Maisie and Honour's Performance

We always love being entertained in Kohara and Maisie and Honour did exactly that as they sang and danced for us. Great moves girls!

Aleah's Dog

Aleah made this very cool soft toy for her little baby sister. She had to think carefully about how to add details like eyes that were safe for a little baby. We know that babies put everything in their mouth! Aleah decided the safest way was to sew the details on. What a kind big sister you are Aleah.

Mirai's Cat

Mirai made this very cool cat for his Mum. We think she would have loved it! Look at all the details.

Readers

Sometimes it is nice to just enjoy books with a good friend.

Isla's Drink Bottle

Isla made a neat project designing her very own drink bottle out of recycled materials. She reused a coffee cup and then decorated it to make it look fancier. Then she had to do some problem solving to make it waterproof. She decided coverseal would work well!

When she tested it out she had to make a small change to stop the lid coming off. Now she has a perfect drink bottle and no one else had one like it!

Award Winners

Congratulations to our award nominees who received awards at the beginning of the term for relating to others, thinking, managing self or participating and contributing. We wonder who will be nominated at the end of this term?

Congratulations also to Aaron who won a very special trophy for trying so hard at school in class and at the afternoon programme. We were so proud to see Aaron up on stage getting his special awards!

Farewell to Sue

It was lovely to farewell Sue with our fabulous singing. We think she loved it, even if it did make Sue and the teachers cry! We also gave her a beautiful bouquet of paper flowers that we created.

Ryan's Science Experiment

Ryan decided to be a scientist and have a go at an experiment that he had never tried before. It was to make a bubbling witches brew! He needed vinegar, glitter, dish washing liquid, food colouring, and baking soda.

Look what happened when he combined the ingredients together! Lots of Kohara gathered around to watch. We predicted what might happen and then waited. It was a bit slow to start so we added more vinegar and more baking soda. 

We wondered what made the bubbles appear? What do you think?

Can you think of another experiment that is similar to this? Clue: Lava. 

Dancing Stars

Look at our amazingly talented dancing girls. We were impressed with the amount of practise the girls put into their collaborative project and by how well they persevered and worked together. They did a great job of using the space around them, changing positions so everyone got a chance to be in the front and with the timing of their moves, not easy in such a big group. We enjoyed watching it and look forward to a repeat performance now that Stella is back at school.

James the TV Presenter

James has been working hard on a very interesting project about archery. He was inspired after his Mum took him to an archery place. James wrote a report about how to do archery, published it on the iPad and made a cool background picture of an archery target. Then he put it all together and read it from our class tv, just like a real presenter on the news!

Hugo's Canvas Art

Hugo has been working hard on his sketching skills, practising drawing lots of detailed pictures. He has made a really cool canvas with some help from his friends and now other children in Kohara can use it to practise their sketching techniques.

Amelia's Cat House

Wow here is Amelia's very detailed cat house. It is just perfect for her fabric cat she sewed! We think her cat is very lucky to have such a wonderful house to live in.

Singing Superstars

Kohara was treated to some fabulous singing last week by Eli, James and Nicolas. They put in lots of practice time and it really showed in how well they knew the lyrics. We even had a repeat performance so we could all join in!

Bear

Look at Jackson and Willem's fantastic bear made from shapes. It looks 3d when you stand in front of it. It used diamonds, triangles, trapeziums and hexagons.

Lidia's Knitted Hat

Lidia has been knitting for three weeks. It is her first knitting project. She had to practise learning the stitches and how to cast off. Check out her fantastic hat. It has elastic at the back to help make it fit.

Dominoes Maths

Isaac, Uzziel, Aleah, Honour and Hugo have been having lots of fun using dominoes for maths. We have discovered lots of mathematical thinking just by playing dominoes or using them in different ways. We learnt how to play the traditional game of dominoes where you have to match the dot patterns at the ends. We also found lots of dominoes that had doubles like 3+3=6 or 6+6=12. We have also been using these for practising our basic facts by adding the different end numbers together.
You might like to have a go at this game at home - you could make your own set of dominoes like Ben is doing for his project in Kohara, print off some of the internet or use the ones that many children were collecting from Countdown!

Week 8 (30 Nov - 4 Dec)

Gosh the weeks are positively flying by now!!

Library
Library books are all due back by this Friday 4 December at the very latest! There will be no more issues of new books.

Spelling
This is the last week for spelling. We will finish with our usual Friday testing at the end of the week so please remember to bring your notebooks to school if you are one of Mrs O's spellers.

Disco
Junior Disco, this Friday 4 December. 6-7pm. $2 entry. Optional dress up in Christmas theme. All children must be collected from inside the hall by an adult.

Athletics Day
This Thursday 3 December from 11-12.30pm. Children can wear sports mufti on the day and it would be helpful if they could please wear a top in the colour of their team (this was on the previous notice sent home last week). We will also run our previously postponed relays at 12.30 for those children who were chosen to represent Kohara.

Sausage Sizzle
There will be a sausage sizzle on athletics day - pre-orders will be taken on the Wednesday. They will be $2 per sausage and the children can also order extras for other family members if they wish. Please have money at school on Wednesday if you wish to order.

Triathlon
On Thursday afternoon following athletics, the junior school are also having a triathlon. This is optional but it would be great to see most of Kohara having a go! This involves running/walking once round the school field, biking or scootering around the courts and swimming/walking one length of the school pool. There was a notice sent home last week regarding this - please send back the slip at the bottom if your child would like to take part asap (or you can email Tracy or Monique). The children will need to have their togs, bike or scooter, helmet etc at school on the day if they are taking part.

Staffing
This Wednesday Mrs Campbell and Mrs O are out of the classroom with our mathematics teacher inquiry group so Ms Kelk and Tania Stott will be relieving in Kohara.

Swimming
Children must have togs at school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. This is essential for our teaching of specific groups - if children forget their togs, they may miss their instructional teaching group for the week.

Reading Books
Please continue to find these at home and return these to our grey reading container in R18. It's great to see stacks of books being returned :)

Lost Sweatshirt

Brock Marshall has lost his sweat top!! It has Marshall written on the inside label. If it has turned up at your house can you please return it to school.
Many thanks
Tracy and Monique

Reminders for Friday 27 November

All library books are now due back at school for stocktaking. Please send books along tomorrow (Friday) to be returned. There are no more issues this year.

Spelling day (Friday)
Please encourage children to have their spelling notebooks at school for Mrs O's spelling group (the children will know if this applies to them).

Swimming Day! Please send togs along.

Week 7 (23-27 November)

A busy and physically active week this week!

Swimming
Swimming days are Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please have your togs and towel at school on these days. Optional lunch time swim on a Wednesday as well.

Athletics
In the lead up to our Junior Athletic Sports/Triathlon on Thursday 3 December we have two practise days this week on Monday and Thursday. Children will need suitable footwear for running, throwing and jumping!

Sunhats
The weather is forecast to be hot this week. Please ensure sunhats are at school every day.

Kapa Haka on Wednesday

Spelling testing on Friday
Please bring your notebooks ready for testing.

Library
All library books need to be returned please. There will be no new books issued for the rest of the term. We would also be grateful for all class reading books to be returned to the grey container in R18 please.

Relievers
Ms Jill Kelk is relieving for Mrs Campbell on Monday and Thursday this week.

Classroom Release
Room 18 have PE with Mr Lukes on Tuesday 9-10.30am
Room 19 have Athletics with Mrs McHaffie on Thursday 1.30-3pm

Chicken Pox
This is continuing to do the rounds in Kohara...

Upcoming Dates
Thursday 3 December Junior Athletic Sports and Triathlon
Friday 4 December Christmas Disco (Juniors 6-7pm)

Honour's Gloopy Glue

Honour the scientist made some fabulous gloopy glue using cornflour, water and red food colouring. She discovered that when you put your hand in the bowl it felt solid but when you lifted it up it turned into liquid! How cool to make an experiment that is both a liquid and a solid at the same time!! I wonder what makes it do this????

Week 6 (16-20 November)

Swimming
Swimming has now started. Kohara will have class swimming times on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays weather permitting but please ensure togs are at school just in case! Sometimes the weather improves in time for our sessions in the pool. There is also an optional lunchtime swim opportunity on a Wednesday lunchtime for Year 1 and 2 children.

Classroom Release
Room 18 have PE with Mr Lukes Monday 9-10.30am
Room 19 have Art with Mrs McHaffie Thursday 9-10.30am

Kapa Haka continues on Wednesdays.

Library
Now is the time to hunt out all your library books to return to school. Books will cease to be issued after this week as ALL books are required back for end of year stocktake. Please have a good search at home for these - they can be put in our class library containers any time - you don't need to wait for Friday library day.

Spelling
Notebooks needed on Friday for testing please. No notebook means no new words for the following week.

Sunhats
ALL children should now have a blue wide brimmed sunhat at school every day. Caps are not a suitable alternative as they do not offer children enough sun protection.

Projects
We have so many interesting projects on the go in Kohara at the moment - Bubbling wizard's brew, gloopy glue, ice cream sundaes, two storey house designs, sketching books, paper mache, and maths board games to name a few! Many of our finished projects are also on display on our trophy cabinet in class - check them out next time you're passing by!

Upcoming Dates
Christmas disco on Friday December 4th. Christmas dress up optional. Juniors from 6-7pm, seniors from 7.15-8.15pm.

Chocolate Sundae by Aleah

Denise and me made a banana sundae. It had ice cream, banana, 100s and 1000s and chocolate sauce. It was delicious. It tasted like peach. We made 2 sundaes and the others ate Denise's so i shared it with Denise.

By Aleah.

The Block Challenge by Lidia

For the block challenge it was a pineapple. Me, Isla and Keira made it. Isla and Mrs Campbell thought that pineapples grow on trees but they actually grow on something like a bush. I knew that because Brigitte showed me a picture on her phone. They don't grow in New Zealand because it is not warm enough. Josie said they grow in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The Tooth by Layla'h

The Tooth

My tooth fell out. Tonight I am going put my tooth under my pillow... but the tooth fairy did not take my tooth! The next night.......  I had more money. I had $2 plus another $2 equals $4. Thank you tooth fairy. I had a hot chocolate and Charley too because I shared my money.

By Layla'h

Week 5 (9-12 November)

Hola and welcome to Week 5. Hard to believe we are halfway through the last term!

Monday Meet Up
Kohara are performing a farewell song for Sue Lynch at this week's meet up. All children need to be seated in the hall by 8.50am sharp please. Kohara will need to be seated near the back of the hall.

No Touch rugby this week due to Cup Day (Tuesday)

Showtime Performance
Kohara will get a chance to watch the Showtime Performance on Wednesday afternoon. We are looking forward to seeing some talented Waimairi performers on stage with their version of Beauty and the Beast. Maybe it will inspire some of our children to have a go next year when they are Year 3!

Canterbury Anniversary Day - Friday
This Friday is our Anniversary Day. School will be closed.

Library
Please send library books to school on Thursday this week and we will try and see if we can find an available time to exchange our books.

Spelling
Spelling testing will be on Thursday this week.

Kapa Haka
Kapa Haka is on Wednesdays 12-12.30pm

Swimming
Class swimming starts from next week. Kohara will have swimming on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. All children must have their togs and towel at school on these days. Even if the weather is a bit cooler, please bring them and we will make a decision on the day as to whether we go swimming. The pool is heated and often the weather warms up in time for our swimming session!
Families can still purchase a key for the school pool from the office if they wish. $70 for the summer season for those who can assist on the roster.

Reading Books
As we head into the end of the year, now is a great time to hunt out school reading books and return them, no questions asked. Please just pop any books in the grey container by the teachers chair in Mrs Campbell's end of the class. We appreciate books being returned so that other classes and groups can use them.

Chicken Pox
Chicken pox is doing the rounds at Waimairi at the moment.

Monday Meet Up Performance

Just to let you know that on Monday 9th November all of Kohara will be singing a farewell song for Sue Lynch as she is retiring next week after 25 years at Waimairi School. We would love it if you could come along and join with the school in saying our goodbyes. It will be starting at 8.50am in the hall.

Chicken Pox

Chicken pox is doing the rounds at the moment!

Week 4 (2-6 November)

Classroom Release
This week the Room 19 children have Art with Mrs McHaffie on Wednesday from 11-12pm.

Athletic Relays
Due to the postponement of the senior athletics last week, the relays have been rescheduled for this Thursday at 2.30pm on the school field. We have a small number of children from Kohara taking part in the relay competition against the Year 2 children from Te Wairua but we will all be involved by supporting our classmates and encouraging those participating.

Parent Interviews
This term we will continue to meet with whanau of those children who are due for their final anniversary reports for the year. We will be in touch over the term if this applies to you.

Spelling
Children must have their spelling notebooks at school ready for testing on Friday. There is a large number of children regularly not bringing their notebooks which means they are unable to be tested or get new words for the following week. Please encourage children to leave their notebooks in their bags so that they can also use them during the week to practise at school.

Sunhats
All children are now expected to have a navy wide brimmed sunhat at school. This is particularly important now the weather is starting to heat up.

Swimming
The school pool will be open from Monday 16th November onwards. Our children will have class swimming times on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Can children please have their swimming togs and towel in a named bag at school from Monday 16 November.
Families can also purchase a keep for the school pool to use outside of school time and these go on sale at the school office from this week. $70 for those willing to help on the roster (typically 2 or 3 nights over the summer season putting the pool cover on and checking the pool area is tidy) or $100 for those not able to assist with the roster. This includes a bond of $20 which you get back at the end of the season.

Wednesday - Kapa Haka

Friday - Library Day
            - Poetry folders needed

Upcoming dates
A reminder that next Friday 13 November is Canterbury Anniversary day and school is closed for this public holiday.

Have a great week :)

Mufti Day Friday 23rd

Don't forget to wear as much black as you can for our Black Out mufti day tomorrow (Friday 23rd October) to support our All Blacks at the World Cup. Go the ABs!!!!

Friday Reminders...

Friday reminders...

Please bring your:
* Library books
* Spelling notebooks

Don't forget that Monday is a public holiday - enjoy Labour Day and have a wonderful and relaxing long weekend. See you all Tuesday.

Week 2 (19-23 October)

Wow week 2 already!!

Reminders:
* Sunhats must be at school every day
* Library day is Friday
* Poetry folders needed for Friday
* Spelling notebooks needed for Friday testing

Welcome
A special welcome to Brock who joins us from Canada. Kohara have quite a few connections with Canada now! We hope you enjoy being part of our class Brock and it has been lovely to see you settle in and make friends so quickly.

Athletics
It would be appreciated if children could wear suitable shoes for running in as we will be practising our running and relays over the next few weeks in the lead up to our junior sports later in the term.

We will also be joining the Y3-6 students for lunch down at St James park on Wednesday 28th October (postponement date is Friday 30th). Parents are welcome to join us down there for lunch from 1-1.30pm and after lunch we will be joining in the running relay fun with several Kohara teams participating. The PTA are running a sausage sizzle on the day and orders can be pre-purchased on Tuesday 27th October outside the coffee shop in the morning. $2 a sausage - don't forget to order extras for Mums, Dads, brothers, sisters etc who might be joining us there.

Classroom Release
Room 18 have PE with Mr Lukes on Thursday 11 - 12.30pm
Room 19 have Art with Mrs McHaffie on Thursday 1.30-3pm

Term Awards
The Awards for Term 3 will now be held on Tuesday 27 October (after Labour Day) in the hall from 8.50am.

PTA Fundraiser
The Big Event is coming up on Saturday 31 October at 7.30pm. This is the PTA's main fundraiser for the year so it would be great to see as many Kohara parents there as possible. You can also bring non-Waimari friends along for a night out! Tickets are $30 each from the office and include the entertainment and supper. Cash bar. We'll be there with our dancing shoes on - hope to see you there! If you have any questions, feel free to ask us.

PTA Meeting
If you're interested in coming along, the PTA is meeting this Tuesday 20th October at 7.30pm in the school library. It was so lovely to see a few new Kohara parents coming along last month. If you'd like to pop along you would be more than welcome :)

School Photos
Orders due by Thursday 29 October

Labour Day
A reminder that next Monday 26th October is Labour Day. School will be closed for this public holiday. Hope you all enjoy a lovely long weekend.

School Photos

Our class photo is now on display just inside the classroom on the wall opposite the boys toilets in Kohara. Orders for school photos are due to the office by Thursday 29 October.

Welcome Back to Term 4!

Welcome back to Term 4. It promises to be a rather busy term with lots of fun and learning.

Term 4 is our Health & PE focus. We have athletics and school swimming later in the term and will be joining the seniors at their athletic sports day for a shared lunch and some relays.

Term 4 is also a sunhat term. Please can all children find their blue school sunhat and have it at school everyday as we will require these when we are outside enjoying our PE sessions as well as for morning tea and lunch times.

Arts Finale - Final Details

Children will need:
* Full school uniform
* Packed lunch and drink (named)
* Warm jersey/jacket
* Sunhat if weather is like today!!
* Any medications or inhalers to Mrs Campbell first thing Thursday morning

Parent Helpers
Please meet Kohara at the Sound Garden at 10.55am
The class will go straight there after the bus arrives for our first performance
Please see Mrs Campbell for information sheet and phone list when you arrive there (or you can get it first thing in the morning from school if that's easier)
Main priority is keeping the children together as a group especially when moving between areas and assisting with taking children to the toilets as needed.

Important Information
If you are taking your child away from the Kohara group at any stage of the day you MUST let Mrs Campbell know as she is keeping the master list of our children.
Mrs O'Sullivan is on duty as stage manager of the Amphitheatre Area so will not be with Kohara for parts of the day.

Road crossings must be done at the supervised crossings - please role model this for the children.

Calendar Art

Here's a sneak preview of some of our calendar art this year. You can see more on display in town next week also.

Mufti Day/Odd Shoe Day - Friday 11 September

This Friday is mufti day and odd shoe day - mismatched shoes sounds like lots of fun!
Gold coin donation goes towards Camp Quality - helping children with cancer.

School Photos Tomorrow - Thursday 10th September!

We have our class and individual photos tomorrow - Thursday 10 September.
Children to wear red school t shirts and navy shorts for the boys or summer culottes for the girls.
No long sleeved tops to be worn underneath the school t shirts please.
Clean and tidy uniforms.

Week 8 (7-11 September)

School Photos
Class photos are this Thursday 10 September. Children must wear clean and tidy school uniform. Boys to be wearing navy shorts and a red Waimairi School top and girls preferably in the summer culottes with the red t shirt. Children must not be wearing any visible polyprops or thermal long sleeved tops under their school uniforms please. If girls are wearing tights - navy is preferred.

Mufti Day
This Friday 11 September there is a mufti day at school as well as an odd shoe day. Please bring a gold coin donation for Camp Quality. We look forward to seeing what crazy shoe combinations arrive in Kohara!

Classroom Release
Kohara children have either PE with Mr Lukes (Room 19) or Art with Mrs McHaffie (Room 18) on Thursday from 9-10.30am.

Staff Planning Day
Due to a staff planning day on Friday, Kohara will have Ms Kelk and Tania Stott relieving for the day.

Arts Finale in the City
Next Thursday we have our school pop up Arts Finale in the city. We look forward to seeing you all there. Programmes/timetables will be out next week and families are encouraged to make the most of the free double decker bus to travel in and out of town. The children will bus in with their classes on normal buses.

As part of this day Kohara will be sharing some of our Visual Art from this term which is linked to different myths and legends that we have been reading. We have also re-told the legends for writing and will be reading these on the day. Plus we have a waiata to share and our children will also be sharing some of our Junior Kapa Haka songs.

Recorder group - the children who learn recorder have the opportunity also to share Traffic Jam with an audience on the day and if children can please bring their recorders to school each day between now and next Thursday as we will be practising in class time for this.

We will also be looking for some parent helpers to assist us with supervision on the day - if you think you could help us out with this please let us know. Our class is in town for around three hours both sharing our work and viewing the work and performances of other classes.

This week and next week our class programme is not running quite as usual as we are working hard on our performances, getting our art ready and practising our parts. The children will have a poem each night for reading but please encourage your child to read their favourite books at home, practise spelling their weekly words or essential lists words (on previous blog posts), write rhyming words or high frequency words, practise their skip counting or basic addition and subtraction facts including doubles and halves....

PTA Fundraiser - The Big Event
Have you got your ticket for The Big Event? This is the PTA's main fundraiser for the year and looks set to be a fabulous night with a musical showcase for you to sit back and watch followed by a band and dance. The bar is open and supper is provided. Tickets are $30 each for Saturday 31 October - plus if you buy your ticket before the end of this term, you go in the draw to win your money back! Tracy and Monique will both be there dancing the night away - hope you will bring your partners and friends along and enjoy the night with us!

Week 7 (31 Aug-4 Sep)

Gosh it's crazy to think it's already Week 7!! This term is flying by!

Calendar Art
The children have been busy creating some gorgeous works of art for this years calendar art fundraiser run in conjunction with our PTA. Order forms go home this Friday and our art will be available for display from Friday onwards.

Staffing
Mrs Campbell returns full time from this week.

PTA Fundraiser: The Big Event
From Monday, tickets will be on sale for the PTA's major fundraiser of the year. They have revamped things this year and are holding a fabulous night with a musical showcase for the first part of the evening that you can relax and enjoy listening to before dusting off your dancing shoes for the second part of the evening where you can enjoy dancing to a great band (or continue relaxing with a few drinks and great company). Supper is provided and cash bar is also available. So what are you waiting for... get a group of friends together and enjoy a night out on Saturday 31 October.

Reading Returns
Thank you to our fabulous helpers who put away a huge pile of books for us over the last week or so - so appreciated, thank you!

Spelling Group
This week the spelling group will bring home their new words on Tuesday - we missed spelling testing last week due to the performance of Maui and the Sun.

Upcoming Dates
Thursday 3 September - Food wrap fundraiser orders due (baking paper, tin foil and glad wrap)

Thursday 10 September - School Photos

Thursday 17 September - The Arts Pop Up in the City

Library Day Friday

Poetry Folders for Friday

Kapa Haka Friday

Headlice!

Headlice are doing the rounds again - please check your child's hair as we have had several cases reported in Kohara.

Geometry Patterns

The children have been enjoying having a bit more space to work with the maths shapes since we changed the room around. The discussion and conversations while children work cooperatively on their shape pictures and patterns is just wonderful to listen to. We have been learning about symmetry. Can you spot some symmetrical patterns in the photos?