Josie's Play

Josie may have been inspired by Jordan's play as she has written her very own play for her friends to perform. We were blown away with the fabulous script and how Josie, Stella, Lidia, Keira and Kate organised all their own props (even making some themselves), practised it until it was ready to be shared, and then performed it for Kohara and also some of the children in Te Puna. Great effort girls, you put in lots of practice!

Addison's Mosaic

Addison found a craft project for how to make a mosaic plate. She mixed up her own salt dough using ingredients she brought from home and pressed it onto a plate. Then she added lots of pieces of broken tiles to create a pattern. Ka pai for working so independently Addison!

Ryan's Project

Ryan designed a bomb! It has all kinds of details including a timer and wires. We are pleased it's just pretend though!

Eli's Dinosaur Jungle

Eli has been busy creating a dinosaur jungle. He drew all the dinosaurs himself and then designed a habitat for them to enjoy!

Natalie's Cat House

Wow Natalie's cat is going to enjoy playing in this fabulous cat house!

Lava Lava Lei Day Thursday 28 May

As part of Samoan language week Waimari School is having a lava lava lei day on Thursday 28 May. Children are welcome to come along wearing either a lava lava (sarong style wrap) or a flower lei. No money required.

We have been enjoying singing a Samoan song this week and Uzziel has been teaching us a few Samoan phrases which has been really neat.

Week 6 (25-29 May)

Wow, halfway through the term already!! Gosh, this term is positively flying by!

Lava Lava Lei Day
Talofa! This Thursday 28 May we are celebrating Samoan Language Week by inviting the children to wear either a lava lava (sarong style wrap) or a lei (flower garland around their neck) to school. No money required.

Illness
There is quite a bit of sickness around at the moment with coughs and colds and also vomiting and stomach bugs. A reminder that if your child has been vomiting they should not return to school for 48 hours to avoid spreading illness to others.

Waka Workshop
On Wednesday 27 May, any Kohara children who have a younger sibling in Room 3 or Room 6 are invited along to help make a waka with their brothers or sisters. This will be in the afternoon. It sounds like lots of fun!

Friday Relievers
On Friday morning both Mrs Campbell and Mrs O'Sullivan will be attending a professional development meeting so there will be relieving teachers in Kohara until 11.45am.

Book Return Roster
HELP we are desperate for some names on our reading returns roster. If you can spare a few minutes either before or after school to help us with this, we would really appreciate it (and it makes it much less of a job for the following week!). You can find the roster on the noticeboard outside Kohara or if you'd prefer you can email us with a day/week that suits. A huge thank you to our fabulous Mums who have helped us out in the last few weeks.

Lost Property
The teachers are getting a bit grumpy with all the left behind jerseys and jackets we are finding left behind in Kohara each day! We are encouraging ALL children to remember to put these INSIDE their school bags when they take them off or to HANG their jackets on their hooks under their school bag so they are not left lying on the ground. We are trying to make a conscious effort to keep our cloakroom area much tidier as this is part of our learning space during the day. If you could remind your children when they are hanging up their bag in the morning too, we'd appreciate the shared message! On that note, we have also had a bit of a change around of where the children hang their bags so please check the cloakroom labels from Wednesday onwards.

Remember...
*Poetry folders should be returned to school on Mondays (children to put these in their tote trays)
* Library Day is Friday
* Weekly reading books should be returned to the grey container under the teachers chair in Room 18 at the start of each week - please encourage the children to do this.
* A warm jacket (named) for these colder days.
* Queen's Birthday on Monday 1 June - School CLOSED

Upcoming Dates
Friday 12 June - Quiz Night for parents. A great night out - grab your friends and make a team of up to 6 people. Tickets available at the office. 7.20pm.

Friday 19 June - School Disco. 6-7pm for juniors.

Have a great week :)

Keira and Kate's Frames

Keira and Kate made these photo frames using cardboard and tin foil. Then they chose their favourite pictures to put inside. These look gorgeous on display in our Kohara Art Gallery!

Max Makes A Sword

Look at the detail on Max's sword. He challenged himself to sew it by hand this time as last term he made projects using the sewing machine. Max had to do lots of stitching before he could stuff it and then add details to make it look more interesting. We were very impressed.

Josie and Lidia's Dog Kennels

Wow! Check out these very cute and detailed dogs with their specially designed kennels! What great quality! Josie and Lidia worked very hard to create these and it was wonderful to see their problem solving skills and perseverance when they realised the dogs fell out when they picked it up to move it. They redesigned their kennels with a floor underneath so that now they can move it around when they are playing with it.

Farewell to Brooklyn

On Friday we farewelled Brooklyn who has moved to a new house over the other side of town. We hope Brooklyn is enjoying his first week at St Martins School. We are missing his cheerful smile in Kohara!

Theo and Zach's Project

Theo and Zach made this project with Brooklyn. It is great cooperating with our friends in Kohara. It helps us think of new ideas.

Which Boat Floats?

Amelia and Nicolas have been designing boats to see which boats float the best. They discovered that the boat made of cardboard got all squishy when it got wet. They thought the plastic boats were the best because they didn't get wet and they also thought that they floated better because they were lighter. Great to see some scientific thinking!

Ryan and Tahana Get Creative

Ryan and Tahana had a go at creating a circus tent on the block mat challenge. They look just like the picture. Then they decided to sketch their designs in their books adding lots of details! What a great idea to sketch them afterwards!

Peppermint Creams

Stella and Lucia have been busy baking. They wanted to make peppermint creams because they had never made them before and they like peppermint flavour. They planned their project and even organised their own shopping list and who would bring which ingredients from home.

The first day they made the peppermint cream part but then they realised they forgot the chocolate! But great problem solving, they brought chocolate to school the next day to melt and then they finished them off. They look spectacular!

Next they had to work out how to share the 15 that they made between them. Kohara wondered how they would work it out but they came back and told us they had 7 each and that with the one left over they split it in half. That gave them 7 and a half each. 

I hope they tasted as good as they looked!

Smile of the Day!

Here's something that made both Mrs O and Mrs Campbell smile today! I'll try my best Lucia!

Jordan's Play

Today Kohara was treated to a fabulous play by some talented actors - Jordan, Lucia, Jacob, Addison and Willem. They read with great expression and we loved how they made their voices interesting. You might not recognise them in the picture below as they are wearing masks so you know which character they were!

Hot Air Balloon by Lachie

I made a hot air balloon. First I paper mache'ed a balloon. Then I painted it. After that, what did I do? I made the place where you stand!

By Lachie

My Ruler by Ryan

I made a ruler for Kohara. I laminated it. It took a long time to warm up. I put numbers, cm, on it. A puzzle box is 17cm.

By Ryan

Kaikoura by Lidia

Last Monday I went to Kaikoura and I got a watch and a bracelet and some tattoos. We went down the stairs with my sleeping bag. We went there for a holiday. We stayed in our bach. We is me and Sophia. I wanted to bring my swimming togs but it was too cold so instead we watched Andy surfing. I really wanted to go swimming so I felt sad because it looked fun. Andy kept falling into the water. It takes a really long time to get there and back.

By Lidia

The Bat Project by Mirai

I am making a bat but it wasn't going on because the sellotape wasn't going on because it wasn't sticky. Then it disappeared!

By Mirai

Butterfly Hatching by Stella

Today we saw a butterfly hatching and it was in the morning. I saw it. It has hatched now. We do not know if it is a girl or a boy. We cannot touch it. When it opens it's wings if it has dots it is a boy. The butterfly is starting to flap it's wings to get them dry to fly.

By Stella

Week 5 (18-22 May)

Welcome to Week 5!

Mufti Day
Wednesday 20th is a Mufti Day to raise money for those affected by the earthquake in Nepal. Red and blue theme.

Library
Library Day is Friday - we had more children remembering their library books last week but we still only had about half the class bringing their books back. Let's see if we can make it 100% this week!

Classroom Release
Room 18 have PE with Mr Lukes on Wednesday 11-12.30 
Room 19 have Art with Mrs McHaffie on Thursday 9-10.30

Working Bee
Thanks to all the helpers who came along on Sunday for the school working bee - the grounds look amazing. Thank you for your time and efforts.

Entertainment Books
These are still on sale - with a percentage of all books sold going to Waimairi School. Don't forget you can also purchase a digital membership and these can be linked to up to 4 digital devices per membership. Why not get together with extended family members and share a book?

Quiz Night
Make sure you put Friday 12 June in your calendars for the annual school quiz night. Get together with friends or family and make a team (up to 6 people max). Costs $60 per team and this is always a really fun night, lots of laughs guaranteed. BYO nibbles for your team but drinks can be purchased on the night.

Disco
The next school disco is coming up on Friday 19 June.

Enjoy your week.

Mufti Day Wednesday 20 May

Don't forget Mufti Day this Wednesday 20 May. The children can wear red or blue colours to support Nepal. Gold coin donations appreciated.

Block Challenges

Kohara love our daily block challenges. Have a look at some of our block creations and see if you can tell what we were making. We always have to look closely at the picture to get the details right. Detail is one of the things we focus on in Kohara. Detail can be found in lots of things - in pictures, and even in our story writing!

Zach Makes A Friend

We have been enjoying watching the life cycle of our Monarch butterflies in Kohara. After a very slow start, we ended up with lots of cocoons on our swan plants. We found out that our caterpillars can eat a LOT!

 

One butterfly decided to make friends with Zach! We also found out how to tell the difference between a male and female butterfly. Ask your Kohara kid how you can tell if it's a boy or girl!
 

Keira and Kate's Cupcakes

Keira and Kate baked cupcakes for one of their projects recently. They had to find a recipe and organise the ingredients that they would need. They even wrote a shopping list so each of them would know what to bring along. What great organisation and self management skills!

ANZAC Day

Kohara found out loads of interesting facts about ANZAC Day and the Neptune reading group also shared lots of information with us.

Kohara also went to look at the crosses by the school office which helps us remember all the brave soldiers that died in the war. We also read ANZAC stories and poems, listened to the Last Post, and made poppies which we planted in real soil! 

We talked about being thankful for the soldiers so that we can now enjoy the life we have. 

Rainbow Reading Graduates

Congratulations to Amelia and Lachie who have both recently graduated from the rainbow reading programme. Mrs Stoddart told us how hard they have been working. We all feel very proud of them.

James Loves Skylanders

James used his interest in Skylanders to create a poster to tell others about them. He worked really hard especially on designing a title that would be eye catching!

Lucia's Volcano Experiment

Lucia made a volcano out of play dough and then made it explode like a real one! She used baking soda, red food colouring and vinegar. We learnt that when the vinegar and baking soda mix together it makes a chemical reaction which causes it to bubble up over the sides. This is lots of fun to try at home!