Kia ora koutou, Kōwhai whanau,
And just like that, another school term is done! Term 3 is often a difficult term, as we have winter temperatures, coughs and colds, and no long weekends to help us get through. We've noticed the children have been particularly tired this week, and we're all feeling more than ready for a break. Our thanks to those of you who have helped out over the term by sharing your expertise in class, or helping to return resources - we have appreciated your help! We thoroughly enjoyed our visit from Kaboom Percussion on Monday morning. They were an incredibly talented duo, and we all enjoyed watching their performance. This week we also hosted a group of teachers from Clearview School and from Core Education who were interested in looking at our use of 'play' in our programme, and our connections with NPDL (New Pedagogies for Deep Learning). They were particularly impressed with how the children were able to talk confidently about their learning, and invite adults to take part in their workshops. Well done, Kōwhai kids! 'Thank you' to Miss Bradley who has completed her placement with us. Next term we welcome back Miss Esther Tay who will begin a four-week placement. All the very best to Mrs B and all the other Kōwhai Mums who are taking part in the Spring Challenge over the weekend. And good luck to the Dads who are managing children, or acting as support crew! And we were very nearly there, but got caught by a last-minute fire alarm! Everyone evacuated very carefully (we're getting good at this, now!), and we discovered that some older children had burnt their baking. Fortunately we weren't outside for long, although some jerseys and polar fleeces have been left behind in the end-of-day rush. We'll place these on the children's hooks for next term. It's a super short K.I.T. notice this week, so you can get out and make the most of the beautiful weather and the start of the school holidays. Nearly forgot - we'll all need sunhats for Term 4! Stay safe, and we look forward to catching up in Term 4! Thelma, Sonja, Jo, Lisa, Rachel, Christina & Kim kowhai@westmelton,school.nz
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Kia ora koutou, Kōwhai whanau, Just one week to go until the end of term! We are all very tired, and more than ready for a break - and that's just the teachers! We've noticed lots of children have been getting quite run down over the last week or so, and 'ordinary' coughs and colds are spreading a lot more easily than they normally would. The two-week break will be good for us all to rest and relax, and to build up our natural defences again. Things that spread ... (Not butter, jam or vegemite)... We've had another case of chickenpox in the Kōwhai Community, so it may pay to keep an eye on your child if they're showing any symptoms. This website has notes and photos if you need more information. We've also had some more instances of head lice (nits) - please take the time to check your child's hair over the weekend, and to treat as necessary. While frustrating for parents (and itchy for children!), head lice are fairly common, and we would encourage you to check (and treat) on a regular basis. See this website if you would like more information. Coming up ...
That's it for this week! Short and sweet. We'll leave you with this video of Kaboom Percussion so you can see what we're in for on Monday morning - something to practice over the weekend, perhaps?! Kia pai tō mutunga wiki! Thelma, Sonja, Jo, Lisa, Rachel, Christina & Kim kowhai@westmelton,school.nz PS - Mrs Sands has just realised she forgot to put up the word list as promised last week. Oops. Kia ora koutou, Kōwhai whanau, Kei te pēhea koe? | How are you feeling? It's the end of week 8, and we're all pretty ngenge (tired) around here! It's been a super busy week, with lots of different things going on! We've noticed a few children have started to 'hit the wall' (not literally), and we know from our conversations with you that some of you are having similar experiences at home. Kia kaha! We have just two weeks until the next school holidays, the days are getting longer, and daylight saving is nearly here. The week that was... This week we've all enjoyed a brief cricket coaching session. We have one or two children who may feature in the Black Caps in the future, some could even get there this season if necessary! ;o) The children brought home a small piece of paper with details on how to get involved with cricket if you were looking for a summer sport for your child. We also enjoyed a visit to the fire station! It was fantastic to see the new station, the fire engines, and all the fire fighters' gear. We were allowed a little sit in the fire engine, and were even allowed to use the hose! We're told the official opening of the fire station will be held in October, with a community day for everyone to have a look through. Ahakoa iti, ākona, kōrerotia - Learn a little, use a little This week we've celebrated Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori by talking about our feelings. You may have noticed our teachers wearing wee 'emotion' cards - not to show how they are feeling, but to use with our Kōwhai children! We've been really interested to see that some emotions are not 'recognised' or able to be described by our children, and have been deliberately discussing and highlighting those emotions when we see them. Emotions like 'proud', 'embarrassed' and 'frustrated' have been discussed this week. We're emphasising that none of our emotions are 'bad', but we do need to think carefully about how we respond to them. You might like to follow this up at home as you see various emotions over the weekend! Reminder A gentle reminder that children can not be supervised before 8.20am. We realise that there may be occasions when you need to drop your child to school slightly earlier, in which case children are welcome to play outside. Our teachers really need time first thing in the morning to catch up with each other and any specific details around children or timetable changes. Pre-entry visits After a flurry of New Entrants in Term 1 and 2, this term has been rather quiet! We expect to welcome a few more visitors over the next two weeks, in preparation for starting school in Term 4. We're starting to look ahead to organisation for 2019, so if you know of any pre-schoolers who are starting later this year or early next year, please check if they are pre-enrolled, or that we are aware of them in our school system. At this stage we expect to finish the year with around 100 children (and five teachers). We will continue with the four pod teachers and pod arrangements as they currently stand, with Mrs McFarlane being used in a supporting role. Reading at home We've been analysing our assessment data in preparation for reports (as mentioned last week), and notice that many of our children need support with learning and recognising high frequency words. Previously we've sent these home on small laminated cards, as a child reaches a new 'colour' level. We're aware that some of these get lost, so will be making an electronic copy available on our blog. Mrs Sands will be working on doing this over the weekend, and you will find it on a new page - 'Things to help at home'. We'll be adding new ideas to this over the rest of the year. Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi Thanks for your on-going support - it is very much appreciated! We wish you all a wonderful weekend in the sunshine. Kia pai tō mutunga wiki!
Thelma, Sonja, Jo, Lisa, Rachel, Christina & Kim kowhai@westmelton,school.nz Kia ora koutou, Kōwhai whanau,
Wow - the end of Week 7 already! The term is speeding past, and it will be Christmas before we know it! It's lovely to see the lighter mornings and evenings, and to be able to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. This week we welcomed Talmage to school - we hope you enjoy your time with the Kōwhai Community! Gratitude We're having a focus at the moment on people who help us. We're thinking about how we recognise this help, how we say 'thank you', and working on our general manners (as an extension of Kōwhai Kindness). Today we thought about Fire Fighters. Next week we've got a special (surprise!) visit planned to the new fire station, and we're working on having a local police officer come to school as well. If you help out in any way in your job, and would be willing to come and talk to Kōwhai about how you help others, we'd love to hear from you! You could either leave a comment below, or email us on [email protected] Don't worry that your job isn't 'exciting' enough - your child would be really thrilled if you were able to come and spend some time with us! Report writing With the end of term rapidly approaching, it's time to prepare reports again. Children in Kōwhai take home a report after two terms (six months) at school, and again after four terms (one year) at school. Our teachers are currently assessing, preparing and writing 46 reports - that's half of Kōwhai! Reports will be sent home with children in the final week of term. If you're not sure if your child will be receiving a report, you could check with their pod teacher. As you'll understand, it's not easy to fit in assessment and teaching at the same time, so next week the children will work extended hours and finish at 4pm. Just kidding. In reality, there may be the odd day where your child comes home without a reading book (we try and spread this around) to enable teachers to also work on assessment tasks. Thanks in advance for your understanding. Community Showcase Next Friday is our Community Showcase. This has been advertised in the last school newsletter, and a timetable has also been displayed on our school Facebook page. We'll try and display a couple in our Kōwhai space next week, so that you can plan your visits! There's lots going on, and it's a great opportunity to see some of the things that happen during a normal school day. And that's it for another week! Some of our teachers are off to help out with the big kids and the Cultural Festival tonight. We hope you all have a wonderful weekend - enjoy the sunshine, take some time to have a rest and relax in the lull between the winter and summer sports seasons! If you get a chance, you could get out and about for some Kōwhai Kindness rock hunting (remember to send us your pictures!) Hei te Rāhina, Thelma, Sonja, Jo, Lisa, Rachel, Christina & Kim kowhai@westmelton,school.nz |
K.I.T. noticesK.I.T. notices are published every second Friday. They contain information that we hope will help to keep you up-to-date with what is happening in our learning community as well as the wider school. Please feel free to comment on each week's post with any news items or community notices of your own, or to ask any questions you may have! Archives
December 2020
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