would fit into different containers, they measured by filling the containers, and they counted the teddies/cubes to check how close their answer was to their estimate.

It was wonderful to hear the rich discussion about the best way to count the teddies. Depending on how big the pile was, sometimes they counted in 1s, skip counted in 2s, skip counted in 5s and when the pile looked enormous, they skip counted in 10s.

Spare Yarn

During Learning Through Play sessions, we would love to teach some children (who are interested) how to do finger knitting.

Finger knitting is a calming activity that has many benefits for young children. It builds dexterity and strength in those small muscles which control the hand, fingers, and thumbs. These same muscles are the muscles we use to write, so strengthening them is extremely important.

Finger knitting also encourages creativity (the creations students can make with their completed finger knitting are endless), hand-eye coordination, concentration, and perseverance.

In order for us to do this we need some yarn. It doesn't have to be a full ball (small amounts are welcome), or fancy (just regular is fine). The thicker the yarn, the easier it is for children to manipulate.

If you have some spare at home that you wish to donate, please bring it into the Kahikatea Hub.

Boxes and Containers

We would love clean boxes and containers for box construction. Children love constructing with boxes and containers and it is amazing to see all the creative creations that our tamariki come up with.

Don't fill your recycling bin with them - send them our way!

Literacy Videos

Your learner will have brought home a literacy pack in the last week. If you haven't received one, please get in touch with us.

We have recorded some videos to support our whānau with understanding what our literacy stages look like and what you can do to support your learner at home.

Click on the links below to access videos at your child's stage. There are two videos to look at.

Stage 1 & How to Help at Home

Stage 2 & How to Help at Home

Stage 3 & How to Help at Home

Stage 4 & How to Help at Home

Stage 4+ & How to Help at Home

Stage 5 & How to Help at Home

Stage 6 & How to Help at Home

Stage 7.1 & How to Help at Home

Stage 7.2 & How to Help at Home

Stage 7.3 & How to Help at Home

Stage 7.4 & How to Help at Home

Emma Nahna

Kapa Haka

Open Mornings

If you have never had the opportunity to have a tour of the school, or if you would like another look at how the school works, we are offering a series of dates from Wednesday 15th to Monday 20th March. Our amazing School Ambassadors are looking forward to having the opportunity to show you around.

To book a time, please go to www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and enter the event code z7fnt.