Kōwhai News Term 4 Week 4

Kia ora e te Whānau, 

Welcome to the Week 4 Kōwhai blog.

Production 

We have been busy over the last few weeks, continuing to prepare for our upcoming production, 'Jukebox Journey: History's Greatest Hits'. A reminder that tamariki are in a group with one of the Kōwhai teachers doing either Ragtime, Disco, Rock 'n' Roll, Futuristic, Ancient Egypt, or Michael Jackson. Students have been working hard to learn choreography, design props, organise costumes, and rehearse lines. It has been very exciting watching this start to come together, and we are looking forward to having the opportunity to share this with whānau later in the term. 

The date and time for this will be: Thursday 4th December, 11:30am.

Athletics Day 

On Thursday, our students had an action-packed Athletics Day. Students rotated through 5 different events, which included sprints, shot put, long jump, high jump, and discus. It was fantastic to see students showing resilience, celebrating success, and demonstrating great sportsmanship throughout the day. What wonderful examples of embracing the ‘We Get There Together’ and ‘We Love Challenge’ kete values. A huge thank you to our staff, whānau, and awesome ākonga for helping make the day such a positive and successful event!

Dance and Ukulele 

Over the last 4 weeks, students have been attending weekly hip hop dance and ukulele sessions. It has been wonderful to see the way students have been engaging during these classes and subsequently developing confidence when learning the dance routine and playing the chords. We certainly have some very talented Kōwhai kids who are really making the most of this awesome learning opportunity!

Here is the link to the audio that students are dancing to!

Hats

We are now well into term four and as we get closer to summer, it is important that we stay sun smart. Could you please support your tamariki to make sure they are wearing their hat when they are outside. If they have forgotten their hat, they need to go under the hall verandah at break times. Duty teachers will be supporting with reminders. 

Headlice

Unfortunately, we have had more cases of headlice reported in Kōwhai Hub. Can you please check your child's head for eggs and live lice regularly and treat accordingly if detected. The link below has very helpful information about headlice and how to treat it.

https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/head-lice#main-content

Kōwhai News Term 4 Week 2

Kia ora e te whanau, 

We hope you have all had a fantastic week. We have had a busy week leaping into a busy and exciting Term 4.

Dance and Ukelele Lessons

Through weeks one and two we have started both our dance and ukulele lessons. It has been amazing to see 'We Get There Together' and 'We Love Learning' in these sessions as everyone starts to learn these new skills. Everyone has been trying new things and having a go! We will be doing both dance and ukulele until the end of the term and we look forward to see the progress. 

Scooter-athlon

On Wednesday, we had our Scooter-athlon. It was an action-packed afternoon with a lot of speed, cheers, and enjoyment. It was great to see everyone participating and enjoying some friendly competition between peers. Well done everyone on such an amazing event! Thank you too for the parent support. It made the event really special for our tamariki.

Hats

We are now well into term four and as we get closer to summer, it is important that we stay sun smart. Could you please support your tamariki to make sure they are wearing their hat when they are outside. If they have forgotten their hat, they need to go under the hall verandah at break times. Duty teachers will be supporting with reminders. 

Athletics

In weeks one and two, we started our athletics training. We have been working hard on training for shot put, discus, high jump, long jump, and sprints. It has been wonderful to see all the mahi that has been put in so far. We will be continuing our training in weeks three and four in preparation for the big day on Thursday in week four. We look forward to seeing everyone out there giving it a go and displaying 'We Love Challenge'.

Cyber Safety

Staying Safe Online: Online Grooming 
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.
Check out the link here.

Have a great weekend! From the Kōwhai team. 

Kōwhai News Term 3 Week 10

Kia ora whānau,

It is hard to believe that we have reached the end of Term 3 and what a busy term it has been! There has been lots of fantastic learning going on, of course, the highlight being our gymnastics sessions.

Gymnastics

We had 2 really successful sessions of gymnastics and the children loved taking part and trying out all the different apparatus. It was amazing to see everyone giving it their all and putting every effort into learning new gymnastics skills on the beam, the rings, the trampoline and the bars. Everyone was exhausted by the end of it!

Scooter-athlon

Next term, the Kōwhai children will be taking part in an exciting Scooter-athlon on Wednesday 15th October from 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm. This is the first time this event will take place at Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto! Parents are invited to come along and cheer on the tamariki. The event will give students early exposure to a duathlon-style challenge, helping prepare them for the Year 5 onwards duathlons.
The Scooter-athlon will follow a run → scooter → run format, giving students the chance to experience a fun, active, multi-stage race. Students are encouraged to wear their house t-shirts, bring their own scooter and helmet, wear closed-toe shoes, and follow the safety rules. Year 7/8 students will act as marshals to help run the event safely.
Please note: If it is raining, the Scooter-athlon will be postponed. Any changes will be shared with parents via Hero.
Please let your classroom teacher know if your child does not have a scooter or if you have a spare one you are happy to lend.
We can’t wait to see the tamariki scoot, run, and have fun – nau mai te wero! We love challenge!

Production: Jukebox Journey

We have been busy learning various dances through the ages over the last few weeks as part of our inquiry on dance, including Egyptian, rock and roll, disco, ragtime and also futuristic! From next term, we will be very focused on putting together a performance of all the dances for you to come and see in Week 9 which will be on Thursday 4th December at 11:30am in the hall. There is lots to do apart from learning our different dances including making props and also making and acquiring costumes. The children are already really enjoying the experience and are very excited to perform for you!

Athletics Day

Next term, we will be doing athletics, learning how to do shot put, long jump, discus, high jump and sprints. We will be practising over the first few weeks in preparation for our whole school Athletics Day in Week 4, Thursday 30th October. There will be more information to follow next term.

Hats!

Next term, everyone will need to be wearing hats at school to make sure we are being sun safe. Please make sure your child/children have a school hat ready for the beginning of term. This can be a red or black bucket hat or wide-brimmed hat. All children will need a hat to play outside and participate in outdoor activities such as athletics. Thank you so much for your support with this.

Walk or Wheel To School Week

In Week 2, we will be celebrating Walk or Wheel to School Week by encouraging everyone to walk, scooter, bike, run or skate to school. The children also have the opportunity to go in a draw to win an amazing prize! This is a great way to encourage the children to keep active as much as they can. We appreciate that some of the children are not able to do this but we do encourage those families that need to drive to school to drop their children off a short distance from the school entrance and they can walk from there. 

Lamb Visit

Georgia’s homegroup enjoyed a special experience when a lamb came to visit the classroom. The children were fascinated to learn how to feed the lamb with a bottle, and they loved having the chance to get up close to such a gentle animal. A heartfelt thank you to Poppy and Elisa for bringing in the lamb they were looking after. We are especially grateful for the time and effort they took to make this visit possible—it created a memorable learning experience for everyone!

Legacy Dance Studio - Hip Hop

Steph has been working hard with our Year 3-4 Hip Hop Club over the last couple of terms. The classes do warm-ups, games, freestyle and add onto their dance each week!  They are working towards performing at the Legacy Dance Studio end of year show. 

There is space in our hip hop club if your child is interested in joining in term 4. Please email legacydanceoffice@gmail.com.

 

Discovery Photos

As you can see, Term 4 is shaping up to be a very busy term! It will also be lots of fun so we are very much looking forward to it. We hope you have a wonderful holiday break.

From the Kōwhai team