Kōwhai News Term 3 Week 9

It has been another busy fortnight at our kura! We hope you enjoy reading about our adventures and learning. Have a safe and happy holiday time and thank you for your ongoing support.

Handwriting 

All Kōwhai teachers have undertaken in-depth training on the Kinetic Letters handwriting programme, and we're now implementing this daily with our students. These sessions include: 

• core and upper body strength exercises
• finger dexterity exercises and pencil grip practise 
• letter formation, using the letter family groups 

Safe Play 

Playing outside games safely and kindly has been an area of learning for many ākonga of late. This includes choosing kind thoughts, kind actions and kind words. This has been the case with football, cricket and Four Square games. We are noticing and celebrating all the kindness we see...that is a key part of our school value, We Get There Together! 

Enjoy watching and discussing this video at home. 

Athletics 

We have LOVED our athletics practises which started this week! Groups will participate in training sessions for sprint/running, shot put, high jump, discus and long jump. Warming up and down with stretches are also important elements of our learning. Athletics will take place on 26 October 2022, weather conducive. We will advise further details as they come to hand. Please ensure your child has good running shoes at school every day. Thanks a million :-) 

Hats 

Hats will be back on our heads to protect us from the sun from the start of Term 4. Please hunt your child's hat out ready to go in their school bag. Sunscreen is also recommended and can be applied before school. 

Assembly 

Congratulations to our Kete certificate recipients and thanks to Harriet for her informative cultural presentation on France and our awesome presenters, Lily and Paige.

Swimming 

In weeks 3 and 4 next term, we will participate in water safety sessions at Pioneer Pool. We will be in touch early next term with further information and to seek parent helpers (thanks in advance to those who can assist!).

Discovery Photos

Some of our Discovery sessions have had a values focus, in line with a Student Council promotion of the school values. We have been noticing our ākonga demonstrating each value, and commenting or praising them accordingly. Recently, we had a We Love Challenge task which involved designing a boat, and options included:

• Make a boat to hold the most weight and still float 
• Build a boat that will move by itself 
• Create a boat entirely from natural material

The students learnt so much, working together or independently, developing and testing out their ideas, making adjustments, solving problems and being creative in their design approach.