Kōwhai News Term 1 Week 7

Wow! Where is the term disappearing? It's amazing to think that we are now in Week 7. As always, we have been a busy hub. Here is an outline of what we have been up to over the past 2 weeks.

Discovery

The children continue to explore their ideas through Discovery, having a choice of activities both inside and outside the hub.

Outside, we have been playing cricket, creating ball games and obstacle courses, digging and engineering in the sandpit, and Charlotte is also running the Gardening Club once a week. 

Indoors, we are creating marble runs and bridges with wooden blocks, learning the art of origami and we are doing lots of construction, making houses out of boxes and dolls out of popsicle sticks and wool. Some of us have even been conducting experiments using magnets. Also, Nick is running a Coding Club which involves the children learning to code a maths game. 

Reading / Writing / Spelling

Next week, we are sending home spelling cards and spelling workbooks for your children to be able to practise their spelling words (both reading and writing them) according to their reading stage. Please click on this link for instructions on how to use them. You will also receive a hard copy of these instructions with your spelling pack next week. Remember, this is an optional extra if you want to practise at home. We will also practise these words at school every week.

Art

We have finally finished our collage art and here are some of the finished results!

Sustaining Relationships

Instead of sustainable art, we have now moved on to sustaining our relationships by playing co-operative games and undertaking co-operative challenges. We have been doing back to back drawing, lego challenges, trust games, building the tallest tower challenges and many, many more. The children have been learning a lot about building and sustaining relationships with one another and co-operating in order to achieve their goals.

Experiments

Some of us have had the opportunity to do some experiments with our wonderful teaching assistant, Elizabeth. Take a look at the volcano experiment they conducted. Exciting stuff!

Wellbeing

Every Friday, we spend time on our wellbeing / hauora and for the first weeks of term, we have been learning about Te Whare Tapa Whā. It is a model of wellbeing, which comprises four key areas, and is widely used in NZ. We've looked at keeping ourselves well by making time for: 

• Physical health: exercise, sleep, eating healthily
• Mental and emotional health: self-talk, calming strategies, communicating through challenges
• Social health: time with family and friends
• Spiritual health: this includes making time for our passions, and/or things that give us a deeper sense of meaning

There are some fantastic parent guides here to help you support children in areas of need, including sleep and anxiety: https://www.allright.org.nz/tools/parenting-guides

Reminders and Requests

• We would love some more boxes and cardboard containers for our construction station in Discovery. Please do bring some to school if you have any spares. Thank you!
• A reminder for your child to bring a named drink bottle to school every day. It is so important that they keep themselves hydrated and ready to learn.
• Also, a reminder to bring a named mask to school every day too. Everyone is doing so well with wearing them when they are in the hub and we want to continue with this. 
• Can you please have a chat with your child about the importance of handwashing before and after eating and also after going to the toilet. We are talking to them about it at school but we would love your support with this too. Thank you so much!

Kete Certificates

Congratulations to this week's certificate recipients!

Elizabeth

And finally, a shout out to Elizabeth, our wonderful teaching assistant, who is moving on to start a course in floristry. Thank you, Elizabeth, for all your hard work in our hub! The children will miss you but we wish you all the best in the future and we hope you will come back and visit.

Have a wonderful weekend!

From the Kōwhai Team,

Anna, Laura, Charlotte, Quynh, Nick and Rowe